Zürich Gold Pool

The "Zurich Gold Pool" was not an international gold-trading organization. Instead, it refers to the Zurich Gold Pool, a gold trading organization established by Switzerland's largest banks in 1968. This initiative helped solidify Zurich's position as a major global gold trading hub, particularly after the temporary closure of the London Gold Exchange that same year.1

This development occurred in the context of the two-tier gold system, an arrangement designed to protect international monetary reserves. Under this system, official monetary gold was to be sold at a fixed price, while gold traded as a commodity would fluctuate at market prices. This system, agreed upon by seven countries including the United States and Great Britain, aimed to stabilize currency parities. However, the two-tier system lost its effectiveness and was eventually terminated in 1973 when the U.S. government ended official gold trading.2