Invesco’s Physical Gold Exchange Traded Commodity (ETC) has reached $10 billion in assets for the first time in its 10-year history, after record flows into the product in the first quarter of 2020. Since the start of the year, the ETC has grown 40 percent in terms of the value of its assets, or 30 percent without factoring in the increase in the gold price^].

With over $1.7 billion of net new assets in March alone, the ETC raised more in the month than any exchange-traded product (ETP) in Europe. The strong rise in assets also means it is now the firm’s largest Europe-listed ETP.

Invesco’s ETC offers the lowest total cost of ownership in Europe with a fixed fee of 0.19% per annum and historically low bid-offer spreads (typically between 2-3 basis points). Even in March, when the gold market came under severe stress due to global supply chain fears, spreads on the Invesco ETC remained tighter and more stable than competitor products.

Chris Mellor, Head of ETF Equity and Commodity Product Management at Invesco, said: “Investors are using ETCs to allocate to gold due to their liquidity and low costs – even at a time of abnormal market stress, record spreads, and when traditional physical trading routes and infrastructures are being restricted or even shut. Indeed, ETCs have weathered the quarter extremely well and delivered exceptional value for investors at a time of profound volatility and market disruption.

“Gold has been shown to be a safer store of value during the recent market turmoil than most other assets, and demand from investors has continued to grow. We expect this demand to continue in the foreseeable future as investors seek to capitalise on the benefits of ETCs to rebalance portfolios and reflect the market environment.”

Invesco’s Physical Gold ETC is designed to provide the performance of the gold price, less the annual fee. Investments are used to purchase physical gold bars, which are held in an allocated account and stored securely in the London vaults of J.P. Morgan Chase Bank.