The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) could soon take steps to report trades of the over-the-counter gold market, but the prospect of higher costs makes an exchange-traded model unattractive to participants for now, its chief executive said.

More than $5 trillion worth of gold transactions are made over the counter (OTC) in London every year. The OTC market, where trades are executed via dealer networks as opposed to a centralized exchange, exceeds the trading of gold futures.