The bank said it sold 1,277 kilograms of gold in 2011.
BCR only does transactions in gold for its private banking customers (BCR Erste Private Banking), who can buy and sell financial gold bars (99.99% purity). Piraeus Bank is the only bank in Romania that sells gold to retail customers.
“Nations and central banks trust gold as a reserve asset. The high interest for what seems to be turning from a precious metal into a ‘reserve currency’ is showing in Romania, as well, hence the surge in transactions in financial gold,” said Razvan Furtuna, head of the BCR Private Banking unit.
The central bank price for one gram of gold is now past RON200, 18% higher than at the end of last year.
BCR’s customers have traded gold derivatives on the stock market in the amount of 2.5 tons of gold since the beginning of the year.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)