Bank of Thailand plans to tighten regulations on online gold trading as its price soars

The Bank of Thailand has tightened regulations on online gold trading to curb the impact of fluctuating prices on the local currency. The new measures will not have a big impact on gold trading, which has become increasingly popular, but will improve the transparency of online platforms, the central bank's assistant governor, Pimpan Charoenkwan, said. The regulations, which took effect this month, cap online gold transactions conducted in Thai baht at 50 million baht ($1.6 million) per user per day. Any transaction exceeding that limit requires approval from the authorities. However, the rules do not apply to users who were already holding more than 50 million baht worth of gold in their accounts before the end of January. They are allowed to sell their holdings back to platform operators without seeking additional permission. The regulations also do not apply to gold trades in foreign currencies or to physical gold transactions. Pimpan said gold traders are required to maintain some transaction records and regularly report those activities to the Bank of Thailand. The international price of gold has more than doubled this year, and last January topped $5,000 per ounce for the first time. Gold prices in Thailand surged above 80,000 baht ($2,545) per baht-weight for the first time, before dropping sharply, highlighting the volatility that has raised concerns. Baht-weight is the standard unit for measuring the weight and purity of gold in Thailand. It usually is 15.244 grams (about 0.54 ounces) for 23 karat gold bars and about 15.16 grams (0.53 ounces) for gold jewelry, but varies slightly depending on purity. Thailand has never properly regulated gold trading, though it's a major investment method in the country, the Bank of Thailand's governor, Vithai Ratanakorn, said in a livestreamed speech to an economic seminar. “Collecting gold is already a culture in Thailand, and these past few years the stock market has underperformed, so more people turned to gold trading,” he said. This article was provided by The Associated Press.