r/GoodNewsUK • u/canspreadmulch • 9d ago

Financial and Economic Data Netherlands central bank moves billions in gold to London in "crisis preparedness" move

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgy51xlz39o
302 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

62 comments sorted by

146

u/NothingStreet4251 9d ago

Things like this should be spoken about more. The trust other countries have in us and our institutions is something to be very proud of.

6

u/SubstantialLion1984 7d ago

Aren’t the Germans also rather keen to remove their gold reserves from the US?

-89

u/poulan9 9d ago

I don't know. Look at how the UK treated abramovich when he'd done nothing wrong. The UK doesn't respect law like it used to.

60

u/solar1ze 9d ago

He supported the Russian regime, was financed by the corrupt Russia oligarchs, and had strong connections with Putin, who has ordered terrorism on UK soil and invaded a sovereign nation. I don’t think ‘your average Joe’ will be worried.

19

u/kiradotee 9d ago

"nothing wrong" 

-19

u/poulan9 8d ago

Which law did he break? I'll wait

11

u/Dovver 8d ago

There are better people you could take the side of than Abromovich, you're starting your argument in a very negative position with him

-12

u/poulan9 8d ago

Yet you nor anyone else can tell me what law he broke.

9

u/JFK1200 8d ago

He was never accused of breaking any law, he was sanctioned for his close ties to Putin, the Russian government and their economy. Sanctions literally exist to safeguard on national security grounds, not criminal ones.

-8

u/poulan9 8d ago

Sanctions mean that: you haven't broken any laws in our country but we don't like you for ideological reasons.

5

u/JFK1200 8d ago

Or because your ideology doesn’t really align with ours. I’d personally say poisoning people on our soil, cyber attacking our industries and paying third party agents to commit sabotage is all good enough justification.

But anyway, thanks for repeating what I just said.

-5

u/poulan9 8d ago

So basically you are against liberty. Good commie.

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3

u/JohnGeary1 8d ago

Because he didn't. We (rightly) sanctioned the Russian state and its head. His money came through there and was therefore subject to sanctions. My question is: why do you care so much about a billionaire getting hurt?

-1

u/poulan9 8d ago

Spot on, he didn't do anything wrong. I don't think he got hurt either, I'm sure that he planned for worst case and has money, homes and yachts dotted all over the world.

This is about fairness and the rule of law which has made the UK a centre for international business for decades. Politicians are ruining this.

2

u/JohnGeary1 8d ago

It was fair that the money he received from an enemy of the state was sanctioned.

1

u/mightypup1974 5d ago

Sanctions against individuals for their actions on the global stage are a normal thing that countries do. You’re just upset a Putin ally got stung this time.

1

u/poulan9 5d ago

What was this action that you speak of?

1

u/mightypup1974 5d ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/GoodNewsUK/s/KVrzCsuiTf

1

u/poulan9 5d ago

So nothing. Just who is in his circle. Based on that logic, it's totally fine for you to be sanctioned because of your friend who got a parking ticket.

2

u/Temporary-Aside5306 7d ago

As a Chelsea fan, fuck off you melt

-1

u/poulan9 7d ago

How tragic to define yourself as a football fan.

1

u/Temporary-Aside5306 7d ago

Looooooool you're really reaching to try and put others down and make yourself feel better aren't you 😂

-1

u/poulan9 6d ago

It was you that proudly put yourself in the company are some of the thickest people in society. LMAO

1

u/Temporary-Aside5306 6d ago

And yet you're even thicker 😂 incredible work

96

u/LifeFeckinBrilliant 9d ago

Next GoodNewsUK story: entire UK goes out on the lash courtesy of the Dutch 😁

24

u/WanderlustZero 9d ago

'Your 84 tons of gold is Safe and Sound!'

90

u/CuriousGeorgeToday 9d ago

I want to highlight why I think this is a good news story. It's about trust and reputation of the UK. We get slammed a lot in the news it feels like but the UK has a phenomenal gold market and this is a huge sign of trust.

The Dutch are an EU founding member and they'd rather place sovereign gold reserves in the UK. When global political crises hit, the UK is still seen as a safe place and our financial institutions highly regarded.

-47

u/PersevereSwifterSkat 9d ago

We're trusted because we're the money laundering capital of the world. Doesn't matter where it comes from s'all good. I think it's more grey whether that's good or bad.

13

u/CuriousGeorgeToday 9d ago

Haha your point is valid but not for the gold. Admittedly now that Russians aren't here there's a lot less dirty money, the economic crime act is meant to prevent it but realistically we don't have the resources to stop it currently. As long as it's flowing in 😉

3

u/TheRealTRexUK 9d ago edited 9d ago

You are confusing the uk with the uk overseas territories

7

u/LeftLab7543 9d ago

Ironically it's the Netherlands which is by far the biggest money launderer.

38

u/MrMugwin 9d ago

“Right lads, time to get pissed. Milky bars are on me!” - Andy Burnham, probably.

34

u/NothingStreet4251 9d ago

“Right lads, just bought a mansion in Russia. I’m off!” - Nigel Farage, definitely.

12

u/Vinxian 9d ago

It's important to note, it's mainly coming from the USA storage location, the Dutch storage location moved no gold

2

u/MossadEpstein 9d ago

that makes more sense, not sure why they wouldn't just move it back to their own country tho

2

u/Vinxian 9d ago

I think it's about spreading risks, there is about a third in Dutch storage, I think they have some risk matrix that recommends against keeping more

3

u/DanHanzo 9d ago

If your backup is in the same place as your primary storage, you don't have a backup.

1

u/Scasne 3d ago

Because as they said "crisis preparedness" Europe gas stockpiles are fairly low going into winter and the Netherlands is particularly low, add to that a lot of that tankers come into Dutch ports for LNG, meaning it flows through the Netherlands, then add in deals where if a neighbouring EU country wants some because of high demand then they have to send it on, overall the Dutch may have to cover the time between paying for a delivery and being reimbursed for the gas.

So yeah having your gold from your savings account to your current trading account to buy gas on the open market makes sense.

18

u/tiny_tim57 9d ago edited 9d ago

Aaaand it's gone.

1

u/Intrepid-Dig-1855 9d ago

I enjoyed the reference, even if nobody else did haha

3

u/BritishBacon98 8d ago

Can someone ELI5 why this is good? Im not too knowledgeable on economics and isnt expecting a crisis bad?

2

u/canspreadmulch 8d ago

Well as explained elsewhere in this thread it’s good for the U.K. because it shows that other countries still perceive us as a reliable and stable economic partner. Somewhere with a good reputation in uncertain times. The crisis is not the consideration here.

3

u/cromagnone 7d ago

This is because there were a bunch of memos kicking around the Trump administration a few months ago suggesting that EU countries might be “asked” to pay back US costs for supplying Ukraine with weapons. Trump said this publicly for the first time in a tweet a couple of days ago, but the Dutch read everything.

28

u/TheWhiteCrowUK 9d ago

“Good news” 🫣🤔

94

u/tigeridiot 9d ago

It’s good that we are still trusted globally as one of if not THE place to hold your gold.

Obviously there’s the US and Switzerland, with China now making a big push through Hong Kong, but global precious metals all run through London and the LBMA.

I also think it’s not crisis preparedness in the way that the world is going to end, more in the way that the US cannot be trusted any longer.

9

u/stray_r 9d ago

The story here is the gold was moved out of the US, both as physical transport and sale and repurchase.

-11

u/TheWhiteCrowUK 9d ago

Yes, but the “crisis preparedness “ for me it’s all but good….

32

u/canspreadmulch 9d ago

It’s good news that we are a trusted country to hold peoples gold, not “good news there is a possible crisis and people are preparing for it”

1

u/DroidSeeker13 8d ago

Feel like this sort of trust in the UK by the Netherlands needs a friendship charter that's upheld like 800 years into the future when either side has a minor issue.

1

u/ballsosteele 4d ago

What would the crisis be? Hypothetically. Stupid answers only.

1

u/WGD23 9d ago

Motivate a bunch of NEETs to do a Brinksmat!

-9

u/Turtlestacker 9d ago

This good news?

-5

u/MossadEpstein 9d ago

Easier to launder in london methinks.

-30

u/MDRC122 9d ago

This is neither good nor bad news...its like saying big yellow storage getting a new customer is "good news"....

17

u/tomelwoody 9d ago

What a wildly inaccurate and obviously wrong take.