Venezuela’s interim government, led by Delcy Rodríguez, and the opposition are near agreement on terms that would give the interim government legal control of about 31 tonnes of Banco Central de Venezuela (BCV) gold held at the Bank of England while barring its immediate sale, the Financial Times reported on 18 September, citing four people familiar with the talks. Under the terms, which Reuters relayed the same day, the gold would move to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (New York Fed) and could secure government loans, including loans for rebuilding after the two earthquakes of June. Reuters could not immediately verify the report; the UK Foreign Office said the government is not a party to the court case on control of the gold.
Under Section 25B of the Federal Reserve Act, a Federal Reserve bank that delivers or disposes of property held for a foreign state or its central bank on the order of a person the US Secretary of State has certified to it as authorised is conclusively presumed to act lawfully and is discharged from liability. The statute speaks of authority to receive, control or dispose of the property, and the certification of 25 January 2019 gave Juan Guaidó authority to receive and control certain Venezuelan government and BCV property at the New York Fed. A no-sale term agreed between the interim government and the opposition binds those two parties and takes effect at the vault through the scope of the certified authority or a pledge the custodian has acknowledged.
The New York Fed holds gold only for governments, central banks and official international organisations, keeps each account holder’s bars in a separate compartment except for small deposits, returns the exact bars deposited and books a change of ownership as a move between compartments. A pledge leaves title with the owner and the bars in the owner’s compartment, and under New York’s Uniform Commercial Code the lender takes possession once the custodian acknowledges in a record that the bars are held for the lender (§9-313(c)). A swap passes title to the counterparty for the swap’s term; the UK Supreme Court’s judgment of 20 December 2021 records that Deutsche Bank paid about US$120 million owed to the BCV under a gold swap contract to court-appointed receivers, who hold the sum for the BCV. A holder borrowing against its own allocated bars meets the same choice: a pledge keeps the serial-numbered bars on the holder’s record with release subject to the lender, and a swap or other title transfer replaces the bars with a claim on the counterparty.
The report gives four unnamed people’s account of terms under negotiation; it names no lender and cites no signed agreement, Section 25B certification or bar list. The Bank of England asked the English court on 19 May 2020 to determine on whose instructions it may act for the BCV’s gold; release of the gold waits on that determination.