Linklaters advises HSBC on enhancements to its market first retail gold token offering

Linklaters has advised The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC) on enhancements to the HSBC Gold Token, which is Hong Kong SAR’s first tokenised retail investment product launched in March 2024.

The HSBC Gold Token allows retail investors to gain fractional ownership of Loco London gold held by HSBC, stored in vaults in England, and recorded on HSBC’s private distributed ledger.

Linklaters advised HSBC on two key enhancements designed to improve customer experience and provide greater flexibility in distribution:

• Accelerated settlement: the standard settlement cycle will be shortened from two business days after trade date to one business day.
• New gifting feature: in addition to buying from and selling to HSBC, investors will be able to gift HSBC Gold Tokens to other individuals.

The Linklaters team was led by capital markets partner I Ping Soong and financial regulation partner Kishore Bhindi, with support from Carolyn Sng, Victoria Lau and Kristie Fung. The team provided in-depth legal analysis on a range of novel and complex matters at the intersection of Hong Kong and English law, working closely with HSBC to implement a seamless solution in compliance with regulatory requirements within a tight timeframe.

Linklaters’ capital markets partner I Ping Soong commented:

“HSBC’s gold token offering demonstrates the increasing demand from retail clients for simple and secure digital access to real world assets. We are delighted to have supported HSBC in implementing these latest enhancements, which represent another important step in the evolution of regulated tokenised products within Hong Kong’s financial regulatory framework.”