Gold was treated with complete impersonality

Sberbank has offered corporate clients improved conditions for purchasing non-cash gold to non-personalized metal accounts (OMAs), which will be valid until the end of summer. Against the backdrop of a noticeable interest of citizens in compulsory medical insurance, legal entities have recently sold gold from their accounts, and, according to experts, Sberbank’s proposal is designed to return them to the instrument. Other banks are also trying to attract money from corporate clients for CHI.

Sberbank announced the launch of a special offer for transactions with gold on accounts in precious metals for legal entities, which will be valid until the end of summer. When buying and selling from 100 grams of impersonal gold in the Internet bank, the rate will be close to the official discount rate of the Bank of Russia.

According to Alexander Zozulya, Director of the Global Markets Department at Sberbank, CHI relieves corporate clients of the costs associated with storing physical metal. At the same time, the bank noted that, as a rule, “corporate clients use investments in gold to diversify their investment portfolios.”

The bank does not disclose quotes. According to the Central Bank, the accounting prices for gold on July 10 were 5,655 rubles per year. Since the beginning of the year they have grown by 35%. The selling rate of gold at Sberbank on July 10 during business hours fluctuated in the range of 5780-5870 rubles per year, that is, the premium was 2.2-3.8% of the book price of the Bank of Russia. The buyback price of the precious metal was 5356–5486 rubles/g, i.e. it assumed a discount of 3–5.3%.

Alfa-Bank calls the demand of corporate clients for impersonal gold significant, arguing that there is an influx of new money. “Corporate clients are large amounts, that is, an instant impact on the financial result,” the bank explained. The PSB is preparing to launch a similar product and is “building the appropriate infrastructure.” VTB says that it has recently launched a functionality for concluding transactions for owners of unallocated metal accounts of SME segments.

Experts note that the decrease in gold balances on compulsory medical insurance in the vast majority of cases was associated precisely with a reduction in liabilities to legal entities. The banks themselves noted a significant increase in interest in gold, including in an impersonal form, on the part of the population both in 2022 and at the beginning of 2023 (see Kommersant of May 30).

In particular, 380,000 accounts were opened with Sberbank, a third more than in 2021, 1.8 times more clients opened accounts with VTB than in 2021, and the number of opened accounts with PSB quadrupled.

According to market participants, the new action of Sberbank is aimed at returning a wide range of corporate clients. As Olga Anikeychik, director of the Precious Metals Department at Realist Bank, explained, now the purchase prices for physical gold in rubles from banks are significantly higher than last year. “The question is in discounts, which are significant and consist not only of bank commissions, but also of overhead costs in the implementation, including for export,” she says.

But in this case, according to the expert, we are talking about trading non-cash gold using depersonalized metal accounts, which may be of interest to banks in terms of expanding and diversifying services.

Vadim Serov, General Director of the Association of Jewelers, noted that Sberbank’s investment program has nothing to do with the jewelry industry, however, “in general, in a period of high volatility, the offer can really be interesting for a number of companies.”

Maxim Buylov