Earlier quoted context omitted.
London is still the financial hub in the Europe
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London is not a financial center?
Uh? By what metric?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Financial_Centres_Index
Netherlands pulls gold out of the US
41–50 of 280 posts
Re: Netherlands pulls gold out of the US
#42Data from a chart in the article: Share of gold before relocation: New York: 31.33% Zeist: 30.83% Ottawa: 19.72% London: 18.12% Share of gold after relocation New York: 18.52% Zeist: 30.83% Ottawa: 18.52% London: 32.13% In other words, if you read the headline and thought the Netherlands was just pulling gold out of the US and it was pulling ALL of its gold out, you're not seeing the whole story. And if you read the…
Of course the bank is not going to make a political statement, they have more important business to do. The article makes it pretty clear right at the top that the bank’s statement doesn’t mention Trump:
> Experts say that rhetoric appears inherently related to the abrasiveness of the Trump administration towards traditional allies.
Also, the “experts” are just right here. Are you gonna say that Trump hasn’t been throwing our allies under the bus?
Re: Netherlands pulls gold out of the US
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
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What do you mean for now? There is no other alternative in continental Europe due to language barrier
Why would language matter?
Anyway, Frankfurt is the next biggest financial center after London, and it tend to get the business when a firm wants to move out of London .
Re: Netherlands pulls gold out of the US
#44Re: Netherlands pulls gold out of the US
#45Interestingly, 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 go…
The standards of purity have changed over time, and most of the US gold dates from before the 1930s; and so a lot of US-domiciled gold have different purities that don't follow the current international standard. The purity requirement has been going up over time. A lot of US gold is 90% gold and 10% copper, but gold traded on the international market needs to be at least 99.5% pure. Here [1] is a good breakdown.
[1] https://www.bficapital.com/blog/what-is-inside-fort-knox
Re: Netherlands pulls gold out of the US
#46Data from a chart in the article: Share of gold before relocation: New York: 31.33% Zeist: 30.83% Ottawa: 19.72% London: 18.12% Share of gold after relocation New York: 18.52% Zeist: 30.83% Ottawa: 18.52% London: 32.13% In other words, if you read the headline and thought the Netherlands was just pulling gold out of the US and it was pulling ALL of its gold out, you're not seeing the whole story. And if you read the…
Of course the bank is not going to make a political statement, they have more important business to do. The article makes it pretty clear right at the top that the bank’s statement doesn’t mention Trump: > Experts say that rhetoric appears inherently related to the abrasiveness of the Trump administration towards traditional allies. Also, the “experts” are just right here. Are you gonna say that Trump hasn’t been thr…
I mean, if I hear the phrase "geopolitical unrest", I'm far more inclined to think "Iran"/"Russia" than "51st state".
If the point is to get your gold away from the US and its president, why leave ~19% of if there? Why take gold out of Canada? Why is a two-word phrase inherently related to the abrasiveness of the Trump administration towards traditional allies"?
And the bank's stated reason is: "Gold that is held with the Bank of England must meet modern international trade standards and is regarded as the world's most easily tradable gold and will therefore be the most readily available for DNB in a crisis situation. The gold reserves held in New York and Ottawa cannot be utilised as quickly and directly in such a situation." Why is that not the more plausible one, and the basis for the headline?
Re: Netherlands pulls gold out of the US
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do you mean for now? There is no other alternative in continental Europe due to language barrier
Why would language matter? Anyway, Frankfurt is the next biggest financial center after London, and it tend to get the business when a firm wants to move out of London .
When it comes to being a financial hub English as a global language is paramount in modern world. You wouldn't expect a C-level executive from other side of the world to speak German. Further, if you've ever been in the financial scene in Frankfurt, it's unfortunately predominantly in German because most of the old people working in the institutions can only speak vacation English and they switch to German as soon possible.
Also from where did you hear that Frankfurt gets the business that's leaving London? What is your source? That was the hope for the Germans with the Brexit, but it never happened. German laws and bureaucracy is still far too hostile and outdated compared to London.
Re: Netherlands pulls gold out of the US
#48Re: Netherlands pulls gold out of the US
#49Interestingly, 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 go…
You're reading way to much into this.
Physical gold bars are transferred via plane between London and New York every day. The gold flies in the cargo holds of regularly scheduled commercial passenger flights. The quantity transferred depends on demand, and could be several metric tons daily.
This is nothing unusual. Dubai is another major gold transfer hub, and it operates via the same mechanism.
Regarding the article highlighting differing international standards for gold, London uses standard 400-ounce bars, while the US uses 100-ounce or 1kg bars. Often, the bars need to be remelted (elsewhere, typically in Switzerland) before they can be added to the vaults.
Again, nothing unusual.
Re: Netherlands pulls gold out of the US
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Not just so that you don't lose it in case of an invasion, but it is proof that you would be willing to help out the host country in the case they were invaded. Also, that you would not invade them.
In the olden days, the local lords would marry their children together, to create familial groups and ensure that for the forseeable future the local areas would not have a conflict. Modern democracies don't have such valuable family members, we use valuable objects instead.