The Royal Mint Expands Online Products to Include Fractional Gold Britannia Bullion Coins

Building on the successful launch in September of its new bullion trading website www.royalmintbullion.com, The Royal Mint is to expand its offering to include fractional gold bullion coins for the first time as part of its core range. The new additions – the Britannia Half-Ounce, the Britannia Quarter-Ounce and the Britannia Tenth-Ounce gold bullion coins – will offer a choice of increments to customers looking for versatility and a more easily divisible portfolio.

The Royal Mint’s Director of Commemorative Coin and Bullion, says, “We are delighted by the tremendous response www.royalmintbullion.com has received since its launch. Whilst The Royal Mint is already a key player in the UK bullion market, we wanted to strengthen our proposition further by making the purchase of gold even more accessible to customers by offering Britannia gold coins at a range of price points.”

The fractional coins are expected to be popular with customers, who can access The Royal Mint’s bullion trading platform 24 hours a day, 365 days a year in order to buy, store and sell bullion coins directly from The Royal Mint quickly, effortlessly and securely.

Unlike its competitors, The Royal Mint’s trading website www.royalmintbullion.com provides constantly updated live prices for gold and silver at a rate linked to the current precious metal price.

How does it work?

Once a customer has set up an account on The Royal Mint’s trading platform, they will be able to buy brand new Royal Mint Britannia, Sovereign and Lunar bullion coins. The flagship coin, The Sovereign, is struck in 22 carat gold. Britannia coins are available in 999.9 fine gold (24 carat) in One Ounce, Half-Ounce, Quarter-Ounce and Tenth-Ounce weights, and Britannia One-Ounce coins are also available in 999 fine silver. The UK’s newest Bullion coin, the Lunar coin, is also struck in either 999.9 fine gold (24 carat) or 999 fine silver.

Once the transaction is complete customers can then opt to have the coins delivered to their home through an insured postal service, or store their gold coins in The Vault™, The Royal Mint’s on-site precious metal storage facility – which is protected at all times by the Ministry of Defence.

The Royal Mint introduced The Vault™ in response to increased demand for its bullion coins and market demand for additional vaulting capacity.  The Royal Mint is the only Mint to enable customers anywhere in the world to arrange secure, on-site storage directly with the mint, at any time of day or night.

The Royal Mint has also guaranteed that it will provide all customers with a quotation to buy back any gold coins bought from its website and stored in The Vault™ – this money will then be deposited directly into the customer’s Royal Mint Bullion account, ready for them to withdraw or to make a new purchase.

Research conducted by The World Gold Council has suggested that there is potentially £4 billion* latent demand for gold investment within the UK alone, but consumers have been deterred from taking the plunge because of the perceived barriers to purchasing precious metals.

Historically, these have included assumptions that the services of a reputable broker are required to negotiate the fairest price, that there is limited access to local bullion coin dealers, or worries about shipping and storage.

With the introduction of www.royalmintbullion.com The Royal Mint hopes to address these concerns and introduce the bullion coin market to a wider audience.

At the launch, Shane Bissett, The Royal Mint’s Director of Commemorative Coin and Bullion, said, “Where the average consumer may have shunned gold due to perceived complexities, The Royal Mint can help make this option a much more accessible opportunity. We want to help expand the bullion market in the UK, particularly as coins offer a relatively affordable introduction – and believe we are well placed to do so.

“The Royal Mint is responsible for manufacturing all UK coinage and has long been trusted with the currencies of other countries too, supplying to more than 60 worldwide.  The quality of our bullion coins is of an extremely high standard which cannot be rivalled. We have been a highly respected and trusted source of coins for kings, queens and governments for over 1,000 years, and this proud heritage is means that we are globally recognised as a reliable source for bullion coins.”

Sales of Royal Mint gold bullion coins have recently increased after they were awarded VAT-free status in the United Kingdom. The Royal Mint’s Britannia, Sovereign and Lunar bullion coins are also Capital Gains Tax (CGT) free for residents of the United Kingdom as they are considered to be legal tender in the UK.

For further information about The Royal Mint bullion or The Vault™ please visit http://www.royalmint.com/bullion

* Source: World Gold Council Affluent Investors in the UK Nov 2012

Some important Q&A

Is there a minimum purchase quantity?

If a customer wants their bullion to be delivered the minimum order is just one coin. Should they choose to store their gold bullion coins in The Royal Mint Vault, then the minimum order quantity is one tube. Please note that silver coins cannot currently be stored in The Vault™.

What is the maximum amount of bullion I can order from you?

There is no maximum amount of bullion that you can purchase from The Royal Mint.

The Royal Mint does offer a dedicated personal bullion customer service facility to all its customers when ordering bullion that is valued above £100,000.

The Sovereign is the world’s oldest bullion coin still made to this day, having existed in one form or another for over 500 years. It is the most accurately specified coin in the bullion world, with its weight and purity guaranteed to five decimal places by an Act of Parliament, the Coin Act of 1971.

The Royal Mint introduced its Britannia 1oz gold proof coin in 1987 to offer direct competition to other 1oz gold coins in the bullion market, changing its purity specification to ‘four nines’ (999.9) gold in 2013, indicating it is 99.99% gold. This was followed by launch of the Britannia 1oz silver proof coin in 1997. The purity of this coin was also enhanced to ‘three nines’ (999) fine silver in 2013, meaning it is 99.9% silver.

Specifications

About The Royal Mint

The Royal Mint has an unbroken history of minting British coinage dating back over 1,000 years. By the late thirteenth century the organisation was based in the Tower of London, and remained there for over 500 years. By 1812 The Royal Mint had moved out of the Tower to premises on London’s Tower Hill. In 1967 the building of a new Royal Mint began on its current site in South Wales, UK.

While The Royal Mint’s finest traditions are always respected, it continually innovates in order to stay at the forefront of world minting, embracing the latest production techniques and technology in order to offer excellence to our clients across the globe. By underpinning our proud heritage with a highly progressive outlook, The Royal Mint produces coins that remain a byword for trust and reliability the world over.

There were estimated to be 28.9 billion UK coins in circulation at 31 March 2014 ,with a total face value of over £4 billion, all manufactured by The Royal Mint. In total, nearly 2 billion UK coins were issued during 2013-14.

As well as over 1,000 years of producing British coinage, The Royal Mint has long been trusted with the currencies of other countries. It has served more than 100 issuing authorities around the world and currently meets approximately 15% of global demand, making us the world’s leading export mint.

The Royal Mint has been making official military campaign medals since it was commissioned to make awards for soldiers who fought in the battle of Waterloo in 1815. The year 2012 was of particular significance for The Royal Mint’s medal-making team, with the manufacture of all 4,700 Victory Medals for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The Royal Mint has recently introduced a new fineness of Britannia bullion coins and a highly-secure on-site bullion vault storage facility, building on the gold Sovereign’s long-standing reputation for integrity, accuracy. This positions The Royal Mint and its bullion products as a premium proposition in this marketplace.

In September 2014, The Royal Mint launched a new bullion trading website, www.royalmintbullion.com, enabling customers to buy, store and sell bullion coins at constantly updated prices directly from The Royal Mint quickly, effortlessly and securely, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

In April 2014, The Royal Mint unveiled plans to develop a purpose-built visitor centre at its headquarters in Llantrisant, South Wales. Construction is expected to be completed during 2016.