China’s offer to store foreign gold gets taken up by Cambodia.

Cambodia is set to become one of the first countries to store gold with China, according to people familiar with the matter, marking early progress in Beijing’s push to develop as a global bullion hub.

The Southeast Asian nation is planning to store some of its reserves in a vault registered with the Shanghai Gold Exchange in Shenzhen’s bonded zone, the people said, requesting anonymity because the matter is sensitive. A few other countries have also expressed interest, they said, as they weigh the benefits of diversifying their reserves from traditional hubs like London.

Beijing is keen to become a custodian of other countries’ gold as it seeks to establish a global financial system less dependent on the dollar and Western centres. Its deal with Cambodia involves storing new purchases of bullion, rather than relocating metal from existing stockpiles, the people said.

Central banks ultimately oversee a country’s reserves. The governor of the National Bank of Cambodia said last month that “a few locations” were under consideration for storing the nation’s gold, although she wouldn’t be drawn on whether China was one of them.

Cambodia’s central bank holds about 54 tonnes of gold, accounting for a quarter of its US$26 billion (RM108.95 billion) in foreign exchange reserves, according to the World Gold Council’s latest assessment.