Overview
- ICBC confirmed on Thursday that it will stop offering individual precious‑metals trading tied to the Shanghai Gold Exchange from July 24, 2026, giving customers about a month to close or move positions.
- Several other large lenders including the Postal Savings Bank of China, Ping An Bank and China Guangfa Bank have already suspended or are preparing to exit retail SGE services, and some banks have frozen new retail account openings.
- Banks have raised margin requirements on leveraged retail products this month with some calls reaching about 140 percent and have been closing dormant margin accounts and refunding idle collateral to cut balance‑sheet risk.
- The clampdown follows extreme price swings earlier this year — a surge near US$5,600 per ounce on January 29 followed by a steep sell‑off that left spot gold briefly below US$4,000 in June — which exposed retail investors and banks to sharp losses.
- Physical bullion sales and institutional trading on the Shanghai Gold Exchange remain available while the changes are likely to push some retail demand toward physical bars, overseas channels or tokenized gold products as banks dismantle leveraged retail rails.