Matterhorn Asset Management was founded in 2000 with the principal purpose of creating the most secure platform to preserve wealth for ourselves and a group of private investors in the form of physical gold outside a fragile banking system. As more individuals asked for assistance in protecting their wealth, we became a regulated Swiss company in 2005, based in Zurich. Since then, our enterprise has grown from a small circle of investor friends and family into the world’s largest precious metal advisory and custodial service for HNW investors outside of the commercial banking system. Today, we serve clients in over 90 countries. As global risk grew rapidly at the end of the 20th century, I came to the conclusion that physical gold is the perfect insurance against the escalating instabilities of the financial system. Throughout history, no money has ever survived with the exception of gold. Between the 80% fall in the Nasdaq of 2000-02 and the subsequent subprime disaster of 2006-09, the 21st century has seen a desperate firefighting exercise by Central Banks which continues to the present day. This has led to unprecedented and unsustainable credit creation/expansion, with global debt growing from under $100 trillion to over $325 trillion in this century. We believe that the consequent risk of systemic failure is greater than any time in history. Although no one can precisely forecast the timing of such events, we do know that when risk is elevated to such levels, farsighted protection is absolutely critical. VON GREYERZ represents the best of Swiss history and values. Our family name is Gruyère in French (“la Grue” is a crane). The family moved from Gruyères to Bern in the late Middle Ages and is one of the oldest Bernese families. Swiss, as well as our family values include a strong sense of freedom, a belief in the rule of law, property rights and of treating people with respect and honesty. Sadly, many Western governments today are doing their utmost to destroy such values. These same values have been, and always will be, the guiding principles of our company - VON GREYERZ. As the world enters a precarious series of tipping points, this name change reinforces our total commitment to these timeless values. The launch of our new name and website is scheduled for January 18th; the new web address is either vongreyerz.gold or vg.gold. For continuity, the trading name GoldSwitzerland remains, and website visitors can still find us as well at goldswitzerland.com. Egon von Greyerz |