The World Gold Council reported global physically backed gold ETF holdings for August 2026 at 4,189 tonnes, a rise of 121 tonnes on the month. Assets under management stood at $615 billion, with net inflows of $18 billion.
Physically backed funds hold London Good Delivery bars, held allocated to the fund by its custodian and listed by serial, weight and refiner on a bar list the fund publishes. A Good Delivery bar is variable weight across roughly 350 to 430 oz at a minimum fineness of 995.0, so the governing figures for any single bar are its stamped fineness and its line on the weight list rather than a 400 oz nominal. Creations settle by moving bars into that allocated account inside the London vaulting system, and the LBMA’s monthly London vault holdings series counts the same metal rather than counting alongside it. A holder of fund units holds a claim on the fund; a counterparty buying the 400 oz format takes title to numbered bars against a weight list, and the two records answer different questions in an audit. A bar keeps Good Delivery status while it remains inside the LBMA chain of integrity, and one that leaves it returns by assay at an approved refiner. Heraeus and Argor-Heraeus SA both sit on the LBMA Good Delivery List, so refinery-origin 400 oz bars carry the refiner’s certificate and serial from manufacture.
The World Gold Council figures are its own monthly compilation of holdings reported by the funds. Good Delivery status, the approved refiner list and London vault holdings are published by the LBMA.