A few minutes’ walk from the hustle bustle of the Wall Street, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s gold vault rests, where 25% of the world’s gold is kept. Some countries deem it safer than their own gold vaults and hence store a large part of their reserves here; foreign nations own 98% of the gold stock here.
The vault doesn’t cater to millionaires and billionaires though, no individuals or private sector entities are permitted to store gold in the vault. Gold custody is only for central banks, governments and official international organisations.
A large part of the gold arrived after the second world war, as many countries wanted to store their gold in a safe location. As of 2019, the vault housed close to 5,00,000 gold bars, with a combined weight of 6,190 tonnes. The vault is able to support this weight because it is laid on the bedrock of Manhattan Island, 80 feet below street level and 50 feet below sea level.
The vault charges account holders a handling fee, whenever gold is moved, but does not otherwise charge fees for gold storage.
With so much gold in one place, surprisingly, no attempts of a break-in have ever happened, due to the sheer amount of security that is in place.
Massive steel reinforced concrete walls surround the space, which is monitored by 24 hour cameras and motion sensors. There is a 9 foot tall and 90 tonne cylinder that protects the only entry to the vault. In addition, nobody knows the exact combination to enter the vault, and there is a group of people, the ‘control group’, which knows parts to enter it.
Inside, there are 122 separate mini vaults (one for each different country), secured by a padlock, two combination locks and an auditor’s seal.
Also, given the variability of gold across depositors, gold is carefully weighed and not considered interchangeable. That means, if one had deposited gold bars, one would get the same gold bar even decades later.
One of the best things of the vault is, in spite of the security, it offers free public tours for visitors to see the vault to educate the public about it. That’s different from the likes of Fort Knox, another US bullion depository, which does not even allow reporters, members of Congress and former Presidents.
Image credits: Wall Street Journal
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