So, how did you go bankrupt?
Two ways. Gradually and then suddenly.
A once high-flying bank headquartered in San Francisco, CA, is meeting a similar fate of possibly filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy even after receiving $30 billion in uninsured deposits. A lifeline was loaned to them only one month ago from JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and six other banks.
So while many First Republic Bank customers were pulling their savings and capital out of that failing retail bank, mega zombie banks were at the same time loaning them a few scraps to survive for perhaps one more month.
This weekend spells the end for First Republic Bank.
Recall the clip we played on this SD Bullion channel at the end of 2022.
Ledit video footage from the FDIC's ugly bank failure meeting filmed in early November 2022.
The bottom line here is you had better know your bank counterparties and whether or not their balance sheets are sound, and if or not their banking customer base is not fleeing with their capital of late.
The silver and gold fiat Fed note spot prices consolidated sideways for most of the week.
The spot silver price in fiat US dollars closed just above the $25 oz bid.
The spot gold price in fiat USD exceeded the fundamental $2,000 oz level.
The spot gold-silver ratio traded sideways as well, finishing again at 79.
Eastern central banks continue buying and stacking gold bullion in large volumes, as we learned today that the central bank of Singapore added to its Official Gold Bullion Reserves pile.
Krishan Gopaul points out that Singapore bought 68.7 metric tonnes of gold bullion in Q1 2023. This lifts the nation's official gold bullion stack by an additional +45% in only 3 months of steady bullion buying.
Visual Capitalist published this incredible and insightful 200 years of gold production graphic yesterday. It is a surprisingly quick way to learn about historical gold mining leaders of the world and how South Africa has, by far and away, contributed more physical gold to the world than any other nation.
The nations of China, Russia, and Australia are battling to see who will be the leading gold miner in 2023. I bet Russia mining in eastern Siberia will lead them to become the world gold mining leader as this decade unfolds.
If you want to learn about South African gold mining and world bullion coin history. I will leave this South African Gold Krugerrand Coin Tour video here. It is worth watching the music alone. There are some gorgeous moving and still gold images too.
Speaking of India, we will hear from Manisha Gupta as she interviews Ole Hansen regarding his views on the upcoming gold and silver markets.
That will be all for another bank failure SD Bullion Market Update.
As always, to you out there.
Take great care of yourselves and those you love.