The BullionVault service is owned by Galmarley Limited [name origin], which is company number 4943684 registered in England and Wales at 7th Floor, 3 Shortlands, Hammersmith, London W6 8DA.
Our website services are managed, hosted and delivered to you by Galmarley's wholly owned subsidiary BullionVault Ltd, which is company number 07400400 also registered in England and Wales at 7th Floor, 3 Shortlands, Hammersmith, London W6 8DA.
Our computers are managed from our London offices. Our live service is hosted in the cloud, while multiple other international locations maintain our back-up systems and data.
Our offices are in West London (UK) and we welcome callers during normal office hours. You do not need an appointment, but making one will usually save you some waiting time. Our contact details are here.
An original £275,000 [$500,000] of seed capital was injected at the incorporation of Galmarley Ltd in October 2003, and it funded the early planning and development of the BullionVault service.
After developing the software, and over a period of two years from March 2005, the business raised approximately £3.5m in equity funding. This money was invested in gold bars and currency to provide the inventory which the business needed to operate.
The accessibility, safety and value of gold bought through BullionVault quickly made the service popular. Since opening for business in 2005 we have traded profitably every year and enjoyed healthy growth.
Our revenues come from a mixture of four sources:-
On 1st September 2008 we were elected into the London Bullion Market Association which represents the largest of the world's physical bullion markets.
In April 2009 we won the Queen's Award for Enterprise (Innovation) for our use of technology in making the efficiencies and reliability of the professional bullion market available to private customers. In 2013 we were awarded a second Queen's Award for Enterprise (International Trade) for our fast-growing overseas business, and we received a third award (again for International Trade) in 2022.
We always publish our most recent audited accounts online.
We now have over 100,000 active customers, from over 175 countries, holding approximately $4.1 billion in stored bullion. In fact, with more than 45 tonnes of gold and 1,243 tonnes of silver bullion, BullionVault's customers are already holding significantly larger reserves than most of the world's central banks.
Our financial strength is formidable. Our asset value per £1 ordinary share has grown to over £80, and those assets are denominated in currency balances and our own gold bullion stock, all available at short notice.
This financial strength was consolidated when on 17th June 2010 we completed an important deal. The World Gold Council [WGC] and Augmentum Capital each bought an 11.4% equity stake, investing a total of £12.5m (US$18.8m). On 12th April 2016 the World Gold Council transferred its holding in BullionVault to Gold Bullion Investment Trust [GBIT] — a connected organisation of WGC — which became the registered owner. In March 2018, Augmentum Fintech plc acquired the Augmentum Capital fund, and with it acquired Augmentum Capital's stake in BullionVault.
In January 2017 we became members of the London Platinum and Palladium Market in anticipation of offering platinum on the platform in partnership with the World Platinum Investment Council.
Paul graduated in Computer Science. He founded the financial software company SAM in 1990, which over 10 years grew to provide computer solutions to 12 organisations including four of Europe’s biggest banks.
When SAM was taken over in 2001 Gordon Brown was trying to sell Britain’s gold. Paul tried to buy some, and although he succeeded – eventually – the bullion market process was opaque and the transaction terms unattractive to a private investor. Sensing that more people would soon be looking to buy gold he started planning BullionVault in 2002.
Development of BullionVault, which he funded, started in late 2003, and the BullionVault service was launched in spring 2005 supported by investment from 30 friends, family and business angels. He was CEO from launch until 2016, during which time the business grew to become the world’s biggest online investment bullion service.
In 2015 Paul co-founded WhiskyInvestDirect [WID] with Rupert Patrick. In spite of obvious differences in the products both BullionVault and WID run strikingly similar business models and software. Each makes a wholesale marketplace investable to the private investor.
Reflecting this split interest Paul became Chairman of both BullionVault and WID in 2016. He remains a substantial customer of both.
For 60% of his time Paul works for Galmarley, which owns 100% of BullionVault. His salary and benefits are paid for by the company and disclosed, along with his interest in the company’s equity and bonds, in the audited accounts.
Robert has over 20 years’ experience running e-commerce and financial services online. He graduated with Honours in Combined Studies from Newcastle University in 1994. In 1996 he took a temporary job as a filing clerk in San Francisco at Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. – the pioneer in internet financial services for private investors – and left in 2005 as eCommerce Director.
During his 9 years at Schwab, Robert held a number of managerial roles in its market-leading online division, heading initiatives to increase customer acquisition and deliver multi-million dollar cost savings.
In 2005 Robert returned to the UK and joined Betfair Ltd (now Flutter Entertainment plc). As Head of Sports Product Management, Robert led the team developing and launching new betting products and website functionality for the core division. Sports revenues more than doubled during his 2.5 years managing the group. Promoted to Product Director in 2009, he was part of the management team that saw the company float on the London Stock Exchange in 2010.
Robert joined BullionVault in 2011 as Chief Operating Officer. Responsible for managing new product development, marketing and the day-to-day running of the company, in 2015 he also played a key part in launching BullionVault’s sister business, WhiskyInvestDirect. Robert was promoted to Chief Executive and appointed to the Galmarley Board in August 2016.
Robert works full time for BullionVault. His salary and benefits are paid for by the company and disclosed, along with his interest in the company's equity and options, in the audited accounts.
Tim graduated in Russian Studies from The University of Manchester and joined Bain & Company in Moscow, Boston, Sydney and London. Tim embarked on an entrepreneurial path and left Bain in early 1998 and created a new retail concept when he opened his first juice bar (Fresh n Smooth) in 1999 in Canary Wharf. The business has since evolved into a 31-store business across London called Crussh.
In the summer of 1999, Tim joined 3 former colleagues from Bain & Company and launched Flutter.com. Flutter became one of the highest profile internet businesses in the UK after it merged with Betfair.com in 2001. Tim became the Commercial Director of the newly merged business and launched Betfair globally.
In 2010, Tim returned to London to start his next venture. He founded Augmentum Capital with the backing of RIT Capital and Lord Rothschild. The team focused on finding talented entrepreneurial teams in the Fintech industry that were bringing fundamentally disruptive products or platforms to the European market.
In 2018, Tim successfully launched Augmentum Fintech on the main market of the London Stock Exchange, in the process becoming the first publicly listed Fintech fund in the UK.
Tim was made a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2012 and for several years advised The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry on digital strategy and innovation. Tim was elected in March 2017 to The Court of Common Council in the City of London to represent the Ward of Bridge (as an Independent). Tim is also a Governor of The City of London School.
BullionVault's Management Team
In total BullionVault employs 37 people at its Hammersmith office in London.
As the head of the board and majority shareholder Paul Tustain accepts responsibility within the company for organising BullionVault's system controls and arranging individual responsibilities within the BullionVault team, and its custody providers, so as to maximise the security of customers' gold and cash.
In addition to development capital Paul Tustain has provided management bonds to the company which is held as gold and cash segregated in favour of customers. These management bonds are non-refundable except in final liquidation, in which circumstance they rank behind all other customer property for repayment.
The value of equity in the company and this loan would therefore be lost before any BullionVault customer incurred any loss resulting from breaches of faith or security on BullionVault.com.
This arrangement is structured to underpin the meaning of 'accepting responsibility'.
BullionVault's objective is to operate the world's most cost-effective, secure and accessible market in professional grade bullion.
We want to do this because:-
