City’s 114-year-old bullion bourse restructures to become Hong Kong Gold Exchange

Members of the Chinese Gold & Silver Exchange Society voted to turn the city’s 114-year-old gold bourse into a corporation, in a bid to expand internationally and support the government’s ambition to reboot Hong Kong as an international trading hub.

As a result of the Friday vote, the organisation will become a corporation called the Hong Kong Gold Exchange. From January 1, it will take over the society’s assets and operations, president Haywood Cheung Tak-hay said.

Cheung will be chairman of the new exchange, which has 25 board members and existing members can choose to become shareholders of the new organisation. More than 137 members have agreed to become shareholders and more are expected to follow suit.

“The society is now structured as a club that belongs to its 172 member firms, including gold refineries like King Fook, Lee Cheong, Po Sang, as well as big banks,” Cheung said.

Cheung said the new corporate structure would make it easier to attract new members.