Gold doing its job: LBMA’s Crowell makes case for HQLA status

LBMA is pushing to formalize gold as a high-quality liquid asset (HQLA), using a new joint platform with the World Gold Council launched on March 31 to show regulators data on gold’s crisis-period liquidity. Ruth Crowell argued gold is being misread when it sells off in stress events: in her view, the metal is functioning as intended by allowing holders to monetize reserves quickly, much like U.S. Treasuries in terms of cash generation during market disruption. Crowell said the core case is that gold has repeatedly proven liquid through shocks such as the global financial crisis, COVID-19 and more recent geopolitical stress, and that the industry now has a growing dataset to support the argument. She stressed that the debate is not about volatility but about relative behavior in crises, with gold offering no credit risk, no third-party liability and deep global market liquidity. For traders, the implication is that the HQLA/regulatory campaign could reinforce the strategic reserve narrative around gold, especially as central bank buying remains a structural tailwind and official sector diversification away from the U.S. dollar continues. Near term, the key catalyst is whether regulators become more open to the Basel/HQLA discussion as LBMA and WGC continue their data push; the article frames this as a slow-moving policy process rather than an immediate price event.