LBMA Board

After a 10-year academic career, Dr Paul Fisher was a senior figure at the Bank of England for 26 years, retiring at the end of July 2016. He was a member of the Monetary Policy Committee, the interim Financial Policy Committee and the PRA Board. During the Great Financial Crisis he worked in the Markets Area of the Bank, from March 2009 as Executive Director responsible, amongst other things, for the Bank’s programme of asset purchases for quantitative easing. In June 2014 he was appointed Deputy Head of the Prudential Regulation Authority. Previously, from 2002, he ran the Bank’s Foreign Exchange Division where he had a constructive relationship with the LBMA and developed a working knowledge of the bullion market. Since leaving the Bank he has been working on Climate Change and Sustainability in the financial sector, including for the EC. He has also been writing on matters of financial stability, policy co-ordination and governance, competition policy, supervision and regulation. Among a range of outside positions he is a Non-Executive Director at the UK Debt Management Office; Senior Associate at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership; Senior Research Fellow at the DAFM centre, King’s College Business School; and he is a Visiting Professor in Economics and Finance at Richmond University, the American International University in London.

Ruth was appointed Chief Executive of the LBMA in January 2014. She is responsible for the success and strategic development of the LBMA, in partnership with the Chairman and the Board. She is also responsible for maintaining accountability to, and the quality of, the Association's Membership and Good Delivery Refiners as well as representing the interests of the Association in relation to regulators, investors, media and international precious metals markets.

Before being appointed Chief Executive, she spent seven years working at LBMA, initially as Commercial Director and then as Deputy Chief Executive, where she acted as the main lead on Governmental Affairs. She was also responsible for LBMA's work on supply chain due diligence, with particular regard to the creation and implementation of LBMA’s Responsible Gold Guidance. She has represented LBMA at industry, governmental and multi-stakeholder regulatory forums. She continues to serve as Vice Chair of the OECD Multi-Stakeholder Governance Group for Responsible Minerals. As Commercial Director, she oversaw the development of the LBMA Conference, the LBMA's quarterly publication the Alchemist and the LBMA website.

Prior to joining LBMA, she worked in bank finance and US corporate law at the law firms of White & Case and Norton Rose, and also acted as a monitor at the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. She has an MSc in History of International Relations from the London School of Economics and a degree in English Literature from Kenyon College in Ohio.

Wenjian joined Bank of China Head Office in 1996. Wenjian was the Deputy General Manager and the Chief Credit Officer of Bank of China London Branch, and also the Chief Risk Officer of Bank of China (UK) Limited from December 2004. Wenjian has served as a Director and the Chief Executive Officer of Bank of China (UK) Limited since November 2018. Wenjian was educated at Beijing Foreign Studies University in China to postgraduate level, and received his MBA with Distinction from University of Hertfordshire in 1996. He has been a CFA Charter Holder since 2008.

Andrew Quinn currently serves as a non-Executive Director of Barrick Gold Corp. and is a member of its Audit and Risk Committee. Before joining the board of Barrick, after its merger with Randgold Resources, Andy had served as the Senior Independent Director of Randgold and had been a non-Executive Director since 2011. A plus 40 year veteran of the mining industry, Andy graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Mineral Exploitation (mining engineering) from Cardiff University. He began his career in Anglo American's gold division in in South Africa in 1975, holding various management and technical positions. He worked briefly for Greenbushes Tin in Australia before joining the Mining Journal in 1982 as editor of its gold publications. In 1984 he joined James Capel (later HSBC Investment Banking), ultimately heading its mining corporate finance activities for six years from late 1989, before joining the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) in 1996. Andy retired at the end of 2011 from his position as CIBC's head of mining investment banking for Europe and Africa after 15 years in the role. He is a member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. He joined the Board of the LBMA as a non Executive Director in 2016 and he chairs the HR Committee and serves on the Finance Committee.

Isabelle Strauss-Kahn is an international consultant in Financial Asset Management as well as being an Advisory Board member of the World Gold Council and the Treasurer/ Board member of the Paris Institute of Advanced Studies. She also provides advisory services for public asset management covering a range of issues including governance, strategic asset allocation, portfolio management and operational procedures. From 1999 to 2008, she was Deputy and then Director (2003) of Market Operations at the BDF, overseeing monetary policy implementation and reserve management of foreign exchange and gold. From 2008 to 2018, she was Lead Financial Officer in the Treasury division of the World Bank, providing financial services, technical assistance and training to many central banks and global sovereign wealth funds. Prior to this, she held managerial positions in supervising risks successively at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and at the BDF. She was a member of several international European Committees including the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. She has spoken at numerous conferences organised by public and private financial institutions and has published several articles on reserve management. She graduated in Economics (PhD Core) at the University of Chicago (USA), in Business at HEC (Haut Enseignement Commercial, Paris) and in Law (Paris-I).

Prior to joining Rand Refinery in June 2015, Praveen was Group CEO of then JSE listed Delta EMD Limited, with strategic responsibilities for manganese battery materials refining operations in both South Africa and Australia and continued to serve on that board as a non-executive director until December 2020.

Prior to Delta EMD, he was CEO of Gold Reef Speciality Chemicals, and worked for 20 years in various senior management and chemical engineering roles within Huntsman Corporation titanium-di-oxide business.

He is currently Chairman of the Ekurhuleni Jewellery Project (EJP), which is involved in community SMME development and jewellery manufacturing incubation programmes.

Praveen studied chemical engineering, holds an MBA with distinction from the University of Wales and completed his executive development programs at the University of Cape Town. He is a motorsport enthusiast and spends his spare time on his collection of modern and classic cars.

Matt is a 25 year veteran of the precious metals markets, joining the UBS PM Trading after several years in the UBS Interest Rate Derivatives business. His career has primarily focused on the OTC PM Forwards space while coordinating closely with the UBS Physical, Options and Spot teams to deliver the full product suite to UBS’ client base.

Since 2020 Matt has led the UBS PM STIR Trading team globally covering the PM linear (ex-spot) and Physical product suite. In addition to Risk Management and Market Making in these spaces he is responsible for the UBS IB PM Clearing and Custody business and manages UBS global physical liquidity including UBS “Three Keys” bullion production and capital optimization. He has been instrumental in developing UBS control frameworks for Conflict Minerals as well as Gold Sanctions.

UBS PM business has a uniquely broad footprint giving Matt a wide perspective on global PM markets. UBS remains on the cutting edge of product development with recent innovations touching on both the digital gold and Sustainability/ASM space.

Matt sits on the LBMA Financial Services User Group and a was participating panellist at the 2022 LBMA Lisbon conference. He holds a degree in Engineering from The University of Birmingham, UK.

Raj joined Morgan Stanley in April 2024 as the Head of Metals Strategic Development. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Raj held senior positions at ICBC Standard Bank, Deutsche Bank including the Global Head of Clearing and Vaulting, Head of Precious Sales and Physical Trading. Raj also represented DB on the LBMA Physical Committee and was a Director of the LPMCL. Prior to DB, Raj worked at Goldman Sachs supporting the Metals and Commodities business in various roles.

As Co-Chief Executive Officer of Argor Heraeus SA, Robin oversees strategic and operational leadership, with a particular emphasis on responsibility along the gold value chain. As a Board Member of the Alliance for Responsible Mining, he in addition contributes positively to the development of the Artisanal Small Scale Mining sector.

Robin has expanded his focus to incorporate comprehensive sustainability practices within Argor Heraeus. He advocates for responsible sourcing and environmental stewardship, aiming to set new industry benchmarks for ESG practices across the precious metals sector. To achieve this, Robin actively engages with stakeholders throughout the precious metals value chain, including industry peers, associations, civil society, and the media.

Bringing a wealth of experience from previous roles within the chemical process technology and product management sectors, Robin’s career is distinguished by his strategic management and profound technical knowledge. Prior to his executive roles, he held positions at Heraeus in Germany and Alantum Europe, fundamentally enhancing product strategies and commercial operations. Robin’s academic foundations were laid at the Technische Universität München, where he obtained his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering.

In every capacity, Robin’s leadership is defined by a commitment to innovation, sustainability, and strategic foresight, continuously driving his teams towards global industry leadership.

Peter Zoellner is an Austrian citizen. He earned a doctorate degree at the Vienna University for Economics and Business in 1983.

He joined Oesterreichische Nationalbank (the Austrian central bank) in Vienna and built experience both in the dealing room and in analytical units with regards to FX/gold reserves and monetary policy.

After establishing the Representative Office of Oesterreichische Nationalbank in New York and leading it for four years, Peter Zoellner was invited to become the Economic Advisor to the Austrian Federal Chancellor Franz Vranitzky. During this period (1991-1996), Austria joined the European Union and successfully prepared for participating in the European Monetary Union.

In 1996, Peter Zoellner returned to the Central Bank of Austria and served first as the Treasurer and then for three terms as Member of the Governing Board and Executive Director for the banking operations (1998-2013). He had extensive exposure to the gold markets by managing Austria's gold reserves and through his function at the Austrian Mint, as a Vice Chair of the Supervisory Board. At the time, the Austrian Mint held a 25% stake at the gold refiner Argor-Heraeus in Switzerland.

In 2013, Peter Zoellner joined the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland and served as a member of the Executive Board and Head of the Banking Department until 2024. In this capacity, he shaped the strategy and implementation of the banking activities and supported a strong expansion of global operations and the FX and gold franchise of the BIS.

Currently, Peter Zoellner advises central banks and global international banks on strategic and operational capital market issues through his consultancy firm.

Vincent has been in the precious metals market for over 17 years, having transferred from Interest Rate Trading at Societe Generale in 2008. Vincent’s initial focus was on precious metals forwards before increasing his scope to include spot and options. He became Head of Trading for Societe Generale in 2012, which gave him a complete overview of the business.

In 2019, Vincent joined the HSBC Precious Metals team; first as Head of Trading in London before becoming Global Trading Head in 2022. Thanks to HSBC’s full service presence in the Precious Metals eco-system, Vincent has a unique panorama of the market from a Clearing, Financing, Physical and Trading point of view.

He has used this knowledge to embed himself in the wider market by co-chairing an FMSB Precious Metals working group and joining the Management Committee of the LPPM. Vincent is passionate about Precious Metals and improving the understanding of our asset class within the broader financial markets landscape.