On January 26, the international gold market witnessed a historic moment. Spot gold prices consecutively broke through the two major psychological barriers of $5000 and $5100, surging over $110 during the day to hit a record high of $5111.17 per ounce. As of 18:35 on January 26, spot London gold was quoted at $5092.64 per ounce, marking a year-to-date increase of nearly 18%. Domestic gold jewelry prices climbed in tandem, with brands like Chow Tai Fook and Lao Feng Xiang seeing prices approach 1580 yuan per gram, registering a single-day increase of over 20 yuan. Against this backdrop, risk control measures for gold accumulation products within the banking sector are being continuously tightened. Major state-owned banks, including Agricultural Bank of China and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, have successively intensified controls by raising investor eligibility thresholds and increasing minimum purchase amounts, thereby fortifying risk defenses. The industry has now established a dual-pronged risk control framework involving both enhanced risk ratings and higher purchase thresholds. On January 26, Agricultural Bank of China announced that, in order to comply with regulatory requirements, it would implement a risk tolerance assessment as an access mechanism. Starting January 30, 2026, individual customers applying to sign up for, purchase, or set up a fixed investment plan for the Cun Jintong gold accumulation business will need to pass a risk assessment and achieve a result of "Cautious" or higher. However, customers who already have a valid assessment result meeting this criteria will not need to be re-tested. Operations such as selling, physical delivery, execution or termination of existing fixed investment plans, and account cancellation for already signed-up customers are not subject to these new conditions. This is not the first time Agricultural Bank has strengthened its risk controls. In October 2025, the bank had warned that "international precious metal prices are experiencing sharp fluctuations" and advised clients to "reasonably control their position sizes." Subsequently, on October 22, 2025, the bank announced it would clean up dormant accounts, terminating agreements for clients of its agency precious metals trading service who had held no positions, no inventory, and had no outstanding debts for one consecutive month. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China's requirements are even more stringent. On January 5, the bank announced that, effective January 12, 2026, individual customers applying to open a gold accumulation account, make an active purchase, or set up a new fixed investment plan must undergo a risk tolerance assessment using the bank's standardized questionnaire. They must achieve an assessment result of C3-Balanced or higher and sign a risk disclosure statement. Notably, following this adjustment, ICBC's requirement for investor risk tolerance has been raised from the previous C1-Conservative (Cautious) level to C3-Balanced. Investors classified as C3-Balanced are generally those who can accept a certain degree of asset value fluctuation and can even tolerate some investment losses. In addition to the risk assessment threshold, the minimum purchase amounts for gold accumulation products at commercial banks are also being consistently raised. Since 2025, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has adjusted the threshold for its Ruyi Gold Accumulation business five times. On January 4, 2026, the bank announced that, starting January 8, the minimum investment amount for the Ruyi Gold Accumulation business would be increased from 1000 yuan to 1100 yuan. At the beginning of 2025, this threshold was only 650 yuan. "The Bank will continue to monitor fluctuations in the precious metals market and adjust the minimum investment amount for the Ruyi Gold Accumulation business accordingly," ICBC stated in its announcement. Currently, the minimum purchase thresholds for gold accumulation products at most banks have surpassed 1000 yuan. China CITIC Bank adjusted its minimum fixed investment amount from 1000 yuan to 1500 yuan effective November 15, 2025; on the same day, China Construction Bank raised its daily accumulation starting point from 1000 yuan to 1200 yuan, marking the bank's second threshold increase within 2025. It is noteworthy that to avoid frequent adjustments, some banks have introduced floating mechanisms. Agricultural Bank of China pioneered a "floating with gold price" pricing mechanism as early as September 2025, with Bank of Communications following suit. Under this model, the minimum purchase amount adjusts dynamically with the real-time gold price, fundamentally resolving the issue of needing to frequently adjust thresholds due to rising gold prices. Considering the adjustment measures taken by multiple banks since 2025, the banking industry has now formed a "dual enhancement" pattern for gold accumulation product access, where both the risk rating threshold and the purchase amount threshold are being tightened simultaneously. "During periods of significant gold price volatility, investors are prone to blindly chase the rally," pointed out an industry insider. "Raising the thresholds helps screen for investors with stronger risk tolerance and also serves as a risk warning, helping to prevent irrational investment behavior."
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