S.Amdt. 6336

SA 6336 is an amendment proposed by Mr. Risch, Ms. Cortez Masto, and Mr. Crapo to be added to bill S. 4784. Its purpose is to address the storage of precious metals (gold, silver, platinum, and palladium) used in connection with futures contracts.

The amendment aims to change the Commodity Exchange Act to reduce the risks caused by the geographic concentration of depositories, which currently require metals to be stored close to New York City.

Key Changes and Objectives

• Transparency and Selection: It requires systemically important derivatives clearing organizations to create and publish objective, transparent criteria for selecting precious metals depositories and to provide a formal application process.

• Selection Factors: When choosing depositories, these organizations must consider factors such as risk management, competition, storage costs, and geographic diversity.

• Geographic Requirements: The amendment mandates that a systemically important derivatives clearing organization select at least 2 depositories in each of the following time zones:

  • Eastern time
  • Central time
  • Mountain time
  • Pacific time

• Market Oversight: It adds requirements to periodically assess how easily market participants can access physical settlements regardless of their location in the U.S. to ensure resiliency and availability.