British FinTech company Revolut plans to offer its customers exposure to gold and silver through its app.
Singapore users can start investing from US$1, and purchases are backed by real, physical gold or silver, says Revolut in a Jan 5 announcement.
Revolut expects to introduce the service to customers here from 1H2022. Besides being able to transfer exposure to another Revolut user, customers can also round up their spare change and save them as gold and silver, adds the company.
Revolut’s Standard customers will pay 1.5% in fees per transaction while Revolut’s Premium and Metal customers will pay 0.5%.
While it is free to set up a Standard Revolut account, monthly subscriptions for the Premium and Metal plans cost $9.99 and $19.99 respectively.
James Shanahan, CEO of Revolut Singapore, says: “Commodities will allow our customers to further diversify their portfolio. We have made sure that obtaining access to gold and silver exposure is as simple and low cost as possible, with customers being able to trade at amounts that suit them. Our goal is to give our customers as many options as possible so they can manage and invest their money in the way they want.”
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This follows Revolut Singapore’s announcement in December 2021 that it has obtained a stock trading licence. The company is also looking to bring cryptocurrency trading to its Singapore customers, it adds.
Revolut launched in the UK in 2015, offering money transfer and exchange. According to the company, 18 million customers around the world use Revolut’s products today to make more than 150 million transactions a month.
An earlier version of this story, based on a Jan 5 announcement by Revolut, stated that the company has obtained approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore to offer gold and silver exposure. Revolut has clarified on Jan 10 that the planned commodities product "is not regulated under the Payment Services Act and therefore does not require a licence or specific approval from the regulator". The story has been edited to reflect this update.
Photo: Revolut