In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

Chapter 681 If you don’t eat the toast, you will be punished by drinking wine

Lin Haoran sat on the sofa in the living room and couldn't help but smile when he heard Brown's words.

Standard Chartered Bank has indeed backed down.

As expected, there wasn't much of a surprise.

Because he knew that Standard Chartered Bank, which had been able to develop for over a hundred years and remain prosperous, wouldn't be so foolish as to do that.

“Very good, Mr. Brown, your Standard Chartered Bank has made a very wise decision. Otherwise, you would have received news of my visit to Lloyds Bank and the signing of a cooperation agreement in a few days!” Lin Haoran laughed.

Since Standard Chartered Bank has done such a thing, he naturally has no need to give Standard Chartered Bank any face.

Therefore, Lin Haoran directly made threatening remarks yesterday.

He was threatening openly and brazenly.

Otherwise, Standard Chartered Bank would really think that it is invincible after acquiring Huafeng Bank.

Some people are like that; if you don't teach them a lesson, they'll never understand their place and will think everyone has to fawn over them.
They don't even consider whether they are qualified.

"Mr. Lin, please rest assured that Standard Chartered Bank remains your company's partner. I look forward to Standard Chartered Bank and Bank of East Asia working together to share the Hong Kong financial market! In addition, we will first transfer the 50 billion yuan to Huifeng Bank tomorrow morning, and then have Huifeng Bank return the funds to Hengsheng Bank in their entirety!"

Brown's tone was somewhat ingratiating and cautious, as if he was afraid that Lin Haoran might be dissatisfied and cause some unforeseen changes, completely unlike his arrogance yesterday.

Lin Haoran's lips curled slightly. His threat had worked. These British people really were stubborn and wouldn't listen to reason.

If we don't stand up for ourselves, people will really think he's easy to bully.

Lin Haoran said slowly, "Mr. Brown, it's great that Standard Chartered Bank has such awareness. No one can monopolize the big cake of Hong Kong's financial market. We really need everyone to cooperate to enjoy it and make it last."

However, I also hope that Standard Chartered Bank understands that cooperation is based on mutual respect and win-win results. If anyone tries anything underhanded, don't blame me for being ruthless.

Brown quickly replied, "Mr. Lin is absolutely right. Standard Chartered Bank will definitely uphold the principle of honest cooperation and work with Bank of East Asia and other partners to promote the development of Hong Kong's financial market."

This incident has served as a wake-up call for us. We will definitely handle all matters more cautiously in the future and ensure that similar situations never happen again.

Lin Haoran nodded slightly, his tone softening: "Mr. Brown is a sensible man. I believe that Standard Chartered Bank will make the right choice. I hope that our cooperation will be smooth and pleasant, bringing new vitality and opportunities to Hong Kong's financial market."

Brown breathed a sigh of relief and quickly said, "Of course, of course. Thank you for your magnanimity and trust, Mr. Lin. I will go to Hengsheng Bank as early as possible tomorrow morning to wait for Mr. Lin and Mr. He to arrive. I won't disturb Mr. Lin's rest any longer. I will report to Mr. Lin immediately if there is any situation."

Lin Haoran hummed in agreement and then hung up the phone.

Afterwards, Lin Haoran called He Shanheng again and told him everything he had just talked to Brown about.

After hearing this on the phone, He Shanheng's emotions surged instantly, and his voice trembled with excitement.

After all, the management of Hengsheng Bank has gone through many twists and turns, and now it is finally going to return to his control.

This feeling was like his beloved child, whom he had raised with great care and cherished, had been lost for a long time and had now returned to him safe and sound. How could he not be overwhelmed with emotion and excitement!
Lin Haoran put the phone back on the coffee table, crossed his legs, and began to ponder.

Standard Chartered's admission of weakness was expected.

However, Lin Haoran is a vengeful person.

Are you just going to let them go so easily?
He's not that magnanimous.

If it weren't for what happened yesterday, Lin Haoran might not have specifically targeted Standard Chartered Bank. The market is so big, everyone should just do their own business peacefully.

However, Standard Chartered Bank insisted on courting disaster!
In any case, there are consequences for acting recklessly.

Even though they've backed down now, it's only because they were openly threatened by Lin Haoran, and they've finally been slapped in the face and woken up.

A cold glint flashed in Lin Haoran's eyes as he lightly tapped the sofa armrest with his fingers, already having made up his mind.

He naturally understood that in Hong Kong, where the business world is like a battlefield, being merciful to the enemy is being cruel to oneself.

Even though Standard Chartered Bank has backed down after this provocation, the thorn has already been planted, and it will always be a hidden danger if it is not removed.

He stood up, walked onto the terrace, felt the sea breeze, and gazed at the dazzling yet turbulent night view of Victoria Harbour. He muttered to himself, "Since you had the wrong idea first, don't blame me for being ruthless."

Lin Haoran knew very well that to truly teach Standard Chartered Bank a lesson, he had to cut into Standard Chartered Bank's core interests.

However, there's no need to rush into it now.

The most urgent task is to securely bring Hengsheng Bank under our control.

Furthermore, the Hong Kong financial market has been turbulent and unpredictable lately, and the Governor's Office must be nearing its limit of patience.

Moreover, Standard Chartered Bank has yet to fulfill all of the conditions it had previously promised Lin Haoran.

Take, for example, Standard Chartered Bank's promise to secure a banknote-issuing right for him. Although Brown confidently stated that he was fully prepared, it has not yet materialized.

It would be unwise to retaliate against Standard Chartered Bank before these key commitments have been finalized.

After all, breaking ties with Standard Chartered Bank at this time could very likely disrupt the existing plans and affect the progress of many subsequent projects.

Therefore, it would be better to hold back for now, let Standard Chartered Bank relax and catch its breath, and then make a decision when things are in the right place.

After all, they are all in Hong Kong's relatively small financial market. There are still many days ahead, and there will be plenty of opportunities for Standard Chartered Bank to "learn a lesson."

Lin Haoran stretched and returned to his bedroom.

The night passed just like that.

The next morning, Lin Haoran woke up from his sweet dream as usual.

When I opened my eyes, it was already eight o'clock in the morning.

After he got up, the servants quickly prepared breakfast and newspapers for him.

Lin Haoran sat leisurely in front of the sofa, slowly savoring a basket of fresh and chewy shrimp dumplings while casually picking up a copy of the Overseas Chinese Daily and flipping through it.

Today's mainstream media headlines still focus on the acquisition of Huifeng Bank by Standard Chartered Bank.

However, this is quite different from the scale of the reports a few days ago.

A few days ago, related content almost dominated most of the newspaper pages, with all sorts of "rumors" about Standard Chartered Bank's acquisition of HSBC Bank filling the pages.

But today, less than a quarter of the page was used to report on it.

This stark change undoubtedly indicates that the hype surrounding Standard Chartered's acquisition of HSBC is gradually receding, much like the ebb tide.

After all, newspapers have always been profit-driven "traffic hunters." Whenever something generates a lot of traffic and attention, they will swarm to report on it like sharks smelling blood.

The reduction in reporting content indicates that they have realized that the peak of the event's popularity has passed, and that continuing to report extensively will hardly attract readers' attention or generate substantial traffic.

Moreover, Hong Kong's financial market is always volatile, with new hot topics emerging at any time to grab public attention.

For example, his interview outside the Hengsheng Building yesterday afternoon was reported in its entirety, becoming the second headline of the Overseas Chinese Daily.

Lin Haoran read several more newspapers, many of which featured his words on their front page.

Meanwhile, many reporters speculated about the nature of the collaboration between Standard Chartered Bank and Lin Haoran.

Rumors began to circulate again, and all sorts of bizarre speculations spread like wildfire.

Some say that Lin Haoran and Standard Chartered Bank had long ago colluded and reached an agreement, and that Huifeng Bank was the result of their joint scheme to bring it down.
Others say that Lin Haoran actually harbored a grander ambition: he intended to leverage Standard Chartered Bank's influence to gradually integrate Hong Kong's banking resources and ultimately build his own financial empire, with Standard Chartered Bank merely a pawn to be manipulated in this grand plan.

Even more outrageous are the rumors that Lin Haoran's Bank of East Asia is colluding with Standard Chartered Bank to gradually swallow up the remaining financial market share in Hong Kong, attempting to completely monopolize the Hong Kong financial market and squeeze the survival space of other banks.

These rumors became increasingly outrageous, as if Lin Haoran were an omnipotent and all-powerful legendary figure who could manipulate events at will in Hong Kong's financial world and underworld.

Lin Haoran couldn't help but chuckle as he looked at these absurd reports.

Some media outlets actually guessed correctly, such as Lin Haoran and Standard Chartered Bank indeed joining forces to bring down Huifeng Bank.

However, most of the reports are exaggerated and untrue.

Lin Haoran was already used to such reports.

He knew, of course, that in Hong Kong, a place of information overload and chaotic public opinion, rumors were like weeds, impossible to extinguish and always springing back to life.

However, he does not intend to come forward to clarify these rumors, because there is no need to.

He had already experienced firsthand what the so-called "freedom of speech" in Hong Kong media was all about. Many media outlets were even controlled by certain bigwigs, and everything was for their own benefit.

Initially, Jardine Matheson used the media to target Lin Haoran's Fortress Electrical Appliances Company, but Lin Haoran ultimately retaliated.

Therefore, Lin Haoran should only believe about 30% of these so-called reports, and treat the remaining 70% as just anecdotes.

Of course, Lin Haoran himself is the same; he now controls the Oriental Daily News, the highest-selling newspaper in Hong Kong.

It can be said that the public opinion in the Oriental Daily is under his control!
Lin Haoran didn't leave until 10 a.m.

He Shanheng called to tell him that he had arrived at Heng Sheng Bank early in the morning, and that Hui Feng Bank had already repaid the HK$50 billion "three-year zero-interest" loan to Heng Sheng Bank.

After confirming that Hengsheng Bank had received the funds, Bank of East Asia readily transferred HK$13.5 billion to Huifeng Bank.

This funding naturally came from the East Asia Bank's acquisition of shares in Hengsheng Bank.

Now that this fund transfer has been completed, the transaction between Bank of East Asia and Huifeng Bank is officially finished.

Hengsheng Bank has officially come under the control of Lin Haoran.

Afterwards, He Shanheng successfully led his team to take over the overall management of Hengsheng Bank.

What was particularly smooth was that, with the active cooperation of the senior management of Hengsheng Bank, the entire takeover process proceeded without any obstacles and was completed very quickly. After the successful completion of the takeover, He Shanheng immediately released a message to the public: Hengsheng Bank will hold a press conference at 11:00 a.m. in the Hengsheng Building, and cordially invites all journalists to attend.

In fact, Lin Haoran had already informed the major media outlets yesterday that he would be holding a press conference this morning.

Therefore, at this moment, media professionals are like hungry fish eagerly awaiting the bait thrown in when fishing for mandarin fish. As soon as they heard the news coming from Hengsheng Building, reporters from various media outlets picked up their interview equipment and rushed to Hengsheng Building in a hurry.

Lin Haoran arrived at Hengsheng Bank at around 10:20.

This time, he learned his lesson and instead of parking his car in the parking space outside the building, he drove directly into the underground parking garage.

At this moment, the area outside Hengsheng Building was already packed with reporters carrying cameras and microphones.

Lin Haoran's Rolls-Royce was too conspicuous; it attracted the attention of many reporters as soon as he arrived at Hengsheng Building.

Unfortunately, he did not get out of the car, and the underground parking garage was guarded by security personnel, so the reporters were kept outside the garage.

Lin Haoran turned his head slightly and glanced through the car window at the reporters outside who were being stopped by security guards, looking helpless but constantly peering out. A faint, almost imperceptible smile appeared on his lips.

From this moment on, his financial empire took another step forward, and his strength increased once again.

Although Hengsheng Bank's current market share is far less than that of Bank of East Asia.

However, upon closer examination, the majority of East Asia Bank's market share was either due to the support of Lin Haoran's own company or because others gave him face.

In reality, East Asia Bank's own strength is far inferior to that of Heng Sheng Bank.

The rankings of the two banks before Lin Haoran entered the banking industry already gave a glimpse into their respective positions.

At that time, although Hengsheng Bank was acquired and controlled by Huifeng Bank and was constantly being drained of its resources by Huifeng Bank, its market share still remained firmly in second place.

Bank of East Asia ranked only fourth.

Although they are only two places apart in the rankings, their financial scale is several times larger.

Therefore, the successful acquisition of Hengsheng Bank is of great significance and far-reaching impact for Lin Haoran.

Lin Haoran quickly arrived at the chairman's office via elevator.

At this moment, He Shanheng, Brown, and Pu Weishi were still in the office.

However, unlike yesterday, Pu Weishi no longer had that panicked and frightened expression on his face today.

After all, Standard Chartered Bank helped him resolve the issue of illegally transferring funds, and he no longer needed to worry about whether he would go to jail.

"Haoran, you're here!" He Shanheng greeted Lin Haoran with a smile.

"Good morning, Uncle He!" Lin Haoran said with a smile and a nod.

"Mr. Lin."

Good morning, Mr. Lin.

Brown and Pu Weishi both greeted Lin Haoran.

Lin Haoran nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping over the three faces before he sat down in an empty chair.

"Mr. Lin, Standard Chartered Bank has completed the handover of Hengsheng Bank, and the shares have been transferred. You have also sent people to take over all aspects of the company smoothly."

From this day forward, Hengsheng Bank will have no further connection with Huifeng Bank and Standard Chartered Bank. Congratulations to Mr. Lin on his significant increase in financial strength! Brown forced a smile and offered his congratulations against his conscience.

Standard Chartered Bank is really feeling the pinch. If only they could have successfully acquired Hengsheng Bank.

But now, such a good thing can only be watched helplessly as it falls into the hands of others.

It's a pity, there was never that opportunity.

Now, circumstances are beyond their control, and they even have to put on a smiling face and give Lin Haoran a very nice look.

But what can be done?

Standard Chartered Bank is currently at a critical juncture where it absolutely cannot afford to offend Lin Haoran. Even though it is unwilling, it can only grit its teeth and admit defeat.

"Indeed, Standard Chartered Bank is a trustworthy company!" Lin Haoran chuckled.

At this moment, the two sides reverted to their hypocritical exchanges.

The tense atmosphere of yesterday seemed to have vanished in an instant.

Brown stood up from his chair, his forced smile somewhat unnatural, and said, "Mr. Lin, Mr. He, now that the handover is complete, we'll take our leave. Please feel free to contact us if you need anything."

As he spoke, Brown tried to leave with Puweishi.

This place has nothing to do with them anymore, so there's no need for them to stay.

Moreover, Hengsheng Bank has actually become a disgrace to Standard Chartered Bank and HSBC Bank, and it would be too stifling for them to stay there.

No sooner had Brown finished speaking than Lin Haoran suddenly raised his hand, making a gesture to pause slightly, a faint smile playing on his lips, and said, "Mr. Brown, don't be in such a hurry to leave."

Brown and Pu Weishi, who had just gotten up to leave, had to stop and turn around to look at Lin Haoran in confusion.

"Mr. Lin, is there anything else?" Brown asked, puzzled.

Actually, he had wanted to leave this place long after the handover was completed.

After all, Hengsheng Bank is now owned by the Lin family and has no connection with Standard Chartered Bank or Huifeng Bank anymore.

However, upon learning that his boss, Lin Haoran, would be coming, he could only suppress his impatience and patiently wait for Lin Haoran's arrival.

Now that Lin Haoran has arrived and he has greeted him, he naturally doesn't want to stay here any longer.

Lin Haoran got up and walked to the window, looking downstairs.

The area downstairs was already packed with reporters, numbering over three or four hundred.

Looking out, on the distant road, cars bearing the logos of various media companies are speeding towards Hengsheng Building.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the number of reporters gathering next will undoubtedly be staggering.

“Mr. Brown, look, hundreds of reporters have gathered downstairs. They’re all eager to know what kind of deal we’ve made. As partners, why don’t we hold a joint press conference? What do you think?” Lin Haoran pointed downstairs, a smile playing on his lips, and said to Brown.

Brown's lips twitched upon hearing this, as if he wanted to refuse, but he knew that if he objected, it would be tantamount to disrespecting Lin Haoran.

After weighing his options carefully, Brown knew that now was not the time to offend Lin Haoran. The words of refusal circled on his lips, but he ultimately swallowed them back.

He forced a smile that looked more like a grimace and said, "Since Mr. Lin has made this suggestion, then of course there is no problem."

Given the current situation, Standard Chartered Bank is in a clearly weak position. As the head of Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong, Brown must not cause unnecessary trouble for the bank.

In truth, he was extremely reluctant to attend this press conference.

But now, there's no way to escape it.

As expected, this press conference will definitely damage Standard Chartered Bank's image.

After all, the deal with Hengsheng Bank was secretly negotiated between Lin Haoran and Standard Chartered Bank, and it had never been disclosed to the public.

Standard Chartered Bank has been enjoying great success recently. After successfully acquiring HSBC, its strength has been greatly enhanced, and it has replaced HSBC as the largest British bank.

However, at this critical juncture, they are forced to lose Hengsheng Bank.

This is undoubtedly an extremely embarrassing thing for Standard Chartered Bank.

After all, anyone with a little financial knowledge knows the important position of Hengsheng Bank.

Standard Chartered Bank certainly didn't transfer Hengsheng Bank to Lin Haoran willingly.

Since it wasn't voluntary, it must have been a forced act.

Brown could already imagine that the reporters would ask some sharp and incisive questions that would embarrass Standard Chartered Bank.

Those questions will be like sharp daggers, piercing straight into Standard Chartered Bank's already fragile reputation.

But since things had come to this point, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and go for it.

The group continued their conversation in the office, and before they knew it, the clock was almost pointing to eleven o'clock.

At that moment, there was a gentle knock on the office door, and the General Manager of East Asia Bank, Oyama, entered.

The general manager of East Asia Bank had come early in the morning with He Shanheng to take over the management of Hengsheng Bank and had been busy all morning.

"Boss, Chairman He," Da Shan reported crisply as soon as he entered the room, "The press conference in the lobby on the first floor is all ready. The reporters are all in place, and everyone who is supposed to come has arrived. We can start the conference at any time."

Lin Haoran nodded slightly and said with a smile, "Now that everything is ready, let's not keep the reporters waiting too long. Let's go down together now."

The lobby on the first floor was bustling with people. Nearly 500 reporters had gathered there, creating a lively and noisy atmosphere. Such a large number of media reporters was a rare sight.

The reporters craned their necks, eager to know what kind of collaboration could be so shrouded in mystery.

A temporary stage was already set up ahead of the reporters who were eagerly waiting.

On the stage, a long table stretched across the space, with several chairs neatly arranged behind it.

(End of this chapter)