Adverts for five gold dealers banned for failing to make lack of regulation clear

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned ads for five gold dealers that failed to make it clear that the investments are unregulated with variable value.

The watchdog's inquiry into Bullion Club, Gold Bank, Harrington & Byrne, Solomon Global, and The Pure Gold Company was sparked by concerns over publicising unregulated investments. A ad for Bullion Club said that "gold has historically held its value over time, making it a good hedge against inflation," while Gold Bank advertised: "Could this be the best investment you ever made? " in a press ad.

The ASA challenged the ads' failure to communicate investment risks. Bullion Club highlighted their commitment to clearly informing potential investors about variable investment values. Harrington & Byrne dismissed claims of promoting gold as an investment vehicle, and The Pure Gold Company explained they use their site for education rather than direct product selling.

The ASA underscored that the gold investment market doesn't fall under UK regulation, nor is it covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme or the Financial Ombudsman Service protections.

The ASA said: "Because the ads did not include any risk warnings to make clear that the investments could go down as well as up, and that gold investment was an unregulated activity, and the landing page did not present that information immediately to consumers, we concluded that the ads were misleading."

They ruled that not only must the offending ads be pulled but also instructed, "We told The Pure Gold Company to ensure that future marketing made sufficiently clear that gold investment was unregulated, and that the value of investments was variable and could go down as well as up."

Harrington and Byrne, Gold Bank, the Bullion Club, and Solomon Global were hit by similar bans from the ASA.