<P> The Bank is custodian to the official gold reserves of the United Kingdom and around 30 other countries . The vault , beneath the City of London , covers a floor space greater than that of the third - tallest building in the City , Tower 42 , and needs keys that are three feet ( 91 cm ) long to open . As of April 2016 , the Bank held around 400,000 bars , which is equivalent to 5,134 tonnes of gold . These gold deposits were estimated in July 2017 to have a current market value of £ 142,000,000,000 . These estimates suggest the vault could hold as much as 3 % of the gold mined throughout human history . </P>
who owns the gold in the bank of england
the United Kingdom and around 30 other countries