How The Gold Price Is Manipulated During The ‘London Fix’

How Gold Price Is Manipulated During The “London Fix” (ZeroHedge, Nov 25, 2013):

There was a time when the merest mention of gold manipulation in “reputable” media was enough to have one branded a perpetual conspiracy theorist with a tinfoil farm out back. That was roughly coincident with a time when Libor, FX, mortgage, and bond market manipulation was also considered unthinkable, when High Frequency Traders were believed to “provide liquidity”, or when the stock market was said to not be manipulated by the Fed, and when the ever-confused media, always eager to take “complicated” financial concepts at the face value set by a self-serving establishment, never dared to question anything. Luckily, all that changed in the past several years, and it has gotten to the point where even the bastions of “serious”, if 3-5 years delayed, investigation are finally not only asking how is the gold market being manipulated, but are actually providing answers.Such as Bloomberg.

The topic of gold market manipulation during the London AM fix is not new to Zero Hedge: in fact we have discussed both the historical basis and the raison d’etre of the London gold fix, as well as the curious arbitrage available to those who merely traded the AM-PM spread, for years. Which is why we are delighted that none other than Bloomberg has decided to break it down for everyone, as well as summarize all the ways in which just this one facet of gold trading is being manipulated.

Bloomberg begins:

Read moreHow The Gold Price Is Manipulated During The ‘London Fix’

‘Hello Scotia Mocatta, This Is JPMorgan – We Urgently Need Some Of Your Gold’

“Hello Scotia Mocatta, This Is JPMorgan – We Urgently Need Some Of Your Gold” (ZeroHedge, Aug 8, 2013):

Yesterday, it was HSBC. Today, the lucky respondent to JPM’s polite gold ‘procurement‘ request, is the second “fullest” New York commercial gold vault: Scotia Mocatta. As ZH reported previously, following the announcement of an imminent withdrawal of 63.5k ounces of its gold (16% of the total), JPM’s vault operations team promptly called around and to its disappointment was only able to procure a tiny 6.4k ounces: not nearly enough to preserve the impression that it is well-stocked. We then said, “None of which changes the fact that in a few days, the inventory in JPM’s gold vault will drop to another record low of only 380K ounces and the JPM “rescue” pleas from HSBC and other Comex members will become ever louder and more desperate until one day they may just go straight to voicemail.

Today, as we predicted, the calls into HSBC indeed appear to have gone straight to voicemail (perhaps HSBC did not have any more unencumbered gold to share, perhaps it just didn’t want to) which left JPM with just one option: go down the list.

Read more‘Hello Scotia Mocatta, This Is JPMorgan – We Urgently Need Some Of Your Gold’

‘Hello HSBC, This Is JPMorgan – We Urgently Need Some Of Your Gold’

“Hello HSBC, This Is JPMorgan – We Urgently Need Some Of Your Gold” (ZeroHedge, Aug 8, 2013):

What happens when 63.5K ounces of registered gold in your warehouse (16% of total) just has their warrants detached and the vault is about to finds itself 63.5k ounces of gold emptier? If you are JPM you call the gold vault with most inventory in town, that of HSBC, and politely request that they transfer as much eligible gold as they can on short notice – in this case a tiny 6,444.936 oz to be exact.None of which changes the fact that in a few days, the inventory in JPM’s gold vault will drop to another record low of only 380K ounces and the JPM “rescue” pleas from HSBC and other Comex members will become ever louder and more desperate until one day they may just go straight to voicemail.

Source: COMEX

The Secret World Of Gold (Documentary)

The Secret World Of Gold (ZeroHedge, April 21, 2013):

In a wide-ranging look at the history and present of the barbarous relic, CBC’s Ann-Marie MacDonald has gathered many perspectives (pro and con) on gold. The following documentary moves from historical shipwrecks to Nazi ‘death gold’ and England’s war chest to recent years where widespread economic uncertainty has given the yellow metal a “new lustre in the world of high finance.” Valued for its permanence, beauty and scarcity, people will lie, cheat, steal and kill in the name of gold; and the clip provides color on many of the market manipulations of the last few years. As MacDonald says, whether it’s a few gold coins or gold bars stored in one of the many vaults around the world, many investors are taking a shine to gold. But there’s not a lot of it. It is said that, even melted down, there would not be enough to fill an Olympic swimming pool. Some claim that much of the gold held by the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve and Fort Knox is gone – that for every 100 ounces of gold traded, there exists only one ounce of real, physical gold. So, where is the gold – and who really owns it?

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Mark-To-Market Manipulation Hides $90 BILLION Losses For UK Banks

Mark-To-Market Manipulation Hides $90 Billion Losses For UK Banks (ZeroHedge, March 12, 2013):

Some have attributed the resurrection of the financial markets (or more appropriately the banks) from the March 2009 lows to the IASB/FASB changes to factual to fantasy accounting. The Telegraph reports today that from PIRC’s and the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee that while banker bonuses continue to rise (for now), ‘hidden’ losses among UK banks could total GBP60 Billion (USD 90 Billion). HSBC topped the list with GBP10.4 Billion in bad debts that have yet to be written off and while the ‘accounting’ bodies are suggesting they will address criticism of this farce, as one analyst notes, they “can still make unprofitable lending appear profitable.” Regulators expect to hear plans from lenders on how they intend to fill these holes before the end of the month to coincide either with the FPC’s meeting on March 19 or a statement scheduled for March 27. While outright recaps are unlikely, banks are expected to
restructure and set out plans to raise their capital levels over the next
couple of years. More fantasy…

Via The Telegraph,

PIRC has calculated the amount of bad debts the banks may have to write off in coming years but have yet to subtract from profits, together with other items such as deferred bonuses not booked.

HSBC, which is the biggest bank by assets, was shown to have £10.4bn of hidden losses, the Royal Bank of Scotland has £9.4bn, and Barclays has £7.3bn. Lloyds Banking Group has £2.5bn and Standard Chartered £2.2bn. Together the undeclared losses total £31.8bn.

Read moreMark-To-Market Manipulation Hides $90 BILLION Losses For UK Banks

Mainstream Media Finally Awakens To The Fact That Big Banks Are Criminal Enterprises

Mainstream Media Finally Awakens to the Fact that Big Banks Are Criminal Enterprises (ZeroHedge, Dec 16, 2012)

Keiser Report: High Frequency Scalping (Video)

FYI.



YouTube Added: 15.12.2012

Description:

In this episode, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert look at central banking meth heads and low level broker-dealer-thieves drinking the hand sanitizer that is the high frequency scalping of the last dregs of equity left in the markets. They also ask whether the US has it in for British banks. In the second half, Max Keiser talks to Peter Antonioni, author of the Economics for Dummies, about the policy of quantitative easing as economic homeopathy – it only works on the grounds that you believe it works and about the UK monetizing its debt after transferring QE ‘surpluses’ from the Bank of England to the Treasury.

Keiser Report: Monkeys & Cocaine: HSBC Money Laundering Case – Too Big To Jail (Video)

Excerpt:

Full ‘Keiser Report’: (Must-see!)

Added: 13.12.2012

Description:

In this episode, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert look at HSBC being fined rather than criminally charged in order to avoid destabilizing the system, while JP Morgan and others are being sued for about a trillion in bad mortgages investors were duped into buying. They also look at “1001” under which bankers who lied to the federal housing authorities could be criminally tried for lying to a federal official. In the second half, Max Keiser talks to Kyra Maya Phillips of MisfitEconomy.com about democracy aboard pirate ships of the 18th century on which No Plunder, No Pay was the name of the game and innovation happened on the fringe. Max proposes banksters walk the plank in a specially built platform in Trafalgar Square.

HSBC: The Drug World’s Local Bank

HSBC: The drug world’s local bank (Independent, Dec 11, 2012):

HSBC prides itself on being the “world’s local bank”. Yet it could have done without the kind of international exposure that upset United States senators this summer and the one that today resulted in it paying $1.9bn (£1.2bn) to settle a money-laundering probe.

As the senators tell it, and as the prosecutors allege, HSBC was used by a diverse customer base including Mexican drug gangs looking to funnel cash into the US and Iranians seeking to skirt US sanctions.

Yesterday, the Manhattan district attorney’s office said that, starting in the early 1990s, the bank had “moved hundreds of millions of dollars through the US financial system on behalf of Iranian, Burmese, Sudanese, Libyan and other clients”. In the process, it had flouted US sanctions by “concealing the illegal nature of these transactions and deceiving US banks into processing illegal wire payments”.

Read moreHSBC: The Drug World’s Local Bank

HSBC Said to Near $1.9 Billion Settlement Over Money Laundering

HSBC Said to Near $1.9 Billion Settlement Over Money Laundering (New York Times, Dec 10, 2012):

Federal and state authorities plan to announce a record $1.9 billion settlement with HSBC on Tuesday, a major victory in the government’s broad crackdown on money laundering at banks.

The settlement with HSBC stems from accusations that the British banking giant transferred billions of dollars on behalf of sanctioned nations like Iran and enabled Mexican drug cartels to launder money through the American financial system, according to officials briefed on the matter. The deal, which will force the bank to forfeit more than $1.2 billion in ill-gotten gains and pay additional penalties, is the largest to emerge from an investigation that has spanned several years and involved multiple government agencies.

Read moreHSBC Said to Near $1.9 Billion Settlement Over Money Laundering

Former Greek PM G-Pap’s 89 Year Old Mother Said To Have $700 Million In Swiss Bank Account

Former Greek PM G-Pap’s 89 Year Old Mother Said To Have $700 Million In Swiss Bank Account (ZeroHedge, Dec 3, 2012):

There was a time when Swiss bank secrecy was the passion of every tax-challenged oligarch in the world. Then things changed, Obama made it s badge of honor to rat out anyone you know who has a bank account in Zurich or Geneva, lists of previously ultra-secret account holders started “leaking” and from an asset, Swiss bank accounts promptly became a liability to everyone involved. Such as the matriarch of the legendary Papandreou family, former Pasok Greek PM G-Pap’s mother, Margaret, also wife of former PM Andreas, who according to The Telegraph has been revealed as having a €550 million ($700 million) Swiss bank account (she will hardly be happy to learn that Credit Suisse just instituted a negative interest on CHF deposits) in the Geneva branch of HSBC. Obviously lots of hard work by M-Pap went into building up that particular nest egg.

M-Pap has quite an soap opera past of her own:

Read moreFormer Greek PM G-Pap’s 89 Year Old Mother Said To Have $700 Million In Swiss Bank Account

HSBC Investigation: Clients Of Britain’s Biggest Bank Exposed

HSBC Investigation: clients of Britain’s biggest bank exposed (Telegraph, Nov 15, 2012):

The tax authorities have obtained details of every British client of HSBC in Jersey after a whistleblower secretly provided a detailed list of names, addresses and account balances earlier this week.

The Telegraph understands that among those identified on the list are Daniel Bayes, a drug dealer who is now in Venezuela; Michael Lee, who was convicted of possessing more than 300 weapons at his house in Devon; three bankers facing major fraud allegations and a man once dubbed London’s “number two computer crook”. A series of other accounts containing six-figure deposits are also registered to modest addresses in relatively poor parts of the country.

The disclosures raise serious questions about HSBC’s procedures in Jersey, with the bank already preparing to pay fines of around $1.5 billion in America for breaking money laundering rules.

HSBC Fears U.S. Money Laundering Fines To Top $1.5 BILLION

HSBC fears U.S. money laundering fines to top $1.5 billion (Reuters, Nov 5, 2012):

A U.S. fine for anti-money laundering rule breaches could cost HSBC significantly more than $1.5 billion and is likely to lead to criminal charges, Europe’s biggest bank said on Monday.

HSBC said the U.S. investigation had damaged the bank’s reputation and forced it to set aside a further $800 million to cover a potential fine for breaches in anti-money laundering controls in Mexico, adding to $700 million put aside in July.

“It could be significantly higher,” Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver told reporters on a conference call, saying the latest provision was based on discussions with the various U.S. authorities involved in the probe.

Read moreHSBC Fears U.S. Money Laundering Fines To Top $1.5 BILLION

Confused Why So Many Foreign Banks Are Suddenly Being Charged By The US? Here’s Why

Confused Why So Many Foreign Banks Are Suddenly Being Charged By The US? Here’s Why (ZeroHedge, Aug 8, 2012):

It’s very simple really. Please point out where on the below list of Top 20 contributors to a randomly selected US politician, in this case New York’s Chuck Schumer, can one find Standard Chartered, Barclays, or HSBC?

And there’s your answer, which should also explain why banks such as Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, etc, will never be subject to the same kangaroo court in which suddenly everyone is shocked, shocked, that banks were manipulating Libor and laundering money or doing any other thing which bankers do day after day, every day.

Oh yes, there is an election coming up too…

Max Keiser: Cancer is How THEY Will Take It All (Video)


YouTube Added: 01.08.2012

Money-Laundering: ‘Shamed HSBC Takes $2 BILLION Hit For U.S., UK Scandals’ (Reuters)

And who is going to jail?


Shamed HSBC takes $2 bln hit for U.S., UK scandals (Reuters, July 30, 2012):

* $700 mln provision for U.S. anti-money laundering failures

* Cost of U.S. fine, charges may be “significantly higher” -CEO

* $1.3 billion set aside to compensate UK customers for mis-selling

* Shares up 1.9 percent

LONDON, July 30 (Reuters) – Revelations of lax anti-money laundering controls at HSBC are “shameful and embarrassing” for Europe’s biggest bank, its boss said on Monday, and it may have to pay out well over $2 billion for the scandal and in compensation for UK mis-selling.

HSBC set aside $700 million to cover fines and other costs after a U.S. Senate report criticised it this month for letting clients shift funds from dangerous and secretive countries, notably Mexico.

Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver told reporters the ultimate cost could be “significantly higher”.

“What happened in Mexico and the U.S. is shameful, it’s embarrassing, it’s very painful for all of us in the firm,” he said on a conference call. “We need to execute on the compliance changes and then prove ourselves worthy and rebuild this over a number of years. There are no quick and easy fixes.”

The Senate report criticised a “pervasively polluted” culture at the bank and said HSBC’s Mexican operations had moved $7 billion into its U.S. operations between 2007 and 2008.

“The firm clearly lost its way in this regard and it’s right that we apologise,” said Gulliver. “Colleagues internally have been aware that this is the backdrop of why we had to change the firm.”

Read moreMoney-Laundering: ‘Shamed HSBC Takes $2 BILLION Hit For U.S., UK Scandals’ (Reuters)

Banks & Financial Global Elite Confirmed To Hold $32 Trillion In Offshore Accounts

Banks, Global Elite Confirmed to Hold $32 Trillion in Offshore Accounts (Natural Society, July 23, 2012):

Major banks and the financial global elite are now confirmed to have as much as $32 trillion in hidden assets stashed away in offshore accounts that are subject to little or no taxation. As a result, around $280 billion is estimated to be lost in tax revenues. In other words, the multi-trillion dollar banks and elite families are avoiding any taxation while forcing United States citizens to foot the bill. Amazingly, the $32 trillion stashed away represents the overall GDP of the United States and Japan combined.

Read moreBanks & Financial Global Elite Confirmed To Hold $32 Trillion In Offshore Accounts

These Banksters Are Involved In Every Imaginable CRIME (Video)

FYI.



YouTube Added: 21.07.2012

Description:

Here’s part 1 of a dramatic 2-part interview with precious metals pundits Andy Hoffman and Bill Holter. We discuss the clear evidence of the international banking crimes, debate inflation VS deflation and conclude with this FACT: The collapse is happening, and once the Banksters lose what little control they have left, the world in which we live will change forever.

HSBC Banksters Dragged Coser To Heart Of Libor Investigation

Related articles:

US Senate Discovered That HSBC Gave Money To A Saudi Bank With Suspected Links To Terrorist Organizations Such As Al-Qaeda

Bulk Cash: HSBC’s Mexican Bank Shipped $7 BILLION In Bulk Cash To The Firm’s U.S. Bank In 2007 And 2008 (Bloomberg)

US Senate Report: HSBC Acted As Financier To Clients Seeking To Route Shadowy Funds From The World’s Most Dangerous And Secretive Corners, Incl. Mexico, Iran, The Cayman Islands, Saudi Arabia And Syria


THE UK’s largest bank HSBC could be formally dragged into the Libor investigation for the first time after it emerged links between one of its traders and peers at other banks were at the centre of investigations by financial regulators.

HSBC dragged closer to heart of Libor investigation (Telegraph, July 19, 2012):

Watchdogs including the FSA are understood to be looking at a ring of traders at banks including HSBC, Credit Agricole, Societe Generale and Deutsche Bank suspected of colluding to manipulate inter bank lending rates.

Traders, including Didier Sandler at HSBC, are understood to have come to regulators’ attention after exchanging emails with Barclays’ former euroswaps dealer, Phillipe Moryoussef.

Read moreHSBC Banksters Dragged Coser To Heart Of Libor Investigation

US Senate Discovered That HSBC Gave Money To A Saudi Bank With Suspected Links To Terrorist Organizations Such As Al-Qaeda

… to terrorist organizations such as Al-CIAda …

Follow the money!


‘HSBC report pushes West to rethink alliance with Saudi Arabia’ (RT, July 18, 2012):

A US Senate subcommittee has discovered that British banking giant HSBC gave money to a Saudi bank with suspected links to terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda. Saudi Arabia has not responded to the findings.

­Middle East expert Ali Rizk told RT that the findings put pressure on the West to reconsider its friendly relations with Saudi Arabia.

A report published by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations states that HSBC provided funds to the Saudi Al-Rajhi Bank, which a number of media and government reports have tied to terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda. The company’s top executive appeared before the subcommittee’s hearing Tuesday, and apologized for failing to prevent such oversights. HSBC’s Head of Compliance, David Bagley, said he would resign.

Neither Saudi Arabia, nor Al-Rajhi responded to the subcommittee’s findings, however.

Read moreUS Senate Discovered That HSBC Gave Money To A Saudi Bank With Suspected Links To Terrorist Organizations Such As Al-Qaeda

Bulk Cash: HSBC’s Mexican Bank Shipped $7 BILLION In Bulk Cash To The Firm’s U.S. Bank In 2007 And 2008 (Bloomberg)

Flashback:

Former Assistant Secretary of Housing: The U.S. is the Global Leader in Illegal Money Laundering (Video)

From the article:

Bulk Cash

HSBC’s Mexican bank shipped $7 billion in bulk cash to the firm’s U.S. bank in 2007 and 2008. That was more than all HSBC affiliates and other banks in Mexico and left U.S. and Mexican authorities concerned that the volumes could only be supplied by the illegal drug trade, according to the report.


HSBC Probe Shows Bank Allowed Money Laundering (Bloomberg, July 17, 2012):

HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) did business with firms linked to terrorism, failed to guard against money- laundering violations in Mexico and bypassed U.S. sanctions against Iran, according to U.S. Senate investigators.

HSBC affiliates worldwide gave terrorists, drug cartels and criminals a portal into the U.S. financial system, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said in a 335-page report yesterday detailing a decade of lax controls. Lawmakers plan to question senior executives from the London-based bank, Europe’s largest, at a hearing in Washington today.

Read moreBulk Cash: HSBC’s Mexican Bank Shipped $7 BILLION In Bulk Cash To The Firm’s U.S. Bank In 2007 And 2008 (Bloomberg)

US Senate Report: HSBC Acted As Financier To Clients Seeking To Route Shadowy Funds From The World’s Most Dangerous And Secretive Corners, Incl. Mexico, Iran, The Cayman Islands, Saudi Arabia And Syria

U.S. report slams HSBC’s anti-money laundering efforts (Reuters, July 16, 2012):

A “pervasively polluted” culture at HSBC Holdings Plc allowed the bank to act as financier to clients seeking to route shadowy funds from the world’s most dangerous and secretive corners, including Mexico, Iran, the Cayman Islands, Saudi Arabia and Syria, according to a scathing U.S. Senate report issued on Monday.

While the big British bank’s problems have been known for nearly a decade, the Senate probe detailed just how sweeping the problems have been, both at the bank and at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a top U.S. bank regulator which the report said failed to properly monitor HSBC.

Read moreUS Senate Report: HSBC Acted As Financier To Clients Seeking To Route Shadowy Funds From The World’s Most Dangerous And Secretive Corners, Incl. Mexico, Iran, The Cayman Islands, Saudi Arabia And Syria

Here We Go: Moody’s Downgrade Is Out – Morgan Stanley Cut Only 2 Notches, To Face $6.8 Billion In Collateral Calls

Here We Go: Moody’s Downgrade Is Out – Morgan Stanley Cut Only 2 Notches, To Face $6.8 Billion In Collateral Calls (ZeroHedge, June 21, 2012):

Here it comes:

  • MOODY’S CUTS 4 FIRMS BY 1 NOTCH
  • MOODY’S CUTS 10 FIRMS’ RATINGS BY 2 NOTCHES
  • MOODY’S CUTS 1 FIRM BY 3 NOTCHES
  • MORGAN STANLEY L-T SR DEBT CUT TO Baa1 FROM A2 BY MOODY’S
  • MOODY’S CUTS MORGAN STANLEY 2 LEVELS, HAD SEEN UP TO 3
  • MORGAN STANLEY OUTLOOK NEGATIVE BY MOODY’S
  • MORGAN STANLEY S-T RATING CUT TO P-2 FROM P-1 BY MOODY’S

But the kicker:

ONLY MORGAN STANLEY, HSBC CUT LESS THAN MOODY’S ORGINAL MAXIMUM.

And there you have it – the reason for the delay were last minute negotiations, most certainly involving extensive monetary explanations, by Morgan Stanley’s Gorman (potentially with Moody’s investor Warren Buffett on the call) to get only a two notch downgrade. And Wall Street wins again.

Recall, from MS’ 10-Q:

“In connection with certain OTC trading agreements and certain other agreements associated with the Institutional Securities business segment, the Company may be required to provide additional collateral or immediately settle any outstanding liability balances with certain counterparties in the event of a credit rating downgrade. At March 31, 2012, the following are the amounts of additional collateral, termination payments or other contractual amounts (whether in a net asset or liability position) that could be called by counterparties under the terms of such agreements in the event of a downgrade of the Company’s long-term credit rating under various scenarios: $868 million (A3 Moody’s/A- S&P); $5,177 million (Baa1 Moody’s/ BBB+ S&P); and $7,206 million (Baa2 Moody’s/BBB S&P). Also, the Company is required to pledge additional collateral to certain exchanges and clearing organizations in the event of a credit rating downgrade. At March 31, 2012, the increased collateral requirement at certain exchanges and clearing organizations under various scenarios was $160 million (A3 Moody’s/A- S&P); $1,600 million (Baa1 Moody’s/ BBB+ S&P); and $2,400 million (Baa2 Moody’s/BBB S&P).”

So instead of $9.6 billion, MS will face only $6.8 billion in collateral calls.


YouTube

Still the firm is not out of the woods:

Read moreHere We Go: Moody’s Downgrade Is Out – Morgan Stanley Cut Only 2 Notches, To Face $6.8 Billion In Collateral Calls

Big Bank Downgrade By Moody’s Imminent

Big Bank Downgrade By Moody’s Imminent (ZeroHedge, June 21, 2012):

Even as Moody is now about a week late on its Spanish bank downgrade where the banks are rated higher than the sovereign (which obviously is kept in check to prevent yields on bonds from soaring even more), here comes the next wholesale bank downgrade:

  • Moody’s expected to announce ratings downgrade for UK banks this evening – Sky Sources
  • Exclusive: Big news – I’m told Moody’s will announce downgrades of some of world’s biggest banks, incl in UK, after US mkts close tonight. – Sky’s Mark Kleinman

Looks like that fabricated 2 notch Margin Stanley downgrade (because 3 notches just won’t do – those 4 months of Gorman-led “negotiations” made that painfully clear) is about to strike. The real question is: What Would Egan Who Do?

From Sky:

Some of Britain’s biggest banks are poised to have their credit ratings downgraded by Moody’s as soon as tonight as part of a wider reassessment of the health of the global banking industry, I can reveal.

Moody’s is expected to outline its verdicts about the creditworthiness of banks including Barclays, HSBC, JP Morgan and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Read moreBig Bank Downgrade By Moody’s Imminent