How Chinese Banks' Precious Metals Offerings Deviate from Standards — and Why Paper Gold Is Disappearing

The author, writing from an architect's perspective, begins by citing the Bank Intermediate Business Product Classification and Code standard, which divides agency precious metals trading into five third-level categories: Brand Physical Precious Metals (01), Precious Metals Accumulation (02), Account Precious Metals (03), Precious Metals Leasing (04), and Agency Precious Metals Trading (05).

To test the standard against reality, three representative banks are examined:

ICBC offers Physical Precious Metals (matching 01), Precious Metals Accumulation (02), Gold Buy-back (not in the standard, a principal trade), Agency Shanghai Gold Exchange Products (05), and Physical Precious Metals Leasing (04). Account Precious Metals (03) exists but is placed under "Personal Finance" rather than the precious metals section.

China Merchants Bank lists Physical Gold (self-operated and agency, both 01), Gold Account (account gold, 03), Physical Gold Target Savings (accumulation with physical delivery, 02), Gold Buy-back (agency, principal trade), and "CMB Gold Profit" (fixed-term accumulation, 02). It lacks leasing (04) and agency exchange trading (05).

Minsheng Bank splits by client type. For retail: Minsheng Brand Physical Gold (01), Agency Precious Metals Products (01), Accumulation Gold (02). For corporate: Precious Metals Leasing (04), Precious Metals Price Hedging (OTC forwards/swaps, a derivative not in the standard), and Agency Shanghai Gold Exchange Trading (05). It also lacks account precious metals (03).

The article then explains the regulatory-driven disappearance of account precious metals (paper gold):

2021 PBOC draft guidance classified retail "paper precious metals" as derivatives, subjecting them to stricter suitability, risk control, and complaint handling.

Post-2020 "Oil Treasure" incident, tolerance for bank-account bulk commodities plummeted; from July 2022 major banks halted new account openings for agency SGE personal precious metals, and account precious metals simultaneously suspended new positions.

2026 gold volatility heightened counterparty risk on leveraged agency products (Au(T+D)); even unleveraged account gold triggered mass retail losses and complaints during sharp pullbacks.

Regulators aim to steer retail from speculation to allocation: accumulation gold, physical bars, and gold ETFs — unleveraged, physically deliverable, transparent.

A detailed comparison table contrasts paper gold and accumulation gold across eight dimensions:

Product nature: paper gold is a pure account contract, essentially a financial derivative; accumulation gold is a savings-like plan.

Purpose: short-term speculation vs. long-term saving and physical accumulation.

Leverage: paper gold historically had leverage, now mostly removed but risk rating raised to C3+; accumulation gold is fully funded, no leverage.

Physical delivery: paper gold never delivers; accumulation gold allows conversion to bars/jewelry at predefined quantities.

Trading mode: paper gold flexible intraday; accumulation gold supports periodic (DCA) and ad-hoc purchases.

Entry threshold: both low, but accumulation gold starts at 1 yuan or 1 gram.

Costs: paper gold only bid-ask spread; accumulation gold adds fabrication fee on physical withdrawal.

Target users: experienced short-term traders vs. salaried savers and beginners.

Based on the observed trend, the author proposes deleting "Account Precious Metals" from the standard classification, leaving four categories. Finally, a second classification dimension is introduced: whether the bank bears gold price risk. This splits revenue into "light-capital fee income" (agency, leasing, accumulation where the bank earns spreads/fees without price exposure) and "proprietary trading income" (buy-back, self-operated physical sales, hedging derivatives where the bank takes market risk). A diagram (referenced but not reproduced) illustrates this mapping.