Ruh Roh! Shaggy take the Gold and run

Dear Valued Customer,
It is with tremendous regret that I am writing to inform you of our recent decision to discontinue offering our services to all customers resident in the Netherlands. Please note, we at GoldMoney have explored all possible options to prevent this outcome, and this is not a decision we have taken lightly. This position is unique to the Netherlands, and unfortunately because you are resident in the Netherlands, you are one of those affected, which we very much regret. Kindly allow me to explain our position:
On 27 January 2011, we were contacted by the Autoriteit Financiële Markten (AFM), the Netherlands financial regulator, which indicated that, in its view, GoldMoney was “offering investment objects in the Netherlands without a licence” in breach of Section 2:55 of the Netherlands Financial Supervision Act (Wet op het financieel toezicht, Wft). At the end of 2010, the AFM first announced publicly its policy viewpoint that investments in precious metals could – under certain circumstances – be characterised as offering of investment objects. The AFM demanded that we cease to do so until we agreed to subject our business to their regulation by applying for a licence as an offeror of investment objects within the meaning of Section 2:55 Wft. Although we disagreed with the AFM’s assessment, we voluntarily offered to stop accepting new Netherlands-resident customers as of 1 February 2011 until we could resolve this matter with the AFM.
We have dedicated the last few months to working with our Netherlands lawyers to present our case to the AFM, namely that precious metals are not included within the concept of “investment objects” regulated by the AFM, and that, in any case, Netherlands regulation is not applicable to GoldMoney because we do business in Jersey, rather than within the Netherlands. Unfortunately, we have been unsuccessful in changing the AFM’s view on this matter. As we do not want to subject ourselves, and by extension our customers, to unnecessary and unpredictable regulatory requirements, we have reached the difficult conclusion that the only way to resolve this situation is to cease all business with Netherlands-resident customers.
We intend to resolve this issue and return to doing business with residents in the Netherlands in the future. Should this be the case we will make an announcement. But in the meantime, unfortunately, I am very sorry to inform you that we are unable to offer you our services any longer. Subject to article 10-A of our Customer Agreement, we will require you to close your GoldMoney Holding. This is to occur no later than the close of business on Monday 31 October 2011.
We have outlined below a number of possible options for how you may liquidate your current position, including the physical delivery of small gold bars to your home address or a sale to cash with a free transfer of the proceeds to your bank account.
By offering you the option to take physical delivery of your gold, we hope to fulfil your expectations with regards to the physical ownership of your metals. We thank you for your business and the trust you have placed in us.
Sincerely,
Geoff Turk
CEO – GoldMoney