Affected by significant fluctuations in gold prices, several commercial banks have tightened their handling of agency services for individual precious metals as well as account-based precious metals products—including paper gold—since the beginning of this year. Against this backdrop, gold regular investment plans are gradually attracting more investors’ attention, and several banks have even upgraded these plans to gold accumulation programs.
　　So-called fund regular investment—in other words, regular gold investment, also known as “gold lump-sum savings”—involves purchasing gold every month with a fixed amount of money at the closing price of AU9999 on the Shanghai Gold Exchange. Upon contract expiration, the total number of grams of gold accumulated by the customer can be exchanged for cash at the prevailing Shanghai gold market price or for an equivalent weight of physical gold.
　　Gold accumulation is regarded within the industry as an upgraded version of gold regular investment. According to the "Interim Measures for the Management of Gold Accumulation Business" issued by the central bank, gold accumulation refers to a liability-based service in which a financial institution, in accordance with an agreement with the customer, opens a gold account for the customer and records the customer’s obligation to deposit a specified weight of gold over a certain period. The minimum transaction unit for gold accumulation products is 1 gram. This service is exclusively offered by banking deposit-taking financial institutions. Banking deposit-taking financial institutions that wish to offer this service must have staff members who are familiar with the gold business and must also allow customers to withdraw physical gold or sell their gold holdings to obtain corresponding monetary funds.
　　Recently, the Bank of Communications and GF Bank have successively made adjustments to their gold regular investment programs. Specifically, the Bank of Communications has upgraded its gold regular investment service to a precious metals wallet, while GF Bank has upgraded its gold regular investment program to gold accumulation. Industry insiders say that these proactive adjustments by banks—such as changes in quotation methods and redemption processing times—will make bank-sponsored gold investment programs more market-oriented and help attract a larger number of customers to participate. Through the upgraded gold accumulation service, investors can more precisely track market fluctuations and make well-informed strategic decisions, thereby better safeguarding their own interests.
　　Specifically, according to an announcement released by GF Bank on August 12, starting from October 11, 2022, the gold fixed-investment business will be fully upgraded to a gold accumulation business. Investors’ existing gold fixed-investment positions will be automatically converted into gold accumulation positions, with the total weight remaining unchanged. Investors have until September 30 to choose whether to upgrade their gold fixed-investment positions to gold accumulation positions or to sell all of their gold fixed-investment positions.
　　The announcement also clarifies that, following the upgrade from gold fixed-investment to gold accumulation, both the transaction prices and redemption timelines have been changed. Previously, there was a single daily price; now, multiple prices are available each day, with transactions executed at real-time market prices. Redemption funds will no longer be credited on T+1 or T+2 days but will instead be credited in real time. Additionally, physical gold withdrawals have been changed from collecting gold bars from the Shanghai Gold Exchange to exchanging them for bank-invested gold bars.
　　The Bank of Communications issued an announcement upgrading its gold fixed-investment service to a Precious Metals Wallet. As part of the upgrade, the revised trading quotes have been changed from a single daily price to multiple daily prices, and redemption funds will now be credited in real time instead of taking T+2 days. In addition, the Bank of Communications has set an upper limit on the amount that can be invested in a single transaction through the Precious Metals Wallet—this limit is 20 million yuan. If the original gold fixed-investment amount exceeds this limit, the Precious Metals Wallet will use the cap of 20 million yuan as the investment amount. Previously, there was no upper limit on the amount for gold fixed investments.
　　In its announcement, the Bank of Communications noted that with the launch of its precious metals wallet service, the gold fixed-investment business has become significantly less advantageous. Currently, only a few individual customers still hold positions in this product. To promote high-quality business development and strengthen risk management, the bank will migrate the gold fixed-investment service to the precious metals wallet.
　　Comparing the two announcements, we can see that the adjustments to the gold accumulation service offered by GF Bank and the precious metals wallet service provided by BOC are not significantly different. The most noteworthy change is that, previously, redemption of funds invested in gold required a settlement time of T+1 or T+2; however, following the service adjustment, real-time transactions—T+0—have become possible.
　　“The gold accumulation business adopts a real-time settlement approach, enabling instant settlement and timely crediting of funds. This effectively reduces investment risks for short-term investors, safeguards customers’ rights and interests, and enhances the ability to control risks in clients’ accounts during extreme market conditions, thereby lowering the risk of default or fund settlement issues within the settlement system,” said Wang Yanqing, a precious metals analyst at CITIC Securities Futures.
　　Zhou Maohua, a macro researcher at the Financial Markets Department of China Everbright Bank, said that overall, some banks have adjusted their gold regular investment programs, enhancing the timeliness of transactions and providing investors with greater flexibility and convenience. At the same time, by setting upper limits on regular investments, some banks can help prevent investors from incurring substantial losses in extreme market conditions, thereby protecting investors and reducing the likelihood of potential investment disputes.
　　For investors looking to participate in gold accumulation programs, Zhou Maohua pointed out that any investment instrument carries a certain level of risk, and the degree of investment risk is significantly influenced by the characteristics of the underlying assets. At this stage, gold accumulation investors need to pay close attention to the risk of gold price volatility. At the same time, gold accumulation is more suited to a medium- to long-term, stable investment approach.
　　Wang Yanqing pointed out that the original intention of the “gold accumulation” business was to reduce investors’ holding risks and safeguard their legitimate and reasonable rights and interests. However, due to its flexible and convenient operational features, this type of investment can easily evolve into speculative behavior. Therefore, investors should adopt a proper investment mindset, treating gold accumulation as a relatively safer investment option rather than as a commercial speculation tool, and avoid irrational behaviors resulting from frequent trading. (Economic Daily)