LME May Have a Paper-Filing Problem If U.K. Goes on Lockdown
- The LME runs a paper-based filing system to register metal
- The bourse says disruption is possible in an extreme scenario
Traders react on the trading floor of the open outcry pit at the London Metal Exchange Ltd. in London.
Photographer: Jason Alden/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Since Victorian times, London’s traders have used paper documents to track metal flowing in and out of warehouses, even as the rest of the world went digital. Now the coronavirus is posing a threat unlike any in living memory.
With several European countries in lockdown and the number of cases in the U.K. rising fast, traders worry how they’ll access the London Metal Exchange’s paper-based filing system for registering copper, nickel and aluminum inventories if the city is forced to close.