“In addition, the Trustee has no right to visit the premises of any subcustodian for the purposes of examining the Trust’s gold or any records maintained by the subcustodian, and no subcustodian is obligated to cooperate in any review the Trustee may wish to conduct of the facilities, procedures, records or creditworthiness of such subcustodian.”
Do you really want to be investing in the GLD ETF (the largest Gold ETF out there) when it says things like this deep within their documentation? Buy physical.
Source: Precious Metals ETF Alchemy, Hinde Capital, August 12th 2010.