Record Gold Prices Create Insurance Headache for Vault Keepers

Surging demand for gold means business is booming at the companies that store and protect the world’s bullion. But record prices come with a catch: All those piles of yellow bars are suddenly much trickier to insure.

For centuries, gold has been an irresistible target of heists both real and fictional. And though theft on a major scale is rare, it can be hugely expensive. When armed burglars made off with about 3 tons of gold from a warehouse near Heathrow Airport in 1983, Lloyd’s of London paid out for the lost metal, which at today’s prices would be worth more than $180 million.