Today, there are many tools with which you can differentiate investments. Funds can be stored in cash at home, placed in bank deposits, in savings accounts. Recently gaining popularity precious metals. Banks offer customers not only to purchase bullion, but also to use the compulsory medical insurance service (depersonalized metal account) or open metal accounts for safekeeping.
Essence
MHI is an alternative to a standard deposit. Banks open metal accounts, and gold, silver, platinum in anonymous form are accepted as the currency. Accounting for the movement of values is carried out in grams without individual characteristics (number and quantity of ingots, samples, name of the manufacturer, etc.).
A metal account is the transfer of metals to a bank for storage. The client transfers the values according to the inventory, which indicates the mass, sample, manufacturer, number of ingots, and the credit institution is responsible for their safety. The bank does not have the right to use values. At the end of the contract, he must return the same bullion, without changing the quantitative and qualitative characteristics. Storage is charged.
OMS is different from a metal account. The depositor does not become the owner of the value in physical equivalent, but buys it at the bank rate at the time of the transaction. Gold, silver, platinum are charged in grams to the account. Most often, metals are bought for cash. But some banks make it possible to write off funds from the current account or deposit physical metal bullion.
Free and open metal accounts. The purchase and sale rate is formed on the basis of data on real transactions on the commodity exchange and the CBR discount rate. Cashing in of compulsory medical insurance consists in the realization of “virtual” value at the exchange rate of the bank on the day of operation.
Types of compulsory medical insurance
- Urgent. No interest is accrued on such an account. It simply stores the "gold reserves" of customers. Income is possible only if the value of the property increases. In this case, you can pick up the metal (for example, in the case of a sharp increase in its value) at any time.
- Deposit account provides for interest at the agreed rate on the balance. But it will be possible to use the funds only at the end of the agreement. If the depositor terminates the contract ahead of time, he will lose interest income.
Typically, contracts for opening an account in gold are concluded for a period of one month to one to two years. The maximum rate is 5% per annum, for short periods (1-3 months) - up to 1.5%. To open an account, you need to immediately purchase 50-100 grams of metal. This increases the amount of investment. The larger the deposit and the shelf life, the higher the percentage the credit institution will offer.
Benefits
There are not so few of them:
- the ability to increase funds with increasing cost;
- the ability to reduce the risks of losses due to fluctuations in the financial market;
- high liquidity - the bank will open an account on the day the client contacts;
- it is possible to receive the OMI contribution in bullion (by paying 18% VAT);
- a metal account with Sberbank is opened free of charge; there are no commissions for operations;
- value transactions are not subject to VAT;
- low entry threshold (a metal account with Sberbank, VTB 24 is opened subject to an investment of 0.1 gram of gold);
- lack of costs for transportation, storage, manufacture of ingots.
disadvantages
Compared to the advantages, they are few, but they are quite significant:
- metal accounts do not participate in the deposit insurance system, and in case of bank bankruptcy the depositor will lose his savings;
- there is a spread (the difference between purchase and sale prices), which reduces the efficiency of investments, makes the investor dependent on pricing policy.
Documents
To open a metal account, an individual entrepreneur must provide:
- statement;
- copy of passport;
- a card with sample signatures;
- copy of the document on state registration of individual entrepreneurs;
- a card for registration with the FIU, STI, if operations with metals in physical form are carried out.
To open an account, an individual must provide a passport and TIN.
Investor costs
Banks have the right to independently establish quotes for metals. Spread is the difference between selling and buying prices. It is different in banks and territorial branches. This value is not regulated by law. On average, the difference is 3-10%. As a rule, immediately after opening an account, the amount of investment decreases by the value of the spread. In order not to incur losses, you need to wait for the price increase by these 3-10%. Therefore, it is recommended to open metal accounts for a long period.
Most often, additional payments are not charged for opening, closing and maintaining an account. But the conditions of service need to be specified separately in each institution. But for the issuance of the ingot, its verification of authenticity and for the acceptance of the metal will have to pay a commission.
Taxes
When closing the compulsory medical insurance and receiving bullion, 18% VAT must be paid. The tax is immediately included in the price. Even if bullion precious metals were deposited when opening an account, for which VAT has already been paid, the tax will have to be paid again.
The basis for calculating personal income tax (13%) is the entire interest income without discounting. This amount is also immediately held by the bank. Income derived from a change in quotes is also taxable. But the investor is responsible for the timely transfer of funds.
Metal VS Currency
The dynamics of gold prices is an important economic indicator. During periods of instability, investors try to secure assets by investing in metals. During economic growth, the situation is changing, investors are looking for more highly profitable instruments, the price of gold is falling.
Statistics on operations with precious metals confirms demand in periods of unstable financial situations. The table below provides information on the return on investment over the past 5 years (from 2009 to 2014).
| An object | Profitability per year,% |
| Gold | 25 |
| Silver | 26 |
| Platinum | 6 |
| Palladium | 31 |
| U.S. dollar | 5 |
| Euro | 2 |
Are metal accounts profitable? It is definitely impossible to answer this question. It all depends on the conditions of a particular bank and initial investment. Experts say that it is worthwhile to purchase precious metals and open deposits with them only for a long period, that is, for 3 years or more. Short-term investments are unprofitable. The quotation of the metal account at the time of the sale of values decreases.
Typically, this service is used by individuals who expect to increase prices, including as a result of rapid inflation, more than interest income.
Which metal to choose?
Banks provide an opportunity to invest in gold, silver, platinum or palladium. The first two metals are the most popular, and the latter are called "professional." Despite strong volatility and small market volumes, large stocks of investing in silver are more risky than in gold. On the other hand, due to price spikes, this metal makes it possible to make more profit than gold in a short period of time.
A metal account opened in platinum will bring profit during economic growth and losses during periods of instability in the global financial market. Demand for this metal is opposed to demand for gold. The cost of platinum is almost equal to its cost.
Palladium is actively used in industry, in particular, among automakers. There are more metal reserves than gold, but it is very difficult to mine. Since the demand for metal greatly exceeds supply, the price is rising. Therefore, investing in palladium makes sense only for the long term.
Investing strategies
- Conservative. Open a deposit compulsory medical insurance and wait until the contract expires. The investor is guaranteed to receive interest income and, possibly, a reward from exchange rate differences. The agreed period eliminates the risk of breaking the deal ahead of schedule and losing part of the profit. But it may happen that prices fall sharply, and interest income is not enough to cover losses.
- Speculative. Open compulsory medical insurance on demand. During periods of short-term economic ups and downs, to make sales transactions. This approach will be profitable if the investor can receive an income higher than from standard deposits opened with the same bank.
Metal account: reviews
According to investors, the main drawback of operations with metals is that transactions are not subject to insurance. Having opened the MHI, the investor receives a certificate stating that he is the nominal owner of the metal. But in reality, bullion does not arrive at the bank's vault. A credit institution does not acquire precious metals against open accounts. Therefore, in the event of bankruptcy, the investor will not receive his savings. You can, of course, extend the term of the contract in the hope that the value of the metal will increase. But this option will not suit everyone.
The second drawback that customers note is the high commission for the reception, storage and evaluation of ingots. It is not regulated by law, so the bank may raise the fee. In the conditions of a sharp increase in volatility, a credit institution can greatly increase the spread, reducing the investor's income. If against this background the price drops, the depositor as a result will incur losses, but will not make a profit.
