by Robert Lambourne, Gold Seek:

Gold swaps by the Bank for International Settlements rose markedly in May, according to the bank’s monthly account statement, published this week:

https://www.bis.org/banking/balsheet/statofacc230531.pdf

The bank’s gold swaps are estimated to be 188 tonnes as of May 31, a 39% increase over the 135 tonnes reported as of April 30. As shown in Table B below, recent months have brought much volatility in the level of swaps.

Evidence of the significant trading carried out via BIS gold swaps is provided by the changes in the monthly volumes of swaps since October 2022. At that time there were an estimated 7 tonnes of swaps outstanding, but this increased to 105 tonnes at November 30 and then fell back to none at December 31.