The Zürich Gold Pool was founded in 1968 by the largest banks in Switzerland.
The establishment was triggered by the temporary closing of the London bullion market which marked the collapse of the London Gold Pool, a system of maintaining the Bretton Woods System of fixed-rate convertible currencies and defending a gold price of US$35 per troy ounce by interventions in the London market.
Without a market, the South African gold producers sought alternative trading partners.
The accompanied weakness of the British pound ended the world dominance of London as the major exchange of gold bullion.
The pool, especially UBS, immediately became the major financial partner of the South African suppliers.