Malca-Amit London Gold Vault

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Introduction

Global security and logisitics company Malca-Amit, headquartered in Hong Kong, joined the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) in March 2012, and opened a secure precious metals vault near London Heathrow Airport in April 2012. This vault is part of the London Gold Market’s vaulting system and Malca-Amit is a custodian for gold for the London market. Along with fellow security companies Brinks, Loomis and G4S, Malca-Amit’s vault is one of 8 that make up this vaulting system, the other 4 being run by HSBC, JP Morgan, Barclays, and the Bank of England.

Malca-Amit Profile

Malca-Amit is an international security company involved in the storage and transport of valuables such as diamonds and precious metals^[1]. In the London Gold Market, Malca-Amit Malca-Amit an ordinary member of the LBMA, and is one of 8 custodians offering gold custody services in the London gold vaulting system^[2]

Location

Malca-Amit’s gold vault is in west London, close to Heathrow Airport, within a warehouse called the Arena-Parkway Building, which is located in Parkway Trading Estate, Aerodrome Way, Cranford Lane, Hounslow, TW5 9QA^[3]. Malca-Amit opened its Arena facility in 2012.

The Vault

Unlike some of the other gold vaults in London, Malca-Amit’s vault is above ground, within the warehouse. The vault is a Chubbsafe XII brand^[4]. This vault has the highest European vault classification level, of XII CD EX^[5]. The vault has a storage capacity for over 300 tonnes of gold and 1,000 tonnes of silver, with gold stored on open heavy duty pallets for ease of audit and pick and pack^[6].

Layout

The Arena Building is a self-contained 20,430 square foot (1,898 square metre) warehouse with offices and a secure truck yard. Access to the warehouse from the yard is via 2 large up and over electric loading doors.

Gold Vault Customers and Gold Stored

The Malca-Amit vault is a working vault and according to the Alchemist article, was storing gold and silver bars as early as 2012. As with any commercial vault operator, there is little information available on which entities might store gold at the Arena vault. But since its a security carrier providing secure logistics services for precious metals, there is probably a mix of longer-term storage and short-term transit. In other words, since its adjacent to Heathrow, the Malca-Amit vault is most likely involved in the business of secure gold shipments in and out of the UK by air via Heathrow.

The Edinburgh Assay Office has an office in Malca-Amit’s Arena warehouse where it provides a hallmarking in transit service for gold jewellery^[7]. This means that there is probably part of the Malca-Amit vault used for storing inventory in transit within the hallmarking scheme.

References and Links

1.^ Malca-Amit http://www.malca-amit.com/about.html

2.^ List of entities offering gold custody services in the London Gold Market http://www.lbma.org.uk/assets/market/gdl/Custodians_London.pdf

3.^  “The Gold Vaults of London: Malca-Amit”, https://www.bullionstar.com/blogs/ronan-manly/gold-vaults-london-malca-amit

4.^ “Visit to Malca-Amit’s New Vault”,  Aelred Connelly, The Alchemist, LBMA http://www.lbma.org.uk/assets/blog/alchemist_articles/Alch68Connelly.pdf

5.^ http://www.malca-amit.com/london.html

6.^ Malca Amit vaults http://www.malca-amit.com/vaults–ftz-facilities.html

7.^ Malca-Amit and Edinburgh Assay Office, Hallmarking in Transit http://www.malca-amit.com/uploads/3/0/9/1/30917639/eao_flyer.pdf