In 1890, there were not many magnificent and magnificent stone European-style buildings on the Bund in Shanghai, but only the kind of Victorian red brick buildings - cheap and practical, and the public concession at this time, whether it was the Bund or not, for foreigners, it was just an adventure paradise to earn wealth, and as for the construction of this place into a city - at least the real estate merchants in the concession did not have such vision and no such thoughts.

A two-storey Victorian red brick building, inconspicuous in the Bund, but inconspicuous, caused a sensation in the Shanghai Concession three days ago when a bronze nameplate was hung on the outside of the building that once belonged to an Italian foreign house -- the Bank of North Korea, which may seem inconspicuous, is unprecedented news for the foreigners who monopolized Shanghai's banking industry -- a newly established Bank of East Asia has broken into a banking industry monopolized by foreigners, even though in East Asia Japan has already established a bank, However, its banking operations were limited to Japan and North Korea, while Shanghai, the "financial center" of the Far East, was a paradise for whites, and the bold incursion of North Korean banks naturally caused a sensation.

It was also on the day of the establishment of this bank that a big news once again shook the entire Shanghai banking community -- the Huguang Governor's Office deposited 4 million taels of special funds originally deposited in HSBC into the Bank of North Korea. Its capital is not even as large as that of a few well-known "small banks", and it has become a "large bank".

The shock at the opening of the bank was shock, but in any case it could not change the fact that it was a "small bank", although after several attempts to win over the government-run enterprises such as the China Merchants Steamship Bureau and the Textile Bureau, they agreed to deposit the money in the bank. But as a manager of the bank. Tang Rongjun did not feel the slightest reduction in pressure.

The gentle night breeze. Blowing on the cheeks. The Huangpu River under the starlight, the flat and flat water surface, without a little wave. This is in stark contrast to Tang Rongjun's mood, and he is fluctuating at this time. Staring out the window at the Huangpu River, all the qiē seemed to be hazy and vague.

It was late at night, and the world seemed to be left with him and the Huangpu River in front of him. He remembered the boss he met during the day when he was at HSBC, and said categorically that the Chinese bank would not run well. This sentence deeply pierced Tang Rongjun's heart. He couldn't help but think of the arrogant demeanor of the British clerk in HSBC, as well as the contemptuous gaze of those foreigners, and even the cold reception and blank eyes he received when dealing with foreign banks......

And more importantly, the reason why this bank was opened in Shanghai and Wuchang was to absorb domestic funds, and then solve the financial dilemma faced by the government and the company in the form of commercial loans.

These pressures and stimuli made Tang Rongjun secretly determined: I must run this bank for them!

At present, there is no banking industry in China at all, and some are only money banks, but banks are the mother of modern finance. Western countries opened banks in China, absorbed deposits, issued paper money, and borrowed money from Chinese people's deposits to the Chinese government. And then monopolized China's finance. Working at HSBC makes it clear to him. How foreign banks are taking control of China's financial power step by step. Foreign banks manipulate and exploit China's money banks to achieve their goal of controlling China's finances. The foreign commercial bank cooperated with the bank by collecting the bank's bills and providing loans to the bank, and the bank, which had no modern financial concept in the first place, had long since become a "loyal servant" of the foreign bank.

With his brows furrowed, Tang Rongjun, who had been meditating by the window for a long time, looked back at Zhao Jie, who was his assistant he had recruited from Citibank in Tianjin and was now the manager of the Shanghai branch.

"Yuqin, what do you think we should do?"

"General manager, as far as the current Bank of Korea is concerned, the bank's finances are small, its roots in Shanghai are still shallow, and it is not even a social prestige, and the status of the current Bank of Korea in Shanghai's financial circles is not as good as that of a foreign comprador. There is no deed of passage that can be used as a mortgage loan, nor is it qualified to conduct business with foreign commercial banks like money banks. If we want to survive, there is only one way to go, and that is to seek a way to survive in the gap between foreign banks and money banks. ”

Zhao Jie's answer made Tang Rongjun slightly surprised, and asked curiously.

"Oh, then you tell me about it!"

"General Manager, the reason why foreign banks were able to gain a foothold in Shanghai and other places is because during the bandit rebellion, due to the unstable domestic political situation and frequent changes, the bureaucrats, gentry and other wealthy people in the interior transferred their assets to Shanghai and deposited them in foreign commercial banks in the concession, and by virtue of the special rights enjoyed by foreign banks in the concession, they sought the safety and security of their property, and later people also found that it was more convenient for banks to deposit money than money banks, but banks had all kinds of restrictions on their customers, and they were only willing to deal with large customers, and had no intention of dealing with ordinary people. HSBC, for example, has a limit of $1,000 to open an account, and since it is the least restrictive foreign bank, it also requires $500 to open an account, which naturally excludes a large number of customers. However, ordinary small businessmen and ordinary people still have a lot of idle funds, but they can only be kept at home or deposited in the bank, not only can they not make profits, but they are not even valued by the bank. ”

When he was at Citibank in Tianjin, Zhao Jie tried to persuade Citibank to put down his position and deal with ordinary people in view of the current situation of the banking industry, but it was not used by the foreigners.

"You mean lowering the threshold for opening an account?"

Regarding the restrictions on the opening of accounts by the wealthy in foreign commercial banks, and not dealing with ordinary people, Tang Rongjun naturally knew everything about it.

"Yes, general manager, since we can pay wages and deal with ordinary workers in North Korea and Shandong, why can't we deal with ordinary people here, for us, the only way to absorb a large amount of savings deposits, rapidly expand the bank capital, and open up a road for passage."

"You mean, open up small deposits?"

Tang Rongjun is no stranger to small deposits, this is because the bank undertakes the extension of the business of paying wages on behalf of the company, and the wages of the workers hired by the company are paid by the bank branches, and many of them directly deposit their money in the bank, and the reason why they do not refuse small deposits is related to the financial problems faced by the government and the company, and they naturally do not mind absorbing workers' deposits.

"If we want to establish ourselves in Shanghai, we must reflect our own differences, and the biggest difference is that we should pay special attention to the absorption of small savings deposits. At present, small deposits cannot be deposited in foreign banks, and money banks also have a contemptuous attitude towards small deposits, and they do not look down on them at all. In particular, for silver dollar deposits, no interest is generally paid, and even more so, there is a one-dollar account opening fee, so that ordinary people are not turned away? ”

After a pause, Zhao Jie continued,

"In Shanghai alone, are there more rich businessmen or more small businessmen and ordinary people? Moreover, small savings are more stable than large deposits, after all, the savings of ordinary people lie in accumulation, and they will not be used unless they have to. This is more conducive to our bank to provide commercial loans, if our bank to open a small deposit, or even one yuan to open an account, naturally can make the vast majority of ordinary people profit from it, but also in the short term the reputation of the bank spread to Shanghai and the surrounding places, until the bank's reputation is established, then it is natural to issue silver dollar bills, silver two bills and other banknotes, after all, the key to banknotes is reputation! ”

Zhao Jie's words made Tang Rongjun nod approvingly, for banks, reputation is undoubtedly the most important, and reputation can only be brought by extensive business, before foreign businessmen react, small businessmen and ordinary people as a breakthrough to seek greater development, this is indeed a good way.

"Yuqin, since you think it is feasible, then do as you say, our Bank of North Korea wants to develop, want to gain a foothold in Shanghai, first open a small deposit, don't be too troublesome, and strive to develop it widely, just like the adults said, the bank is to serve the society and the people!"

Perhaps there were not too many instructions on how to do and what to do with the bank, but at least from the beginning, it was determined that the purpose of the bank was to "serve the society and serve the people", although its real purpose was to absorb deposits and provide loans to the unified supervision government and the company, just like the four million taels of the navy yamen special funds, which will be transferred to North Korea in the near future, and after the mint bureau is made into silver dollars, some of them will be shipped to Shanghai, but most of them will be put in the Beiyang Industrial Company as loans. Large-scale industrial projects such as machine factories can be fully developed.

Although the Bank of Korea is essentially the "cashier" of the Unified Supervision Office, this is precisely the goal of the bank's establishment - to concentrate idle funds in society and provide support for industrial development, but compared to other banks, the Bank of Korea is more inclined to use its loans for the construction of special zones. Although he is Chinese, for the Bank of Korea, at least now his base camp is in the Special Administrative Region, in North Korea, perhaps in the future, when the adults return to the Chinese officialdom and preside over a place, then the Bank of North Korea will turn its attention to the country, but before that, for the Bank of Korea, the only thing that needs to be done is to absorb domestic capital to support the construction of the Special Economic Zone and support the adults to start a new policy in the Special Economic Zone.

With the support of the Bank of North Korea, Tang Rongjun does not know what the special zone will look like in five or ten years, but he knows that China needs the special zone in the future, and it needs the Incheon special zone to create a precedent for modernization. Thinking of this, he thought of another thing, so he instructed Zhao Jie.

"Yuqin, you are fully responsible for the affairs of the bank these days, and I have to accompany Mr. Song to do another thing!" (To be continued......)