Best price for bullion in Singapore
Where can wealth builders find the best price for bullion in Singapore? Against the backdrop of plunging stock market performance, plenty of investors must be on standby to purchase gold bullion to protect and de-risk their wealth portfolios.
Best Price Guaranteed
Amid the challenging operating environment, BullionStar go one step further by signalling its intent to be the price leader for bullion in Singapore through its “Best Price Guaranteed” for bullion in Singapore. If you find a bullion product with a lower listed price for an available identical bullion product with the same delivery method at one of their Singaporean competitors, BullionStar will match this price and add a FREE GIFT to your order completely free of charge.
Since 2012, Singapore government exempted Goods and Services Tax (GST) for investment grade precious metals. This pro-enterprise move led to a slew of bullion dealers setting up shops in Singapore. Among the first movers was BullionStar. Initially located in the Marina Bay Financial Centre, BullionStar had gone from strength to strength and had expanded into its current location at 45 New Bridge Road, adjacent to both Clarke Quay MRT.
Over the years, BullionStar had become a leading bullion dealer in Singapore. Such achievement is indeed notable because Singapore is a very small and competitive market. To gain market share in such niche industry is very challenging. In fact, the wave of consolidation in the gold market has claimed a number of casualties.
Changing bullion landscape
German gold dealer, Degussa Singapore, has closed shop in October 2017. The closure was stunning considering the fact that Degussa Singapore started operations only in 2015. Then Singapore Exchange also ceased its 25 Kilobar contract following poor market demand. Despite these, BullionStar continued to grow and recorded its 100,000th customer order on 9 May 2018.
In FY2014, BullionStar recorded revenues of $44.1 million. For FY2015, revenue grew 43.8% to $63.4 million. Revenue then almost doubled year-on-year in FY2016, rising to $129.2 million. For the latest financial year, FY2017, BullionStar recorded revenue of $174.7 million, which was 35.2% higher than FY 2016.
The business performance of BullionStar had been impressive given the volatility of gold price in the past three years. According to BullionStar’s gold chart, gold price crashed to a low of USD1065 per ounce in early 2016 and then surged to a high of USD1350 in mid-2016. Then gold price slumped to USD1135 per ounce by end of 2016. The swings continued all the way till April 2018, when it restored to the high of USD1350 and then crashed to USD1188 level.
Source: BullionStar
Safe haven?
The wild swings in gold price can be attributed to a few factors. Firstly, most investors still view gold as a safe haven. So during stock market crashes, investors tend to rush into gold, leading to sudden surge in the gold prices. For example, the shock plunge of Dow Jones in February 2018 saw a spike in gold price.
Secondly, the tightening monetary policies of United States saw the Federal Reserves increasing interest rates in recent years. As a result, the strength of US dollar increased and this invariable leads to a decrease in gold price. This inverse relationship is because physical gold does not have yield, so investors would tend to dump gold and hold currencies.
The erratic swings of gold price wrecked havocs for bullion dealers and this may attribute to the flops of Degussa Singapore and Singapore Exchange’s 25 Kilobar contract. The headwinds in the market make it very challenging for physical gold trading to be a sustainable business in Singapore. Despite this, BullionStar overcome the odds to become the leading player in the physical gold market.
One of the major competitive advantages of BullionStar is that it carries a huge varieties of bullion products. In Singapore, I struggle to find another bullion dealer that carries so many bullion products like BullionStar. In addition, this boutique bullion dealer is known for its ability to introduce innovative products.
BullionStar’s Bullion Savings Program (BSP)
The Bullion Savings Program (BSP) is BullionStar’s savings and trading solution for physically allocated Gold, Silver and Platinum. With the BSP, you can buy BSP Grams of Gold, Silver or Platinum that is fully backed up by physical precious metals in BullionStar’s stock inventory.
It should be noted that grams in the Bullion Savings Program (BSP) are fully allocated physical precious metals. BSP Grams are available in Gold, Silver and Platinum for a low-price premium and a low spread. This provides you with a cost-efficient way to start saving in precious metals.
The interesting thing about BSP is that the grams can be converted to physical bullion bars at any time or sold back to BullionStar at any time. However, the CPF Board restricts what investments can be held under the CPF so it’s unfortunately not possible to hold BSP grams under the CPF. Other facts about BSP as follows:
There is no minimum or maximum purchase or maintenance level of BSP grams. BSP gram has to be bought in units of whole grams though so it’s not possible to e.g. buy 0.1 grams.
There’s no fee for buying or selling although starting 1 February 2016, there will be a storage charge of 0.09 % p.a. of the average value for BSP grams of gold and 0.19 % p.a. of the average value for BSP grams of silver and platinum. For an investment of e.g. SGD 10,000 that corresponds to a mere SGD 9 per year for gold or SGD 19 per year for silver or platinum.
There is no GST added as BSP grams fall under the Fourth Schedule of the GST act and is thus exempted from GST.
There is no penalty for early account closure. Customers don’t need to open any separate account to hold BSP grams. The BSP grams are held directly on the ordinary customer account and can be sold back to BullionStar or converted to physical bullion at any time.
Conclusion
Global economy is expected to face uncertainties in the coming years. In this respect, gold is the asset class to hold because of its traditional status as safe haven.
After ten years of bull run, the stock market in US is showing signs of jittery. Thus, it may be prudent to diversify your wealth portfolio and start accumulating bullion. Start buying real physical gold from a trustworthy bullion dealer. Till then, enjoy the ride.
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