Deutsche Börse has entered into a joint venture with Bank Vontobel, Bankhaus Metzler, Commerzbank , Deutsche Bank, DZ Bankand and Umicore in order to offer innovative forms of securitisation for commodities and to ensure the cost-effective trading of these instruments. The company is called Deutsche Börse Commodities. The first product to be issued will be Xetra-Gold, a physically backed bond. Each security represents one gram of gold and can be bought and sold via the Xetra trading platform with effect from December 14 2007. Investors will thus be able to invest in gold easily, cost effectively and transparently. The gold holdings will be supplied by Umicore and stored in the vault of the central securities depository Clearstream Banking Frankfurt - a subsidiary of Deutsche Börse. As the fiduciary custody of the gold holdings at Clearstream meets the highest security standards, investors will save the costs of transporting and storing the physical gold. The securities issued can be traded on a continuous basis without a time delay and - if desired - can be exchanged for the physical gold holdings via the investor's own bank. "Deutsche Börse Commodities will promote commodities trading within Europe - a field of activity previously associated with high costs. Thanks to innovative securitizations, investors can now gain direct and efficient access to the commodities markets. The Vontobel Group regards commodities as attractive investment alternatives and wants to exploit this potential by partnering with Deutsche Börse Commodities. Our contribution to the joint venture will, in particular, include our established distribution channels in Germany and Switzerland, as well as our many years of experience in the structuring of securities. We will, of course, focus primarily on sales in Switzerland," said Roger Studer, head of Vontobel Financial Products. "Portfolio experts advise clients to invest a certain proportion of their assets in commodities since there is a relatively low correlation between their performance and that of other types of securities. However, there is a lack of cost-efficient investment alternatives. With these innovative securitisations, we will offer investors direct access to the commodities markets and a cost-effective opportunity to diversify their portfolios," explained Steffen Orben, managing director of Deutsche Börse Commodities.