The global super-rich are increasingly investing in precious metals, presenting a unique problem: Where do you store your gold bars?
Enter new, high-security vaults, which are popping up around the world to cater to the growing demand for gold and silver storage.
In Singapore, a six-story vault called The Reserve opened last month and can hold 10,000 tons of silver, which is about a third of the world’s annual supply, according to Bloomberg. It can also hold 500 tons of gold.
The 180,000-square-foot facility is one of the largest vaults in the world. The company that built it, Silver Bullion Pte Ltd., said its other vault is full and demand for the new space is already high
“The feedback we’ve got from those conversations is that basically we need more vaults,” Silver Bullion founder Gregor Gregersen told Bloomberg.
The elite are increasingly turning to gold as a stable place to put their money, especially in troubled geopolitical times.
Jeff Christian, managing partner at commodities research and investment firm CPM Group, described the trend as a way for high-net-worth individuals to “de-risk” their wealth.
“Gold is one of the few assets that gives them a store of value, with no counter-party risk,” he said.
People investing in precious metals are often looking for places to store their precious metals that aren’t banks, where most of the precious metal reserves lie, Gregersen told Bloomberg.
Singapore has become a hub for the reserves, in part because it’s considered safe and stable.
New Zealand is also getting in on the storage business. The New Zealand Vault in the nation’s capital Wellington said it is seeing interest from Hong Kong and U.S. clients.
“One of the advantages of New Zealand is that we have no natural enemies. We’re pretty much as far away from the world’s hot spots as you can get,” John Mulvey of New Zealand Vault told Bloomberg “People look at us as a safe haven.”