05 Jun The Great Asian Gold Crisis
By Richard Stephenson (Manager – Leeds Branch)
With its value at a record high, gold has never been more attractive to thieves. Now burglars with metal detectors are targeting the homes of British Asian families for their collection of high quality “Indian gold” jewellery.
The current price for an ounce of gold is £766 (at at 4th June 2015).
Asian gold (sometimes called Indian gold) is a broad term that covers jewellery bought and held by South Asian families and often passed down through generations. It tends to be the purest gold and of the highest quality, often 24 carats, and has vastly increased in value, sometimes to the point where a family can’t afford to insure it. Thieves know that some Asian families may have a large collection of gold at home, and it is these houses they target.
To those who are not from a South Asian family, it might seem remarkable to own so much valuable jewellery. Many of the families who own a large quantity of gold live in ordinary houses and are not especially wealthy. Their gold collection; elaborate necklaces, rings, earrings and bangles is treasure that has been handed down through the generations of their families or given as wedding gifts.
Because of the high sentimental and monetary value of this jewellery, many families have tried to put their gold into safe store in a local bank. Unfortunately they have been disappointed to find that the majority of high street banks have now withdrawn their safe deposit services. Some families have been asked to remove their gold from bank deposit boxes as local banks have shut existing services and this gold is then being stored at home. These families are left feeling vulnerable and many fear that they will be targeted by the criminal fraternity.
There are no figures available for the number of gold thefts, let alone the theft of Asian gold, but the number of robberies is increasing. Over the past couple of years, several police forces in areas where there is a large Asian community, such as Leicester and Bradford, ran awareness campaigns after a spate of opportunistic robberies. Indeed, the problem in Bradford was so serious that a special investigations unit was set up to focus on Asian gold theft. (click here to see BBC article on this)
As gold prices remain high and High Street Banks continue to withdraw their safe deposit services, many Asian families are now looking to private safe deposit companies to store their gold. It is interesting that as little as 5 years ago there were only a handful of private safe deposit companies in the UK – most of them were long established businesses. However, the increasing demand for secure storage – much of it coming from the Asian community – has seen a flurry of new Safe Deposits opening around the country and there are now more than 15 private safe deposits in the UK offering families an alternative high security storage solution for their gold.