Rebirth of England

"According to the information we got from Scotland Yard, the neighborhood where Ms. Harriman lives is an upscale neighborhood, and a total of 18 thefts have occurred in the past year..."

Nigel Inkster pushed the frame on his nose and said to Barron:

"On the night when the theft occurred at Ms. Harriman's home, two other families in the neighborhood also reported thefts, and they happened to be away from home at the time..."

"What else?"

"We also got photos of Ms. Harriman's home after the theft and the on-site investigation from the police station. Through our expert analysis, we can conclude from the scene at the time that places that have been turned over are more likely to hide valuables, and the other party should not have deliberately looked for other items... such as photos, documents or videotapes."

Joe Harriman's home was robbed, and this matter has been handled by Scotland Yard, but Barron really doesn't have much hope for their work efficiency and ability to solve the case, so he directly obtained the relevant information of the case through his connections and handed it over to his intelligence team for analysis.

Just as Nigel said, Joe Harriman lives in an upscale community, which is relatively safe, but at the same time, such communities are easy to become targets of thieves because they are inhabited by high-income people.

This can be seen from the fact that the community where Joe Harriman lives reported 18 thefts in a year. This ratio is not too much or too little in London...

At the same time, on the night when Joe Harriman's home was robbed, two other families in her community were robbed, and no one lived in the house that night - this shows that Joe Harriman's experience was indeed a random theft, or the other party "robbed" two more families in order to cover up the truth, and more evidence is needed to support it.

But it is obvious that from Nigel's current analysis, considering all aspects of the situation, the possibility that Joe Harriman encountered a random theft this time is still greater than the purposeful infiltration to find certain items.

In any case, when encountering such a thing, it is still necessary to increase the protection of Joe Harriman.

After all, she seems to be more promising in politics at present, and will provide help to Barron in the future.

…

“We plan to try online banking in the UK first, and then start promoting it in North America and Asia…”

Paul Sprint, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank, told Barron’s.

Before, Paul Sprint was an assistant to former president and CEO Davis at Standard Chartered Bank. After Standard Chartered Bank acquired Merrill Lynch and formed Standard Chartered-Merrill Lynch, Davis became the president of Standard Chartered-Merrill Lynch, and Paul Sprint became the CEO of Standard Chartered Bank.

In fact, as early as 1995, the world’s first online bank, Security First Network Bank of America (SFNB), was born.

After that, online finance represented by online banking developed rapidly.

By 2000, online finance covered all retail banking business and some investment banking business in the United States except cash.

By introducing Internet technology, financial business has broken through the limitations of time and space factors, reduced information management and transaction costs, greatly improved service levels and efficiency, and made services more personalized.

Barron naturally understands the development potential of online banking in the future. With the popularization of the Internet, especially the development of mobile Internet, it can be said that bank customers can complete almost all banking business through the Internet, which can greatly reduce the cost of opening bank branches and will be more accepted by young people.

Moreover, with the development of the Internet, many bank branches will be closed in the next ten years due to a large reduction in customers and high maintenance costs.

In this case, Standard Chartered Bank might as well develop Internet banking directly and vigorously, which can not only accelerate the development in areas with more complete network facilities such as the United States and Europe, increase market share, but also increase various services through the Internet.

As for cash services in some remote areas or areas with a small number of users, Standard Chartered Bank can still reduce its expenditure on rent and labor costs by increasing ATM machines.

At present, Standard Chartered Bank has established an online banking department on the basis of acquiring ING Direct, an Internet direct bank that has just been established under the Dutch National Machinery Group (ING), and will first conduct trial operations in the UK.

After gaining enough experience in the operation of online banking, they will start to promote their online banking business in continental Europe and North America starting next year.

It can be said that online banking will be the project that Standard Chartered Bank will focus on in the future, so it is directly concerned by CEO Paul Sprint.

Barron also affirmed the measures he promoted.

As the CEO of Standard Chartered Bank who has just taken office, Paul Sprint attaches great importance to this meeting with Barron. After all, he knows that the Duke in front of him determines whether he can sit in this position.

After completing a series of debt-to-equity swaps, Barron once again controlled the absolute proportion of Standard Chartered-Merrill Lynch Group's shares, and the board of directors of Standard Chartered-Merrill Lynch Group has been firmly controlled by him.

"Your Highness the Duke, after the government launched the mortgage rescue plan and sold some accumulated properties in exchange for funds, our business in England has stabilized, deposit users have begun to pick up, and our mortgage business, It can still continue. Of course, the mortgage conditions have been adjusted to ensure the safety of the funds we release..."

When Standard Chartered Bank acquired Northron Rock Bank, it faced a very difficult situation at the beginning - they had very few depositors left, and property mortgage loans were facing a "trend of supply", which made North Rock Bank Many property mortgages previously issued could not be recovered—all that could be recovered were properties whose value had shrunk.

However, the "suggestions" made by many British banks, including Standard Chartered Bank, to the government were eventually adopted. At the end of last month, the British government finally launched an emergency mortgage rescue plan totaling 100 billion pounds, which will provide assistance to families who are unable to repay their mortgages due to accidents. Perform rescue.

Although the households that can be included in the rescue plan are all in good condition, due to the impact of the subprime mortgage crisis, the income has been temporarily reduced significantly. They only account for a part of the mortgage users who are facing suspension of payment, and the assistance provided by the government is also limited. According to the requirements, the interest that banks can get from it needs to be discounted.

But after all, this plan can still stabilize the continuous payment of a considerable number of mortgage users and allow banks to recover some funds. Therefore, it is also very good news for those banks that have suffered losses in mortgage loans.

In addition, Standard Chartered Bank sold 10 billion euros worth of repossessed mortgage properties belonging to Northrock Bank to Cavendish Asset Management - although these properties were sold at current market prices, relative to their original valuations Although it has shrunk significantly, it will at least enable Standard Chartered Bank's business in England to obtain valuable liquidity, greatly improve its operating conditions, and reduce a large amount of short-term high-interest debt.