Hong Kong's Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Christopher Hui, visits a top Swiss gold refinery to encourage its establishment in Hong Kong and business expansion.

Following his attendance at the Global Precious Metals Conference in Sorrento, Italy, the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Christopher Hui, travelled to Ticino, Switzerland on 7 October (Ticino time) to begin his visit. During the visit, he inspected three of the world's top gold refineries, namely MKS PAMP, Heraeus Group and Valcambi SA, to encourage the establishment of high-end precious metals industry chains and high-standard gold refining facilities in Hong Kong and business expansion. The Chief Executive Officer of the Hong Kong Precious Metals Central Clearing System Limited, Benny Chan, also joined the visit. Mr Hui first visited the MKS PAMP refinery in the morning, meeting with senior executives including the Group's Chief Executive Officer, Marwan Shakarchi, and Chief Executive Officer James Emmett, and toured the refinery's storage facilities and metal analysis laboratory. MKS PAMP opened its third regional headquarters in Hong Kong last year, leveraging Hong Kong to expand its business in the Asia-Pacific region. During the meeting, both sides held in-depth discussions on making good use of Hong Kong as a trading platform and on plans to further expand regional and Mainland gold business. Mr Hui and his delegation then visited the refinery of Heraeus Group to learn on the ground about its latest developments in applying artificial intelligence, blockchain and various analytical technologies to precious metals supply chain traceability and precision casting. Heraeus has long been a cornerstone of Hong Kong's precious metals refining ecosystem, with its trading office and refining plant having been established in Hong Kong for decades. When meeting with its Chief Executive Officer, Dr Robin Kolvenbach, Mr Hui said that Hong Kong has a series of precise supporting measures to promote the development of a modern and full-chain gold trading ecosystem, and that coupled with the huge land supply and development potential brought by the Northern Metropolis project, now is the best time for the Group to consider expanding its Hong Kong business and bringing its advanced refining technology to Hong Kong. Before concluding his Swiss visit, Mr Hui visited the Valcambi SA refinery, meeting with its Chief Executive Officer, Simone Knobloch, and a number of senior management personnel. At the meeting, Valcambi SA revealed that the company is discussing with Shiu Wing Steel, Hong Kong's only steel rolling mill, co-operation to build gold refining and storage facilities in Hong Kong. Mr Hui said: "Hong Kong is fully committed to developing a fully functional gold trading ecosystem that integrates gold trading, clearing and settlement, storage, refining and risk management in one place. Refining is an important part of building the ecosystem. With a number of top Swiss refiners having already participated or planning to participate in Hong Kong's gold business, this is a great boost to our efforts to gain international recognition and raise industry standards. The Government will seize the current strong momentum of gold market development and continue to actively study different policy support measures to attract more international precious metals enterprises to start business and set up Asia-Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong." Mr Hui has concluded his visit to Switzerland and will return to Hong Kong tonight (8 October).