Gold holdings at a record level in 2011
News 09.01.2012
Xetra-Gold reserve with a value of around €2.1 billion in central vault
Deutsche Börse Commodities: The value of gold stored by Deutsche Börse Commodities rose by around 32% in 2011 to €2.1 billion (as at 31 December 2011), thus achieving a new record level. The gold in the central vault well crossed the 50 ton mark in the course of the year. The highest demand for Xetra-Gold was in July and August.
“Investors showed an increased interest in gold during the turbulent phases of the market. Xetra-Gold gave them the opportunity to invest simply and flexibly in physical gold and to trade it economically like a share. The bid/ask spread is generally only around 0.1 percent. Every security has a value equivalent to exactly one gram of physical gold. The gold is in safe custody in our central vault and can be delivered at any time,” said Martina Gruber, managing director at Deutsche Börse Commodities GmbH.
Since Xetra-Gold launched in 2007, investors have already made use of this physical backing 643 times – a total of 3.4 tons has been delivered from the central vault in Frankfurt to investors' own banks. This only involves fees for packaging, transport and insurance which differ according to the quantity delivered. Delivery normally takes around two weeks. The smallest amount that has been delivered so far was 10 grams, the largest 213 kilograms.
Xetra-Gold is by far the best-performing security among the 218 exchange traded commodities (ETCs) available on Xetra. Its annual turnover for 2011 was €3.2 billion. Its annual average share of total order book turnover in the ETC segment was 26.9 percent.
About Xetra-Gold
The Xetra-Gold bond (ISIN: DE000A0S9GB0) combines the advantages of physical gold with the transparency and low costs of exchange-trading of securities. There is no ongoing management fee. Each bond represents the option of delivery of one gram of gold and can be bought or sold continuously via the Xetra trading platform. Clearstream Banking Frankfurt (CBF), a Deutsche Börse subsidiary, stores the gold in its vault. The physical gold is supplied, monitored and processed by industry partner Umicore AG & Co. KG. The safe custody of the gold reserves at Clearstream meets high security standards and saves investors the costs of transporting and physically storing the gold. Private investors can obtain the underlying gold in physical form from their bank if desired. The physically backed debt instrument Xetra Gold was admitted for trading in December 2007 and has since become the commodity with the highest turnover of all ETCs listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The product meets the provisions of the European UCITS directive. www.deutsche-boerse.com/xetragold
About Deutsche Börse Commodities GmbH
The Xetra Gold issuer Deutsche Börse Commodities GmbH, based in Frankfurt, is a joint venture between Deutsche Börse AG and the banking partners Commerzbank AG, Deutsche Bank AG, DZ Bank AG, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. KGaA, and Swiss-based bank Vontobel. Umicore AG & Co. KG, a Group subsidiary of Umicore s.a. which operates several gold refineries across the globe and manufactures gold bars, is also a partner. The partners bundle their stock exchange, financial market, settlement, custody and logistics expertise and provide an efficient and transparent market in the financial centre of Frankfurt for gold trading in Europe.
With just one product, Deutsche Börse Commodities GmbH is the second largest issuer of ETCs/commodity certificates traded on stock exchanges in Germany.
Xetra® and Xetra Gold® are registered trademarks of Deutsche Börse AG.
