Is a reserved bar "allocated" metal?
What are the consequences of having a reserved bar?
I have a bar reserved in my name - can I collect it from the vault?
Ordinarily the gold and silver you own through BullionVault is not part of a specific bar, and most bars in BullionVault are part-owned by a number of people. But if you hold enough gold or silver in any vault to make up one or more whole standard bullion bars, then you can select bars up to your balance, and choose to have them registered against your name. Then they become "reserved bars" and are your exclusive property.
Allocation is the process of taking a gold- or silver-denominated balance sheet liability - usually of a bank - and converting it into real physical metal owned outright by the buyer. BullionVault gold and silver is allocated when the metal is collected and shipped to our vaults at Via Mat. All BullionVault gold and silver has been allocated, and your BullionVault metal is allocated whether or not you have a reserved bar. Reserved bars offer the additional protection of a public declaration that a specific bar belongs to a specific person.
There are several consequences of having a reserved bar.
This is a charge of 0.1% to reserve the bar in your name. There is no charge to release it.
In addition, the vaulting charge for reserved gold increases to 0.18% per year, in comparison to our standard charges. The vaulting charge for reserved silver rises to 0.72% per year.
These charges are much lower than allocated whole bar ownership at most banks, where annual charges are usually about 1.5%. The comparison with ETFs is also favourable. There the annual management charge is usually 0.4% for gold, and you are a beneficiary of a trust which owns a pool of gold bars, rather than a direct owner. You cannot register a bar of gold or silver in your name through an ETF.
| Step 1. | Make sure you are logged in. Press ACCOUNT and then click the RESERVED BARS sub-menu option. |
| Step 2. |
At the top of the page, coloured in gold, you'll see the list of any bars
already reserved in your name. Below that list, in grey, you'll see the details of
the largest bar you can reserve, if any. Click RESERVE to choose this bar, or Next above to choose a different bar. Since all BullionVault bars are standardised there's little to choose between them. If you're not sure which bar to choose you should probably select the first one, as it will be the largest. |
| Step 3. | You'll be shown the full details of the bar, its current valuation, and an estimate of the reservation cost. If you want to proceed, click CONFIRM . |
| Step 4. | You will be returned to the reserved bars page, and newly-reserved bar will appear in the list at the top. If you still have sufficient metal, you can return to step 2 and reserve another bar. |
You need to release a gold or silver bar before you can sell your metal, by following the steps below.
| Step 1. | Make sure you are logged in. Press ACCOUNT and then click the RESERVED BARS sub-menu option. |
| Step 2. | At the top of the page, in gold, you'll see a list of bars reserved in your name. Choose the bar you want to release, and click RELEASE . |
| Step 3. | You'll be shown the full details of the bar. If you want to proceed, click CONFIRM . |
| Step 4. | You will be returned to the reserved bars page. You metal is now released, and can be sold whenever you wish. |
You can contact us to arrange delivery, but you should consider the issues involved in taking physical custody first.
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