OREANDA-NEWS. September 04, 2012. ICBC recently announced a new service for nationwide deposit and withdrawal of gold under "Gold Accumulation Plan (GAP)". The new service allows customers to buy gold in fixed amounts at regular intervals, anytime, anywhere, either in person at ICBC outlets or online via Personal Internet Banking or Mobile Banking. Besides, customers can also redeem their gold accumulated in "GAP" account into physical gold at any ICBC outlet (selling physical precious metals) across the country. With the GAP account, you have gold wherever you go in China, reported the press-centre of ICBC. 

The "Gold Accumulation Plan" was a new gold investment product launched by ICBC in collaboration with World Gold Council in December, 2010. Currently, "Gold Accumulation Plan" is the only financial product in China which allows investors to buy gold at daily average price. The purpose is to spread the investment cost over time, avoiding the risks caused by fluctuation of gold prices to the largest extent. Investors open a "GAP" account in ICBC and sign an agreement to buy and hold gold at regular intervals, stating an amount to be deducted every month.

Every day, ICBC will automatically set aside an average amount to buy respective quantity of gold using the gold price on the day. Since the amount is fixed for every purchase, actual grams of gold bought vary depending on the gold price. By buying small amounts of gold over a long period of time, investors can spread the investment cost and insulate themselves from the risk of gold price fluctuation. Once the holdings have reached a desired size, investors are free to sell their gold and get cash, or exchange their gold into other physical precious metal products at ICBC gold sales outlets.

As related by an ICBC executive, ICBC "GAP" starts with a minimum amount of RMB 200 per month, very suitable to retail investors who can only afford small, stable investments over long term, and lack time and experience to judge the market. GAP is warmly welcomed in the market since its launch. Just within the first six months of this year, ICBC has sold 4.7 tons of gold to GAP investors, 6.8 times the turnover same period last year. At present, ICBC has registered a client base of more than 1.7 million.