In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

Kangle Building, 51st floor.

Lin Haoran drank tea leisurely and looked out at Victoria Harbour through the round glass window. The magnificent sea surface was sparkling with golden light under the sunlight.

In the distance, ships shuttled back and forth, and the sound of whistles rose and fell, as if telling the prosperity and vitality of Hong Kong.

In the past few days, with the substantial increase in the performance of Bank of East Asia, Lin Haoran's mood has become even better.

To put it bluntly, today's Bank of East Asia has begun to challenge the authority of Bank of East Asia.

The most important thing is that he hasn't used up all his tricks yet!
Seeing Huifeng Bank's market share declining, Lin Haoran's mouth curled up slightly, revealing a confident and determined smile.

To be honest, with his assets and the companies he controlled, if the Governor's Office had not been watching closely, he would not have been afraid of the joint counterattack from the complex forces behind Huifeng Bank.

The existence of the Governor's Office is like a sword of Damocles hanging over his head, forcing him to be cautious in his actions.

After all, in Hong Kong, the Governor's Office holds the power over many policies and resource allocations. Once it is angered, even though the Bank of East Asia is currently experiencing a booming development, it may encounter unpredictable crises.

He still has very deep feelings for Hong Kong. Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, Lin Haoran is actually unwilling to move his business base from Hong Kong to other places.

Now, after the Governor-General's Office promised not to interfere in the competition between the Bank of East Asia and the Hui Feng Bank, although he still cannot completely fight back against the Hui Feng Bank, he has more room for maneuver and confidence.

Lin Haoran naturally knew that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and he must seize it firmly and strike while the iron is hot to further squeeze Huifeng Bank's living space.

At this moment, in his hand was a market share analysis table that Dashan had just faxed over from the Bank of East Asia.

The table shows that after the two planned financial business transfers were completely completed, Bank of East Asia's market share has directly increased from about 3% to about 22%.

This data made Lin Haoran's eyes flash with surprise, but he quickly regained his calm and composure.

This is the moment when the gap between Chinese banks and British banks is smallest.

In the past, other Chinese banks simply could not achieve this level, and this is something he should be proud of.

Not enough, this market share is far from enough!

The market share of Huifeng Bank alone is enough to surpass that of the two Bank of East Asia Banks today, not to mention the market share of its wholly-owned subsidiary Hengsheng Bank.

Moreover, although Huifeng Bank has not announced any effective countermeasure plan in the past few days, he is also very clear that given Huifeng Bank's previous domineering behavior, it will never sit idly by and will definitely launch a counterattack.

If Huifeng Bank had given up so easily, they would not have the dominant position they have today.

Lin Haoran put down the analysis table in his hand, tapped the table lightly with his fingers, and fell into deep thought.

At this moment, the mobile phone on the desk rang.

Lin Haoran came back to his senses and picked up the mobile phone to answer it.

To his surprise, the person who called was Walter Wriston, chairman of Citibank.

Last month, Lin Haoran originally planned to visit Walter Reston in the United States in person, but he happened to learn that Walter Reston was actually going to visit Singapore and would come to Hong Kong to meet him on July 7, so he didn't need to travel all the way to the United States to find him.

However, on July 7th, when Lin Haoran was ready to welcome Walter Reston, he received a call from Walter Reston.

Walter Reston told Lin Haoran on the phone that since Citibank's acquisition plan in Singapore was not going so smoothly, the visit to Hong Kong would have to be delayed for a few days.

It just so happens that Lin Haoran is not in a hurry to cooperate with Citibank now, so it naturally doesn't matter.

Now, I received another call from Walter Reston. I thought he should have solved the problem in Singapore.

As expected, Walter Reston's voice came from the phone: "Mr. Lin, my acquisition negotiations in Singapore have basically come to an end. In two days, on July 7, I will visit you in Hong Kong in person. I am very sorry for not being able to keep the appointment as scheduled!"

"Mr. Walter Wriston, you don't have to be so polite. It is common for plans to fail to keep up with changes in the business world. I fully understand."

Lin Haoran responded with a smile, his tone carrying just the right amount of enthusiasm and calmness: "I am very much looking forward to meeting you on July 7th. I believe we will have many opportunities for in-depth exchanges and cooperation by then."

Walter Reston laughed heartily on the other end of the phone: "Mr. Lin, I am communicating with you about cooperation matters with great sincerity and expectation.

Mr. Lin has been one of our most valued customers at Citibank over the past two or three years. I believe that there is still a broad prospect for cooperation between the two sides in the future.”

Lin Haoran nodded slightly. Although the other party couldn’t see it, his actions revealed confidence: “Mr. Walter, I also firmly believe this. I have many business layouts internationally, and Citibank has rich resources and experience in the international financial field.

If we can work together, it will be a huge boost for both parties. I look forward to discussing with you how to integrate resources and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results. "

After a few brief pleasantries, the two ended the call.

Putting the mobile phone back on the desk, Lin Haoran couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

He used Guo Henian's intelligence in Southeast Asia to learn the specific details of Citibank's acquisition in Singapore.

Citigroup's ambitions are indeed huge. As one of the world's top multinational banks, Citigroup has never stopped its expansion.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Nanyang developed extremely rapidly. The entire Nanyang economy emerged as a new force, and the economic growth rates of countries such as Thailand and Malaysia were among the highest in the world.

Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines are therefore known as the Four Little Tigers.

Another city, Singapore, is even known as one of the Four Asian Tigers.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Citibank attaches importance to the Nanyang market.

However, these have little to do with Lin Haoran.

Of course, it's not completely unrelated.

In fact, up to now, not many people know that Lin Haoran’s American Universal Investment Company has been secretly absorbing shares of Citibank.

In the future, it plans to prevent the Squid Consortium from controlling Citibank.

Today, although he does not hold many shares of Citibank, in the past year or so, up to now, he only holds about 4% of the shares, but he is not in a hurry.

After all, the merger of Citibank and Travelers Group took place after 1998. After the merger, Citibank was gradually completely controlled by Squid Capital.

But it is only 1981 now, and there are still 1998 years to go until 17.

During this period, he has plenty of time to continue to increase his holdings in Citibank's shares, and in the future he will even have a significant say in Citibank's shareholders' meetings.

Although he knew that the US government would never allow him to have complete control over Citibank, there should be no problem in changing the development direction of Citibank as a major shareholder.

By that time, he had the say in Citibank in the United States and the Bank of East Asia in Hong Kong. The two major financial fortresses echoed each other and were enough to build a huge and stable financial network.

This will not only provide solid financial backing for his business empire, but also enable him to gain a place in the global financial landscape.

The Citibank pie was too big, so big that he couldn't bear to just take a small taste.

"Boss, please turn on ATV. Huifeng Bank has an important announcement!" At this moment, Lin Haoran received a call from Cui Zilong.

"Okay, I understand." Although it is not clear what announcement Huifeng Bank will make, it should be a counterattack against the threat from Bank of East Asia, trying to regain the lost market share.

At this moment, Lin Haoran was also very curious about how Huifeng Bank would regain its market share.

There was a color TV in his office. Holding the remote control, Lin Haoran quickly turned on the TV and tuned the channel to the Hong Kong Channel under ATV.

This channel is a free comprehensive Chinese channel provided by Rediffusion Television. It started broadcasting in 1963 and mainly broadcasts dramas, variety shows, consultation and other programs in Cantonese. It is the flagship channel of Rediffusion Television and is also the biggest competitor of TVB's Jade Channel.

However, since Run Run Shaw took over TVB, and with major shareholder Lam Ho Yin providing TVB with a lot of suggestions that are very helpful in increasing ratings, TVB's ratings have now been ahead of ATV.

Finally, in March of this year, Rediffusion UK, which was completely disappointed with Rediffusion Television, transferred 61% of the company's shares to an Australian consortium, and Rediffusion UK no longer managed Rediffusion Television in Hong Kong.

After the Australian consortium took over and new capital was injected, ATV did resist in the past few months and tried to regain its share in the Hong Kong television market by launching a series of new programs and reform measures.

But at present, the effect has not yet been fully manifested.

TVB's television channels have a large number of high-quality contents, and their leading market share over the past year has led to increasing loyalty among these viewers.

Therefore, the effect of ATV's counterattack can be said to be minimal.

However, at this moment Lin Haoran had no time to care about the follow-up actions of ATV, as his attention was all on the TV.

Under normal circumstances, major announcements released on television are usually made by the spokesperson of Huifeng Bank.

But what Lin Haoran did not expect was that at this moment, the person on TV was not the spokesperson of Huifeng Bank, but Shen Bi, the head of Huifeng Bank!

Lin Haoran became more and more curious, his brows slightly furrowed, his eyes fixed on the screen.

Shen Bi personally came out to issue the announcement, and it is obvious that Huifeng Bank’s move this time is of great significance.

Shen Bi stood in front of the camera with an upright posture, a stern face and sharp eyes.

He cleared his throat and spoke in not very fluent Hong Kong dialect.

You know, Shen Bi usually speaks English no matter what the occasion.

As a proud British man, Shen Bi rarely used Hong Kong dialect in public before. This change at this moment undoubtedly sent a strong signal that Huifeng Bank attaches great importance to the local Hong Kong market and actively integrates into it. It can be seen that Shen Bi was panicked in the face of Huifeng Bank's shrinking market.

In order to attract potential new customers from Hong Kong, he now put aside his pride, changed his previous style, and spoke in Hong Kong dialect.

That's not like him at all.

Shen Bi came to Hong Kong in 1948 and has been in Hong Kong for much longer than Shen Bi, a native Hong Konger, has been. He can be considered a half-genuine Hong Konger and can speak Hong Kong dialect. Lin Haoran does not find it strange at all.

Apart from anything else, even Governor Murray MacLehose could speak fluent Cantonese.

On the contrary, Shen Bi didn't speak very fluently, which surprised Lin Haoran a little.

However, he knew at this moment that this opponent was trying to win over the Chinese in Hong Kong!
On the TV, Shen Bi's Hong Kong dialect, which was not very standard but was completely understandable to the citizens of Hong Kong, was heard: "Dear citizens of Hong Kong and friends from the business community, I am Shen Bi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Huifeng Bank. Today, I have something important to announce to everyone.

Recently, the financial market in Hong Kong has been undergoing changes and competition has become increasingly fierce. As an important member of the Hong Kong financial community, Huifeng Bank has always been committed to providing the highest quality and most considerate financial services to citizens and enterprises.

We are well aware that in the current economic environment, every citizen and business owner hopes that their funds can be better appreciated and protected.

In order to repay our customers for their long-term trust and support for the Bank, and to further promote the prosperity and development of Hong Kong's financial market, the Bank has decided to adjust our deposit interest rate policy after careful research and decision-making. "

Having said that, Shen Bi paused slightly and glanced at the camera, as if making eye contact with every audience member, trying to convey Huifeng Bank's sincerity and determination.

“从即日起，汇沣银行将1年定期存款利率从原来的 2.5%提高至 3.5%，5年定期存款利率将从原来的2.8%提高至3.8%。

This move is not only highly competitive in the current Hong Kong financial market, but also a reflection of our Bank of China's commitment to our customers.

We hope to provide more wealth appreciation opportunities for the general public and business owners by raising deposit interest rates, so that everyone can deposit funds with confidence in the Bank of Hong Kong and share the fruits of Hong Kong's economic development. We welcome all new and old customers to consult at any of the Bank of Hong Kong branches. Thank you!"

After hearing Shen Bi's words, how could Lin Haoran not know the purpose of Huifeng Bank at this moment?

Since they are unable to take back the market from Bank of East Asia, they are planning to seize market share from other banks in Hong Kong!
Lin Haoran has already known about the deposit interest rates of major banks in Hong Kong for some time.

At present, the annualized interest rate for one-year fixed deposits of major banks in Hong Kong is about 1%. In order to attract deposits, some small banks will increase the annualized deposit interest rate to about 2.5%.

Although the annualized interest rate does not seem high, it actually puts a lot of pressure on small and medium-sized banks.

After all, banks are merely depositors’ fund safekeeping and lending intermediaries, and their core profit lies in the interest rate spread between deposits and loans.

When deposit rates rise, if loan rates cannot increase at the same time, banks' profit margins will be greatly compressed.

Small banks themselves have limited capital scale, narrow business channels and weak risk resistance, and raising the deposit rate to 3% is already a barely sustainable option.

Especially now that the real estate boom in Hong Kong is showing signs of fading, the pressure on Hong Kong's major banks has increased tremendously, including dominant banks like Huifeng Bank.

If the transaction volume of Hong Kong real estate decreases, it means that banks are lending less, and funds deposited in banks consume huge amounts of deposit interest every day.

Although Huifeng Bank has a wide range of businesses, in addition to lending, it has many other ways to make money.

However, lending is definitely the core business of Huifeng Bank.

Therefore, Huifeng Bank also began to be affected by the reduction in mortgage loans.

But now, they dared to directly raise the one-year time deposit rate from 2.5% to 3.5%. It is enough to see that Huifeng Bank is really anxious under the pressure of Bank of East Asia.

After all, the shrinking market also means that the stock price will continue to shrink, which is a huge blow to Huifeng Bank.

As the most powerful bank in Hong Kong, Huifeng Bank has been implementing a deposit interest rate of 2.5% in the past two years. After all, as the bank with the largest market share, they have no worries about lack of customers.

As for those small banks, due to the risk of bankruptcy or even running away with the money, even though the interest rate is 3%, which is higher than that of large banks such as Huifeng Bank, it does attract some bold customers, but not everyone has such courage.

Therefore, more customers actually deposit their deposits in large banks such as China International Capital Corporation, Hengsheng Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Bank of East Asia.

However, Huifeng Bank has now raised its one-year interest rate from 1% to 2.5%, which is a huge blow to those small and medium-sized banks.

Originally, those small and medium-sized banks were able to attract some customers with slightly higher interest rates. Now, Huifeng Bank’s sudden interest rate adjustment will undoubtedly significantly erode their customer base.

It is conceivable that once Huifeng Bank’s plan succeeds, Hong Kong’s small and medium-sized banks will face a real wave of bankruptcies.

In particular, small banks without any background or unique advantages will be the first to bear the brunt of this interest rate storm, and their living space will be extremely compressed.

Wow, you failed to bully the Bank of East Asia, and now you turn around and bully small and medium-sized banks?

Lin Haoran was not shocked by Huifeng Bank's strategy, but found it funny!
Yes, it's funny!

Prior to this, he had talked with Dashan and planned to increase the one-year fixed deposit rate of Bank of East Asia from the original 1% to 2.5%. In this way, they would be able to plunder the market share of other banks in Hong Kong, especially that of Huifeng Bank!
It was surprising that Huifeng Bank's strategy this time coincided with the layout they had secretly planned before!
However, Lin Haoran had already considered whether the Bank of East Asia could withstand the pressure of attracting funds with such high interest rates.

As for whether Huifeng Bank can maintain its profit level after raising its deposit interest rate, Lin Haoran does not intend to delve into it.

But he is not worried about Bank of East Asia at all.

He already had a plan in mind, which was to invest part of the funds in the Japanese market!

If you make arrangements now while the Japanese economic bubble has not yet emerged, the future returns will definitely be considerable.

Compared with the huge profits that will be obtained from investing in Japan in the future, the annualized interest rate of 5% is really not high. Not to mention high, in Lin Haoran's opinion, it is even ridiculously low.

After all, loan interest rates have continued to rise in many parts of the world, including Japan and Hong Kong, over the past two years.

Taking the current bank interest rates in Japan, Hong Kong, etc. as an example, under normal circumstances, if he wants to invest in Japan through loans from other banks, the annualized interest rate will be more than 10%.

In comparison, 5% interest is really very low.

It is undeniable that the Swire Group has now made large-scale layout in Japan.

But Lin Haoran felt that it was far from enough!

At this moment, Bank of East Asia can use these high-interest deposits to invest without worrying about whether it will lose money.

Even the so-called "choose one of two" strategy of the Hong Kong Banks Association is unlikely to play a substantial restraining role in the face of high interest rates.

After all, faced with the temptation of real money, customers tend to make choices that best suit their own interests.

However, Bank of East Asia has recently been intensively promoting a number of strategic initiatives.

First, it successfully prompted large enterprises such as the Hong Kong Land Group to migrate their financial businesses to the Bank of East Asia system. Then it guided upstream and downstream enterprises that were dependent on core enterprises such as the Hong Kong Land Group and the Hong Kong Electric Group to transfer all their financial businesses to the Bank of East Asia.

This series of operations caused Bank of East Asia's business volume to surge seven or eight times in a short period of time, and the pressure of business processing increased sharply.

Under this circumstance, Bank of East Asia's internal operational capacity has reached saturation, and various business processes and system resources are facing severe tests.

If we rashly announce an increase in deposit interest rates at this time and all the increased business is combined, it will inevitably further stimulate customer demand for deposits, causing business volume to rise sharply again.

By then, all major branches of Bank of East Asia may be paralyzed due to business overload, seriously affecting service quality and customer experience.

Therefore, although the plan to raise deposit rates has long been included in strategic considerations, it has not been implemented due to the current bottleneck in operational capacity.

You have to take it step by step. If you rush into it, you might end up in trouble.

Both Lin Haoran and Bank of East Asia's interim president Dashan are well aware of this. They need to find a balance that can gradually advance the plan without plunging Bank of East Asia into chaos.

A playful smile appeared on Lin Haoran's lips as he secretly calculated in his mind.

Today, the first two plans have been completed perfectly, and the internal operations of Bank of East Asia have gradually adapted to the current business volume.

At this time, if the deposit interest rate is increased, thereby increasing the deposit business volume of Bank of East Asia again, it will be within the tolerance of Bank of East Asia's currently gradually optimized operating system.

Moreover, this will not only further consolidate Bank of East Asia's position in Hong Kong's financial market, but also reserve sufficient financial ammunition for subsequent layout in the Japanese market.

This move by Huifeng Bank seems smart, but in fact it is paving the way for Bank of East Asia.

Originally, if Bank of East Asia inexplicably raised its fixed deposit rate from 2.5% to 5%, the regulatory authorities would definitely intervene on the grounds that Bank of East Asia was disrupting the market.

But now, it was Huifeng Bank that took the lead, not Bank of East Asia that initiated the interest rate war.

In this way, Bank of East Asia will have more reasonable reasons and market environment to follow suit and raise interest rates, and the pressure on the regulatory level will be much smaller.

If the regulatory authorities want to intervene, they must first punish Huifeng Bank.

Otherwise, it would be a double standard that would be difficult to convince the public and would go against the statement previously issued by the Governor's Office.

He was originally considering how to further expand Bank of East Asia's market share at the lowest cost, but he did not expect that Huifeng Bank would take the initiative to offer him this "big gift".

Thinking of this, Lin Haoran couldn't help but laugh.

Huifeng Bank, oh Huifeng Bank, I never thought that there would be a day when you would be so eager for quick success and instant benefits and lose your composure.

Lin Haoran pondered in his heart, and the smile on his face became more and more intense. (End of this chapter)