Credit Suisse’s ETF subsidiary XMTCH has entered the gold ETF market with the launch of a new fund on the SIX Swiss exchange today.

The XMTCH ETF on Gold will aim to replicate the return on spot gold and is available in US dollar, euro-hedged and Swiss franc-hedged currency classes. According to the issuer, the fund will invest in physical bullion without the use of derivative instruments. Information on fund fees was not immediately available on the issuer’s website.

In common with the gold trackers offered by competitors ZKB and Julius Baer, the new XMTCH tracker is called an ETF, which is permissible under Swiss regulations. In most of the rest of Europe, where UCITS guidelines prevail, investment products tracking a single commodity cannot be called ETFs and tend to be called exchange-traded commodities (ETCs).

"Gold ETFs are suitable for investors looking for a secure investment and a well-diversified portfolio. Investors can acquire a low-cost and flexible investment with a single transaction. Because the investment is fully backed by physical gold, there is no counterparty risk as regards index replication," said Thomas Merz, head of XMTCH Marketing & Distribution at Credit Suisse.

ETFs and ETCs tracking the gold bullion price have been a boom area for issuers in recent years, with multi-billion inflows from investors.