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Below is our recent interview with Gregor Gregersen, Founder and CEO of Silver Bullion:
Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to Silver Bullion?
A: Silver Bullion protects our clients’ wealth in precious metals when they buy and store these assets with us in our vault in Singapore. We minimize counterparty risks to clients’ stored assets by ensuring that they are legal title owners. In addition, we have comprehensive insurance to protect their precious metals and we reduce their counterparty risks from foreign governments by operating exclusively in Singapore. We also guarantee the authenticity of their stored gold, silver, and platinum through our DUX Testing service.
Q: Who is your ideal client and why?
A: Our ideal clients want to buy precious metals and store them in a safe place to protect their wealth from currency debasement and potential governmental gold confiscation risks in their resident country. They also seek to protect their wealth long-term from crises such as the likes of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, wars and other potentially wealth-threatening geopolitical events. Our clients understand global economic cycles – that there is a time to make money, and there is a time to protect it.
Q: What led you to start the company?
A: I witnessed firsthand the ensuing panic from the 2008 financial crisis while working in a major bank in Frankfurt in 2008. Following Lehman Brothers’ collapse, I saw co-workers rushing to buy gold and silver, and local bullion dealers ran out of bars and coins quickly. I followed them eventually in doing so but was only able to buy a 1 kg silver bar from the European Central Bank’s gift shop. Most people did not realize how close we were to the financial system collapsing then. Such a catastrophe was averted temporarily through massive government bailouts and guarantees. The realization that the financial system was really a house of cards started my journey to find solutions to protect my wealth from the next financial crisis, which could be bigger.
Q: Why did you choose Singapore as your company’s location?
A: I came to Singapore after reading Lee Kuan Yew’s book ‘From Third World to First’ about the nation’s transformation into the financial powerhouse nation it is today. The Singapore government’s pragmatic approach to building the country resonated with me and it is a sharp contrast to the ineffective policies in the Western countries that I’ve lived in. Today, Singapore is one of the richest countries in the world – it has zero net debt. Its citizens have a good quality of life, education and job opportunities. Singapore often tops global rankings for being the best place in the world to do business and economic freedom. Although small, Singapore has a mid-sized military that is capable of defending the country, increasing its attractiveness for us as vault operators who secure our clients’ wealth.
Q: Singapore is no doubt a major global financial center today but doesn’t the country have one of the highest debt-to-GDP ratios in the world?
A: That is a common misrepresentation of Singapore’s fiscal position. Debt-to-GDP rankings from the United Nations, CIA, IMF and the World Bank only focus on the liabilities side of the country’s balance sheet – the gross debt. They ignored Singapore’s assets which are the country’s reserves managed under their sovereign wealth funds. When assets are considered, Singapore is a creditor nation with no net debt. Few countries are similar to Singapore in this respect and it is no wonder that the nation has AAA ratings with credit agencies.
Q: People are often familiar with gold’s allure, but why is silver a compelling investment?
A: According to the Silver Institute’s 2023 World Silver Survey, there is a global 237 million troy ounce physical silver shortage. Such a development is happening on the back of increasing silver industrial demand for electronics and solar panels. Increased efficiencies, falling costs, power generation on-shoring, and environmental policies are greatly increasing solar panel demand. The International Energy Association (IEA) expects solar investment to exceed the oil production investment in 2023, with over 1 billion USD per day being invested in photovoltaics. Solar panel demand is poised to drain global physical reserves of silver further. In this context, the upcoming photovoltaic growth is particularly exciting to silver owners.
Q: Any highlight on your recent announcement regarding the new S.T.A.R. Silver Grams Savings program?
A: Our S.T.A.R. Grams Savings program was first launched with Gold Grams which allowed clients to buy gold in fractional amounts. No longer is someone constrained by a gold bar’s weight. You can buy from as low as 0.01 grams of gold with Gold Grams. It allows you to save regularly in gold without paying the high premiums that come with buying a small gold bar. Silver Grams work in the same way, except that you get to buy silver and the minimum purchase is 10 grams. S.T.A.R. Grams are 100% backed by physical gold and silver bars stored in our vault, The Safe House. Optionally, S.T.A.R. Grams can be converted into silver and gold bars and collected from our retail store in Singapore.
Q: What can we expect from Silver Bullion in next 6 months? What are your plans?
A: Over the next 6 months, I expect our new building, The Reserve, to be fully renovated. As our new headquarters, The Reserve will have 180,000 sqft of space available for our future expansion. It includes new premises for The Safe House, capable of storing nearly 15,500 metric tons of precious metals, making it one of the highest capacity vaults in the world. The Reserve will be a gamechanger in the wealth protection space as it allows assets other than precious metals to be securely stored under one roof. These could be luxury timepieces, art, precious gems, and other high-value assets. This diverse asset mix inadvertently creates an ecosystem where a client can switch between different asset classes easily without the assets leaving The Reserve, making it a wealth hub.
Q: What is the best thing about Silver Bullion that people might not know about?
A: We built our services by actively listening to our clients’ toughest questions about storing precious metals overseas and finding solutions for them. This is how we have gained their trust over the years.
