Bank of England Gold Vault Customers and Worth

The Bank of England's Gold Vault is a secure storage facility that holds a significant portion of the UK's gold reserves.

The Bank of England's Gold Vault is located beneath the Bank of England's headquarters in the City of London.

The vault is a massive underground chamber that spans over 35,000 square feet, making it one of the largest gold storage facilities in the world.

The vault is used to store a portion of the UK's gold reserves, which is estimated to be around 400,000 ounces of gold, valued at around £2.5 billion.

The Bank of England is one of the largest gold custodians in the world, second only to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The Bank of England has been offering gold custody services to foreign central banks and governments since at least the early 20th century.

This service allows customers to purchase gold on the London Market and store it in the Bank's vaults, where it is referred to as 'earmarked gold'.

Earmarked gold is stored on a 'set-aside basis', meaning that individual identifiable gold bars are owned by specific customers, making it allocated gold.

The gold stored in the Bank of England vaults is in the form of Good Delivery gold bars, each weighing about 400 troy ounces.

The Bank of England is only a custodian for gold, not for other precious metals.

The Bank of England's gold vault has a rich history. The current building on Threadneedle Street was constructed between 1924 and 1933, involving a significant rebuild of the site.

Excavation was necessary to create three basement levels, which house the vaults and foundations. The site was surrounded by a 2.44-meter thick reinforced concrete wall to ensure security.

The vaults have been designed with triple control access, meaning three separate parts of the Bank have control over who can enter. This level of security is crucial for storing large amounts of gold.

The Bank of England's vault history is a fascinating story. The current building on Threadneedle Street was built between 1924 and 1933, replacing the previous building on the site.

A significant amount of excavation was required to create the vaults and foundations, with 15.2 metres of digging to reach the necessary depth. This excavation work allowed for the construction of 3 basement levels.

The 2.44 metre thick reinforced concrete wall around the site was added to provide an extra layer of security. This wall surrounds the existing perimeter wall, creating a secure environment for the vaults.

In the 1970s, the Bank of England had 6 'Triple Control' gold vaults with a storage capacity of 391,000 gold bars. This means that access to the vaults was under the control of three separate parts of the Bank.

The Bank of England's new monthly vault holdings data can now be compared to the amount of gold reported in its annual reports. The figures in the annual report are only reported in Pounds Sterling, not quantities, so they need to be converted to USD or divided by the GBP LBMA Gold Price on the last day of February.

In September 2015, I wrote an article calculating the total gold held in the Bank of England vaults based on the annual report. The calculated total for gold held at the Bank of England in February 2015 came out at 5,134 tonnes.

The Bank of England data now says 5,126 tonnes, which is very close to the calculation. This shows how accurate the calculations can be when using the right data.

For February 2016, the calculation came out at 4,725 tonnes. The new Bank of England data now says 4,730 tonnes, which is also very close.

These spot checks demonstrate the importance of using accurate data when calculating gold holdings.

The gold bars in the heavily protected vault at the Bank of England are a fascinating sight. Some of the bars look like loaves of bread while others have slanted edges to allow them to be picked up more easily.

The vaults are designed to hold a massive amount of gold, with a theoretical permissible storage capacity of 465,000 bars (5,780 tonnes). The gold is stored in rows of blue numbered shelves in the silence of the concrete-encased underground safe.

The vaults are accessed using several 3ft long keys, which security experts think is safer than electronic access alone. Electronic safeguards are also in place, including a password system that requires visitors to speak a password into a microphone that matches voices to a select few saved samples.

The gold bars are incredibly valuable, with each bar worth around £250,000 ($500,000). The total value of the gold stored in the vaults is estimated to be £172 billion ($248 billion).

The Bank of England's vaults are a massive 300,000 square foot space, large enough to hold a significant portion of the world's gold.

They're built on clay bedrock, which is soft and can be prone to settling, so the gold bars are stacked in a way that prevents them from sinking into the ground.

The vaults are accessed using a rather old-fashioned method - several 3ft long keys - but security experts believe this is actually a safer approach than relying solely on electronic access.

Electronic safeguards are in place too, including a system that requires visitors to speak a password into a microphone that matches their voice to a saved sample.

The gold bars are kept on rows of blue numbered shelves, and they come in different shapes and sizes, ranging from loaves of bread to bars with slanted edges to make them easier to pick up.

Security is taken very seriously in the vaults, with the bars only stacked four pallets high in the top level vaults and six pallets high in the bottom level to prevent them from sinking into the ground.

The Bank of England's gold vault is a treasure trove worth £200 billion, making it one of the most valuable in the world.

This staggering amount is second only to the New York Federal Reserve, and it's a testament to the bank's power and influence in the UK.

The vault is also a secure location that stores not only the Bank of England's own gold reserves but also gold for other central banks.

The bank's customers include other central banks, which store their gold in the vault for safekeeping.

The Bank of England's gold vaults are home to a diverse group of customers, including central banks, national governments, and international financial institutions.

Central banks, such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium, store significant amounts of gold in the Bank of England's vaults.

For example, Germany still holds 438 tonnes of gold at the Bank of England vaults, even after repatriating over 900 tonnes back to Frankfurt in the early 2000s.

The UK's 310 tonnes of gold are also stored in the Bank's vaults.

Central banks are charged a storage cost of 3.5 pence per bar per night, which amounts to approximately £102,200 per year for 100 tonnes of gold.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) also store gold at the Bank of England, with the IMF likely holding at least 600 tonnes of gold in London.

Take a look at this: What Is the Bank of International Settlements

The Bank of England vaults hold a staggering 5,134 tonnes of gold, worth an estimated £172 billion ($248 billion). This makes up the majority of the 6,256 tonnes kept safe beneath London's streets.

The gold is stored in bars weighing precisely 400 troy ounces, or 12kg, worth around £250,000 ($500,000). Each bar is kept on rows of blue numbered shelves in the silence of the concrete-encased underground safe.

The vaults were built in the 1930s and are still accessed using several 3ft long keys. Security experts think the analogue measure is safer than electronic access alone, but there are electronic safeguards too.

Visitors have to speak a password into a microphone that matches voices to a select few saved samples. This adds an extra layer of security to the already heavily protected vaults.

The UK's gold reserves, which amount to 310 tonnes, are stored in the Bank of England's vaults.