Basel III: Gold to be considered for Tier 1 status

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benjamen

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http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page103855?oid=152291&sn=Detail&pid=102055

"The Basel Committee for Bank Supervision (or BCBS) as part of the BIS are arguably the highest authority in banking supervision and it is their role to define capital requirements through the forthcoming Basel III rules.

In short, they are meeting to consider making gold a Tier 1 asset for commercial banks with 100% weighting rather than a Tier 3 asset with just a 50% risk weighting as it does today."

This would be incredibly bullish for gold if this happens. Basically it would provide incentive for every bank on the planet to hold gold!

:clap:
 
I think it's hilarious that it isn't already considered a tier I asset. What a fucking joke these banksters are.
 
...I was about to post a link to Tuesday's Capital Account, with John Butler, referring to that possible development, and the influence that gold not being Tier 1 fin instrument, has on the Gold price suppression. It also ties quite nicely with what our own swissaustrian said about the "liquidity drying up in the markets", thus enforcing gold sales - to raise liquidity.

In two words: regulators in Yurp, have risen the bar for the Tier 1 reserves -> thus forcing the banks to raise some more capital to comply -> thus commercial banks are selling some of their gold, to implement the reserve requirements. Guess who's buying. Central banks . Erm, shall I say, regulators themselves??

That is a very, very short version, I'd recommend to take a look at the whole edition and listen to the guy, he is describing very convincing dynamics in this regard - that would even play out to some degree, even without the manipulations - and why at the end of that "tighter" controls, it will most likely catapult gold significantly. Not to mention if it was accepted as a Tier 1 - all of the sudden, it would be competing on the level playground against government bonds (!). This is why it might not get implemented - these government folks are stupid, but not THAT stupid, I'd say, as to allow shooting themselves not only in the foot, but rather in the head -as their source of cheap credit is concerned.

 
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Gold can perform two jobs that other currencies or any other financial instruments can't do; gold acts as a safe haven in times of turmoil. Gold has acted, for the last couple of thousand years, as a means to preserve purchasing power. In 1913 (the year the US Federal Reserve was born) the US dollar was well a dollar, gold was US$20 an ounce. Today, at almost the 100 year anniversary of the Fed the dollar has lost 95 percent of its purchasing power and gold is $1600 an ounce.

If gold is made a Tier 1 Capital asset, banks could operate with far less equity capital than is normally required. Gold would be the new backstop for debt, currencies and bank equity capital. And if done so, institutional investments will shoot up gold prices very soon...
 
Seems like a ploy to get people to let banks hold gold for them, so they can loan it out, like they do with paper. If you read the fine print, it'll probably also state that the gold isn't really yours anymore.

Never trust the banks!
 
Seems like a ploy to get people to let banks hold gold for them, so they can loan it out, like they do with paper. If you read the fine print, it'll probably also state that the gold isn't really yours anymore.

Never trust the banks!

Absolutely spot on Mike! Well said man, well said. Never ever trust a bank. They are simply corporations working in their own self interests. Nothing more and nothing less. They no more have your best interests in mind than a burglar breaking in to your home does. They are profit centers and nothing matters to them but making more and more money.
 

The same could be said for any company. This is the heart of capitalism. Everyone is out to help themselves.

The problem is when you can pay off, I mean lobby, politicians to pass laws to help you or your company.
 
The same could be said for any company. This is the heart of capitalism. Everyone is out to help themselves.

The problem is when you can pay off, I mean lobby, politicians to pass laws to help you or your company.

Agreed, but the point I was making is never ever trust them to "hold" something for you.....ever. As was pointed out, the devil is in the details, and usually in number three font at the bottom of page 184 of some contract you have to sign.
 
...or when contracts are not enforced, law is not being executed, and no one goes to jail. Otherwise, I wouldn't have any issues, NOT trusting the banks, yet still doing business with them -as long as contracts are honoured/can be enforced, rules are not being bent, and stupid or crooked are getting what they deserved, instead of bailouts or non-prosecution.

Wysyłane z mojego GT-I9100 za pomocą Tapatalk 2
 
Bushi,
Unfortunately, the enforcement of CDS are primarily the underwriters of the very same contractrs. These guys are teh rulemakers and the gamers at the same time.
 
This is the heart of capitalism. Everyone is out to help themselves.

No, banks are counterfeiters running a ponzi (totally illegal and immoral on both counts) and they have a government-sanctioned monopoly on their counterfeiting, ponzi operation. They also rob us through inflation, while privatizing their profits and socializing their losses via a coercive government.

None of this has anything to do with Capitalism. Capitalism is about mutually beneficial contracts between consenting parties, property rights, and the rule of law.
 
Update from the FDIC:
http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/financial/2012/fil12027.html

"The following exposures would receive a zero percent risk weight under the proposal:

•Cash;
•Gold bullion;
•Direct and unconditional claims on the U.S. government, its central bank, or a U.S. government agency;
•Exposures unconditionally guaranteed by the U.S. government, its central bank, or a U.S. government agency;
•Claims on certain supranational entities (such as the International Monetary Fund) and certain multilateral development banking organizations
•Claims on and exposures unconditionally guaranteed by sovereign entities that meet certain criteria (as discussed below)."

 
Tradition!

 
Gold bullion, hopefully not paper.

"In all cases the banking organization would be required to have a perfected, first priority interest in the financial collateral."

That doesn't sound like most paper to me, but I'm guessing that paper claims to "fully allocated" gold do meet the criteria - at least until someone attempts to redeem the paper claims for the (re)hypothecated physical gold.
 
"first priority interest in the collateral" could also be JPM's interest in the gold of GLD for example. In the end the little guy will always lose. Otherwise these rule changes wouldn't be considered.
 
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http://seekingalpha.com/article/668...rn-gold-to-the-center-of-the-banking-universe
 
Article on the implications of this change:
http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/is-gold-a-zero-risk-financial-asset.html/

“A key reason why gold has not been acting like a safe-haven asset in recent months is because banks are so capital impaired that they are scrambling to reduce their holdings of risky assets in favour of so-called ‘zero-risk-weighted’ "

This is also one of the big reasons precious metals took a big hit in the 2008 crash. This is making me want to pick up some gold!
 

http://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/news/2012/11/09/feds-to-delay-basel-iii-requirements.html

Press release:
http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/press/2012/pr12130.html
 
And this was announced two days after the election.
I'm looking forward to more post-election surprises.
 

http://us.practicallaw.com/8-522-3973

SHANGHAI: China will not postpone implementation of tougher global bank capital rules despite a delay in compliance by U.S. banks, the official Shanghai Securities News reported on Tuesday, citing unidentified sources.
...

http://articles.economictimes.india...el-iii-tougher-rules-future-taxpayer-bailouts
 
If that's the case, Basel III will never be (fully) implemented in the USA.
 
Fun fact:

One of the reason U.S. banks are dragging their heels on this one is because of the reserve requirement on highly levered loans. Once Basel III comes into effect, most loans with less than 20% down will go away.

Go away for who? The loan-taker?
 
That is already happening with private loans here in Central Florida anyway. I dare you to apply for a mortgage with less than 15 - 20% of your own hide in the game. The credit union already halved my loan line [not that I use it, but it looks good on my credit statement] and reduced my unsecured credit by a third.
 
Once Basel III comes into effect, most loans with less than 20% down will go away.

...am I the only one, who sees that requirement as EXTREMELY bearish for house prices, if implemented?

Putting up 20% of price of 500k house, is something entirely different, than putting up 20% of a 100k one (difficult enough for many...).

I personally think, that "no-significant upfront payment required" rule, is one that is MOST responsible for pushing house prices up, artificially. And it is putting pressure on prudent people (artificial competition on houses and mortgages from non-prudent ones).
 
I see it too Bushi, and as far as I am concerned it is the thing we need in banking to control these fuckers. Loaning huge sums of money to folks with little or no skin in the game is insane.
 
I see it too Bushi, and as far as I am concerned it is the thing we need in banking to control these fuckers. Loaning huge sums of money to folks with little or no skin in the game is insane.

If left to their own devices, no bank would provide these risky loans (at least the ones that would last more than a few years). There is a clear downtrend in rates of default in mortgages that the buyer puts at least 20% down. Interestingly, banks would probably not even do 30 year loans in a free market due to the long duration interest rate risks involved; anyone old enough to remember 10-20 year mortgages being the norm?

This leaves us with why any bank that wants to remain in business long term would do such a thing. Enter the perverse incentives of the U.S. government. This is the government that decided that it is not okay for a bank to refuse to provide mortgage loans to citizens simply because they don't have the financial means to repay said loan. Home ownership must be encouraged for every family in the country regardless of income, actually having a job, credit score, or other silly financial metrics.

Enter VA and FHA type loans! These program turn the banks away from the position of a lender and towards a position of paperwork filler out guy. All the bank does is lend to whoever the government thinks should have a loan and then immediately turn around and sell that loan to Frannie, Freddie, ect. Everyone must have a home loan with 3-4% down at most!

If the bank doesn't like this system, then good luck getting that governmental approval to expand your bank to a new state. Good luck passing that next FINRA, SEC, or FED inspection!

When the whole system blows up in their faces, the government blames the mean ole bankers! It is loudly declared that the problem is to big to fail banks. The obvious solution is for the government to bail out the bigger banks, prod them to merge into fewer, even bigger mega banks. Follow this up with the awesome Dodd-Frank act that is effectively killing medium sized banks, awesome! If your small enough Dodd-Frank doesn't apply to you. Once you are big enough, the immense cost of all the new regulations makes it hard to bear until you are much larger, which is prompting a lot of medium banks to begin to merge into bigger banks!
 
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So a basic question I have is:

If Basel III is coming orur way, why haven't we seen the major impacts already happening?

With gold becoming Tier 1 I would expect everyone to be jumping on it. Maybe the smart ones are already, though I would expect gold prices to be moving up more than they are now.

I agree with bushi that this should really clobber real estate. On the one hand, people who are solvent and looking for a house would want to wait until prices drop once nobody else can get a mortgage. On the other, anyone who is smart enough to know this and not solvent enough to put 20% down would be rushing out to buy now.

Are the banks still pushing cheapy loans while they can and then plan to collect the collateral once Basel hits?
 
...
If Basel III is coming orur way, why haven't we seen the major impacts already happening?
...

I think the public is still largely ignorant. Why haven't hedge funds moved the needle? I'm guessing they are buying paper gold (etfs) if they are buying any at all (ie. not physical and not futures contracts). That isn't going to affect the spot price or cause any supply strain. There is some evidence that banks are shoring up gold holdings, but it's hard to say if it's real, physical gold, or rehypothecated (LBMA) claims.
 

http://www.jsmineset.com/2013/01/09/the-reasoning-behind-basel-three-liquidity-requirement-delays/
 

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/b...-door-on-bank-bailouts.html?ref=business&_r=0

No word on how this bill might affect gold being considered a tier one asset.
 
I was just watching Fox Business News (FBN) and they were showing someone interviewing Jack Lew (current Treasury Secretary). He (Mr. Lew) was talking about a recent meeting he had at the White House with the President and "market regulators". While talking about their progress on implementing Dodd-Frank requirements, Mr. Lew said (and I'm paraphrasing):

We checked to see where were were versus Basel III - whether we were above, below, etc. And we're ahead.

Ie. the USA is ahead of schedule (or ahead of the rest of the world) in complying with Basel III requirements.

WTF?
 
I did some searching around and found this (published Aug. 6):
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-...-impeded-by-fed-rules-on-basel-iii-taxes.html

Looks like they are still slowly crawling along towards implementing it - at least parts of it. I aloso found this from February:
http://macrowealthpreservation.blogspot.com/2013/02/bis-rejects-gold-as-tier-1-asset-for-now.html
 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/19/lbma-gold-regulations-idUSL8N12J3CS20151019

So, it seems that we understood it backwards - gold isn't going to be valued at 85%, it's going to be valued at 15%. 85% is the value of cash they need to hold in reserve to cover the value of the gold (in case the market/price crashed).

:doodoo:
 
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