This Month in Gold – November 2014

Swiss Vote “No” on the “Save Our Swiss Gold” Initiative
Wall Street Journal – Swiss voters voted down the Swiss gold referendum that would have forced the Swiss National Bank to hold 20% of its assets in gold. About 78% of voters were against the initiative, which was heavily opposed by the SNB and much of the Swiss parliament. Opponents said the measure would have made it too difficult for the bank to maintain its monetary policy that depends on pegging the Swiss franc to the weaker euro. Advocates for the initiative hoped it would strengthen the weakening Swiss franc. The measure would have also prevented the SNB from selling gold and required it to repatriate its gold. The SNB currently has 1,040 metric tons of gold, only about 7.5% of its assets.
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Netherlands Repatriating Gold Reserves from US
Wall Street Journal – The Dutch central bank (DNB) will be moving some of its gold reserves held at the New York Federal Reserve back to the Netherlands. The DNB currently holds 11% of its 612 metric tons of gold reserves domestically and wants to increase that to 31%. Currently, 51% of its gold reserves are stored at the NY Fed, but this will drop to 31% after the repatriation. The DNB is the latest European central bank to express concerns about the safety of its gold reserves held abroad, following the example of the German gold repatriation effort begun in 2013. According to the DNB, the repatriation will have “a positive effect on public confidence” by distributing its gold reserves in “a more balanced way.”
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Prominent French Politician Calls for Gold Audit & Repatriation
Forbes – Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s Front National political party, has written a public letter to the French central bank calling for gold repatriation. In addition to repatriation, Le Pen asked that the bank buy more gold to increase its reserves by 20% and to promise to never sell any gold. She also called for an independent audit of France’s gold reserves of 2,435 metric tons, officially the fifth largest in the world. Le Pen stressed that France’s gold reserves, “do not belong to the state, nor the Bank of France, but to the French people, which serve as the ultimate guarantee of public debt and our money.”
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Russia Continues to Buy Gold to Protect Ruble
Bloomberg – Russia has bought about 35 metric tons of gold since the end of September, totaling about 150 tons for all of 2014, according to Russian central bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina. Russia’s September gold purchases of 37.2 tons was the largest addition to its reserves since 1998. Russia has tripled its gold reserves since 2005, with official holdings at 1,185 tons according to IMF data. Russia is buying gold to diversify and stabilize its ruble, which hit a record low due to a drop in oil prices and ongoing Western economic sanctions.
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