HSBC: Gold holdings by wealthy investors more than doubled, 50% expect to hold gold in the next year
2025-07-04 10:43:26
While central banks' continued appetite for gold has attracted much of the attention, they are not the only buyers in the market. Interest in gold is also growing among wealthy investors with at least $100,000 in assets, according to a study by HSBC.
One of the world's largest banks released its annual "Affluent Investor Profile" on Thursday, which showed wealthy investors doubled their exposure to alternative assets such as gold. At the same time, investors reduced their cash allocations by nearly 40%, especially in Hong Kong, Mexico, the UK and the US.
Analyzing the data further, wealthy investors increased their gold exposure to 11%, up 6 percentage points from last year.
Holdings of private equity and credit, investment-grade real estate and commodities (other examples of alternative assets) also saw notable increases.
Willem Sels, global chief investment officer of HSBC Private Bank and Premier, said: “Diversification is one of the most effective ways to protect against uncertainty and these findings highlight that wealthy investors are building more diversified portfolios. Notably, the increase in allocations to alternative assets reflects that wealthy investors are taking advantage of new investment opportunities, particularly access to private markets.”
The report highlights investors’ strong interest in gold. Half of the respondents said they plan to hold gold in the next 12 months, doubling their current holdings. Of these, 41% want to buy physical gold and 28% are considering buying digital gold assets.
Gold has also gained favor among younger investors, with tokenized gold assets becoming one of the most popular products this year.
The gold market experienced strong investment demand in the first half of this year. Notably, after four consecutive years of outflows, inflows into gold ETFs saw the largest increase since 2020.
Some analysts expect investment demand to remain strong in the second half of the year as the Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates by about 50 basis points.
In another report released on July 1, HSBC's commodity analysts raised their average gold price forecast for 2025 to $3,215 per ounce, up from a previous estimate of $3,015 per ounce. At the same time, the average gold price is expected to be around $3,125 per ounce in 2026.
"We expect gold prices to fluctuate between $3,100 and $3,600 per ounce for the rest of the year, ending at $3,175 and $3,025 by the end of 2025 and 2026 respectively," HSBC said in the report.
Spot gold daily chart source: Yihuitong
At 10:42 am Beijing time on July 4, spot gold was quoted at $3,329.26 per ounce
One of the world's largest banks released its annual "Affluent Investor Profile" on Thursday, which showed wealthy investors doubled their exposure to alternative assets such as gold. At the same time, investors reduced their cash allocations by nearly 40%, especially in Hong Kong, Mexico, the UK and the US.
Analyzing the data further, wealthy investors increased their gold exposure to 11%, up 6 percentage points from last year.
Holdings of private equity and credit, investment-grade real estate and commodities (other examples of alternative assets) also saw notable increases.
Willem Sels, global chief investment officer of HSBC Private Bank and Premier, said: “Diversification is one of the most effective ways to protect against uncertainty and these findings highlight that wealthy investors are building more diversified portfolios. Notably, the increase in allocations to alternative assets reflects that wealthy investors are taking advantage of new investment opportunities, particularly access to private markets.”
The report highlights investors’ strong interest in gold. Half of the respondents said they plan to hold gold in the next 12 months, doubling their current holdings. Of these, 41% want to buy physical gold and 28% are considering buying digital gold assets.
Gold has also gained favor among younger investors, with tokenized gold assets becoming one of the most popular products this year.
The gold market experienced strong investment demand in the first half of this year. Notably, after four consecutive years of outflows, inflows into gold ETFs saw the largest increase since 2020.
Some analysts expect investment demand to remain strong in the second half of the year as the Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates by about 50 basis points.
In another report released on July 1, HSBC's commodity analysts raised their average gold price forecast for 2025 to $3,215 per ounce, up from a previous estimate of $3,015 per ounce. At the same time, the average gold price is expected to be around $3,125 per ounce in 2026.
"We expect gold prices to fluctuate between $3,100 and $3,600 per ounce for the rest of the year, ending at $3,175 and $3,025 by the end of 2025 and 2026 respectively," HSBC said in the report.
Spot gold daily chart source: Yihuitong
At 10:42 am Beijing time on July 4, spot gold was quoted at $3,329.26 per ounce
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