In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

Chapter 647: The Era of Dual Overlords

Sunday, July 7, 19 a.m.

More than a hundred media outlets gathered in the first-floor lobby of a building in Causeway Bay.

This building is where the office of Global Research Company is located.

This matter has been spread for two days and the effect is remarkable. The entire Hong Kong media has been attracted to it.

Therefore, as a tenant of the building, Yu Zhize applied to the building property to use the first floor lobby as a temporary press conference venue.

The building property naturally agreed, considering the attention and influence that the press conference might bring.

In the lobby, the lights were bright, and the camera lenses were flashing cold light. Reporters were holding microphones, their eyes full of anticipation and excitement, and they were whispering about the contents of the report that was about to be released.

In the past two days, the news released by Universal Research Company has been enough to make people in Hong Kong curious.

Everyone is guessing what market share Bank of East Asia has today?
And how much market share does the financial giant Huifeng Bank have left?

How far is the market share of Bank of East Asia from that of Bank of East Asia?

These questions, along with the news released by Universal Research Company, have successfully attracted everyone's attention and become a hot topic on the streets.

As one of the most professional research companies in Hong Kong, Universal Research has a very good reputation in the industry. No one thinks that Universal Research would falsify data in order to become famous. Even if it becomes famous, it will be notorious. What good will that do to Universal Research?

Therefore, everyone has a high degree of trust in the content of the report to be released by Global Research and is looking forward to obtaining useful information from this report.

It is said that Chinese people like to watch the fun. As part of the Chinese cultural circle, Hong Kong people are naturally very interested in this "stormy showdown" for the market share in the banking industry.

After all, whether it is Huifeng Bank, Bank of East Asia, or Lin Haoran behind them, they are all extremely influential figures and institutions in Hong Kong's business community.

Especially in the past few years when Lin Haoran rose to prominence, he was like a legend, constantly acquiring many British and Chinese giants.

Even Jardine Matheson, once the "king of foreign firms", was defeated in the business competition with Lin Haoran and eventually withdrew from the Hong Kong market.

And now, the showdown between Huifeng Bank, the overlord of Hong Kong's financial industry, and Lin Haoran, the rising new king, is such a good show, who wouldn't want to watch it?

Yu Zhize stood on the press conference platform, looked at the hungry reporters below, and took a deep breath.

He knew that once the contents of this report were released today, by tomorrow, the name of Universal Research Company would be completely famous throughout Hong Kong. This was of vital importance to their company!
Yu Zhize couldn't contain his excitement when he thought that Universal Research Company would take this opportunity to reach new heights of development.

Although Universal Research is considered a very good company in this industry, the research market is not that big. Even if it is one of the best in the industry, it is just an inconspicuous small company among other corporate giants.

Therefore, facing more than a hundred news organizations on the scene, Yu Zhize was still a little nervous. After all, this kind of treatment was only given to top companies when they held press conferences.

Yu Zhize tapped the microphone gently, signaling everyone to be quiet. He held a report in his right hand with a dozen big words written on it: "In-depth Analysis Report on Market Share of Hong Kong's Financial Industry."

He raised his left hand slightly, and after the scene quieted down, he slowly spoke: "Good morning, friends from the media! Thank you for coming here despite your busy schedule. Today, we will unveil the mystery of the market share of Hong Kong's financial industry."

The lobby was silent except for the slight sound of the camera moving.

Yu Zhize opened the report, looked around the audience, and continued, "In the past few days, our Universal Research Company has invested a lot of manpower and material resources to conduct a comprehensive and in-depth investigation of Hong Kong's financial industry, especially the most discussed Bank of East Asia and Bank of East Asia. Now, we will present the results of our investigation to you."

“Let’s talk about Bank of East Asia first. Since Mr. Lin Haoran completed the acquisition of Bank of East Asia and privatized it, with the strong support of the huge industry behind him, Bank of East Asia’s market share has begun to rise steadily.

Recently, Bank of East Asia has launched a major move to significantly increase the interest rate on time deposits to a maximum level of 5%. This extremely attractive move, like a huge magnet, has attracted a large number of customers to switch to Bank of East Asia.

In addition, the successful acquisition of Dao Heng Bank by Bank of East Asia has also injected strong momentum into its own development. Based on the detailed data we currently have and the use of professional models for calculation, after the merger of Bank of East Asia and Dao Heng Bank, the scale of funds has officially exceeded the HK$750 billion mark.

From the perspective of the overall market environment, combined with the growth trend of data in previous years and the impact of the current oil crisis on Hong Kong's economy, Hong Kong's overall economic growth has slowed down.

However, even in such a complex economic situation, we predict that the size of the entire Hong Kong financial market will still increase slightly to about HK$2300 billion compared to last year's HK$2350 billion. Against this background, Bank of East Asia has achieved a market share of 32% in Hong Kong by virtue of its own series of positive measures! "

As soon as these words were spoken, there was a commotion among the reporters in the audience. They all lowered their heads and took notes quickly, their eyes full of surprise.

This growth rate far exceeded many people's expectations. After all, it is 32%!
What does this mean?
The market share of Bank of East Asia and their newly acquired Dao Heng Bank has reached nearly one-third of the entire Hong Kong banking industry.

This data shocked many people, but they gradually accepted it.

Because many experts have previously analyzed how much Bank of East Asia increased in each of the business wars with Huifeng Bank.

Previously, several economic experts have made relevant analyses in the TV station's financial programs.

Before Bank of East Asia raised its deposit interest rates, experts analyzed the information they had and pointed out that Bank of East Asia had obtained funding business worth more than HK$20 billion with the help of companies controlled by Lin Haoran, such as Hong Kong Land Development, Hong Kong Electric Group, and Man Ching Group.

Not only that, Lin Hao then took measures to force companies that were affiliated with the Hong Kong Land Group, Hong Kong Electric Group, etc. to transfer their financial businesses to Bank of East Asia.

This operation significantly increased the capital scale of Bank of East Asia again, and successfully attracted more than 20 billion Hong Kong dollars in funds.

If the existing deposit funds of Bank of East Asia and data such as Lin Haoran's personal assets are taken into consideration, some experts boldly speculate that before the measure of increasing deposit interest rates was implemented, the scale of funds of Bank of East Asia had already exceeded HK$500 billion.

However, these data are only the opinions of one expert, so their credibility is not very high.

In just 9 days, Bank of East Asia and Dao Heng Bank absorbed more than billion Hong Kong dollars in deposits. At first glance, this data is really exaggerated and shocking.

However, as long as we think of the bustling scenes of people queuing up every day to handle deposit business in the business halls of the branches of Bank of East Asia and Dao Heng Bank, it seems that all this is reasonable.

From this perspective, the combined capital scale of the two banks reached HK$75 billion, which is not an exaggeration at all.

The data from Bank of East Asia caused an uproar when it came out.

However, everyone soon became more curious about how much market share Huifeng Bank actually had left.

After all, the capital scale of Bank of East Asia has increased significantly, and the one that has suffered the most is definitely Huifeng Bank.

However, if we ask Huifeng Bank to release these data themselves, they will definitely not disclose them. At least, they will definitely not disclose them to the public before releasing the annual report next year.

After all, as the traditional overlord of Hong Kong's financial world, Bank of Hong Kong has always attached great importance to its own image and market position. Before the situation becomes clear, it will never easily make public data that may affect stock prices and market confidence.

If it were not for the fact that it is a listed company and must publish annual financial statements every year, it is estimated that Huifeng Bank would not even issue annual statements, or it would keep the data vague in order to maintain its dominant position in the financial market.

Yu Zhize looked at the anxious eyes of the reporters below the stage and secretly felt that the influence of this press conference might far exceed his expectations.

He cleared his throat and continued, "Next, let's turn our attention to Huifeng Bank. As the well-deserved old-fashioned overlord of Hong Kong's financial industry, Huifeng Bank has been sitting firmly on the Diaoyutai in the market for many years and occupies a pivotal position.

However, the financial market is constantly changing, and new competitors are springing up like mushrooms after rain. In particular, facing the sudden rise of Bank of East Asia, Huifeng Bank is also facing unprecedented severe challenges. "

"According to our detailed and rigorous research data, affected by Bank of East Asia, in the past two months, the total size of funds of Huifeng Bank and its subsidiary Hengsheng Bank has declined significantly, from about HK$1450 billion to about HK$1025 billion.

Its market share has also shrunk significantly, from about 61% two months ago to only 43.6% today, less than half.

If we don’t count Hengsheng Bank, the capital scale of Huifeng Bank itself has suffered a heavy blow, from about HK$1300 billion to about HK$870 billion, and its market share is about 37%.

As soon as Yu Zhize finished speaking, the reporters in the audience went wild.

If this data is true, doesn't it mean that in just two months, the market share of the Huifeng Bank Group was directly swallowed up by one third by the Bank of East Asia?

Tragic, really miserable.

Huifeng Bank used to be so glorious.

Relying on Huifeng Bank and its subsidiary Hengsheng Bank, its market share ranks first and second respectively in Hong Kong's banking industry. It can be said that it is in its heyday. In the financial world, it has the final say and almost no one dares to offend it. It is the undisputed overlord of Hong Kong's financial industry.

Because of the special status of the financial industry in the business world, Bank of Hong Kong is the company with the most say in the entire business world of Hong Kong.

When making major business decisions, many companies first look at the attitude of Huifeng Bank, for fear that they would accidentally anger this financial overlord, resulting in a break in the capital chain and the failure of the project.

But now, the situation has changed. Under the leadership of Lin Haoran, Bank of East Asia has emerged as a dark horse and snatched a large market share from Huifeng Bank, causing Huifeng Bank to fall from the altar. This huge gap made the reporters present both excited and emotional. Although Huifeng Bank is still the number one in Hong Kong's financial industry with its current market share, with the substantial increase in the market share of Bank of East Asia, it has gradually caught up and narrowed the gap between the two sides. Huifeng Bank's dominant position is already in jeopardy.

It can even be said that Hong Kong's financial industry is now in an era of dual dominance.

After all, Bank of East Asia and its subsidiary Dao Heng Bank alone account for nearly one-third of the market share.

Although Huifeng Bank is still ahead of Bank of East Asia, its leading advantage is no longer as great as in the past. The gap between the two sides is narrowing. The future direction of Hong Kong's financial industry is full of suspense.

After Yu Zhize finished speaking, he distributed a more detailed analysis report to the media reporters present.

For Yu Zhize, the purpose of this press conference is not to make money, but to become famous!

Therefore, even if this was a loss-making deal, he felt it was worth it.

After all, if Universal Research can take this opportunity to take its research industry in Hong Kong to a higher level and become a benchmark in the industry, the commercial value it will bring in the future will be immeasurable.

This simple press conference is over.

However, its impact is difficult to estimate.

After the press conference, even though the media had not had time to report it, the general content of the press conference spread throughout Hong Kong at the fastest speed.

Hong Kong is not a big province, so it is not difficult for a piece of sensational news to spread throughout Hong Kong, especially in the small main urban area.

So, a few hours later, major teahouses, pubs, snack stalls, coffee shops, etc. in Hong Kong became places where citizens discussed the content of the press conference.

Many reporters went to Huifeng Bank and Bank of East Asia to ask the two banks for their views and responses to the content of the press conference, trying to obtain more exclusive information and prepare for subsequent in-depth reports.

When reporters rushed into the headquarters of Huifeng Bank and tried to get some information from senior management about the accuracy of market share, they were driven away by security guards.

Although we were not able to get an answer from the top management of Huifeng Bank, we have guessed through their reactions that the data released by Universal Research Company this time, although certainly not 100% accurate, should not be much different, otherwise the top management of Huifeng Bank would not be so secretive and even directly drive away reporters.

After all, if the data is far from the actual situation, Huifeng Bank can take the opportunity to come forward and clarify, thereby saving its face.

However, their evasive attitude undoubtedly indirectly confirms the credibility of the report of Global Research.

On the other hand, the new chairman of Bank of East Asia, Mr. Ho Sin Hang, openly accepted interviews from reporters.

During the interview, Mr. Ho Sin Heng revealed that although there is a slight error between the data of Universal Research Company and the actual data, the error is not large!
And it is precisely because of He Shanheng's confirmation that everyone has confidence in the data released by the global research company.

Huifeng Bank, Shen Bi sat in the main seat in the conference room with a unhappy look on his face.

Prior to this, Shen Bi had keenly predicted that once Universal Research Company really made the report public, the impact on Huifeng Bank would certainly not be underestimated.

Therefore, he hurriedly ordered his subordinates to try to force the other party to cancel the press conference by threatening that "if the press conference is held as usual, Huifeng Bank will completely terminate all cooperation with Universal Research Company in the future."

But how could Yu Zhize, the helmsman of the global research company, give up easily when faced with such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become famous?

In his eyes, this was undoubtedly a great opportunity for the company to reach new heights, and he must not back down because of pressure from Huifeng Bank.

It is undeniable that Universal Research Company did take over business from Huifeng Bank before, but the funds involved were not large. In other words, the profits that Huifeng Bank brought to Universal Research Company were not high.

In his opinion, the decline of Huifeng Bank is inevitable. Even if he is blacklisted by Huifeng Bank in the future, so what?
Thanks to this incident, their Universal Research Company quickly gained fame. The future commercial profits and improved industry status will definitely be much higher than the profits brought by cooperation with Huifeng Bank!

If it is said that Universal Research Company only had a certain degree of fame within the industry in the past, then after this incident, the company will have a certain degree of fame throughout Hong Kong, even among ordinary people!
This is undoubtedly a qualitative leap for Global Research.

Yu Zhize naturally no longer took Shen Bi's threat seriously.

None of the Huifeng executives present looked happy either.

So many things have happened in the past two months that the executives present found it hard to accept them.

The market has fallen sharply, the stock price has dropped sharply, competitors are approaching, and He Shanheng has surrendered to the enemy...

A series of events hung over the heads of Huifeng Bank's top executives like a dark cloud, and the atmosphere in the conference room was so depressing that it made people breathless.

Shen Bi's brows were furrowed, and deep furrows appeared between his forehead. If it were in the past, he would have slammed the table and yelled at the senior executives present, calling them a bunch of rubbish.

But now, the successive heavy blows, like a blunt knife, have gradually smoothed his temper.

At least at this moment he knew that getting angry at his subordinates would be of no use, and the most urgent task was to quickly come up with a way to deal with the challenge posed by the Bank of East Asia.

"Mr. Shen Bi, colleagues, according to our secret investigation, Lin Haoran has recently frequently contacted many important customers of our Huifeng Bank, trying his best to persuade them to transfer their funds to Bank of East Asia.

Although we have learned that most customers have explicitly refused, it is certain that some customers have already agreed to their request. If this happens, it will undoubtedly be a devastating blow to our Huifeng Bank.

Once these core customers are lost, the bank's capital scale will inevitably shrink further, and its market share will continue to decline. By then, the situation will become increasingly difficult to handle!" A senior executive in charge of intelligence once again said a very scary piece of information in the conference room.

Lin Haoran has been busy these days, visiting at least twenty or thirty business leaders.

Although the big guys who rejected him solemnly assured Lin Haoran that they would never spread the matter, the business world is like a battlefield where people's minds are unpredictable and there are many people who say one thing in public and another in private.

Lin Haoran knew in his heart that he could not hide the truth from Huifeng Bank. If he really wanted to conceal the truth, he would not have made such a high-profile move.

As soon as the senior executive finished speaking, the conference room exploded, and everyone started whispering and discussing heatedly.

Although the report published by Global Research Company this time produced some negative comments about Huifeng Bank, the actual loss was not great.

However, if the information they have obtained is true, then Huifeng Bank's market share will continue to decline.

This is definitely hard for them to accept.

After all, Bank of East Asia's current market share is very solid, and Huifeng Bank cannot dig it out at all.

But the market share of Huifeng Bank is different. Those customers are already in a state of indecision. They will choose whichever bank is more beneficial to them. Now that Lin Haoran is personally lobbying, it will undoubtedly accelerate the loss of Huifeng Bank's market share.

In fact, Huifeng Bank has lost a large amount of stored funds during this period, which has gradually made the vault of Huifeng Bank empty.

Once these heavyweight clients switch to Bank of East Asia, Huifeng Bank will fall into a more passive situation and may even face the crisis of a broken capital chain.

Shen Bi's face became increasingly gloomy.

Cruel, Lin Haoran is really too cruel.

These actions time and time again have caused Huifeng Bank to suffer heavy losses.

But he didn't expect that Lin Haoran still had no intention of letting Huifeng Bank go.

If this continues, it is not only a matter of time before its market share is surpassed by Bank of East Asia. In fact, once the funds reach that level, Huifeng Bank will face a broken capital chain.

After all, although Huifeng Bank seems to have more than HK$100 billion in reserve funds together with Hengsheng Bank, in fact, at least half of these funds have been used for investment.

For example, overseas bank acquisitions, investments in enterprises, ordinary corporate loans, mortgage lending, etc., these investment projects are difficult to quickly recover funds in the short term. Once a large number of customers encounter bank runs or capital outflows, Huifeng Bank's capital chain will be under tremendous pressure and may break at any time.

"Lin Haoran is so cruel!" Bao Yuehan, vice chairman of the board of directors of Huifeng Bank, muttered as he sat next to Shen Bi.

His voice was not loud, but it spread throughout the conference room.

However, everyone agrees with this statement.

It was as if Lin Haoran had grasped their weak spot. Every move he made was precise and deadly, making the top executives of Huifeng Bank feel very uneasy, yet helpless.

"Perhaps, it was a mistake for us to take the initiative in the first place. If we hadn't provoked him, Lin Haoran might not have been so ruthless for our sakes!" A senior executive said in despair.

(End of this chapter)