This message type is exchanged between the financial institutions which have agreed to a precious metal trade.
It is used to confirm the details of:
a new contract between the parties
an amendment to a previously agreed contract
the cancellation of a contract
the settlement of a metal option which has been exercised.
This message may also be exchanged to confirm the liquidation of a forward deal.
In some cases, only one of the financial institutions involved in a contract will send a confirmation to the second financial institution. These cases include:
retransmission due to errors in a previously sent confirmation
additional information about a previously confirmed contract, (eg, to provide the name of the party in field 57a and/or 87a, in those cases where the previous confirmation contained the code UNKNOWN).