Have no fear, they reassuringly added, your account will be settled at the bid or offer price in the 'market' and "you need to do nothing" as "we have your investments in precious metals."

Changes in the handling of orders in bullion

On 1 April 2013,. ABN AMRO to another custodian for the precious metals gold, silver, platinum and palladium...

You need do nothing. We ensure that we have your investments in precious metals now the new way to handle and administer.

At the time, we wondered if this was the canary in the coalmine of potential physical shortages in the precious metals markets. Soon after we saw notable selling pressure in the gold markets with Spot (physical) selling leading futures lower...

At the time it was unclear who the "other custodian" was but we now know ABN Amro transferred the precious metal trade to the Swiss bank UBS.

Crucually, however, at UBS, it was not possible for customers to actually request the gold or silver.