The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world’s largest bank by assets, will fully cease individual precious metals trading on July 24, 2026. It’s not alone. A growing list of major Chinese banks is systematically dismantling the infrastructure that once let millions of retail investors speculate on gold and silver prices.
What’s actually happening
ICBC announced the suspension on June 25, 2026, giving customers roughly a month to wind down positions.
Postal Savings Bank of China, Ping An Bank, and China Guangfa Bank have all adopted similar measures. The pattern is consistent across institutions: halt new account openings, close dormant accounts, refund idle margins, and ratchet up the cost of staying in.
Margin requirements on some products have been raised as high as 140%. For context, that means a retail trader needs to put up $1.40 in collateral for every dollar of exposure.
