Company: Gold Bullion International (GBI), New York, NY
Entry Submitted By: Prosek
Company Description: GBI is the first company that specifically integrates on to the workstations of FAs, wealth management professionals and investors and allows them to buy, store and sell physical gold and other precious metals through its technology/operations platform. The company was co-founded by former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Feldman, macro investor Dan Tapiero, and current president Savneet Singh.
Nomination Category: Company / Organization Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Company of the Year - Metals & Mining

Nomination Title: Gold Bullion International

Tell the story about what this nominated organization achieved since January 1 2012 (up to 525 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

While gold has been recognized almost universally for its value and appeal as a medium of exchange for over 5,000 years, only recently has a company brought to market a technology platform that enables the physical ownership of gold in a safe and accessible way.

GBI is the first institutional quality company to enable every investor to buy, store, and sell physical gold and other precious metals easily and safely. Co-founded by former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Feldman, macro investor Dan Tapiero, and current president Savneet Singh, GBI focuses exclusively on providing the investor with direct ownership of physical precious metals through its world class technology and operations platform, which can be customized for use by financial advisors, wealth management professionals, individual investors, miners and others in the industry.

Founded in 2009, GBI set out to build a platform that could integrate directly into wealth managers’ portfolio management systems. What began as a flexible FIX Protocol-like specification has since developed into a customizable web-based application programming interface (API), which provides wealth managers access to real-time prices from 14 different dealers and refiners. When placing an order, financial advisors and wealth managers designate the size of the order and the location where they would like to store the precious metals—currently they can choose from five vaults in the US, Europe, Australia and Singapore.

Once the order is placed, GBI’s back office then bundles the daily logistics and shipping information and sends it to their dealers and refiners to bid on the order. This process ensures that clients receive best execution and an efficient T+2 settlement.

Over the past year, GBI’s platform has continued to evolve. With its Enterprise 6.0 platform upgrades, the firm is tackling fractional allocation, building connectivity with Asian venues in order to cover all OTC trading hours, and most of all, deconstructing the platform to enable current and future distribution projects. Those include servicing the physical allocation dividend program for a gold mining firm, and the early development with sovereign mints around their coin management.

As more people like Bridgewater Associates’ Ray Dalio recommend allocating physical gold within one’s portfolio, GBI has become increasingly important to institutional asset managers and others in the wealth management industry to help facilitate those transactions, allowing investors to acquire and manage their precious metals assets directly through GBI or through their existing wealth management account relationships.

Ultimately, the case for gold is not merely an “end of the word” asset. Rather when allocated properly, gold’s ability to withstand market fluctuations make it an integral part of a diversified portfolio. Now more than ever, owning the physical form is available with the same fees and even better liquidity. GBI’s technology platform has made investing in this asset class a reality.

GBI’s standing in a “category of one” makes the organization and its technology platform an ideal candidate for the American Business Awards.

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Provide a brief (up to 125 words) biography about the leader of this nominated organization:

Steven Feldman, Chief Executive Officer/Co-Founder of GBI, was a partner at Goldman Sachs where he was the founder and head of the global infrastructure fund with over $10B under management and served on numerous corporate boards. He was also the co-founder and head of AgCoA, the firm’s agricultural land business. Prior to that, he held a variety of investing and banking roles in real estate, including lead developer of Goldman Sachs’ global headquarters at 200 West Street. He received his B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and a J.D. from New York University Law School.

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