Overseas Gold Storage

Overseas Gold Repository
Third-party vault companies are the only safe solution for asset protection overseas!
Since August 2018 the demand for physical gold is surely increasing with private and institutional investors as well as with Central Banks due to the constantly increasing uncertainty of our financial future worldwide due to negative interest rates, trade wars, stock market bubbles and near junk of almost half of US corporate debts.
Right place for storing Gold
A common option is to store physical gold in security deposit boxes provided by banks which is an option for smaller gold amounts. However, larger amounts of gold or even silver do not fit into security deposit boxes. Furthermore, as of January 2020 banks in Europe are legally obliged to report the content of security deposit boxes to the fiscal authorities.
Another common option is to buy gold from banks and to store it with banks. However, this is not a good option for gold holders who want to shield their wealth against risks created by defaulting banks and banking sectors. The background is that physical gold purchased from and stored with banks typically remains on the balance sheets of the banks. Storage “allocated” to the client does not necessarily mean that the legal ownership of the gold changed from the bank’s ownership to the client’s ownership. There are many stories that can be told regarding “allocated storage” offered by banks.
Banks are also obliged to provide information about client accounts and holdings to the financial authorities of their own country. The financial authorities of their own countries will then exchange such information with the financial authorities of the account or gold holder’s country. Therefore, private vault companies might be a much better choice.
Private vault companies
Investors usually prefer private vault companies that are located in other countries than their own country of residence, in order to protect their assets against regional risks and risks of their own country. Unfortunately, more and more countries in the world cannot be considered as being safe anymore but are plagued by regional conflicts, civil wars, terror acts etc.
Another country risk is the risk of confiscation by local authorities or the governments. The laws of the majority of countries is providing for the right of confiscation of valuables by the government in case of emergency cases. Additionally, unfair or unsubstantiated claims and prosecution demands that eventually turn out being unrightful might be a risk for storing gold in one’s own country.
Choosing the right vault company for high-security gold storage requires analysation of the following details:
- Jurisdiction (country) where the gold storage facilities are located (see next headline);
- Security grade of high-security storage facilities;
- Surveillance systems;
- Type of storage (segregated and allocated in the name of the client, or pooled storage);
- Accessibility for viewing own assets (should be 24/7 with immediate effect);
- Insurance coverage (coverage of value and coverage of incidents);
- Documents provided (invoices, move-in reports, stock reports, move-out reports);
- Speed and professionalism of services;
- Personal treatment of clients by senior management, where appropriate;
- Laboratory for assaying;
- Possibility of physical delivery to owner’s location;
- Possibility to visit the vault facilities prior to decision-making.
The right jurisdiction for safe gold storage
Countries and areas like Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, the US, Canada, or Panama and the Cayman Islands are known for providing private high-security facilities for the storage of gold, silver and other precious metals.
Choosing the right jurisdiction for gold storage requires the analysation of the following criteria:
- The legal environment in general;
- Regulations and environment regarding asset protection and privacy;
- Does the country have emergency laws (enabling the government to confiscate valuables in national emergency case)
- Crime rate of the country;
- Political and economic stability;
- Taxes, including VAT, with a prospect of future taxation;
- Tax treaties;
- Exchange control;
- Ease of banking;
- Reachability (is traveling to the vault company easy?).
For the sake of transparency and truth, we have to say that we wrote this little advisory article with justified self-confidence, as Liechtenstein is by far the best jurisdiction based on above criteria.
For further information please contact us on our website www.liemeta.com.cy