The London Metal Exchange (LME) will submit a proposal to take over the London silver fix, a senior executive said on Wednesday, the first company to publicly express interest in replacing the current operators of the price benchmark.

James Proudlock, managing director and head of market development for the exchange and its clearing business, said the exchange would take part in the process after a request for proposals (RFP) was recently issued to find a replacement for CME Group and Thomson Reuters.

Those companies said in March they would step down from providing the silver price benchmark auction less than three years after successfully bidding to provide the process.