What is Signature Gold?

On 2^nd June 2015, the Royal Mint launched “Signature Gold”, which is both a brand name and trading service they provide. Here we explore what Signature Gold is, how to buy and sell it as well as storage and legal aspects of this form of gold investment.

About Signature Gold

The Signature Gold service requires a personal account with the Royal Mint, which will require scrutiny/approval before the service can be used. Accounts can be set-up and the service used at http://www.royalmintbullion.com/. The service is available 24 hours per day x 365 days per year.

A management fee is charged for the service, this is 0.5% + VAT per annum and is charged quarterly in arrears. The fee will be based on the average daily value of total gold held by the customer in the vault.

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Signature Gold is a form of fractional gold investment, where investors buy a fraction of a 999.9 fine gold bar. The Royal Mint buy 400 oz. gold bars specifically for this service, which comply with the LBMA Good Delivery Standard. The service was introduced as an entry level gold investment product with investments starting at only £20.

The customer deals with the Royal Mint from start to finish, no other third parties are involved. There is no exposure therefore to any form of counterparty risk via this service.

Buying and selling Signature Gold

Customers of the service buy gold based on value rather than weight, e.g. £20 rather than a coin or by the ounce, etc. Gold bought through the service can be sold at any time, once sold gold is available instantly through the customer’s personal account with the Royal Mint.

Gold is bought based on prices published on the website, which are linked to the current gold price on the open market. Gold bought or sold is priced to the nearest 0.001 oz.

“The Gold price today & investing in gold medium to long term” a Physical Gold Ltd. YouTube video.

Storage and legal aspects

Customers do not have physical access to their gold, which is stored in the Royal Mint’s vaults in London. The Royal Mint always has more of the gold bars stored in the vault than have been bought by customers. Customers have full legal ownership over every ounce of gold they buy.

Should you buy Signature Gold?

In our February 2017 article “the do’s and don’ts of buying gold” we recommended, “not buying large amounts of fractional coins”. This advice still stands and there are more effective physical gold investment strategies such as buying gold coins and gold bars.

Contacting Physical Gold to discuss fractional gold investments

We can only say so much in an article as everybody’s circumstances are slightly different, so call us on 020 7060 9992 for friendly and impartial advice. Emails can be sent via our contact page, we look forward to hearing from you.

 

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