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EX-23.1 - EX-23.1 - Aberdeen Standard Silver ETF Trustsivr-20171231xex23_1.htm

 

UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

Form 10-K/A

(Amendment No. 1)

(Mark One)

ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017

or

TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

Commission file number: 001-34412

ETFS SILVER TRUST

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)



 

New York

26-4586763

(State or other jurisdiction of

(I.R.S. Employer

incorporation or organization)

Identification No.)



 

c/o ETF Securities USA LLC

 

405 Lexington Avenue

 

New York, NY

10174

(Address of principal executive offices)

(Zip Code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code:
(646)  846 3130

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:



 

 

 

 

 



Title of each class

 

 

Name of each exchange on which registered

 

ETFS Physical Silver Shares

NYSE Arca



Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. 

Yes No

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act. 

Yes No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. 

Yes No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months.

Yes No

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.


 

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer”,  “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act 



 

 

 

Large accelerated filer

Accelerated filer

Non accelerated filer

Smaller reporting company



 

Emerging growth company



If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). 

Yes No

Aggregate market value of the registrant’s Shares outstanding based upon the closing price of a share on June 30, 2017 as reported by the NYSE Arca, Inc. on that date: $338,395,500. 

As of February 21, 2018, ETFS Silver Trust has 20,400,000 ETFS Physical Silver Shares outstanding. 

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE: None.


 

 

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This Annual Report on Form 10-K/A constitutes Amendment No. 1 (“the Amendment”) to the ETFS Silver Trust’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, which was originally filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 27, 2018 (“the Original Filing”).  This Amendment is being filed solely to amend the dates of the opinions of KPMG LLP within Part II, Part IV and Exhibit 23.1 which were incorrect in the Original Filing.

No other change is made to the Original Filing. This Amendment does not purport to provide an update or a discussion of any other developments subsequent to the Original Filing. Accordingly, this Amendment should be read in conjunction with the Original Filing.


 

 

PART II

Item 9A. Controls and Procedures

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Sponsor, Trustee and Shareholders
ETFS Silver Trust:

Opinion on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

We have audited ETFS Silver Trust’s (the Trust) internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2017, based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. In our opinion, the Trust maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2017, based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. 

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the statement of assets and liabilities of the Trust, including the schedules of investments, as of December 31, 2017 and 2016, the related statements of operations and changes in net assets, and the related notes (collectively, the financial statements) and financial highlights for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2017, and our report dated February 23, 2018 expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements and financial highlights.

Basis for Opinion

The Trust’s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Trust’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Trust in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audit also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Definition and Limitations of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements and financial highlights for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements and financial highlights in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements and financial highlights.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

/s/ KPMG LLP

New York, New York
February 23, 2018




 

 

PART IV



Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules

3. Exhibits







Financial Statements

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Sponsor, Trustee and Shareholders
ETFS Silver Trust:

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities of ETFS Silver Trust (the “Trust”), including the schedules of investments, as of December 31, 2017 and 2016, the related statements of operations and changes in net assets for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2017, and the related notes (collectively, the financial statements) and the financial highlights for each of the years in the three‑year period ended December 31, 2017. In our opinion, the financial statements and financial highlights present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Trust as of December 31, 2017 and 2016, and the results of its operations and the changes in its net assets, for each of the years in the three‑year period ended December 31, 2017, and financial highlights for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2017, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the Trust’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2017, based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission, and our report dated February 23, 2018 expressed an unqualified opinion on the effectiveness of the Trust’s internal control over financial reporting.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements and financial highlights are the responsibility of the Trust’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements and financial highlights based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Trust in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements and financial highlights are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements and financial highlights, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements and financial highlights. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements and financial highlights. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ KPMG LLP

We have served as the Trust’s auditor since 2015.

New York, New York
February 23, 2018



 


 

 

 

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned in the capacities* indicated thereunto duly authorized. 



 



ETF SECURITIES USA LLC



Sponsor of the ETFS Silver Trust



(Registrant)



 

Date: February 28, 2018

/s/ Graham Tuckwell



Graham Tuckwell*

President and Chief Executive Officer



(Principal Executive Officer)



 



 



 

Date: February 28, 2018

/s/ Christopher Foulds



Christopher Foulds*



Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer



(Principal Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer)



* The Registrant is a trust and the persons are signing in their capacities as officers of ETF Securities USA LLC, the Sponsor of the Registrant.