In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

As the largest financial giant in the United States and even the world, Citigroup's market value is not low at all.

Therefore, being able to purchase 3% of Citibank's shares at half the market price is definitely a super bargain.

Although there is a restriction that the property cannot be sold for ten years, this may make some consortiums hesitate and weigh the pros and cons again and again.

After all, ten years is a period of time filled with countless variables in the ever-changing financial market, and funds are locked up for a long time during this period and cannot be flexibly allocated.

Once there are major market fluctuations or new attractive investment opportunities, they can only miss them, which is undoubtedly a huge potential loss for the consortium pursuing high liquidity and quick returns.

In addition, no one knows whether Citibank will have any problems in the next ten years. Once a problem really occurs, the money will undoubtedly be "frozen in water."

However, for Lin Haoran, 10 years is not a problem at all!
He knew very well that if Citibank developed normally, it would be one of the top banks in the world, whether now or decades later.

Moreover, Lin Haoran's plan to have Chen Zhixue's team secretly acquire shares of Citibank was also one of his plans.

The current Citibank is not really controlled by the Squid Consortium, but is purely controlled by the entire board of directors, especially the current Citibank chairman Walter Wriston. As a professional manager, he has been in charge of Citibank for more than a decade.

However, this famous global financial tycoon is not a member of the Squid Consortium. Even Walter Wriston's successor, John Reed, is not a member of the Squid Consortium.

It can be said that Citibank is currently one of the few financial giants in the United States that has not yet been controlled by the squid consortium.

However, this period will end in 1998.

Because at that time, after Citibank merged with Travelers Group, the owner of Travelers Group gradually took control of Citibank as a major shareholder.

The boss of the Traveler Group is a member of the Squid Consortium.

Lin Haoran has no good feelings towards the Squid Group.

At the beginning, he acquired a logistics company in the UK, but was forced to sell it by the Squid Consortium.

Fortunately, taking this opportunity, Lin Haoran also made a lot of money, and he did not lose money, and even made a huge profit.

But no matter what, whether it was his understanding of the Squid Consortium in his previous life or his personal experience of confronting them in this life, Lin Haoran was well aware of the greed and tyranny of this Squid Consortium.

They are like greedy gluttons, plundering the global business market at will. Wherever they go, various companies are squeezed to the point of suffocation and the industry order is thrown into chaos.

Therefore, Lin Haoran was very disgusted with them. If he could prevent the Squid Consortium from taking over Citibank, he would not mind using all legal and effective means.

It is undeniable that as a non-American, it is impossible for him to control Citibank, and even if it is legal, the US government will prevent it.

However, although we cannot control it, at least we can have a certain say in the board of directors.

After all, it was Walter Reston who personally invited him to become a shareholder and board member of Citibank.

In this way, he became a member of the board of directors of Citibank legitimately.

The more shares you own, the greater your voting rights will naturally be.

In the future, he can use his voting rights to create many obstacles for the Squid Consortium in Citibank's expansion plans.

In addition, as an important shareholder of Citibank in the future, Citibank will also be able to provide great help in its global layout.

By setting up the Bank of East Asia in Hong Kong and Citibank globally, Lin Haoran has already outlined a grand blueprint for a financial empire in his mind.

Although Bank of East Asia will also pursue an internationalization path in the future, because the Hong Kong market is too small, it will easily reach a development bottleneck, just like the Bank of East Asia, and can only seek overseas expansion.

The same is true for Bank of East Asia, but it is not easy to achieve success through internationalization.

There are so many financial institutions in the world, so many that they are scattered like stars in the world's financial centers, and each one shines with the light of ambition and desire.

It can be said that the global financial industry is much more complicated than imagined.

If Bank of East Asia wants to carve out a niche for itself in this world full of powerful players, the challenges it faces are like towering mountains, and every step of the way will require tremendous effort and cost.

Bank of East Asia's counterattack in Hong Kong seems easy, but all this is because of the support of Lin Haoran. Hong Kong giants such as the Hong Kong Land Group and the Hong Kong Electric Group have given Bank of East Asia great help.

If it did not have these backers, Bank of East Asia would have collapsed long ago when it was targeted by Huifeng Bank.

In Hong Kong, this is considered Lin Haoran's territory, and Bank of East Asia can take advantage of it to develop.

But can Bank of East Asia perform as well internationally as it does in Hong Kong?
The answer is naturally no.

How easy is it to make Bank of East Asia a world-class financial giant?
This is also the reason why Lin Haoran did not place all his bets on Bank of East Asia, but instead set up another Citibank.

One morning, Lin Haoran talked a lot with Walter Reston.

Especially after Lin Haoran agreed to become a shareholder of Citibank and a member of the board of directors, Walter Reston became more enthusiastic about Lin Haoran.

Citibank's predecessor, the City Bank of New York, was founded in 1816 and has a history of 165 years.

And its ability to grow into the world's largest bank is obviously due to the support of many financial groups.

Just like now, Walter Reston, as the chairman of Citibank, has recruited Lin Haoran, a wealthy Chinese-American man with huge assets, which is also a great help to Citibank.

This is not the first time that Citigroup has made a strategic acquisition since its establishment.

In the past years, it has relied on its keen business sense and flexible capital operations to continuously introduce shareholders with strong strength and diverse backgrounds to consolidate its position in the global financial field.

These shareholders come from different industries and regions. They bring their unique resources, connections and ideas to Citibank, injecting endless vitality into it.

This is also the key secret that enables Citibank to survive and continue to grow in the ever-changing financial markets.

Every change and introduction of shareholders is like a move in a chess game. It seems ordinary, but in fact it contains hidden secrets and affects the future direction of Citibank.

Lin Haoran had a pleasant chat with Walter Reston.

At the end of the conversation, Lin Haoran mentioned that Bank of East Asia hoped to form an alliance with Citibank.

Although banks may seem to be competitors, they actually have a lot of areas for cooperation, such as joint investment, inter-bank transfers, agency for international business, inter-bank funds lending and credit card co-branded cooperation, etc.

In fact, there are so many areas where we can cooperate.

Of course, as a regional bank, the alliance between Bank of East Asia and Citibank is obviously a bit of a high-end deal.

However, Walter Reston made it clear that he would do his utmost to promote this cooperation, but the matter still needed to be voted on at a high-level meeting.

With Walter Reston's words, there will naturally be no obstacles to the cooperation between Bank of East Asia and Citibank!
After all, in Citibank, Walter Reston's position is very important and he almost has the final say, just like Shen Bi in Huifeng Bank. He can make the final decision on many important decisions by himself. The so-called high-level meeting vote is just a formality.

The two sides chatted for three hours in the reception room, and finally reached a lot of consensus and cooperation intentions.

After lunch, the two took a break. In the presence of a group of reporters, Lin Haoran and Walter Reston signed the relevant agreement to invest in Citibank.

The spotlights flashed continuously, recording this moment of great significance.

Citibank hopes to make this public to demonstrate its determination and strength to attract high-quality shareholders and expand its cooperation territory;
Lin Haoran also hopes that this matter can be made public. On the one hand, it can enhance his reputation and influence in the global financial community. On the other hand, it can also pave the way for subsequent in-depth cooperation with Citibank and the internationalization process of Bank of East Asia.

Huifeng Bank, in Shen Bi's office.

At this moment, Shen Bi received the news that Bank of East Asia and Citibank were forming an alliance, and his mood suddenly became much worse.

As the boss of Huifeng Bank, he had thought about cooperating with Citibank before.

After all, as the financial overlord of Hong Kong, although Huifeng Bank is strong, it still has a big gap compared with giants like Citibank in the global financial industry.

Shen Bi tried many times to establish contact with Citibank to explore the possibility of cooperation, but failed each time for various reasons.

Now, seeing that Bank of East Asia, a rival he once regarded as a "small player", has reached an alliance with Citibank, he naturally feels complicated.

"Bank of East Asia, Lin Haoran..." Shen Bi muttered to himself, with a hint of gloom in his eyes.

They all underestimated Lin Haoran.

Jardine Matheson underestimated Lin Haoran, and as a result, the foundation accumulated in Hong Kong over the years was destroyed.

Now, their Huifeng Bank underestimates Lin Haoran, and its market share is constantly being swallowed up by Bank of East Asia.

"Mr. Boss, the news of Mr. He Shanheng's resignation has been widely reported by the media. Today, there are many more customers withdrawing cash from Hengsheng Bank than yesterday.

Now the rumor is everywhere in the market that without Mr. Ho Shan Heng, Hengsheng Bank is like a backbone and soulless bank. Hengsheng Bank will definitely get worse and worse in the future. It is risky to keep money in Hengsheng Bank. Customers are worried that their money is not safe and they keep asking for money. What's worse is that there are several branches of Hengsheng Bank. Because there are too many people withdrawing cash, the service speed can't keep up. Customers are constantly making trouble, and Mr. Pu Weishi has not come up with any effective solution! "A subordinate reported to Shen Bi.

After hearing the report from his subordinates, Shen Bi felt upset, his brows were tightly furrowed, and the irritable emotions surged in his heart like a tide.

……

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, four days had passed and it was the evening of July 7th.

As of today, Bank of East Asia and Dao Heng Bank will be forced to end their activities of attracting deposit funds at high interest rates.

Although I feel a little helpless, I can only accept the reality.

At this moment, Lin Haoran was sitting in Dashan's office, waiting for the results of data statistics.

Of the remaining four days, the first three were very good, absorbing more than 38.72 billion Hong Kong dollars in deposits every day. The highest amount on one day reached a terrifying billion Hong Kong dollars.

Now, as long as we compile today's data, we can calculate how much deposit funds Bank of East Asia and Dao Heng Bank have absorbed in these 9 days.

As time passed, it soon arrived at half past ten in the evening.

Dashan, president of Bank of East Asia, walked in hurriedly from outside, holding a document tightly in his hand, his face full of uncontrollable excitement.

Before the person came to Lin Haoran, the joyful voice came over first: "Boss, the statistics are out!"

The reason why it was delayed until so late is that today is the last night of the high-interest fixed deposit campaign. All branches have tried their best to arrange employees to work overtime to complete all the business of customers who are still waiting in line.

After all, after twelve o'clock tonight, this high-interest activity can no longer be carried out.

Lin Haoran nodded slightly, stood up, took the document from Dashan, looked at it intently, and listened carefully to Dashan's report.

"Boss, today is the last day of the event, so there are more customers lining up in our 32 branches than ever before. All tellers are working very hard to handle transactions for customers as quickly as possible.

Finally, today set a new historical high in this period of time, with the two banks' new deposits exceeding HK$40 billion, reaching 41.43 billion.

During these nine days, Bank of East Asia and Dao Heng Bank attracted a total of HK$249.63 billion in deposits, of which 5% were 1-year time deposits and the remaining % were -year time deposits.

In the past few days, many customers have come to consult us and want to change their previous one-year fixed deposit to a five-year fixed deposit. Our lobby manager has explained to them clearly that the deposit term can be changed later, so these people have not affected our speed in attracting deposits. "

When Dashan reported, his tone was filled with uncontrollable excitement.

This is nearly HK$250 billion in deposits, which is nearly HK$200 billion more than the more than HK$50 billion they had previously thought.

This was far beyond their expectations.

Is it a pity that it didn’t exceed HK$250 billion?
Lin Haoran has no regrets anyway.

After all, it was not much different, and he didn't like the number 250.

Lin Haoran gently closed the file, raised a gratified smile on his face, and slowly said: "Dashan, this time the results far exceeded expectations, it's quite impressive!
Our high-interest campaign this time was very effective. Not only did it successfully attract a large amount of deposits, it also made the names of Bank of East Asia and Dao Heng Bank well-known in the market, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent business expansion.

During this period, everyone has worked very hard. Thank you for your hard work. This month, in addition to overtime pay, all employees who have participated in overtime, whether they are low-level tellers or senior leaders, will receive an additional month's salary. This is a small token of my appreciation for everyone's hard work during this period."

Upon hearing this, Dashan quickly said, "Thank you, boss! Although we have worked hard during this period, we all feel it is worth it to see such results. Your reward will surely motivate us more!"

“In addition, I am very satisfied with your performance during this period, so I have decided to promote you to be the interim president. After this matter, you do not need to go back to the Jardine Matheson Group, but will stay in the Bank of East Asia as the president.” Lin Haoran continued.

At the same time, Lin Haoran also took a look at Dashan's loyalty: 89.
Not the highest, but not the lowest either.

After all, he is a foreigner. It is very good that he has such high loyalty and he is worthy of trust.

As soon as Lin Haoran finished speaking, Dashan was surprised. At the same time, Lin Haoran also noticed that Dashan's loyalty increased from 89 to 90.

When he was at the Hong Kong Land Development, Dashan was just a department executive. Although he was able to handle daily affairs on his own, his decision-making power and influence were ultimately limited within the group's huge structure.

But when he arrived at the Bank of East Asia, the situation was completely different. He suddenly became a core figure second only to the president and played an important role in the decision-making level.

The gap in positions between the two is as huge as the difference between heaven and earth.

What's more, today's Bank of East Asia is making great strides in the Hong Kong financial market, with its market share growing larger and larger. Its importance and influence are increasing day by day, and it is no longer inferior to the Hong Kong Land Group.

From a long-term perspective, serving as the president of a financial giant, holding real power and controlling the overall situation, the resources, connections and sense of accomplishment gained are far beyond what one would obtain as a senior department manager in the Hong Kong Land Development Group.

During this period, he was actually secretly worried that once the businesses of Bank of East Asia stabilized, he would be transferred back to the Hutchison Whampoa Group and return to that relatively limited position.

Now, I can finally put my mind at ease.

The temporary position was converted to a regular position, which meant that he officially became an important figure in Hong Kong's financial world. In the future development blueprint of Bank of East Asia, he will become a significant figure.

Dashan took a deep breath, tried to calm his inner excitement, and bowed solemnly to Lin Haoran to express his gratitude: "Boss, thank you for your trust and cultivation! I will live up to your expectations and lead Bank of East Asia to overcome all obstacles on the road ahead and create even more brilliant achievements!"

Lin Haoran nodded with satisfaction and continued, "There is another thing you need to be prepared for. Mr. Ho Sin Hang will officially become the chairman of the Bank of East Asia on July 7. At that time, as the president of the Bank of East Asia, you must cooperate with him to steadily advance the affairs of the Bank of East Asia and jointly make plans for the development of the Bank of East Asia."

Dashan was slightly stunned. He Shanheng was going to switch to Bank of East Asia?
Lin Haoran had not mentioned this matter to anyone before. After all, He Shanheng had been preparing for his resignation and handover these days.

However, He Shanheng did not want his job-hopping to become a hot topic before he successfully resigned.

Therefore, even though it was Dashan, Lin Haoran did not tell him, which was considered as respecting He Shanheng's wishes.

However, now that the situation has been decided, He Shanheng called him today and told him that he had already handed over his work at Hengsheng Bank and could go through the final resignation procedures tomorrow.

Since this is the case, it is naturally time to tell Dashan.

Dashan actually felt a little uncomfortable inside.

Originally, he was the only president of Bank of East Asia, and above him was only the independent boss Lin Haoran. So he was actually one of the people in charge of the Bank of East Asia, and the decision-making power was almost completely in his hands.

But now with He Shanheng joining, everything has changed.

After all, there is almost no one in Hong Kong who doesn't know Ho Sin Hang.

This guy is a big shot in the financial world. Compared with him, I am really nothing.

However, Dashan soon figured it out.

He also knew that he did not have the ability to fully manage the increasingly large Bank of East Asia.

On the contrary, Ho Sin Hang, a veteran in the financial industry, has rich experience and outstanding leadership skills. His joining will undoubtedly bring new vitality and broader development prospects to Bank of East Asia.

If I can learn from him and gain experience, it will be of great benefit to improving my own abilities.

Besides, Ho Sin Heng is over 80 years old. Even if he takes the helm of Bank of East Asia, how long can he stay at the helm?
And I am only in my forties or fifties, and I still have plenty of time and unlimited possibilities.

Maybe in a few years, when Ho Sin Hang retires, as long as I perform well, the position of the head of Bank of East Asia will still be firmly in my hands.

Moreover, working with Ho Sin Hang will also allow one to accumulate more experience, connections and resources, which will be beneficial to one's future career development.

Thinking of this, Dashan quickly adjusted his mentality, a sincere smile reappeared on his face, and said, "Boss, I understand. Mr. Ho Sin-hang is well-known in the financial industry. His arrival will surely make Bank of East Asia more powerful. I will fully cooperate with Mr. Ho and jointly push Bank of East Asia to new heights."

Lin Haoran looked at Dashan and was satisfied with his change of attitude. He nodded and said, "It's good that you think so. Mr. He Shanheng has a deep industry background and extensive network of contacts. His joining will not only enhance the professional image of Bank of East Asia, but also bring us more cooperation opportunities. With the two of you working together, I believe the future of Bank of East Asia will be even brighter."

Dashan nodded heavily.

"Okay, it's very late. You should go back and have a rest first. You have worked hard during this period. After Mr. He has been working for a while, I will approve a vacation for you." Lin Haoran looked at the time on his watch and realized that it was already eleven o'clock in the evening.

"Boss, I'll go back first. You should also go to bed early." Dashan bowed to Lin Haoran again, then turned and left the office.

In the office, Lin Haoran sat alone in a chair, looking through the window at the many buildings outside where the lights had been turned off, with a myriad of thoughts in his mind.

Bank of East Asia attracted nearly HK$250 billion in deposits in just nine days, which was undoubtedly a huge success.

Combined with the financial market share it has already captured, Bank of East Asia's financial strength is getting closer and closer to that of Huifeng Bank.

Although there is definitely still a big gap, he still has a backup plan that he hasn't used yet.

By then, Bank of East Asia may become the largest bank in Hong Kong! (End of this chapter)