The Royal Mint has made Royal Mint gold bullion available to SIPP and SSAS plans for the first time, adding an additional pension investment option.

Royal Mint has set up a bullion trading platform, royalmintbullion.com, to offer individuals and pension scheme providers the ability to buy and manage gold held within their SIPPS and SSAS pension schemes via their own online account.

The move follows the decision by the FCA in 2014 to add physical gold bullion to its list of standard assets, meaning that financial advisers can now offer clients wanting to include physical gold in their pension planning through regulated pension schemes, says Royal Mint. The bullion is required to be of a minimum 99.5% purity to be eligible under the scheme and Royal Mint gold bullion has a purity of at least 99.9%, according to Royal Mint.

Investors have a choice of bullion to hold in their pension, ranging from Royal Mint Refinery 100g and 1kg bars, to Signature Gold – a service that allows customers to purchase and own a fractional amount of a 400oz gold bar. Once bought, the gold is stored in The Royal Mint’s on-site bullion vault storage facility.

Director of bullion at The Royal Mint, Chris Howard, said: “The Royal Mint benefits from a centuries-old reputation as a trusted bullion provider and manufacturer of coins on a global scale.

“The move to make Royal Mint gold bullion available for holding within pension schemes opens us up to a whole new marketplace.”

Fees for buying Royal Mint Refinery gold bullion bars are 1% + VAT and for Signature Gold 0.5% + VAT.

The Royal Mint’s bullion has not previously been accessible for holding in pensions.

Claire Trott, head of pensions technical, Talbot and Muir said: “It is great that Royal Mint are making investing in gold a simpler thing for investors to do. We do from time to time have enquiries from people wanting to do this because of the security they see in physical gold. We already have a relationship with Royal Mint and can see this new facility opening up gold investment to those that have previously been put off by the complexities.”