Gold has been prized for its unique properties for thousands of years. And now, against a backdrop of political and economic uncertainty, investors are once again seeking it as a long-term physical asset, set apart from the highs and lows of equity markets.
Sharps Pixley is a full-service precious metal brokerage focused on bringing this most traditional asset into the 21st century. From its state-of-the-art showroom in London’s West End, clients can buy, sell and store gold bullion, just as they have for centuries. Sharps Pixley’s roots date back to 1778 and drawing on the best of British tradition, the firm offers impeccable service, absolute discretion and top security to its global base of private clients and institutional investors.
Increased demand from international clients has driven strong growth for the firm, which enjoyed a 75 per cent increase in trading revenue in 2018 and is on track to achieve a further 40 per cent rise this year. Maintaining this momentum, while adapting to meet the needs of an increasingly mobile client base, presents a challenge to which it is rising with confidence.
Fulfilling its clients’ growing expectation for agility, access and transparency in their investment decisions and trade execution
Sharps Pixley is building on its strong foundations by transforming its digital capabilities to help perfect its client offering. With a new website launching in 2020, the firm is revolutionising how clients manage their investments – all without losing the traditional touches that are the hallmark of the Sharps Pixley service. Clients can have 24-hour access to their relationship manager and transact digitally in the currency of their choice. With these enhancements, Sharps Pixley is fulfilling its clients’ growing expectation for agility, access and transparency in their investment decisions and trade execution.
Alongside these important developments, Sharps Pixley is mindful not to lose focus on the core British values that differentiate it from its global peers. The firm refreshed its brand identity in 2019, emphasising and celebrating its heritage as a quintessentially British company.
Although much has changed since 1778, it’s the same combination of integrity, respect, transparency and utmost discretion that keeps clients coming back – sometimes for generations.
In keeping with these traditional values, Sharps Pixley never underestimates the role of its showroom and vault, which clients like to visit as gold is possibly the most tangible investment asset. Sharps Pixley’s open-door policy plays an important part in the succession planning for wealthy families, with clients often bringing their successors into the vault to view the family holding. Seeing the gold in person often conveys a gravitas that a number on a spreadsheet cannot. For many family offices it is gold’s enduring nature that appeals. One family office client is now in its 12th generation: a remarkable achievement as research has shown that family wealth is often depleted within three. It is even more remarkable that this family’s approach has not changed in that time, with its investments split evenly across gold, property and art.
Its reverence and respect for this most ancient of investment assets underpins everything that Sharps Pixley does, and will do for generations to come.
