State-run Vietnamese lender Vietcombank starts online gold bullion sale
State-run Vietnamese lender Vietcombank starts online gold bullion sale
Vietcombank, a state-run local bank, announced its online gold bullion sale service on Wednesday to meet the high demand for the precious metal in Vietnam.
Customers queue up to buy gold bars at a Vietcombank transaction point in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Phuong Quyen / Tuoi Tre |
Customers can sign up to purchase gold bars and then confirm the payment time as well as the venue and time to receive the gold bullion.
If they come to the venue late by over 30 minutes, Vietcombank will cancel the appointment.
Customers are allowed to use smartphones, tablets, or computers to register gold purchases between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm every day.
They will receive the purchased gold from 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm.
The bank began selling gold bullion online as people had been queuing up at its transaction points to buy it over the past few days.
The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) stated that the sale of gold bars through four state-run banks – Vietcombank, VietinBank, Agribank, and BIDV – have proved effective as the gap between domestic and global gold prices has shrunk.
Earlier, the central bank decided to directly sell gold bars to these banks instead of continuing holding auctions.
The four banks would later sell the gold bullion to customers.
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| Vietcombank has started offering gold bars online. Photo: Phuong Quyen / Tuoi Tre |
Over the past few days, residents in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi have been lining up to buy gold bars at outlets set up by the banks.
Some people hired others to queue up at banks’ gold outlets to hoard gold bullion in a bid to push the gold prices up and earn profits, according to the central bank.
As rumors of the SBV’s shortage of gold bars spread widely, the SBV denied the information.
As a result, the SBV has recently asked the Ministry of Public Security to help ensure security at gold sales points and heavily punish those spreading inaccurate information and involved in manipulation and speculation on the domestic gold market.
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| Throngs of people wait to buy gold bullion in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, June 12, 2024. Photo: Van Truong / Tuoi Tre |
On Wednesday, the SBV approved the price of gold bars sold to the four state-run banks at VND75.98 million (US$2,988) per tael.
One tael is equivalent to 1.21 troy ounces.
The price was equal to that on Tuesday and VND3 million ($118) lower than the rate on the first day the SBV directly sold gold bullion to the four banks, news site VTV reported.
Meanwhile, the banks quoted the gold price at VND76.98 million ($3,027) per tael, which has been unchanged for the past five sessions, according to news site Vietnamnet.
