The gold holdings of the exchange-traded bearer bond Xetra-Gold (ISIN: DE000A0S9GB0) increased to 203.2 tonnes at the end of the year 2019. This is an increase of 21.7 tonnes over the course of the year. At the beginning of 2019, 181.5 tonnes of gold were stored in the central vault for German securities in Frankfurt. 

Xetra-Gold holdings always increase when investors buy Xetra-Gold shares via the stock market. Exactly one gram of gold is deposited in the central safe for each share certificate. The assets under custody currently amount to 8.8 billion euros. Xetra-Gold is thus the leading physically backed gold security in Europe. 

“With the significant rises on the stock markets, institutional as well as private investors have increased their gold holdings for hedging purposes. According to various studies, five to ten percent of gold is reasonable as an admixture to the portfolio”, says Michael König, Managing Director of Deutsche Börse Commodities GmbH, the issuer of Xetra-Gold. “Moreover, gold has further established itself as a separate asset class in the past year. In addition to institutional investors, more and more asset managers, family offices and private investors choose gold for their portfolios”, said König.

Xetra-Gold investors are entitled to delivery of the securitised physical gold. Since the introduction of Xetra-Gold in 2007, investors have made use of it 1,065 times. To date, 5.2 tonnes of gold have been delivered.

Xetra-Gold is issued by Deutsche Börse Commodities GmbH, a joint venture of Deutsche Börse AG and Commerzbank AG, Deutsche Bank AG, DZ Bank AG Deutsche Zentral-Genossenschaftsbank, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. KGaA and Vontobel Beteiligungen AG. Umicore AG & Co. KG, a group subsidiary of Umicore S.A., is also involved.

About Xetra-Gold

Xetra-Gold^® (ISIN: DE000A0S9GB0) is a bearer bond issued by Deutsche Börse Commodities GmbH, 100 percent backed by gold, which securitizes a delivery claim to physical gold. Each individual Xetra-Gold note grants the investor the right to require the issuer to deliver one gram of gold. For Xetra-Gold notes, the Issuer maintains a corresponding amount of gold in physical form and, to a limited extent, in the form of book gold claims. In the form of a security, Xetra-Gold is fungible and as easily transferable as a share. In addition to Germany, Xetra-Gold is authorized for public distribution in Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The complete and legally binding information on the Xetra-Gold bearer bonds can be found in the key information document and the prospectus together with any supplements and the terms and conditions of issue. Investors can obtain these documents free of charge from Deutsche Börse Commodities GmbH, Mergenthalerallee 61, 65760 Eschborn, Germany, or download them from www.xetra-gold.com/downloads. 

About Deutsche Börse Commodities GmbH

The Xetra-Gold Issuer Deutsche Börse Commodities GmbH with its registered office in Eschborn is a joint venture of B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. KGaA, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft, Deutsche Bank AG, Deutsche Börse AG, DZ Bank AG Deutsche Zentral-Genossenschaftsbank, Frankfurt am Main, Umicore AG & Co. KG and Vontobel Beteiligungen AG. Umicore AG & Co. KG is a subsidiary of Umicore S.A., which operates several gold refineries worldwide and produces gold bars. The issuer's sole business purpose is to provide the market with the 100 percent gold backed Xetra-Gold bond and to enable efficient, transparent and cost-effective trading of this physical form of gold securitisation.