"It's 70 million withdrawals in one day. A rumor can create such power." Early the next morning, Chen Zhiwen looked at the data in his hand and said with emotion.
This data was compiled by Hang Lung Bank overnight and then notified the major banks in Hong Kong to seek help. As the third largest local bank in Hong Kong, and with Chen Zhiwen behind it, Hisense is naturally one of the people Hang Lung Bank needs the most help from. one.
"Yes, I checked yesterday. Hang Lung Bank and Xie Liyuan Gold Shop are purely cooperative. There is no affiliation at all in terms of investment. Just because of a rumor, they have suffered such a big run. Besides, even if they have affiliations, Relationship, legally you need to repay a certain proportion." Huo Jianning continued.
"So, legal principles are legal principles, but reality is another matter. To be a bank, you need to face various possible crises. Unless the scale is large enough, medium-sized banks may be killed by a newspaper." Chen Zhiwen said .
A long time ago, Chen Zhiwen decided that he would definitely need a bank in the future, but he did not do it until recently. In addition to timing reasons, and more importantly, he could only invest in a bank when he had a certain amount of financial resources. First, he was not large in scale. We also need to rely on other banks. For example, we needed the help of HSBC in the early days, and we also needed the help of Standard Chartered in the past few years. Secondly, a small bank does not have much effect, but is easily affected by the market. In serious cases, it may even backfire on itself. This kind of case has happened many times in Hong Kong. His prophetic golden finger has not been of any help to the banking industry.
Banks hold huge amounts of funds and can conduct transactions worth billions or even more with large real estate companies. They are unparalleled, but once they encounter a run, they will definitely die. In the 1960s, Chinese banks were earlier than Chinese real estate companies. With its rapid rise, Hang Seng Bank even became the strongest rival of HSBC that year. Hong Kong's stock market index was named after Hang Seng, which shows its influence at the time. However, after a run, it was forced to sell itself to HSBC.
"Then do we want to rescue? This kind of run, which has no problem in itself, should be suppressed very quickly as long as we come forward." Huo Jianning said.
"If you don't save me, if you release the news again, just say that Hang Lung Bank itself has a major debt problem, and then make an appointment with Standard Chartered CEO Winter for me." Chen Zhiwen said.
"Major debt problem? Is it true?" Huo Jianning asked.
"I can only say that there is a possibility, just like Hisense Bank, there is no evidence." Chen Zhiwen said.
This is not a lie or a deliberate attempt to deceive Hang Lung Bank, but in the past, Hang Lung Bank quickly obtained help from Standard Chartered and Bank of China during this crisis by concealing its debt situation. However, paper cannot cover the fire. Later, Hang Lung Bank still had funding problems and eventually collapsed. At that time, no bank was willing to take over. If the Hong Kong government had not destroyed its "principle of freedom," Hong Kong's banking industry might have been even more affected.
"Okay, I understand." Huo Jianning agreed.
When it comes to solving the problem of bank runs, the situation is very urgent. Bill Winter, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank, rushed over immediately after receiving Chen Zhiwen's appointment. It happened to be lunch time, so he booked a small table in a nearby mobile hotel room. High-end food and wine.
"Sheng Chen, why are you so anxious to come to me about Hang Lung Bank?" Bill Winter asked quickly.
Regarding Chen Zhiwen's sudden acquisition of Hisense Bank, Standard Chartered's Hong Kong branch was relatively confused, because the two parties have always cooperated very well, and Standard Chartered also regarded Chen Zhiwen as its largest customer, but now they have their own bank, although they are restricted by Hong Kong banking laws. According to regulations, your own bank cannot lend to other companies of your own, but there are many businesses that are not directly controlled by Chen Zhiwen but can be affected by him. These can naturally be cooperated with Hisense Bank from a legal perspective.
As they expected, many of Chen Zhiwen's businesses began to cooperate with Hisense Bank. However, Chen Zhiwen gave Standard Chartered a lot of face because Standard Chartered Bank's business was not moved, and all business with other banks was moved.
This naturally makes Bill Winter very happy. Perhaps the other party is considering that the current scale of Hisense Bank cannot accommodate too many businesses. It will be different when Hisense Bank expands in the future, but this has nothing to do with him as a wage earner, as long as When you are in office, it is enough for both parties to cooperate happily.
"Yes, it's Hang Lung Bank." Chen Zhiwen said: "You also know that I acquired Hisense Bank before. In fact, before that, I checked many banks to choose the right target, and Hang Lung Bank was among them. In the past few years, Hang Lung Bank's The business has gone too far, and the awareness of risk management and control is very low, so many accounts may not be able to be recovered in the future.”
"Is there a dead account?" Bill Winter asked.
"That probably hasn't happened yet, but it's hard to say what the future will bring. Xie Liyuan Gold Shop also had problems in the 1980s, but it was bankrupt only two years later." Chen Zhiwen said with a shrug. Everything has a certain delay. When a bank has bad debts, as long as it decides to conceal it, it can still persist for a period of time with financial techniques. Even if the bad debts are not very large and the economy has been improving, then after many years, it is This bad debt can be smoothed out through various financial methods. This is what Hisense and the current Hang Lung Bank planned.
"The Hong Kong government, the chief envoy called me and asked me to suppress this matter. If I don't do it without sufficient reasons, I'm afraid the Hong Kong government will not look good?" Bill Winter said with some embarrassment. , the hole in Hisense Bank was too big before, and he had reason to refuse, but Hang Lung was much smaller and had no problems on the surface. The difficulty was completely different. Standard Chartered was able to easily suppress this run crisis.
"This is actually not difficult. The accounts that can threaten the survival of Hang Lung Bank are at least more than 100 million Hong Kong dollars. As long as we make a request, we will review all Hang Lung's current accounts with more than 100 million Hong Kong dollars. If the objects of these loans are... If they all have enough collateral or the risk is low, then we can sell to help. On the other hand, we can only let it go." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.
"Then what is Chen Sheng's purpose?" Bill Winter has been in the mall for most of his life, so he naturally knows that Chen Zhiwen has something up his sleeve.
If you think there is a risk, then just don’t participate. Just let other banks take action or the Hong Kong government will be punished. Again, if Hang Lung Bank is allowed to be run, even if it spreads to other banks later, it will not affect Hisense Bank with Chen Zhiwen behind it.
Now that Chen Zhiwen specially invited him here, he didn't believe that the other party was helping him for the sake of "friendship" and avoiding Standard Chartered Bank's risk.
"If my news is correct and there is a problem with Hang Lung Bank's accounts, then this wave of bank runs will be confirmed. By then, Hang Lung's senior management will have no choice but to sell their banks like Hang Seng and Hisense did. ." Chen Zhiwen said.
"You want to acquire Hang Lung Bank?" Bill Winter was not very surprised. Apart from acquiring the other party, what other purpose could there be for doing such a thing? Under the influence of Chen Zhiwen's halo, Hisense Bank has become much larger than before. If it acquires Hang Lung now, its scale may not be lower than Hang Seng, nor lower than Standard Chartered (Hong Kong) Branch.
"Yes, but it's not convenient for me to come forward, so I hope Standard Chartered will come forward to make this request." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.
Hong Kong's banking industry has a long history, and the entire market is actually saturated, such as the number of branches. Decades of competition have resulted in different branches across Hong Kong. In terms of operating efficiency, the density has basically reached the extreme.
This has brought a problem to the expanding Hisense Bank. It is not convenient for it to continue to expand the number of branches. Moreover, the Hong Kong government's banking law also has certain restrictions on branch construction.
Therefore, the best way to continue to expand is through mergers and acquisitions. From 1982 to 1985, many banks collapsed due to the economic crisis, but there were only a few large ones.
In the original history, Hang Lung Bank collapsed after a year. In fact, it would have been the same for Chen Zhiwen to wait until then to take action. However, banks are different from real estate. Bad debts have been delayed for more than a year, which will only lead to greater losses for the bank. Although Hang Lung's problems did not Hisense is serious, but if it is acquired late, it may lose hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars. If it is acquired early, the losses will be written off now, and the rest will be the normal business of the bank. When the economic crisis breaks out, the larger the scale of one's own banking business, the easier it will be to benefit.
Time waits for no one. The Iron Lady will visit Yanjing at the end of the month. Maybe history has changed and Thatcher may not fall that way, but the result of the negotiations is definitely the same. The economic crisis he has been waiting for for a long time is finally coming, and Prior to this, Hang Lung Bank was the only one who could make the first move.
However, I still need to be a good person, and I will only be the white warrior who saves the company and savers. If I am a bad person, I will entrust the ghost man.
"I understand what Chen Sheng means, but I, Standard Chartered, can't do this for nothing, right? How about we acquire Hang Lung together in the future, seven or three points? You seven and I three?" Bill Winter said with a smile, being able to invest in a joint venture with Chen Zhiwen , even if you don’t have the right to speak, you can basically make a profit. This is making money through people who can make money.
"Seven or three is too much, let's say eight or two. Without Standard Chartered, I can find someone else for this matter." Chen Zhiwen said forcefully. He did not refuse. Firstly, because the food was not big, there was no need to eat it alone. Secondly, I can only say that Standard Chartered Bank will also be his goal when the time comes in the future. If you give me some shares now, you will also want it later. Take it back.
"Okay, then I agree." Bill Winter did not make any further counter-offers, and seemed to focus on participation.
"Okay, time is urgent, let's start this afternoon." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.
In the afternoon of that day, Bill Winter immediately visited the Hong Kong branch of Bank of China. Later, news came from the market that Standard Chartered and Bank of China requested a review of Hang Lung Group's finances. Only after confirming that there were no problems would they help it tide over the crisis.
When the news came out, Hang Lung Bank did not publicly agree immediately, which aroused public suspicion and made the run trend more obvious.
Hang Lung Bank Headquarters:
"What the hell is Bill Winter doing? The Hong Kong government has already asked him to support him. Why do they suddenly want to check our accounts?" Zhuang Rongkun, chairman of Hang Lung Bank, said very annoyed.
"Maybe we are being cautious. In the past year, all banks in Hong Kong have been having a hard time. It is normal for them to worry about our debt problems." Zhuang Qingquan, general manager and biological brother, said: "It would be another small bank. , if we fund it, I’m afraid we also need to consider the risks.”
Zhuang Rongkun naturally understood the reason and said: "But the problem is that the Hong Kong government will not allow financial runs. When there was a serious run on Hisense Bank before, it was said that the Hong Kong Governor personally came forward and asked Chen Zhiwen to take action. Governor Youde just A large-scale run occurred in the first year after taking office, which is definitely not what he wants to see."
"I just asked people from the Hong Kong government because people from Standard Chartered asked the Hong Kong government to guarantee the amount of capital contribution, but the Hong Kong government was not able to make such a decision quickly, so Standard Chartered asked us to briefly check our If there are any problems with the large accounts, the Hong Kong government has no reason to refuse." Zhuang Qingquan frowned and said.
The so-called enterprise is too big to fail applies everywhere, especially banks related to the financial system. Once they fail, it may trigger a domino effect. The larger the bank, the less the government can let it fail. Although Hang Lung Bank It is not as good as Hisense, but it also has a certain scale in Hong Kong and has business relationships with many financial companies and banks. Once something goes wrong, the Hong Kong government is not willing to see the consequences.
I originally thought that it was just a run caused by an unfounded reason. As long as I spoke up and paid a certain price, I should be able to get assistance. However, I did not expect that Standard Chartered and Bank of China were so cautious. As for the Hong Kong government's guarantee, it's not that it can't be done, but that the process will be very slow. After all, hundreds of millions of funds are involved, and the land auction this year is not good, and the Hong Kong government itself is still in deficit.
"We can't let them check. Once they check, we will immediately reveal the secret. Many of the loans we have issued have seriously insufficient collateral." Zhuang Rongkun said.
If you are hiding a bad debt, it is still possible to hide it from the auditor in a short period of time, but if you focus on the collateral, it is much simpler. How much is the loan and what is the collateral. This is the most basic information. , you can find out by looking it up.
"These are not top-secret financial information. If we refuse to provide them, the market rumors will only get worse." Zhuang Qingquan said.
"There is really no solution." Zhuang Rongkun said with some despair. The fundamental reason was that many of his company's mortgages had problems. This is actually the epitome of many Hong Kong banks. It's just that he was unlucky and hit the muzzle of the gun.
"I'm wondering if Standard Chartered is making such a request just to order more?" Zhuang Qingquan said.
"It's possible. Then make arrangements immediately. I'm going to meet Bill Winter." Zhuang Rongkun thought for a while and agreed.
Soon, Standard Chartered Bank arranged a meeting with Hang Lung Bank, but there was no actual progress. Standard Chartered Bank only asked to check the accounts and ensure that there were no major problems, but Hang Lung Bank refused and only offered to give higher interest returns. .
For this kind of negotiation, not to mention elite negotiators like Standard Chartered Bank, even ordinary shareholders know that Hang Lung must have a big problem. Otherwise, why is it so laborious to provide some basic information?
Affected by this, not only did the share price of Hang Lung Bank plummet, but the run also became more severe. This time, no other bank dared to finance it, because everyone knew that there was a problem.
In less than 5 days, RMB 500 million in funds from Hang Lung Bank was withdrawn, and there was no more money in the bank account. As a last resort, the two banker brothers had to announce the closure of various branches, which made a large number of depositors extremely excited. , even the police could hardly suppress them.
Subsequently, the Hong Kong government had no choice but to immediately take over Hang Lung Bank, and immediately met with senior executives of Standard Chartered, Bank of China, HSBC, and Hisense Bank. In the end, Hang Lung Bank's depositors' deposits were temporarily supported by Standard Chartered and Hisense.
However, the internal situation of Hang Lung still needs to be investigated for a period of time, and the accounting will be settled before processing.
Before the economic crisis, the last run on Hong Kong banks passed safely.
Time soon came to the end of the month, and Thatcher went to Yanjing as she did in history. Naturally, the negotiations failed and she fell on the stairs. Affected by this, the entire Hong Kong real estate market immediately experienced a plunge comparable to that of 1973. , at the same time, the Hang Seng Index and a large number of listed companies saw their share prices fall massively.
Hong Kong's cyclical economic crisis for about ten years has finally arrived.
(End of chapter)
