HelloGold recently launched in Malaysia, is the first online gold platform to be endorsed as Shariah compliant by the Shariah Supervisory Board of Amanie Advisors. The approval is predicted to give the company access to millions of Muslim customers around the region.
The gold savings platform is aimed at the “man on the street” and was previewed at the global launch of the Shariah Standard on Gold at the World Islamic Banking Conference. Investors will be able to buy investment grade gold via their smartphones. With Amanie Advisors as its Shariah Advisor, HelloGold will base its business model on the Shariah Standard on Gold by the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions.
“With HelloGold, everyone can buy gold. We have made it simple and affordable for everyone to buy, sell, save, send gold and to use it as collateral from as low as RM1 (US$0.22),” said Chief Executive Officer, Robin Lee. “For many in Asia, gold is a particularly good safe haven investment against foreign exchange risk and market shocks such as we have seen in 2016. Over the last 12 months, gold has risen by 17% against the Malaysian ringgit, 10% against the Thai baht, 9% against the Indonesian rupiah, 17% against the Philippine peso and 12% against the Singapore dollar,” he said.
Lee who was the former Chief Financial Officer of the World Gold Council expects to launch HelloGold into neighboring ASEAN markets in the second half of 2017.
The HelloGold app is now available for use in Malaysia and is currently available on Google Play. The IOS version will be introduced in February 2017.