China Grabbing Gold Trade: Allows 3 more banks to import gold; Exchanges Bloom, Renmimbi Gold Trading Looms

A pair of articles came our way on this topic:

1. China allows 3 more banks including StanChart to import gold -sources. Note that grabbing pricing power and avoiding manipulation are now discussed in cleartext:

China 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.]

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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.

2. Koos Jansen: East Asia Geared Up For RMB Gold Trading:

In comparison, on the COMEX the weekly volume was 2,092 tonnes and it's estimated that in the London Bullion Market 25,000 tonnes are being traded weekly. But will the western paper markets be able to stay in the driver's seat of the gold market? We know China is developing it's market infrastructure not only for physical gold trade, but also to expand paper trading to steal pricing power from the dominant forces in the West and to promote the internationalization of the renminbi.

Bloomberg recently reported the SGE will launch gold trading in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ) on September 26. From what was disclosed previously by the SGE this will likely be a gold-backed spot contract traded through the SGE's subsidiary the Shanghai International Gold Trading Center. The next step would be the launch of gold derivatives. According to Bloomberg the FTZ hosts a vault capable of storing 1,500 tonnes of gold. If this vault is in addition to the 2,000 tonnes vault opened in the FTZ by precious metals transportation and storage company Malca-Amit I do not know. Approximately at the same time as the SGE's international board will go live, the kilobar gold contract will be launched in Singapore.

The SGE international board will allow investors worldwide to trade gold in renminbi, which undoubtedly will lead to higher trade volumes on the SGE. The gold industry is fully prepared in East Asia for what might be a pricing shift, following the great physical shift of recent years