Chinese Bank Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) will acquire Britain’s Barclays PLC, Europe’s largest Depository of precious metals.
As noted by The Wall Street Journal, the purchase will make ICBC the first Chinese owner of the store in London and increase its impact on trade, pricing and storage of precious metals, according to “Газета.Ru”.
Sold store, the location of which is unknown, holds up to 2 thousand tons of gold, silver, platinum and palladium.
The details of the agreement have not been disclosed. It is expected that the transaction will be concluded in July.
The WSJ writes that China is creating more than a quarter of world demand for gold, but the centers of trade precious metals still remain London and new York.
