Hong Kong released its first five-year plan. HSBC co‑CEO for Asia and the Middle
East Liao Yijian said measures supporting gold-market development are
encouraging and that Hong Kong has the prerequisites to become a regional gold
clearing hub and a gateway for global investors. He noted Asia is expected to
account for more than 60% of global gold and silver bar demand by 2025 and said
Hong Kong’s trading hours bridge Asia, Europe and the US, making it suitable for
cross‑timezone spot, forwards and swaps. Liao welcomed government use of
tokenization to develop gold products and said a mature hub should support
storage, trading, clearing/settlement and enable gold lending, inventory
financing and risk‑management products. As the world’s largest offshore RMB
center, Hong Kong has a unique advantage to develop RMB‑denominated gold
products; Liao urged building a scaled market that meets internationally
recognized risk‑control standards.