Big Changes Ahead: Gold Just Became Money Again
By Doug Hornig, Casey Research
GoldSeek.com
Friday, 17 August 2012
On June 18, the Federal Reserve and FDIC circulated a letter to banks that proposes to harmonize US regulatory capital rules with Basel III.
BASEL III is an accord that tells a bank how much capital it must hold to safeguard its solvency and overall economic stability.
It’s a global standard on bank capital adequacy, stress testing, and market liquidity risk.
Here’s the important bit:
At the top of the proposed changes is the new list of “zero-percent risk weighted items,” which now includes “gold bullion,” right after “cash.”
That’s the part to take notice of.
If the proposals are approved by regulators – and that seems likely since adoption of Basel III will be– then this is a momentous change for the gold market.
Now banks will be allowed to hold bullion in their vaults and count it among their Tier 1 assets – in other words, the least risky assets.
That by itself would be bullish for the gold price, as banks that recognize gold’s unique characteristics seek to stockpile more of it.
But that’s not the whole story…
Gold Regains Money Status
The Rest…HERE
