FDH Bank and EDF Expand Malawi’s Formal Gold-Buying Network

Malawi’s Export Development Fund (EDF) is partnering with FDH Bank to open four gold trading centres, extending official purchasing access beyond Lilongwe and Liwonde. The sites are intended to bring formal buying closer to mining and trading areas, using existing bank branches to expand the network without building new EDF premises.

Key takeaways

The partnership adds centres in Karonga, Mzimba (Jenda), Mangochi and Blantyre. Three will operate from FDH Bank branches; the Blantyre centre will be at the Reserve Bank of Malawi. EDF says the wider reach should help bring more gold trading into official channels.

  • Karonga, Mzimba (Jenda) and Mangochi centres will be hosted in FDH branches.
  • The Blantyre centre will be located at Reserve Bank premises.
  • The expansion builds on EDF’s existing buying points in Lilongwe and Liwonde.

Bank branches extend EDF’s reach

The arrangement gives EDF access to FDH Bank’s established branch network in three locations. That lets the fund add buying capacity closer to traders without investing in separate facilities of its own. The Blantyre centre will use a different host location, at the Reserve Bank of Malawi.

EDF Acting Managing Director Inglis Nyamilandu said the fund’s two existing buying points limited its ability to serve traders across the country. He said bringing services closer to gold-producing areas is intended to increase both the number of traders reached and the gold purchased. The fund has also indicated that further district-level expansion is planned.

A push to formalise gold trading

Malawi established its formal Gold Purchase Programme in 2021 to bring greater structure to a trade that had largely taken place outside official channels. The programme is owned by the Reserve Bank, with EDF acting as its implementing agent. The new centres are part of a broader effort to make official purchasing more accessible in areas where mining activity has not been matched by formal trading infrastructure.

For FDH Bank, the partnership expands its involvement in the mining sector. Managing Director Noel Mkulichi described the bank’s branch network as a resource that could support Malawi’s mineral value chain. The arrangement combines EDF’s role as gold buyer with FDH’s local banking presence; it does not, by itself, establish a gold exchange or guarantee that traders will use the formal channel.

What the expansion means for market watchers

More local buying points could make it easier for producers and traders to approach the official programme, but the partnership is a change in market access—not a direct signal about gold prices. Readers using MatchTrader or considering Classic or Rapid evaluations should likewise distinguish commodity-market news from their trading rules: the 12% maximum loss, 5% daily loss and 40% best-day rule apply to those evaluations, not to Malawi’s gold-purchasing programme.