Gold
Eurosystem reveals rules on national asset holdings
ECB publishes an agreement governing the size of ‘non-monetary policy holdings’ at national central banks in the eurozone; aggregate net financial assets totalled €490 billion at end-2015
Bundesbank over halfway towards gold repatriation goal
Deutsche Bundesbank repatriated 210 tonnes of gold in 2015, it says; 41% of gold reserves now housed in Frankfurt
Exchange launches asset-backed coins for asset managers
Asset managers will be able to trade physical assets directly with each other through new asset class dubbed ABCs, which will be tradeable on newly launched exchange Abacas
Austria to repatriate third of gold reserves
Central bank plans to move gold out of the UK and into Austria and Switzerland after court of audit raises concern over ‘high concentration risk’
El Salvador central bank sells 80% of its gold reserves
Central Reserve Bank of El Salvador sold 80% of its gold holdings last month and invested the proceeds in dollars; Venezuela carries out $1 billion gold swap deal
Lithuania bought 1.6 tonnes of gold as part of euro switch
Purchases representing around 25% of total gold holdings made during switch to euro; Bank of Lithuania investment director tells Central Banking investments are now more diverse
Are central banks the ‘Figaro’ of the financial markets?
Central banks continue to play a vital position in the functioning of markets. While this raises significant concerns about moral hazard it is not an unfamiliar role from an historical perspective
SNB expects profit of $39 billion for 2014
Foreign currency positions responsible for most of the profit for Swiss National Bank, which increased its forex reserves by 7% in December following exchange rate pressure
Swiss public reject gold initiative
Referendum sees 77.3% of vote against forcing the SNB to hold 20% of its assets in gold, and prevent it from ever selling them; central bank welcomes the result
Netherlands Bank moves 122.5 tonnes of gold from New York to Amsterdam
Central bank will now keep 31% of its gold reserves in own country; move was designed to create a more even distribution of its reserves across the globe
No evidence US prices were ‘more stable or less uncertain' before or after WWII
Experience shows ‘well-managed fiat regime' can achieve same level of moderation in price swings as gold standard, according to Bank of Korea working paper
SNB speaks out against 'gold initiative'
Swiss National Bank rejects proposals to prevent it from selling gold; Jean-Pierre Danthine argues that ‘currency reserves that cannot be sold are not truly reserves’
SNB reports profit of almost $18bn for first half of the year
Swiss National Bank recovers from $10bn loss in 2013; profit on foreign currency positions amounts to Sfr 12.6bn, while gold holdings see Sfr 3.5bn valuation gain
Central Bank of Ecuador deposits half its gold with Goldman Sachs
Three-year deal sees the bank swap half-a-million ounces of bullion for ‘high security instruments and liquidity', ostensibly to cover government's widening fiscal deficit
European central banks strike new gold agreement
Central banks in the eurozone, Sweden and Switzerland agree to coordinate their gold transactions, but scrap the 400-tonne limit on annual sales
St Louis Fed research chief calls Bitcoin ‘stroke of genius'
St Louis Fed vice president and head of research has raised some central bankers' eyebrows by encouraging them to ‘welcome the competition' from the virtual currency
Swiss upper house rejects initiative that would force SNB to double gold holdings
Proposal that would require central bank to hold at least 20% of total assets in gold is slated for referendum but political establishment is strongly opposed
Central banks cut gold purchases by a third, as consumers pick up slack
Global demand for gold fell 15% in 2013 compared with 2012, as central banks slowed their purchases and ETFs made hefty divestments
SNB loses $16 billion on gold
The Swiss National Bank expects to report a loss of 10 billion dollars for 2013 as heavy valuation losses on its gold holdings outweigh forex gains and StabFund profits
Central Bank of Venezuela to buy country's entire gold production
Central bank in joint bid with state oil company to ‘regularise' production, sales and purchases of the precious metal, which last year accounted for 70% of the bank's international reserves
Finland joins Riksbank in greater gold transparency
Bank of Finland joins Riksbank in revealing where it stores its gold; both banks cite geographical diversification as a motivation, but say it still makes sense to keep most in London
Riksbank reveals location of gold holdings
Three-quarters of the Swedish central bank's gold reserves are held in the UK and Canada; disclosure follows discussions with other central banks on confidentiality
RBI cuts overseas investment limit by three quarters
Reserve Bank of India unveils latest measure to halt the fall in the rupee's value - only days after announcing ‘open-ended' sales of short-term debt; issues clarifications on gold import restrictions