History of Hong Kong Island

Chapter 425 Yinghua Financial War

Ren walked into the box, took a glass of red wine from Qi Yaolin, and did not sit down, but stood with Madden, Sassoon, and Charlie.

Among them, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Swire, and Wheelock were the four major British foreign firms before the 70s.

Not only is it deeply rooted in Hong Kong Island, but it also affects the colonial economy of the British Commonwealth. Among them, HSBC and Standard Chartered are the most powerful and experienced, followed by Swire, and Wheelock is even further behind.Because Wheelock has no British capital background, it is a sole proprietorship founded by British Jews.

In the early years, he worked in the shipping and warehousing industry in Shanghai and developed through the colonial tide in the late Qing Dynasty and the Beiyang period. It is also a company that started with the blood of the Chinese.Later, it acquired the towing and barge company founded by Canadians in Shanghai.

After the outbreak of the Pacific War, Wheelock abandoned the tow barge company and real estate in Shanghai, and turned to vigorously develop the marine tanker industry.Because, at this time, Wheelock has no political backing in the country, so it has to try its best to retreat as soon as possible in case of great changes.

Later, Wheelock came to Hong Kong Island to develop and merge the "Wharf Group", which was also founded for Jews, and re-developed wharf warehousing and other businesses with the shipping tanker industry as the fulcrum.

This set of business strategies can be regarded as having a good vision and stepping on the node of the times. With the global post-war reconstruction and the recovery of trade, Wheelock has made a lot of money and has begun to enter the real estate, retail and other industries.

Of course, Wheelock also introduced many shareholders during the process of merger and expansion, but the founder "George Madden" is still the largest shareholder.Wheelock is still a family business in essence, and the current chairman "John Madden" is his son.

"John Madden" served in the Commonwealth Navy during World War II. He has accumulated some contacts in the political and military circles. He managed the industry smoothly and followed his father's business strategy to continue to vigorously develop the shipping industry.

In 1956, the Egyptian-Israeli war broke out, and the Suez Canal was blocked, and the world's shipping industry was booming.

Wheelock ranks among the top four British foreign firms.

In a few years, the "Middle East War" will break out again. Egypt once again announced the blockade of the Suez Canal, resulting in longer shipping routes, a surge in demand for oil tankers, and soaring freight rates!
Wheelock will usher in the most glorious years in its history.

For this reason, "John Madden" made the most wrong decision in his life, sold his listed steel company, spent money to buy more oil tankers, and gambled that the "Middle East War" continued to ferment. Unexpectedly, in just two years, the oil crisis, the reopening of the Suez Canal followed, and the business volume of Wheelock Shipping plummeted.

In the end, the "Wharf Group" fell into the hands of the Chinese shipping tycoon Bao Yugang, and Wheelock began to put it up for sale. The British capital and the Chinese capital fought each other for ten years to win Wheelock. In the 80s, Wheelock still fell into the hands of the shipping tycoon Pao Yugang, becoming the second of the Big Four to be taken over by the Chinese.

This is why many people have heard of HSBC, Standard Chartered, but not Wheelock. But now Mr. Madden of Wheelock is in the limelight. Apart from lack of foundation in the banking industry, his development momentum in other industries is catching up with Swire & Co.

People from Swire, HSBC, and Standard Chartered also respect Wheelock.

Qi Yaolin toasted Ryan with a glass of wine, and said in a calm voice: "Huazi Bank has been very strong in recent years, Eastern Bank has expanded its presence in Asia, and the Hang Seng Index compiled by Hang Seng Bank has been adopted by more and more securities companies."

"In addition, Guang'an Bank, Dao Heng Bank, and Wing Lung Bank have taken advantage of the east wind of the real estate industry, and their savings funds have exceeded [-] million Hong Kong dollars."

"Currently, there are more than eight Chinese-funded banks in Hong Kong with savings of more than [-] million Hong Kong dollars, which greatly squeezes the living space of British-funded banks."

Madden nodded: "Wheelock established Defeng Bank last year with a registered capital of 1000 million Hong Kong dollars, but the development of market-oriented business was not smooth."

"The citizens have stopped accepting the new British-funded banks, and they are very accepting of Chinese-funded banks."

Standard Chartered Taipan Charlie De expressed his approval: "Chinese-funded banks generally follow the example of Eastern Bank, adopt the strategy of free account opening, and do not charge individual user service fees, which will naturally win the hearts of the public, and their savings interest rate is higher."

It is the practice of foreign firms to charge personal account opening service fees, and it is implemented all over the world. It is impossible to change the strategy because of the Hong Kong Island market.If foreign users knew about it, wouldn’t they withdraw money and run away?What's more, this is a huge profit for the foreign firm, which can charge tens of millions of service fees every year.

Several big classes didn't dare to think about this aspect at all.

As for the Hang Seng Index compiled by Hang Seng Bank, it is a reference index based on 33 representative listed companies in various industries and calculated through data.Securities companies use the Hang Seng Index as a reference.A certain service fee needs to be paid, but the index service fee is a small amount.

The securities clients brought by the Hang Seng Index to Hang Seng Bank are the bulk of the securities funds.

This index has been accepted by more and more people, and it is about to become a representative index of Hong Kong stocks. Ten years, 20 years, if it continues to ferment, how many customers will it bring to Hang Seng Bank?It can only be said that He Shanheng has completely brought Hang Seng to the position of a first-tier bank with this move alone.

The Big Four couldn't sit still.

The banking industry is the economic lifeline of a city or a country. Whoever controls the banking industry controls the business of the city!
HSBC, Standard Chartered, Swire, and even US-owned Citigroup rely on banking finance to penetrate into various industries and hold various companies, becoming rentiers behind the economy.This is also the reason why the financial industry has high salaries and rich oil and water, because it is too common to get rich overnight.

British capital allows Chinese-funded factories to grow bigger and enterprises to become stronger. Anyway, one acquisition and one bargain hunting can reap the profits of Chinese-funded companies that have worked hard for decades, and take away the sweat of Chinese employees for decades.

In a good mood, I will leave you some leftovers and let you continue to work.

In a bad mood, it swallows your bones.

Let you go bankrupt, have nothing, and have a lot of debts. The reason why the Governor vigorously develops industry is the deep-seated ruling logic, which is also to raise pigs on Hong Kong Island.On the contrary, when the governor develops finance, he always gives a boost to British banks.

The Chinese are not stupid. Although they are weak, they are hardworking, intelligent, and want to get a piece of the banking industry. They have raised two or three large banks in the past few decades.Leaving aside Li Guanchun of the Bank of East Asia, as the first Chinese-funded bank, he was taught a lesson by British capital early on.

There is never a potential to catch up with the bank.

The newly emerging Dongfang, Hang Seng, Guang'an, Daoheng, etc.
The potential is bigger than the last!

Ryan was listening silently, and probably judged that the big boss "Wheelock" wanted to enter the banking industry.

Sure enough, Madden asked: "Is it possible for British banks to raise interest rates together to attract citizens to save?"

"If the Hong Kong dollar is printed with the signature of the Hong Kong government, then as a banknote issuing bank, we can raise the interest rate, just to let the Hong Kong government release more water." Charlie said with a smile: "But the Hong Kong dollar is essentially a British pound, and the right to print money on Hong Kong Island is really just printing money."

"It's shriveled and has no water at all."

"In this case, if you want to increase the interest rate, you have to find a higher-yielding investment project. Although Hong Kong Island's economy has developed well in recent years, the highest-yielding project is nothing more than real estate projects. However, real estate projects are very risky, and banks must do a good job in risk control."

"Currently, the interest rate we offer is the highest within the controllable range. Huazi Bank is higher than us. It's not because of their powerful projects, but because they are more ignorant of risks."

Qi Yaolin said with a smile: "According to the Chinese, they want to eat fat if they eat one bite, and they are not afraid of being stuffed to death! The more they ignore the risks, the more opportunities they will give us. In fact, since the real estate industry just started five years ago, our three foreign firms have seen opportunities."

"However, we have been waiting for the day when Chinese-funded banks are completely exposed. According to our calculations, 30.00% of small Chinese-funded banks have a savings fund pool that has reached a dangerous level, and two-tenths of medium- and large-scale Chinese-funded banks have a savings fund pool that has reached an early warning. In addition, real estate prices have experienced high prices for several years. Last year, they have begun to correct.

"That's enough risk."

Madden, Charlie De, and Xuan Sha all nodded in unison.

Because there is also risk control within the Chinese capital, it is impossible for all banks to be extremely blind, but they can control themselves, can they control it?They are controlled by the ministers of the mother's bank and ancestral family, but no one cares about the Chinese capital.

Likewise, no one will tell the truth.

Therefore, it is unrealistic to expect all Chinese-funded banks to be in danger. Judging from the scale of funds, the current level is already a powder keg.Once a crisis of confidence is triggered, Chinese-funded banks will go bankrupt and close down a series of times, becoming another delicious dish for British-funded foreign banks.

Only those public opinions, infamy, and legal responsibilities will all be borne by Chinese-funded banks.

When the Chinese-funded banks collapsed, wouldn't the freed-up market give opportunities to British-funded foreign banks?This is also the reason why Madden stood next to the three executives of foreign firms. He wanted to take this opportunity to become an international foreign firm involved in banking finance, just like HSBC, Standard Chartered, and Swire.

And it is the only foreign firm that can be passed down in the family!
This ambition is not insignificant, but careerists are the easiest to be exploited.

"Wharf Group has a large number of cargo owners who have deposit certificates with Mingde Bank and will use Mingde Bank's checks for transactions. Wharf can first refuse the owner to pay for goods with Mingde Bank's checks, and then secretly spread the news that Mingde Bank is about to go bankrupt."

"In this way, cargo owners and customers will go to Mingde Bank to withdraw money. Based on our understanding of Mingde Bank, they are absolutely unable to cash a large number of checks. At that time, the bubble of Huazi Bank will be punctured." Holding a glass of wine, Madden said slowly: "Hong Kong Island will set off a wave of liquidation against Huazi Bank, and then invite a few pens, financial experts, and write a few articles in commercial newspapers. You don't need to use knives or guns, financial stampedes will trample Huazi Bank to death!"

"Guang'an, Daoheng, Hang Seng, Dongfang."

"Everyone can't get away."

British capital.

The first financial war against Chinese capital after World War II is being launched!
(End of this chapter)