ICBC and the Hong Kong gold exchange are collaborating to launch gold trading services in the Qianhai free trade zone in September. The effort will ensure providing custodial and physical settlement service targeted at commercial users and precious metals traders. Haywood Cheung Tak-hay, the honorary permanent president of the 105-year-old Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society, said the exchange has teamed up with ICBC to use its gold vault in Qianhai as a temporary bonded warehouse for Hong Kong traders and manufacturers to store their gold. The service is considered useful for companies using gold to fashion decorative items, as the yellow metal can be stored before being fashioned into jeweler and other gold products at factories in Shenzhen. The local gold bourse plans to build a HK$1 billion permanent gold vault facility, including a bonded warehouse, trading floor and related offices areas in Qianhai, but the project will take two years before completion, according to Cheung.
