Singapore is a precious metals hub offering a range of high quality offshore storage options for gold, silver and other metals.
But which one is the best?
Well that will depend on your personal needs and what you are hoping to achieve.
These are the four gold storage options I think are the best.
BullionStar
Best Gold Storage for Beginners and for Convenience
| Thomas’ Take: I have had an account with BullionStar for 10 years and it is who I use for precious metals storage in Singapore. BullionStar offers a simple and convenient service that is ideal for the beginner. You can buy, sell and withdraw funds at any time using an online account. You can get allocated and segregated storage or you can choose unallocated metals for lower spreads and lower fees. You can read my full BullionStar review here. Best For: Beginner’s and Convenience Gold Storage Fees: 0.09% – 0.39% per annum |
Silver Bullion
Best Gold Storage for Borrowing Against Your Bullion
| Thomas’ Take: The defining feature of Silver Bullion is the ability to borrow against your precious metals. While they offer a high quality storage service with unparalleled security, if you want the versatility of peer-to-peer lending then Silver Bullion is a great choice. This gives you access to liquidity without selling the asset. Silver Bullion is an integrated company with three arms: Silver Bullion itself is the purchase facility, the Safe House is the vault provider, the Reserve is the storage location. Best For: High Net Worth Individuals and Versatility Gold Storage Fees: 0.25% – 0.35% |
Bullion Vault
Best Gold Storage for Active Traders
| Thomas’ Take: If you want allocated and segregated storage for long term precious metals holdings then Bullion Vault is probably not for you. But if you want low spreads and low fees and are willing to compromise on storage, then Bullion Vault is what you might consider. When you buy gold through Bullion Vault you get a share in a good delivery bar, stored by a third party company. It is not allocated and segregated. But you have a lower spread than buying private coins yourself and lower fees than holding gold through an ETF. If you trade gold then this service might work for you. Best For: Active Traders Gold Storage Fees: 0.12% |
SGPMX: Singapore Precious Metals Exchange
Best Gold Storage for High Security
| Thomas’ Take: SGPMX is a precious metals exchange that uses Le Freeport as the physical location to store their precious metals. Known as “Asia’s Fort Knox” Le Freeport offers the best in high security vaulting. SGPMX also have a trading platform called Stacker Market where you can trade with lower minimum purchases, low commissions and free storage. This allows you access the best of both worlds: an outstanding facility for long term holdings and the versatility of a trading platform. Best For: High Security Gold Storage Fees: 0.4% – 0.5% |
Why Choose Singapore For Gold Storage
Singapore has become a precious metals hub over the last decade, since it removed VAT on precious metals, positioning itself as a leader both in Asia and the world.
The reason many people choose Singapore to store gold is because it has a stable business friendly government, is a nation in a strong financial position with very low levels of crime and corruption.
One of the reasons people choose to store their wealth in gold is to avoid the counterparty and political risk of holding government currencies. However the jurisdiction you choose to hold your precious metals itself introduces some political risk. Singapore is about as low risk as you can reasonably hope for.
Conclusion
Singapore has a range of gold storage facilities, each with a slightly different service focus. All four names listed offer a high quality platform and high quality storage solution.
I personally use BullionStar because of the simplicity, low fees and low minimum investments.
Image Credits
Singapore by Swapnil Bapat on Unsplash
