The Son of Finance of the Great Age

  Chapter 35 Exercise Options

Zhong Shi earned more than 70 million Hong Kong dollars from gambling. Counting what was returned to Liao Chengde, buying a house and donating to the Hope Project, there was not much left in his hands. He had some money to invest in the RB stock market, but he did not He planned to use the money because firstly, it was a little short, and secondly, the option in his hand was approaching the delivery date.

  In 1985, Zhong Shi used the money he earned in the currency futures market to invest in options, a Japanese yen option worth 500 million US dollars at the time, with an agreed exchange price of 190.

Now the yen has risen to the level of one hundred and forty yen per dollar. In just two years, the yen has nearly doubled. Even veteran traders immersed in the foreign exchange market are dumbfounded at this rate of appreciation. .

   In fact, the appreciation of the yen is coming to an end. In 1987, the United States will discuss with the finance ministers of several major currency countries about the excessive appreciation of the yen.

Although the yen appreciates rapidly, under the active fiscal policy of the Ministry of Finance and the loose monetary policy of the RB central bank, the upward trend of the RB economy has not been seriously affected. On the contrary, a large amount of capital flows to RB, which has caused the RB economy to of prosperity.

  At the same time, due to the appreciation of the yen, RB's companies and consortia are also actively purchasing a large amount of resources overseas to offset the adverse effects of the appreciation of the yen, and RB has therefore surpassed the United States to become the world's largest creditor country.

However, Zhongshi knew that this false prosperity would not last long. In the 1990s two years later, RB's stock market and real estate market would collapse, and RB's economy would also slump, falling into the so-called "The Lost Decade".

  This kind of bubble cannot last long. In fact, history has proved it countless times, and it will be proved again in the future. Without the support of the real economy and the improvement of labor efficiency, no matter how prosperous the virtual economy is, it will be a passing cloud.

   Zhong Shi’s earnings from this option have also reached a limit. Although the yen will hit a new high at the end of 1987, reaching an unprecedented 120, Zhong Shi can’t wait for that time.

   Time to exercise this option!

  ...

  Hong Kong, Central, Standard Chartered Bank Headquarters.

  Standard Chartered Bank is also an old British bank, but its main business is in East Asia. It is not so much a British bank as it is a bank registered in London with its main business all over the world. It is a little strange that Standard Chartered has very little business in the UK where it is incorporated.

  Like HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank is also one of the three commercial banks designated by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to issue banknotes. The other is Huaxia Bank (Hong Kong) with a Chinese background.

Because of the particularity of Hong Kong, there is no such thing as a central bank. In this way, the right to issue banknotes is handed over to two British-funded banks and one Chinese-funded bank. When these three banks issue Hong Kong dollars, they must According to the exchange rate of 7.80 to 1 U.S. dollar, the U.S. dollar can be handed over to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority before it can print money. It is precisely because of this that the exchange rate of the Hong Kong dollar has remained at a stable level for a long time.

This linked exchange rate system is close to the fixed exchange rate system, but Hong Kong, as a model of free economy, has two parallel exchange rate markets in this case, that is, the exchange fund and the interbank cash formed by the note-issuing bank due to the note-issuing relationship. Foreign exchange market. In later generations, those financial giants used this relationship to attack Hong Kong's exchange rate system.

  Let’s say that Liao Chengde had an appointment with the head of foreign exchange of Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong. After the two parties were officially seated, the foreigner with blue eyes and high nose bridge was surprised to find that the young man who came with Liao Chengde actually sat in the second seat.

  The supervisor is called Ryan. He has worked in Standard Chartered Hong Kong for 20 years and has long been familiar with Chinese people. He can not only speak fluent Mandarin and Cantonese, but also has a lot of research on Chinese culture.

   "Mr. Liao, I don't know how I can help you this time." Although Ryan was a little surprised, he also knew the reason why Mount Tai collapsed in front of him without changing his face. It seems that learning Chinese culture had a profound impact on him.

"It's like this, Mr. Cooper, I have a sum of Japanese yen, and I want to sell it to your bank." Liao Chengde rubbed his hands, and said with some uncertainty, although he didn't understand what Zhong Shi ordered. It's true, but it's still done.

"Oh, really? I don't know how many yen you have?" Ryan was disappointed when he heard that. At first, he thought it was something important, but when he heard that it was about buying and selling foreign exchange, he shook slightly. Shake your head. The central bank, large commercial banks, and financial institutions trade in the foreign exchange market. This kind of private transaction generally does not have much quota, and he does not need his supervisor level.

   "About 100 billion yen!" Zhong Yi, who was watching coldly, was a little unhappy. The disappointment that flashed in the eyes of this well-dressed gentleman did not escape his eyes, which made him somewhat dissatisfied with the service attitude of this bank.

"What? One hundred billion yen?" Ryan was taken aback. He thought it was only a few hundred million or several billion yen. Before the meeting, he also investigated Liao Chengde's net worth and knew that this rapidly rising Rich people have taken the express train of Li Ka-shing in recent years, but even so, there will not be many.

  As soon as the young man sitting next to him opened his mouth, he reported an amount that made Ryan's face change.

  100 billion yen, equivalent to more than 700 million U.S. dollars in U.S. dollars, or 5.5 billion in Hong Kong dollars. At such a moment, Ryan quickly converted the corresponding amount in his mind.

  Now that the yen is appreciating so fast, the foreign exchange trading department in charge of Ryan has also made a lot of money in the yen trading in the past two years. Since HSBC's profit plummeted last year, Standard Chartered has been ambitious and wants to continue to suppress its old rivals this year, and the profit targets of various departments have been greatly improved compared with the previous year.

  If you have this amount of funds, you only need to wander around in the foreign exchange market to make a profit of hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars. When Ryan thought about it, he understood what was going on now.

   "Mr. Liao, I will buy all the yen in your hand at a favorable price, yes, all!" Ryan said in a firm tone.

   "Sure enough, Zhong Shi didn't expect it!"

  Liao Chengde stopped talking, and this sentence popped up in his heart. Ryan's reaction in front of him was exactly what Zhong Shi had previously speculated.

   Although trading in the foreign exchange market, the daily capital is calculated in the billions, but how can a bank like Standard Chartered registered in Europe and mainly operating in Hong Kong compare with those Bank of America and RB Bank. Banks like Standard Chartered and HSBC are still juniors in the international financial market, especially in the US financial market.

  Bankers have a characteristic, that is, they are particularly greedy for profits. If possible, even a mosquito's thigh, they would like to dig a piece of meat from it.

   "I don't know what price you want to buy?" Zhong Yi became interested and asked with his head tilted.

Ryan got up quickly, stretched out his right hand politely, and put on a warm smile on his face: "Ryan Cooper, I don't know what this gentleman's name is?" He thought Zhong Yi was Liao Chengde's follower, so he didn't care, After saying a few words, I realized that the young man in front of me turned out to be today's protagonist.

   "Zhong Yi." The young man shook his hand slightly, with a half-smile expression on his face.

   "Zhong Yi? Zhong Yi? Good name, I like it." The smile on Ryan's face became stronger, and he complimented him. In Cantonese, "Zhongyi" means liking, which happens to be a pun.

   "I bought them all at a price of one hundred and thirty-nine, what do you think?" Ryan said impatiently after the two parties were seated.

"One hundred and thirty-nine? Mr. Cooper, to tell you the truth, before we came to Standard Chartered, we just listened to the quotation next door (HSBC), and the price they offered is much more attractive than yours!" Zhong Yi shook his head and said with some dissatisfaction.

   "Oh? I don't know what price they give?" Ryan frowned, and a bad feeling came to his mind. The facts seemed to be much more complicated than he imagined.

   "This is a business secret between me and them. It seems a bit inappropriate for Mr. Cooper to ask such a question!" Zhong Yi laughed and changed the subject.

   "I'm sorry, I was rude. Can you two wait a moment, wait until I discuss with my superiors, and then make a satisfactory quotation?" Ryan knew that if he raised the quotation, he would exceed his authority.

"It's up to you, but I have to remind you, Mr. Cooper, according to our research results, the yen may rise to the mark of 120 at most." Zhong Yi shrugged and made a respectful gesture posture.

  Lian nodded, and closed the door of the reception room casually.

Ten minutes later, Ryan came in with the latest foreign exchange statement, handed the paper to Zhong Yi, and said solemnly: "After discussion, our highest quotation can only be 136, and it cannot be lowered. You also know that the foreign exchange market is very risky, and we are not very optimistic about the prospect of the appreciation of the yen, and believe that the inflection point will come soon.”

"make a deal!"

  Zhong Yi glanced at the report, and the exchange rate between the Japanese yen and the U.S. dollar has risen to 139. This is the latest quotation in the foreign exchange market. HSBC's offer was only one hundred and thirty-nine, and they made it clear that this was their reserve price. In this case, the money could only be earned by their opponents.

   "I wish us a happy cooperation!" Ryan stretched out his hand and shook Zhong Yi's hand firmly. This time Zhong Yi was sincere and shook her vigorously.

   "Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention one more thing. Before that, we still need a loan of 500 million dollars!" Zhong Yi scratched his head with a sorry expression on his face.

   "..." Ryan was stunned on the spot for a moment, not understanding why Zhong Yi said that, but after a while he came back to his senses and shouted in a gaffe: "Options, it's options!"

   "As expected of a professional, smart!" Zhong Yi gave a thumbs up and praised.

"Time limit? Agreed price?" Ryan didn't care about the praise he liked at all, and asked quickly, even his breathing became a little quicker, and he finally figured out how the 100 billion yen was. Here it comes.

   "Two years, one hundred and nineteen!" Zhong Yi's words made Ryan gasp!

(Recently, a very happy thing happened in the domestic bond industry. A "chief editor" made a super-low-level mistake in bond income, which was ridiculed by people in the entire financial circle. For details, see "A Controversy Caused by Dagong's Downgrade of the U.S. Rating ", the original text can be searched online. Interested friends can ask me in the book review area below the book)

  (end of this chapter)