With the recent fiasco with gold buyback firm Genneva making news almost everyday, much attention has turned to MAS’s Investor Alert List, which list unregulated entities ‘ who, based on information received by MAS, may have been wrongly perceived as being licensed or authorised by MAS’. More information can be found from the MoneySense website.

Many names in the Alert List have got into trouble, including Sunshine Empire, The Gold Label, Profitable Group amongst others. New entries in the list include The Gold Guarantee and Asia Pacific Bullion, which are offering ‘rescue packages’ to Genneva’s investors.

The point to note is the the Investor Alert List is not exhaustive and will be updated. It can take a long time before a suspicious name is added to the list. What this means is that a firm, offering unregulated products, but is off the list does not mean that it is offering a genuine ...