Analyse: ZKB Gold ETF (CHF)

Gold has no intrinsic value. The yellow metal does not produce earnings or cash flows which it can share with investors, like equities. Nor does it throw off fixed or floating coupon payments, as a bond does. Financial theory tells us that a security’s intrinsic worth is equivalent to the present value of the future cash flows it will generate. With no cash flows to project and discount back to today, gold is a purely speculative instrument: it is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it.

The speculative nature of an investment in gold doesn’t differentiate it from other commodities like oil or wheat, which like gold, have no clear future cash flows. What makes gold different from most commodities is that it has little practical use. Gold cannot fuel an automobile or provide nourishment. According to the World Gold Council’s “Gold Demand Trends” report for the full year 2012, only about 7.8% of current gold demand comes in the form of practical uses--such as in dentistry and electronics. The largest portion of gold demand (43.3%) comes from the jewelry industry, with India and China being the most notable drivers of incremental consumption in recent years. Meanwhile, (34.8%) of the global appetite for the yellow metal comes from investors. The remainder (12.1%) comes in the form of official sector purchases. The world’s central banks have been playing an increasingly important role in the gold market in recent years. Indeed, official sector gold purchases increased nearly six fold in 2011 versus 2010, and climbed another 17% in 2012, according to the World Gold Council. Also, investment demand for gold has surged in recent years as concerns over paper currencies have flared and the world’s most precious metal has been made increasingly accessible to the masses, thanks to a growing number of industrious ETP providers.

Indexkonstruktion

As this fund invests directly in physical gold, it will track movements in the spot price of the yellow metal, less fees. The security is benchmarked to the P.M. London Gold Fixing. The London Gold Fixing takes place twice each business day at 10:30 A.M. and 3:00 P.M London time. The fixing process determines the settlement price for contracts arranged amongst the members of the London Bullion Market. This price--which is expressed in terms of U.S dollars per troy ounce--is in turn used as a benchmark for the vast majority of the gold products and gold-related derivatives around the globe.

Fondskonstruktion

The fund is denominated in U.S. dollars and invests directly in physical gold. The fund’s gold is held by Zurcher Kantonalbank or its representatives in Switzerland. The fund does not use commodity derivatives. The issue price of the USD, GBP and EUR versions of the fund corresponds to approximately one ounce of gold. The issue price of the CHF version of the fund corresponds to 100 grams of gold. Because gold does not generate cash income to defray any expenses or commissions incurred by the fund, these levies will gradually reduce the amount of physical gold held per unit of the fund over the long term. In kind redemption is typically limited to an amount equivalent to the “good delivery” standard gold bar of approximately 12.5 kg with a purity of 995/1000 or greater. A redemption commission of 1% and a delivery charge of 0.20% apply to the value of redeemed standard gold bars. Other commonly traded units may be available upon request, subject to availability and associated expenses. Deliveries of physical gold will only be made within Switzerland. Currency hedged versions (there are CHF-, EUR-, and GBP-hedged versions available) will incur additional costs related to maintaining currency hedges, which are executed through the use of basic swaps and forwards. These costs are not explicitly broken out, but will be reflected in the performance of these funds.

Gebühren

The fund levies an annual expense ratio of 0.40%. The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) obliges the fund’s manager to maintain a reasonable spread between the fund’s net asset value and the price at which it is traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange. This commitment is in turn carried out by an agreement between the fund company and the fund’s market makers, which are obliged to maintain a market for the fund’s shares on the SIX Swiss Exchange. The applicable spread for gold is generally around 2%--or 1% on either side of the fund’s intraday net asset value.

Alternativen

Gold ETPs are an alternative to a direct investment in physical gold. Relative to owning bullion or coins outright, gold ETPs offer the benefits of lower carrying costs and superior liquidity.

There is a broad menu of physical gold ETPs. In our opinion, TER and custody and storage fees (in aggregate, carrying costs) are key differentiating factors for physical metals funds--with lower TERs and fees obviously being better. Given the nature of these funds, carrying costs are the chief source of tracking difference relative to the spot price movements of the metal, and thus the primary determinant of relative performance amongst competing products.

In the case of all physical gold ETPs--with the notable exception of Xetra Gold--the TER is inclusive of all custody and storage fees.

In the case of the ZKB Gold ETF, its TER of 0.40% puts it near the back of the pack from an expense ratio perspective, roughly inline with the Julius Baer’s Physical Gold ETF and ETFS Physical Gold (which have respective TERs of 0.40% and 0.39%) but behind competitive offerings from the likes of Source, RBS (whose physical gold ETCs have TERs of 0.29%), and iShares (0.25%).

There are also a variety of other either currency-denominated or currency-hedged versions of this and other physical gold ETPs available to those looking to either take on or eliminate currency risk from their gold exposure.