“Our experience from the UK is that it can go suddenly very fast,” ETF Securities Australia and New Zealand head of sales Nigel Phelan said.
Phelan has overseen the growth of the ETF business in the United Kingdom and Ireland, where assets grew from $200 million to more than $11 billion in just two years.
Interest in the product might be stimulated by the current rise in the gold price, Phelan said.
Gold futures topped US$1000 an ounce last week for the first time since February this year.
Many Australian investors are used to taking an exposure to gold by buying stocks of mining companies, such as Newcrest Mining, but Phelan said that was a rather poor way getting exposure to the precious metal because investors also bought the risks associated with running a listed company.
“Buying an ETF is a much more direct exposure to gold,” he said.
Zenith Investment Partners last week said it had given a recommended rating to the gold ETC.
This clears the way for the product to be included on platforms, making it more easily available to financial advisers and retail clients.
Phelan is currently in talks with all major dealer groups to have the product included on their platforms.
The gold ETF is the company’s oldest product and was launched in 2001 on the Australian market.
Over time, ETF Securities is likely to add oil and agricultural ETFs to its list of products in the Australian market.
