The Royal Mint is an ancient institution evolving into a modern commercial operation , moving into retail operations and introducing up to the minute supply chain solutions

The Royal Mint as companies go , is quite a well-established institution . 1,129 years to be precise , since it was established under Alfred the Great . Until very recently it operated as an office of the Crown , having grown with the expansion of the British Empire , making coins for a good proportion of the world and more recently contracted by many independent countries . In 2010 , however , it was decided that the Mint should be structured in a way that would allow it to make the most of the many opportunities it has to add value to its core business of striking coin . It ceased to be an executive agency and its assets were vested in a limited company Royal Mint Ltd owned by The Royal Mint Trading Fund , itself wholly owned by HM Treasury .