Benchmarking against the London and New York gold markets, HKEX is actively preparing RMB gold futures.

Title context: Benchmarking against the London and New York gold markets, HKEX is actively preparing RMB gold futures. Text: As global capital's attention on China and Asian markets fully rebounds, Hong Kong is ushering in a new wave of deep-level capital market reform and factor market expansion. HKEX Chief Executive Officer Bonnie Chan explicitly stated that global investors are refocusing on Asian and Chinese assets, and HKEX will take optimizing the listing regime and activating market liquidity as its core entry points. Advancing gold and commodities business: In response to investors' demand for asset diversification, Hong Kong is accelerating the development of fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC). The recently relaunched USD-denominated gold futures saw an enthusiastic response, and the launch of RMB-denominated gold futures is currently under active study. Addressing LME warehousing demand: The more than ten warehouses currently recognized by the London Metal Exchange (LME) in Hong Kong can no longer meet market demand, and discussions are underway to identify large-scale warehouses to fill the gap. Optimizing the listing regime and market liquidity: In recent years, listing chapters tailored to specific industries have achieved remarkable results. Going forward, the listing framework will continue to be optimized, with efforts dedicated to simultaneously expanding primary market fundraising scale and driving daily secondary market turnover. In fact, this is not the first time such a move has been proposed. According to the Policy Address, the HKSAR Government is using clear institutional development and fiscal levers to push Hong Kong to benchmark against major global gold trading centers such as London and New York: Core contract to be announced within the year: HKEX is scheduled to announce details of a new RMB-denominated, physically settled gold futures contract within this year, opening up cross-market physical delivery channels. Central clearing to break through OTC risks: The Hong Kong Gold Central Clearing and Settlement System is planned to be officially launched in the first quarter of 2027, establishing a central counterparty clearing mechanism to fundamentally reduce credit friction in over-the-counter trading. Targeted fiscal incentives to be implemented: The HKSAR Government will effectively implement the half-rate tax concession for physical commodities trading and conduct in-depth research on providing dedicated tax exemptions for qualifying value-added services within the gold and commodities ecosystem. At the same time, Hong Kong is accelerating the construction of interconnection mechanisms with core factor markets in mainland China: Deepening cross-market exchange cooperation: Strengthen regular collaboration with the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) and the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) to advance interconnectivity in gold and commodities markets. Enriching the offshore RMB product matrix: By vigorously expanding RMB-denominated gold and commodity spot and derivative products, attract international institutional investors to participate in matching, gradually forming a synergistic advantage for the mainland and Hong Kong in RMB pricing power for commodities. Exchange Fund plans gold allocation as industrial support ramps up across the board According to sources from the HKSAR Government, given that the Exchange Fund's investment portfolio currently has no gold allocation, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority is actively studying the feasibility of moderately increasing its gold holdings based on prudent principles, and plans to consolidate existing physical inventories in phases into designated warehouses of the Hong Kong Precious Metals Central Clearing System. In addition, the supporting industrial framework is being vigorously advanced: officials are pushing the industry to formally establish the "Hong Kong Gold Industry Association" by the end of this year; the HKSAR Government is also scheduled to set up a "Gold Express Lane" between the end of this year and the first half of 2027, providing one-stop, full-process service support for gold industry chain institutions from home and abroad to establish operations and deploy capital in Hong Kong. This article is reprinted from "Cailian Press"; GMTEight editor: Yan Wencai.