Controversy over Gold: BCRA Revealed How the Operation with the Metal Was Questioned by AGN

The Central Bank (BCRA) detailed how financial operations on its gold reserves functioned, which became the center of controversy with the National Audit Office (AGN). In the Monetary Policy Report (IPOM) for the third quarter of 2026, the entity led by Santiago Bausili defended the use of a hedge that set a protection floor against a price drop, in exchange for giving up part of the profits if the metal exceeded certain values.

The explanation came after the AGN pointed out a negative result of $1.023 billion in operations related to gold during 2025. The controversy focused on how to evaluate that cost: while the audit identified the result of the derivatives, the Central Bank argued that it should be considered along with the valuation of the metal that those contracts aimed to protect.

In the IPOM, the agency acknowledged that the strategy had a significant "opportunity cost", although it assured that it allowed capturing approximately 70% of the rise in gold and obtaining an "unprecedented profit" on that position. Its defense relies on a distinction: a hedge seeks to reduce risks, even if that means earning less if the market evolves favorably.

How the Hedge on Gold Worked

The mechanism used in 2024 and 2025 is called a zero-cost collar. It consists of combining the purchase of put options with the simultaneous sale of call options. The former protect against a price drop; the latter allow financing that protection but limit the profit if there is a rise that exceeds the agreed level.

In this way, the BCRA established a floor for the value of its gold reserves without paying a net premium upfront. The income obtained from selling the call options offset the cost of acquiring the put options.

However, the fact that the hedge did not require an initial net premium does not mean it was free of subsequent costs. If gold rose above the agreed ceiling, the sold options could generate payments that absorbed part of the asset's valuation. This was the scenario that, according to the report, materialized in 2025.

The Central Bank also clarified that the contracts are settled in currencies and do not modify the physical holdings of gold, nor do they generate movements, commitments, or encumbrances on that position. Thus, the financial hedge must be distinguished from the transfer of the metal abroad, another decision that the agency justified by the need to improve the availability and liquidity of its reserves.

The Rise in Gold That Activated the Options

According to the IPOM, the price of gold increased by 66% during 2025. This movement triggered the exercise of the call options that the BCRA had sold to finance its protection against a drop.

The entity stated that it had designed the contracts with conservative criteria. The exercise prices of the call options were set above the most optimistic projections available at the time of contracting, while the put options protected against the most pessimistic scenarios.

To dimension the exceptional nature of the rise, the BCRA indicated that, under the statistical estimate used, the observed increase had a probability of only 0.01%. This is a calculation by the agency, dependent on the assumptions of its analysis.

Despite the activation of the sold options, the Central Bank assured that it retained nearly seven out of every ten dollars of the metal's valuation. The difference compared to holding gold without a hedge constitutes the opportunity cost recognized in the report.

Why the BCRA Resumed the Strategy

The agency linked the decision to resume coverage in October 2024 with the fragility of its balance sheet and the increasing weight of gold within its reserves. At the end of 2023, the net international reserves were negative at $11.2 billion. Furthermore, according to the IPOM, 93% of the foreign currency reserves were committed to repo and swap operations maturing over the next twelve months.{#p-1793318293556-41767}

In this context, the metal had gained relevance. In December 2023, gold holdings were valued at $4.1 billion, equivalent to 18% of total international reserves. When coverage was resumed in October 2024, its value had risen to $5.2 billion, or 19.3% of the total.{#p-1793318293556-57335}

For the BCRA, this increased exposure reinforced the need to protect against a downturn. The decision was made after gold accumulated an increase of nearly 40% in the previous twelve months, once the entity stated that its liquidity position had been restored.{#p-1793318293556-10615}

The Central Bank's Response to the Questions

The report also referred to past precedents to defend the operation. It specified that the BCRA holds 61.7 tons of gold, acquired between 2004 and 2011, and that it has used derivatives to manage the risk of that position since 2006. This type of strategy has been applied in thirteen of the last twenty years.{#p-1793318293556-4904}

At this point, it stated that the coverage policies in effect since December 2023 continued those outlined in its Investment Manual and "audited without observations by the AGN over the last 20 years".{#p-1793318293556-50372}

The central argument of the entity is that a coverage decision should be evaluated with the information available at the time it was made and based on the objective of reducing risks. Knowing afterward that gold was going to rise, it argued, is not enough to determine if the original decision was financially appropriate.{#p-1793318293556-73517}

The BCRA concluded that the net gain from its gold position, along with the results from other operations, contributed to it recording the highest economic results in 2024 and 2025, both total and realizable, in the last two decades. The defense thus focuses on the combined performance of the metal and its coverage, although it acknowledges that the contracted protection reduced the benefit that would have been obtained from the strong rise in gold prices.{#p-1793318293556-97089}