The Hong Kong dollar crisis came and went quickly. After the Hong Kong government made its position clear, speculation in the Hong Kong dollar was effectively curbed. Although the exchange rate of the Hong Kong dollar against the US dollar still fluctuates greatly, it has gradually rebounded to below 8.5, reaching a peak of 7.9 at one point.

The sharp fluctuation of the Hong Kong dollar exchange rate is certainly a heavy blow to the banking industry. Especially in the three days of September 24, 25 and 26, almost all banks saw a rush. No one wants to watch their wealth depreciate rapidly in the bank.

As a result, there has been an unprecedented rush to buy in Hong Kong, and many supermarket shelves have been swept away by frenzied citizens. Everyone is like locusts, they buy whatever they grab, and they don't even think about whether they can get it or not.

In this financial turmoil, Jiahua Bank's performance is undoubtedly the most eye-catching. Although in the first few days, Jiahua Bank's deposits also showed a lot of loss. However, after Li Xuan announced that he would deposit $100 million in Jiahua in his personal name, Jiahua's deposit balance began to rise rapidly......

By early October, Carnival Bank's combined Hong Kong dollar and foreign currency deposit balances had increased by HK$3 billion compared to before the crisis. According to President Yang Lingjun, the current Jiahua Bank, whether in terms of the number of branches, total assets, total deposits and other items, has steadily surpassed HSBC-controlled Hang Seng Bank, becoming the third largest bank in Hong Kong after HSBC and Standard Chartered.

"Li Sheng, your Jiahua Bank has been in the limelight recently!" Shen Bi said to Li Xuan with a smile.

Li Xuan looked at the old man in front of him with a very kind smile, but he didn't have a half-smug expression. Don't look at Jiahua Bank's advance prediction and transfer a large amount of cash into US dollar assets in a timely manner. Not only did he make a lot of money in this exchange rate turmoil, but he also further consolidated his trustworthy image in the hearts of all depositors in Hong Kong.

But compared to HSBC, the invisible hand that shrouded the entire Hong Kong economy. Jiahua is simply a small thing. Hong Kong does not have a central bank, and HSBC assumes the functions of many government central banks. For example, HSBC is not only the issuing bank, but also the main correspondent bank of the Hong Kong government, and the management bank of the Central Bills Clearing House of the Hong Kong Association of Banks.

It can be said that the entire banking industry in Hong Kong has no secrets in front of HSBC. It is precisely by virtue of this financial monopoly that HSBC's Taipan is known as the "Governor Behind the Scenes" in Hong Kong. Li Xuan can completely guess that HSBC is definitely the biggest vested interest in this Hong Kong dollar crisis. When the Hong Kong dollar depreciated rapidly, the biggest foreign exchange seller in the market could not be anyone other than HSBC.

"Sir Shen, I want to talk to HSBC about a big deal today! If I am willing to take the equity of the computer park company held by Oriental Holdings. All mortgaged to SITC Bank, how much loan can you give?" Li Xuan asked bluntly.

HSBC has been actively expanding overseas since the late seventies. The reason for this is that, in addition to HSBC's control of Hang Seng Bank, the retail market share of banks in Hong Kong has exceeded 60%, and the room for further expansion is extremely limited, and it is necessary to fight for external survival space.

There is another reason, which is that the lease of 97 in the New Territories is about to expire. As the chief banker of the Hong Kong government, HSBC naturally knows the inside story. Therefore, he actively promoted the group's internationalization strategy. Compared with the later simple and crude methods of another British-owned representative company, Jardine Matheson, HSBC's deployment is more low-key and meticulous.

As early as 1977, when Shen Bi became Chairman of HSBC, HSBC began to plan and deploy the Group's internationalisation strategy, planning to establish strategic bases in Asia, the Americas and Europe. Form a strategic layout of the so-called "three-legged stool".

For this reason, when Standard Chartered Bank made a general takeover offer to the Royal Bank of Scotland in 1981, HSBC immediately joined the fray. Although the acquisition plans of Standard Chartered and HSBC. In the end, it was rejected by the UK Monopolies and Mergers Commission, which caused a setback for HSBC's first move into Europe.

But HSBC's layout in North America is much smoother. It successfully reached an agreement with Ocean Mill Bank in the United States, which stipulated that HSBC could eventually acquire a 51% stake in Ocean Mill Bank. Although this agreement has also been blocked several times by the Commissioner of Banking in the State of New York. But HSBC managed to acquire a 51 percent stake in Ocean Millan Bank for $314 million before 1980.

Ocean Millan Bank is the 13th largest bank in the United States, headquartered in Buffalo, upstate New York, with more than 300 branches and total assets of $20 billion. After HSBC completed its controlling stake in Ocean Millan Bank, it changed its name to SITC Bank.

SITC Bank has an extensive network in New York State, with a particular leadership in commercial banking. In other words, SITC Bank is the head snake of New York State, and as the essence of New York State, New York City is naturally one of the most tightly laid out places for SITC Bank.

"Mortgage all the equity of the computer park company? It seems that Li Sheng is going to have a big deal!" Shen Bi's eyes flashed with a hint of color, and his mind immediately began to analyze.

Li Xuan owns about 60 percent of the shares in Computer Park, which have a market value of more than $2 billion at the current share price. If they were used as collateral, they would be able to lend at least $1 billion! But SITC Bank simply could not afford such a huge loan.

Don't look at the total assets of SITC Bank as high as 20 billion US dollars, but HSBC only spent 314 million US dollars to acquire 51% of its shares, which means that SITC Bank's own assets are only 600 million or 700 million US dollars. If a lump sum loan of up to US$1 billion is made, once the money cannot be recovered, SITC Bank will be directly liquidated.

No savvy banker would do such a high-risk thing. Despite the fact that SITC is the 13th largest bank in the United States, it can only be regarded as a regional medium-sized bank, mainly issuing loans for small and medium-sized enterprises, and cannot afford to borrow a huge amount of 1 billion yuan.

Although SITC itself is not strong, there is still HSBC standing behind it. Since Citibank dared to mortgage the equity of Oriental Games, it issued a loan of at least $2 billion to Li Xuan. HSBC used shares in the same high-quality computer park company as collateral to eat up $1 billion in loans.

But Li Xuan was talking about borrowing from SITC Bank, rather than directly borrowing from HSBC. Shen Bi believes that Li Xuan is by no means a slip of the tongue, and SITC is much less well-known than HSBC, and can only be regarded as a regional bank in New York State.

New York! Shen Bi immediately grasped the key point, isn't the "God of Wealth" in front of him making a big splash in New York recently! It seems that the other party's purpose of going to New York is by no means as simple as studying for an EMBA on the surface. SITC Bank must have helped Li Xuan's next actions.

"If Li Sheng needs the assistance of SITC Bank, we will do our best!" Shen Bi said with a smile.

Shen Bi's guess was not wrong at all, Li Xuan fell in love with SITC's deep influence in New York State. RCA is headquartered in New York City and has several manufacturing facilities throughout New York State. In addition to unblocking the White House and Congress, the local government must also pass the hurdle of the Eastern Group's acquisition of RCA.

In the past, Li Xuan threw a lot of political cash in the United States, and most of it was concentrated at the top level, such as the president, vice president, heavyweight members of the two parties in the Senate and House of Representatives, and so on. In terms of political forces at the state level, it is Li Xuan's weakest link.

This requires an influential landlord to help the Eastern Bloc match. And SITC Bank, which has outlets throughout New York State, is obviously a huge political broker. Therefore, Li Xuan did not directly choose to borrow from HSBC, but first pulled SITC into his camp.

Perhaps with the strength of SITC, it can only eat up a loan of one or two hundred million dollars at most. However, as long as it is included in the urn, in order to ensure that the bank's own interests are not lost, the management of SITC Bank will certainly be very active in introducing various local forces in New York to the Oriental Group.

In Li Xuan's plan, a syndicate of banks composed of Citibank, SITC, HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank is responsible for providing loans of about $4 billion to $4.5 billion for the entire operation of Dongfang Electronics' acquisition of RCA. Goldman Sachs Investment Bank, which has cooperated with Li Xuan many times before, and Yabo Company, the most famous public relations company in the United States, are the general advisers of the merger and acquisition plan. In addition, a number of powerful political lobbying firms hired by Li Xuan have already begun to act quietly in Washington.

It can be said that Li Xuan has made very large and meticulous arrangements for the successful acquisition of RCA. If the acquisition fails, Li Xuan's losses will be at least hundreds of millions of dollars.

"The Eastern Group is in contact with RCA companies in the United States and is preparing to acquire them in the form of a cash acquisition, so it needs strong support from the bank!" Since Li Xuan was ready to let HSBC participate in his actions, he did not need to continue to conceal it, and directly told Shen Bi about his goal.

"RCA Company?" Shen Bi quickly searched for information about this company in his mind, "This is not an easy task!"

How difficult it is for foreign capital to successfully acquire American companies, Shen Bi himself has a very profound experience. In the past, HSBC's acquisition of Ocean Millan Bank was personally decided by him. As a result, the whole process dragged on for nearly two years, when the New York State government repeatedly investigated HSBC's internal reserves for various reasons.

"Every acquisition is a gamble, we must have a strong heart to accept all kinds of challenges!" Li Xuan said confidently.

Shen Bi didn't think that Li Xuan was pretending to be forced when he said this, the struggle in the shopping mall was like sailing against the current, if you don't advance, you will retreat. For a company to move forward, it does need to overcome various obstacles.

"HSBC is willing to be Dongfang Electronics, the best partner on the way forward!" Shen Bi said with a smile.

As long as Li Xuan can provide high-quality collateral assets to lock in HSBC's risks, there is no reason why Shen Bi should not issue loans. After all, the profits of such a big business are very rich. Of course, he also decided to let his assistant collect RCA's information in detail later. (To be continued......)