I have warned many times against holding gold in a bank. It could be subject to bail-ins, or freezing of bank assets even if it is held in a private safe deposit box. If it is held in the bank’s general vault, the risks are much higher. We have seen numerous examples of the gold bars that the client thought he had bought are not there. When the client then wanted to move his gold, the bank had to go and get new bars. So even allocated bars in a bank could be very risky.
We are also seeing with increasing frequency that even Swiss banks are resisting any attempt by clients to take out their gold or money. They are inventing all kinds obstacles like that clients can only take out 100,000 Swiss francs (same in dollars) in cash or in gold per year.
A recent restriction from a Swiss bank is that a withdrawal of more than 500,000 francs requires board approval. It is of course totally ridiculous that a client cannot take out his own money or assets of the bank. But this is the way things are going. Not only are banks unsafe institutions to keep your money or assets in, but once the bank has it all, you can’t get it out.
In my view no major assets should be kept in a bank if it can be avoided except for funds required for instant liquidity. Gold (and silver) is totally liquid and easy to convert to fiat money for any liquidity requirement. Much better to hold assets in the form of physical metals under your own control. Any assets held in a bank will be exposed to all the risks of bail-in, debasement, liquidity restrictions (think Argentina), fraud or bankruptcy.
If a client stores his gold in a private vault through our company, we will provide instant liquidity at whatever amount. The client can naturally also take out his own gold physically.
Now is the time to insure your house while there is still time.
Who owns the vault? And what are the fees?