Rebirth: The Era of Hong Kong Tycoon

Chapter 297 [Reserve Dollars]

Saturday, October 9.

The 'Hong Kong Dollar Crisis' broke out, and rumors abounded in the world that the Hong Kong dollar would be replaced by the RMB.The Hong Kong dollar crisis triggered a panic-buying frenzy, and citizens flocked to supermarkets to buy food such as rice and peanut oil.

Hong Kong is a city that relies heavily on imported daily necessities, mainly from Japan, Southeast Asia, and the mainland. Therefore, the food reserves that were originally saturated were suddenly exhausted under the panic buying of citizens.

Supplies from Wellcome Supermarket were sold out within a day or two. Only Yonghui Supermarket and ParknShop Supermarket were still supplying a large amount, and they reassured the public that there was no need to rush to buy them, as the supermarkets had sufficient stock of food; Only these two supermarkets are supplying, and they are still available at a reasonable price, which naturally won a very good reputation.

Citizens who exchange Hong Kong dollars against U.S. dollars did not think of Hang Lung Bank at first, but went to HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Hang Seng Bank and other big banks to exchange, but soon these big banks exchanged a daily limit for U.S. dollars; After July 7, a window for exchanging U.S. dollars was added. It was not known at the beginning, but as someone passed on the news, soon there was an endless stream of citizens exchanging U.S. dollars.

Ah Can is a white-collar worker in Hong Kong. He has a deposit of 8.5 Hong Kong dollars. He took it out of the bank a few days ago because the Hong Kong dollar is depreciating wildly. Now the exchange rate with the US dollar has reached [-]. He is very worried that the Hong Kong dollar will become worthless. It is worthless or depreciated wildly, so I decided to convert it into US dollars.

I went to many banks, but because there were too many people exchanging U.S. dollars, these banks announced that the U.S. dollar quota for the day had been used up; so Ah Can waited from the exchange rate of 7.5 to 8.5, but still failed to exchange successfully.

Now, hearing many people say that Hang Lung Bank is exchanging US dollars, Ah Can got up overnight and queued up, this time he must exchange successfully.

While Ah Can was queuing, the staff of Hang Lung Bank used the loudspeaker to publicize: "Dear citizens who exchange US dollars, please listen to Hang Lung Bank's advice here, the Hong Kong dollar will not depreciate wildly, and the Hong Kong government will never sit idly by; The exchange rate has stabilized the foreign exchange market, so if you exchange dollars now, you may lose a lot of money for nothing. Citizens who have no plans to immigrate, please don’t believe the rumors in the market!"

The staff of Hang Lung Bank tried to persuade the people in line impatiently, and explained the key points, which still played a certain role, so the people in line should not hesitate.

Even, Hang Lung Bank specially arranged for volunteers to explain the possible consequences of exchanging US dollars to those in line.

As long as one-third of them are overwhelmed, they decide not to exchange for the time being.

The remaining two-thirds are naturally damned ghosts who are hard to persuade.

Ah Can couldn't help but took the right time, asked a volunteer, and said, "Will the Hong Kong government really save the Hong Kong dollar?"

The volunteer said patiently: "Our bank has said that the RMB will not replace the Hong Kong dollar, and the Hong Kong dollar will not collapse. Therefore, please carefully decide to exchange for the US dollar to avoid unnecessary losses."

Ah Can wanted to ask again, but unfortunately the volunteer had already walked towards someone else.

For a while, Ah Can hesitated. With his family, it is absolutely impossible to emigrate, because he has no money to live abroad, and emigration is the exclusive property of the rich, at least he must be a professional.If you really exchange your deposits into US dollars, if the Hong Kong government stabilizes the exchange rate below 8.5, you will lose a sum of money.

In the end, Ah Can withdrew from the queue and ran outside without looking back.

The exchange rate between the US dollar and the Hong Kong dollar was once as high as 9.8, and Hang Lung Bank’s 3 million US dollars were exchanged in half a month, which shows that there are many people in panic. Fortunately, on October 10, the Hong Kong government announced the linked exchange rate system, and the Hong Kong dollar was pegged to the US dollar again. , the exchange rate is set at 15 Hong Kong dollars to 7.8 US dollar.

Historically, there were three points in this crisis: first, the rush to buy supplies; second, the Hong Kong dollar crisis; third, Hang Lung Bank was taken over by the Hong Kong government, and Sun Hung Kai Bank was supported by the Hong Kong government, HSBC, and Bank of Merrill Lynch.The entire process lasted 20 days, and the crisis was finally resolved. The Hong Kong government responded quickly this time, and was affirmed by citizens and industry professionals. It was much better than in 1965.

This time, Hang Lung Bank was taken over by Lin Rongheng at the beginning of the year. At that time, the Hong Kong government also praised Lin Rongheng. The Hong Kong government, which is disadvantaged in selling land, is a big expense.

So this time, without the Hang Lung Bank crisis, the banking crisis naturally did not break out. After all, Sun Hung Kai would not be taken over, so the problem is not big.

This time, Hang Lung Bank's performance not only reaped reputation, but also reaped profits.

Hang Lung Bank’s US$3 million has an average exchange rate of 8.5, while the cost exchange rate of this batch of US dollars is only 6 Hong Kong dollars, which is equivalent to 18% of the profit.That is, the original 25.5 billion Hong Kong dollars has now become 7.5 billion Hong Kong dollars, a full [-] million Hong Kong dollars more.

As for the current exchange rate of 7.8, it has nothing to do with Hang Lung Bank, because these funds were originally spent in Hong Kong.

The 30% depreciation of the Hong Kong dollar this time will greatly benefit exports. It is foreseeable that the total value of Hong Kong's exports will increase greatly in the next few years.

After the incident of Hang Lung Bank, Lin Rongheng believes that deposits will increase soon, coupled with the company's huge profits (earned from foreign exchange differences), the development is far better than that of ordinary banks.

Galaxy Financial Group.

Lin Rongheng convened
(End of this chapter)