In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

Chapter 671 This Uncle Bao is doing me a favor!

Although he still stubbornly insisted that Standard Chartered Bank was spreading rumors and lying, Sir Michael Sandberg knew in his heart that it was probably true.

He simply didn't want to face the facts.

In Shen Bi’s view, if this is true, then Bao Yugang’s move is undoubtedly a naked betrayal of Huifeng Bank!

Shen Bi always believed that without the strong support of Huifeng Bank, Bao Yugang would never have achieved such brilliant success today.

After all, without the support of Huafeng Bank, how could Worldwide Shipping Group have become the world's leading shipping fleet?
How did Pao Yu-Kang become the world-renowned shipping magnate?

But who could have imagined that this very person, who had received so much kindness from Huifeng Bank, would ruthlessly stab the bank in the back during its most difficult and troubled time?

This was truly unbelievable to Shen Bi!
“Mr. Sir Michael Sandberg, if you really don’t believe me, you might as well call Hong Kong and ask. This matter has probably spread throughout the Hong Kong business community. However, it’s just a matter of making a phone call to verify. I have no reason to lie to you. Lying to you would be meaningless to me.”

The secretary who came to report the news did not panic when Shen Bi questioned him. Instead, he smiled and spoke calmly.

Upon hearing this, the conference room fell into an instant silence, like a deep pool of water frozen solid after a boulder has been thrown in, eerily quiet.

Everyone's breathing was clearly audible, as if even the air itself had stopped flowing, tightly bound by this heavy atmosphere.

Shen Bi and several other people from Huifeng Bank turned ashen-faced instantly, as if all their life force had been drained from them, their eyes filled with despair and disbelief.

Meanwhile, the people at Standard Chartered Bank all wore expressions of excitement.

This news is absolutely fantastic for Standard Chartered Bank.

The reason why Sir Michael Sandberg and others have maintained a tough stance and refused to back down is that they genuinely believe that Huifeng Bank still has staunch supporters such as Hutchison Whampoa and Wharf Holdings.

They reasoned that as long as they could resolve the immediate crisis of a broken cash flow and weather this difficult period, Huifeng Bank would eventually be able to escape its predicament and return to its former glory once the investment and lending funds were gradually returned.

However, reality dealt them a heavy blow.

Now, Huifeng Bank has lost the support of another important client, which is undoubtedly adding insult to injury and causing it to suffer a huge blow.

Under such circumstances, Huifeng Bank could no longer hold on.

Wharf Holdings was once one of the most important joint-stock companies under Jardine Matheson, and its overall strength should not be underestimated.

Back then, Jardine Matheson's emphasis on Wharf Holdings was no less than that on its other joint venture holding company, Hongkong Land.

Therefore, when Paul Pao set his sights on Wharf Holdings and attempted to launch an acquisition offensive, Jardine Matheson immediately became alert, like a dragon whose scales had been touched, and launched a counterattack with all its might.

It mobilized various resources to fight back in the stock market and joined forces with other forces to try to retain control of Wharf Holdings.

Unfortunately, the business world is like a battlefield, and the situation can change in an instant.

Despite Jardine Matheson's best efforts, it ultimately lost out slightly in this fierce battle.

It could only watch helplessly as the "fat piece of meat" that once belonged to it fell into the pocket of the Bao family, filled with resentment and helplessness.

Wharf Holdings owns a vast portfolio of properties, including numerous wharves, warehouses, hotels, and buildings in Kowloon's Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront, the New Territories, and Hong Kong Island. It also controls businesses such as trams and Star Ferry, making it a large and powerful company with substantial assets.

However, this is not its most eye-catching feature.

Crucially, Wharf Holdings owns a large tract of waterfront land in Tsim Sha Tsui, a prime location with extremely high commercial value.

Moreover, these lands have been transformed into a series of valuable integrated properties, including the Maritime Building, the Ocean Center, and the Harbour City.

If Hongkong Land is undoubtedly the largest owner in Central, then Wharf Holdings is the premier land king in Tsim Sha Tsui!
This demonstrates that Wharf Holdings actually possesses extremely high quality attributes.

Moreover, Wharf Holdings operates a wide range of businesses, which act like powerful cash-generating machines, ensuring the group has ample liquidity.

Although not as powerful as Hutchison Whampoa, it still amounts to three or four billion Hong Kong dollars, making it a force to be reckoned with.

However, who could have imagined that Wharf Holdings, a key client that once worked closely with HSBC, would choose to openly "betray" HSBC at its most critical moment when it was in deep trouble and publicly announced its withdrawal from the partnership?

This action undoubtedly put Huifeng Bank in an extremely awkward position, leaving them unable to back down.

Several shareholders of Huifeng Bank had grim faces, their lips pressed tightly together, and remained silent.

If the facts are as reported, then the shares of Huifeng Bank they hold seem to have lost much value and meaning.

At this moment, Shen Bi took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil in his heart, and turned to Lord Derek Barber, saying, "Your Excellency, I would like to use your place to make a phone call. Would you be so kind as to grant me this request?"

Although he already knew in his heart that it was highly likely that Wharf Holdings was leaving the partnership, the unwillingness deep in his heart still drove him to want to confirm it for himself, unwilling to accept his fate.

Therefore, he was eager to make a phone call to Hong Kong to personally verify the authenticity of this news.

“Of course, no problem, Mr. Monty. Please take Mr. Shen Bige to the office next door.” Lord Derek Barber said to his secretary with a smile and a calm tone.

Mr. Mondy nodded slightly, then turned to the side and raised his hand in greeting.

Led by Mondi, Sim Bi walked with slightly hurried steps and was soon led to an office next door.

Soon, the sound of Huifeng Bank headquarters answering the phone came from the other end.

Shen Bi gripped the microphone tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force. After a few brief but heavy words, the last glimmer of hope in his heart was extinguished in an instant, like a candle flickering in the wind.

From the secretary's urgent yet certain tone in Hong Kong, he was certain that the matter was indeed true and there was no room for maneuver!

Shen Bi's hands trembled uncontrollably, and it took him a great deal of effort to slowly put down the telephone receiver.

He felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, as if the whole world was collapsing.

Shen Bi knew in his heart that it was all over, everything was over, and Huifeng Bank, this once glorious financial empire, was now truly about to collapse and perish.

Even though Standard Chartered Bank's capital injection saved Huifeng Bank and allowed it to survive, Huifeng Bank would only ever be a subsidiary of Standard Chartered Bank, completely losing its former independent and powerful status.

Its past glory and honor will vanish in this upheaval, becoming a regrettable chapter in financial history.

Shen Bi sat blankly in his office chair, his mind replaying the glorious moments of Huifeng Bank in the past.

Who could have predicted that Huifeng Bank, once so glorious and invincible, would fall into ruin in his hands!
Previously, he had also ridiculed Nicholas Tse, believing that it was Nicholas Tse who caused Jardine Matheson's decline and even forced it to withdraw from the Hong Kong market, making him a disgraceful boss in the history of Jardine Matheson.

But now, his situation is even more miserable than that of Twisted Fence.

Although Jardine Matheson suffered heavy blows and losses, it still had a deep foundation and strong resources. Even though it had withdrawn from the Hong Kong market, it could still live a carefree and comfortable life thanks to its business in overseas markets.

In contrast, Huifeng Bank will likely be left to struggle to survive under the protection of Standard Chartered Bank, becoming a company with no independent autonomy.

Like an eagle with broken wings, it can no longer soar freely in the vast sky of finance.

Moreover, Sir Michael Sandberg was well aware that once Huifeng Bank was acquired and the funds were gradually returned, most of the important clients would switch to Standard Chartered Bank once they regained access to funds.

By then, what will remain of Huifeng Bank will be nothing more than a group of scattered and extremely disloyal small clients, plus a pile of troublesome bad debts and non-performing assets.

What Standard Chartered Bank truly covets are HSBC's high-quality clients and HSBC's massive market share.

If these clients' funds hadn't been tied up in Huifeng Bank, which was also facing a cash flow crisis, Standard Chartered Bank probably wouldn't have even been interested in acquiring it.

However, given the current situation, acquiring HSBC is the only way for Standard Chartered Bank to acquire all these high-quality clients.

Otherwise, clients such as Swire and Wheelock would not be able to smoothly withdraw their working capital from Huifeng Bank.

If Huifeng Bank collapses, they will inevitably be implicated and suffer heavy losses.

At this moment, Shen Bi's heart seemed to be completely shrouded in the gloom of resentment and despair.

As expected, once the matter was settled, he would no longer be able to continue sitting in the position of senior executive at Huifeng Bank.

Moreover, although he has always been quite business-savvy, after this incident, finding a satisfactory job in the future will be extremely difficult.

After all, with such a terrible reputation, which company would dare to easily hire Huifeng Bank, which had been operating at its peak until its capital chain broke and it even faced the desperate situation of being sold?
After spacing out in the office for a while, he finally stood up.

What must be faced will eventually have to be faced; there is no escaping it.

Back in the conference room, everyone's eyes immediately turned to him.

Especially those major shareholders of Huifeng Bank, whose eyes still gleamed with a glimmer of hope and whose hearts still held onto a last shred of illusion.

Having controlled Huifeng Bank for over a century, the family was unwilling to give it up. However, the moment Shen Bi nodded slightly, the glimmer of hope in the eyes of those conglomerate leaders was instantly extinguished, plunging them into utter despair.

Half an hour later, after some difficult negotiations, the two sides finally reached an agreement.

After weighing the pros and cons, the major financial groups of Huifeng Bank decided to sell their shares to Standard Chartered Bank at a relatively reasonable price.

After all, they knew in their hearts that continuing to hold onto Huifeng Bank's stock was pointless and would only increase their losses.

……

Hong Kong, Connaught Building.

Lin Haoran learned of the matter immediately after Wharf Holdings issued the announcement.

When he first found out, he could hardly believe it.

Undeniably, he is now one of Wharf Holdings' shareholders, but he is not the controlling shareholder, and he doesn't interfere much in Wharf Holdings' affairs.

But Lin Haoran never considered requesting that Wharf Holdings' financial business be transferred to Bank of East Asia.

Because he knew that this would put Bao Yugang in a difficult position.

Lin Haoran, who was familiar with Bao Yugang's business career, knew very well that the relationship between Bao Yugang and Huifeng Bank was intricate and inseparable.

If Bao Yugang were to move his company's financial business to Bank of East Asia, it would put him in an extremely awkward position.

For Lin Haoran, whether he has one more or one less Wharf Holdings, the impact is actually not significant.

After all, with East Asia Bank's current substantial capital of over HK$100 billion, he certainly has plenty of confidence.

Therefore, prior to this, Lin Haoran had visited many Hong Kong business tycoons, sincerely hoping that they would transfer their funds to the Bank of East Asia, but he had never made a similar request to Bao Yugang.

The deep friendship between Bao Yugang and Huifeng Bank is a testament to the trust and tacit understanding forged over a long business journey, as solid as a rock and not easily shaken.

Why would Lin Haoran do something that would put others in a difficult position?
However, he never expected that the Bao family would issue such an announcement without consulting him at all, which was truly unexpected.

Moreover, the announcement specifically mentioned transferring to Bank of East Asia, which is tantamount to giving Bank of East Asia a good advertisement.

No matter what, Bao Yugang was the richest man in Hong Kong before Lin Haoran rose to prominence, and a world-renowned shipping magnate!

Although Bank of East Asia has become the largest bank in Hong Kong and a new hegemon with no shortage of reputation, such an announcement is enough to highlight Bank of East Asia's reliability.

"It seems that Uncle Bao is doing me a favor!" Lin Haoran muttered.

The impact of Bao Yugang's decision on Huifeng Bank is absolutely unimaginable.

Originally, the announcements by large corporations that they would transfer their financial businesses were enough to cause Huifeng Bank's cash flow to break down.

Now, Wharf Holdings' announcement has left HSBC with absolutely no room for maneuver.

I bet the top executives at Huifeng Bank are furious by now!
However, this news will undoubtedly accelerate Standard Chartered Bank's acquisition of Huafeng Bank, which is undoubtedly excellent news for Lin Haoran.

After all, once Standard Chartered Bank successfully acquires Huafeng Bank, their Bank of East Asia will be able to take control of Hang Seng Bank from Standard Chartered Bank even faster.

Although Galaxy Securities has secretly acquired more than 20% of Hengsheng Bank's shares, Huifeng Bank holds 62.14% of Hengsheng Bank's shares.

Even if Galaxy Securities acquires all the remaining shares on the secondary market, it will still be far from enough to seize control of Hengsheng Bank.

Therefore, the only way to gain control of Hengsheng Bank is to acquire shares from Huifeng Bank.

Not long after, He Shanheng called.

"Haoran, in my opinion, we'll probably hear good news from Standard Chartered Bank soon." He Shanheng's voice on the other end of the phone was filled with barely suppressed excitement.

After all, if Standard Chartered Bank can successfully reach an agreement with Huifeng Bank on the acquisition, then their acquisition of Hengsheng Bank will have taken a big step forward.

"Haha, Uncle He, I've been looking forward to this day for a long time. I really can't wait to start the process of acquiring Hengsheng Bank. At that time, I'll have to trouble you a lot, Uncle He. As our business grows bigger and bigger, the burden on your shoulders will definitely be heavier." Lin Haoran said this, but his words were full of undisguised laughter.

“The bigger the scale, the better, Haoran. Don’t underestimate me just because I’m old. With my years of experience in the financial industry, I’m confident that even if the scale increases several times over, I can still keep it firmly under control.”

He Shanheng was full of pride, and his laughter sounded particularly hearty even through the phone: "Moreover, once we get our hands on Hengsheng Bank, our East Asia Bank's dominant position in Hong Kong's financial world will be even more secure. Even if Standard Chartered Bank swallows up Huifeng Bank, it will not be our match. In this way, we can focus all our attention on overseas markets!"

He Shanheng is eager to make his mark in the global financial market and plant the flag of his financial enterprises in every corner with potential.

This brings him one step closer to his goal of switching jobs to the Bank of East Asia.

"Uncle He, of course I believe in your abilities, I'm waiting!" Lin Haoran laughed heartily.

"By the way, Haoran, on August 1st, 15 branches of East Asia Bank will open simultaneously. In addition, the BACS transfer system has performed extremely stably in recent testing, and next month, major companies will be able to officially transfer funds to their employees through this system."

"At that time, whether it's East Asia Bank, Dao Heng Bank, or Heng Sheng Bank which we are about to acquire, they will be able to process bank cards or passbooks for these employees in bulk. We have already recruited a large number of staff for this purpose, and all preparations are in place!" He Shanheng said with a smile.

The payroll transfer program was originally scheduled to be launched in August, and August is just around the corner.

"Yes, Uncle He, this is indeed good news. However, it involves too many employees. With such a huge workload, can we really handle it?" Lin Haoran asked curiously.

He wasn't a finance major, and although he knew that in a society decades from now, it would be commonplace for companies to pay their employees' salaries via bank transfers, this wasn't the 21st century, and the technology was still quite backward. So Lin Haoran was completely clueless about these business operations.

He Shanheng replied with a smile: "Actually, it's not difficult to operate. Take Hong Kong Land Group as an example. After we have opened bank accounts for the employees of each of Hong Kong Land Group's branches, they will submit an employee salary sheet to us. We will have dedicated personnel to check, approve, and conduct batch fund transfers to avoid any possible mistakes."

However, as Haoran mentioned, your various companies have a huge number of employees and a massive workload, and we don't have enough experience in this area. To prevent too many loopholes and serious consequences, this is something I'd like to discuss with you.

I think it's best not to launch a large-scale salary transfer business in August. We can start by cooperating with some companies to test the waters. Once we have accumulated enough experience, it won't be too late to expand the scale.

After all, our Bank of East Asia has firmly established itself as the number one in market share, and Huifeng Bank can no longer cause any significant trouble. Standard Chartered Bank is also unlikely to be our competitor for the time being. Therefore, there's no need to rush into increasing our customer base through salary transfers.

Upon hearing this, Lin Haoran immediately made a decisive decision: "Uncle He, I fully support your idea. We have no practical experience in large-scale transfers before. If we start with a full rollout, it is indeed easy to make various mistakes."

Previously, when competing with Huifeng Bank, my mind was focused on increasing market share, so I had to speed things up. Now that Huifeng Bank no longer poses a threat, there's no need to rush things.

"In that case, I will immediately discuss with Mr. Simon Murray that Hongkong Land Group should first select a group of subsidiaries to connect with Bank of East Asia. Once we have accumulated enough experience, we can gradually expand, first covering the entire Hongkong Land Group, and then including companies like Man Tsing Group and HK Electric Group! Anyway, these market shares are bound to be ours sooner or later!"

"Alright, Haoran, then it's settled!"

After hanging up the phone with He Shanheng, Lin Haoran smiled.

With Ho Sin-hang, the father of the Hang Seng Index, overseeing the banking sector, he felt very reassured.

Paying all salaries via bank transfer at once is indeed a bit too hasty and short-sighted.

It's best to proceed cautiously in this matter.

As the chairman of the bank, He Shanheng's considerations were indeed more comprehensive.

Later, Lin Haoran mentioned this matter to Ma Shimin, who had just entered the office.

Upon hearing this, Ma Shimin nodded slightly and said, "This matter is not difficult to handle. We can proceed in stages, starting with a pilot program where salaries are transferred to all middle and senior management employees."

The number of middle and senior management staff is relatively limited, so I think the Bank of East Asia should have no problem handling it. Then, we can gradually expand the scope to cover lower-level management staff, then contract staff, and finally all dispatched staff.

By proceeding gradually in this way, the pressure on the Bank of East Asia will not be too great.

“Mr. Ma, your suggestion is excellent!” Lin Haoran nodded and smiled.

It's important to know that the middle and senior management of Hongkong Land Group can definitely be considered as middle class or above in Hong Kong.

For Bank of East Asia, being the first to convert these customers into its own clients is of great significance.

These mid-to-senior level employees often have high incomes and stable jobs. They not only have diverse needs in financial consumption, but also possess strong spending power and financial awareness.

Once they become customers of Bank of East Asia, the bank has the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the group's financial needs, thereby enabling it to launch more personalized financial products and services.

Previously, Lin Haoran had not imposed any mandatory actions on these middle and senior managers in this regard.

But now that he owns his own bank, it's time to enforce the judgment.

Since you're working with him, isn't it normal to keep your funds in one of his banks?
(End of this chapter)