London Bullion Group Expects Little Effect From Lehman, Merrill

By Marianne Stigset

Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) -- The London Bullion Market Association expects no impact from the bankruptcy of member Lehman Brothers Holding Inc. or the sale of member Merrill Lynch & Co., Chief Executive Officer Stewart Murray said.

``They're ordinary members, they're not market makers, they're not clearers,'' Murray said by phone from London today. The two banks' weighting within the London bullion market was ``quite small given the many number of ordinary members.''

Lehman Brothers, the fourth-largest U.S. investment bank, succumbed to the subprime mortgage crisis it helped create in the biggest bankruptcy filing in history. Merrill Lynch agreed to sell itself to Bank of America Corp.

The LBMA, representing the wholesale gold and silver market in London, has 57 ordinary members this year, up from 55 last year and 52 in 2006, Murray said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Marianne Stigset in Oslo at mstigset@bloomberg.net