by Ronan Manly
Bullion Star
During March and April, amid global financial turmoil, unprecedented demand for physical gold, refinery closures and a London lockdown, one question on the minds of many in the gold market was how HSBC London, the vault custodian of the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD), was consistently able to source huge amounts of gold bars to back the enormous inflows into the world’s largest gold-backed Exchange Traded Fund (ETF).
173 tonnes during London Lockdown
From Monday 23 March (the day Boris Johnson triggered the UK and London lockdown) to close of business 12 May, the SPDR Gold Trust claims to have taken in a massive inflow of 175 tonnes of gold bars, swelling its gold holdings from 908 tonnes to 1083 tonnes.