Gold stored in Singapore has surged dramatically, mostly driven by outflows of the yellow metal from the UK and Switzerland, signifying Asia’s demand for the traditional safe haven asset, new figures show.

Gold stored in Singapore has surged dramatically, mostly driven by outflows of the yellow metal from the UK and Switzerland, signifying Asia’s demand for the traditional safe haven asset, new figures show.

GoldMoney, a trading platform firm specialising in precious metals, said its figures show a “significant trend towards moving gold, silver and other precious metals out of storage in the West to vaults in the East during 2013. The move reinforces a general market trend for bullion buying and storage in the East”.

The UK-headquartered firm said it has nearly 21 tonnes of gold and nearly 879 tonnes of silver in storage across seven vaults worldwide. Its data shows a 577 per cent increase in gold storage at the Brinks vault in Singapore and a 78 per cent increase in the new Malca-Amit vault on the island (opened July), which relates to an increase of more than three-quarters of a tonne from the end of last year to end of November 2013.

The gold was moved from the UK and Switzerland in the main, with more than half a tonne leaving the UK in the year to November, and nearly three-quarters of a tonne removed from Switzerland, GoldMoney said.

It is a similar story for silver with 20 tonnes leaving the UK, 17 tonnes being withdrawn from Switzerland and an increase of 50 tonnes in Singapore.

“This move reflects Singapore’s rapid development as one of the world’s leading offshore financial centres, but also the difference in buying preferences from the East where bullion is favoured over the West’s preference for ETFs and paper gold products. It is a trend we have seen throughout this year and which we expect to continue into 2014,” said Roland Khounlivong, head of dealing at the firm.

The firm has eight storage facilities in five countries:  Canada, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Singapore and the UK.