Barclays wins Shanghai Gold Exchange membership

An employee arranges gold jewellery in the counter as her arm is reflected in the mirror at a gold shop in Wuhan, Hubei province August 25, 2011.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The Shanghai branch of Barclays (BARC.L) has won approval to become a trading member of the Shanghai Gold Exchange, the seventh foreign financial institute to obtain such membership, said the exchange on its website (www.sge.com.cn).

Other foreign trading members include Credit Suisse CSGSN.UL, HSBC (HSBA.L) (0005.HK), Standard Chartered (STAN.L) (2888.HK), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO), ANZ (ANZ.AX) and United Overseas Bank (UOBH.SI).

China has vowed to open up the tightly controlled gold market. Recently it has given approval to HSBC and ANZ to trade gold futures on the Shanghai Gold Exchange.

The Shanghai Gold Exchange is China's main precious metals bourse, trading spot gold, silver and platinum as well as spot deferred contracts in gold and silver.

(Reporting by Rujun Shen; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)