13 May 1982:

Hisense Bank branches all over Hong Kong have been blocked by countless crowds, and a large number of depositors, who would rather not go to work, have also crowded to the bank, because there may be half of their life's savings. As many of us who lived through the bank run crisis of the '60s, nothing is more important than getting your own deposits out of the bank as soon as possible.

"Listen to me,Our Hisense Bank has sufficient funds,There is no factual basis for those in the newspaper,At this time, everyone comes to withdraw money,It will only lead to the loss of all the interest on their deposits。 A middle-aged man about 40 years old, holding a bullhorn in his hand, was shouting loudly.

It's just that although his voice is loud, no one listens to him at all, everyone is squeezing inside, and many police officers have been arranged at the nearby police station to maintain order, but in the face of those who are anxious to cry and cry for their mothers, they can't do anything, as long as there is no stampede, they don't care, and even, some policemen, may have deposits in the bank.

In the Hisense Bank Building, Huang Changzan looked at the bustling crowd downstairs, his right hand was trembling, and asked, "How much cash do we still have in the warehouse?" ”

"It's less than 50 million Hong Kong dollars, but we still have hundreds of millions in our accounts, and I have communicated with HSBC to mobilize cash, and HSBC promised to help, but even if their cash arrives, we won't be able to support it for long." Xie Hongbing looked down and said in despair.

What bank can withstand a run? Especially some time ago, he also lent a large amount of money to Chen Zhiwen, otherwise, it would have been able to support it for a longer time now.

The current situation is,Depositors don't believe in Hisense's checks anymore,And even if the check is opened,Other banks don't dare to admit it,Because admitted,It's tantamount to taking the risk for Hisense,Unless you come to exchange cash immediately,But this is no different from depositors to withdraw。 Although the Independent Commission Against Corruption has not found evidence yet,But this kind of thing,Now that it has been investigated,Even if the probability is very low,Other banks will avoid risks,Over time,Hisense did not immediately prove its innocence,This increases the risk。

"You can last as long as you can, Li Haonan has promised me to tell Chen Zhiwen about this, as long as I wait for Chen Zhiwen's help, then everything will be fine." Huang Changzan said.

"Will Chen Zhiwen help us? Although some of our operations make it not so easy for the Independent Commission Against Corruption to obtain evidence, the investors do not need evidence, as long as there is a trace of possibility, then there is no need to talk about it. Xie Hongbing frowned and said.

"It's the only hope, otherwise, what else would you do?" Huang Changzan said helplessly, now it is a desperate situation, once they publicly admit to concealing bad debts, or are found out by the Independent Commission Against Corruption, the run will only be more serious than now, and the entire Hisense Bank will collapse, and they can prepare to go to Stanley.

"Then we can only bring in Chen Zhiwen's funds at a low price." Xie Hongbing nodded and said.

Suddenly, the phone rang, Xie Hongbing hurriedly ran over, and Huang Changzan also looked in the direction of the phone, any phone call at this time could be heaven or hell.

I saw Xie Hongbing take the phone, and in less than a while, his face changed greatly, and then he put down the phone with some trembling, Huang Changzan knew that it was not a good thing at a glance, and hurriedly asked, "What's wrong?" ”

"Ye Yuling was arrested, he was at the airport and was about to escape to Southeast Asia, but he was caught by the airport special police." Xie Hongbing said with a pale face.

"What?" Huang Changzan almost didn't stand firm, hurriedly sat down against a nearby sofa, took a few breaths, and said, "Didn't we talk to him and no one moved?" Why did he suddenly want to run away? And why did the airport special police arrest people, and what evidence did they have? ”

Although once you run away, the fact of committing a crime is naturally not to confess, but how to say that the current law does not allow people to be arrested without evidence, in the absence of evidence, even if they know that Xie Hongbing is going to run, they should not be detained, after all, people can use the reason that they want to go abroad to talk about business.

"One of Ye Yuling's subordinates also reported him, in the case of two witnesses, the court urgently restricted Ye Yuling from leaving Hong Kong, including a few of us, the same thing, just called, it was Sun Dazhuo, what he meant, suggesting that we surrender to the Independent Commission Against Corruption and explain the matter clearly, in this way, he will try to put the main responsibility on the dead Zhang Mingtian, we are just accomplices, but it is difficult for us to get rid of the matter of concealing bad debts, but after all, we have just taken over Hisense Bank, and we can also get rid of some responsibilitiesIn this case, it may only take a year or two to go in, and with a good performance and operation, you may be able to come out in a few months. Xie Hongbing said.

"A few months? Even if you go in for a day, it's also a shame for our family. Huang Changzan almost burst into tears of sadness, he is the only college student in the family, the whole family in the 50s for him to go to college, after graduation into the bank in Hong Kong, worked in Hisense for 20 years, became one person under ten thousand people, and then took over the entire bank after the death of the founder, as a person who did not start his own business, he was basically the ultimate in life, he could have retired in another ten years, I didn't think of getting old, I actually had to go in.

"But there are two other things that are more troublesome." Xie Hongbing said: "Once this matter is made public, the run will be more serious, Hisense may go out of business, or the Hong Kong government will take over, once this happens, if it causes heavy losses, our responsibility will be greater, and the sentence may be longer." ”

"You mean, like Hang Seng back then, looking for HSBC to take over? But HSBC already has Hang Seng, and the scale of Hang Seng is much larger than Hisense, Shen Bi is now thinking about moving HSBC's assets overseas, how can he take over the mess of Hisense again, one is not well controlled, there is no billion Hong Kong dollars, and this matter cannot be suppressed at all. Huang Changzan also regained his senses and thought carefully.

The punishment for economic crimes has a lot to do with the consequences, and the most serious thing is that they conceal bad debts, not direct fraud, which is a misdemeanor, but if because of their behavior, the entire bank collapses, and even the Hong Kong financial system is hit by a run, then the court will definitely impose a heavier sentence.

Although the run has begun outside,But Hisense itself can hold out for a few days,Far from the time of despair,If you take advantage of this time to sell Hisense to a big bank like HSBC,You can immediately stabilize the run problem,Let all depositors rest assured,In this way,Things may end in advance,Of course,There is no absolute thing in this kind of thing,After all, if the scale of Hisense is also very large。

But HSBC's current investment policy is obviously not in Hong Kong, how can it be willing to take over Hisense?

"In Hong Kong, there is one person who is more convincing than HSBC and can stabilize our depositors." Xie Hongbing said.

"You mean Chen Zhiwen?" There is only one such person in Hong Kong, Huang Changzan naturally understood immediately, and said: "But Chen Zhiwen doesn't have a bank, will he be willing to invest in a bank?" ”

"How do you know without asking? With such a big industry, wouldn't it be like a tiger with a bank to have another bank? Even if you can't lend money to your company according to the banking law, the number of relevant partners is very large. Xie Hongbing said.

"Yes, anyway, I was going to let him buy shares at a preferential price to help us solve this problem, but now, in this situation, once Ye Yuling surrenders, it will be impossible for us to manage Hisense anymore, so it's better to give it all to Chen Zhiwen." Huang Changzan thought for a moment, and finally agreed.

All the things they did before were to be able to continue to take charge of Hisense Bank on their own side, including the fact that they decided to suppress the fraud at the beginning, but they lost the gamble, and the matter was still exposed, and the Hong Kong government will soon be able to grasp the actual evidence, and the only thing they can do now is to try to avoid the subsequent dominoes that lead to more serious consequences.

"Will there be any problems on the board?" Xie Hongbing asked again.

"It's probably too late to convene a shareholders' meeting now,I'll call them,They should agree,If Chen Zhiwen refuses to help,Then Hisense may go out of business directly in the future,Maybe they have to bear joint and several limited liability,If they have a little brain,Will agree to this matter。 At this last moment, Huang Changzan became clear-minded, it was so difficult before because they wanted too much, they didn't want to lose too much, they didn't want the Independent Commission Against Corruption to find evidence, and now, they just want their families to spend less time visiting prison.

"Okay, I'll communicate with Sun Dazhu again to see if I can see what the situation is over there." Xie Hongbing said.

"Well, then do your own thing, and I'll contact Li Haonan again." Huang Changzan nodded and said.

Xie Hongbing said again: "There is a second thing, that is, Ye Yuling's transaction with us back then, if he also broke out about this matter, then we will be finished." ”

Ye Yuling's check wheel method is not very high-end, and he can slowly defraud tens of millions of dollars, in fact, because of the bank's internal problems.

However, at the beginning, it was not the high-level staff, but some middle-level, and the funds involved were not large, as long as Ye Yuling's investment did not have problems, then the follow-up could be made up, which is not abnormal, many banks in Hong Kong have similar routines, for example, some banks will lend more than the collateral to the borrower, there must be some gray transactions, even if it is HSBC.

But Hisense Bank just went too far, and it was still trading beyond the scope of risk, and as a result, Ye Yuling failed to use the bank's money to invest, resulting in huge bad debts, but both sides were already in the same boat, so they could only advance and retreat together, which led to the incident of Hisense Bank concealing bad debts later. I thought I could hide it for a long time, but I didn't expect to be reported suddenly.

"Ye Yuling threatened us with this before, because he was afraid that we would call the police, but this time it was not our intention, if he was smarter and only admitted to the check round fraud, then the guilt would be much smaller, but if Huilu is involved, then wait for the prison to sit through." Huang Changzan analyzed more reassuringly.

"Also, it is his greatest responsibility to say this." Xie Hongbing nodded and said.

Three days later, a piece of exciting news came out, the chairman of the Dominican Finance Company, which specializes in providing immigration financial services for Hong Kong citizens, was arrested at Kai Tak Airport, and then interrogated by the Independent Commission Against Corruption, it was determined that he had defrauded more than $66.8 million from Hisense Bank in the past few years, using the means of a check wheel, and all of them had been lost, and Hisense Bank also knew about it, but chose to conceal it by making false accounts.

The news came out,Hisense Bank's share price immediately halved,At its peak,Hisense Bank's market value was about 4.5 billion Hong Kong dollars,More than half a month ago, the news of being investigated,It fell close to 3 billion Hong Kong dollars,Now it has been confirmed,Immediately fell below 1.5 billion。

And tens of thousands of depositors in Hisense in Hong Kong,After knowing the news,Even more desperately ran to the bank to exchange cash,The police station has long been prepared,But it soon found that the police force was not enough,Because many police officers have also deposited money in Hisense。

As the third largest local bank in Hong Kong,There are many depositors,All over Hong Kong,Many families will also consider factors such as risk and interest income,Put funds in several banks,Hisense is also the object of preference。

Now, these people are all in a hurry.

Soon, Hisense Bank's cash fell into depletion, depositors found that there was no money and were even more excited, in order to prevent things from being out of control, the Hong Kong government hurriedly asked HSBC to urgently support 500 million Hong Kong dollars in cash, but this is not a long-term solution after all.

This also put the Hong Kong government in a dilemma, Hong Kong over the years, has been pursuing the "free market" policy, especially the new Hong Kong Governor Youde, just succeeded to the throne, at the same time the Hong Kong government's fiscal revenue has also shrunk because of the real estate market is not good, all of a sudden to take out a large amount of money to save a bank, the voice of internal opposition is also very strong, the best strategy, or by the market itself, that is, by other consortiums to buy, while having enough financial resources to stabilize the situation.

On 20 May, the Governor's Office:

Governor Youde personally hosted a banquet for Chen Zhiwen.

"Mr. Chen, please be seated." Youde said with a smile.

"Thank you, Mr. Governor." Chen Zhiwen also replied politely, this is the second meeting with Youde, the last time was naturally when Youde first became the governor of Hong Kong, he invited all the rich people in Hong Kong at one time, and at that time, the two just got to know each other.

"Since the 40s, I have been a diplomat around the world on behalf of the British Empire, and I have seen many business geniuses, but it is the first time I have seen Mr. Chan as good, when I was preparing to succeed to the position of Governor of Hong Kong, I looked at the development process of Hong Kong in the past few decades, and I have to say that the emergence of Mr. Chan has raised the entire Hong Kong economy to a higher level." Youde praised.

"Thanks for the compliment, I just did what I was supposed to do." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said that although most of his industries, the main profits are in the accounts of overseas tax havens, but a small part of staying in Hong Kong is enough to produce a huge help to a city, especially employment, and even the current real estate development history, although the general trend has not changed, but also because of his capital investment, which is much stronger than the original history.

Of course, the stronger the bubble, the bigger the bubble, and it's really hard to say whether the future will be good or bad.

"I know you Chinese like to be modest, but we British don't like it, the strong should have the arrogance and attitude of the strong." Youde smiled and said: "I'll just say it directly, the matter of Hisense Bank, I think Chen Sheng, you also know, I don't know if you are interested in taking over Hisense Bank, in terms of policy, I can provide some to ensure your interests in the future?" How is it? ”

"What kind of policy?" Chen Zhiwen said with an unchanged face.

In fact, before,Huang Changzan also told him the news that the board of directors of Hisense was willing to sell most of the shares through Li Haonan,But the offer was too high,Actually asked for the existing market value minus the loss of 300 million Hong Kong dollars,This price,Chen Zhiwen refused directly without thinking about it,I didn't even pay attention to these people in the follow-up,Just wait for things to ferment,The market value of Hisense Bank will definitely fall off a cliff,It's not too late to make a move。

It's just that I didn't expect that Youde would come forward to negotiate this matter with him, and it would be more convenient if he could get some policy support.

(End of chapter)