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Netherlands pulls gold out of the US

abc.net.au

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Re: Netherlands pulls gold out of the US

#21

Post by artisinal »

ktallett wrote: post #5

I'm curious the reason why it was ever held in the US and Canada

Makes it harder to steal.

Don't forget that the European continent has had wars almost non-stop for centuries. It is a good strategy to place your gold in a location that has not seen much action in the past 250 years.

Re: Netherlands pulls gold out of the US

#23

Post by ButlerianJihad »

Eddy_Viscosity2 wrote: post #19
antonymoose wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would assume WWII and the Cold War?

This is the answer, they moved it out during WWII so the nazi's wouldn't steal it. A number of countries did this, including England.

[flagged]

Re: Netherlands pulls gold out of the US

#25

Post by consp »

ivolimmen wrote: post #2

I am dutch and read the news this week but I found it weird that a part of it went to England. I was expecting a European country.

London has an old school gold exchange. Pretty much you can buy and sell by moving a part between vaults (at least that's how I understood it to work in the past). Now I expect it to be just a spreadsheet but who knows.

Re: Netherlands pulls gold out of the US

#26

Post by drewstiff »

ktallett wrote: post #5

I'm curious the reason why it was ever held in the US and Canada

It was originally payments owed to Dutch interests in America being converted to gold and stored locally on their behalf, as opposed to having to be transported across the Atlantic back to the Netherlands.

Then later the Dutch moved a lot more of their gold over there before/during WWII in order to keep it out of reach of the Nazis.

Re: Netherlands pulls gold out of the US

#27

Post by jochem9 »

sajithdilshan wrote: post #15
ivolimmen wrote: post #2

I am dutch and read the news this week but I found it weird that a part of it went to England. I was expecting a European country.

I’m surprised why they don’t just move it back to their own country and put it in a safe in Netherland.

The biggest chunk is in the Netherlands, but you want your gold also in other countries, so that you can still access is (and don't loose it) in case of an invasion. Hence almost half is in North America, a completely different (and (somewhat) allied) continent.

It's also easier to sell in certain markets, such as London.

Re: Netherlands pulls gold out of the US

#28

Post by t0mas88 »

ivolimmen wrote: post #2

I am dutch and read the news this week but I found it weird that a part of it went to England. I was expecting a European country.

Their goal isn't only safe storage, it's also being able to sell when needed.

You can't quickly trade with the gold that's in their own safe storage facility in Zeist, because you would need to physically transport it. The reserve at the Bank of England is put there because there is a large market for gold trading there. So you can use the gold immediately to influence the markets.

Putting it in a safe place in another European country wouldn't have added value over storage in Zeist.

Re: Netherlands pulls gold out of the US

#29

Post by kzrdude »

retired wrote: post #12
wazoox wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

England is definitely a European country. I'm tired of people constantly making this political abuse of language of conflating "the EU" with "Europe". (And yes, saying "America" for "US of A" annoys me too. First step towards losing an imperialist state of mind is letting people from Canada and Brazil be in America).

In all fairness, I deal with British tourists a lot and they always talk about "going to Europe" when they refer to their summer holiday in Benidorm.

I don't think that's a problem, and it doesn't mean that Britain is not in Europe, IMO. Comes naturally with human perspective. "Where did you go this summer?" A) "I stayed in England"; B) "I travelled around Britain"; C) "I went to Europe". All perfectly understandable, I think..

Re: Netherlands pulls gold out of the US

#30

Post by clort »

Interestingly, 59 tonnes of gold was sold in USA and bought in London. So that means perhaps "Somebody" transferred 59 tonnes of their gold holdings to the USA.. who was that?

This is similar to what the French did last year.

The other thing I noticed, is that as the article chose to mention:

> Gold that is held with the Bank of England must meet modern international trade standards

with implication being that the gold it previously held in the USA was not meeting those standards, but is that just journalistic fluff? what are those standards? (could be exact weights in g rather than purity?)

NB the Netherlands still has >200 tonnes of gold held in the USA & Canada.

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