Sigma Broking’s plan to become the LME’s first new ring-dealing member in years is only one part of a broader strategy that has seen the London-based firm also move aggressively into foreign exchange and wealth management.

The London-based broker, which supports financial and commodity futures traders, should be approved in the coming weeks as the metal exchange’s first new category one ring dealing member in years, according to sources.

Sigma is set to occupy the LME broking booth vacated by Triland Metals in August when the Mitsubishi-owned broker gave up its ring-dealing membership to become a category two, electronic dealer.

In parallel, Sigma has been quietly building a metals team in recent months and expects to have 15 brokers on board when it finally takes its place in the historic ring, according to sources.

A spokesman for Sigma and a spokeswoman for the LME declined to comment on the process.

The LME is not the only new venture from Sigma however. The broker, owned by former Liffe trader Matthew Kent and chief executive David Mudie, has also launched in recent months a foreign exchange broker and a wealth management business.

Sigma Treasury, based in London and Dubai, currently has eight staff, including some of the original management team at Schneider Trading, while Sigma Private Office is a Dubai-based wealth manager led by three partners from British private bank Arbuthnot Latham.

The LME ring has been in focus recently as it only reopened on September 6 after being silent for more than 18 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The departure of Triland, a category one for more than 50 years, took the number of ring dealers to just eight, underlining a trend that has seen dealers giving up in recent decades a physical presence on the floor in favour of electronic access to LME prices.

Sigma plans to buck that trend by becoming the first new category one member since the LME welcomed in January 2014 GF Financial Markets (UK) as its first Chinese-owned ring-dealer.

GF Futures (UK) became a ring-dealer following its acquisition of Natixis Commodity Markets in 2013. The last firm to become a category one dealer by securing approval rather than acquiring an existing ring member was ED&F Man Capital Markets in 2007.