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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alex who wrote (81689)	2/7/2002 12:19:10 PM
From: lorne	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116805

Hi Alex. This is a pretty good site for the the current gold price. Click on intraday for a bit more detail. informer2.comdirect.de

To: Alex who wrote (81689)	2/7/2002 3:01:15 PM
From: Tom Byron	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116805

and stepping up to the plate (but maybe ready to strike out again)...is the new KITCO forum format: kitcomm.com and odds that it will "succeed or not suceed"......:)

To: Alex who wrote (81689)	2/8/2002 8:24:39 AM
From: long-gone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116805

<<<<The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been called in to investigate a 37-year-old currency trader accused of bilking $750-million (U.S.) from the U.S. arm of Irelands largest bank in whats shaping up to be one of the largest trading scandals >> Anyone else notice how the spin on this one has changed? Just a couple of days ago this was "bilking swindle fraud scam or even theft" now the tone has changed to "surprise losses". Hmmm? Is it a fair guess the currency losses included losses in the gold market? Friday February 8, 2:57 am Eastern Time RPT-UPDATE 1-Irish scandal not seen raising global reserve needs By Thomas Atkins, European Banking Correspondent PARIS, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Regulatory experts doubted on Thursday whether the dramatic trading loss at Allied Irish Banks would force banks worldwide to increase the costly capital reserves they set aside to cushion against surprise losses. The stunning $750 million loss was revealed by AIB at a sensitive time as regulators hammer out a controversial accord governing on how much capital banks must set aside to ensure they rest on a solid foundation, an agreement known as Basel II. ``I don't think that specific cases would lead to a fundamental redrafting of the document,'' said Gerhard Hofmann, a member of the Basel Committee, an international body that sets out banking standards that are then adopted nationally. ``You cannot have capital adequacy rules based on the assumption of catastrophic events. Otherwise, the capital requirements would be too high and banks would not be able to operate profitably,'' Hofmann told Reuters. Hofmann, a Bundesbank official, represents Germany on the Basel Committee, which includes 13 nations. Another regulatory source, who declined to be named, said the AIB loss, however shocking, was just the type of event regulators had in mind when they proposed that banks devote 12 percent of their reserve capital for so-called operational risks such as rogue traders, technical failures, or acts of God. The event reinforces regulators' arguments -- which have met hefty criticism in banking circles -- that banks must indeed build a cushion to protect against operational risk, a type of risk not specifically addressed in the current Basel Accord. ``This loss isn't out of line with the kind of losses we've seen in the past and the kind of losses we are mindful of,'' the regulatory source said. ``It's a shot across the bow for those who say that 12 percent is too high.'' TOO EARLY TO TELL AIB rocked the financial world on Wednesday with its revelation that a low-profile trader at a small U.S. foreign exchange operation had cost Ireland's biggest bank $750 million through suspected fraudulent transactions. One day later, national regulators said it was still too early to tell whether the scandal would lead watchdogs to crackdown on rules that govern banks, which are heavily regulated due to their pivotal role in the economy. ``We are looking at the case,'' said Sabine Lautenschlaeger-Peiter, spokeswoman at German banking watchdog BAKred. ``Of course we will take interest and see if it has implications for the German banking sector, but only after we know the facts to the case,'' she told Reuters. The Dutch Central Bank, the financial industry regulator in that country, said was too early to draw implications. ``It has our full attention. We will watch this very seriously. But so far we don't have an official reaction,'' spokesman Benno van der Zaag told Reuters. BANKS COY But banks in Europe remained coy about whether the incident would force them to rewrite their own internal controls or sharpen enforcement of existing measures, saying they needed more information about how the fraud actually occurred. ``Our risk management and control systems in general are in continuous development and improvement, which guarantees that the probability of a similar event is very low,'' said a spokeswoman at Italy's second-largest bank UniCredito Other banks defended existing controls as sufficient. ``ABN AMRO has a rigourous system in place for managing and monitoring risk in all our capital markets business, including foreign exchange and we are confident that these measures are effective,'' said Jochem van de Laarschot, spokesman at the Netherland's biggest bank . ``Of course, we follow any relevant issue regarding financial institutions closely and we will draw conclusions and learn lessons if there are any lessons to be learned,'' he told Reuters. Ian Stannard, foreign exchange strategist at France's BNP Paribas said: ``When you have these issues, banks will be taking a close look to make sure they have sufficient controls. That is good practice.'' (Additional reporting by Otti Thomas in Amsterdam, Christian Plumb in Milan and Carolyn Cohn in London) biz.yahoo.com BALTIMORE (AP) -- Officials with the Allied Irish Banks PLC have started an internal investigation into how an American currency trader was able to run up $750 million losses. (cont) biz.yahoo.com