What is "Investment Gold"?
The government rules for SIPPs require the gold you buy to be of a specific kind. The formal definition of what is required is "gold of a purity not less than 995 thousandths that is in the form of a bar, or a wafer, of a weight accepted by the bullion markets". You cannot buy - for example - sovereigns.
'Good Delivery Bars' are the type of bars accepted by the bullion markets. The standard is a 400 oz bar of at least 99.5% purity. The fine (pure) gold content of these bars is the standard unit of account of the bullion markets, so if you own 100 grams of gold you own 100 grams of pure gold, which is a bit more than 100 grams of the actual bar.
The London Bullion Market Association [LBMA] maintains a list of accredited refiners who produce these Good Delivery bars. As well as being made by one of these refiners, ever since its manufacture a Good Delivery bar must have stayed in vaults checked by LBMA both for integrity, and for the robustness of their shipping and handling procedures.
The size of the bars and all of this security infrastructure and procedure has in the past tended to make the bullion market inaccessible to private customers, who instead have been forced to buy smaller bars with very much higher dealing costs. This is where BullionVault comes in.
Making investment gold available to private customers and their pensions
BullionVault provides everyone with access to Good Delivery gold, and it's normal in BullionVault for a customer to own part of a bar. In fact you can own any amount down to 1 gram - which is about £11. So this high-integrity package of guaranteed gold, authorised vault storage, and - most importantly - the very competitive prices of the professional bullion markets, all become directly accessible to you and your pension fund.
You can read all about how BullionVault works by visiting Gold.BullionVault.com. There is a comprehensive brochure, and detailed answers to all your questions on the FAQs [Frequently Asked Questions].
Buying gold for your SIPP via BullionVault does not tie you in. You can sell your gold whenever you wish, redeem the money to your SIPP trustee, and choose some other investment.