BIS Gold Swaps Mystery Is Unravelled

Gold swaps are done with monetary authorities. Gold leases are done with "for profit entities" such as gold banks.

Source: jsmineset.com

The Financial Times has learnt that the swaps, which were initiated by the BIS, came as the so-called “central banks’ bank” sought to obtain a return on its huge US dollar-denominated holdings. The BIS asked the commercial banks to pledge a gold swap as guarantee for the dollar deposits they were taking from the Basel-based institution.

Some analysts speculated that the swap deals were a surreptitious bail-out of the European banking system ahead of last week’s publication of stress tests. But bankers and officials have described the transactions as “mutually beneficial”.

Source: ft.com