CORRECTION FROM ABN #AMRO RE: ABN AMRO #defaults on physical #gold deliveries to customers

Its seems that the actual situation is quite different.  There has not been a default from ABN AMRO. 

CORRECTION WITH STATEMENT FROM ABN AMRO:

There has recently been misguided reporting in the media concerning a letter sent by us to a small number of Dutch clients regarding our gold banking services. We are seeking to clarify this misunderstanding with the following information:

Until 2009 ABN AMRO had a small bank that traded in physical gold called Hollandse Bank Unie (HBU) located in Rotterdam. Following our integration with Fortis Bank Netherlands, ABN AMRO was required by the European Commission to sell a part of its commercial banking portfolio in the Netherlands to Deutsche Bank. This was publicly announced at the time and included the sale of HBU, along with the transfer of HBU clients to Deutsche Bank. These HBU clients were able to use ABN AMRO facilities during the transition phase, and Deutsche Bank also offered its HBU services to ABN AMRO. Deutsche Bank subsequently announced last year that they would cease HBU activities in the Netherlands from 1 April 2013 – including this facility for ABN AMRO. We recently sent a letter to small number of affected clients, advising them that we can no longer make use of the HBU facilities provided by Deutsche Bank from this date. We have also found a new provider for these service, that is UBS.

If you require any further information, please contact the ABN AMRO press office

Jeroen van Maarsschalkerweerd +31 20 628 4748

Alex Evans                               +44 20 3192 9417

Alex Evans | Senior International Press Officer

ABN AMRO Bank N.V., UK Branch

This was the Original Post:

Is this the Canary in the Coal Mine?

ABN AMRO issued a letter to their gold contract customers of failure of delivery, and instead will pay account holders in a paper currency equivalent

 Largest Dutch bank defaults on physical gold deliveries to customers - National Finance Examiner | Examiner.com 

Last week, a rubicon was crossed in the precious metals market as one of the largest banks in Europe defaulted on their gold contracts, and informed their customers there was no physical gold available for delivery.
ABN AMRO, the largest Dutch bank in the Eurozone, issued a letter to their gold contract customers of failure of delivery, and instead will pay account holders in a paper currency equivalent to the current spot value of the metal.
Over the past two months, there has been a concerted effort by the major Western banks to bring down the price of gold and silver, even as countries like Russia, Iran, and China continue to accumulate the physical metal in large quantities. Like the folly of betting against the stock markets when the Fed is pumping up equities with $85 billion per month, going against the J.P. Morgan silver short machine in the futures market has been a losing proposition for silver bulls.
Interestingly for Europe however, since the Eurozone crisis spread from Greece to Spain, Italy, and Cyprus, the fastest growing currency being purchased by retail investors is Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a digital currency that is out of the control of sovereign central banks, and to this point, has not been manipulated by inflationary monetary policy.
In investing circles there is an adage which says, if you don't hold it, you don't own it. Whether it is land, metals, or other hard assets, if it is held in a bank, in a paper instrument, or in a paper currency, the documented owner has management control, but not physical control. And as the world saw last month in Cyprus, the government, or even a major bank like ABN AMRO, can change the terms of a contract at any time, and return to investors asset values set by the bank, and not the customer's intention.

Read the article online here: Largest Dutch bank defaults on physical gold deliveries to customers - National Finance Examiner | Examiner.com