Chinese Banks to Halt Agency Services for SGE Retail Precious Metals Trading From July

Several Chinese banks, including Bank of Communications, China Merchants Bank and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, have announced since June that they will stop providing agency services for individual precious metals trading on the Shanghai Gold Exchange starting in July, according to 36Kr. Industry sources said the move reflects banks' proactive risk management, aimed at shrinking higher-risk speculative business in advance to reduce the risk of client defaults and reputational damage during extreme market swings, while helping investors avoid losses from precious metals price volatility.