gold ATM Abu Dhabi
The craze for gold of Gulf states is reaching new heights. An ATM style gold machine is installed at Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi. It monitors the daily price of gold and offers small bars that weight up to 10 grams or coins with customised designs. I always thought ATM machine is useful at times when you are short of cash and banks are closed. It also saves you from the hassle of going inside the bank and writing a cheque. This machine may help tourists and seems like a good idea to buy gifts and souviniers. Mr Geissler touted the gold as a canny purchase for wives whose husbands are not with them. “When you travel and go back to your husband, instead of buying 50 bottles of perfumes, you can show him that you bought some gold,” Mr Geissler said.
Gold coins
Thomas Giessler, the German entrepreneur behind the idea, chose Abu Dhabi because of its high-rolling atmosphere.
At the unveiling, the machine’s promoter successfully withdrew a one-ounce gold bar after several tries with Dh500 notes. The machine, called Gold To Go, dropped down a black box that contained the gold bar, further encased in a plastic box. Naturally, Gold To Go is itself covered in 24-carat gold. A gold machine should be made of gold,” said Thomas Geissler, the chief executive of Ex Oriente Lux AG. “This is now at a hotel made out of gold. It is the perfect place.”
Gold to Go, Geissler hopes, will tie in nicely with the region’s traditional ties in gold commerce.
First Customer
Khalid al Foulathi, 23, a senior analyst with Mubadala, was one of the first customers at the machine. He spent Dh760 buying a five-gram gold bar as a souvenir. “I am really excited to see it come down to a consumer level,” he said. “It is a high-risk investment but in the long term, it is worth it.”
Security Issue
