Hong Kong is accelerating plans to build a Hong Kong gold central clearing system and aims to launch a pilot this year, Financial Secretary Paul Chan said. Chan said demand to diversify away from U.S. dollar assets has lifted gold’s role as a reserve and hedge. Spot trading on the Hong Kong Gold Exchange more than doubled year on year to HKD2.9bn (USD372m) a day by November 2025, but many deals still settle bilaterally over the counter, creating inefficiencies, he said. At th