WASHINGTON (Commodity Online): As silver performs better than gold this year, ETF Securities Ltd has launched a new silver ETF named ETFS Physical Silver Shares which operates under the ticker SIVR in New York Stock Exchange.

The new product is in direct competition with iShares Silver Trust (NYSE: SLV) and is designed to reflect the one ounce price of silver bullion. Those buying SIVR is not buying into silver futures, but are purchasing an actual piece of metal that is stored in a vault and stamped with a serial number, ETF Securities said.

The competing iShares Silver Trust has amassed almost $4 billion since being launched in 2006. SLV’s annual expense ratio is 0.50%.


The ETFS Silver Trust is backed by physical silver bullion held by HSBC in London. SIVR’s shares represent an interest in physical silver bullion owned by the Trust. The physical silver bullion of the trust is subject to minimal counterparty or credit risks, which is different with investment products that achieve bullion exposure through the use of derivatives.

According to the prospectus, SIVR’s annual expense ratio is fixed at 0.30% until July 24, 2010. Thereafter it will adjust to 0.45%.
ETF Securities Ltd (ETFS) currently has approximately $12 billion in assets invested in over 130 of its products globally. In 2003, the company developed the world's first Gold ETP in Australia and London. ETFS also launched the world's first Crude Oil ETP in 2005 and then developed a comprehensive product range of Commodity ETPs which were listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2006. These products are not available to US Investors.

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