Reborn Tycoon Rise

The Hong Kong government is very efficient. After having lunch with Youde, Xu Zhi had just returned to the headquarters of Hutchison Building when he received the news that the Lands Department of the Hong Kong government had approved the industrial conversion application for two pieces of land owned by Hutchison Whampoa and Evergrande. , need to pay the price difference of HK$300 million and HK$100 million respectively.

This price is a little lower than the price negotiated by Li Jiacheng in history, and it can be regarded as a gift from the Hong Kong Governor.

Xu Zhi also immediately summoned the heads of Hutchison Whampoa, Evergrande and Bank of East Asia to announce the agreement with the Hong Kong Governor.

Ma Shimin asked worriedly: "Chairman, are you absolutely sure about this? Otherwise, our losses will be heavy."

"Don't worry, I'm not sure how much money you can make from this, but you will definitely not lose money." Xu Zhi said with certainty. In the original history, the British government used its own dollar reserves to help Xiangjiang, and also immediately started We have entered into formal negotiations with the mainland to save Hong Kong's economy from two aspects.

In this case, regardless of whether Xu Zhi's help or not, the result will not change. The reason why the Hong Kong governor asked for help was because he didn't know the future and wanted to increase the chance of success.

If you miss this opportunity, you will never have it again.

Seeing how tough his boss was, Ma Shimin agreed, "Okay, then we'll do it like this."

Yuan Tianfan also said: "I will immediately arrange for the bank to prepare for full exchange."

"Okay, then everyone will try their best to exchange Hong Kong dollars starting from tomorrow." Xu Zhi smiled and issued the order.

…

Early the next morning, an obvious notice was posted on the door of the Bank of East Asia:

"In recent days, many banks in Hong Kong have stopped U.S. dollar exchange operations, and some people who do not know the truth have begun to panic, worried that the Hong Kong dollar will seriously depreciate. Our bank calls on everyone to calm down, believe in the government, and believe in us in Hong Kong.

In order to cooperate with the Hong Kong government's rescue plan, our bank's chairman, Mr. Xu Zhi, will inject US$200 million into our bank in his own capacity. At the same time, our bank will borrow US$1.1 billion to open a fund account to allow our bank to of depositors converted the Hong Kong dollars in their accounts into the equivalent US dollars. "

The Bank of East Asia, like other small and medium-sized banks, stopped its foreign exchange business before. Now, most of the people here are dealing with other businesses.

Seeing this announcement, everyone took a deep breath. US$1.3 billion, at the current exchange rate of 9.6, the total value is as high as HK$12.4 billion. Such a large sum of money is equivalent to 6% of the entire GDP of Hong Kong. This is almost equivalent to telling the customers of Bank of East Asia that it is no problem to exchange for US dollars.

The news spread quickly. It was just in the afternoon. Some people who had not opened an account in the Bank of East Asia immediately came to open an account after learning the news.

Soon, there was a crowd outside the bank, and some police officers were already there to maintain order.

The next day, major newspapers in Hong Kong announced the incident, and countless people flocked to the Bank of East Asia to exchange for the U.S. dollars they dreamed of.

In the afternoon of the same day, Xu Zhi also came to the headquarters of Bank of East Asia, found Yuan Tianfan, and asked: "How is it, the current situation of each branch?"

Yuan Tianfan said: "The situation at each branch is similar to what we expected. A large number of people came to exchange US dollars. It is only 3 o'clock, but I estimate that the funds that have been exchanged so far have reached 50 million US dollars."

"So fast!" Even if Xu Zhi knew about the run, he didn't expect how fast others would be. He exchanged so much in just over half a day. If this continued, the US$1.3 billion he had prepared might not be enough.

"Generally speaking, the speed of runs is like this. It depends on whether the government can give the people confidence. If the people believe in the Hong Kong government, then the runs will end soon. On the contrary, the speed of runs will become faster and faster. , and eventually lost control." Yuan Tianfan explained.

Xu Zhi asked: "What do you think will happen in the next few days?"

Yuan Tianfan pondered for a moment and said: "Chairman, it's difficult for me to be sure about this, but I estimate that if there is no movement from the Hong Kong government, more and more people will come to the Bank of East Asia to ask for U.S. dollars in exchange in the next few days. I'm worried. If this continues, the US$1.3 billion we have prepared will not be enough."

Xu Zhi asked: "Then what do you think we should do?"

Yuan Tianfan said: "Limit the exchange amount. As far as I know, many of the people who came to exchange for U.S. dollars exchanged amounts as high as one million Hong Kong dollars. This has seriously consumed our U.S. dollar reserves."

Xu Zhi asked: "How much do you want to limit?"

Yuan Tianfan said: "Ten thousand dollars per person."

"It's useless." Xu Zhi shook his head and said, "This kind of person can definitely invite a bunch of people to queue up to redeem. Can you still identify him?"

"What does the chairman mean?" Yuan Tianfan asked.

Xu Zhi said: "Starting from tomorrow, all customers who do not have exchanges will need to pay a handling fee for each exchange, which is 5% of the total amount."

"This is a bit too much!" Yuan Tianfan was also shocked. In international currency exchange, the general exchange fee is 1% to 1.5%. This 5% range is too harsh.

Xu Zhidao: "Since this group of people don't believe in the Hong Kong dollar, it doesn't matter if they pay more handling fees. The current currency crisis in Hong Kong is caused by this group of people, so charging them only 5% is already a small amount."

Xu Zhi is not the Hong Kong government. His purpose is to convert the US dollars in his hands into Hong Kong dollars. Naturally, he will not limit the maximum exchange amount. If he charges another handling fee, he can earn hundreds of millions more Hong Kong dollars. As for this There are a group of people who only believe in U.S. dollars. No matter how harsh the handling fee is, it cannot stop them.

…

Entering October, the Hong Kong dollar crisis continues, and many people still come to the Bank of East Asia to queue up to exchange U.S. dollars.

Because there were no restrictions on early exchanges, there were many people who exchanged millions of dollars at a time. As a result, just after September, the Bank of East Asia exchanged 600 million U.S. dollars.

After the Hong Kong government learned of the incident, it recommended that the Bank of East Asia set an exchange limit.

Xu Zhi agreed because his own U.S. dollar reserves were running low. If he could exchange all of them, the Hong Kong government would still have to give him face.

Starting from October 1st, the Bank of East Asia limited the exchange of HKD 10,000 per ID card per day, and the daily transaction volume decreased rapidly. Until October 13th, all US dollar foreign exchange exchanges of the Bank of East Asia were completed and the US dollar exchange window was closed.

The Bank of East Asia stopped converting U.S. dollars, which quickly spread across Hong Kong like a storm. However, it did not cause any problems because on the 15th, the Hong Kong government officially announced:

"From October 17, Hong Kong will implement the U.S. dollar-Hong Kong dollar linked exchange rate system, with the exchange rate set at 1:7.8."

The Hong Kong dollar exchange rate crisis is officially over!