Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has announced it will discontinue its agency services for individual precious metals trading on the Shanghai Gold Exchange.

The decision is based on the bank's risk management requirements for precious metals and its operational needs.

Key Implementation Details

The cessation of the agency business for individual precious metals spot trading will take effect from the end of the clearing session on Friday, July 24, 2026.

This change will affect a range of contract types, including Au99.99, Au100g, Au99.95, PGC30g, Au(T+D), mAu(T+D), Ag(T+D), Au(T+N1), and Au(T+N2).

Post-Cessation Arrangements

Following the completion of the clearing process on July 24, 2026, ICBC will proceed to disable trading permissions for this agency business across its mobile banking, online banking, and branch counter channels at a suitable time.

Once these channels are closed, clients with open positions will face restrictions on executing closing trades, selling, or making physical delivery withdrawals.

Advice for Existing Clients

The bank advises existing clients with positions to promptly use available channels, such as mobile banking, online banking, or branch counters, to sell, close out, or take delivery of their holdings in various spot trading contracts.

Clients are also encouraged to withdraw any remaining funds from their margin accounts.

For client accounts that have no open positions, no physical inventory, and no outstanding debts, ICBC will later conduct a batch withdrawal of the remaining funds in the margin accounts on their behalf.