Please find below an excerpt from a King World News interview with Egon Von Greyerz of Matterhorn Asset Management, Zurich, which puts into perspective the recent announcement that Swiss banks now offered allocated accounts for precious metals:
The only truly safe way to own gold is physical bullion, completely outside the banking system, in a secure location, not subject to liens, encumbrances, re-hypothecation and misleading advertising, by the same banks that brought us Libor fraud etc.“A couple of days ago Swiss banks came out with a major PR campaign offering allocated gold and silver accounts. Well, that’s nothing new, they have always done that. The banks are worried that more and more investors are taking gold outside of the banking system.So now the banks are telling investors these allocated accounts are safe and would not be included in any bankruptcy. But the bottom line is this gold and silver will be encumbered, and maybe even owned by central banks who will claim it back one day.We must remember history. Look at Lehman, MF Global, Sentinel. These companies, which all collapsed, had allocated and segregated assets. These assets were used as security for their credit lines. Therefore investors did not get their money back.The two major banks leading this campaign in Switzerland, UBS and Credit Suisse, represent 600% of Swiss GDP. This exposes the entire Swiss banking industry. So investors should not participate in that program.”
