The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday, Aug. 16, edition that the first London silver price to replace the 117-year-old fixing ritual conducted by a few traders was set on Friday in an attempt to make the process more transparent amid increased scrutiny of benchmarks. A Bloomberg dispatch to The Globe reports that the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) silver price, set through an electronic, auction-based mechanism, settled after four rounds of negotiations at $19.86 (U.S.) an ounce, exactly where it ended at Thursday's final fixing. HSBC Holdings, Bank of Nova Scotia and Mitsui & Co. were accredited to participate, the LBMA said. The sale volume offered was 525,000 ounces and 325,000 ounces were sought. Silver becomes the first of the precious-metals markets to ditch a daily "fixing" procedure in which dealers agree to a price over the telephone. Revamps also are planned this year for fixings in gold, platinum and palladium. Scrutiny on how benchmarks are set increased after regulators uncovered price rigging in everything from interbank-loan rates to currencies. CME Group and Thomson Reuters will run the new silver system each day at midday in London.