CaratPudong Development Bank ends retail gold trading on 25 September
The bank closes agency access to Shanghai Gold Exchange personal precious-metals trading across mobile, online and counter channels. ICBC and China Construction Bank shut the same business on 24 July; three more banks went earlier in 2026.
Six banks, one exit. Shanghai Pudong Development Bank will stop acting as agent for Shanghai Gold Exchange personal precious-metals trading at a time of its choosing after 25 September, and close the channels that carry it.
If you trade gold through a Chinese bank app: sell, close out or take delivery before 25 September.
If you price Chinese retail demand: the exchange route is closing to individuals. The counter and the shop are what remain.
What this is not: a ban on owning gold. Bars and jewellery counters are untouched.
| Bank | Business stops | Source date | Scope as stated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shanghai Pudong Development | after 25 Sep 2026 | 8 Sep 2026 | mobile, online, branch counter |
| ICBC | 24 Jul 2026 | 27 Jun 2026 | SGE agency competitive trading |
| China Construction Bank | 24 Jul 2026 | 27 Jun 2026 | SGE agency competitive trading |
| Postal Savings, Ping An, Guangfa | first half 2026 | 27 Jun 2026 | stated, not itemised |
INine contract codes go dark
Gold and silver both. The suspension covers 9 contract codes: Au99.99, Au100g, Au99.95, PGC30g, Au(T+D), mAu(T+D), Ag(T+D), Au(T+N1) and Au(T+N2). They span spot bullion, deferred settlement and a platinum contract.
Positions close first. SPD Bank told holders to sell, close out or take delivery before the date. After it, the capacity to do any of the three is limited.
IIThe exchange closed the door
Policy, not one bank. Bank staff told the 21st Century Business Herald that the Shanghai Gold Exchange had decided to shut individual-client trading altogether. They cited market instability and policy requirements.
Attribution matters here. That account is staff wording carried by a newspaper, not a release from the exchange itself. What is documented is 6 banks leaving the channel in 2026.
IIIInstitutions are still joining
One in, retail out. The exchange admitted Chow Tai Seng's Hong Kong arm as an international member, reported on 5 September.
Two different doors. Membership is the institutional route into the exchange. The agency channels closing here are the retail route, run through commercial banks on behalf of individuals.
01What would change this call+
A Shanghai Gold Exchange statement setting out a different scope, or Pudong restoring the channel. The exchange-wide shutdown here rests on bank staff wording carried by one newspaper, not on the exchange's own release.
02What an agency channel is+
A Chinese commercial bank can act as agent for the Shanghai Gold Exchange, letting a retail customer trade exchange contracts through the bank's app, website or branch. The bank holds the exchange relationship; the customer never does. Closing the channel removes the customer's route in and leaves the exchange itself untouched.
03Method · the desk’s arithmetic+
SPD Bank's announcement is quoted in Chinese by Jiemian News, dated 8 September 2026, and reads that the bank will discontinue its agency service for Shanghai Gold Exchange personal precious-metals business at a time of its choosing after 25 September 2026, closing mobile banking, online banking and branch counter channels. The nine contract codes, the 24 July 2026 cutoff for ICBC and China Construction Bank, and the earlier first-half suspensions by Postal Savings Bank, Ping An Bank and Guangfa Bank come from the 21st Century Business Herald, 27 June 2026. The exchange-wide shutdown is that paper's rendering of what bank staff told it, and is attributed to those staff rather than to the exchange. No announcement on the Shanghai Gold Exchange's own site was located for this piece, and the Chinese notice was not translated independently of the outlets carrying it.
Chow Tai Seng's Hong Kong arm joins the Shanghai Gold Exchange
The institutional door into the same exchange, opening as the retail one shuts.
The trade, filed before the New York open.
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