Untangling gold at the Bank of England
byFrom 2006 the Bank of England’s Annual Report has declared the quantity of gold in its custody, including the UK’s own 310 tonnes. Prior…
Cyprus
Bank balances and gold
byThere has been a growing shift in favour of assets relative to bank deposits. This was initially encouraged by zero interest rates, but more…
Gold sell-off: there is only one question that matters
byLast Friday I participated in a (very short) debate on BBC Radio Four’s Today Programme on the future direction of gold. Tom Kendall, global head of…
Someone has to pay – will it be you?
byThe Cyprus banking kerfuffle has ignited a blogosphere storm debating the likelihood that depositors elsewhere, perhaps even ‘guaranteed’ ones, may find themselves on the…
Cyprus triggers preference for goods
byAlmost certainly prices for goods in Cyprus will rise as a result of its banking crisis, because the imposition of capital controls will restrict…
Cyprus and banking
byThis is democracy in the European Union. Last week the Cypriot parliament voted down a proposal to secure the €10 billion funding needed to…
Good riddance to deposit ‘insurance’
byOnce the public furor and shrill media coverage have died down it will become clear that events in Cyprus did not mark the death…
Auflockerung avoided
byCyprus may or may not prove to be a ‘watershed’ for the European crisis but what we can say for now (tempting fate outrageously…
Cyprus – oh the irony!?
bySeemingly innocuous events can portend more serious outcomes, though we recognise them only in hindsight. This is the dramatic irony of history. When a…