FINANCE - Turkish banks to electronically transfer gold

İstanbul Gold Exchange (İAB) Chairman Osman Saraç has said they are working on a project enabling Turkish banks to transfer gold between accounts.(source)

Saraç, the head of İAB, told the Anatolia news agency on Friday that they are working on a system where people can transfer gold, similar to how they send money with the Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) system. The amount of gold transferred will then appear in their accounts and they will be able to physically withdraw their gold from the İAB. Within the framework of forming the gold exchange system, the İAB has conducted talks with the Turkish Banks Association (TBB) and the Association of Turkish Participation Banks (TKBB). “If the project is approved by money authorities like the Undersecretariat of the Treasury, the central bank and Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency [BDDK], we will be able to add a new investment product to the Turkish banking system,” the head of the İAB said. According to Saraç, in the past gold has been used more frequently as jewelry, but there has been a shift towards using it as a tool for investment in the past few years. He mentioned that 80 percent of gold produced was used for jewelry in the past, which decreased to 65 percent in 2008 and to 49 percent in 2009. “Since Western countries now also perceive gold as an investment tool, demand has increased tremendously, pushing gold prices up,” Saraç said. Source : http://todayszaman.com/news-232503-turkish-banks-to-electronically-transfer-gold.html - Jan 15, 2011