Choose Carefully
Last week reports emerged relating to the apparent loss of a substantial amount of money by some hard working New Zealander’s. This money was ‘invested’ in bullion with a mainstream New Zealand dealer. This entity had a large promotional footprint and ‘polished’ webfront presence. Since this news broke the company has been placed in receivership and an investigation launched by the SFO. Published statements indicate the inability to provide the investor’s their money – and the subsequent receivership – are related to the departure of one of their staff members many months back (as previously widely reported) who, it transpired, had some ‘legal’ issues in the USA. The fact this occurred many months ago is an important fact. That being the case we will be watching with interest to find out why it has taken until now for the impact of his departure to be made public and known to those who have continued to ‘invest’ their money. Would anyone have continued to give up their money had they known of this issue?. Reports further indicate the company was (up to recently) still attempting to secure funds to alleviate this problem which, as previously stated; occurred many months prior. Our interpretation of a statement issued seems to indicate there is a view these attempts to secure money would have been successful if things had been ‘kept quiet’ by those who ended up without a chair when the music stopped. So what were they supposed to do? – keep quiet and hope?. The promotional material of this entity indicates they have considerable interest external of New Zealand and if this is the case it is perplexing why the loss of this money (whilst a significant amount) would result in the entity failing. Undoubtedly the results of the ensuing investigation will be of interest to those thinking of entering the world of bullion ownership. In 2007 we entered the market as a result of a poor trading experience. Since then we have been very vocal about the practices of this industry. Our approach, we believe, has resulted in what we believe to be some changes in the marketing practices of some however the channeling of overseas rhetoric, business practices and other such hype continues. Short timeline delivery physical bullion is the only option to consider. Chasing paper promises only ends in tears. BullionNZ; keeping bullion deals safe, secure and cost effective since 2007.