Bank of China announced on 10 July 2026 that it would stop acting as agent for individual clients in auction trading on the Shanghai Gold Exchange from end-of-day clearing on 31 July, citing market risk. The contracts named in the notice include the spot contracts Au99.99, Au100g, Au99.95 and PGC30g and the deferred contracts Au(T+D), mAu(T+D), Ag(T+D), Au(T+N1) and Au(T+N2). Under the notice, trading permissions in mobile banking, online banking and at branch counters close after that clearing at a time Bank of China chooses, and selling or taking delivery of spot contracts and closing deferred contracts are then restricted. For clients without positions, Bank of China terminates the agency relationship and returns any funds left in the margin account to the client’s personal settlement account at the bank.
Under the Shanghai Gold Exchange’s contract terms for Au99.99, a buy order freezes the full purchase amount, title to the metal passes in real time on execution, and the metal remains inventory in vaults designated by the exchange, for which individual investors currently pay no storage fee. The same terms set delivery in standard 1 kg ingots of at least 99.99% fineness, made by producers approved by the Shanghai Gold Exchange or by suppliers accredited by the London Bullion Market Association, and state that metal withdrawn from a vault cannot be deposited again or traded on the exchange. For an Au99.99 holding, the two routes in Bank of China’s notice therefore end in different places: a sale in renminbi paid to the personal settlement account, a delivery in 1 kg ingots that cannot re-enter the Shanghai Gold Exchange’s vaults or trading.
Bank of China’s notice names a single route for deferred contracts, closing, and a deferred position closed through Bank of China settles in renminbi in the margin account. Au(T+D) carries no expiry date under the Shanghai Gold Exchange’s contract terms, and a position becomes metal only through a delivery declaration filed between 15:00 and 15:30 and matched the same day, with delivery in 3 kg ingots of at least 99.95% fineness or in 1 kg ingots of at least 99.99% fineness accepted as substitutes.
Bank of China’s notice covers its agency business for individual clients. Contract terms, delivery standards and the list of designated vaults are set by the Shanghai Gold Exchange, and the notice does not alter them.