UBS launches digital gold trading

Swiss investment bank UBS has launched physical gold trading for Swiss customers via its mobile banking app. This is the first bank in the country to do so, broadening the traditional safe-haven asset's availability to retail customers. This could lead to more investment in the precious metal as it makes the investment more acceptable to smaller value trades.

The UBS product would make investment available electronically for amounts as low as $5. British fintech firm Revolut introduced trading of exposure to gold in 2020, allowing users of the digital-only bank to buy and sell gold held at a financial institution, but without granting them access to the precious metal itself. So it is not a new concept but UBS are the first bank of their size to enter this market.

Under Chief Executive Ralph Hamers, UBS has been trying to win more business from the lower echelons of the global rich by improving its digital services.

The digital gold trading has been made available for all Swiss customers, UBS said with a source familiar with the project adding it may be expanded internationally in future, according to Reuters reports.