Gold vault with massive 2,000-tonne capacity opens in Shanghai - Wealth Managers

And Chinese conglomerate buys world's largest gold vault: at 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza!

China is amassing so much gold that it needs somewhere to put it all, as do the firms with which it does business.

Last month news surfaced that a Chinese conglomerate,Fosun International, was buying the Manhattan landmark known as 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza. from JPMorgan Chasefor $725 million. JPMorgan will be relocating its employees from the iconic 60-story, 2.2 million square-foot tower, which was built by tycoon David Rockefeller. 

"None of this is particularly newsworthy. What is, however, is what Zero Hedge exclusively reported back in March, namely that the very same former JPM HQ at 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza is also the building that houses the firm's commercial gold vault: incidentally, the largest in the world," Tyler Durden noted.

And now, the largest privately owned gold vault in China is opening in that nation's new free-trade zone in Shanghai. That zone, incidentally, will greatly hasten the internationalization of China's yuan (or renminbi) by creating a "fully liberalized trading hub for the Chinese currency."

Indeed, "the investment in Shanghai's new free-trade zone reflects a shift in world demand away from the U.S. and Europe toward Asia." Therefore, it's no coincidence that such a massive bullion warehouse is opening there. "A gold vault that can store 2,000 metric tons, double China's projected consumption this year, opened in Shanghai this month as owner Malca-Amit Global Ltd. seeks to benefit from rising demand in Asia's largest economy," Bloomberg reports.

"Asians in general -- they like gold, the physical gold; they don't like the paper gold," Malca-Amit's Joshua Rotbart said. "This place can be used as a trade hub basically, so foreign banks can trade with domestic banks within this facility, saving costs and time."

"Such a facility is a massive vote of confidence for the Chinese gold market," said Philip Klapwijk of Precious Metals Insights Ltd. "The trend for demand has been very strongly positive."

This isn't the first large gold vault to open in the region.Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, Deutsche Bank, and UBS all have does so in Singapore. And according toMacquarie bank analyst Matthew Turner, a surge in gold exports from the United Kingdom to Switzerland is occurring because Western gold is being liquidated from ETFs and shipped to Swiss refiners for export to Asia.

The new vault in Singapore is a continuation of China's push toward a more important role for the yuan, one facilitated by an implied gold backing, making it an increasingly attractive alternative to the U.S. dollar.

More information can be found online at http://www.goldbullionadvisors.com