“The idea of putting physical metal in a safe jurisdiction like Singapore with parties they can trust is becoming a big trend nowadays,” says Gregor Gregersen, founder of The Reserve.Alessia Pierdomenico | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The ultra-wealthy are increasingly moving their gold offshore as economic and geopolitical uncertainty roils markets — and Singapore is emerging as a favored destination.

Not far from the city-state’s airport sits a six-story facility covered in onyx and fortified by tight security. Tucked behind its steel doors are gold and silver bars amounting to about $1.5 billion.

Known as “The Reserve,” the storage facility features scores of private vaults and a towering storage chamber lined with thousands of safe deposit boxes reaching three stories high.

From the start of the year to April, the precious metals repository has received an 88% increase in orders to store gold and silver in the vault from the same period in 2024, said its founder, Gregor Gregersen. The Reserve, which also sells gold and silver bars, saw sales for precious metals bars skyrocket 200% year on year in that time, data provided by The Reserve showed.

Singapore is viewed as the ‘Geneva of the East’; it has a reputation as a safe jurisdiction with relative political and economic stability.Nicky ShielsMKS PAMP

A growing sense of unease is driving the surge, according to industry watchers.

“A lot of very high net worth clients are looking at tariffs, looking at the world changing, looking at the potential of geopolitical instabilities,” Gregersen told CNBC. 

“The idea of putting physical metal in a safe jurisdiction like Singapore with parties they can trust is becoming a big trend nowadays,” he said, adding that 90% of the new orders are coming from outside of Singapore.

Not far from Singapore’s airport sits a six-story facility called The Reserve. Tucked behind its steel doors are gold and silver bars amounting to about $1.5 billion.

The rise of gold has been meteoric in recent months, with bullion prices notching consecutive record highs. That was fueled in part by its safe haven appeal in the face of the volatility brought about by U.S.-China trade tensions and a mass U.S. asset sell-off in April.

Though gold prices recently cooled after investors’ risk appetites improved following a thaw in trade tensions between the two economic superpowers, some market watchers still believe they could climb to as high as $5,000 per ounce next year. Spot gold prices are currently trading at $3,346.32 per ounce, near historic levels.

Physical bars versus paper

The wealthy are also increasingly opting for physical gold bars instead of paper because they do not want as much counterparty and geopolitical risks, Gregersen said. While storing and owning physical gold isn’t completely free of price exposure, it limits exposure to certain risks that paper gold carries.

For example, counterparty risks are lower if one owns the asset directly. The Silicon Valley Bank crisis that unfolded in 2023 fueled investors’ preference for physically owning or securely allocating specific gold bars, instead of relying on paper claims or owning just a stake in a pooled reserve — which could be put at risk if a bank collapses, said Nicky Shiels, head of research and metals strategy at MKS Pamp, a precious metals refining and trading firm.