After attending the launching ceremony of the new ship and visiting the shipyard, the Shanghai industrial and commercial delegation officially started its inspection trip to Qingdao. The East China government first arranged for them to inspect the Bank of China.

In fact, this arrangement surprised many businessmen, because they all thought that overseas Chinese would arrange for them to visit other factories, and no one thought that the first stop would be the bank.

Of course, at this time, Chinese businessmen were no strangers to banks, because since the opening of the country, all countries have set up banks in China to facilitate business activities in China. Moreover, because foreign banks have abundant funds, standardized operations, and high commercial credit, and are not affected by the policies of the Qing court, they have gradually gained the trust of the Chinese, and most Chinese merchants have become accustomed to depositing their money in banks, and even high-ranking officials and nobles like to keep their money in banks, so as to ensure safety. The most typical is Prince Qing, who deposited more than 1,000 taels of silver accumulated by his years of corruption into a number of foreign banks.

In fact, the Qing court gradually realized the importance of banks, so in 1897, Sheng Xuanhuai presided over the establishment of the first commercial bank, China International Commercial Bank, headquartered in Shanghai. It should be said that at the beginning of the establishment of the Commercial Bank, the Qing court still reproduced accordingly, granting the Bank the privilege of issuing silver dollars and silver banknotes, and could also collect treasury money on behalf of the bank.

However, during the Gengzi Revolution, the Eight-Nation Coalition Army looted two important branches in Beijing and Tianjin, and looted tens of millions of taels of silver in stock, causing the Commerce Bank to suffer huge losses. As a result, China's financial sector is still dominated by foreign banks.

However, although the strength of foreign banks is strong, there are also the disadvantages of low popularity, because foreign banks are mainly established by relying on the influence of various countries in China, and they are basically distributed in cities that are set up as treaty ports, while cities that are not set up as treaty ports are generally not opened, which also causes considerable limitations. Moreover, after the end of the Gengzi Revolution, the business development of foreign banks in the jurisdiction of the East China government was also greatly hindered.

Banks are important financial institutions in economic activities in modern society. It is also related to the country's financial security and stability, the traverser is from the highly developed modern society of the financial industry, of course, knows the importance of finance to social and economic development, and will not be financially controlled by others, the establishment of the Bank of China is an important measure, but also issued a new currency, to further standardize the financial market.

In addition, it also makes full use of administrative means to support the development of the Bank of China, first of all, all the government-invested enterprises, factories, and individual entrepreneurs who have crossed accounts, all of which have opened accounts in the Bank of China, and large capital transactions are completed through bank transfers. The merchants of Qingdao also opened accounts in the Bank of China, and soon the merchants found the convenience of this model, without carrying a large amount of currency, and the transaction was both safe and secure, because there were bank transaction records, it was useless to not recognize the account, so now the Bank of China has attracted a large number of private funds to enter.

Of course, it is not enough for banks to attract funds alone, because the bank's income is mainly completed through loans or investments, so the next step is to carry out the loan business in full. However, with the economic development of the East China government, there are more and more people who start their own businesses, and there are many local businessmen who are interested in investing in industry, and the loan business is still quite secure, and the East China government will also invest in the construction of a number of factory projects, and there are a lot of investment opportunities.

After all, relying entirely on fair market competition, even if the Bank of China can win, it will inevitably lose significant interests, so the direct use of administrative means is the lowest cost method, of course, the East China government called regulating the financial market, first of all, strictly examine the registered capital of foreign banks, taxation, and at the same time formulate banking laws and regulations, and unify interest rates, so that foreign banks are prohibited from absorbing funds through high interest rates and developing loans at low interest rates.

Except for a few large banks that were able to support themselves without force, the rest of the banks closed their doors and withdrew from the scope of the East China government. As a result, the East China government basically controlled its own finance, and now 10 of Shandong's 10 prefectures and 2 prefectures have opened branches in 10 prefectures, and the Tianjin branch was opened as early as the initial establishment. Therefore, cash transactions can be carried out through banks in various parts of Shandong, which can be extremely convenient for businessmen and ensure the safety of funds.

The East China government led the Shanghai industrial and commercial delegation to visit the headquarters of the Bank of China in Qingdao, which is decorated in the style of the bank of the old time and space, the lobby is wide and tidy, the marble counter is paved, and the top is divided into two halves with transparent glass, and you can see the work of the staff inside, and different businesses are handled in different areas, and there are seats for customers to rest, tea, and there is also a calling business, and the people who come to handle the business are in good order, not chaotic at all. Moreover, the staff of the bank are uniformed and look neat, all of which makes the businessmen marvel.

Many merchants also came to the counter and looked through the glass, only to see that the cashiers behind the counter were all young women, with their hair tied up, wearing a dark blue close-fitting uniform, and a short skirt that was over the knee. And each person has a large long table, and there are no drawers, all bills, money, account books are on the table, counting money and counting money are also done in front of customers, which can be completely open and transparent, and also avoid cheating by cashiers.

In this era, due to the lack of monitoring equipment, it was a considerable problem for banks to prevent cheating by their staff, and in the Qing court, the situation of self-theft by guards was even more serious, and even the bank vaults of the household department were stolen. And the cashier is the easiest to cheat a link, the traverser in order to prevent the cashier from cheating, but also spent a lot of thought, the full open cashier is only the first layer of defense; and the second layer of defense is the uniform uniform, in fact, the cashier has to change a full set of clothes every day, the work uniform is no pocket, so it can not carry the money; and the third layer of defense is the technical hand, every day to make money, the cashier after work, the whole day to receive the silver money, bills are counted separately, only to do the money and tickets are consistent, in order to pass the inspection. With these three lines of defense, there is basically no big problem in preventing cashiers from cheating. Other links, such as statistics, escort, warehousing, withdrawal, etc., are also equipped with a strict inspection system, which can basically prevent the phenomenon of self-theft by guards.

After a circle in the lobby, the industrial and commercial group came to the large conference room of the Bank of China, and the bank traveler introduced to them in detail the development, business scope, management system, operation process, business model, etc., and also specially explained that the Bank of China is about to open a branch in Shanghai, so if there are businessmen in Shanghai who invest in Shandong or Tianjin, as long as they open an account in the Bank of China, they can directly remit money to Shandong in Shanghai, without carrying a lot of money and crossing the ocean to Qingdao.

Of course, there is a certain handling fee for cross-regional bank transfer transactions, but this is quite cost-effective compared to the risk of carrying heavy money, because traveling with heavy money not only has another freight, but also has to hire bodyguards, which is by no means lower than the handling fee of cross-regional transactions. Therefore, it is perfectly acceptable for businessmen.

This is of course good news for businessmen, many businessmen have also shown excited eyes, because there are indeed a number of businessmen who are interested in investing in Shandong, if the Bank of China set up a branch in Shanghai, it will be able to greatly reduce the cost of investment, and some businessmen who have a wait-and-see attitude are also considering how much the bank factor should account for when reassessing the risks and returns of investing in Shandong.

Next, the merchants were introduced to the style of currency issued by the Bank of China and its ratio to silver and several other major currencies.

In fact, the East China government issued its own currency, businessmen basically know, it should be said that this is good news for businessmen, because a unified currency is an important condition in economic transactions, every merchant has been troubled by the uneven quality of silver in circulation before, the identification of silver fineness, folding, and recasting are a lot of expenses, so all businessmen actually hope that the imperial court can unify the currency, so that business is much more convenient.

In the past, the China Commercial Bank issued two kinds of banknotes, silver dollars and silver, but the issuance was too small to be fully popularized, and the trust of Chinese in paper money in this era was generally not high, and after the change of Gengzi country, the vitality of the Commerce Bank was greatly damaged, and the trust of merchants in it was naturally even lower. However, the currency issued by the Bank of China is mainly silver coins, and the denomination of paper money is small, which is only used as a supplement to silver coins, which of course makes people feel much more reliable, and the Bank of China has the East China government as the backstage, so the guarantee is naturally much stronger.

In the industrial and commercial group, there are Sheng Xuanhuai and Zhu Baosan, the founders of China International Commercial Bank. On the one hand, they were amazed at what kind of talents overseas Chinese really have, not only can they open factories, run industries, and do business, but also can even run banks to make a good reputation, and on the other hand, they also envy the strong support of the East China government behind the Bank of China, which is a condition that Commerce Bank can hope for but cannot seek.

Both men are well aware that the Bank has grown from an unprecedented prosperity when it was first established to its current powerlessness, but in the final analysis, it is due to the lack of strong government support. If there had been no Gengzi National Change, the Beijing and Tianjin branches would not have been looted, and the Commerce Bank would not have fallen to the point it is today. In fact, at the beginning of the establishment of the Commercial Bank, the imperial court's support for the bank was not insignificant, but in a Gengzi national change, the imperial court itself was difficult to protect, so what about the bank?