More bling to Singapore. JP Morgan announces that it’s opening a gold vault in Singapore’s Freeport area, in order to provide well-heeled Goldfinger clients with the ability to diversify their gold holdings away from the sweaty hands of the US government which, if rumors can be believed, is seriously considering executive order 6102 v2 in order to nationalize all gold as the dollar continues its crash, into the sweaty hands of the Singapore government, who is quietly continuing to promote itself as the “no we are not a haven” haven for all billionaires running away from scurrilous taxes and possible confiscation from their respective jurisdictions.
From Commodity Now “J.P. Morgan opens precious metals vaulting facility in Asia” (ht ZH)
J.P. Morgan announced today the official launch of its first Asia precious metals vaulting facility. The facility, located in the Freeport area of Singapore, will provide gold and precious metal storage capabilities for corporate, institutional and retail clients in Asia-Pacific.
The operation of the facility leverages J.P. Morgan’s precious metal trading and vaulting capabilities headquartered in London, where the firm runs one of the largest commercial vaults outside of the Official Banking Sector.
The facility will also accommodate the trading of physically settled futures contracts on regional exchanges, regional ETF (exchange traded funds) allocations, as well as physically settled financing transactions in which J.P. Morgan is involved.
“This is a significant step for us to have a direct exposure to the physical gold market in Asia,” said Tim Wilson, Head of Asia Marketing of Global Commodities. “We’ve seen increasing appetite from investors and clients to diversify the location of their gold holdings and our vault facility provides an alternative site to places such as London, New York and Zurich.”
Peter Smith, Head of Precious Metals Vaulting Services in London, said: “Setting a vault in a regional hub such as Singapore, which has the advantage of tax efficiency, security and infrastructure, will reduce shipping costs and enhance trade. Our trading counterparties will also benefit from a facility of this nature,” he added.
The Singapore Mercantile Exchange has recently announced the launch of a basket of commodity products that includes Singapore’s first gold futures contract that will be physically settled. This gold contract will be delivered at the J.P. Morgan vault facility in the Freeport area, Singapore’s first round-the-clock free trade zone.
For all those interested in a 3D-tour of the Singapore Freeport, touted as “the ultimate safe for the world’s finest collection”, it’s located in a state-of-the-art facility next to Changi Airport, and no, I don’t think they give out day passes to tourists. According to WSJ, the Freeport is the largest such facility in the world, which… “provides wealthy collectors with tax-free storage, as well as a place to display and sell their art. Owners and prospective buyers can jet in, pop over to the FreePort to view a piece of art in a private gallery, seal the deal, and jet off again. While FreePort tenants have to register the goods online with Singapore Customs, they need report only what general category they fall under—say, one painting, not one Picasso.”
The president and co-founder of Freeport, Alain Vandenborre, had this to say about his “no questions asked facility”:
“When you go to a bank and rent a safe, nobody knows what goes in. It’s the same thing here…They only need to give a code that indicates the broad nature of the item—gold, wine or a painting. There’s no value, no ownership, no inventory list—all details are confidential. We offer more confidentiality than Geneva.”
Oh, the Freeport covers the size of about 6 football fields, being at around 30,000 sqm.
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