At 2 pm, according to a notification from Agribank, BIDV, Vietinbank, and Vietcombank, the selling price of SJC gold bars was VND 79.98 million per tael.
People queue in front of Vietinbank’s gold price stabilization shop (Photo: Ngoc Mai)
The selling price of SJC gold bars of the State Bank was VND 78.98 million per tael. The banks sold gold bars directly to the people at a price just VND 1 million per tael higher than the selling price of the State Bank.
At the beginning of the afternoon, the selling price of SJC gold bars of other gold businesses such as Phu Quy, Phu Nhuan Jewelery, etc. was also adjusted down to VND 79.98 million per tael.
At Vietinbank Pho Hue, people queued up to the sidewalk. The store only serves 2 customers at a time and also limits the amount of gold sold.
Vietinbank’s gold shop only accepts 2 customers to buy gold at a time.
At Agribank Lang Ha’s gold selling point, people lined up from 13:00. Ms. Thu Hoa (Dong Da, Hanoi) said: “I read the bank’s announcement and chose the nearest selling point to my office to buy. However, the bank only opened for transactions at 14:30 and by the time it was my turn, I was the 21st person in line.”
Customers had to wait an hour for their turn to transact gold purchases.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong, Vice President of Agribank, said that today is the first day the bank sells gold directly to the people, so they did not expect such a large number of customers. Agribank imported gold into the vault this morning. As it is the first day, the coordination between the departments is still a bit confused. If the people’s demand remains high, from tomorrow the bank will increase the amount of gold imported from the State Bank.
“The reason for the congestion on the first day was that there was a customer who bought 8 taels of gold at once, so the process of verifying the customer’s information took a long time, causing others to have to wait,” said Ms. Phuong.
The bank spent a lot of time verifying the customer who bought 8 taels of gold at once.
According to PV’s observation, the process of buying and selling gold at the 4 state-owned banks was quite slow. The banks prioritized receiving transfers, so some elderly customers had difficulty making payments even though the bank representatives said they accepted cash payments.
Vietcombank’s gold selling point at 72 Tran Hung Dao was also crowded with customers coming to buy gold. Many people came to get a ticket and then left because they couldn’t wait for their turn. The bank also limited the amount of gold each person could buy to 1 tael per day.
Price list for stabilized gold at Vietcombank.
Vietcombank’s branch at 74 Tho Nhuom also announced that they had run out of gold from 14:05. Many customers were upset because they had just arrived at the bank when they were informed that there was no more gold available.
Ms. Thanh Dao (Thanh Xuan, Hanoi) said: “I was only 5 minutes late according to the announcement, but the bank asked me to come back tomorrow.”
BIDV stopped receiving gold buying customers just 5 minutes after opening for transactions.
The four banks and SJC Company opened 36 gold selling points for people in 11 provinces and cities:
Vietcombank sells gold at 6 points in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
VietinBank sells gold at VietinBank Gold & Jewellery stores with 2 locations in Hanoi and 1 location in Ho Chi Minh City.
Agribank sells gold at 4 transaction points in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
BIDV sells gold at 3 branches in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
SJC Company sells gold at 20 points in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, Nha Trang, Hue, Quang Ngai, Bien Hoa – Dong Nai, Can Tho, Bac Lieu, and Ca Mau.
