BullionVault

BullionVault: an online market for allocated gold, silver and platinum

BullionVault presents itself as the world's largest online investment gold service, describing itself as a platform through which private investors can reach the professional bullion market. The company states that it manages £7 billion in bullion and client assets, including around £4 billion in gold, on behalf of more than 130,000 users across 175 countries. It also reports trading of roughly £150 million in gold and silver each month.

The service is built around fully allocated metal: the company states that clients own their bullion outright as legal property and that it deals only in allocated gold, silver, platinum and palladium, never unallocated. All metal bought through the platform forms part of a good delivery bar, the standard traded on professional markets.

Buying and selling on the live order board

Clients trade through a live order board where users can quote prices to one another, which the company says allows both sides to cut out the middleman and save on dealing costs. BullionVault charges a maximum of 0.50% to buy or sell gold, silver or platinum on that board, with lower rates above $75,000 (about £56,600 at the time of writing). Positions can be sold for instant settlement at any time, with funds usually reaching the client's bank account the next working day and no penalty for selling.

Trading is available around the clock, which the company describes as unique among bullion venues, and can be conducted in pounds sterling, euros, Japanese yen and US dollars, avoiding currency conversion costs. The platform also allows clients to set their own prices when dealing directly with other users.

Vaults, insurance and the daily audit

Bars are held in professional-market vaults in London, Zurich, Toronto, Singapore or New York, with the client choosing the location. Storage and insurance are quoted at 0.12% per annum for gold, a rate the company compares with the roughly 0.4% annual management fee it attributes to most ETFs. Insurance is included in the storage cost.

BullionVault states that it is the only bullion business publishing a daily audit online, reconciling clients' gold, silver, platinum and palladium holdings against formal third-party bar lists. Clients can also withdraw their bars, including 100g gold bars.

Account opening and the problem the platform addresses

Opening an account is free with no obligation to trade, and the company offers a risk-free 1/8 oz (4g) silver piece to new users. BullionVault frames its purpose around two barriers that historically kept individuals out of the professional market: good delivery bars of 400 oz of gold (and 1,000 oz of silver) put the best prices beyond most private buyers, and accredited vaults impose minimum monthly charges that would require roughly fifteen such bars to make an individual account economic. By allowing clients to buy part of a good delivery bar, or whole bars, the platform extends professional pricing and storage costs to private customers.

Ownership, membership and recognition

The company is part-owned by GBIT and Augmentum Fintech plc, and is a full member of the London Bullion Market Association, placing it within the world's largest physical bullion marketplace. It reports three Queen's Awards for Enterprise: for Innovation in 2009 and for International Trade in 2013 and 2022. It also states that the Financial Times and Statista recognised it among Europe's top 300 Growth Champions.

Press coverage quoted on the site includes the Financial Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Wall Street Journal and MSN Money, with descriptions ranging from cost savings on gold ownership to vault holdings exceeding the central bank reserves of Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland and Qatar combined.

Beyond buying: pensions and institutional clients

The site's navigation points to services for pensions, including SIPP arrangements, and to an institutional offering alongside the core retail market. It also publishes gold, silver, platinum and palladium prices, price alerts, charts and a Gold/Silver Investor Index, together with editorial coverage of gold price news, opinion and market fundamentals.

Investment amounts among users are reported to range from £100 to £10,000,000, and the platform is available in multiple languages including German, Spanish, French, Italian, Polish, Japanese and Chinese.