In his first official interview with the press, incoming Valcambi CEO Simone Knobloch discusses gold’s appeal amid global uncertainty and Switzerland’s advantages as a refining hub. Valcambi is a giant in the Swiss and global gold sector and one of the most closely scrutinised. It is the largest gold refinery by capacity in Switzerland and among the largest in the world. Today, it is totally embedded in the Swiss and global financial system. On June 1, Simone Knobloch takes over as CEO of the Balerna-based refinery in canton Ticino. Southern Switzerland became a global hub for gold from the 1970s onwards, building on northern Italy’s jewellery manufacturing tradition and the Swiss high-trust ecosystem of banking, logistics and precious metals refining. Its bars meet the LBMA Good Delivery standards, the global benchmark for gold quality, and COMEX specifications, the US-based CME Group standards for deliverable gold futures contracts, which are standardised agreements to buy or …