ICBC recently launched the platinum trading service for personal account in order to better satisfy customers' investment need for precious metal. The pilot service is available in Tianjin, Shandong's Jinan and Qingdao for customers to invest in precious metal. ICBC is the first among the commercial banks in China to open such service.

As related, ICBC's platinum trading service for personal account is similar to that of trading gold or silver. Two categories of platinum for trading: platinum (ounce) against USD and platinum (gram) against RMB. Individual customers in the pilot areas are welcomed to open an account in ICBC. Buying or selling platinum can be through ICBC Internet Banking, Telephone Banking or Mobile Banking (WAP), right at home every week starting from 07:00 am Monday till 04:00 am Saturday (except National and public holidays) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Orders for buying/selling platinum can be placed from the shortest validity of 24 hours to 120 hours longest. Besides through electronic banking , customers can also buy or sell platinum at the designated ICBC outlets in pilot areas during banking hours. ICBC prices on buying/selling platinum through accounts are quoted in real-time and go along with the international market price, highly transparent. No delivery of physical metals after the transaction, eliminating the steps of warehousing, transportation or authentication. The new trading service is very convenient for retail investors.

In the opinion of the investment professionals, investors wish to invest in other precious metals in light of the booming trading market development for precious metal in China over the past few years. ICBC being the first bank in the country to launch platinum trading services for personal account brings more types of precious metals for domestic retail investors and satisfies their rising need of buying/selling platinum. Platinum price is very much affected by the situation of economy and automobile industry. In recent years, platinum begins to attract the attention of the investors in view of the surge in gold price, silver price. International platinum price has climbed to a historic high of USD 2290 per ounce in 2008. At present, platinum price hovers around USD 1760 per ounce. Well-experienced traders with higher risk appetite can get higher return if investing at the right opportunity. 

ICBC is the first bank in the country to launch gold trading service under RMB account in 2006, said an executive with ICBC. In precious metal business, ICBC occupies half of the market shares in terms of trading volume and number of customers leveraging excellent professional services, aggressive and strong capability in innovation. ICBC is the commercial bank in China offering the most number of investment categories of precious metals, longest trading hours and richest trading . Today, platinum trading service of ICBC for personal account is warmly received by the customers since its launch. ICBC's next move is to see the market conditions and progress to launch the service nationwide in a bid to offer more trading products, better platform and services.