Secret £1.55bn gold pile backs new trading funds

Times
By Patrick Hosking, Investment Editor



ONE of the largest hoards of gold ever gathered outside a central bank has been accumulated at a secret address in London over the past few months.

Gold bars with a value of £1.55 billion are understood to have been collected in a single vault in an anonymous building owned by HSBC. If melted into a single block, the 212 tonnes of solid gold would take up 11 cubic metres — roughly the size of a Transit Van.

But the gold is so dense that it would require 104 Transit Vans to cart it away. The quantity of metal is 21 times the amount stolen in the Brinks-Mat robbery in 1983.

Ironically, the reason for the accumulation of this hoard is the popularity of a new gold investment product that does away with the expense, risk and hassle of taking delivery of the metal.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,175-1460595,00.html

Snip:

The gold stockpile in London is said to be secure. But it is not clear what would happen in the unlikely event that the hoard was stolen.

GBS does not insure the gold and said it is HSBC’s responsibility to keep it safe. Investors might have to rely on a claim against the bank in the unlikely event of a robbery, GBS said.

HSBC is under no obligation to insure the gold. But the bank said it would be responsible for any gold lost through its negligence, fraud or wilful deceit.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,175-1460595,00.html


SIR JOHN BOND, CEO, HSBC
COMMANDER HUGH ORDE, CHIEF CONSTABLE, POLICE SERVICE OF NORTHERN IRELAND

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8209-1460595,00.html

Interesting, the article points out that most of the demand for the gold backed ETFs are coming from institutional investors.

selling some portion of their gold mining company holdings and replacing them with shares of the bullion ETF. I don't know whether that is true but if it is, it could account for some of the institutional demand.

CT whenever I see institutional demand in the markets these days. I've been reaching for the tinfoil much too often.
Think I need a break?

and there is no real guarantee it actually exists
thats why they are making such a big splash about this,
its to sucker in the victims

http://safehaven.com/showarticle.cfm?id=2243

explains it allot better than i can

I would prefer, and I am, heavy and long. And wouldn't have it any other way. :)