HSBC plans to increase its Hong Kong gold storage to about 200 tonnes within
months to support Hong Kong’s 2,000-tonne storage capacity target, the bank
said. HSBC holds roughly 600 tonnes in London and more than $100bn of gold
globally. Hong Kong has launched a gold central clearing and settlement system,
and the Hong Kong Treasury and Shanghai Gold Exchange have begun the first phase
of a physical connect to boost liquidity and link Asian, mainland and global
markets. On the pilot day HSBC arranged initial client trades, completed full
lifecycle processing and executed the first physical-connect transaction.