Gold & Metals

Pudong 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.

By The Metals Desk

What changed

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.

What it means

  • 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.

Key figures

Pudong cutoffagency trading ends after it25 Sep
ICBC and CCBsame business, already closed24 Jul
Banks out or goingfive since January, Pudong the sixth6
Contract codesAu99.99 through Ag(T+D)9

Source: SPD Bank announcement, 8 September 2026 · 21st Century Business Herald, 27 June 2026

Nine 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.

Six banks out of the agency channelSGE personal precious-metals agency business · 2026
BankBusiness stopsSource dateScope as stated
Shanghai Pudong Developmentafter 25 Sep 20268 Sep 2026mobile, online, branch counter
ICBC24 Jul 202627 Jun 2026SGE agency competitive trading
China Construction Bank24 Jul 202627 Jun 2026SGE agency competitive trading
Postal Savings, Ping An, Guangfafirst half 202627 Jun 2026stated, not itemised

Source. SPD Bank's announcement as carried by Jiemian News, 8 September 2026, and the 21st Century Business Herald, 27 June 2026.

Scope. is each source's own wording.

The three banks. in the last row are named as having filed earlier suspensions in the first half of 2026; no individual dates are given for them.

The 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.

Institutions 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.

What to watch

  • 25 SepPudong's cutoff. Holders lose sell, close and delivery capacity after it.
  • SepWhether the remaining large Chinese banks file the same notice.
  • OctChina's SAFE monthly reserves statement, for official gold buying.

The story so far

  1. Chow Tai Seng's Hong Kong arm joins the exchange
  2. Five Chinese bank counters spread 16.60 yuan apart

Go deeper

What 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.

What 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.

Method

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.

Sources2
  1. 浦发银行：将自9月25日后择时停办代理上海黄金交易所个人贵金属业务 - Jiemian News 8 September 2026
  2. 上海黄金交易所决定整体关停个人客户交易业务 - 21st Century Business Herald 27 June 2026