Head-to-Head between Bunker Gold & Silver and Hubbis on the key reasons to invest in Physical Gold today and where to store your Gold bullion.
Christophe Numa, Director of Precious Metals Firm, Bunker Gold & Silver, addressed delegates at the Shanghai Wealth Management Forum to alert them to the value of holding gold and to explain how the wealth management community can help their HNW clients diversify and protect their wealth. He met Hubbis founder and CEO Michael Stanhope for the head-to-head discussion in front of the audience.
Hubbis: Gold has risen sharply since 2018 and is up about 25% since last September. Is gold still a good opportunity today?
C.Numa: Yes, and actually gold, as always, has been a very wise investment, but when we talk about today, it is especially valuable. Why?
Gold price has been steadily growing from 2010 and really outperforming almost every tradeable asset since 2018, largely because of concerns over global economic performance – some would say we are in a depression – and also because of the actions of governments and central banks with QE, as well as geopolitical worries that we all well know: Tariffs, Iran and so on. Not to mention that there is less and less gold in the mines (grades).
So, now you can buy physical gold at a cheaper access point than paper gold such as gold ETFs or gold shares today, to protect against global financial and geopolitical uncertainties, which we can see are quite elevated currently.
Hubbis: Do people in China and this region keep gold at home, or are there more professionalized alternative nowadays?
C.Numa: First, storing gold at home is not the best advice for safety reasons and also because some important bars testing costs will be involved when you will decide to sell back. Then, I would never advise my clients to store their gold at home or in banks, as the reality is that there are concerns on their stability, some even have what we can consider as ‘fake’ gold : they are selling gold to clients that they do not actually have for delivery or they are selling fake brands of gold bars as JP Morgan does. Gold is an asset to diminish the portfolio risks away from the global financial system, so buy and keep your gold outside of the banking system.
We, at our firm, sell fully certified and deliverable gold. We work with the leading gold refineries and vaults across the globe, the best logistics companies and insurers to ensure that client’s gold is safe, can be viewed and can be delivered or traded very rapidly. Plus since we are “chain of integrity certified”, our customers do not have to pay bar testing fees when they decide to sell back their gold. Customers should and can, through us, store their gold in locations such as Switzerland, or in Asia outstanding centres such as Singapore or Hong Kong. In fact, we believe that Singapore is now the best place for tax and safety reason.
Hubbis: With the global financial markets looking decidedly shaky in comparison to the last 10 years, have you seen an uptick in interest in gold in this region?
C.Numa: This last year, in particular the past four to five months, have been remarkably busy. Here, we are not talking about average quantities like USD 500k to USD 2 million, but USD 40 million, or more investments, in other words, really big buyers. And the trend is continuing, even accelerating.
Hubbis: In summary, what do you propose for HNW investors in this region?
C.Numa: They have a very good opportunity in gold right now, which is an ideal diversification and hedging investment. They will have had real estate, stocks and bonds, but right now, if you want to make a real profit as we noticed recently and also protect your wealth, it is Gold. Secondly, physical gold is cheaper than paper gold, including the associated costs and storage . This is definitely the time to invest, after carefully choosing the broker with whom you will work in order to maximize your investment.
