Move Your Money

The movement away from dependence upon mega-banks and political currencies is gaining momentum, not only amongst individuals and companies, but also amongst countries that have lost confidence in the international banking establishment.

The Associated Press reports today that Venezuela is recalling $11B in gold reserves. Here are some excerpts:

President Hugo Chavez announced Wednesday he is nationalizing Venezuela’s gold mining industry and intends to bring home $11 billion in gold reserves currently held in U.S. and European banks.

Central Bank president Nelson Merentes said on television that the decision to move the gold reserves was being taken out of “prudence.”

Venezuela has nearly $4.6 billion of its gold reserves in the Bank of England, according to a report by Finance Minister Jorge Giordani that was leaked to the news media Tuesday by an opposition lawmaker.

The report said additional Venezuelan gold reserves are held by the U.S. bank J.P. Morgan Chase, British banks Barclays, HSBC and Standard Chartered, France’s BNP Paribas and Canada’s Bank of Nova Scotia.

Giordani and Merentes, who appeared together on television Wednesday, said they proposed to Chavez that Venezuela’s nearly $6.3 billion in non-gold international reserves such as bank deposits and bonds should be reviewed and transferred from U.S. and European banks to countries they consider safer, including China, Russia and Brazil, among other countries in Asia and Latin America.

It makes sense for countries like Venezuela to hold their reserves in the currencies of countries that actually produce something and from whom they make substantial purchases. While the U.S. remains one of its main suppliers, Venezuela also imports significant amount from Colombia, China, Brazil and Mexico.

Meanwhile, back in the U.S., there has been a growing grassroots movement in which savers are taking their money out of the large banking corporations and moving it into credit unions and locally owned banks. One significant development is the Move Your Money Project, “a nonprofit campaign that encourages individuals and institutions to divest from the nation’s largest Wall Street banks and move to local financial institutions.” Go here to find one near you.

In my May presentation to the Financial Planning Association, I provided a resource list that included financing alternatives for enterprises and options for savers and investors.

As a side note, you may be interested in viewing Dylan Ratigan’s recent rant on MSNBC, in which he complained that the “Banking system is corrupt and defrauding us.” You can see it here.—t.h.g.