Nervous Euro investors loading Swiss bank vaults with cash, gold

By this Reuters report, wary investors are choosing to avoid the insecurity and volatility of Europe’s economy and store their assets in the one place broke governments or public policy can’t touch them.

*Bing: What is wrong with Europe’s economy?

According to several Swiss bank sources, a marked uptick in bank safe deposits is underway.

Bank notes, gold bars, cash and other valuables are being locked away, so much so that demand for safety deposit boxes has spiked at many Swiss banks.

Indeed, much of the continent appears to covet the security of a Swiss bank vault. One Italian businessman, according to Reuters, was recently caught trying to smuggle gold bars into Switzerland under his car seat.

But it isn’t just a desire for safety deposit boxes in the changing landscape among European wealth.

Instead of investing in stocks or mutual funds, Euros of means are choosing to sink their money into assets they feel won’t depreciate out from under them.

“Assets barely earn interest and blue-chip stocks move in one week what they used to move in one year,” Urlich Koerner, the COO of Swiss bank UBS, said.

“Against that backdrop, some people say they would rather buy a nice painting instead of a mutual fund.”

By Jason Buckland, MSN Money