BullionStar revolutionise Singapore gold industry

Precious metals stole the limelight in 2025 as gold staged an incredible rally not seen before. The breath-taking form of gold certainly caught many investors by surprise, with many of them lamenting that they have missed the boat. For perspective, gold price surged from US$2,624 per troy ounce in January 2025 to US$4,315 per troy ounce by end of 2025, an increase of 64%. Despite the crazy gold prices, investors are still flocking to buy bullion. Based on BullionStar’s website, there is an “unprecedented demand for bullion in Singapore”.

According to BullionStar, October 2025 was a historic month for them as buy transactions surpassed 12,000 and total sales reached over S$250 million. The buy-to-sell ratio remained strongly in buyers’ favour at 2:1, while the average order value climbed 8%, from S$18,754 in September to S$20,287.89 in October. Given the galloping surge in gold prices in November and December 2025, I am not surprise that the buying momentum for bullion continued towards the end of the year.

Looking back, it has been 12 years since I was approached by BullionStar to be their affiliate partner. Although more than a decade has passed, memories of how I started my relationship with BullionStar still etch freshly in my mind. Back in 2013, I had already received a number of requests from start-ups seeking partnerships to promote their products through my blog. For some unknown reasons, I was convinced that BullionStar would stand out from the rest of the pack. 12 years later, I was proven right as BullionStar went on to become one of the biggest precious metal retailers in Singapore.

The bullion retail landscape in Singapore is challenging due to the small market size. Back in October 2012, the removal of GST for investment grade precious metals ignited interest among bullion dealers to sell gold and silver in Singapore, with new entrants seeking to gain market share. Among them was BullionStar’s founder, Torgny Persson, a Swedish entrepreneur.

In its early days, BullionStar specialised in online sales, so the office in Marina Bay Financial Centre was a modest outfit. Despite starting small, it was clear to me that Torgny had big ambitions as BullionStar grew quickly to become one of the largest bullion dealers in Singapore within a few years. A major milestone arrived in 2014 when the company opened its first retail shop at 45 New Bridge Road.

BullionStar addresses a major pain point

Prior to BullionStar’s entry in 2013, the major bugbear for physical gold bars in Singapore is its poor liquidity. Most retailers only buy back the bullion products that has been sold by their stores. For example, according to its website, “UOB accepts gold coin or gold bars originally bought from UOB Singapore or OUB Singapore. Customers are required to produce invoices of purchase satisfactory to UOB. The gold coins or bars must be in good condition (to be solely determined by UOB which decision shall be final). For the gold kilobar, the seal must be intact”.

BullionStar is one of the rare retailers that buys back bullion that are not sold by them. They are able to do this as they have the testing capability to authenticate the purity of bullion through density testing, ultrasonic thickness testing, resistivity testing and x-ray fluorescence (XRF) testing.

What impressed me is BullionStar’s XRF testing, a non-destructive test that determines the chemical content of the bullion. This test enables BullionStar to accurately determines the purity and composition of the bullion.

BullionStar’ rise in prominence as a leading bullion dealer in Singapore is giving UOB Bank a run for its money. UOB Bank remains the only Singapore bank that sells physical gold. As a bank, UOB has significant resources and economy of scale to import the physical bullion and sell the precious metals to retail customers at a relatively lower price as compared to BullionStar. For example, a 100g PAMP Gold Bar is sold by UOB at $18,175 (as at 1 January 2026) while Bullionstar is selling the same product at $18,354 (if you purchased less than 10 pieces).

Whilst BullionStar could not offer the lowest selling prices for its bullion products, it stands out among its peers for its impressive product range which included over 500 different bullion, numismatics and coin supply products across 10 different product categories. Personally, I do not know any other bullion shops that carry so many varieties of bullion products.

Bullion Savings Program (BSP)

Apart from buying back gold from non-BullionStar customers, a competitive edge of BullionStar is its innovative in-house product – Bullion Savings Program (BSP), which allows customers to save their wealth  in gold, silver or platinum. Purchases in the BSP are made in unit of grams. What makes BullionStar’s BSP interesting is that investors can convert their gold, silver or platinum grams to gold bars, silver bars or platinum bars once a BSP holding meets conversion threshold.

Converting BSP grams into physical bullion is free and there are no conversion fees. Despite so, BullionStar does charge storage fees for holding physical bullion at 0.09% for gold and 0.19% for silver and platinum. Additionally, BullionStar also charges spread and premium over the spot price for its BSP.

I like the fact that BullionStar backs up its BSP Grams with physical bullion to ensure that the BSP is fully backed up at all times. Through BullionStar’s website, investors may check out the daily report on the holdings of the physical precious metals at any time and anywhere. This underscores the transparency of BullionStar. I believe this platform is one of a kind, at least in Singapore. Although UOB Bank also offers UOB gold and silver saving accounts, they are not backed by precious metals and investors cannot convert UOB savings into physical gold or silver.

With BSP Grams, retail investors have the additional option of trading paper gold, silver and platinum with ease. The platform is relatively easy to navigate. So given the recent volatility of gold and silver prices, BSP offers retail investors the opportunity to make quick returns from trading of paper gold and silver.

Outlook for gold and silver

Triggered by geopolitical conflicts like the Ukraine-Russia and Israel-Palestine wars, central banks have been piling up on gold for reserves due to its safe haven status. According to the World Gold Council, central banks have accumulated over 1,000t of gold in each of the last three years. This is a significant increase from the 400-500t average over the preceding decade.

According to the World Gold Council, net purchases by central banks through October totalled 254t. This is at a slower rate in comparison to the previous three years, possibly due to the soaring gold prices. Yet, World Gold Council expected most central bank to increase gold reserves in the year ahead.

One of the major factors for causing gold to rocket is the US trade tariffs. During the onset of China-US trade war in 2018, gold price has a massive rally. Prior to that, gold had remained stagnant between US$1,100 and US$1,400 for five years. In 2018, U.S. imposed 25% tariffs on steel and 10% tariffs on aluminium imports from most countries, citing national security concerns. US also slapped 25% tariffs on US$34 billion worth of Chinese imports, focusing on machinery, electronics, and auto parts and another 25% tariff on US$16 billion in Chinese goods, targeting semiconductors and chemicals.

The on-going geopolitical tensions between US and China will play a major influence on gold price going forward. Currently, the relationship between US and China is at the lowest point and I honestly doubt that the two superpowers would be able to resolve their conflicts in the foreseeable future.

In a bid to reduce its dependence on US dollars in its foreign exchange reserves, various reports have surfaced that China had bought a staggering US$961 million worth of gold from Russia.

Apart from geopolitical tensions, trade tariffs will be a flashpoint for gold price. Donald Trump’s second stint as US President has heralded sweeping trade tariffs as central tenet of his foreign policy. Goods from all countries to US are subjected to baseline tariffs of 10%. Countries are also subjected to “reciprocal tariffs”, subjected to negotiations between US and various countries.

And then, there is the US Fed interest rate cuts.  The Fed began a cycle of rate cuts in 2025, boosting gold prices. Comments from Fed officials also signalled future cuts in 2026, thereby further fuelling gold’s rise. Gold often rises when interest rates are cut (or expected to be cut) because lower rates decrease the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding gold, making it more attractive than bonds/cash, especially during economic uncertainty or slowdowns, with recent activity showing gold rallying on Fed rate-cut hopes but sometimes pulling back if data suggests cuts are delayed.

Conclusion

So far, all my gold investments were made with UOB Bank. These included physical gold and gold savings account. When buying physical gold from UOB Bank, it is important to note that you must ensure that the physical gold is in its original sealed condition and the original UOB invoice must be presented. In addition, with effect from 30 November 2023, customers must be a UOB account holder in order to purchase physical gold from UOB.

My approach towards gold investment is that of a pragmatic one – buy low and sell high. Given the current bullish gold price, the risk is high to enter now. Then again, trying to forecast the trend of gold price is becoming more and more challenging nowadays. Previously, I had made the bold call of gold price hitting US$3,000 per troy ounce in 2023. That obviously did not happen despite the Ukraine-Russia and Israel-Hamas conflicts in 2023. Gold price managed to clear the US$3,000 threshold only in March 2025. Since then, nothing seems to hold back gold price as the yellow metal raced past the record US$4,245 in October 2025.

Given the economic uncertainties due to the US trade tariffs and ongoing geopolitical conflicts, gold price should continue to enjoy significant tailwinds in 2026. As such, it certainly requires someone with strong conviction in gold to buy gold. If you are buying physical gold, make sure to buy from a reputable bullion dealer.

In Singapore, two of the most bullion dealers are BullionStar and UOB. The main advantage of BullionStar’s (BSP) is the opportunity to convert your gold savings to physical bullion bars, produced by LBMA refineries, at any time without any extra cost whatsoever. On the other hand, UOB gold savings account cannot be converted to physical gold or gold certificates. The UOB gold savings account is also not backed by physical gold. Till then, enjoy the ride.