Figure of the month: 10 years
News Arnulf Hinkel, Finance journalist – 01.12.2017
The year 2007 was coming to its end when Xetra-Gold was launched by Deutsche Börse Commodities GmbH, a Joint Venture of Deutsche Börse, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, DZ Bank, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co., Swiss bank Vontobel and the recycling and materials technology group Umicore. The product, Xetra Gold, is an exchange-traded commodity (ETC) backed 100 per cent by physical gold. It is the first security ever actually issued by Deutsche Börse. When Xetra-Gold was launched, it was backed by 7 tons of gold bars stored in the German central vault. The security is especially attractive because its investors are entitled to physical delivery of the certificated gold volume. Until now, they have exercised this right almost 1,000 times since introduction, resulting in the delivery of a total of 4.8 tons of gold. That, however, is just a fraction of the gold held in storage. Holdings increased from the initial 7 tons to 50 tons within the first two years of trading. Today, more than 170 tons of Xetra-Gold valuing over €6 billion are stored, making it the most successful ETC on Xetra in terms of turnover, as well as the leading European gold-backed security.
The gold price per gram – equaling the value of Xetra-Gold – has doubled during the course of the past ten years. On 10 December 2007, Xetra-Gold traded for €17.65; today (29 November 2917) it stands at €35.17.
Next to the extraordinary product features, a ruling by the Federal Fiscal Court is also responsible for the product’s appeal. Since September 2015, gains from the sale or redemption of Xetra-Gold after a holding period of one year are not subject to capital gain compensation tax (Abgeltungssteuer). For tax purposes, the purchase and redemption or sale of Xetra-Gold is therefore treated as a direct purchase or direct sale of physical gold, as, for example, of gold bars or gold coins.