Banks will no longer close their gold accounts. Photo Vietpress.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub)— Most banks have closed their gold accounts to meet the State Bank of Viet Nam's deadline of June 30 this year.

The SBV said that only five or six banks still had outstanding gold accounts to date, adding that the banks would be pushed and even ‘forced' to close all gold accounts by the end of this month to meet the deadline.

According to the SBV, gold deposits fell by 75 per cent in the first five months of this year, while gold loans decreased by 40 per cent.

Deputy director of the central bank branch in HCM City Nguyen Hoang Minh said that gold auctions had helped banks to cut their outstanding gold deposits.

The central bank yesterday sold 25,900 taels of gold out of 26,000 on offer at its 30th auction.

At yesterday's auction, gold bars were sold to eight banks and gold firms from VND40.63 million to VND40.58 million per tael, slightly less than at previous auctions, according to the SBV.

In the previous auction three days earlier, the central bank sold the same volume at VND40.66-40.63 million per tael.

Year to date, the SBV has organised 30 auctions for 848,000 gold taels, of which it has sold 761,600 taels or 27.3 tonnes. Industry insiders said that most of the gold had been bought by banks to close all their accounts before the June 30 deadline.

The standing vice chairman of the Viet Nam Gold Trader Association, Nguyen Thanh Truc, expected the gold premium to gradually narrow starting from June 30, thanks to lower domestic demand. — VNS