Insight - ‘Free money’ for banks as investors pile into fractured gold market

Gold bullion bars are pictured after being inspected and polished at the ABC Refinery in Sydney on August 5,2020. - Gold prices hit 2,000 USD an ounce on markets for the first time on August 4, the latest surge in a commodity seen as a refuge amid economic uncertainty. (Photo by DAVID GRAY/ AFP)

BANKS are making huge profits from gold as investors flood into a market fractured by the coronavirus crisis.

The world’s largest 50 investment banks are on track to double their income from precious metals this year to around US$2.5bil, most of it from gold, Coalition, a banking consultancy, told Reuters.