BIS taking in more gold - who are the counterparties this time?

Author: Rhona O'Connell
Posted:  Wednesday , 13 Oct 2010 

The latest figures from the IMF show that the Bank for International Settlements' declared gold holdings are on the increase again.  The BIS hit the headlines earlier this year when analyst Matthew Turner spotted figures in the BIS' Annual Report that showed the Bank's holdings of gold had soared as the Bank had carried out swaps with what turned out to be commercial counterparties (the initial interpretation was that it had come from other central banks).  By the end of April, the BIS' net gold holdings stood at 468 tonnes, having been just 119 tonnes as recently as the end of November.
The BIS' gold holdings were more or less unchanged over the next three months, but they have been increasing again since June, rising from approximately 467t to 512t over the months to end-August, an increase of 45t.
As shown in the chart below, the nominal value of the gold at the end of August stood at almost $21 Bn, more than five times as much as at the end of October 2009, reflecting a four-fold increase in the tonnage held, allied to a 20% increase in the gold price.


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