Henry Keswick did not return to the Jardine headquarters after leaving the Li Building, but came directly to the HSBC Building, he knew that it was impossible to expect Li Guangyu to stop the current price war, and he needed to seek the support of HSBC and Standard Chartered, otherwise it would be difficult for the giant ship Jardine Matheson to cross the Xiangjiang River.

In HSBC's office, Shen Bi invited Henry Keswick to sit down in the reception area, poured him a cup of tea, and said to him: "Keswick, do you have any urgent matters for your sudden visit today?"

Henry Keswick gave a brief account of the current situation in Jardine Matheson and asked HSBC to help him.

After Shen Bi heard Henry Keswick's words, he didn't rush to respond, he was thinking about the gains and losses in his heart.

He himself didn't want Jardine to fall like this, he knew very well that at present, only Jardine Matheson in Xiangjiang could still hold back the Li consortium, and once Jardine also backed down, they HSBC and Standard Chartered would have to directly face the pressure of the Li consortium.

Shen Bi is not confident that he will be able to go head-to-head with the Li consortium now, now the Li consortium is too large, HSBC is only a single financial group, and the Li consortium is not only Tianyu Financial Group competing with them, but also the major groups under the Li consortium will provide assistance to them.

HSBC and Standard Chartered now have no advantages in the face of Tianyu Financial Group except for the right to issue Hong Kong dollar notes. Shen Bi knows very well that the Li consortium has never given up on the right to issue Hong Kong dollars, and the pressure on HSBC and Standard Chartered will be very great at that time.

It's just that Shen Bi knows the current situation of Wellcome Supermarket very well, and now there is a bottomless pit, even if HSBC and Standard Chartered enter, they will only lose money inside.

Although he is the chairman of the board of directors of HSBC, he knows that it is a loss, and if he still invests, he will definitely face the blame of HSBC shareholders.

The reason why Li Guangyu dared to play like this was that Hengyu Supermarket Group was wholly owned by him, and Hutchison Whampoa was also controlled by several major families, so they just decided it themselves.

Shen Bi is just a manager, HSBC is not his Shen Bi, once he makes a decision that damages HSBC's interests, the shareholders will definitely not let him continue to be at the helm of HSBC.

Shen Bi said: "Keswick, I still need to discuss your proposal with the directors of the bank, so I can't give you an answer for the time being. But don't worry, I very much hope that you will continue to operate Wellcome, and I will persuade the board of directors of our bank. ”

Henry Keswick's heart was very cold, this matter was brought to the board of directors of HSBC, and he himself understood that this matter basically could not be passed. Knowing that Wellcome is a pit, how could these directors be willing to jump off.

As long as the Lee consortium does not stop selling at a discount, Wellcome will face the dilemma of no one taking over, and no one is willing to invest a lot of money in companies that do not see profits.

Henry Keswick said: "Shen Bi, you also know the current situation, the Chinese family led by the Li consortium is crowding out other forces, and at present, only our Jardine Matheson and Kadoorie families are in front of them, so you HSBC and Standard Chartered can still be stable, and they have no energy to deal with you for the time being." Once we fall, you'll be next. ”

Shen Bi was also silent, what he was most worried about was this problem, and several major Chinese-funded banks had begun to cooperate.

Last month, he received news that Tianyu Bank, together with the Bank of East Asia, Hong Kong Asia Commercial Bank, Sun Hung Kai Bank and Wing Hang Bank, had joined forces with Heung Kong China Investment Company and Ho Investment Company to undertake CITIC Group's HK$2 billion corporate bonds.

And this is obviously a union of Chinese-funded banks, and Shen Bi knows how strong these major banks are together. In the past, the Bank of East Asia (BEA) had always been known as the No. 1 Chinese-funded bank in Hong Kong, only under its own HSBC and Standard Chartered.

Heung Kong Asia Commercial Bank is close behind, and more importantly, this bank is backed by Thailand's Pangu Bank, which is also extremely strong.

Although Wing Hang Bank ranks behind Hengfeng Bank, which it owns, the gap is limited. Although Sun Hung Kai Bank is newly built, Fung King Hei is not a fuel-efficient lamp, and in time it will definitely be on par with the Bank of East Asia and the Heung Kong Asian Commercial Bank. In addition to Tianyu Bank, which is not much worse than himself, he does not think that HSBC and Standard Chartered will be able to take advantage of the combination.

Shen Bi now regrets his previous decision, if he hadn't thought about winning over the Chinese-funded family and allowing HSBC to suppress Standard Chartered Bank, the Chinese-funded family would not have such strength, and now he would not need to face such great pressure.

Shen Bi: I knew that what I did in the past was not wrong at the time, but I didn't expect such a freak as Li Guangyu to appear. Let his own plan be ruined, and he now has to abandon his previous strategy and switch back from the side of the Chinese family to the side of the British consortium again.

After Li Guangyu obtained the banking license, his HSBC advantage in the Chinese family was completely lost.

If ordinary Chinese get this license, it will not affect him much, but Li Guangyu, as the richest man in Xiangjiang, was born into a wealthy family, and has the support of the He family, the Luo family, and the Cao family in Xiangjiang, so that all the connections of these families have been transferred to Tianyu Bank.

Xiangjiang is such a big place, many families are related by marriage, and the vast majority of Xiangjiang's industry is in the hands of these families, they all want to maintain a close relationship with Li Guangyu, how can HSBC compete with Tianyu Bank.

Shen Bi was a little dissatisfied with MacLehose, and he complained in his heart that the Xiangjiang Monetary Authority had given Tianyu Bank too many business licenses, so that HSBC and Standard Chartered could no longer maintain their special status, resulting in them now facing such a dilemma.

If MacLehose could have more restrictions on Tianyu Bank, many customers on his side would not have been lost.

Shen Bi said: "Keswick, I also know the current situation, but HSBC is not something I can call the shots alone, especially in the case of Wellcome Supermarket. You must know that our bank investment depends on the return, and we will not invest if the return is low, let alone a loss-making enterprise, and I must be responsible for the bank's shareholders and our customers. ”

Henry Keswick was disappointed by this, and it seemed that he had to think about it, and Wellcome might not really need to continue to operate.

Although he is very reluctant to go to the Hong Kong market, the situation is not up to others, rather than struggling to move forward in the Hong Kong market and facing the risk of being unprofitable, it is better to withdraw from the Hong Kong market and operate in the Singapore and Australian markets.

Henry Keswick said: "Shen Bi, I will go back to Standard Chartered to visit George LaVine to see what he thinks, and I hope you can think about it more, now we are in the same boat, we are in the same boat, and you HSBC will not be happy." ”

After sending Henry Keswick away, Shen Bi immediately instructed his assistant to inform the directors of HSBC to come to the headquarters conference room for a meeting at 3 p.m.

Shen Bi needs to communicate with them seriously, Jardine Matheson can't fall yet, he knows that if HSBC and Standard Chartered don't support it, Jardine Matheson will definitely follow Swire's example, give up competing with the Li consortium, and slowly withdraw from the Xiangjiang market.

……