Almost half of all Germans have at some time bought gold, or given or received it as a gift. So storing this precious metal in as secure a manner as possible is an important issue for many Germans. The national crime statistics for 2013 highlight just how important it is to keep gold well hidden; the number of home break-ins rose again last year – by as much as 30 percent in some federal states.
Germans believe that bank deposit boxes are the safest place to store gold. This was the finding of a representative study with over 1,000 respondents conducted by the opinion polling institute TNS Emnid on behalf of Deutsche Börse Commodities.
Of those surveyed, 72 percent said that they would store gold in a bank deposit box, followed by a safe in their own home. Only around one in five said that they would consider keeping their gold in drawers, cupboards, jewellery boxes or other unsecured places.
The statistics come as little surprise: Germans deem bank deposit boxes to be the safest place to store things, giving them an average score of 4.5 (where 1 = very unsafe and 5 = very safe). Safes at home come in in second place with a score of 3.2. Germans deem unsecured hiding places in the home and burying chests in the garden to be unsafe options.
“The advantage of having a safe at home is that the owner can access their gold at any time. But the most secure option is a professional safe outside of the home that meets stringent security standards, such as bank safety deposit boxes,” says Steffen Orben, Managing Director of Deutsche Börse Commodities GmbH. “Gold-backed investment products are an easy, low-cost and, most importantly, secure alternative.”
In actual fact, only 20 and 15 percent of Germans use a bank safety deposit box or a home safe respectively. But for those who want to invest in gold and still enjoy a high level of security, investment products backed with physical gold are an alternative. Xetra-Gold, for example, can be traded like a security, but the gold is held in custody in physical form in the central vault for German securities in Frankfurt. Investors can have the amount of gold that their investment represents delivered at any time via their bank on request.
About the survey
The data used in this media release was collected by the market research institute TNS Emnid. The survey sample size was 1,064. The survey was conducted from 30 April 2014 to 5 May 2014. The information was gathered by telephone survey. The results are representative for the German population over the age of 25.
