This UAE app allows residents to earn money by leasing gold weighing as low as 0.1 gram
A UAE-based app, which lets residents buy gold for as little as Dh1, launched a new service that gives buyers an opportunity to lease their gold and earn money from it. O Gold app is allowing its users to lease as little as 0.1 gram of gold and earn up to 16 per cent annual income from the gold they own.
The app is partnering with global leader in gold leasing Monetary Metals (MM) to offer this opportunity, which the CEO of MM-Dubai, Mark Pey, called a 'fantastic innovation' that will benefit the residents of UAE. He explained briefly how the system works.
'We match investors that own gold with companies that use gold productively, so like refineries and jewelers,' he said. 'It's now possible for everyday investors to take advantage of this leasing feature. Also, when you rent gold out to one of the companies that we do business with, you are still the owner of that gold.'
The app, which was launched in 2023, has been disrupting the way UAE residents invest in gold. Bandar Al-Othman, chairman of O Gold, said that with over 50,000 active users and more than 70,000 transactions on the platform, the app had made investing in and owning gold 'simple and accessible' for everyone. 'It's not just about launching an innovative product or just a revolutionary product, but it's also about promoting a true Emirati brand, both in the region and globally,' he said.
He added that the two companies spent months collaborating to develop an innovative investment model that enables gold owners to generate substantial returns by leasing their holdings.
According to Pey, the company does its due diligence before leasing its gold to companies who need it. 'We understand their inventory systems, their processes, the flows of gold and security systems,' he said. 'We do an integration to their inventory systems so that we know the flow of gold in that organisation at any time. We also do something called RFID tags, which means that we can track every gram of gold at every moment.'
He added that the company has done 63 gold leases so far and has never misplaced a 'single gram of gold', making it extremely reliable for investors. He also said that his team 'rejected more than 90 per cent' of companies that had approached them because they were not satisfied with their safety procedures.
According to him, the company has also instituted an insurance policy, taking into account all the risks involved.
Ahmed Abd El Tawab, the CEO of O Gold, added that it was important for people to invest in gold continually as a habit. 'Every year, many countries have a problem with their fiat currency,' he said. 'Some countries have their currency devaluated by 50 per cent. However, the price of gold has been steadily climbing. Last year alone, the price increased about 25 per cent.'
He added that with central banks around the world leasing gold, it was only natural for regular gold owners to want to do the same and that the app was making it possible for them. He also said that investors who lease their gold have the flexibility to do it at any time without any penalties.
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