ICBC to close certain forex channels

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd said on Wednesday it will close the telephone banking channel of its foreign exchange trading business for personal clients and the ICBC e-investment channel, an investment and trading platform for individual investors, at the stroke of midnight on Sunday.

Personal clients can continue to conduct foreign exchange trading business via its online and mobile banking channels, the largest State-owned commercial lender by assets said.

ICBC also said it will temporarily halt signing up new personal clients for foreign exchange trading and suspend the opening of new positions for all forex trading products at the stroke of midnight on June 12. The bank will still allow clients to close positions.

The arrangements are being made to adapt to changes in market conditions. For personal clients, foreign exchange settlement and sales will still be handled normally, the bank said.

"Looking ahead, two-way fluctuations in exchange rates, especially the Chinese yuan to US dollar exchange rate, will become normal. It is highly necessary for commercial banks to adjust policies on their foreign exchange and precious metals trading businesses and raise the threshold for transactions," said Dong Ximiao, chief researcher at Merchants Union Consumer Finance Co Ltd.

"We don't advise individual investors who don't have rich investing experience or strong risk-bearing capacity to participate in high-risk investing activities like foreign exchange trading. Financial institutions should keep doing risk assessment and detection and performing the suitability management of investors to ensure relevant businesses will register stable and long-term growth," Dong said.