KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 30): Public Gold Marketing Sdn Bhd has been removed from Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) consumer alert list, the gold trading company said in a statement.

When contacted, a central bank spokesperson verified this to be true.

According to the company's statement, Public Gold immediately visited BNM to present its case when its name appeared on BNM's Consumer Alert List on Sept 27 this year.

"At Public Gold, we practice a transparent business model whereby we solely buy and sell physical gold and silver bars without deceiving our customers with unrealistic offers," Datuk Louis Ng, founder and executive chairman of Public Gold, said in the statement.

"Our customers' interest is always our number one priority, which explains why we have offered to render full co-operation to the authority without any doubt, to assist and speed up on the investigation process."

Public Gold, which has 18 branches and is not related to Public Bank Bhd, said it will "continue to maintain a proactive relationship with BNM and local authorities to comply with guidelines at all times".

Gold trading schemes recently made headlines after the central bank raided companies suspected of engaging in illegal investment schemes that latches on the unsuspecting public's interest on investing in gold as a wealth preservation method. The most prominent case involved BNM's raid on Genneva Malaysia Sdn Bhd. There are at least 30 cases being investigated for fraud, according to BNM's website.

BNM has set up a Financial Consumer Alert page on its website as an avenue to raise public awareness.