List of Banks That Sell Gold Coins

Affiliate Disclosure: We may earn a small commission if you click links and make a purchase. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

For centuries, the relationship between banks and gold was inextricably linked. Historically, a bank was simply a secure vault where you stored your physical gold in exchange for paper receipts.

As we navigate the complex economic realities of 2026—marked by persistent inflation, fluctuating interest rates, and a rapidly depreciating fiat currency—millions of investors are instinctively looking to return to that standard.

When people decide to convert their vulnerable cash into tangible, physical wealth, their first logical thought is often: “I will just go to my local bank and buy a gold coin.”

Unfortunately, the modern financial system has fundamentally transformed. The banking industry has severed its ties with physical money, shifting entirely to digital ledgers, fractional reserve lending, and synthetic derivatives.

If you want to buy physical gold today, treating your local retail bank like a coin dealer is a strategy that will lead to deep frustration.

The “Big Three” Myth: Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America

Let’s address the most common question upfront: Do major U.S. retail banks sell physical gold coins?

The definitive answer is No. If you walk into a local branch of Chase (JPMorgan), Wells Fargo, Bank of America, or Citibank with cash in hand and ask the teller for a 1 oz American Gold Eagle, they will not be able to help you. These institutions do not carry physical bullion inventory for the general public, nor can they order it for you to pick up at the teller window.

The retail banking sector in the United States has completely exited the physical precious metals trade.

Paper vs. Physical: What Banks Actually Sell

While retail banks refuse to hand you a physical coin, their wealth management and brokerage divisions (such as Merrill Edge or J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing) are more than happy to sell you “gold exposure.”

• Paper Gold: Instead of a tangible coin, banks will sell you shares of a Gold ETF (like the SPDR Gold Trust – GLD), mutual funds focused on precious metals, or stock in gold mining companies.

• The Catch: When you buy a Gold ETF through your bank, you do not own the metal. You own a digital share in a trust that tracks the price of gold. You cannot demand physical delivery of your share during a crisis. You are still exposed to counterparty risk—the risk that the financial institution managing the fund could freeze, fail, or alter the terms of the agreement.

In 2026, the mantra of the true wealth protector is: “If you can’t hold it, you don’t own it.” Paper gold does not satisfy that requirement.

Why Retail Banks Opted Out

Why would banks abandon an asset that is in such high demand? It comes down to logistics, liability, and profit margins.

1. The Vaulting Nightmare: Storing physical gold requires highly specialized Class-3 vaults, armed security, and expensive insurance policies (often backed by Lloyd’s of London). Most local bank branches barely keep enough cash on hand to handle daily withdrawals, let alone millions of dollars in heavy, untraceable bullion.

2. Assaying and Authentication: To buy and sell gold, a bank would need trained assayers at every branch to verify the purity and authenticity of the coins to prevent counterfeiting. This is a massive logistical hurdle.

3. The Business Model: Banks make their money through the “spread” on interest rates—they pay you 1% on your savings and lend it out as a mortgage at 6%. Physical gold sitting in a vault does not generate a yield. It cannot be lent out 10 times over. Therefore, banks view physical gold as a “dead asset” on their balance sheets.

They restrict the actual trading and vaulting of physical gold bars strictly to their institutional clients, central banks, and ultra-high-net-worth wealth management tiers.

Which Banks Actually Sell Physical Gold?

While the major U.S. consumer banks have completely exited the physical gold market, a few specialized institutions recognize that high-net-worth investors still demand tangible assets. If you are determined to buy physical coins and bars through a regulated banking entity, here are the institutions that make it possible.

1. The Rare U.S. Exception: EverBank

EverBank (formerly TIAA Bank) is one of the only U.S. banks that operates a robust, dedicated physical precious metals division. They run a program called Metals Select®, which allows clients to bypass paper ETFs and buy actual metal.

Here is how EverBank’s program works in 2026:

• Allocated vs. Unallocated Accounts: * Allocated ($7,500 minimum): You buy specific sovereign coins (like American Gold Eagles or Canadian Gold Maples). The bank stores your exact coins in a secure vault, or you can pay a fee to have them shipped to your front door via insured overnight mail.

  • Unallocated ($5,000 minimum): You buy into a “pool” of physical bullion owned by EverBank. You don’t own a specific coin, but you own an undivided interest in the bank’s bulk gold supply.

• The Reality Check: While EverBank offers a fantastic bridge between traditional banking and hard assets, these are non-FDIC insured accounts. Furthermore, taking physical delivery of your allocated coins incurs an additional 1.0% delivery fee on top of the purchase price.

2. The North American Giant: TD Bank

If there is an undisputed champion of retail precious metals in North America, it is Canada’s TD Bank. Through their TD Precious Metals division, they operate one of the most accessible bullion platforms in the world.

• The Selection: TD allows you to buy everything from 1-gram TD-branded gold bars up to 1-ounce Royal Canadian Mint Gold Maples.

• The Logistics: TD customers can purchase gold online and have it securely shipped to their home or delivered to a local TD branch for pickup. They also offer TD Secure Storage, allowing customers to vault their metals in a fully insured facility without ever touching it.

• The Pricing Advantage: TD actively encourages its banking customers to use this service by offering “Preferred Pricing” (lower markups) if the purchase is funded directly from an open TD Bank deposit account.

3. The International Heavyweights

Outside of North America, the culture around physical gold is entirely different. In many global financial hubs, buying a gold coin at a bank is as common as cashing a check.

• Asia: In Singapore, United Overseas Bank (UOB) allows walk-in customers to buy physical gold bullion, Gold Maples, and Singapore Lion gold coins directly over the counter. In China, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC)—the largest bank in the world—aggressively promotes physical gold ownership to its retail customers, selling proprietary gold bars and coins.

• Europe: The legacy of Swiss banking remains intact. Institutions like UBS and Credit Suisse (now integrated) maintain massive vaulting operations and sell physical gold directly to their wealth management clients. However, these services are typically gated behind massive account minimums, making them inaccessible to the average retail investor.

Pros & Cons of Buying Gold from a Bank

If you do happen to bank with an institution like EverBank or TD Bank that offers a physical metals program, you must carefully weigh the benefits against the significant drawbacks. Buying gold from a bank is a vastly different experience than buying from a dedicated bullion dealer.

The Pros: Security and Integration

There are undeniable psychological and logistical benefits to using a highly regulated, multi-billion-dollar financial institution to acquire your precious metals.

• Maximum Trust and Security: The primary fear for first-time gold buyers in 2026 is counterfeiting and fraud. When you buy a 1 oz Gold Maple Leaf directly from TD Bank, you have absolute certainty that the coin is 100% authentic and sourced directly from the mint. You never have to worry if the online dealer you found is running a scam.

• Integrated Financial Dashboards: For gold investors who love organization, buying gold through your existing bank is incredibly convenient. You can log into your banking app and see your checking account, your savings, and the real-time valuation of your vaulted gold all on a single screen.

• Turnkey Storage Solutions: If you use a bank’s allocated storage program, the logistics are entirely hands-off. The bank handles the vaulting, the armed security, and the institutional insurance (usually through Lloyd’s of London). You never have to worry about hiding a heavy safe in your basement.

The Cons (The Dealbreakers)

While the convenience is appealing, treating a bank like a coin shop comes with massive financial and logistical penalties. For the savvy investor, these drawbacks are usually dealbreakers.

• Massive Premiums (The Spread): This is the biggest disadvantage. Banks are not primarily in the bullion business; they treat it as an ancillary service. Because their overhead is so high, they pass those costs onto the buyer in the form of massive premiums (the markup over the spot price of gold). A dedicated online dealer might charge a 4% to 5% premium on a Gold Eagle, while a bank program might charge 8% to 12% for the exact same coin.

• Extremely Limited Inventory: If you want variety, a bank is the wrong place to look. Dedicated dealers carry hundreds of products, from fractional European coins to 100-ounce poured silver bars. Banks usually restrict their offerings to just two or three highly recognizable sovereign coins (like Maples or Eagles) and perhaps a single generic bar size.

• Strict Account Requirements: You cannot simply walk into TD Bank or EverBank off the street with cash and buy gold. To use their precious metals platforms, you generally must go through the friction of opening a standard checking or savings account, funding it, and waiting for the cash to clear before you are authorized to make a metals purchase.

• The “No Buyback” Policy: This is the most dangerous trap for new investors. A bank is usually very happy to sell you a gold coin, but if the economy crashes and you need to liquidate that coin to pay your mortgage, the local branch teller will often refuse to buy it back. Banks lack the on-site assaying equipment needed to verify that you didn’t tamper with the coin after it left their vault. You will be forced to take your bank-bought gold to a local pawn shop or dealer to sell it, often losing money on the spread.

Better Alternatives to Traditional Banks

If major U.S. banks refuse to sell physical gold, and the few that do (like EverBank or TD Bank) charge massive premiums and restrict buybacks, where should a 2026 investor actually go to acquire their metal?

The smartest money has entirely bypassed the traditional banking sector in favor of specialized precious metals networks. Depending on your goals—whether you want doorstep delivery, absolute privacy, or tax-advantaged retirement protection—there are three vastly superior alternatives.

1. Dedicated Online Bullion Dealers (The Volume Leaders)

For the vast majority of investors buying with cash, the absolute best route is a dedicated, high-volume online bullion dealer. Companies like APMEX, JM Bullion, and SD Bullion have revolutionized the way Americans buy physical precious metals.

• The Pricing Advantage: Because these companies do not have the massive overhead of operating thousands of retail bank branches, they operate on razor-thin margins. While a bank might charge an 8% to 10% premium on a Gold Eagle, a volume online dealer will often sell the exact same coin for a 4% to 5% premium.

• Massive Inventory: Unlike a bank that offers two or three coin types, online dealers offer thousands of products. Whether you want fractional 1/10th oz European coins, 100-gram poured bars, or specific mint-year American Eagles, they have it in stock.

• Insured Delivery: Purchasing is as simple as buying a book online. You lock in your price, pay via bank wire or ACH, and the gold is shipped directly to your front door in discreet, fully insured packaging.

2. Local Coin Shops (The Privacy Play)

If you do not want your gold traveling through the postal system, or if you simply prefer doing business face-to-face, the Local Coin Shop (LCS) is your best alternative.

• Immediate Possession: The greatest benefit of an LCS is immediacy. You walk in with cash, and you walk out with physical gold in your pocket. There is no waiting for bank transfers to clear or packages to arrive.

• Privacy: Buying gold with cash at a local shop (under the $10,000 IRS reporting threshold) leaves virtually no digital footprint. For investors concerned about government tracking or digital surveillance in 2026, the LCS is the ultimate privacy tool.

• The Downside: The trade-off is inventory and price. A local shop cannot compete with the volume pricing of an APMEX, meaning you will likely pay slightly higher premiums. Furthermore, their inventory is limited to whatever the local population has sold them that week.

3. Specialized Gold IRA Companies (The Retirement Protectors)

If you are attempting to buy gold using funds from an existing 401(k), traditional IRA, or TSP, you cannot use a retail bank or a local coin shop. If you withdraw those funds personally, you will trigger massive IRS taxes and early withdrawal penalties.

• The SDIRA Requirement: To buy physical gold with retirement funds, the IRS requires you to use a Self-Directed IRA (SDIRA) managed by an approved custodian.

• The Solution: You must use a specialized Gold IRA Company (like Augusta Precious Metals, Goldco, or American Hartford Gold). These firms act as the dealer, but they also legally orchestrate the tax-free “Trustee-to-Trustee” transfer of your funds. They secure your metal in an IRS-approved, Class-3 depository (like the Delaware Depository), ensuring your wealth remains 100% tax-advantaged and penalty-free.

The Bank Vault Dilemma: Where Do You Store It?

Even after learning that traditional retail banks won’t sell them gold, many investors still make a critical logistical error: they buy physical gold from a private dealer and then immediately drive to their local bank to store it in a Safe Deposit Box.

In the economic environment of 2026, relying on a retail bank to guard your physical wealth completely defeats the purpose of owning a “safe haven” asset. Here is why the Safe Deposit Box is a dangerous trap:

• Zero FDIC Insurance: This is the most widely misunderstood rule in banking. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insures your cash deposits up to $250,000. The FDIC does not insure the contents of a safe deposit box. If the bank burns down, is burglarized, or suffers a natural disaster, the bank is legally not responsible for replacing your gold. Unless you purchase a highly expensive, third-party insurance rider, your metal is entirely unprotected.

• The “Bank Holiday” Risk: You buy physical gold to protect yourself during a financial crisis. However, if a systemic banking failure, grid failure, or severe cyberattack occurs, the government can declare a “Bank Holiday.” The doors to the local branch will be locked. When you need your emergency funds the most, you will be physically barred from accessing your own Safe Deposit Box.

• “Bail-In” Vulnerabilities: Under international banking frameworks established after the 2008 crisis, failing banks have legal provisions to execute “bail-ins”—essentially freezing or repurposing assets within the institution to keep the bank afloat. While targeting safe deposit boxes is an extreme scenario, keeping your hard assets inside the walls of a highly leveraged, fractional-reserve institution adds unnecessary counterparty risk.

The Private Depository Solution

If you shouldn’t keep it in a bank, and you don’t want the security risk of keeping hundreds of thousands of dollars in a home safe, where does the smart money go?

They use Class-3, Non-Bank Depositories. Facilities like the Delaware Depository, Brinks Global Services, or the state-administered Texas Bullion Depository are purpose-built fortresses for precious metals.

• Total Independence: They exist entirely outside the Wall Street banking system. They do not lend money, they do not trade derivatives, and they cannot face a “run on the bank.”

• Full Insurance: Every ounce of gold stored in a top-tier private depository is fully insured against theft, loss, and damage, backed by global underwriting giants like Lloyd’s of London.

• Segregated Vaulting: You can opt to have your exact coins and bars stored on a private shelf, ensuring that your wealth is never commingled with other investors’ assets.

Conclusion: The Final Verdict

The instinct to walk into a grand, marble-floored bank lobby to buy a gold coin is rooted in a financial era that no longer exists. Today’s retail banks are highly efficient engines for moving digital fiat currency, issuing credit, and processing paper assets. They are not equipped, nor do they desire, to be custodians of your physical wealth.

If you are navigating the turbulent waters of 2026, you must separate your currency managers from your wealth protectors.

Use your bank to pay your mortgage, receive your direct deposits, and manage your daily cash flow. But when it comes time to preserve the purchasing power of your life’s labor, bypass the bank entirely.

Turn to dedicated online bullion dealers for cash purchases, utilize specialized Gold IRA companies to protect your retirement accounts, and secure your metal in private, non-bank depositories. By keeping your hard assets outside the traditional banking system, you ensure that your wealth remains truly yours—accessible, insured, and impervious to the next financial crisis.

Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor. The information provided is for educational purposes only. Precious metals involve risk and market volatility. Always conduct your own due diligence before making significant financial decisions.