BFI Bullion celebrates its 15th anniversary on August 20th, which evoked a bit of nostalgia and stirred an urge to look back at our history and the reasons BFI Bullion – or “Global Gold”, as our company was known for a large part of that history – was started. Our beginnings had a lot to do with clients at the time looking for a safe and ultimate crisis-proof solution, based in Switzerland. 15 years later, the reasons BFI Bullion exists are more relevant today than ever.

If you’ve received emails from me or anyone else in the BFI Capital Group in the past month, or read our blog, you’ll also know that our BFI Capital Group is celebrating it’s 30th anniversary this year. And now, we are thrilled to share that we are turning 15 this August as well. We may have done our first trades for our clients in 2009, but BFI Bullion had its beginnings officially on the Swiss commercial registry, on August 20th, 2008. Lots to celebrate this year, that’s for sure!

BFI’s group, before BFI Bullion ever existed, was a strong proponent of investing in precious metals, and physical metals in particular. BFI Bullion was founded with a primary focus on uncompromising security. Back in the mid 00’s, some of our Group’s clients were losing trust in the global financial system and were looking for a solution to keep their gold physically, safely, and in Switzerland, but not with a bank or a fund, and not in a solution with fractional or unallocated ownership.

And so, our CEO, Frank Suess, set out to find a suitable solution for our clients. But after looking into all the options available at the time, he simply wasn’t satisfied with what he saw. So, he and the team decided to create what we all felt was missing and what our clients really wanted: BFI Bullion. I too was fortunate enough to have been around at the time, already working with BFI Consulting, and helping many of our clients gain access to metals stored in Switzerland and outside of the banking system.

Which Brings us to Today…

BFI Capital Group just published their latest Special Report titled, Deeper Into the New Era – Navigating the Shifts & Turning Points Ahead. This report, building on earlier publications from 2020 and 2021, that had already described financial markets and the global economy as “artificial, bloated, and overdue for a correction” thanks to steep monetary tightening by the US Fed and the growing risk of a credit crisis, describes how we now find ourselves neck-deep in this New Era.

The past few years have produced new complexities for the big picture. It used to be that the main indicator to keep an eye on was monetary policy, but now more factors have been thrown into the cocktail: geopolitical shifts, extreme polarization and a lack of common values in the West, and a world that is drowning in debt.

One of the main “New Era” investment themes mentioned a few times throughout the Report is physically allocated gold. In fact, it is identified as one of three “fail safe” measures that need to be included in a necessary risk management strategy today. Gold throughout history has been a valuable commodity and it is actual money. Does any other investment have a 6000-year history? Gold has traditionally been an inflation and deflation hedge, a hedge against currency weakness, a hedge against crises and volatility, and thanks to those qualities, acts as an essential part of a diversified portfolio.

Anyhow, I’m not going to continue preaching to the choir; you are more than familiar with why gold and precious metals are important.

…and Why BFI Bullion is More Relevant Today than Ever

Over our 15-year history, we’ve had different iterations of how we phrased them, but BFI Bullion has carried along what we refer to currently as the Critical Features of a Safe and Crisis-Proof Precious Metals Solution, which you can find under the 10 Unique BFI Attributes on our website, in comparing BFI Bullion to others.

These “Unique Attributes” have never been more relevant than they are today, and not only for precious metals owners, but many of them also apply to all long term investors and ordinary savers that urgently need to consider the current big picture realities we are dealing with today.

Physically allocated coins & bars.

No paper gold or gold claim products like an ETF or other products backed only by promises instead of by what’s most important: actual gold. Physical gold provides security, as there is no default or counterparty risk.

Promptly deliverable.

With no hedging, pledging, loaning or other use of our clients’ metals possible, prompt pick up or delivery of our clients’ metals is always possible.

Direct & unencumbered ownership.

One-to-one ownership of metals; what you put in is exactly and only what will come out through a sale, delivery, or pick-up. If you buy 50 x 1oz gold Maple Leaf's, you always own 50 x 1oz gold Maple Leaf’s.

Fully insured & audited.

Storage of our clients’ metals is fully insured with the industry standard coverage, and coverage applies way over the current value of metals we have in storage. Monthly reconciliations buttress an annual, physical and financial audit done by one of the Big 4 accounting firms.

Free of “back-door” limitation clauses.

What you see is what you get. There are no cash settlement clauses, unless of course our clients choose to sell their metals. And there is only bold print – no “fine print” – as to purchasing and storing physical metals.

High-security storage.

With Loomis Switzerland, in the same facilities AAA-secure rated vaults that were ViaMat before them. And, we have storage options outside of Switzerland, and are contracted with other high-secure storage facilitators in the event a “Plan B” were ever needed.

Non-banking.

Storage of our clients’ metals is done outside of the banking system helping to ensure continued access, even in the event of bank holidays or market shutdowns.

Offline operability.

While we prefer using our highly secure Client Portal for communications, and BFI Bullion is always interested in the type of technology that can bring gold quicker into the hands of our clients, if clients prefer, they can still mail in their forms or instructions. And yes, we even still have a fax machine!

Personally accessible.

Those with holdings can come any time to see their metals, visit the vaults thanks to the special relationship BFI has with its storage partners, and even pick up their metals in hand.

Swiss legal framework.

BFI Bullion is a 100% Swiss company. The contract we have with Loomis Switzerland is under Swiss law, even if storing with BFI in other Loomis locations around the world.

As I mentioned, while these points are key as to why BFI Bullion remains relevant for the physical gold investor, many of these attributes extend more broadly to how investors need to be thinking, and acting, in this new era. As detailed in the Special Report and as highlighted amongst the requirements for a solid wealth plan, it has again become increasingly important to look for investment options outside of your home country. Countries in debt tend to resort to financial repression as one of the ways of keeping capital within their borders. Jurisdictional diversification, along with diversifying to a place one feels as good as, if not better than, how they feel with their assets in their home country, gives the investor the benefit of time, if not the ability to follow their assets if their assets cannot follow them.

Safety is paramount again. Putting together a strong wealth plan today requires picking the best custodians and providers, ones that are time tested, and picking those that are in safe jurisdictions. Safest doesn’t always mean largest, as we’ve learned all to well.

Convenience and ready access should also come in high on your wealth planning needs. Here again is where it is important to work with partners that have been in the game a long time. Know the investments you are getting into, and if they meet the kind of access that you need should conditions get worse and you need flexibility.

Of course, this isn’t an exhaustive list, but I think you get an idea. Even if you aren’t interested in buying physical metals now, the fact is that there is plenty to think about.

Mark your calendars for August 20th and be sure to join us in raising a glass to our 15th anniversary. When we created BFI Bullion 15 years ago, we did so as a way of bringing what we felt was the ultimate crisis hedge for what was going on, and what our clients were looking for, at that time.

Yet here we are today, remembering why we started, and considering how we are more relevant than ever!

This article was published by BFI Bullion Inc. in their recent newsletter "Digger Quarterly". To check out the full report feel free to download it below.