How the vault rankings
are calculated.

Principles

1. Formula, not opinion. Every rank is computed from recorded fields. No score or position is adjusted by hand.
2. Commercial relationships are not an input. Partner status, commission level or any contact with a provider is never read by the scoring code. An automated test enforces this.
3. Not found = 0 points. If a fact is not found in the provider's public documents on the research date, the criterion scores zero. The breakdown says "not found in the documents reviewed (as of the date)": a statement about offbnk's research, never a claim that the fact does not exist or that the provider refused.
4. One category per ranking. Allocated storage, precious-metal depots and safe-deposit boxes are different products and are ranked separately.
5. Eligibility is a filter, not a score. Whether a provider accepts clients from the reader's country of residence is applied as a filter, never as points.
6. Stable and versioned. Weights are fixed per methodology version. Any change gets a new version number, a date and a public changelog entry.
7. No superlatives. The pages say "sorted by documented criteria". The only exception is the factual "Top score" mark for a group (see display rules).

What is ranked

Unit: one row per provider per category. If a provider has several products in the same category, the row uses the product with the highest score; the others are listed as further storage locations. With the location filter active, only products stored there count.

Included: published providers, products open to new clients, and providers whose verification is not past its review date.

Category assignment: allocated storage = sole ownership in domestic, customs-free or bonded storage; precious-metal depot = fractional co-ownership or a pooled unallocated claim; safe-deposit box = box rental.

Tie-break: equal total score, then the higher score in the category's first criterion group, then alphabetical by provider name. Never by commercial relationship.

Scoring

Coverage: full value = 5; capped at or above the model holding = 3; capped below it, or capped without a stated amount = 1; base cover only, none or unknown = 0.

Storage cost bands (% p.a. of the model holding, points): Allocated storage: ≤ 0.3 %: 13 · ≤ 0.5 %: 10 · ≤ 0.8 %: 7 · ≤ 1.2 %: 3 · > 1.2 %: 1 · not computable: 0. Precious-metal depots: ≤ 0.3 %: 15 · ≤ 0.5 %: 12 · ≤ 0.8 %: 8 · ≤ 1.2 %: 4 · > 1.2 %: 1 · not computable: 0

Purchase cost bands (% of cash paid, points): ≤ 2 %: 8 · ≤ 4 %: 6 · ≤ 6 %: 3 · ≤ 9 %: 2 · > 9 %: 1 · not computable: 0

Price basis (rule 3.4.12, allocated storage and depots): buy and sell prices tied to the LBMA Gold Price or the spot price with a fixed published rate on both sides = 4; a reference named, or a fixed rate published for one side = 2; the provider's own dealer prices only = 1; not found = 0. Custody-only providers buy and sell nothing and get 4.

App: shown in the table for information (iOS, Android or installable web app, and what it can do). It earns no points.

Rent bands for the smallest box (EUR per year incl. VAT, points): ≤ EUR 150: 25 · ≤ EUR 300: 18 · ≤ EUR 500: 12 · ≤ EUR 800: 6 · > EUR 800: 2 · not computable: 0

Insurance included in the rent (EUR, points): ≥ EUR 25,000: 10 · ≥ EUR 10,000: 6 · > 0: 3 · not computable: 0

Calculation rules

1. VAT. Costs are scored as published. If fees are published excluding VAT and the provider does not state whether VAT is charged to private clients, the net figure is used and marked "VAT treatment not stated". If VAT is stated, it is included.
2. Standard terms only. Introductory offers, promotions and first-year discounts are ignored; the ongoing standard rate applies.
3. Safe-deposit box term. The annual rent is taken from the shortest contract term offered, annualised. Prepayment discounts for longer terms are ignored.
4. Product minimum above the model holding. If a product's minimum investment or lowest fee tier is above the model holding, the product is not ranked in that category. The provider's other products can still be ranked.
5. Gold only. Rankings are for gold. Products that do not offer gold, or where gold is currently not deliverable, are not ranked while that applies.
6. Fee currency. If fee tables are published in several currencies, the EUR table is used. Otherwise the home-currency table is converted at one common ECB reference rate for the whole ranking (30 September 2026).
7. Purchase cost for depots. (Total cash paid − fixing value of the metal credited) ÷ total cash paid. All premiums, agio and purchase fees are included.
8. Residence rules. Absence of a restriction is never acceptance; suitability or marketing statements are not acceptance; nationality-based statements are recorded as citizenship rules.
9. Publication threshold. A ranking page is published when at least 5 providers in the category meet the minimum-data rule. Providers below the rule are listed as "insufficient published data".
10. Public sources, update cycle. Version 1.0 used only public documents as of 30 September 2026 (v1.1 adds price basis and apps as of 1 October 2026): terms, custody terms, price lists, product pages, audit and insurance statements published by the provider, its vault operator, auditor or insurer, and official registers. After publication all ranked providers are asked for the facts not found. Written answers with a verifiable source are applied in a monthly update.
11. Source hierarchy for conflicts. Binding contract documents beat price lists, which beat product pages, which beat FAQs, brochures and marketing text. Within the same level the newer dated document wins. Legal names follow the official register or the entity's own imprint. If two sources of the same level and date conflict on a cost, the higher cost is used; on a protection criterion, the less protective reading. The conflict and both sources are shown in the breakdown.
12. Segregation (v1.2). "Segregated from company assets" means the client's holding is legally separable from the provider's estate if the provider becomes insolvent: the client owns or co-owns the metal and the documents state this, or state a right of separation, or that the holding is kept apart from the provider's own stock. A holding that is physically pooled with the provider's own metal still counts when the client's share is legally separable. A mere contractual claim to metal does not count.
13. Trustee (v1.2). For depots, fractional co-ownership scores 10 points when the documents name a trustee that controls client funds or holds or administers client assets, or when there is a direct claim (section 3.2). A trustee appointed by the provider counts if its role protects clients, such as control of how client money is used. The trustee and its role are shown in the breakdown.
14. Direct claim (v1.2). "Direct claim against the custodian" is yes when the client's contract partner holds the metal in its own vault, or when the documents give the client a claim against the vault that holds it. It is no when a third-party vault holds the metal and the documents exclude a claim against it, and not found when the documents say neither.
15. Price basis. A fixed rate counts when a contract document, price list or product page states it relative to the reference, for example "LBMA Gold Price plus 4 %" or "buy-back at spot, no fee". Premiums and spreads that are only shown live per product are dealer prices, not a fixed rate. The spot or fixing source need not be named; the reference must be.
16. Customer inspection right (v1.3). Scores when a published document (terms, custody conditions, FAQ, price list) says the customer may check their own metals: personally and through an independent third party such as an audit firm or assayer = 5 points; personally only = 3; not provided for or not found = 0. Physical access to the vault alone does not count. Fees are shown, not scored. A provider's published reason for having no third-party audit is shown in the auditor row as its own statement, without points.

Display rules

• "Top score" marks: a product with the highest score in a group among the ranked providers is marked under its total, all of them on a tie, when that score reaches at least 75 % of the group's points. The marks are computed from the scores, the same way for every provider; they change neither points nor order.
• Every row shows the total score, the group scores and the breakdown of each criterion. Criteria scored 0 because a fact was not found are marked, not hidden.
• Filters (storage location, reader's residence region) remove rows; they never change scores. The table can be re-sorted by any single group.
• Partner links, if any, are labelled at the link and never affect position.
• Each row shows the date the provider's data was last verified.
• Minimum-data rule: a provider is ranked only if at least 60 of 100 points are assessable. A criterion is assessable when it was researched in the public sources, whether the fact was found or not.

Grade scale: 75–100 points: Very good · 65–74.9: Good · 50–64.9: Satisfactory · 35–49.9: Adequate · below 35: Poor. The grade above the points follows from the total alone. It is offbnk's own classification, not a test verdict by an independent body.

Disclosure

Positions result solely from a fixed scoring formula (methodology v1.3). The main parameters are ownership and insolvency protection, independent audit, insurance, costs, and access and handling, weighted as set out in section 3. The basis is the providers' publicly available documents (as of 30 September 2026; price basis and apps as of 1 October 2026; customer inspection right as of 11 October 2026). Information not found there scores 0; providers are asked to supplement it, and confirmed information is included in the monthly update. Positions cannot be bought: offbnk's business relationships with providers are labelled and are not part of the scoring. The ranking is not investment advice or a recommendation of a provider.

Publication and follow-up

1. The cost fields are filled from public sources under the calculation rules.
2. This methodology page is published together with the rankings.
3. After publication, every ranked provider receives the list of facts not found, with a link to its breakdown.
4. Verified answers are applied in the monthly update and logged in the version history.

Version history