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Pop Quiz Answer: Presenting Countries "X" And "Y"
In our pop quiz article earlier today, we asked the question of which two countries - notable among the uber-wealthy Russian oligarch class - are approaching the same ratio of financial assets to GDP as seen in both Cyprus and Iceland, and which has been blamed for the recent onslaught against Cypriot savers.
We were not surprised to note that the vast majority of readers figured out that one country, noted as X, was Switzerland, where as we have discussed over the years, just two banks, UBS and Credit Suisse alone have three times more assets than the total Swiss GDP. The top 10 Swiss banks with total assets as reported by Bloomberg are shown on the chart below:

This implies that, as has been known for decades, Switzerland is one mega-banked country, and it should come as no surprise to anyone that the vast majority of bank liabilities are in the form of deposits.
Are Swiss deposits as a fraction of total liabilities as high as in Cyprus? The full, accurate breakdown is not very clear, especially since many banks are rather "loose" with how they define their liabilities out of legacy deposit secrecy concerns. However, it is accurate to say that when it comes to funding, the Swiss financial system does have a preponderance of deposits on the right side of the balance sheet.
Does that make deposit tax levy in the country that was formerly synonymous with bank secrecy, and where having a bank account used to be a symbol of wealth and success, feasible? Absolutely. Does it mean it will actually happen? We have no idea. But then again nobody had any idea a week ago that Cyprus would shock its depositors on Saturday with news that up to 9.9% of their savings would be expropriated.
What would make a Swiss bank tax levy it more likely is if, following ongoing exposure of tax evasion in Switzerland or for any other reason, depositors decided to pull their money out of banks in bulk, forcing a funding collapse and a vicious financial system contractionary cycle, which might then force the local government to follow through with a Cypriot type act. It certainly would not be unprecedented: it was only several months ago that various Swiss banks implemented negative deposit rates. All a deposit tax levy would do would be to collapse the ongoing "taxation" from negative rates in a one-time event.
Finally, with Russian oligarchs a key source of marginal funding of Swiss deposit accounts in the past several years, should the witch hunt against Russian wealth escalate beyond merely the Eurozone, due to political pressure or otherwise, it would make this particular class of Swiss bank clients especially vulnerable to an unwelcome, and unexpected (but long ago predicted) tax on their wealth.
So much for country X Switzerland.
Moving to country Y, we were surprised to see only two readers suggest, correctly, that it was Singapore, with a total financial asset to GDP rate of 7.7x.
Although, in retrospect, it is perhaps not all that surprising, and it means that Singapore is doing a great job of preserving the fact that it is now the defacto target of the world's uber wealthy depositors, who no longer have faith in the Swiss banking system, mostly due to the loss of banking secrecy which for centuries made Switzerland the preferred target of accrued wealth from around the world. In other words, Singapore is doing precisely what its depositors want it to do - stay off everyone's radar as much as possible.
Below, again from Bloomberg, is a breakdown of the top Singapore banks by assets. Here, even more so, it becomes obvious just how concentrated the assets are among the top 5 banks, which collectively have nearly 7x more assets than the host nation's GDP.
We fully expect the asset-to-GDP ratio of Singapore's financial system to soar in the coming months, as more ultra-wealthy "private clients" from around the world reallocate their savings from Switzerland, certainly from the Europe's periphery, and now - even from Europe's core in the aftermath of Cyprus, and into Singapore very much under the radar banks and financial institutions.
And while the Swiss confiscation risk is certainly out there, it is anyone's guess if, when and under what conditions even the last bastion of savers, Singapore, will proceed with blatant wealth expropriation. If that happens, it is just as unclear where in the world, if anywhere, there will be a safe place for inert capital, one which is not invested in assorted risky assets (or is buried underground).
Which perhaps has been be the goal all along - after all the one thing the Keynesians in the world are suffering from (and are constantly shocked by) is the record low velocity of money. What better way to boost said velocity, and monetary circulation, than by making depositors themselves doubt the sanctity of their cash held in a bank.... Any bank, anywhere in the world.
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Listen to Simon Black though and store your gold and safe and sound in Singapore.
Prefer to hold some gold and a clip full of lead in my hand instead.
If dey gotz so much money how come they called Singa Po'
I was wrong. 0%
Fill in the blank was never my forte'.
I always did better on essay questions.
;-)
And the winner is .... helicopter Ben
Maybe we now know why the Swiss were allocating their customer's gold accounts.
In other Swiss news looks like the people have collected enough signatures to force repatriation of Swiss Gold.
==========
The UDC has filed its initiative to preserve the gold reserves
UDC wants to preserve the gold reserves of the National Bank (SNB) in the current context of currency instability. It filed its initiative "Save gold for Switzerland", equipped with 105'279 signatures. The initials must now be controlled by the Federal Chancellery.
The initiative focuses on three claims. She asked the SNB to halt its sales of gold, repatriate all the gold stored Switzerland abroad and stockpiling gold for at least 20% of its assets. The current context of currency instability makes such a compulsory measure, officials said the SVP in a statement.
Maintain the stock of 1040 tons of gold from the SNB is required to ensure the stability of the Swiss franc. This helps protect private savings and the level of wages, annuities and pensions, say initiators.
United States singled out
Nearly half of the gold reserves of the NBS are deposited abroad, with the largest share in the United States. National Councillor Lukas Reimann (UDC / AG), member of the initiative committee, fears that the state of indebtedness which are in the United States do pose a threat to Swiss gold placed at the U.S. Federal Reserve.
He cites as examples the recently expressed refusal by U.S. authorities at Germany, who asked to inspect the vaults of the Federal Reserve when its gold stocks are stored.
(Ats / 20.03.2013 14:00)
http://www.romandie.com/news/n/L_UDC_a_depose_son_initiative_pour_preser...
the advantage of a direct democracy.
At least poeple still have some influence over the countless lobbyists
Why don't they just steal the REST of my Soc. Sec.??
Behold the holy grail of behavioral economics. This method treads a bit lighter on the proletariat debt serfs as it forces the holders of capital to stimulate something rather than just having governments pile up more debt (much of which is simply siphoned off by the same global elite class) to be paid off by your kids and grandkids in a very cruel form of indentured servitude. Call it what it really is, taxation without representation (the generation paying it back had no say in how it was spent).
But you will never hear a democrat admit as much, it is their grandest secret that they are in fact destroying the very ones they claim to want to help (and laughing all the way to the bank).
I am part of this effort.
Here's my more accurate take (orginally posted here: http://www.pmbug.com/forum/f2/switzerland-referendum-prohibition-gold-sa... )
Switzerland has a system of direct democracy. The people can demand a referendum on all new federal laws. Changes of the federal constitution are always subject to a referendum. The Swiss constitution offers the institution of a "constitutional initiative". If a certain number of people sign a petition to change the constitution, then a nationwide referendum will be held.
Recently, the Swiss Peoples Party (SVP), mainly a neocon collectivist party, has launched a constitutional initiative to ban gold sales by the Swiss central bank (SNB), to require the SNB to hold at least 20% of it´s assets in gold, and to store all Swiss gold in Switzerland. This is obviously a great idea. I´m actively trying to get signatures right now, although I´m not a member of this party and I think most of their positions are terrible. I´m confident that we´ll get enough signatures (100000 reuired by march 2013) to have a referendum. Most political parties will not support our cause, but the Swiss people have prooven that they´re voting against their politicains if they think a certain cause is just.
The icing on the cake is that - if passed - the initiative could cost us our IMF membership, because it effectively means instituting a partial gold standard (20% of the SNB assests in gold, all the time) which is prohibited for IMF members.
Official text of the initiative
Quote :Federal popular initiative 'Save our Swiss Gold (gold initiative)'
I
The Federal Constitution1 is amended as follows:
Article 99 (new) Gold reserves of the Swiss National Bank
1 The gold reserves of the Swiss National Bank are not for sale.
2 The gold reserves of the Swiss National Bank must be stored in Switzerland.
3 The Swiss National Bank has to keep their assets to a large extent in gold. The gold content shall be not less than twenty percent.
Plus they have hot blondes! Gold on gold baby.
you must think they drive Volvos too
I dunno about hot blondes - I know a lot of hot swiss brunettes that speak French - so visual evidence please.
you need to hook up with monkeynose?
http://www.englishforum.ch/other-general/29047-need-good-english-speakin...
That would be Sweden...
"I was wrong. 0%."
Ditto. I chose France & UK BAH!
frankly, i bet on the carribean trio cayman, bahamas, bermuda. like, what do these three islands produce other than shell corporations and bank accounts?
Uhmm, I looked onto the annual report of Malacca Trust ("no. 1" in asset value for Singapore), and the value of their assets is 1007B... indonesian roupies! Not Singaporean dollars! 1007B IDR = 80M€, peanuts.
Do you expect people to bother with those tiny details? News does the same exact thing when talking about those corrupt government officials in China. Billion RMB automagically becomes billion USD because it just sounds better, captures headlines and journalism is a complete joke.
That explains why I never heard of it.
Swiss bank deposits are like Swiss watches.
Swiss bank deposits are like Swiss watches. Everybody wants to buy a reprpoduction Singapore Swiss watch instead.
More like, the fakes are just as good as the original, but cost a whole lot less and only an expert might care. But in the end, it's just a watch either way and as long as it works who the fuck cares.
There's a whole industry in north-western Switzerland built on watch buying tourism from Asia. They're channelling in buses of Chinese to spend thousands of CHFs at watch stores. I've been told that many of them are buying multiple watches, because tarrifs are making these watches more expensive in China.
You will care if you dive with it to 30M under water
And the number of people who dive 30m under water? Sorry, there are already dive watches out there which are far more useful. Buy a fake and don't dive 30m underwater with it. So difficult to remember, and even if you do, it's just a fake and cheap to replace anyways.
Don't need a watch anymore, cell phone does the job.
So fucking true.
I think it's time to review Singapore's human rights record
Coin toss. Who do you trust? Muslims or Christians?
Child, please. Christians are people, and have all the normal problems associated with basic human nature that everyone else has.
Muslims on the other hand, are a duplicitous, bloodthirsty people with a diabolical political system that masquerades as a religion. When it comes to violence, dehumanization, and economic and social failure, their track record is nearly perfect
You left out Islam's establishment of child molestation as "normal," or, more accurately, "divinely-inspired," as the pedophile-prophet Mohammad demonstrated with his youngest "wife," Aisha, who was 7 when he "married" her, and 9 when he first raped her.
We allow these people to immigrate here.
And build Mosques.
And vote.
If you mean fucktard bleeding heart liberal communist cocksuckers when you say "we" , then you are correct.
But "allow" is a typo. Try encourage and pay.
I was pulling punches. Forgot this was fight club. Sorry. Won't happen again.
we do the same for catholics
http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_03_16/Paedophilia-not-a-criminal-condition-C...
Gross misrepresentation. You should be ashamed.
Pedophiila is ensconced in Islam theology. It is not ensonced in Christian theology. Any argument to the contrary must combat 2000 years of Christian tradition and 1600 years of Muslim tradition, simultaneously.
Good luck with that.
I'll trust my 5 year old child within the hands of any Catholic Cardinal before leaving her in the hands of... anyone else.
And I'm a protestant!
hey..i didn't mention scout leaders, who have just about as much right to molest kids as catholic or moslem priests!
...which is to say: zero.
Was there a point to this?
A religion that tells you to murder your own children and call it honor killing doesn't come from God it comes from the devil.
god, devil or any other deity do not exist and all religions are made-up. enough with fairy tales already. i am here for reality and people talk about their hallucinations.
God is reality. You cannot deny one and have the other.
So basically, you're saying Christians are people and Muslims are people. I totally agree.
hmmm..i know i don't trust any hindus or mormons..i do trust some of each of your choices
as in distrust most those we know the least
Yeah and that "Mormons are the chosen people" really went to shit when Romney lost the election. I mean they should have been able to do their underwear magic eh?
that's twice you said that..and i listened very carefully too
DUPLICATE REMOVED.
Human rights? As compared to America's human rights record? Now that's a funny one...100's of thousands of (dead) Iraqi citizens might have a different point of view.
And at least in Singapore there's still a chance that criminals will be prosecuted, unlike the too big to jail BS
I guess we oughta feel bad about all those nazis we killed too.
Fuck you to hell, you miserable piece of shit.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KG2ncktL1z4/T22xwVPXcNI/AAAAAAAAAL0/jKg-D9B4Vr...
(Little Nazi at link.)
You're just pissed 'cause your boy was dragged off to the Hague.
Collateral damage is a biatch!
Collateral damage is a biatch!
Yes, maybe there are some rebel groups in Singapore to aid as well.
How about US human rights?
After passage of the Military Defense Authorization Act we don't have any.
Singapore used to be a great manufacturing country... "Switzerland by 1999" was an old saying to indicate the standard of living they aspired to. Now the country is just a hollow bunch of greedy bankers.
"Now the country is just a hollow bunch of greedy bankers." ....
Not exactly ... don't forget about Nestlé!
“Good Food, Good Life”,
;)
Roche, Novartis, SGS, Syngenta, Giveaudan, Schindler , Swatch.....etc.
The Crème de la Crème of humanity!
Noblesse oblige!
Check out the second article from the top.
http://armstrongeconomics.com/armstrong_economics_blog/
(Disclaimer: I'm not too sure yet how to rate this guy and his wonderful wacky computer!)
Martin Armstrong is an interesting guy, whose economic forecasting ability was coveted by the US government and then they went after him when he wouldn't co-operate
Crooked US federal judges jailed Armstrong for many years on 'contempt of court' for refusing to 'co-operate' (no charges, no jury, no trial, no conviction, just the US judge's personal malice and unlimited power)
They only agreed to terminate his imprisonment after extorting Armstrong to plead guilty, and 'agreeing' to several years more in US prison but with an end date ... his choice was either stay in till death under 'contempt of court' or plead guilty
They tried to kill him in prison, bashed his head and teeth in
Eventually they let Armstrong out, but he is not the same man now, poor guy
Another political victim of the USA
really?
Yeah thats kinda heavy.
...and Sandoz (absorbed into Novartis in the 1990s), where Albert Hofmann first synthesized LSD.
i work at one of those companies. :-)
Not mentioning Trafigura, Vitol, Xstrata......
those are just commodity bankers...
The financial sector employs around 6% of the working population and contributes ca. 10% to Switzerland's economic performance.
Ever heard about Rolex? Un vero terrone farà sacrifici x portarla!
Ciao Maximus!
Come va in Italia?
Quando parte la rivoluzione?
Fammelo sapere che scendo e mi unisco a voi!
Hi Oliver.
Habeamus papam, ma purtroppo ci manca la cupola ....ancora. Speriamo in bene! Spero che Beppe makes my day, Mario in Angelaland will do the rest, cansapevole, che non siamo e saremo in grado di fare un c......
All banking is Ponzi is what I get out of this post. The more dense the Ponzi, the harder it will fall. If you are not dependent on this crap, you are not as vulnerable.
Flee all areas heavily dependent on banking!!!
The wait for the fall is driving me fucking insane.
Com'on now, we are hardly out of winter and you want us to endure that fooking weather again?
The part that is driving the entire ZH brotherhood insane is the wait...but more so the utterly ridiculous notions of how all of this shall be fixed, entirely devoid of math, law, geopolitical consideration...and absolutely devoid of any common sense. The "best and brightest" banking tools are literally slobbering on themselves trying to explain away simple things like how €16 billion in bailout cash does not insure €130 billion in withdrawals...once the front doors of Cyprian banks are opened.
Sheer stupidity. Who the f*ck are these people...and why aren't they wearing hockey helmets when they appear on television?
To be fair to the banking tools, not all of the Cypriot deposits are eligible for immediate withdrawal. Cyprus offered a lot of high-yield, fixed term accounts that cannot be withdrawn before maturity. They only need to cover immediate liabilities and pray that they can meet later needs later—kicking the can in the finest European tradition.
What are the odds that one or more large Russian accounts will be closed and all funds transfered by the time the doors open for business again?
It's coming, might be another 2-3 years, but it's close. Till then why not enjoy life, spend time with your family, have a good meal, do some hiking. Why let this stuff bother you, as long as you're prepared (Guns, silver, land, food, water, medicine) why let it ruin today?
Being prepared means staying alert and paying attention when things happen. Things are happening.
I agree. Just saying you can't let it consume you, and should enjoy today as much as you can while remaining vigilant. With the magic money machine and control of everything financial, they (The Oligarchs) can keep things going a while longer.
stop waiting in vain, because the fall will not happen as you expect.
On the plus side, Singapore does not really have an "elected" goverment - it is more in the way of a benign despot situation.
On the negative side, Singapore does not really have an "elected" goverment - it is more in the way of a benign despot situation.
Wherever you go, there is going to be someone whose palm you will need to grease if you want to be "a fully insured depositor".
Fractional reserve = Usury.
Negative real interest rates = inverted usury against savers
wrong. just flee all areas where there is no opportunity to live directly off potable water, the land and/or its animals.
Hong Kong comes to my mind, as well. It's a fucking huge financial hub for its size.
Let's see should I trust Bank A or Bank B with all of my precoius 1's and 0's *OR* should I trade in my 1's and 0's for physical PM's...................Hmmmmm.........
Let's see should I trust Bank A or Bank B with all of my precoius 1's and 0's
As a lunatic, you should stick to your "precoius" 1' and 0's (that is probably the best characterization of Ponzi scheme called bitcoins I have ever seen).
Your "Tyler" strikes me more and more as an absolute moron. The reason for safety of banking in Singapore is the booming economy of the region. Leading Singaporean banks (like OCBC or DBS ) are considered the best in the world: they hold very
reasonable assets (not Greek bonds), do not pay huge interests on deposits and charge fees on offshore accounts. The government in Singapore insure only 25000 SGD per customer and does not insure foreign currency accounts at all. I can imagine that banks hold some local sovereign bonds but those considered to be among the best available. The local laws assure that bank CEOs are personally responsible for deposit funds if gambled away by bankers (and therefore it never happened with local banks. The known incident which happened in Singapore was with UK bank).
As long as these conditions are in place, I have no worries in keeping my money in this jurisdiction (and then the ratio assets of banks to country GDP is totally irrelevant cause Sing. gov. is not suppose to bail out banks anyway).
7 billion $ loss in UBS by Singapore GIC?
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-26/singapore-inc-s-bank-bet-losses...
Message from Central Planners: Spend everything. Save nothing.
If you even have change in your pocket, that is unproductive. Spend it as soon as you get it and every penny too.
Your sunny outlook has clouded your judgment ...
This is ALL about reflating a credit bubble. Those Central Planners are insisting you spend MOAR than you have.
I'm really surprised some crafty central banker hasn't come up with expiry dates for fiat yet. I proposed it in 1989 after eating too much mushroom pizza.
It was only momentary insanity.
These dorks never came down from their pizza party.
That advice is so 1930s. Update it to the fifties: buy now pay later. Update to the eighties:Spend it and stick someone else with the bill. Update to today: try and duck out the door before you get stuck with the bill.
Malaka Trust :)
Yeah, I laughed at that too. If you're Greek, you can't trust a bank with that name. Imagine a British bank, called Wankers Trust. LOL.
When is Stopler initiating a trade on CHF?
http://wallstreetfool.com/
great work..
now for luxembourg, leichtenstein, hong kong, macao, bahamas, bermuda, cayman islands, or european cities like frankfurt, london, edinburgh,
DELAWARE, and other US/Canadian states or cities like New York, Chicago, Toronto
all banks operate on a principal basis...so does berkshire (its their money)
fund managers operare on an agency basis (its not their money)
a collapse of any bank in a concentrated local geographic reason will have a devastating impact on the local region...for the global economy...not so much
of course, people like Larry Fink by name Fink by nature dont care about Cyprus, as it does not affect their salary.
900,000 people in one loca area don't matter to him, unless they break his knee caps in outrage that he thinks they just don't matter
Wilmington, DE will not fare a US bank failure very well. We have enough crime as is. The skyline would improve, however; It mocks me everytime I drive into work.
I suspect you'll see a tsunami of money into Cyprus if they leave the EU under the condition the Russian black money also returns. I personaly believe the safest harbor will be where moral hazard is most likely to be enforced i.e. you don't fuck with the mob's money. That happens as long as the bank is paying protection money to the mob aka in Russian loans.
"the safest harbor will be where moral hazard is most likely to be enforced i.e. you don't fuck with the mob's money"
This comment reminds me of Stephenson's Snow Crash, where geographic borders are long gone and 'citizens' associate (permanently or temporarily) with syndicates, which provide their own currency, services, security, sovereign locations, etc. One of the primary syndicates described in the book is the 'mob' syndicate, an idea that seems all the more plausible given current events... yes, please, I'll associate with the group that KEEPS IT'S WORD.
This line of thinking certainly puts Russia into perspective... they may have lost the Cold War, but in the game of global chess Putin has been relentlessly paring & cornering the West...
Stephenson is an f'ing visionary.
Yeah you know there is this little universal scientific law based on a formula called V=IR. It applies to the flow of anything including money. The key is to be able to map the financial system connections like a circuit and correctly define which entities are the resistors, capacitors/inductors, etc. You can infer their values from the other elements like the money supply, etc. That old saying about electricity will take the path of least resistance applies to more than just electricity. You don't need a PHD to understand that the systems work on the same principles and it is a simple case of mapping from one to the other to apply the specific math to understand what is going on.
Regrettably, some systems can only be described via non-linear, multi-dimensional, differential equations. V = I * R is much simpler.
So....Russia is going to give Cyprus [rumor] € 5.6 billion to bail out its banks...which will be matched with €10 billion from the ECB...and then Russians will be able to withdraw €100 billion in deposits from the besieged banks? Do I have the latest rumor correct? And on top of that, the 1.1 million people actually living in Cyprus will also be able to get their savings deposits, too?
And as this post then goes on to point out, after the miracle of fractional Cyprian money occurs, the Russians will be able to safely deposit their €100 billion in ________________________?
The global criminal banking cartel that has now been set loose on the world [once again]...needs remedial math lessons, as well as geopolitical monetary game theory lessons.
exaccery right! follow the money
Any rescue won't work without capital controls. Even if Russians gave 5.6 bln to Cyprus against collateral like natural gas claims, there would be a bank run the next morning. Once confidence is gone, it is gone and never comes back. The only way they can go even in a best case solution is to freeze the deposits for years like Argentina did.
I guessed right, just didn't think to comment. Can I get a contributor page for that? Or maybe if I answer some other trivia question?
Ponder this my friends... The Fed is unable to sop up the 3+ trillion of liquidity it created during the crisis and decides to go Cyprus. 9% haircut for depositors as a means to bring home the reserves. If we get any kind of spike in rates how else could it be achieved that quickly?
401's
Haircut on privately held treasuries, just like has been done in the case of Greek sovereign debt.
wealthy people are making me very "uptight" as of late. and this taxation thing.
i would rather have wealth of the soul, peace of mind and be left alone to prosper as I see fit...
any good people out there hear me...
live and let live
like this you mean from Max Ehrmann in 1927?
Desiderata
Go placidly amidst the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its shams, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
thanks for sharing words of wisdom. :-)
"I don't care if it's just a hang nail. My tolerance for pain is really low. Let's rip the bandage off really fast and get it over with." -Bernake
"What better way to boost said velocity, and monetary circulation, than by making depositors themselves doubt the sanctity of their cash held in a bank.... Any bank, anywhere in the world."
BINGO. Velocity naturally increases due to supply shortage, but not too sure it would be enough.
That's why the scaring out of bank accounts, couple that with the fact that gold is being heavily repatriated, ( sold by the FED some say ), and the recipe for a currency bait an switch backed by gold. There is absolutely no other reason to do this.
There HAS to be manipulation in the Gold market. How else could you explain a down day today?
Not just today -- seriously, the Cyprus situation is a bigger deal than the pre-crash activity in 2008, and gold skyrocketed after the margin calls and desperate for cash selling stopped in early September. There is no reason gold shouldn't have launched +$100 or more. With the news coming out here that Spain, New Zealand and Switzerland all have depositor haircuts baked into their emergency banking measures there should be a large flight out of banking... yet virtually nothing.
I have to imagine the Fed was actively reacting on gold from Sunday night onwards. Such small movements are inexplicable otherwise.
Late edit: Check out the COMEX inventory trend data -- http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/COMXGOLD:IND -- and ask yourself if it makes sense pricing is this low. (It sure as hell makes sense it's plunging at these prices, but it just shows that pricing and demand are not in sync, remotely.)
LBMA forward rates have been at ultra low levels since we dropped below 1600. COT positioning is indicating a secular bottom. We'll get a spectacular short covering rally once we break 1625. Options expiry is on Monday. After that, the path higher is cleared.
It's the new normal....they decide what the market is......That is until TSHTF.......then the real market returns.....
Closing bank accounts (and depositing funds into the 1st bank of posturepedic), ain't necessarily gonna increase velocity.
But I was half joking when I listed Singapore. Wow!
Well, if the Fed and The City wanted people to voluntary bring their untaxed cashish back home, or keep more from flowing out, what better way than this? Seriously.
So the depositors in Switzerland and Singapore can join the club with all of the savers being victimized by ZIRP in America, aka, all those who have a big target placed on their wealth by central banks.
Aint this fun.
There might be a thesis in this: it's worth asking to what degree did the difference in interest rates from ZIRP (or NIRP in Helvetia) to Cyprus, which was paying up to 5% (higher than the usual European bank) serve as a predictor of instability, and what does this say about, say, Switzapore? I'm guessing that Swiss accounts are safe from levy simply because they are NIRPed, which is an indirect levy but, as a known quantity, still better than a surprise. Maybe it's worth asking what overstuffed banking economies are paying interest rates higher than their bloc-mates.
Prediction....Cyprus soon to be using Ruble.
re: velocity, what if they empty their bank accounts and fill their mattresses?
I don't care of I'm wrong, this was a shit game anyway ;)
Moar PoP Quizzles
Maybe I'm ignorant of the SNB's official powers in this capacity, but I think the risk of confiscation through a tax in Switzerland has been grossly overstated here. While negative interest rates might have the same impact as a tax from a depositors perspective, they have very different legal channels, especially in Switzerland: as far as I am aware, the government couldn't impose that sort of a tax without a Volksinitiative. Do you really think the SVP is going to roll over and allow something like private wealth confiscation to take hold amongst the commoners? Hüere Verräckt!
Das meched si meineid nie!
The federal government does not have the legal competence to tax wealth, the cantons do. So, yes: they'd have to change the constitution.
However, it's more likely that the big banks would impose private "fees" on depositors, thereby cicumvening the "taxation" problem. I'm sure that the negative deposit "fee" would also only be imposed on foreign depositors as it's sole purpose is to stop inflows into the CHF. EUR deposits at Swiss banks would still be free of such a "fee" by the way...
Uhmm, I looked onto the annual report of Malacca Trust ("no. 1" in asset value for Singapore), and the value of their assets is 1007B... indonesian roupies! Not Singaporean dollars! 1007B IDR = 80M€, peanuts.
By the way, lorries of Orell Füssli and De La Rue have been seen pulling up in Nicosia streets, ready to down load "precious paper stuff" for wednesday next week....
make anote of their timetables and i will get the boys together!
That would be super fun if the Swiss decided to take 10% of deposits.
Difference to Cyprus would be that foreigners were the only ones to pay, because the purpose is to prevent capital from flowing into the CHF instead of preventing it from flowing out.
Why would they peg their currency to the euro?
The reason why CHF is impaired is b/c of the peg.
If banking assets are several times larger than GDP, deposit insurance isn't worth very much. It might protect you in the case of a minor bank failure. But if there is a systematic banking failure, the government would need to seriously inflate the currency in order to make good on the losses.
So if anyone is considering opening a bank account in one of those countries, it would probably be a very good idea to know who the bank is loaning to and what its risk exposure is. I think the Swiss banks are heavily invested in Euro denominated debt and the Swiss have made it perfectly clear that if the Euro goes "poof", the Swiss franc will also go "poof". It would interesting to see a listing of the investments of Malacca Trust and other Singapore banks. Cypriot banks bought a lot of Greek sovereign debt. That didn't work out too well.
There is an old saying: "There is no safe interest rate above 6%." (Some people make it 5% or 7%.) It means that if an investment is paying more than 6%, there is an element of risk hiding somewhere nearby. And that saying was coined in the pre-ZIRP days. Maybe now it should be changed to 1 or 2 percent.
You sure you couldn't have been wrong about anything? Triple AAA disguised as aches and pains in the morning. The 1000 year old 10% usury rates dismantled by Carter in 1980, is what broke the bank today. That and too many neck line issues!
By the way, SNB figures in the stats are behind the curve, check www.snb.ch
Luxemburg ? Anyone ?
Malacca Trust is listed on SGX but reports in IDR, not SGD, so the total assets should be SGD 1,260 bln. Thus, the assets/GDP ratio is only around 3. Not quite as bad.
#justsayin
JPM have a vault in that snooty FreeZone place at Singapore Airport. No fun in trying to lampoon that one. It sounds so obvious and public like 'nothing to see, move along'.
Hmmm, maybe there is a twist there somewhere? JPM always loves a god secret.....
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What I'd like to know, is what are the next 10 countries and how do they stand?
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V-V
I'm working in industry in Singpaore and I can say I don't think I've ever heard of Malacca trust before. The next three (DBS, UOB, OCBC) are the three major local banks, with DBS the largest as it is the government-owned/operated state bank.
Googling "Malacca Trust" gives some information on a Indonesia-HQ'd financial services company with a market cap of SGD 78mio. Perhaps a bit small for a company with a theoretical 1t in assets.
Going to call factor error on this one
http://seekingalpha.com/article/174722-top-three-singapore-banks-by-assets
I'm working in industry in Singpaore and I can say I don't think I've ever heard of Malacca trust before. The next three (DBS, UOB, OCBC) are the three major local banks, with DBS the largest as it is the government-owned/operated state bank.
Googling "Malacca Trust" gives some information on a Indonesia-HQ'd financial services company with a market cap of SGD 78mio. Perhaps a bit small for a company with a theoretical 1t in assets.
Going to call factor error on this one
http://seekingalpha.com/article/174722-top-three-singapore-banks-by-assets
It has already been pointed out, but Malacca Trust is Indonesian, and its balance sheet reported in Indonesian rupiah. In dollar terms, it has about a billion dollars in assets (which would also fall under Indonesia, not Singapore). Singapore then falls to more in line with the Netherlands and the UK in terms of bank assets/GDP.
When I see pictures of charts, I trust them without question as to their accuracy, especially when there's no way to verify them, and there's no explanation as to where the data came from..
welcome to fiat where nothing matters and nothing is real
Singapore is a bit different, it is a city-state, so if you take the number of New York City, it might be worse than Singapore