VINACHEM

VietNamNet Bridge – Experts say some bankers have “swept the board” thanks toa new policy laid down by the State Bank of Vietnam.

An expert estimates that the profit the banks could pocket may be up to VND1.2trillion. Explaining this, he said the exported gold was non-SJC gold (SJC isnow the Vietnamese national gold brand).

After that, the bankers imported material gold and have the imports processed atthe Saigon Jewelry Company (SJC). While the banks just have to pay VND50,000 pertael in fee, they can sell the gold later to enjoy the price gap of VND1.5-2million per tael.

Meanwhile, according to the State bank, 10 commercial banks still have notcompleted and finalization and closing of gold accounts yet due to the liquidityproblem.

The profuse gold supply plus the domestic price decreases have both brought thegold opportunities for banks to buy gold in so as to finalize and close the goldaccounts before the deadline of June 30.

A banker said at a conference of the banking system recently that creditinstitutions have reported the sharp fall of 96 percent in the businessefficiency in comparison with the last year.

This has been explained by the fact that some banks have taken loss from thegold mobilization and lending. The Q4 finance report of ACB showed that the bankincurred the loss of VND1,863 billion in 2012 from the gold and foreign currencytrading activities.

Prior to that, some banks also complained about the loss from gold trading in2012. The banks took big losses because they bought gold at high prices toensure their liquidity (at the time when the market vibrated on the arrest ofNguyen Duc Kien, a big banker, the gold price hit the VND47 million per taelthreshold). Meanwhile, the gold price has later decreased sharply.

Some make fat profits, others take big losses

The State Bank of Vietnam has vowed to narrow the gap between the domestic andthe international gold prices.

Sources have said that in order to obtain that goal, the State Bank of Vietnamwould take some measures to help increase the supply.

The information has had immediate impacts on the gold market. Since peoplebelieve that the State Bank would put more gold into the market to improve thesupply, the gold prices have been decreasing rapidly, thus making gold holderssuffer.

Hung Thang, a gold investor in Le Chan district in Hai Phong complained onFebruary 28 that he has lost VND2 billion.

“I wonder if I should sell gold now or keep gold. I am afraid that the priceswould go down further because the State Bank is determined to force the pricesdown. Meanwhile, if I sell gold now, I would incur the loss of VND2 billion,”Thang said.

The investor revealed that on pre-Tet days, he sometimes could earn up to tensof millions of dong in profit from trading gold. At that time, the gold pricefluctuated heavily, which brought many opportunities to investors to make money.

Anh in district 3, HCM City, also complained that she has lost VND4 million forevery tael of gold she has, because the domestic gold price has been decreasingcontinuously in recent days.