State-owned major banks, multiple alerts! Important for precious metals business

On March 26, international gold futures fell sharply. As of the time of this report, the decline was 2.7%, and the cumulative drop since March has already exceeded 16%.

In response to the volatility risks that have recently built up in the precious metals market, China’s domestic banking industry’s risk-control mechanisms moved quickly. According to a review by our reporter, this week, major state-owned banks such as Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and Bank of Communications, as well as joint-stock banks such as Minsheng Bank and China Merchants Bank, have all issued announcements in quick succession to alert investors to the market risks of precious metals business.

The announcements show that recent fluctuations in domestic and overseas precious metals prices have been intense, with uncertainty factors increasing significantly and market risk rising. Customers are especially reminded to fully and prudently assess their own risk tolerance, carry out precious metals trading comprehensively and prudently in light of a sound financial position, and maintain a rational investment mindset. At the same time, it is necessary to closely monitor market developments, reasonably control position size, and effectively prevent risks arising from market volatility.

Beyond issuing risk alerts, several banks have begun adjusting trading rules for precious-metals businesses such as “accumulated gold.” Among them, China Construction Bank and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China said that under certain conditions, they will implement limit management for purchases of accumulated gold to control the total volume of precious metals trading. China Merchants Bank and Jiangsu Bank, meanwhile, have started adjusting trading fees by increasing short-term trading costs.

Industry insiders noted that the aforementioned measures reflect banks proactively shifting their precious-metals risk-control thinking from the previous “static defense” to “dynamic game-playing,” guiding investors to make reasonable long-term asset allocations.

Specifically, China Merchants Bank will adjust the buy-sell transaction spreads for its gold account business at the same quotation time point to 5 yuan per gram. The spread on the buy side will increase by 2 yuan per gram, while the spread on the sell side will remain unchanged. The adjusted spread plan is expected to run until June 27. Starting when the market opens on June 29, at the same quotation time point for buy and sell transactions under China Merchants Bank’s gold account business, the spreads on the two sides will be adjusted to 2.5 yuan per gram, respectively.

Jiangsu Bank, on the other hand, will adjust its price list for gold accumulated business starting January 1, 2026. For the bank’s handling of gold accumulated purchases, redemptions, and exchanges into physical gold, the benchmark fee standard will be 1.5 yuan per gram. Of this, the preferential price list from January 1, 2026 to March 31 will be 1.2 yuan per gram (1 yuan per gram in 2025). The preferential price list from April 1, 2026 to December 31 will be 1.4 yuan per gram.

Looking ahead, multiple institutions still see gold’s value for long-term strategic allocation.

The World Gold Council (WGC) released its latest market report on the 23rd local time, stating that the gold market is currently in a clear “wait-and-see mode.” With a lack of key macroeconomic data guidance this week, the short-term trend of gold is expected to closely follow daily developments in the conflict involving Iran and fluctuate. The navigability status of the Strait of Hormuz has become a key variable influencing current market sentiment. Even so, institutional investors’ optimistic view of gold’s long-term strategic allocation value has not changed.

A research report from the China Securities Construction Investment macro team points out that the logic supporting a long-term bullish outlook for gold has not been broken, but in the short term, it needs to wait for liquidity shocks to ease.

The research report’s view shows: “Since August 2025, long positions in gold trading have been crowded, and the market is almost entirely bullish on gold. Previously, we made our view on the gold price: short-term bullishness, and even that in the first quarter of 2026, gold will reach an emotional peak. Short-to-medium term bearishness—our logic is that the rise in black (energy) will inevitably follow the U.S. Federal Reserve’s monetary tightening/convergence, and that the liquidity pricing of the gold price has been impaired. Long-term bullishness—the reason is the weakening of the U.S. dollar, and among the three pillars of the dollar we care most about is the weakening of technological support. Looking even further ahead, the logic for long-term bullishness is that as the smoke of great-power games gradually clears, China’s internationalization of the renminbi has been significantly elevated, which represents a systematic repricing reconstruction for gold.”

The research report also states that, when looking back at the gold price trend now, the rise in crude oil happened because the U.S.-Iran war arrived earlier than expected, not due to an “impossible triangle” inherent to the U.S. model; ultimately, oil prices return driven by fiscal factors. “Besides that, the gold price trend has not broken away from our framework. Therefore, once liquidity’s impact on the gold price begins to ease, gold can then move again on medium- and long-term logic.”

Layout: Liu Junyu

Proofreading: Zhu Tianting