Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange (Commodities: Gold Silver) is surrendering all metal trades and will settle in cash. Defaulted! No Gold or Silver to be given!

This is Super Huge news in my opinion!

The Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange, which is the gold and silver commodities trading house in Hong Kong is immediately stopping/discontinuing and will be settling all gold and silver trades in cash that are in house at this time.  Besides that, they will determine what amount/price they will settle the trades/contracts at.

This is the exchange that began trading gold and silver in 2011 for the Pacific areas.  This is the one we had all hoped would break the gold and silver manipulation.  It seems the manipulation and physical amounts, broke them and they are not able to provide the physical.

On May 18, 2011, HKMEx formally began trading with a US Dollar gold futures contract. ^[9]In an interview with Reuters, Helmig said it plans to launch gold and silver futures contracts denominated in renminbi. He also said HKMEx will follow precious metals products with contracts in base metals, and then energy and agriculture.^[10] On July 22, 2011, the exchange launched a second product, a US Dollar silver futures contract.^[11]As of 5pm on February 13, 2012 trading on HKMEx’s gold and silver futures reached 1,003,210 contracts, representing total turnover of over US$50 billion (around HK$390 billion).^[12] Trading on the exchange's US-dollar gold futures for the first time surpassed the 10,000 contract mark on June 4, 2012.

You have to wonder if people in  Asia were demanding the physical metals, compared to the paper as the Comex people are happy with.   It seems to me they ran out of physical and can no longer operate with physical gold and silver as a commodity.

They are using the excuse of commodity trading not providing enough money for them.  But lets face it.  The fact that gold and silver have been hit super hard the last couple of months and the fact that the Asian's have been buying all the physical they can get their hands on..... doesn't leave much to the imagination of what the truth is.

It seems we now have an official Default of an exchange for gold and silver!   When will the Comex put something out like this?

It will reapply later to trade gold and silver again with the Renminbi, but is ceasing all trading immediately.

There is no physical metals to be had from the exchange for anyone who put trades on it.  

Media Release from Exchange:

HKMEx Voluntarily Surrenders Authorisation To Provide Automated Trading Services

HONG KONG, 18 May, 2013  – The Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange (HKMEx) announces today it has decided to voluntarily surrender the authorisation to provide automated trading services (“ATS”) granted by the Securities and Futures Commission (“the SFC”).

With immediate effect, no new orders may be placed and all open positions will be financially settled at the settlement price determined by HKMEx and its designated clearinghouse.

The voluntary surrender decision was made to enable the Exchange to re-align its strategy with the new industry environment since its trading revenues have not been sufficient to support operating expenses and, as a result, its inability to meet the required regulatory financial conditions.
While trading on the Exchange will discontinue, HKMEx as an organisation will continue to operate with its existing staff, and will focus on developing new products including renminbi-denominated precious and base metals contracts that will better meet customer needs. It also intends to re-apply at an appropriate time for an ATS authorization to launch these products with stronger and more effective market maker programs.

“The favourable conditions under which HKMEx was founded have not changed. Global commodity demand continues to shift towards Asia as the region undergoes sustained growth, presenting great opportunities that we will continue to exploit,” said Barry Cheung, Chairman of HKMEx. “Our priorities now are to protect members’ interests by ensuring effective closing of open positions while strengthening our shareholding base and developing new products that play to our distinctive strengths.”

In closing out the open positions, the Exchange has developed a plan in consultation with the SFC to ensure the process is orderly and that investors are well informed of the matter. The Exchange will disseminate settlement prices to its members the morning of next Monday, 20 May 2013. Investors may contact the Exchange’s hotline at +852 3900 9898 for any assistance or enquiry.