Germany and Italy are facing mounting domestic pressure to repatriate more than a third of their gold reserves — worth an estimated US$245 billion — currently held in New York by the US Federal Reserve. Germany and Italy hold the world’s second and third largest gold reserves, trailing only the US. A substantial portion of this metal is stored overseas, primarily in Manhattan’s Federal Reserve Bank. This longstanding arrangement, based largely on postwar financial realities and New York’s role as a major global gold-trading hub, is now being questioned by officials and commentators across Europe’s political spectrum. ... (full story)