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Myanmar: Draft blueprint for national gold exchange to be ready by month-end

  • Apr 05, 2018

The Myanmar Gold Entrepreneurs Association will finalise a draft blueprint for the creation of a long-touted gold exchange by the end of April, Daw Kalayar Pyi Wai Shan, vice chair of Myanmar Gold Entrepreneur Association, said yesterday.

The draft will include the various phases of implementation and a proposed timeline, Daw Kalayar Pyi Wai Shan said during a meeting with the Yangon Gold Entrepreneur Association.

The gold exchange will first focus on drawing local traders and building up domestic volumes in the initial phase, following which the exchange will be developed into an international gold trading market.

If successfully established, the Myanmar gold exchange will be the first in Myanmar, where gold is mainly bought and sold in its physical form at wholesale markets such as those located Shwe Bon Thar Street, Yangon.

It will also consolidate the trading of gold onto a single platform and align Myanmar with its regional peers, said U Aung Kaung Myat, director of Weint Sein Gold Shop.

“Both the Shanghai and Hong Kong gold exchanges were developed for the domestic markets in the initial years before becoming international commodity exchanges. So, it will be good for the Myanmar gold market to upgrade to an exchange first before going international later,” said U Nay Htet, a gold trader.

Gold bars are displayed at the Korea Gold Exchange in Seoul, South Korea. Photo - EPAGold bars are displayed at the Korea Gold Exchange in Seoul, South Korea. Photo – EPA

Time to set up

This won’t be the first time talk of setting up a gold exchange in the country has surfaced. And, it won’t be easy to implement.

“[Typically], the trading of gold on an exchange can be done physically or by buying its contract in derivatives for diverse investment purposes. To setup such commodity exchanges you would need an exchange house, clearing house and a governing body for every transaction to be legal and transparent,” said Ms Ana Victoria, regional director of Inter Pan, an Indonesia-headquartered brokerage.

Inter Pan is licensed by the Jakarta Futures Exchange and is a pioneer brokerage in Myanmar which provides gold futures trading services.

The Myanmar Gold Entrepreneurs Association has already met with the Securities Exchange Commission of Myanmar (SECM). “We have invited them to submit a proposal for the forming of a gold exchange,” said U Htay Chun, a member of the SECM.

Last year, Haywood Cheung Tak-hay, president of the Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society, Hong Kong Gold Exchange, said Hong Kong will provide the necessary assistance to help Myanmar establish its first gold exchange.

Source: https://www.mmtimes.com/news/draft-blueprint-national-gold-exchange-be-ready-month-end.html