Why did the RBI transfer 100 tons of gold to its vaults from the UK? This is an explanation.

In FY24, 100 metric tonnes of gold held in the UK were transferred to domestic vaults by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). This noteworthy transfer represents one of India’s biggest gold moves since 1991 when some of the country’s gold stockpiles were pledged to address a foreign exchange crisis. Government sources said that the gold was moved to domestic locations for a variety of storage and logistical reasons. 

This implies that in the following months, a similar quantity of gold might be pouring into the country again.

With some of its gold reserves kept in London since before independence, the Bank of England has long functioned as a repository for other central banks, including India. According to the study, cooperation between the RBI, the finance ministry, and several other government organizations, including local governments, was necessary for the action. 

The RBI was granted a customs duty exemption to bring the gold into the country, while the Center was “foregoing revenue” on what is regarded as a sovereign asset, it was further stated. 

The UK’s competition watchdog believes the Vodafone and Three merger may be approved.

If they follow through on their pledges to invest in the nation’s infrastructure, a £15 billion merger between two of the largest mobile networks in the UK might be approved. The proposed £15 billion merger, which was announced last year, would unite 27 million consumers under a single supplier.

Tens of millions of mobile phone users might have to pay extra if the merger proceeded, the watchdog has previously warned. In order to shield consumers from temporary price increases in the early years of the network plan, the networks have committed to freezing specific tariffs and data plans for a minimum of three years.

NatWest is offloading pension payments in a £11 billion agreement.

The high street banking giant NatWest giant has reportedly reached the largest-ever agreement in the UK to contract with a specialized insurance provider to handle pension payments. Given that NatWest is one of the largest pension scheme sponsors in the UK, the agreement marks a turning point in the growing trend of businesses insuring their pension risks.

 Rothesay, which declined to comment on Tuesday, was identified as the counterparty by several people with knowledge of the transactions. Over the past ten years, several global corporations with headquarters in the UK and other countries have entered into pension risk transfer (PRT) agreements, making this industry one of the fastest-growing segments of specialized finance.

Numerous other businesses, from National Grid and Rolls-Royce Holdings to the Co-operative Bank and De Beers, have resorted to PRT agreements to better manage the risks related to their retirement plans. With £6.5 billion in pension liabilities guaranteed, RSA, the insurance business that was split up and sold to multiple new owners, was responsible for the biggest number of PRT arrangements. 

Phoenix Group-owned Standard Life and Pension Insurance Corporation are two other significant competitors in the market, and Aviva and Royal London have also attempted to gain traction.