Commercial banks have officially stopped mobilizing gold deposits as of Monday, adhering to the State Bank of Vietnam’s ban that took effect Sunday. On April 29, 2011 the central bank halted gold mobilization at banks, but lifted the ban a year later, ruling that the credit institutions would still be able to accept savings in gold bullion until November 25, 2012. Banks have thus removed the interest rates for gold deposits from their display boards, Tuoi Tre reporters observed. Nguyen Huu Dang, CEO of HDBank, said his bank has strictly followed the directive of the central bank, and now only offers gold-keeping services. The service allows customers to store their gold bullion at banks with fees depending on custody terms. “We also encourage customers whose gold deposits are due to sell the gold back to us at higher prices than market rates,” he said. “But the number of customers who have agreed to switch from gold to the dong is very modest,” he admitted. In another development, many holders on Monday rushed to sell their gold bullion as domestic prices rose in accordance with their global counterparts. “Most of the sellers are individuals and small investors who have bought the gold at low prices and now want to rake in profits,” said Nguyen Cong Tuong, deputy chief of sales of Saigon Jewelry Co. “SJC bought some 1,000 taels on Monday,” he added. The precious metal in Vietnam edged up by VND210,000 a tael compared to last weekend to VND47,35 million a tael. The global price closed yesterday at $1,748 an ounce, or VND44 million a tael -- some VND3.35 million lower than the domestic price. The price gap, however, has narrowed as it was as high as VND4 million a tael last week.