Three more banks gain approval to import gold into China
StanChart, Shanghai Pudong and China Merchants join list, sources say
The mainland has allowed three more banks, including a foreign lender, to import gold, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said, as the world's top gold buyer gears up for its strongest effort yet to gain pricing power of the metal.
The move, which brings the number of firms allowed to import gold into China to 15, comes ahead of the launch in September of a new international bullion exchange in Shanghai that China hopes to become a price-discovery centre.
China and other Asian gold trading centres such as Singapore are calling for more localised pricing of the precious metal as they seek alternatives to the so-called London fix, the global benchmark for spot gold prices, which is being investigated by regulators on suspicion that it may have been manipulated.
Standard Chartered, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank and China Merchants Bank were given regulatory approval recently to import gold, five sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
"We were given the licence earlier this month. We haven't started importing yet but we will soon," said a source at one of the three banks.
Standard Chartered, only the third foreign bank to be allowed to import gold into China, declined to comment. The other two banks did not immediately reply to requests for comment.