HSBC has introduced tokenised gold products for its individual clients in Hong Kong, as the local government continues its asset tokenisation initiative. The financial services company stated in a press release on Wednesday that individual clients can access the HSBC Gold Token via the bank's online banking and mobile app. "This launch marks the first time HSBC's private distributed ledger has been used to tokenise a retail investment product," it said in the statement.
The bank built the HSBC Gold Token with its digital assets platform, HSBC Orion, and had previously launched digital bonds in Hong Kong and Luxembourg, according to the press release. "We are proud that the HSBC Gold Token, powered by HSBC Orion, is the first retail product in Hong Kong based on distributed ledger technology, as authorised by the Securities and Futures Commission," said Maggie Ng, Managing Director and Head of Wealth and Personal Banking in Hong Kong at HSBC.
The launch of tokenised gold products for individuals comes as HSBC has explored more financial use cases with blockchain technology. In November 2023, HSBC announced plans to offer a custody service for digital assets, including tokenised securities, in partnership with Metaco, a Switzerland-based cryptocurrency company. HSBC also launched a platform in November to tokenise the ownership of physical gold held in its London vault.
Tokenisation has become an emerging trend in the traditional finance industry. For example, SC Ventures—the investment and innovation arm of Standard Chartered Bank—launched a tokenisation platform called Libeara in November.
