IRA-Approved Gold Bars: PAMP, Valcambi and Credit Suisse

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Last updated: July 21, 2026 · By White Metal Resources Editorial

This page zooms in on the three refiner names most often stamped on the gold bars a U.S. self-directed IRA actually holds. Below we cover each brand in turn, how to recognize an authentic bar, what the LBMA accreditation record shows for each, and what changed at Credit Suisse after 2023. Every figure ties back to the statute, an LBMA record, a Swiss regulator statement or a CFTC filing, cited inline.

Why these three brands anchor the U.S. gold IRA market

Three Swiss names sit behind most of the gold bars a U.S. self-directed IRA custodian handles: PAMP Suisse, Valcambi, and Credit Suisse. All three grew out of the Swiss refining cluster in and around Ticino. All three struck bars at .9999 fine, four nines above the .995 IRA floor written into IRC 408(m)(3)(B).

The reason a custodian recognizes them on sight is straightforward. PAMP Suisse and Valcambi both hold LBMA Good Delivery gold accreditation on the current active list (source: LBMA Good Delivery gold list). Credit Suisse gold bars, though the bank itself is gone, were produced under a shape and finish depositories already know how to log.

None of the three qualifies through the coin carve-out in IRC 408(m)(3)(A). That door is limited to specific United States coins listed under 31 U.S.C. Section 5112 (source: Cornell LII on 26 U.S.C. 408). Every PAMP, Valcambi, or Credit Suisse bar has to clear the bullion side of the statute the same way any other gold bar does.

The industry uses two-word shorthand here. A bar is "IRA-eligible" if it passes fineness plus custody. A bar is "IRA-approved" when a specific self-directed custodian has confirmed in writing that the exact product will be vaulted for that account. Brands help with the second step by making the paperwork trail obvious to the vault clerk.

PAMP Suisse: Fortuna, cast bars and the Veriscan link

PAMP Suisse, short for Produits Artistiques Métaux Précieux, is based in Castel San Pietro in the Swiss canton of Ticino. It sits inside the MKS PAMP Group. The refinery holds LBMA Good Delivery accreditation for gold, verified on the LBMA active list (source: LBMA).

The best known PAMP product for retail buyers is the Fortuna range of minted bars. Fortuna bars come sealed in a tamper-evident assay card called the Certipamp, which carries the serial number, weight, and fineness (.9999 gold) on the card and on the reverse of the ingot.

What PAMP produces for a U.S. IRA

PAMP Suisse cast and minted bars enter U.S. self-directed IRAs across a wide size range. Bars in the 1 gram to 100 gram range use the Fortuna design and assay-card format. Kilo and larger cast bars use a plain refiner mark, serial, and weight, and typically ship without a card because the numbers are on the ingot itself.

Veriscan and the anti-counterfeit angle

PAMP developed a scanner-based anti-counterfeit system called Veriscan that reads the microscopic surface texture of a bar to confirm identity. Depositories do not require it to accept a PAMP bar, but the system exists because counterfeit small Swiss bars have circulated in the retail market for years. The primary defense at the vault door remains the serial, the assay card seal, and the refiner mark.

Sources: PAMP Fortuna product literature; LBMA Good Delivery gold list. Checked June 2026.

Valcambi: CombiBar, cast kilo bars and the contract-mint role

Valcambi SA is based in Balerna, again in the Swiss canton of Ticino. It is one of the largest precious metal refiners by throughput and holds LBMA Good Delivery gold accreditation on the current list (source: LBMA). Its own brand covers a wide catalog of cast and minted formats.

Valcambi also produces gold bars under contract for other brands. That contract role is why a Credit Suisse branded bar can look and behave like a Valcambi bar under the same laboratory test. The metal, refining process, and quality control on a contract bar sit inside the accredited Valcambi refinery even when the brand on the front reads differently.

The CombiBar and staged withdrawals

Valcambi is best known for the CombiBar, a patented format that ships as a sheet of gold pre-scored into individual 1 gram pieces that break apart cleanly. A 50 gram CombiBar effectively becomes 50 one-gram pieces without a saw. For an IRA holder planning in-kind distributions across many years, the CombiBar reduces the pain of splitting a larger bar into small tax events.

Cast kilo bars for institutional-scale IRAs

Valcambi kilo cast bars, at 32.15 troy ounces, price close to spot and vault efficiently. They show up on IRA holdings of six figures and up. Some of the U.S. gold IRA firms that market a low-premium approach steer clients toward the Valcambi kilo cast bar precisely because the per-ounce markup shrinks with size.

Sources: Valcambi product literature; LBMA Good Delivery gold list. Checked June 2026.

Credit Suisse: a legacy brand kept alive by clean paperwork

Credit Suisse was a Swiss bank, not a refinery. For decades it sold branded gold bars to retail and private clients across the world. The bars themselves were produced by third-party refiners under contract, with Valcambi as the best documented partner. That production chain is why the bars traded interchangeably with other Swiss refiner bars at the vault.

Credit Suisse the bank ceased to exist as an independent entity in 2023. The Swiss financial regulator FINMA approved a merger by which UBS acquired Credit Suisse in March 2023, with legal completion following in June 2023 (source: FINMA statement, 19 March 2023). No new Credit Suisse branded gold bars are being struck.

Do Credit Suisse bars still qualify for an IRA?

Yes, with two conditions. The bar must show a legible serial and refiner mark that matches its assay card if present, and the metal must be at least .995 fine. Because these bars have always been struck well above the floor, at .9999, the fineness half rarely fails. The paperwork half is where issues occur.

Depositories treat a Credit Suisse gold bar the same way they treat an active refiner bar, subject to serial and weight verification. Some U.S. self-directed IRA custodians ask for a supplementary refiner attestation on legacy bars whose paperwork trail is thin. Get that requirement in writing before ordering a specific piece.

What changed for buyers after 2023

Two shifts affect a saver ordering Credit Suisse legacy inventory today. First, no new Credit Suisse card seals are being issued, so a card must be original from the bar's original sale. Second, some dealers have quietly stopped stocking the brand because the supply is now finite. The bars themselves remain IRA-eligible; the ordering path is simply narrower than for PAMP or Valcambi.

Other refiners a custodian will accept in the same slot

The three Swiss names above are the most visible, but they are not alone. A U.S. self-directed IRA custodian will accept gold bars from any refiner on the LBMA Good Delivery gold list or on the CME approved-brands list for gold. Several other names show up regularly on U.S. IRA orders.

Sources: LBMA Good Delivery gold refiner list; refiner product sheets. Checked June 2026.

The pattern to notice is that every accepted name earned its slot by clearing the LBMA Good Delivery test at some point. The London Bullion Market Association states plainly that "only gold and silver bars that meet our Good Delivery standards" trade in the London wholesale market it oversees (source: LBMA Good Delivery). U.S. IRA custodians treat that list as the working record.

How to identify an authentic PAMP, Valcambi or Credit Suisse bar

Each brand has its own visual signature. Depositories rely on those signatures at receipt, and dealers ship in a format the depository already knows to expect. A saver ordering a bar can spot most red flags without a jeweler's loupe.

What to look for on a PAMP Suisse bar

Small PAMP Fortuna bars ship in a rectangular tamper-evident Certipamp plastic card. The card shows the Roman goddess Fortuna on the obverse, and the reverse shows the weight, fineness, serial number and the PAMP hallmark. Cast kilo bars carry the PAMP shield, weight, fineness stamp (.9999) and a serial engraved directly on the ingot.

What to look for on a Valcambi bar

Valcambi cast bars show the Valcambi Suisse mark, the four-nine fineness stamp, and a serial number. CombiBar formats arrive as a scored sheet inside a sealed card, with each 1 gram segment marked with the fineness and the CombiBar branding. Kilo cast bars have the Valcambi logo, weight in troy ounces or grams, and a serial engraved on the top face.

What to look for on a Credit Suisse bar

Credit Suisse gold bars show the Credit Suisse logo (a version of the bank's crest) with "1 oz" or another weight, "999.9 fine gold" and a serial number. Assay-card sealed 1 oz bars typically include a printed certificate signed by a Chief Assayer. Missing card seals, scuffed serials, or unfamiliar font work are the pattern that should trigger a custodian call.

Verifying a specific brand bar before you wire funds

The steps below mirror what a self-directed IRA custodian expects on a brand-specific gold bar order. Running them in advance turns a potential taxable event into a routine vault receipt.

1. Match the refiner name against the LBMA Good Delivery gold list. Search the current list at lbma.org.uk for PAMP or Valcambi. For a Credit Suisse legacy bar, note that the bank is not on the active list, and record the producing refiner history in your file.
2. Read the fineness stamp on the ingot against the assay card. The bar must show .9999 (or at minimum .995) fine. If a card is present, the fineness on the card, the ingot, and the invoice must all match.
3. Log the serial number and weight before shipment. Ask the dealer to email the serial, weight, and refiner mark before the bar leaves the warehouse. That gives the depository a match to check on arrival.
4. Send the product spec to your custodian for written acceptance. Get an email from the self-directed IRA custodian confirming the specific PAMP, Valcambi, or Credit Suisse product will be vaulted. That email supersedes any dealer flyer.
5. Require dealer-to-depository shipment on the invoice. The bar has to travel under an insured carrier from the dealer straight to the approved depository, titled to your IRA. A dealer resisting that step is a red flag.
6. Confirm the depository has logged the bar to your IRA-titled account. After receipt, request the depository's inbound-inventory report showing the serial number tied to your IRA number. Keep that record with your tax file.

Worked example: same $75,000, three different brand premiums

Two IRA-eligible gold bars from two different Swiss refiners can leave very different amounts of metal inside the account on day one. The gap is the dealer premium over spot, and premiums vary by brand and by format. The illustration below shows how that plays across the three brand names.

Day-one premium is one piece. Annual custodian and depository fees keep working on the account for as long as it stays open. The calculator below estimates how a flat annual fee erodes an IRA over a chosen holding period.

Why the price behind these bars is a policed number

PAMP, Valcambi, and Credit Suisse bars are priced at a premium over a spot number. That spot number is set on regulated commodity venues under federal oversight, and misconduct against it carries real cost.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has the primary role for U.S. metals futures. In a September 2020 order, the CFTC required JPMorgan Chase and subsidiaries to pay a total of $920.2 million over spoofing spanning "gold, silver, platinum, palladium, Treasury note, and Treasury bond futures contracts" (source: CFTC Release 8260-20).

Then CFTC Chairman Heath Tarbert said in the release that "Spoofing is illegal, pure and simple." The order broke down into restitution of $311,737,008, disgorgement of $172,034,790, and a civil monetary penalty of $436,431,811. When you pay a brand premium over spot for a PAMP or Valcambi bar, the spot number itself is a policed reference.

When picking a specific brand is a bad idea

A brand-focused page owes readers the moments when brand selection is the wrong question to ask. Several situations make the brand choice a distraction from the real decision, and there is no CTA in this section on purpose.

• The balance is small against the fixed costs. Setup, custodian, storage, and the dealer premium are largely fixed dollar lines. On a $5,000 or $10,000 account they eat a share the balance has little time to recover, and picking PAMP versus Valcambi does not change that arithmetic.
• You may need the money within a few years. Gold prices swing meaningfully over short horizons. Exiting a position means crossing the dealer spread again, and under age 59.5 a distribution stacks the 10% federal additional tax on top of ordinary income tax (source: IRS Publication 590-B).
• A dealer is pushing a "rare" Credit Suisse variant. Legacy bars are traded at a premium over spot, not as numismatic pieces. A pitch that prices a Credit Suisse bar on rarity rather than gold content is a warning sign, not a scarcity opportunity.
• Your only retirement savings would land in one metal. Concentrating a single account in physical gold leaves no cushion for market moves in other assets. A broad savings base usually comes first, with metal as a portion.
• A promotion offers "free bars" or "free bonus" small ingots. The gift usually pays itself back through the premium on the bars you do buy. Ask for an itemized invoice with the premium quoted as a percent over spot before you sign.
• The pitch mentions home storage or an "LLC vault." Both structures put the metal in personal reach. IRC 408(m)(3) treats that as a distribution, and the U.S. Tax Court applied the rule in McNulty v. Commissioner.

If any of these fit, slowing the decision is the sensible call. The account structure is legitimate. The brand is easy to change later; the fee structure and the sales tactics that came with it are harder.

Brand-specific questions, answered

Are PAMP Suisse gold bars IRA-approved?

Yes. PAMP Suisse is on the LBMA Good Delivery gold list. Its bars are stamped .9999 fine, well above the .995 IRA floor in IRC 408(m)(3)(B). A U.S. self-directed IRA custodian will typically accept PAMP Fortuna assay-card bars from 1 gram through 100 grams, plus cast kilo bars, subject to written product-specific confirmation.

Are Valcambi gold bars IRA-approved?

Yes. Valcambi holds LBMA Good Delivery gold accreditation. Its bars carry the four-nine (.9999) fineness stamp, clearing the IRA floor with headroom. The Valcambi CombiBar and 1 kilogram cast bar are both common inside U.S. gold IRAs. Confirm the specific format with your custodian in writing before you place a dealer order.

Can a Credit Suisse gold bar still go into an IRA in 2026?

Yes, when the bar is at least .995 fine and the serial and refiner marks are legible. Credit Suisse the bank was acquired by UBS in 2023 and no new Credit Suisse gold bars are being struck. Existing bars remain IRA-eligible because they meet the statutory fineness test and originated from an accredited refiner, historically Valcambi.

Who actually made Credit Suisse gold bars?

Credit Suisse was a bank, not a refiner. The gold bars sold under the Credit Suisse name were produced under contract by third-party refiners in Switzerland. Valcambi Suisse SA is the most widely documented producer of Credit Suisse gold bars over the years. The metal quality traces back to a working LBMA Good Delivery refiner even where the front stamp reads Credit Suisse.

Which of these three brands has the lowest premium?

Nobody can post a durable ranking. Dealer premiums move with spot price, dealer inventory, order size, and the specific product. Kilo cast bars from Valcambi and PAMP tend to price closer to spot than 1 troy ounce assay-card formats from either brand. Legacy Credit Suisse bars sometimes carry a slightly narrower premium because the supply is finite. Get the premium quoted as a percent over spot in writing before you place an order.

Do I have to hold PAMP or Valcambi bars specifically, or can I mix brands?

You can mix brands inside a single IRA. The statute cares about fineness and physical possession by an approved trustee, not the brand on the ingot. A depository will log each brand separately by serial and vault them alongside one another. Mixing formats can help with staged in-kind distributions later.

Do I need an assay card for a PAMP, Valcambi or Credit Suisse bar?

Not always. Small minted bars in the 1 gram through 10 gram range typically ship in a tamper-evident assay card, and depositories treat the sealed card as the primary chain-of-custody record. Cast bars from 100 grams upward carry the refiner mark, weight, and serial directly on the ingot without a separate card.

What if a specific PAMP, Valcambi or Credit Suisse bar turns out not to qualify?

The IRS treats the purchase as a deemed distribution equal to the cost of the bar. That amount counts as ordinary income for the year, and the 10% additional tax applies if you are under age 59.5 (source: IRS Publication 590-B). Written custodian acceptance of the specific product before you wire funds is the practical safeguard against this outcome.