Bullion Audits

Bullion Audits - BullionStar Employs 5 Methods of Auditing

1) Live Audit Report 

With the Live Audit Report, BullionStar customers can conduct an audit of their bullion held in BullionStar storage via verifying their own holdings directly in BullionStar's reporting system. The Live Audit reflects bullion held in all storage jurisdictions. 

The Live Audit lists all customer owned bullion stored with BullionStar as storage provider in all storage jurisdictions and reconciles all customer owned bullion per bullion product type and vault account number. The Live Audit Report is identical to BullionStar's internal reconciliation system except that the Live Audit Report is anonymous.

The Live Audit Report works by detailing all holdings based on vault account number and is therefore fully transparent while still keeping customer details undisclosed. By locating your own vault account number in the Live Audit Report, you can verify the existence of your bullion in BullionStar's system. Using the same report, all other customers can do likewise and verify the existence of their bullion based on their vault account numbers. 

Note that the Live Audit Report is updated in real time when bullion is processed into or out of the BullionStar vault and is therefore a highly reliable report.

As such, the Live Audit Report is used by BullionStar for internal audits as well as by the 3^rd party LBMA-approved auditor, Bureau Veritas, when it conducts independent audits to verify the physical existence, serial numbers and weights of customer owned bullion in BullionStar's vault. 

2) LBMA-approved Third Party Audits

BullionStar retains bullion industry expert auditor, Bureau Veritas, to conduct twice yearly full audits of all customer owned bullion in BullionStar's vault. Bureau Veritas is an approved service provider of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) and is a leading auditor in the global bullion industry for physical precious metals audits.

Bureau Veritas audits include the following:

- Physical existence of all customer owned precious metals held by BullionStar on behalf of its storage customers as vault storage provider.

- Serial numbers of randomly selected bullion bars are checked against the serial numbers as listed in the BullionStar Live Audit Report.

- Weight of randomly selected bullion bars is checked against the product description of the product.

The inspection protocols issued by Bureau Veritas are available here. 

3) Physical Customer Audits

In addition to our other audits steps, BullionStar also gives our customers the exclusive option of conducting a physical audit of their holdings themselves. To schedule an appointment, please contact us. Do note that customer audits are subject to a fee as noted in our Schedule of Service Fees.

4) Internal Handling & Auditing

Before your bullion is processed into vault storage, two BullionStar vault officers check and double sign the bullion order confirmation with their initials to confirm that the correct bullion items have been prepared for vault storage. All vault orders are prepared under high resolution camera surveillance. 

A photo is then taken of each customer order confirmation together with the actual bullion and is uploaded to your account. These images enable you to view and identify your specific bullion items. Serial numbers will be visible on all bullion that has such serial numbers.      

BullionStar also conducts frequent internal enumeration audits using a blind count feature within BullionStar's in-house enumeration module. The process requires the vault officer to perform a hands-on count of the stock inventory without access to the quantities recorded in the enumeration module. All internal enumeration audits are saved in the enumeration module. The enumeration report in the enumeration system highlights any discrepancies to the company management.

5) Financial Audit/Stock Inventory Enumeration Audit

BullionStar is fully audited according to prevailing laws. As part of the audit process, a specific, separate enumeration of existent metal in our vaults is done, and published as part of BullionStar’s Annual Report.

At BullionStar, our objective is to provide the most secure, most user-friendly, and most cost-effective storage solution for your bullion. By employing five different auditing methods, you can verify in multiple ways that BullionStar provides the most secure safekeeping possible for your bullion.

Related Topics:

Direct Legal Ownership

Insurance

Allocation of Physical Precious Metals

How to Buy Bullion for Vault Storage

BullionStar's Vault Storage Solution