September 10, 2013 – ETF Securities, one of the world’s leading, independent providers of exchange traded commodities (ETCs) has partnered with The Royal Mint to offer retail investors the opportunity to exchange Gold Bullion Securities (GBS) listed on the London Stock Exchange for Sovereigns and/or Britannias, Britain’s pre-eminent, investment grade bullion coins produced by The Royal Mint.
ETF Securities is the world’s first ETP provider to offer such a service to investors. Further reinforcing the company’s commitment to product innovation, this initiative has been introduced to provide greater flexibility around gold investing by linking the popularity of the gold coin market with the transparency and efficiency of gold ETPs. It also highlights the physical backing of GBS, Europe’s first physically-backed gold ETP launched in 2004, with current assets under management of US$4.6 billion (as at 28 June 2013). Similar products are now listed on 31 exchanges throughout the world and remain popular with both retail and institutional investors.
The Royal Mint is the world’s largest export mint company and has been producing British coins for over 1000 years. Owned by the government, it is responsible for a wide variety of minting obligations and has an established global reputation.
Commenting on the initiative, Frank Spiteri, Head of Retail Distribution Strategy at ETF Securities, said:
“Product innovation is a key element of our philosophy and as such this partnership with The Royal Mint is a natural fit.
It has become increasingly important to reassure investors that their securities are backed by physical gold. This new service enables our retail clients to switch their holding of GBS for Sovereigns and/or Britannias, knowing that their gold coins can be safely stored with or delivered by a UK government owned and regulated entity. Our website offers investors a number of tools to calculate the number of gold coins they could receive for a given number of securities.”
Shane Bissett, Director of Bullion at The Royal Mint, said:
“We are delighted to be working with ETF Securities on this project. The Royal Mint bullion business has been growing rapidly since 2011. As part of the offering for 2013, The Royal Mint has developed new specification bullion products that make both Sovereign and Britannia coins a compelling choice for the bullion coin market.
The VAT-free status of gold coins in the United Kingdom, and the fact that they are capital gains tax free for UK residents, as announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is an added attraction.”
Richard Samuels, Bullion Manager at The Royal Mint, further commented:
“Part of our bullion strategy at The Royal Mint is to enable existing investors in precious metals access to our bullion products through schemes such as this. We are very pleased to work with ETF Securities on this new product initiative to add a further option for clients to redeem and vault physical bullion from The Royal Mint.”
For more information on this initiative and for a brief history on the use of gold coins, please visit the ETF Securities website.
To learn more about The Royal Mint, please click here.