A spokesman for the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) said today (July 10) that the Government has launched the Subsidy Scheme for Precious Metals Trading Industry under the Anti-epidemic Fund to provide relief to members of the Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange (CGSE) and practitioners registered with CGSE who are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.  

     Eligibility criteria and details of the Scheme are as follows: 

CGSE members
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     CGSE members with a valid trading licence as at July 1, 2020, and still have trading status as a CGSE member at the time of application are eligible. CGSE members which do not have a valid trading licence ("D" status) or have been suspended from trading by CGSE ("S" status) at the time of application are not eligible for any subsidy. Each eligible CGSE member will receive a cash subsidy of $20,000.

Practitioners registered with CGSE
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     Both "active" and "qualification retained" practitioners registered with CGSE (i.e. Executive Manager, Dealer or Account Executive) as at July 1, 2020, are eligible. Each eligible practitioner registered with CGSE will receive a cash subsidy of $1,200 per person. 

     The Scheme is open for application from today to July 31 (Friday). The FSTB will send out electronic application forms (Chinese version only) for the Scheme to eligible CGSE members/practitioners registered with CGSE by email in batches. Applicants should complete the electronic application form and submit it together with the supporting document(s) required by email to aef@fstb.gov.hk on or before July 31. To expedite processing of applications, applicants are strongly encouraged to submit the electronic application form to the FSTB. For applications made through the electronic application form, the FSTB expects the subsidies will reach successful applicants by mailed cheque within six to eight weeks. Applications may also be made by filling out the application form (Chinese version only) at Annex and submitting it by post to the FSTB at 24/F, West Wing, Central Government Offices, 2 Tim Mei Avenue, Tamar, Hong Kong. The FSTB will process these applications after completing the processing of the applications received through electronic application forms (i.e. around August 17 (Monday)).

Ends/Friday, July 10, 2020
Issued at HKT 18:14

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