On Thursday, though, Deutsche sent a letter to a federal judge in New York agreeing to settle a lawsuit that accused it of conspiring with other big banks to manipulate the gold and silver markets. As part of the settlement, Deutsche agreed to provide “valuable monetary consideration to be paid into a settlement fund” as well as “co-operation in pursuing claims against the remaining defendants.” Those defendants include Scotiabank, Barclays, HSBC and Société Générale.

This cannot make it easy for the remaining members of the Old Boys Club to have a friendly conference call about reducing the magnitude of swings and roundabouts in the bullion price.