The Hong Kong dollar crisis is getting worse and worse.

One day on September 3, a gold shop in Tsim Sha Tsui suddenly announced that it would not accept Hong Kong dollars, and that if you want to buy gold, silver or other heavy metal jewelry, you must take US dollars.

The reason for this is very simple, because Hong Kong does not produce gold, and Hong Kong gold shops need to pay US dollars if they want to buy gold jewelry or gold bricks from outside to process them themselves, which used to be freely convertible, but at this time they can't exchange dollars, and normal business can no longer be maintained.

And this matter has also spread rapidly among the jewelry store peers, and many people have begun to follow the example and do not accept the Hong Kong dollar, except for a few large-scale gold store chain consortiums may be a little better and can be maintained.

For such a thing, the Hong Kong government may not know, or may not care, after all, gold is not a necessity.

However, as a large number of gold stores began to refuse to accept Hong Kong dollars, other types of stores also learned in a similar way, some of them also need to import goods from overseas, and some simply do not want to accept Hong Kong dollars anymore, and the US dollars cannot be exchanged, and many people are even more reluctant to ask for Hong Kong dollars.

When the shops involved in people's livelihood began to operate like this, the impact was huge, and the panic caused was greater than the bank's refusal to exchange dollars, after all, most of the dollars were just to prevent the Hong Kong dollar in their hands from depreciating too much, but if you can't buy goods, it is really equivalent to waste paper.

Seeing that more and more shops around me are rejecting Hong Kong dollars, a large number of people are going to those stores that still accept it, no matter what they have, buy it first, even if it is rice to eat, it is much better than waste paper.

Once they panic, many people don't care about logic, just like some people in later generations bought hundreds of catties of salt at one time.

And this process has accelerated the rejection of Hong Kong dollars by more and more shops, and the economic operation of the whole society is on the verge of collapse.

So on September 9, the Hong Kong government issued an executive order, announcing that in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong dollar is the only currency, and it is a crime for any company or business place in Hong Kong to refuse to accept Hong Kong dollars.

The chaos in the market also stopped temporarily because of this policy, but then, soon many merchants closed their stores, and I can't close my doors? There were even more laughable and even laughable things, and some people even began to gather and barter.

After all, this is not illegal, people can close their shops, and there is no problem for people to exchange goods, and if the administrative force intervenes, it will become a joke in the global legal community, and even leave a name in history.

The new Governor of Hong Kong, Youde, himself had to face the invisible pressure of the previous Governor MacLehose, who was named the best in the world, and now that there is such a crisis, he does not want to be remembered in history, nor does he want Hong Kong's economy to really collapse and end his political career.

In the same way, Britain's Downing Street, do not dare to really let Hong Kong's economy collapse, this kind of problem will seriously affect the image of the British in the world, the second is that a large number of British consortia are also invested in Hong Kong, and they are confident that the Iron Lady can easily solve the problem, and then fell into the Hong Kong real estate and economic crisis, the third is that the Commonwealth is closely related to the economy, Hong Kong is also a relatively important part, once something goes wrong, the best bad luck is the United Kingdom, and the fourth is that the mainland is also giving pressure, If Hong Kong's economy collapses, the pressure will be even greater.

As a result, Hong Kong Governor Youde immediately convened an emergency meeting, not only government departments, but also several major British banks in Hong Kong, HSBC, Standard Chartered Taipan were invited to attend the meeting.

"Everyone, the current situation, everyone also knows, the economic crisis, everyone endure, will always get through, no matter how serious it will not affect the operation of society, but the current Hong Kong dollar exchange rate crisis, than the economic crisis is a hundred times more serious, many people do not accept the Hong Kong dollar, unwilling to use the Hong Kong dollar, try their best to exchange the Hong Kong dollar, these problems continue to delay like this, the entire Hong Kong economy in the past few decades, I am afraid it will really collapse." Youde said very worriedly: "This is not the stock market and the real estate market, but all the places that can be covered in Hong Kong, once the Hong Kong dollar falls sharply, it will never rise again, and your companies will inevitably be seriously affected." So I hope everyone will come together and discuss how to solve this problem! ”

"We also know the seriousness of the matter, but the root cause of this matter is the lack of foreign exchange, as long as there is enough foreign exchange, then the current short-term problem can be solved, as for the long-term, I think Mr. Hong Kong Governor should know, this is not something we can decide." Shen Bi replied.

Although HSBC has been trying to internationalize, but the pace has been very slow, not to want to be fast, but can not do, the traditional banking industry, want to expand overseas is very difficult, not to mention Hong Kong banks, that is, American banks abroad, are very difficult, and therefore, most of HSBC's assets are still in Hong Kong, once the Hong Kong dollar depreciates sharply, then the entire HSBC will inevitably suffer heavy losses, although this may be his non-war crime, but HSBC's strength has been greatly reduced, that internationalization is bound to be more difficult, which he does not want to see.

"Can HSBC contact an overseas bank and make a loan for us?" Youde asked with kindness, but he was complaining in his heart: Isn't this nonsense? With foreign exchange, there is no such thing as today.

"I'm afraid it can't be done, if it's only two or three hundred million dollars, that's not a problem, but this money is obviously not enough, and if it is more, either the British government will come forward to guarantee it, or find the IMF or commercial banks." Shen Bi shook his head and said.

"Don't think about the IMF and the World Bank, and we don't have access to them." Youde shook his head and said: "Now we need at least more than a billion dollars, the more the better." ”

In fact, the Hong Kong government still has some foreign exchange in its hands, and no matter how stupid it is, it will not be stupid enough to wait until there is really no money to control it, otherwise, there will really be no money for firefighting. However, it is necessary to restore the confidence of the Hong Kong people in a big way, and a huge amount of money is needed.

Standard Chartered Taipan Bill Winter, who had not spoken on the side, said: "Mr. Governor, the root cause of this Hong Kong dollar crisis, maybe we can't do anything about it, but if we only need dollars, I think there is someone who can solve this matter!" ”

"Who?" Youde hurriedly asked, this matter can be said to be burning eyebrows, with the current situation in the outside world, I don't know what the result will be if it drags on for another week, and if it really comes to the last resort, he can only ask the British government for help, but in this case, it is a very failed zz career event for him personally.

"This person is Chen Zhiwen, and as far as I know, he has a lot of dollars in his hands." Bill Winter said: "If he can lend money to the Hong Kong government, or if he is willing to exchange the US dollars in his hand for Hong Kong dollars, then at least this crisis can be stabilized in a short period of time, and with his influence, if he is willing to exchange Hong Kong dollars, then for the market, it can also improve the confidence of many people!" ”

"Chen Zhiwen!" Youde frowned a little and said, in fact, he probably guessed that Chen Zhiwen had a lot of dollars in his hands, after all, people had just spent billions of dollars to buy Disney, but this time it was an internal meeting of the British government in Hong Kong, if Chen Zhiwen was invited, and even had to rely on him in the end, it would be a clear slap in the face of the British.

No matter what the reality is, the face of the British Empire must be preserved as much as possible.

"If such a thing is solved by relying on a Chinese, wouldn't it become a joke." Shen Bi said coldly, before Chen Zhiwen asked HSBC to borrow 5 billion Hong Kong dollars, saying that it was used to acquire Disney, but later he inquired through the news that Chen Zhiwen's acquisition funds were all from a consortium of American banks, that is to say, Chen Zhiwen borrowed 5 billion Hong Kong dollars from HSBC, and then exchanged it for US dollars, and there was no movement.

And the Hong Kong dollar crisis that broke out today explains everything, and the other party is preparing for this sharp fall in the Hong Kong dollar.

Borrowing 5 billion Hong Kong dollars, according to the exchange rate at the time, can be exchanged for at least close to 1 billion US dollars, and now, at the current price, this money can be exchanged for at least more than 7 billion Hong Kong dollars, and one person in and one out of the house net 2 billion Hong Kong dollars, as for that bit of interest, such a short period of time, it is not much.

In Hong Kong dollars, although HSBC did not lose money, it always made him feel uncomfortable when he was picked up by others.

After understanding everything, Shen Bi deliberately went to investigate again, and found that Chen Zhiwen's Hisense and Hutchison also exchanged foreign exchange on a large scale about a year ago, this result made Shen Bi also startled, that is to say, Chen Zhiwen predicted today a year ago, what kind of vision is this?

"I came here today to provide a solution, not to fight, whether you want to go to Chen Zhiwen or not, you decide for yourself." Bill Winter shrugged and said that he was entrusted by Chen Zhiwen to raise this matter at this meeting, and he didn't care if the Hong Kong government would do this later.

Over the years, Standard Chartered Bank has enjoyed a lot of dividends with Chen Zhiwen and its companies, but because of this, it has begun to drift away from the British-funded consortium, but the impact is not great, because Standard Chartered itself does not cooperate much with them, and the British capital in Hong Kong mainly cooperates with HSBC.

"Alright, guys, we're here to solve the problem, there's no need for disputes." Hong Kong Governor Youde waved his hand to signal everyone to be quiet, and said: "At present, this is indeed a method, whether it works or not, at least it is a way out, so let's take a look at the development later, I will also contact Chen Zhiwen, and then see what to do." ”

……

Three days later, in the headquarters building of Hisense Bank, Huo Jianning knocked on the door and walked into the boss's office, and said: "Chen Sheng, this is an invitation just sent by the Hong Kong Governor's Office, and the Hong Kong Governor Youde wants to invite us to the Hong Kong Governor's Office, saying that we have obtained some high-quality Brazilian coffee, and I want to invite us to taste it." ”

(End of chapter)