The integration will allow customers to benefit from an enhanced straight-through-processing of trades in precious metals trades – cutting out unnecessary stages and boosting speed and efficiency, it said.

The move is a sign of how electronic trading in markets such as precious metals continues to evolve, partly in response to continued strong demand for metals such as gold and silver, not least from wealth management clients anxious to protect their assets and spread risk.

“ABS’s vision is to transform the global OTC physical gold market into an open, accessible and efficient marketplace. The wholesale market is burdened with manual processes that have limited the industry’s ability to scale their distribution,” Seamus Donoghue, chief executive of ABS, said.

Trade execution notices from the firm will be transmitted electronically by MarkitSERV, Markit’s post trade processing platform, to trade booking and trade management systems used throughout the industry.

ABS said that more than 90 electronic trading venues use MarkitSERV in other asset classes for straight-through-processing, regulatory reporting and routing trades to clearing houses.