Deutsche Börse holds gold in custody in its vaults with a total value of over EUR1bn.

The gold, which backs the bearer bond Xetra-Gold, currently amounts to 38.5 tons.

Each unit of the security is backed by exactly one gram of physical gold. With the price of gold at EUR26.75 per gram (Xetra closing price), the total value of the physically deposited gold is thus over EUR1bn.

Xetra-Gold has the highest turnover of the approximately 150 ETCs tradable on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The average monthly order book turnover on Xetra in 2009 was EUR127.8m, totalling over EUR1.5bn at the end of the year.

This order book turnover is more than three times that of the second most successful product in the ETC segment.

Launched in December 2007 Xetra-Gold’s market share of commodities trading on Xetra was over 32 per cent in 2009.

While Xetra-Gold was initially purchased by predominantly private investors, there is now increasing interest among institutional investors too.

The Xetra-Gold bond combines the advantages of physical gold with the transparency and low costs of exchange-trading of securities. 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, a Deutsche Börse subsidiary, stores the gold in its vault.