Gold vaults in Singapore

In my last article, I wrote about Singapore’s push to become a regional gold trading and storage hub. That move gained global context amid Venezuela’s desperate attempt to repatriate over US$1 billion in gold reserves held at the Bank of England—a request refused when the UK declined to recognize President Nicolas Maduro’s government. This high-profile dispute could set the stage for landmark legal battles as Singapore attempts to build its legal framework to attract central banks and high net worth individuals to store their precious metals in gold vaults in Singapore.

In my view, the key for Singapore to become a regional gold trading and storage hub is the development of a set of robust legal framework for gold vaults. In terms of tax, Singapore has already exempted Investment-Grade Precious Metals (IPM) – gold of at least 99% purity – from Goods and Services Tax (GST). There are also maximum-security facilities like Le Freeport and The Reserve for safe storage of precious metals. The lesson learned from Venezuela case was that the legal frameworks must address political intervention, legal ambiguity and custodian risk.

The recent developments have raised my interest in gold vaults. Obviously, storing substantial silver or gold bars under one’s mattress isn’t a strategy that lets anyone sleep soundly at night.

In Singapore, UOB remains the only 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 competitive prices. However, the bank does not provide gold vaults. Let’s not forget that UOB is fundamentally a commercial bank, not a vault provider. While banks like UOB historically offer safe deposit boxes, there are always the issue of limited box availability and tight size restrictions.

Although UOB does not have provide vault services, they do have safe deposit boxes which you can rent to store your precious metals. The rental charges can be found in their website. Whether it’s safe to store bullion in banks is not for me to judge. But if I have a substantial holding of gold or silver bars, I would look for dealers that offer a one-stop services that include buying, selling, delivery and storage.

More importantly, UOB does not offer shipping or delivery services for physical gold or silver purchases. To make things worse, they do not even allow walk-ins. You must book online collection appointment and collect your purchases in-person at their Raffles Place gold counter. They even charge late collection fees if you missed the 10 working days collection window.For an ultra-rich investor or international buyer looking to acquire sizeable quantities of physical bullion, UOB’s rigid retail process is impractical. High-net-worth investors seeking genuine safe-haven allocation would normally look for solutions that offer seamless buying, insured vaulting, international shipping, and full legal title ownership.

In this regard, boutique precious metal dealers with advanced e-commerce platforms and allocated vaulting systems—such as BullionStar—hold a clear operational upper hand over traditional retail banks.

Features of BullionStar’s Gold Vaults

The biggest advantage of buying physical precious metals from BullionStar is that its online system offers a seamless end-to-end solution for buying and storing bullion. In its early days, BullionStar started off as e-commerce retailer specialising in online sales, so its initial office in Marina Bay Financial Centre was a modest outfit. Despite starting small, 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. The retail shop boosted a vault that comes with hi-tech surveillance system and steel-reinforced concrete. However, based on my research, BullionStar has started to shift the bulk of its vault services to Le Freeport since 2022.

One major selling point of BullionStar’s gold vault is that you have absolute control of your bullion 24/7 – you may withdraw or sell your bullion anytime through your account online. Opening an account is quick and easy. Furthermore, you can view photos of your bullion uploaded to your account. Withdrawals can be shipped to you, or you can make an appointment online to collect your bullion at our vault facility. So technically, ultra-rich investors can remotely buy, sell and store their bullion with BullionStar without ever stepping foot in Singapore.

To provide buyers an extra peace of mind, BullionStar provide vault customers an ownership vault certificate, is updated automatically each time a customer buys, sells or withdraws physical bullion. In the unlikely event that BullionStar is unable to continue its business, an independent accounting company would be assigned to act as your agent in claiming possession of your bullion. BullionStar’s insurance coverage also covers both vault-stored customer bullion and vault-stored general inventory.

As a precious metal retailer and vault provider, BullionStar stands out for trust and transparency. There are 5 different audits, including Live Audit Report, 3^rd party audit by LBMA-approved auditor Bureau Veritas and customer audit. I like the fact that BullionStar published the bi-annual audit reports by Bureau Veritas since 2014. The reports confirmed that the physical metals are all clearly segregated within the vault. Customers may also physically audit their vault but need to pay a fee of $500.

Bullion Savings Program (BSP)

Another 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 further  underscores the transparency of BullionStar.

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.

Conclusion

It remains to be seen if gold price will return to form in any time. There is no question that gold price has witnessed an extraordinary volatility in 2026 – from a bullish trend in early 2026 to devastating crush in the second quarter. The roller-coaster form of gold price is indeed gut-wrenching. As such level, it certainly requires someone with strong conviction in gold to buy gold.

Amid the volatile gold price, I am excited that Singapore is taking steps to become a regional gold trading hub. With this development, I foresee that there will be more precious metal product offerings for retail investors. BullionStar, with its state-of the-art online system and maximum-security vaults, has the competitive edge to ride on this potentially upcoming gold boom in Singapore. Till then, enjoy the ride.