Industrial and Commercial Bank of China said it will stop handling agency Shanghai Gold Exchange personal precious metals bidding trades from the end-of-day settlement on July 24, covering Au99.99, Au100g, Au99.95, PGC30g, Au(T+D), mAu(T+D), Ag(T+D), Au(T+N1) and Au(T+N2).
The lender said trading access through mobile banking, online banking and branch counters will be closed later, and customers still holding positions may face limits on closing positions, selling or taking delivery after those channels are shut. ICBC asked existing clients to sell, close positions, take delivery and withdraw margin-account funds before the closure date, and said remaining balances in accounts with no positions, inventory or liabilities may later be returned in batches.
Other banks have announced similar steps. Postal Savings Bank said it would stop agency personal precious metals services, Ping An Bank said it would close Au99.99 and Au100g spot contract trading access after the June 30 closing settlement, and China Guangfa Bank said it planned to fully suspend the business by the end of June. Most banks had already stopped new account openings and new position openings in these products, so the latest changes mainly affect existing customers.
Separately, banks have tightened margin requirements on deferred contracts. Bank of China said that from the June 24 closing settlement it would raise customer margin ratios to 120% for gold deferred contracts and 119.91% for silver deferred contracts, while Huaxia Bank raised customer margin ratios on gold and silver deferred contracts to 140%, reducing or removing leverage. The measures came amid large swings in gold prices, with international spot gold falling below $4,000 an ounce on June 24 after retreating from earlier highs this year.