Take a look inside a vault used by the superrich to store gold, jewelry — and hard drives full of crypto

The idea for IBV dates back to 2002 when founder and chairman Ashok Sewnarain overheard a woman at a vault in a South African bank being told that she'd have to wait three years for a safe deposit box.

In 2005, he opened the first vault in a mall in Cape Town's Gateway district.

Sewnarain's background is in property and budget hotels. Before that, he worked with his dad after dropping out of college.

He told Business Insider the initial years were the most challenging because it was an individual trying to offer a "world-class private vault facility," rather than a bank or public institution.

With help from his family and the decision to launch IBV Gold to sell and trade certified gold bullion, the business started to grow. It now has nine branches, with another in the works.

IBV London opened its doors in a Grade II-listed building opposite a five-star hotel on Park Lane in 2020.

The building was previously a bank branch, which Sewnarain wanted for his first UK-based vault.

The company then renovated the space to make it ultra-secure.

As part of the renovation, managing director Sean Hoey was recruited from Harrods, where he managed the luxury department store's safe deposit boxes.

The facility has a state-of-the-art security system. Upon entering, biometric readers scan both fingerprints and irises. Glass protecting the vaults is bullet-resistant, and steel runs from the floor to the ceiling.

Seismic detection sensors mean any attempt to tamper with the vaults would immediately trigger alerts.

IBV provides a dual key system, whereby the client is supplied with a specialized key that only they can use. To access their vault, they are then escorted by a highly trained officer.

Sewnarain said that when IBV started to design vaults, he visited manufacturers and security design companies in the US, Europe, China, and India.

"The tiers of security and the level of security are extremely high as the whole ethos of our security is to be proactive rather than reactive," he said.

IBV offers vaults in nine sizes, ranging from about enough room for a cellphone, through to an entire room.

The smallest options are the most popular among members. Prices range from £600 (about $800) a year, to up to £2.5 million.

Offering a similarly exclusive service, Harrods, from which Hoey was poached, is perhaps IBV's big competitor in London. Set up in 1896 and hidden behind a three-ton steel door, users come up with their own personal password and get a key.

The smallest box at Harrods, which is slightly bigger than IBV's smallest option, costs £525, with the largest costing £18,250 a year.

Several British banks also offer safety deposit boxes for less-well-off customers. At Lloyds Bank, prices for safe deposit boxes range from £200 to £475 a year, while those at Metro Bank start at £240 and go up to £750.

Clients have complete confidentiality over the contents of their safe. However, Sewnarain has an idea of the most common items stored based on what some have said.

"I think the core assets in the vault are first the physical gold, silver, and platinum, followed by very high-value jewelry and diamonds and watches," he said.

Sewnarain said some clients will store documents such as wills, business papers, letters of wishes, and legal contracts.

"Also, now with the world of cryptocurrencies, you have cold storage, which is where the people, the investors, who are buying cryptocurrencies and bitcoins, do not want to keep the asset on an exchange or a crypto platform," he explained.

"They want to download it onto a USB and make sure that USB is kept in a vault under their control."

All of the vaults come with insurance cover worth up to £100,000.

IBV's clients are ultra-high-net-worth individuals, who Sewnarain said included entrepreneurs and wealth creators.

Applicants must undergo a detailed selection process involving committee approval. Members have access to perks including networking events and Rolls-Royce transfers.

IBV recently launched a wealth club, which is complimentary for clients renting the two largest safe deposit boxes.

As well as storing gold, IBV also buys and sells the precious metal.

"Buyers and sellers love to play the game of taking profit when the price rises and also acquire when the price goes down, like currencies, like property, like equities on the stock exchange, and like crypto," Sewnarain said.