From the bank that a few days ago informed us that “People Are Talking About Helicopter Money And Debt Cancellation Being The End Game”, comes the logical next step. Here it is, without commentary and the key section highlighted:
From Deutsche bank Behavioral Finance: Daily Metals Outlook
Although gold market operators are currently pre-occupied with the prospect of the SNB finding itself obliged by referendum to buy large quantities of bullion, another central bank raised the same possibility yesterday: the ECB. As odd as it sounds, given the contentious internal debate this year over asset purchases in general, ECB board member, Yves Mersch, reminded journalists that the Bank could in theory buy any asset within a QE program. This could mean government debt, equities, ETFs, or even gold. Indeed, within an effective asset purchase program it matters not so much what the asset is, than who the seller is. Given that the eurozone banking system still appears to be a bottleneck in the monetary transmission mechanism, there might be some wisdom in bypassing it. Banks do not hold gold. However, this ‘theoretical’ possibility would quickly run into practical constraints, not least the volume limitations and the problem of having to pick winners and losers.
However, the idea of gold purchases has merit because of the possible sellers. Much gold is held in private households, especially in countries like Germany. In some cases these are unwanted remnants of crisis-driven investments five years ago. A program that targeted these holdings would liberate dormant liquidity, some of which might even flow into consumption.
In other words, all the world’s central banks would need to do to “liberate dormant liquidity,” held, as DB suggests, by private households in various “unwanted” troves of physical gold, and in the process also build up their gold holdings, would be to make said gold unattractive to hold.
