St. LOUIS (ResourceInvestor.com) -- Last week, Resource Investor reported on a recent policy change by the Silver Users Association (SUA), urging the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to reject Barclays’ silver backed Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). SUA Executive Director Paul Miller told RI that the silver ETF would “obviously cause higher prices,” and “this issue concerns a lot of our members.” Resource Investor asked Barclays for some comments.
Although Barclays is in a quiet period awaiting the SEC’s decision, Christine Hudacko, advisor at Barclays Global Investors, gave some insight to the situation.
“There is an opportunity for people to weigh-in,” she said, speaking of SUA’s new policy.
According to Miller, the SUA board created and voted on the policy for approval.
“Everybody on the board had opportunity to state concerns and vote to have issues added or deleted to the text,” Miller said. “It passed and that’s what we came up with.”
Hudacko said she didn’t know why the SUA would oppose the silver ETF so adamantly.
“What I’ve heard is that they are communicating their views to the SEC,” she added.
Miller previously told RI that the removal of large quantities of physical silver would have a negative impact on the overall economy.
“So much silver would be taken out of the market place, which in turn, means higher costs to companies that use silver,” he said, adding that this could result in lost jobs.
Hudacko simply spoke about the practicality of the product.
“Whenever we develop a product, it is something that the market needs,” Hudacko said.
Barclays main goal is to help the SEC realize that this product is appropriate for the market place, Hudacko said. In other words, all other details concerning the product are secondary at this stage.
“Our priority is to work directly with the SEC, and have them understand how the product would work,” she said.
Barclays Global Investors filed the registration with the SEC in June. According to Hudacko, the decision process could take a year or longer to complete.
“It’s a slow process, and even when your going through the process, it’s hard to guess,” she said.
