Australia & New Zealand Banking is seeking a role in the global gold-trading platform planned for the pilot Shanghai free-trade zone, which is a potential challenger to gold exchanges in London and New York.

China's central bank this month gave the Shanghai Gold Exchange approval to launch a board for gold trade in the free-trade zone, a 28-square-kilometer (11-square-mile) area touted as a testing ground for the remaking of the country's financial sector. ANZ was one of the first foreign banks to become an active market maker in China's existing gold exchange, which is closed to onshore members.