"Which company did Chen Sheng choose?" Li Haonan's eyes lit up and he asked.
As one of the veterans who started the business from scratch with Chen Zhiwen, he has watched the company grow step by step. Today, the entire group has a very high status in several major fields, and Midea has become one of the most famous electronics companies in the world. , although Red Bull is not ranked among the top ten in the beverage industry, its core business, energy drinks, has always maintained its global dominance. Although it is still average in the fields of food and carbonated drinks, it is also developing rapidly, with annual sales of The amount is also growing at a rate of 50%. If any small business is branched out, it will be a medium-sized or above company in Hong Kong.
Hutchison Whampoa and Wharf have become two of the largest real estate companies in Hong Kong, and Galaxy Trading is the largest trading company in Asia. A large number of small factories in Hong Kong rely on Galaxy Trading. As for the boss's industry in the United States, it is even more successful. Now, Costco has become as good as Wal-Mart and has become a miracle in the global retail industry.
Success in many fields has brought a lot of profits and cash flow. Even if Red Bull does not currently aim at profitability, its cash flow is very large. There have long been voices within the group that it should be its own bank.
Of course, banks are also restricted by banking laws. There will be strong restrictions when your own bank does business with other companies or even companies that hold more than a certain proportion of shares. The laws of some countries directly prohibit it, and it is similar in Hong Kong. However, , even if you can't do business directly, there are many indirect ones.
"I am ready to acquire Hong Kong Overseas Trust Bank." Chen Zhiwen said. He lacks a bank of his own, and he naturally knows that it is not that his other industries need funds, but that with a bank, he can more easily obtain more funds, so that he can make profits in many fields. You can get involved and make an impact.
For example, in Hong Kong's real estate market, the next real estate crisis will inevitably put a lot of Chinese real estate companies in trouble. These are companies with full future potential, and the founders are also very capable. In this case, even if Chen Zhiwen can save it, he will not be able to save it. It is impossible to operate in the form of acquisition. Investing in shares is naturally the best choice. However, when the market value of the other party drops sharply, the proportion of shares cannot be too large, so it cannot provide too much funds. In this case, there is a bank that is It is a good choice to use the funds of bank depositors to provide shares to these companies that have potential in the future. Otherwise, if he uses his own money to lend to the other party, he will lose too much.
And after 85 years, the real estate market will enter a bull market for 12 consecutive years. In this case, even the huge Hutchison Whampoa and Wharf will not be able to swallow up too much of the market. Besides, Hong Kong’s office malls alone , it is enough for the two companies to struggle. In the residential area, Hutchison Wharf may not have too much energy and resources to participate. After all, no one can be the best in every project.
But if there is a bank, if it knows the future real estate market, it can lend all its strength without having to worry too much. In this way, whoever does real estate projects can let the bank get a share of the pie.
Another one is the future large-scale investment projects in the mainland, which require huge amounts of funds and a large amount of overseas loans. However, this requires a large scale of banks. Currently, in Hong Kong, except for HSBC, other banks obviously do not have this ability. , but it can be developed in the future.
"Ocean Trust? This is indeed a good goal. It is the third largest local bank in Hong Kong, and its founder Zhang Mingtian passed away in February this year. Now its internal management is in a mess." Li Haonan nodded and said.
There are currently many banks in Hong Kong, but most of them are relatively small. There may only be a few branches in Hong Kong, and the deposit scale is only a few hundred million or more than a billion. The larger ones may be several billions, the second tier is about more than 10 billion Hong Kong dollars, and the highest level is HSBC.
Hisense Bank is in the second tier, with a deposit scale of about HK$12 billion after HSBC and Hang Seng. It is the third largest local bank in Hong Kong. However, this ranking is only valid among local banks. The branches of foreign banks in Hong Kong It is not included in the statistics, such as Standard Chartered Bank, and the gap between Hisense's third place and Hang Seng's second place may be a bit wide, but this does not prevent it from being a very suitable target for itself.
"Yes, but Zhang Mingtian's death is just one of them. The most important thing is that Hisense Bank has been hiding a huge loss, almost 60 million US dollars. Here is the news I know, but I have no evidence. This requires you to investigate. That's it." After Chen Zhiwen finished speaking, he handed over a piece of paper.
Many banks in Hong Kong, especially Chinese-owned banks, have been troubled since their birth. From the 1950s to the 21st century, there have been several bank and financial runs, each of which resulted in the collapse of several banks.
For example, more than ten years ago, the bank run from 1961 to 1965 led to the bankruptcy of several medium-sized gold shops, financial companies and banks. Even Hang Seng Bank, the largest Chinese commercial bank at the time, was also run. In the end, it was forced to , was acquired by HSBC, but it is said that HSBC itself was behind this incident.
In the late 1960s, the Hong Kong government was frightened by several bank runs that almost triggered a financial tsunami. After learning its lessons, it formulated some regulations imitating those countries with mature banking laws in the West. This allowed Hong Kong banks to perform relatively well in the next ten years. , a lot of peace of mind.
However, the real estate bull market from 1975 to 1981 allowed everyone to gain too much benefit from this bubble. In order to make more profits and please the real estate companies that were strong at the time, various banks began to control various risks. The system turns a blind eye. After all, no matter how big the risk is, as long as the real estate market keeps rising, bank loans will definitely be safe.
Chen Songqing's Jianing Group took advantage of this loophole to rise. Two years later, it will bring a tsunami to Hong Kong's financial market. Hisense Bank, which has nothing to do with Chen Songqing, was also exploited and defrauded.
"60 million US dollars?" Li Haonan was shocked. After taking the information, he read it for a while and said, "You can actually defraud 60 million US dollars by just using a check wheel?"
Although Hisense Bank's deposits are as high as 12 billion Hong Kong dollars, banks are also special. Once there is a loss of 1% of the bank's total deposits, it will cause huge losses. This is different from ordinary companies.
"There is no complicated scam in this world. In the final analysis, it is nothing more than internal and external collusion. With internal cooperation, even the simplest scam can be solved. However, this is also related to Hisense Bank's relaxation of risk control in recent years." Chen Zhiwen said lightly. said with a smile.
Check wheel is actually because there is no Internet messaging nowadays. When a branch issues a check, the other branch can only confirm the authenticity of the check, but cannot confirm whether the account has been withdrawn in the recent period. , you can only exchange money first and then confirm it. This loophole in information transmission often appeared in Western banks a hundred years ago. The simplest solution is to restrict users, especially large-amount checks.
However, this will definitely affect the efficiency of the bank's major customers. Therefore, each bank needs to make its own decisions on how to control risks and maintain customer experience. Hisense Bank just relaxed the review of a major customer and allowed it to continue With this trick, a large amount of spare funds were obtained, which were later used for investment. As a result, the investment failed and the whole family went bankrupt.
Of course, there must be help within Hisense Bank, otherwise, no matter how lax a bank is, it will not be able to keep making mistakes in this kind of thing.
"Given the current situation in Hong Kong's real estate and banking industries, if this incident comes to light, Hisense Bank will definitely suffer an unprecedented run." Li Haonan said.
Given the size of Hisense Bank, a loss of 60 million US dollars is actually not unbearable. Even if the current economy is very bad, after all, the scale of assets is there. At most, thanks to a few years of profits, even if the stock price is cut in half, it will not go bankrupt. However, What banks fear most is a run. Once the news of such losses spreads, there will probably be a lot of people coming to withdraw money and run.
Under this kind of run, not to mention the banks that have suffered heavy losses, even any bank operating normally cannot withstand it. After all, most of the bank's deposits have been loaned out long ago, otherwise it would be impossible to have money. to pay interest to depositors.
"This is our opportunity, but we must grasp the timing, because once the run is too serious, it may attract the attention of the Hong Kong government. If the Hong Kong government accepts Hisense Bank first, then we will miss the opportunity." Chen Zhiwen added. Based on the lessons learned in the 1960s, the Hong Kong government generally no longer adheres to the so-called "market freedom" principle for banks, because Hong Kong's banks are all interconnected, and many of them exchange shares or share the responsibility of multiple major banks. Projects, or direct cooperation, once a bank has a problem, it is likely to affect other banks. When several banks have a run, even the Hong Kong government will have to struggle to take over.
"Okay, I understand, but if there is a run on Hisense Bank, there seems to be no reason for us to intervene directly. Why don't we invest some funds in Hisense Bank first, and when the time comes, we will have reason to contact their board of directors. What do Chen Sheng think?" Li Haonan After thinking for a while he suggested.
"Okay, let's borrow a few hundred million Hong Kong dollars first. Let's just say that we plan to cooperate with Chinese banks. Hisense is the first. In the future, there will be more than one billion or more funds. Let's let it go first." , let Hisense people be full of hope." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.
This time targeting Hisense Bank can be said to be the first time that Chen Zhiwen has specifically targeted a Chinese company in his business layout in Hong Kong. Even the previous Taohua Datong was a purely good-faith acquisition. The two parties set a price and traded directly.
But Hisense Bank is not a good thing. At the beginning of this year, they already knew that they were defrauded of US$60 million. It was not bad to be defrauded, but concealing it was a felony. The normal process should have been to prosecute the person immediately and then file a complaint with the Hong Kong Government Financial Management Bureau. However, because the founder had just passed away and something like this happened again, the entire management decided to conceal it. They even deliberately helped Ye Qiling, who defrauded Hisense Bank, to conceal it. However, they later caught him and continued to act openly and honestly. Hisense Bank makes money.
Finally, when the Hong Kong government discovered the anomaly in 1985, the entire Hisense Bank was defrauded and extorted of more than 90 million U.S. dollars. Including subsequent runs, supply cuts, and partner severance of contracts, the total losses exceeded 2 billion Hong Kong dollars. The Hong Kong government wanted to To prevent a financial tsunami, 4 billion Hong Kong dollars were put into the Exchange Fund. Although, with the intervention of the Hong Kong government, Hisense Bank was sold for 4.4 billion Hong Kong dollars in the 1990s, but the difference of ten years was that 4 billion was completely different. In this process, many depositors also suffered heavy losses. Even if the Hong Kong government took care of the situation, it still took many years to get their money back, and many people's lives were ruined.
Now that I detonate this mine in advance, not only will the losses of the entire Hong Kong be smaller, but if I take over decisively, I can also reduce the losses of ordinary people. After all, the current Hisense Bank can still withstand a direct loss of 60 million US dollars, as long as You need to provide people with confidence in the safety of their deposits after taking ownership, so there will be no other losses.
"Okay, I understand. I will contact Hisense immediately about the loan, and then check this matter. If we can find evidence, then we can take action." Li Haonan nodded and said, as long as this matter is true , then it is easy to check. After all, if a bank wants to suppress such a large amount of bad debts, it is definitely not something that a few top management can do by themselves. Many of their people must also be involved. As long as a loophole is found, it is enough to know Everything. As for physical evidence, it may be difficult to find, but witness evidence is also effective. Besides, once the matter is exposed and you feel guilty, some flaws will definitely leak out.
"Okay, this matter is very important. If there is any progress, please notify me immediately." Chen Zhiwen said again.
Acquiring a bank to expand the bank is part of Chen Zhiwen's long-prepared plan. Now it's the right time. In the next two years, the entire Hong Kong market will undergo earth-shaking changes. With his own bank, many things will be much more convenient.
Of course, the current Hisense Bank is just the starting point. After acquiring it, I will definitely use my own resources to expand it. At the same time, if there are other opportunities, I will continue to acquire other banks. In the next few years, there will be There are many such opportunities.
A week later, the headquarters of Hisense Bank in Hong Kong:
Taipan Huang Changzan took a distinguished guest around the building and said with a smile: "Sheng Li, our Hisense Bank is very powerful. In Hong Kong, the only three banks that exceed us in scale are HSBC, Standard Chartered and Hang Seng." There are special circumstances. Only Hisense is the real deal and relies on high-quality services with customers to develop. If your company chooses our bank as a partner, it will definitely be the best choice."
Li Haonan nodded and said: "Of course we believe in the strength of Hisense Bank, otherwise I wouldn't be here. This is actually our Chen Sheng's request."
"Oh, Chen Sheng's request?" Huang Changzan was overjoyed. He reached contact with this God of Wealth, and his future development prospects would be limitless. You must know that several real estate companies under Chen Zhiwen had already established a relationship as early as 2 years ago. As it began to fade out of the Hong Kong real estate market, it was natural that it basically stopped cooperating with local banks. Even for acquisitions, it relied on Standard Chartered or overseas banks to provide funds.
"What Chen Sheng means is that we are all Chinese-owned companies. In the past, we had to rely on HSBC for development, but now, everyone knows that whether it is banks or various companies, Chinese-owned companies have risen, and of course we all need to cooperate with each other. Yes." Li Haonan said with a smile.
"That is, the Chinese should help the Chinese and work together to drive British capital out of Hong Kong." Li Haonan smiled and asked: "I wonder how much money Li Sheng needs this time?"
"With HK$500 million and corresponding collateral, we will provide some properties in Hong Kong. The process is definitely not a problem." Li Haonan said.
"500 million?" Huang Changzan paused, seeming hesitant.
"What? Does Huang Sheng not believe in our collateral? Or is Hisense Bank unable to provide HK$500 million?" Li Haonan asked with a frown.
"Of course not, even if there is no collateral, Chen Sheng's name can easily lend 500 million Hong Kong dollars." Huang Changzan quickly explained: "500 million Hong Kong dollars is not a big problem for us, it is just possible need some time."
"How long? This money is of concern to Chen Sheng. If you take too long, I will have no choice but to go to the Bank of East Asia." Li Haonan said.
"It won't be long, 10 days is enough, how about it?" Although he knows that his bank's current problems are serious and there will be certain problems with funds, Huang Changzan doesn't want to lose such a big customer. This is not only It is a huge benefit, but if it really reaches cooperation with so many large companies owned by Chen Zhiwen, then Hisense Bank’s loopholes may be slowly filled. As long as Hisense’s scale develops large enough in the future, this bad debt can be Slowly erasing it through time, this way, legal risks will be avoided, and people like them may be able to escape from prison.
"10 days? Okay, then get ready. I will arrange for the legal department to come over and sign the contract. They will also bring relevant collateral information. If there is no problem, sign it as soon as possible." Li Haonan thought for a while and finally nodded in agreement. road.
(End of chapter)
