In a break from recent market patterns, euro weakness coincided with gains in US equities. The latter moved higher on news that America added 325,000 private sector jobs in December – considerably more than the 125,000-230,000 analysts had been expecting. One should be wary of such numbers, however, as they tell us nothing about the quality of the jobs gained on net.

13.30GMT sees the release of US nonfarm payroll and unemployment figures for December. Consensus estimates for payrolls are for 150,000 gains, with the consensus for unemployment at 8.7%. If the trend for above average gains in American economic statistics continues, however, we are likely to see the numbers come in better than expected. This column’s prediction? Job gains north of 175,000 and an unemployment rate of below 8.7%.

But while these stats my be getting better, the US Treasury’s balance sheet gets ever-redder: as ZeroHedge reports, Uncle Sam is now just $25 million away from hitting his debt ceiling. Yet another reminder – as if it were needed – of one of the major problems affecting the US economy.

James Turk has also done a new interview with King World News, that talks about “silver as the next Apple” – Apple, as in the computer company Apple, whose stock has increased 70-fold over the last decade. Check out this article to see James’s argument in full, as well as his long-term price target for silver.

Source: http://www.goldmoney.com/gold-research/newsdesk/silver-the-next-apple.html

Dear Valued Customer,

It is with tremendous regret that I am writing to inform you of our recent decision to discontinue offering our services to all customers resident in the Netherlands. Please note, we at GoldMoney have explored all possible options to prevent this outcome, and this is not a decision we have taken lightly. This position is unique to the Netherlands, and unfortunately because you are resident in the Netherlands, you are one of those affected, which we very much regret. Kindly allow me to explain our position:

On 27 January 2011, we were contacted by the Autoriteit Financiële Markten (AFM), the Netherlands financial regulator, which indicated that, in its view, GoldMoney was “offering investment objects in the Netherlands without a licence” in breach of Section 2:55 of the Netherlands Financial Supervision Act (Wet op het financieel toezicht, Wft). At the end of 2010, the AFM first announced publicly its policy viewpoint that investments in precious metals could – under certain circumstances – be characterised as offering of investment objects. The AFM demanded that we cease to do so until we agreed to subject our business to their regulation by applying for a licence as an offeror of investment objects within the meaning of Section 2:55 Wft. Although we disagreed with the AFM’s assessment, we voluntarily offered to stop accepting new Netherlands-resident customers as of 1 February 2011 until we could resolve this matter with the AFM.

We have dedicated the last few months to working with our Netherlands lawyers to present our case to the AFM, namely that precious metals are not included within the concept of “investment objects” regulated by the AFM, and that, in any case, Netherlands regulation is not applicable to GoldMoney because we do business in Jersey, rather than within the Netherlands. Unfortunately, we have been unsuccessful in changing the AFM’s view on this matter. As we do not want to subject ourselves, and by extension our customers, to unnecessary and unpredictable regulatory requirements, we have reached the difficult conclusion that the only way to resolve this situation is to cease all business with Netherlands-resident customers.

We intend to resolve this issue and return to doing business with residents in the Netherlands in the future. Should this be the case we will make an announcement. But in the meantime, unfortunately, I am very sorry to inform you that we are unable to offer you our services any longer. Subject to article 10-A of our Customer Agreement, we will require you to close your GoldMoney Holding. This is to occur no later than the close of business on Monday 31 October 2011.
We have outlined below a number of possible options for how you may liquidate your current position, including the physical delivery of small gold bars to your home address or a sale to cash with a free transfer of the proceeds to your bank account.

By offering you the option to take physical delivery of your gold, we hope to fulfil your expectations with regards to the physical ownership of your metals. We thank you for your business and the trust you have placed in us.

Sincerely,
Geoff Turk
CEO – GoldMoney

Voisin  www.voisinlaw.com, by Dexter Flynn, Jersey, July 12 2011

The Jersey economy has finally moved into the 21st Century by accepting that the Island must be part of the e-gaming community.

According to a report from accountants KPMG, the online gaming industry contributed £7 million to Guernsey’s economy in 2007. This had increased to £50 million by 2009. Jersey, with all its attendant offshore facilities and expertise, should have been a world leader in this sector. With the introduction of the Gambling (Remote Disaster Recovery) (Amendment) (Jersey) Regulations 2011 (“Regulations”) on 17 March 2011, Jersey signalled its intention to make up for lost time.

The Jersey Minister for Economic Development, when proposing the Regulations, commented that their primary objective was to maintain Jersey’s reputation as a well-regulated jurisdiction while providing freedom for licensed e-gaming operators to locate their internet facilities in Jersey. The Minister commented that gambling businesses in Jersey would be required to adhere to three vital principles. The first is that gambling should be regulated in accordance with international standards. Secondly, that gambling should be fair to consumers of those services. Thirdly, that gambling should be conducted responsibly with the safeguards necessary to protect children and vulnerable people.

Under the Regulations, a Jersey person (defined to include a Jersey company and/or partnership) can apply for a licence to operate remote gambling services in Jersey. There will be two types of licence: (a) a general remote operator’s licence and; (b) a disaster recovery operator’s licence.

The general remote operator’s licence is a full licence granted to a Jersey person to undertake remote gambling in or from within Jersey. The disaster recovery operator’s licence will apply to those companies who had employed the old regulations to place their disaster recovery/backup systems in Jersey.

Jersey has its own gambling commission which was established pursuant to the Gambling Commission (Jersey) Law 2010. The Jersey Gambling Commission (“JGC”) will be responsible for the implementation of the codes of practice which will govern the Regulations. It will be the JGC that issues the licences. Having met members of the JGC, I have no doubt that we have an experienced and knowledgeable body who will ensure the swift and effective processing of applications.
The fee for a full gambling licence will be based on net profit tariffs. The initial licence fee (paid by all successful applicants) will be £35,000 regardless of size. There will be three bands of levy, the highest being £140,000 where profits equal or exceed £6.5 million.

Jersey is serious about this. Our politicians are currently engaged in talks with UK Government representatives to ensure that Jersey is placed on the list of safe gambling jurisdictions. There is even talk of a temporary licence being granted to Jersey while the UK reviews its own gaming laws.

It is clear that Jersey is finally open for e-gaming business. Voisin is at the forefront of this economic revolution, already dealing with one of the first applications for a licence.

GoldMoney customers benefit from this expanded range of currencies because they can buy and sell precious metals in more than one currency. “Thus our customers gain flexibility and don’t have to trust that in five years the Euro or US Dollar may still be leading currencies, but can switch to another currency if necessary,” added GoldMoney’s Head of Marketing Alex Preukschat. GoldMoney calls this revolutionary concept a liquidity platform, which is currently offered to customers in 93 countries via the Internet. With the integration of the Australian, New Zealand and Hong Kong Dollars into the service range for buying precious metals, investors can now hold other well-regarded currencies in their portfolio and use it for precious metals transactions.

More Company News

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Contact: Ziggy Johannsen 1st Floor, 32 Commercial Street Jersey, St Helier, JE2 3RU +44-1534-633-990 ziggy.johannsen@goldmoney.com www.GoldMoney.com

About GoldMoney

Founded by James and Geoff Turk, GoldMoney is one of the world’s largest providers of physical bullion for retail investors, GoldMoney is combining 21st century technology with the world’s oldest money: Gold. The company uses the Internet to make the purchase and the storage of gold, silver, platinum and palladium secure, convenient and economical. Residents of 93 countries can establish a GoldMoney Holding to build savings and secure their wealth by owning pure gold, silver, platinum and palladium. All precious metals are insured and stored safely and conveniently for the investor in specialized precious metals vaults in London, Zurich and Hong Kong. By performing regular audits GoldMoney constantly ensures and verifies the contents of their precious metals vaults, thereby setting the standard for companies in this sector.

Read more at www.GoldMoney.com

He slams paper currency and talks up digital gold a bit.

Here is a quote:

But that doesn’t mean gold won’t be used again as a medium of exchange. Digital gold currencies – where ownership of gold safely stored in vaults is transferred digitally, just as ordinary fiat-money transactions take place today – are already starting to be used across the net. In theory at least, digital gold has the potential to become as good a form of exchange as any other digital currency.

So gold has re-emerged as a reliable store of wealth. And it is starting to re-emerge as a currency. It’s certainly not impossible – in fact to my mind it’s probable – that it will eventually regain some kind of ‘official’ currency status at some stage.

Catch the full article here-

“One of the main goals at GoldMoney is ensuring that our service is as convenient for our customers as possible. The new initiative with Deutsche Post helps us to meet this goal,” says Geoff Turk, CEO of GoldMoney. By identifying customers through Deutsche Post, GoldMoney is utilising the same process that is employed by banks in Germany. “Our customers can identify themselves quickly and easily via Postident, so this new service works well with our corporate philosophy,” explains GoldMoney spokesman Alex Preukschat. He adds: “Even if customers don’t choose to use Postident, they can still make use of the online signup process which was introduced in 2009.”

About GoldMoney

GoldMoney is a fast growing enterprise founded by James and Geoff Turk. As one of the world’s largest providers of physical bullion for retail investors, GoldMoney is combining 21st century technology with the world’s oldest money: Gold. The company efficiently uses the internet to make the online purchase and the storage of gold, silver, platinum and palladium secure, convenient and economical. Residents of 86 countries can establish a GoldMoney Holding to build savings and secure their wealth by owning pure gold, silver, platinum and palladium with www.GoldMoney.com. All precious metals are insured and stored safely and conveniently for the investor in specialized precious metals vaults in London, Zurich and Hong Kong. By performing regular audits GoldMoney constantly ensures and verifies the contents of their precious metals vaults, thereby setting the industry standard for companies in this sector.

GoldMoney services can be accessed at www.GoldMoney.com

GoldMoney
Damian Beeley, +44 (0)20 7861 3139
d.beeley@pelhambellpottinger.co.uk
Charles Goodwin, +44 (0)20 7861 3117
c.goodwin@pelhambellpottinger.co.uk

GoldMoney provides thousands of customers with an affordable, secure way to buy and store precious metals. In addition, we have modernised gold and silver’s oldest, most valuable function as a monetary commodity to once again allow you to use these metals as currency by making payments to other GoldMoney Holdings.

Through our patented currency, GoldMoney goldgrams® (1 goldgram = 1 gram of gold), you can make gold and other metal payments to other customers electronically. GoldMoney customers around the world can make immediate payments to each other*, at a fraction of the cost of a standard bank transfer.

Although you can send and receive funds to and from your GoldMoney Holding via traditional financial institutions, such as banks and brokerage companies, GoldMoney’s utility is not dependent upon the network of such institutions. This makes the GoldMoney payment system an ideal alternative to the banking system.

Low payment fees

GoldMoney’s transaction fee is only 1% of the payment amount with a minimum fee of 0.01 goldgrams/silver ounces/platinum grams/palladium grams and a maximum fee of 0.1 goldgrams/silver ounces/platinum grams/palladium grams.

For example, a goldgram payment valued at $50 costs 50 cents, whereas a goldgram payment valued at $50,000 costs only $4.33.

How do I pay with metals?

GoldMoney metal payments are instant, in contrast to most transfers made through the banking system. The payment instruction is instantly processed by the GoldMoney database. Payments must first be authorised by the payer who receives a PIN code by email or by SMS. Once this is done, the payment is completed and the payee can then verify receipt by logging into his/her Holding. Please read our Security page for more information on our SMS security feature.

Use your iPhone to make metal payments

You can also make metal payments from your iPhone whilst on the go. Our application is one of the first electronic finance software programs written for the iPhone, and the first mobile application that allows the direct exchange of bullion between individuals and businesses.

The GoldMoney iPhone application is available for purchase and download through Apple’s iTunes App Store for $9.99 (USD). When you download the app you will be eligible to receive a 25% discount on each metal payment you make until 7 March 2011.

* Please note that this service is not available to customers resident in Germany. Both parties require a Full verified Holding to make or receive a metal payment.

http://www.goldmoney.com/online-payments.html

2 February 2011 – GoldMoney, one of the world’s largest providers of physical bullion for retail and institutional investors, has entered into its first strategic partnership with a financial institution. The Munich-based Fidor Bank AG, which operates through the concept of a “mobile banking community”, will use the GoldMoney platform to offer physical precious metals to its clients in Germany.

The partnership will enable Fidor’s customers to buy gold, silver, platinum and palladium without completing any GoldMoney application forms. Orders will be processed daily through the FidorPay Account at the Bank and then placed with GoldMoney through an ‘Omnibus-Holding’ in the name of Fidor. Furthermore, Fidor’s customers can now make precious metal transactions directly with each other by using Fidor’s FidorPay facilities.

Geoff Turk, CEO of GoldMoney, said: “We have recognised that many banking customers are currently demanding solutions enabling them to invest in precious metals.  This partnership is an excellent opportunity for GoldMoney to open itself up to new customers seeking to purchase precious metals. Fidor will utilise GoldMoney´s expertise to provide this service and we are therefore delighted that this strategic partnership has been forged.”

Matthias Kröner, Fidor Bank’s CEO, added: “We want to offer our customers facilities to buy physical precious metals very easily, fast and online. Also we want to enable our customers to buy precious metal with as little as 1 Euro. This will make precious metals accessible to a wide range of retail customers in Germany who previously have been prevented from buying precious metals due to high minimum-thresholds. We’re delighted to announce our new partnership with GoldMoney who will be able to help us achieve these objectives and we’re looking forward to a successful long-term relationship.”

Contact:

Damian Beeley     dbeeley@pelhambellpottinger.co.uk         +44 (0)20 7861 3139
Charles Goodwin     cgoodwin@pelhambellpottinger.co.uk     +44 (0)20 7861 3117

Many investors believe that the outlook for palladium is very strong, particularly with a growing Chinese demand for the metal. Palladium is widely used in catalytic converters. With automotive production increasing to cater for the growing Asian consumer market, palladium is seen as a good investment and a cheaper version of platinum because of its similar properties. Last year the volume of car sales in China overtook that of America for the first time.

Speculation on future palladium supply has also grown. South Africa and Russia currently account for almost 90% of the world’s production and below ground stocks are depleting.

“Our customers buy gold and silver as the smart way to preserve their purchasing power, but they are also interested in buying palladium and platinum to diversify and optimise their investment portfolio. For this reason we have expanded our product offering to allow our customers to get a broad range of precious metals from a single source,” says Geoff Turk, CEO of GoldMoney.

About GoldMoney

GoldMoney is a fast growing enterprise founded by James and Geoff Turk. As one of the world’s largest providers of physical bullion for retail investors, GoldMoney is combining 21st century technology with the world’s oldest money: Gold. The company efficiently uses the internet to make the online purchase and the storage of gold, silver, platinum and palladium secure, convenient and economical. Residents of 87 countries can establish a GoldMoney Holding to build savings and secure their wealth by owning pure gold, silver, platinum and palladium with www.GoldMoney.com. All precious metals are insured and stored safely and conveniently for the investor in specialized precious metals vaults in London, Zurich and Hong Kong. By performing regular audits GoldMoney constantly ensures and verifies the contents of their precious metals vaults, thereby setting the industry standard for companies in this sector.

GoldMoney services can be accessed at www.GoldMoney.com