Over 10 Chinese Banks Exit Gold Trading Channel as SGE Halts Individual Agency Business

This is a structural retreat by China's banks from retail gold intermediation, driven by the exchange rather than the lenders, which signals a policy preference for keeping individual precious-metals exposure off bank balance sheets. The immediate effect falls on retail clients who used banks as their access point to the SGE; the clearing obligation means existing positions are not stranded, but new flow is. Whether the physical consignment channel absorbs that demand, or whether it simply displaces activity to other venues, is the open question worth watching.