Reborn Tycoon Rise

Xu Zhi and his team stayed in Daegu for another three days, and worked with Lee Kun-hee and Lee Byung-cheol on the prototype of the cooperation between the two parties. Although both parties attach great importance to cooperation in the semiconductor field, the scale of the entire market is currently very limited. On the contrary, home appliances in the traditional field have greater space for cooperation.

After leaving South Korea, Xu Zhi returned to Xiangjiang. At the same time, the stock market in Xiangjiang was completely shaken by another piece of news:

Hang Lung Bank, one of the largest Chinese-owned banks in Hong Kong, suffered an unprecedented run. A large number of depositors began to queue up all night regardless of losses, intending to withdraw all their deposits from Hang Lung Bank. For this reason, even if they lost many years of regular interest, No matter what.

The experience of Hang Lung Bank can actually be described with the word "injustice".

As early as September last year, after the iron lady fell down, the real estate market in Hong Kong collapsed. Countless "brick-and-mortar" people jumped out and showed their magical powers, predicting that some banks in Hong Kong would inevitably repeat the fate of the run on Liao Chuang Hing Bank.

This view is actually okay. Small banks have been relying on high interest rates to attract depositors. Although depositors are tempted by high interest rates, they are also extremely worried that their money will fall into puddles. If the bank fails, it will easily trigger a run.

Once a run breaks out, banks will not die from their previous losses, but they will be immediately crushed by the wave of runs.

After all, if a bank absorbs deposits from depositors, it must lend them out. Otherwise, how can it pay interest to depositors? But once a run occurs, it is impossible for banks to withdraw cash in a short period of time. In the absence of foreign aid, the only outcome is to declare bankruptcy and be taken over by the government.

In Hong Kong, the main customers of banks are real estate companies. When local prices collapse, both real estate companies and banks will suffer losses, and losses will inevitably occur. At this time, all depositors are themselves tinderboxes. As long as there is a little news, they will be ignited. .

But to the surprise of financial "experts", although Hang Lung Bank, the first bank to be successful, collapsed, the fundamental reason was not because of real estate.

The fundamental reason for the crisis of Hang Lung Bank was the collapse of its long-term partner Xie Liyuan Gold Shop.

Xie Liyuan Gold Shop was founded in 1867 and has a history of 110 years. It cannot compare with Zheng Yutong's Chow Tai Fook in terms of scale, but it has a long-standing brand and is the favorite of many people in Hong Kong.

In the 1970s, international gold prices rose sharply. Xie Liyuan Gold Shop launched the "Qianzu Gold Accumulation Plan": any Xiangjiang citizen could open a gold account with Xie Liyuan and buy paper gold at the price of the day. At any time, you can come to the store to exchange paper gold or buy gold jewelry according to the gold price of the day.

This operation seemed fine on the surface, but in fact, after Xie Liyuan Gold Shop received the funds from customers, it did not buy gold in the market in accordance with the agreement with the customers, but participated in real estate investment in Xiangjiang.

Although before 1981, Xie Liyuan used this capital to make a lot of money in the real estate market, in 1982, land prices fell, and in September, there was a crash. Before, all the profits made in previous years were folded into it.

At the same time, something unexpected happened, and the price of international gold began to rebound sharply. Xie Liyuan Gold Shop's funds were simply not enough to make up for this loophole, so it was forced to go bankrupt.

Hang Lung Bank, on the other hand, has been in bad luck for eight lifetimes. After Xie Liyuan Gold Shop collapsed, there were widespread rumors in the market that Xie Liyuan had a close relationship with Hang Lung Bank. Therefore, a group of investors holding Xie Liyuan Gold Shop gold coupons went to Hang Lung Bank and asked to exchange cash.

Of course this kind of thing will be rejected by the bank. It has nothing to do with them at all. It's just more business than cooperation.

But rumors began to spread at this time. Hang Lung Bank was declared to have suffered huge losses, which triggered a run on depositors. Within two days, HK$100 million in cash was withdrawn. Fortunately, the two giants Standard Chartered Bank and Bank of China joined forces. Supporting Hang Lung Bank temporarily calmed down the run, but the confidence of the market and depositors has been lost.

Misfortune never comes singly. Two months later, a financial company named Diners Club was forced to liquidate because it owed a total of HK$650 million in loans from multiple banks. At the same time, a financial newspaper revealed that two people from Diners Finance were The director is also a director of Hang Lung. Therefore, the economic status of Hang Lung Bank is even more questioned. However, because of the guarantees of the two major banks, it can still survive.

According to the original history, in September 1983, Standard Chartered Bank discovered a debt of HK$800 million hidden by Hang Lung Bank executives, and then officially announced that it would abandon support for Hang Lung Bank, which triggered the collapse of Hang Lung Bank.

But in this life, for some unknown reason, Sides discovered the bad debt in advance, so he gave up supporting Hang Lung Bank and took Bank of China with him.

After losing the support of the two major banking giants, the news spread immediately, and countless depositors rushed to Hang Lung Bank overnight with the intention of withdrawing their cash.

After losing the support of Standard Chartered and Bank of China, Hang Lung contacted several large banks in Hong Kong with the intention of circulating funds, or hoping that a large bank could provide support, but was rejected by HSBC, Hang Seng and other banks.

Inside the Bank of East Asia headquarters, Xu Zhi, who had just returned to Hong Kong, immediately convened an emergency meeting with the bank's top management.

"Tianfan, what's the current situation of Hang Lung Bank?" Xu Zhi asked directly.

Yuan Tianfan replied: "Chairman, according to the information provided by Standard Chartered Bank, Hang Lung Bank currently has two important issues:

First, 266 million Hong Kong dollars were borrowed one by one by former company directors and related institutions with minimal collateral. According to Hong Kong laws, this is already a serious illegal act.

The second is that Diners Finance, which has gone bankrupt, still owes Hang Lung Bank 800 million Hong Kong dollars in debt. Hang Lung Bank’s senior management has been desperately trying to hide this money from shareholders, but it was still found out by professionals from Standard Chartered Bank. "

At the end of last year, when the first run crisis broke out on Hang Lung Bank, Standard Chartered Bank stepped in to save Hang Lung Bank. Afterwards, the Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Government and Standard Chartered naturally had to conduct a comprehensive investigation of Hang Lung Bank. In the end, they discovered these two problematic funds.

"How much is the entire Hang Lung Bank losing now?" Xu Zhi asked.

Yuan Tianfan said: "It is easy to talk about the illegal payment of 266 million Hong Kong dollars. Several people who borrowed the money have been restricted from leaving the country or are under criminal investigation. These people are worth a lot and should be able to spit out the money.

The biggest trouble is the 800 million Hong Kong dollars lent to Diners Finance. Now that Diners Finance has gone bankrupt, this money has completely become a dead debt, and the bank itself can only bear the loss. "