Gold owners say licensed shops few and far between

>> Gold price falls by VND 500,000/tael

The gold bullion trading network of Vietnam was officially narrowed down on January 10, as only those capable of meeting SBV conditions are now licensed to conduct the business.

Gold bullion holders are only allowed to work with the branches of 22 banks, and 16 businesses, while most of their familiar gold shops have been banned from gold bullion transactions.

“But many customers still bring their gold bars to sell at our company,” said Le Phat Vinh, director of SJC Can Tho, one of the businesses that was kicked out of the gold trading market following the new law.

SJC Can Tho used to be the main gold trader in the Mekong Delta city, but it failed to meet the financial requirements necessary to maintain business after the implementation of the January 10 regulation, he said.

As illegal gold bullion trading is now subject to steep fines, SJC Can Tho had to direct customers to licensed facilities, which are the local bank branches.

“However, many banks have yet to offer the gold bullion trading service, despite obtaining the licenses,” Vinh said.

Gold holders thus have had to visit numerous branches, taking up their whole day, and were still unable to sell the precious metal.

“Some of them returned to our company and aggressively complained,” Vinh said, adding that many other customers chose to sell to unlicensed gold shops out of urgent need for money.

“There, they were forced to sell at VND200,000 a tael lower than the market price,” he said.

Mostly in big cities

The director of a Hanoi-based gold company attributed the inconvenience to the fact that most of the licensed venues are located in the downtown areas of major cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh.

“In other provinces, it takes effort to adhere to the gold trading regulation,” commented the director, who wished not to be named.

There are cases in which gold owners have to spend an entire day traveling from their hometown to nearby cities to sell their gold, he said.

SJC gold bullion lost VND700,000 a tael on Monday, falling to VND44.6 million a tael, while its global counterpart was on a downward trend.

The gap between domestic and global prices thus narrowed to only VND2.6 million a tael. The highest gap recorded so far was nearly VND5 million a tael.

(VND1 million = $48)