Sunday, March 11, 2012

Switzerland wants its gold back

It seems Switzerland wants its gold back.

Recently four members of the Swiss parliament presented a "Gold Initiative" to secure the Swiss National Bank's gold reserves. The goal of the initiative and committee will be to collect 100,000 signatures among the Swiss population. This will then enable a referendum by the Swizz to vote on the initiative, which includes the following stipulations:

1. The gold of the Swiss National Bank must be stored physically in Switzerland.
2. The Swiss National Bank does not have the right to sell its gold reserves.
3 The Swiss National Bank must hold at least twenty percent (20%) of its total assets in gold.

Up until ten years ago, the Swiss National Bank gold reserves were historically regarded as the "property of the Swiss people" and could not be sold. However during the last decade the Swiss National Bank changed this policy and sold over 50 percent of its gold reserves in order to buy currency.

The Swiss Initiative regard this as a bad move, contributing to the loss of assets of the Swiss people. They consider that both the central bank and the politicians do not have the right to sell "the people's property".

"If the initiative is accepted, and this looks quite possible, this would back up a portion of the Swiss Franc with physical gold and would also force the Swiss National Bank to reveal the location where the gold is stored." According to zerohedge.com

Switzerland is not alone in having concerns about their gold.

The Germans are also increasingly concerned their gold, over 3,400 tons of it, most of which us is reputedly stored in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 33 liberty, in a extremely secure vault stored 80 feet below street level, may be in jeopardy and will soon be asking pointy questions about just how much gold is really there.

Venezuela has successfully pulled its gold to its own shores and others are due to follow. Yes indeed Switzerland wants its gold back and they are not the only ones.

No comments: