Zerohedge - Authored by Egon von Greyerz. CENTRAL BANK AND BULLION BANK GOLD IS LOST TO THE EAST In the past when central banks leased out gold, it would stay with the bullion banks in London or New York. Today, the big buyers are China and India. They buy gold from the bullion banks in London or New York. These 400 oz bars are shipped to Switzerland to be broken down into kilo bars by the Swiss refiners. The kilo bars are the desired size both in India and China. These bars are then shipped on to the East. The bullion banks lease the 400 oz bars from a central bank and then sells them on the buyers in the East. So instead of staying in London or New York, the central bank has now leased the gold to a bullion bank which has sold it to China or India. The result is that the bullion bank no longer has the physical gold and all the central bank has is an IOU from the bullion bank. This means that the physical gold is permanently lost by both the bullion bank and the central bank. It will never return. The bullion bank will default because they can’t deliver the gold to the central bank which in turn has lost its physical gold forever. This is why central banks don’t have a fraction of the physical gold they declare to have. https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/von-greyerz-us-gold-confiscation-would-be-folly
I first heard this report from him, perhaps 5 years ago.? Not to say he's not correct. Jim Rickards has raised something similar a few times over the years.