Vault services

[h4rdware]

dickens1 - There is a section on their site, which covers the ownership rights in case of business failure. So it's not as if they haven't thought about it. They should have been able to tell you a lot more about the process.

The gold would be handled as 'bailment' which means it's owned by the customer, not on the company balance sheet. The public daily audit keeps the ownership list honest. The procedure would however involve an appointed liquidator who has to get the bailment property to the correct owners. The liquidator can't sell the stuff off to pay losses for example, because it's not owned by the failed company.

Any unused cash in the account is not handled as bailment but rather in a segregated Lloyds bank account.

It's normal that they wouldn't be able to give you a liquidator name now, because those aren't appointed ahead of time - it happens a company becomes insolvent. They should however be able to advise you on how to keep on top of what's going on - i.e. provide details of an appointed representative for non-UK residents.

Sounds like you dealt with an idiot, or more than one idiot. Although that itself is a bit of a worry. They should be well prepared for questions like that. :-o

http://www.bullionvault.com/help/?FAQs/FAQs_safety.html#Bailments and business failure

 

[dickens1]

(Regarding checking my banks financial background)-

I suppose the fact that my bank is state guaranteed and if the state can pay the deposits with the help of the ECB,
at least I have the knowledge that there are procedures in place in case of failure.

Maybe there aren’t any contact procedures you can have in place in the event of a receiver coming in.
But it would be very worrying if the gold company went bust and you had to wait around to find out what to do next.

 

[pmbug]

* super necro bump *

Saw this post from Bob Coleman and remembered this old discussion. Bob runs a vault service and so is touting his business to a degree here, but even so, he's raising an issue that wasn't discussed but probably should be considered when evaluating a vault service:

There has been an assertion made that somehow primary vaults in New York are just now short of insurance and are under-insuring assets being stored.

This is not a new problem. The industry has notoriously under-insured their exposure for more than 15 years. Going back to 2008, I have written articles at length, did presentations, and podcasts on this subject. Idaho Armored Vaults is one of the few vaults that over insure our exposure with an all risk policy from Lloyd's of London.

To take it one step further not all, "All-Risk", policies are the same and many have exclusions against losses such as mysterious disappearance, contain elevated deductibles, or can use a higher excess layer than a primary layer to reduce costs and possibly create more exposure for the customer.

This is just a few concerns that most individuals storing at depositories have little understanding of and these depositories provide little disclosure except what is in their storage contracts. It is even worse for storage/structured programs controlled by precious metals dealers or third parties. Here is an interview I did with Macro Voices in 2019, along with a slide deck.

MacroVoices Spotlight #2 Bob Coleman: Private Vaulting of Precious Metals = Independence from the Financial System

A weekly financial podcast for professional finance, high net worth individuals, and other sophisticated investors

www.macrovoices.com

 

[Voodoo]

It would be kinda hard to reevaluate your insurance needs as the price goes up.

 

[Viking]

I have an exclusive offer just for forum members. Free PM storage. But hurry, space is limited.

 

[nickndfl]

Kitco, SD and Money Metals have those services. I was actually considering it.

https://online.kitco.com/kitco-vault-chain-gold

https://sdbullion.com/gold-silver-storage

https://www.moneymetals.com/silver-gold-storage

 

[pmbug]

Scottsdale Mint honcho is now running (or at least, helped create) a vault service in Wyoming: