During times of economic crisis, gold is seen as a safe haven for investment – but until recently it was the preserve of the wealthy, not to mention financially savvy. This is all beginning to change, and investment platform Minted is speeding up the process.

“At a consumer level, people are beginning to see gold as an alternative to their immediate long-term savings,” comments Shahid Munir, Co-Founder of Minted.

Munir’s experience as a private wealth manager for high net worth individuals opened his eyes to the different kinds of investment and the importance of a diverse portfolio that is tailored to the individual’s life and goals.

He also noted that often 10-15% of a portfolio would be invested in precious metals. “I always found there was so much involved – it was complex with a lot of fees,” he recalls. “My peers told me they avoided precious metals for that reason.” Following a career change into the technology industry, Munir began to see how he could develop a solution.

He met his co-founders as the UK was preparing to leave the EU and the pound was, as he puts it, “taking a battering”. Gold was a relatively safe investment alternative, but the process was still traditional and didn’t offer a great deal for the end user.

“We decided to try to buy some gold, and set ourselves the challenge to buy it at the best rate possible,” he recalls. “We approached many of the bullion dealers and they told us unless our rate of entry was over a kilo (around £45,000 at the time) they couldn’t even begin to talk about rate decreases or discounts.”

Munir and the team were disappointed by their experience – “it seemed very ring fenced, just for high net worth individuals, institutional investors and central banks” – and decided to develop a more accessible way. “We approached refineries as we thought that was where we’d get the best rate,” he explains. “We were turned down by three, then the fourth said ‘I really like your idea, let’s give it a go’ and here we are today with the Minted platform.”  

It was important that Minted was attractive and easy to use – sending the message that gold really is for everyone. “Even the name reflects an element of fun and simplicity,” says Munir. “We’ve drawn upon our experiences from other FinTech apps, their onboarding journeys and how they have evolved and built communities.

“Our Head of Product who designs our UX was instrumental in building a banking app for millennials which now serves up to five million users – that ethos is what we want to do: you click a few buttons and there you’ve bought some gold. That was an important aim for us from the outset.”

Another key priority for Minted was responsibility toward users. As consumer investing gains traction, there are of course dangers that a lack of experience and education could lead to severe loss. “Even now things aren’t as clear as they should be,” comments Munir. “In particular with gold, the transparency isn’t there.”

Minted is determined to educate consumers about investing in gold. “We have a fees page that is very clear and transparent on exactly what we charge, what we charge for and don’t charge for, and when we charge. The customer is well informed from the outset.

“We started this company because we wanted to give customers a good deal when investing in gold, and we want everything to be black and white.” This element of accessibility, Munir says, will have a huge impact on young people today and the way they manage money. “We live in a very fast paced environment. Savings amongst millennials are at an all time low. It’s become almost a trend to live month to month.

“By making gold accessible, people can put money into a physical asset which makes them think twice before spending it.” On the Minted platform, there is an option to sell instantly, but Beta testing has found a very small number of people choose to sell. “Once people buy it, they’re happy to hold it,” Munir explains, “That’s exactly what you should be doing with gold. It’s something that grows, and throughout history we’ve seen it outperform inflation and keep its value.”

Another unique aspect to note about Minted is that the platform is entirely Sharia-compliant – another source of pride for a business that aims to be as accessible as possible. As gold is an asset-backed investment it is by its nature compliant with Islamic banking, but Minted took a step further to obtain full certification and ensure all the business’ practices were ethically aligned. “We’ve found that market is extremely underserved right now, so we’ve had a huge amount of interest and it’s opened doors to a market that’s not regularly targeted by the mainstream.”

As Minted launches its product this month – its web app is already live with full functionality – Munir is confident more and more consumers will be investing in gold and that the business should grow exponentially over the coming months. “People still struggle to save, and investment has not reached its full potential yet – technology will be a huge facilitator,” he comments. “There’s a lot more information available now about investing, so it’s becoming more popular to buy and sell commodities.”  

Looking to the future, Munir adds: “We are in discussions to add other precious metals. As a platform we are open to anything that’s a physical asset, has value, and may not be accessible to the ordinary person with a limited budget.” While the company is now firmly focused on the UK, it will also look to expand to other markets where gold has more cultural significance.