Speaking at the World Gold Council and London Bullion Market Association summit on 18 June 2026, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy made the case that London’s bullion business runs on trust as much as turnover. In the GOV.UK transcript, he noted that the capital holds around 20 per cent of global financial gold, which leaves the UK with both a commercial interest and a regulatory duty to keep the market clean. (gov.uk)

Lammy did not present the issue as a dry compliance brief. He referred to his grandfather, a gold miner in Guyana, to show how the metal can sit on both sides of the ledger: a route to work and income on one hand, and a route to environmental damage, exploitation and criminal enrichment on the other when checks fail. (gov.uk)

For the market, the scale is hard to ignore. Lammy put the value of illicit gold flows at at least £90 billion a year globally, while the government’s Anti-Corruption Strategy says the trade exposes the UK’s legitimate gold sector to corruption and money-laundering risk and can weaken London’s position in lawful bullion trading. (gov.uk)

The reason gold remains attractive to criminal networks is straightforward. It is concentrated, portable and easier to conceal once it passes into formal supply chains; Lammy also noted that it can be moved without bank accounts, passwords or an internet connection, which helps explain its use in sanctions evasion, smuggling and laundering. (gov.uk)

The speech also pulled the subject much closer to home. Lammy linked illicit gold to Russia’s war in Ukraine, the conflict in Sudan, hazardous conditions for children in poor mining regions and mercury pollution in rivers, before arguing that the same networks can overlap with drug trafficking, people smuggling, cybercrime and fraud. For City firms, that is a reminder that gold provenance is not only an ESG concern; it sits squarely inside financial crime control. (gov.uk)

There is also a price signal behind the warning. Lammy said gold prices had risen 140 per cent since January 2023, raising the incentive for criminal groups to push more metal through weak points in the chain. He also pointed to a growing link between gold and crypto in concealing illicit activity, a theme the government has echoed in its plans for the UK’s Illicit Finance Summit, now scheduled for December 2026. (gov.uk)

The reassuring part of the address was that the UK is not starting from zero. Lammy credited the London Bullion Market Association, the World Gold Council and the London Good Delivery system with lifting due diligence and responsible sourcing standards, while the Anti-Corruption Strategy says financial centres such as the UK have a particular responsibility because they provide trusted routes for moving wealth. (gov.uk)

He also pointed to a domestic public-private partnership on illicit gold flows, announced last year by FCDO minister Stephen Doughty and working through the Joint Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce model to share intelligence across government, law enforcement, industry and finance. The next step is a broader international partnership, tied to OECD guidance and FATF standards, with London Climate Action Week and the December summit both being used to connect illicit finance with environmental and community harm at source. (gov.uk)

For refiners, traders, banks and smaller firms around the bullion chain, the commercial message is fairly plain. Provenance checks, counterparty scrutiny and faster information sharing are no longer side matters; they are part of market access in a city whose bullion franchise depends on confidence. London’s advantage is scale, but its staying power rests on whether buyers can trust what enters the system. (gov.uk)