GEORGE TOWN, Precious metal company Public Gold is planning to have 200 automated teller machines (ATMs) to dispense gold products by the end of 2025 to make it easier for people to buy physical gold.
Public Gold ATM division manager Denise Tang said it currently has 100 Public Gold ATMs nationwide. The expansion plan is in line with the rise in demand for physical gold products over the past few years.
There are also plans to have 50 gold-dispensing ATMs in Indonesia offering popular designs by next year, she said in an exclusive interview with Bernama at Wisma Public Gold, Bayan Lepas here.
‘Currently, the 100 gold ATMs are placed in strategic locations such as shopping centres and airports. The response has been good with sales of about RM10 million since January to date.
‘The ATMs are operational 24 hours a day, so customers can buy gold any time. We have the best and highest security system in place to allay concerns,” she said.
The Public Gold ATMs offer gold bars of 999.9 purity ranging from 0.25 grammes (g) to 5 g and have been certified by the Malaysia Book of Records as the country’s first physical gold product dispensing ATMs.
She said the gold-dispensing ATMs encourage Malaysians to own physical gold as part of their long-term savings strategy, as a gift or a souvenir.
Designs are offered in line with local and Disney, Marvel Studios, Warner Bros, Hello Kitty, Garfield, Ejen Ali and Monsta themes.
‘We currently have 500 designs to meet the needs of the different festive seasons and offerings with batik, musang king durian, roti canai and ‘teh tarik’ motifs, among others. We are also planning to expand the collection.
‘We were surprised by the excellent sales demand from tourists at the airports who bought the gold products as souvenirs. The various designs attracted their attention,’ she said.
According to Tang, the gold-dispensing ATMs are now available at airports in Senai in Johor, Subang, KL International Airport (KLIA) and KLIA2, with plans to have the ATMs at all airports nationwide.
The gold products from the ATMs follow market prices and range from RM130 to RM2,000 with the option to resell them at Public Gold branches nationwide.
The demand has been rising because of the better reselling prices offered compared with gold jewellery which falls by 20-30 per cent when resold.
Established in 2008, Public Gold aims to have 10 million customers by 2030 versus about 1.3 million customers currently in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency
