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Gold doesn't pay interest. But it doesn't have a negative interest rate either.

by drpgq 11y ago

auntienomen 11y ago
OTOH, the value of gold does fluctuate relative to other numeraires. Its value in $USD has been dropping steadily for a few years now.
evanpw 11y ago
If you take your gold bars down to the bank or to a warehouse, they will absolutely charge you to store them (from what I can Google, on the order of 1% per year).
- nstj 11y ago
  This however isn't the same as depositing $ in a bank though, where you're "loaning" your $ to the bank who will in turn loan it out to someone else (hopefully earning interest in the meantime!). If you were simply giving $ to the bank to safeguard and not loan to anyone then you would imagine they'd charge you as there would be no potential interest earnings on your "deposit"
  - kasey_junk 11y ago
    That is essentially what this bank is responding to. They can't make enough lending the money as it takes to hold. So they charge you a storage fee in the form of negative interest. The most interesting thing to me is that they are charging big depositors more than small depositors. This seems crazy given the costs of banks is usually considered fixed per dipositer. This could be more about the banks politics than actual banking costs, I suppose.
    - auntienomen 11y ago
      I think it's because big depositors are considered (by regulators) to be more likely to pull their deposits at any sign of trouble. It's riskier to hold and relend such assets.
nstj 11y ago
Gold does pay interest if you lease it. See: http://www.kitco.com/market/LFrate.html http://www.kitco.com/market/LFrate.html - note that sometimes this goes negative for all kinds of weird reasons (see: http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/01/13/831971/goldman-on-metal-pawning/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/01/13/831971/goldman-on-meta...). disclaimer: I don't work in capital/metals markets so if you do and you're reading this please add to the conversation.

Gold doesn't pay interest. But it doesn't have a negative interest rate either.

by drpgq 11y ago

Gold doesn't pay interest. But it doesn't have a negative interest rate either.

OTOH, the value of gold does fluctuate relative to other numeraires. Its value in $USD has been dropping steadily for a few years now.

evanpw 11y ago

If you take your gold bars down to the bank or to a warehouse, they will absolutely charge you to store them (from what I can Google, on the order of 1% per year).

nstj 11y ago
This however isn't the same as depositing $ in a bank though, where you're "loaning" your $ to the bank who will in turn loan it out to someone else (hopefully earning interest in the meantime!). If you were simply giving $ to the bank to safeguard and not loan to anyone then you would imagine they'd charge you as there would be no potential interest earnings on your "deposit"
- kasey_junk 11y ago
  That is essentially what this bank is responding to. They can't make enough lending the money as it takes to hold. So they charge you a storage fee in the form of negative interest. The most interesting thing to me is that they are charging big depositors more than small depositors. This seems crazy given the costs of banks is usually considered fixed per dipositer. This could be more about the banks politics than actual banking costs, I suppose.
  - auntienomen 11y ago
    I think it's because big depositors are considered (by regulators) to be more likely to pull their deposits at any sign of trouble. It's riskier to hold and relend such assets.

nstj 11y ago

Gold does pay interest if you lease it. See: http://www.kitco.com/market/LFrate.html http://www.kitco.com/market/LFrate.html - note that sometimes this goes negative for all kinds of weird reasons (see: http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/01/13/831971/goldman-on-metal-pawning/ http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2012/01/13/831971/goldman-on-meta...). disclaimer: I don't work in capital/metals markets so if you do and you're reading this please add to the conversation.