Hong Kong touts distinct features to set it apart from London in global gold hub push

Distinctive features will set Hong Kong apart from London, a major bullion hub, as the city accelerates efforts to develop an international gold and precious metals trading ecosystem covering the entire value chain, a minister has told the South China Morning Post.

In an exclusive interview on Thursday, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui Ching-yu said the city would officially launch a central gold clearing platform in the first quarter of next year. It would handle both physical delivery and payments, with the latter linked to the real-time gross settlement system.

Hui said the ultimate aim was to connect Asian liquidity with international market standards, giving participants a venue in the Asian time zone for trading, storage, clearing, refining and risk management.

“We are confident achieving [this] because in the Asia time zone we see Hong Kong as uniquely positioned to do that,” he said.