In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

Chapter 683: HK$1463 billion, market share exceeding 60%!
In the office, after introducing all the senior executives to Lin Haoran one by one, everyone returned to their respective posts and threw themselves into their busy work.

In the blink of an eye, only Lin Haoran and He Shanheng remained in the huge office.

With the management authority just handed over, there is a lot of work to be done in terms of coordination and streamlining.

At this moment, He Shanheng was sitting at his desk, intently organizing a thick stack of documents.

Lin Haoran, meanwhile, was lounging on the sofa in the office break area, holding a financial report from Hengsheng Bank tightly in his hand, reading it line by line with great care.

At its peak, Hang Seng Bank had a capital scale of just over HK$20 billion, slightly ahead of Standard Chartered Bank.

However, times have changed, and its capital has shrunk dramatically to just over HK$11 billion. Such a disparity is truly lamentable.

It must be said that Hengsheng Bank has been significantly dragged down by Huifeng Bank.

The reason behind this lies in the two banks' drastically different sources of funding.

In terms of funding channels, Huifeng Bank mainly relies on large enterprises, such as British-owned companies and Hong Kong-based giants, which are important sources of its funding.

These large enterprises have abundant funds and a stable partnership with Huifeng Bank, which provides them with a solid financial backing.

In contrast, Hang Seng Bank's funding sources are more grassroots, relying more on ordinary citizens and small and medium-sized enterprises in Hong Kong.

Ordinary citizens' savings are scattered and fragmented, and the capital scale of small and medium-sized enterprises is relatively limited, and its stability is far less than that of large enterprises.

This funding structure makes Hengsheng Bank relatively weak in its ability to withstand market fluctuations.

This time, a fierce business battle broke out between Huifeng Bank and Bank of East Asia, and this "financial storm" quickly swept through the entire Hong Kong business community.

Hengsheng Bank, due to its close ties with Huifeng Bank, was unfortunately drawn into the conflict and became a "victim" of this business war.

In a short period of time, Hengsheng Bank's capital size decreased by nearly half, which was undoubtedly a heavy blow to the bank, making its already numerous challenges even worse.

Of course, most of the nearly HK$10 billion that was lost went to Bank of East Asia and Dao Heng Bank, both owned by Lin Haoran.

Therefore, although Hengsheng Bank's capital size has decreased significantly, fortunately, funds have flowed into its own camp, so the overall impact is not too great.

Meanwhile, Standard Chartered Bank and Huafeng Bank, after being openly threatened by Lin Haoran, had no choice but to transfer the HK$50 billion they had previously misappropriated back to Hengsheng Bank.

This HK$50 billion instantly and greatly improved Hang Seng Bank's previously tight cash flow situation, making its financial situation healthy and stable.

"Uncle He, what is the total capital of our three major banks—East Asia, Daoheng, and Hengsheng—currently?" Lin Haoran gently put down the financial data report in his hand, looked up at He Shanheng, and asked.

"Haoran, wait a moment, I'll calculate it." He Shanheng said as he picked up the calculator next to him and skillfully tapped the keys.

Not long after, He Shanheng finished the calculation.

“I have carefully calculated that currently, Hang Seng Bank’s capital scale is HK$113.8 billion, Bank of East Asia’s capital scale reaches HK$1251.7 billion, and Dao Heng Bank’s capital scale is HK$98.4 billion, with the total capital scale of the three banks reaching HK$1463.9 billion.”

Based on the latest data released by Global Research, our current share of the total capital in the Hong Kong financial market has reached approximately 62.3%.

"This market share is even higher than Huifeng Bank's at its peak!" He Shanheng couldn't hide his surprise.

This means that Hengsheng Group is now stronger than Huifeng Group at its peak.

"What? It's already over 60% market share?" Lin Haoran was also somewhat surprised upon hearing this, and a smile involuntarily appeared on his face.

At its peak, even with the combined market share of Heng Sheng Bank and Youli Bank, Huifeng Bank barely reached 60%, which was already considered Huifeng Bank's peak period.

Now, his Hengsheng Group, which is about to be established, is about to surpass the peak capital scale of Huifeng Bank, which naturally makes Lin Haoran very happy.

Lin Haoran couldn't help but start calculating in his mind: what if he could allocate several tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars from this huge sum of over 100 billion Hong Kong dollars to invest in the Japanese market?

How much profit could he make by taking advantage of the investment opportunities presented by Japan's impending economic bubble, and then quickly withdrawing his funds and running away before the bubble bursts a few years later?

If you choose to invest with a loan, the interest cost is ridiculously high, basically more than double the interest rate on a deposit.

Such high interest expenses will compress investment returns, and large loans also require collateral of equal value, such as stocks.

Instead of doing that, it would be better to control the bank yourself, so that you can make full use of the funds deposited in the bank from outside to carry out investment activities.

All you need to pay is the pitifully low deposit interest, and the interest rate spread is huge, plus no collateral is required.

In addition, controlling a bank has another great advantage: it allows you to maintain sufficient secrecy regarding your financial situation.

Just like before he acquired Bank of East Asia, the funds of his companies such as Hong Kong Electric Group and Hongkong Land Group were all placed with Huafeng Bank. It can be said that Huafeng Bank had a very clear understanding of his financial situation in Hong Kong.

Under these circumstances, what secrets could Lin Haoran possibly have left in front of Huifeng Bank?

In complex business competition, the confidentiality of financial information is often crucial to the success or failure of strategic planning.

These were the two core reasons why he made the decision to acquire Bank of East Asia.

However, things are unpredictable.

He never expected that, just three months after taking control of the Bank of East Asia, things would develop in a way that completely exceeded his expectations.

Not only did they acquire Dao Heng Bank and Heng Sheng Bank, but they also brought down Hui Feng Bank, which had once been a prominent force in Hong Kong's financial world.

All of this was purely accidental and completely outside of his original plan.

However, this unexpected event is naturally a good thing.

Because when Huifeng Bank's business empire collapsed, many of its profits were absorbed by its affiliated banks, indirectly enriching him.

"The main reason is that in the past two weeks, before Huifeng Bank's capital chain broke, a large amount of funds flowing out of Huifeng Bank and Hengsheng Bank went into East Asia Bank and Daoheng Bank."

In addition, Wharf Holdings transferred HK$42 billion of its working capital from HSBC, and some other large Chinese-owned enterprises also transferred their funds from HSBC. Now, with the addition of Hang Seng Bank's capital, it is only natural that our market share exceeds 60%.

"If Huifeng Bank hadn't run out of funds and hadn't closed all its branches, we definitely would have been able to attract even more funds," He Shanheng laughed.

More than half a month ago, Lin Haoran specially arranged for someone to do a detailed statistical analysis.

The results showed that at the time, the total capital of Bank of East Asia and Dao Heng Bank was approximately HK$1041.7 billion, accounting for only about 44% of the market share in Hong Kong's financial market.

Who would have thought that in just two short weeks, the funds of his bank would skyrocket, adding another HK$40 billion.

And its market share jumped directly from 44% to 62.3%, a truly staggering increase.

The extra 40 billion was mostly "absorbed" from major banks in Hong Kong, with Huifeng Bank making the largest "contribution".

Hengsheng Bank suffered heavy losses due to the massive outflow of funds caused by its association with Huifeng Bank.

Fortunately, most of these outflowing funds flowed into the Bank of East Asia.

Now that Hengsheng Bank has been acquired and incorporated into its portfolio, it has little impact on Lin Haoran's financial empire as a whole. In the end, it's just a matter of funds moving from one hand to the other within his own banking system.

"It's alright, I'm quite satisfied with these results. I'm just a little curious about the current size of Standard Chartered Bank's funds." Lin Haoran tilted his head slightly, his eyes full of curiosity.

"Although I don't know the exact figures, it's still possible to make a rough estimate. Standard Chartered Bank's market share in Hong Kong is less than HK$20 billion; while now that HSBC has been severely damaged, the remaining market share corresponds to a fund size of about HK$47 billion."

Based on this calculation, the combined funds of Standard Chartered Bank and HSBC Bank certainly won't exceed HK$670 billion; I estimate it to be around HK$650 billion.

As a veteran in the banking industry, Ho Sin-hang is extremely knowledgeable about the various aspects of Hong Kong's banking sector, and even his simple data analysis is not significantly different from reality.

“HK$650 billion. It seems that the combined market share of Standard Chartered Bank and HSBC is less than half that of Hengsheng Group.” Lin Haoran’s lips curled up, and his smile became even brighter.

This means that although Standard Chartered Bank's strength has greatly increased after acquiring Huifeng Bank, it is no longer able to threaten the position of Hengsheng Group.

Its undisputed dominant position is firmly secured!
"Indeed, this achievement is already unimaginable. You may not know this from an outsider's perspective, but Hong Kong's financial market has been impacted by the oil crisis and the economic situation has been turbulent in the past two years."
Then the real estate market suddenly came to a screeching halt, and market confidence was dampened; in addition, British companies continued to withdraw funds, and under these multiple influences, the total amount of new funds added each year was very limited.

Now, even if we only consider Standard Chartered Bank and HSBC, whose capital scale has reached HK$650 billion, and add the HK$1463.9 billion of our three major banks, Bank of East Asia, Bank of Taiwan, and Bank of East Asia, the total capital scale of these two major forces alone has exceeded HK$2100 billion.

The remaining two or three hundred billion Hong Kong dollars in the financial market, which has to be divided among hundreds of banks, is actually quite a lot, even though their market share is not large to begin with. He Shanheng shook his head slightly, his tone full of emotion.

There are indeed hundreds of banks in Hong Kong, but in reality, there aren't many banks with a capital scale exceeding 100 million.

Today, Lin Haoran's Hengsheng Group and Standard Chartered Group have acquired several of the largest banks in Hong Kong.

Once, Hui Fung Bank held the top position in Hong Kong's banking industry and was the undisputed number one bank;
Hengsheng Bank followed closely behind, ranking second;
Standard Chartered Bank ranked third;

Bank of East Asia ranked fourth;

Daoheng Bank, which Lin Haoran acquired some time ago, was also previously ranked in the top ten.

However, times have changed, and if Hong Kong's banking industry were to be re-ranked today, the situation would be quite different.

Bank of East Asia jumped to first place;

Standard Chartered Bank moved from third to second place; the severely weakened Huifeng Bank could only rank third.
Hengsheng Bank has fallen to fourth place;

Dao Heng Bank ranked fifth.

Although the rankings have been completely reshuffled, upon closer inspection, the banks that actually made it into the top ten are still the same few.

Bank of East Asia, with its significantly larger capital base than the other banks, seemed to be far ahead.

As for why Standard Chartered Bank came in second place, it's simple: many large British companies had already indicated that they would transfer their corporate finance business to Standard Chartered Bank, so Standard Chartered Bank was bound to replace HSBC in the rankings.

While Huafeng Bank's strength has been greatly reduced, it still has companies under its umbrella such as Hutchison Whampoa, Cheung Kong Holdings, and Worldwide Shipping Group, whose funds will not be transferred. Its strength should not be underestimated, and it is reasonable for it to be ranked third for the time being.

"Uncle He, East Asia Bank's current capital scale is too bloated and its efficiency is extremely low. After Hengsheng Bank is privatized, I will appropriately allow some of the group to transfer funds from East Asia Bank to Hengsheng Bank."

"For example, Hongkong Land Group and Wanqing Group, how about appropriately increasing the capital scale of Hengsheng Bank to HK$50-60 billion?" Lin Haoran said with a smile.

Putting aside other issues, the Bank of East Asia will have a hard time handling the issue of transferring salaries to corporate employees when it is implemented, as the number of employees involved is too large.

However, now that there is a bank called Hengsheng Bank with operational strength comparable to that of Bank of East Asia, the matter of bank transfers for salary payments will be handled more smoothly if Hengsheng Bank shares some of the burden.

Furthermore, since the group is called Hengsheng Group, it would be somewhat unjust if Hengsheng Bank's capital size were significantly smaller than that of East Asia Bank.

He Shanheng's eyes lit up. He put down the documents in his hand and said with great interest, "Haoran, your idea coincides with mine. East Asia Bank now has a huge amount of funds and complicated business, which is indeed difficult to manage."

Diverting some funds to Hengsheng Bank will both alleviate the pressure on Bank of East Asia and enhance Hengsheng Bank's strength, achieving two goals at once.

“Alright, since that’s the case, then it’s settled. I will tell Mr. Ma Shimin and Mr. Burton that after the privatization of Hengsheng Bank is completed, I will ask the two groups to transfer their funds to East Asia Bank at a certain time.”

"Bank of East Asia still has the financial business of many large enterprises such as Hong Kong Electric Group, Hong Kong and China Gas, and Wharf Holdings. In addition, with the large number of deposits from citizens and small and medium-sized enterprises that it has attracted recently, Bank of East Asia's strength is still very strong. As for Dao Heng Bank, let it develop freely. In the future, the three banks will compete healthily!" Lin Haoran said with a smile.

Although Bank of East Asia has a long history, it ultimately lacks sufficient foundation. Suddenly growing from a company with a capital scale of only a few billion Hong Kong dollars to a scale of hundreds of billions of Hong Kong dollars is actually very difficult.

If it weren't for a bigwig like Ho Sin-hang overseeing things, East Asia Bank might have already run into internal problems.

Therefore, transferring some funds to Hengsheng Bank now would reduce the pressure on Bank of East Asia and at the same time enhance Hengsheng Bank's strength, which is a win-win solution.

Moreover, after allocating a portion of the market to Hengsheng Bank, Hengsheng Bank and Bank of East Asia will rank first and second in market share.

As a result, Standard Chartered Bank can only continue to be number three.

Rankings can sometimes have a significant impact on reputation.

……

Meanwhile, in a quiet and well-equipped upscale sanatorium at Queen Mary Hospital on Pok Fu Lam Road, the atmosphere was exceptionally peaceful.

At this moment, two prominent figures from Hong Kong's business world are sitting on the sofa in this sanatorium.

One is Bao Yugang, and the other is Li Jiacheng.

"Brother Bao, you look rosy-cheeked now, and your health has recovered quite well. You should be able to be discharged from the hospital, right?" Li Jiacheng asked with curiosity as he put a bouquet of flowers into a vase.

Over the past month, with careful recuperation and the support of a world-class medical team, Bao Yugang has fully recovered.

However, he never left the hospital and stayed there contentedly. If anyone wanted to visit him, they had to get his permission first.

“It’s so peaceful here, no need to go out and face those troublesome things!” Bao Yugang said with a meaningful smile.

Li Jiacheng, with his keen mind, instantly grasped the deeper meaning behind it.

He couldn't help but cast an admiring glance at Bao Yugang, and sighed inwardly: Indeed, the old fox is still the most cunning!
Recently, Huifeng Bank and Bank of East Asia engaged in commercial competition, putting Bao Yugang in a truly awkward position.

On the one hand, Huifeng Bank has always been his close partner, and the two sides have cooperated for many years and have a deep friendship;

On the other hand, it is common knowledge that Bao Yugang and Lin Haoran have a close relationship.

If one party forces him to make a choice, he will definitely be torn between them.

However, he cleverly avoided these thorny and embarrassing matters by using the excuse of recovering from surgery, and was still able to secretly manipulate his son-in-law to handle certain affairs.

"It seems your decision back then was right!" Li Jiacheng said with some emotion.

Li Jiacheng was referring to Bao Yugang's arrangement for Lin Haoran to invest in Wharf Holdings, thereby legitimately transferring Wharf Holdings' financial business from HSBC to Bank of East Asia. This move made it impossible for HSBC to find a way to blame Bao Yugang.

Lin Haoran is the second largest shareholder of Wharf Holdings. Isn't it only natural that Wharf Holdings' financial business is transferred to banks under Lin Haoran's control?

“Three years ago, I saw that Haoran was no ordinary person and was destined for great things, so I maintained a good relationship with him. But who could have imagined that his achievements would far exceed my expectations!” Bao Yugang narrowed his eyes slightly, his face full of emotion.

He still remembers that the first time he met Lin Haoran was on the private beach in Deep Water Bay.

At that time, Lin Haoran was still unknown in the business world and had not yet made a name for himself.

Later, upon hearing that Lin Haoran was secretly plotting against Wharf Holdings, he offered to sell him his Wharf Holdings shares in exchange for persuading Li Jiacheng to give up Qingzhou Yingni.

At the time, he was both amazed by Lin Haoran's courage and strategy, and curious about his bold move.

Later, on the eve of the oil crisis, Lin Haoran decisively stockpiled crude oil.

Bao Yugang witnessed this series of amazing actions.

It can be said that he personally witnessed Lin Haoran's journey from a novice to establishing himself in the business world and rising step by step.

Now, Lin Haoran has essentially saved his life.

Previously, Lin Haoran had reminded him to pay attention to the risks of cancer, which allowed him to receive timely intervention and treatment in the early stages of cancer.

If this isn't a life-saving grace, then what is?

Therefore, Bao Yugang's attitude towards Lin Haoran has long since changed from simply admiring a senior to a junior to being as close as family.

If it weren't for the fact that all four of his daughters had already found their own partners, he would have really wanted Lin Haoran to be his son-in-law. Unfortunately, it was a few years too late.

"Brother Bao, besides visiting you, I have another matter I'd like to ask you!" Li Jiacheng hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and spoke.

“Brother Li, we have known each other for many years and have a deep friendship. Please feel free to speak your mind.” Bao Yugang laughed heartily.

Li Ka-shing and Pao Yu-kong were not only neighbors, but also prominent figures in Hong Kong's business world.

Over the years, the two have crossed paths on various occasions and have long since developed a deep friendship.

"You know that the conflict between Lin Haoran and me is irreconcilable. What do you think I should do now to gain his forgiveness?" After thinking it over, Li Jiacheng finally put aside his pride and told him frankly.

Since successfully taking control of Hutchison Whampoa, Li Ka-shing's status in Hong Kong's business world has been at its zenith.

For a time, apart from a few forces such as Huifeng Bank and Bao Yugang, he didn't pay much attention to other forces.

Even after Lin Haoran acquired Hongkong Land and became Hong Kong's undisputed richest man, Li Jiacheng felt that with two business giants, Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong Holdings, as long as he held onto Huifeng Bank as a strong backer, surpassing them was not impossible.

However, things are unpredictable.

Today, Huifeng Bank, once a powerful backer, has collapsed under Lin Haoran's scheme, and Lin Haoran has become the overlord of Hong Kong's financial world and even the entire business world through a series of means.

This made Li Jiacheng truly feel an unprecedented crisis.

His fate was inextricably linked to Huifeng Bank, as if they were bound together by an invisible rope.

Therefore, after careful consideration and weighing the pros and cons, he had no choice but to take the action of fully supporting Huifeng Bank in harming the interests of Bank of East Asia.

But anyone with eyes can see that this behavior is openly taking sides.

Choosing sides often comes at a price, and he knew that this would undoubtedly offend Lin Haoran.

Today, Huifeng Bank has lost out in this fierce business battle, while Lin Haoran is at the height of his power and his strength has greatly increased.

He then realized he was in an awkward situation and had no choice but to ask Bao Yugang for advice on how to deal with it.

He simply couldn't bring himself to ask Lin Haoran for reconciliation; he could only hope for a better solution that would satisfy both sides.

"Ah, Brother Li, I called you specifically to try and dissuade you before you decided to do this, but unfortunately you didn't listen!" Bao Yugang sighed helplessly, his eyes full of regret.

Although Bao Yugang had been recuperating in the hospital, his intelligence network was extremely powerful.

Upon learning that Li Jiacheng intended to demonstrate his loyalty to Huifeng Bank, he immediately called Li Jiacheng and earnestly tried to dissuade him.

Unfortunately, Li Ka-shing, backed by two business giants, Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong Holdings, was unlikely to heed his advice.
(End of this chapter)