Massive 1,500 Ton Gold Vault For Sale In The Heart Of London, One Previous Owner, Asking 4,500,000 O.B.O.

Back in June 2013, when Deutsche Bank opened a gold vault in Singapore which could hold up to metric 200 tons, the German bank was euphoric about the prospects for storing physical gold: “Gold has traditionally been stored in London, Zurich and New York, but there is a serious shift in dynamics going on as the global financial crisis continues to evolve,” Mark Smallwood, Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management’s head of wealth planning in the Asia-Pacific region, told The Wall Street Journal.
Mark was correct and thanks to the ongoing decline in gold prices, Chinese and Indian demand for the metal, the physical metal that is, not its various paper manifestations, has risen to record levels. Alas, one thing Mark did not know is that in early 2014, a German regulator would reveal that “precious metals manipulation was worse than the Libor scandal” and as a result, shortly thereafter the biggest German bank (and largest bank in the world by notional derivative exposure) – which is currently being probed for gold-rigging – would quietly liquidate its entire physical precious metals trading group.
Which means that Deutsche Bank’s Singapore gold vault, barely a year old, is about to go on sale.
But while one can debate when the Singapore will see a “for sale” sign attached to the front door, one thing is clear: Deutsche Bank’s massive, and even newer, gold vault in London is already looking for offers. According to Reuters, Deutsche Bank is “open to offers for its London-based gold vault following the closure of its physical precious metals business, three sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.”

This post was published at Zero Hedge on 12/26/2014.