Video Game Empire - Chapter 642

No. 1 Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong, the fourth-generation HSBC Hong Kong Head Office Building designed by the famous architect Norman Foster, stands in the most prosperous core area of ​​Central! The 180-meter-high, 46-story building is by far one of the most expensive buildings in the world, with a total cost of $1 billion.

The head office building of HSBC is not the tallest building in Hong Kong, but its architectural style is unique! It does not use the layer-by-layer pouring method of traditional buildings, but uses a prefabricated structure. If needed, HSBC can disassemble the entire building in a short period of time and transport it elsewhere to reassemble it into a skyscraper!

In the words of a Hong Kong newspaper that satirized HSBC before, people who deal with money really know how to plan carefully. When HSBC wants to abandon Hong Kong in the future, it does not need to leave even a single brick, which is the highest level of “capital running”!

Under the hype of public opinion, the head office building, which was supposed to show the strong financial strength of HSBC, has instead become the most powerful evidence that HSBC has no intention to take root in Hong Kong. How can a bank that is unwilling to stay, win the lasting trust of local users in Hong Kong?

Originally, HSBC could rely on its unquestionable hard power in Hong Kong’s financial sector to restore the shaky confidence of local customers. However, with the rapid rise of Jiahua Bank, HSBC’s undisputed status in Hong Kong also began to crumble!

Pu Weishi was sitting in his spacious and bright Taipan office, and outside the glass curtain wall, the beautiful sea view of Victoria Harbour in the distance was unobstructed, but at this moment, he was frowning, and he had no time to appreciate the scenery outside the window!

Just not long ago, there was another explosive news from the Hong Kong stock market. Jiahua Bank and Hong Kong Standard Chartered Bank officially started the merger negotiation!

As everyone knows, the controlling shareholders of Jiahua and Hong Kong Standard Chartered are the richest man in the world, “Fortune Li”. These two banks have also formed a close alliance for a long time, so good that it is like wearing the same pair of pants, which has caused huge pressure on HSBC!

But after all, they are two independent listed companies, and the interests and demands of their respective shareholders cannot be exactly the same, which also makes it impossible for the two banks to form the greatest synergy! Now, the two banks are finally ready to merge!

The new bank after the merger will surpass HSBC in terms of total deposits and loans, as well as total self-owned assets, becoming the new leader in Hong Kong’s banking industry!

Rivals are growing in Hong Kong, while HSBC itself is gradually shrinking in Hong Kong. This is by no means good news for Pu Wei Shi! That’s right, the “capitalist” hat that some Hong Kong media detained on HSBC’s head is not groundless! In fact, HSBC has been following the established steps in recent years, gradually shifting its focus of development away from Hong Kong!

For example, after HSBC took a stake in SITC in 1980, it further annexed it as a wholly-owned subsidiary in 1987. And even after the failed acquisition of Royal Bank of Scotland in 1919, HSBC’s interest in acquiring large domestic banks in the UK never weakened, and it finally took a stake in Midland Bank in 1987.

According to the latest resolution passed by the board of directors of HSBC, HSBC will establish a new holding company on the basis of the group. In the case that the group headquarters is not relocated, the newly established holding company will be directly returned to the UK for registration.

Then put HSBC Group under the name of a new holding company, and then use a more gentle way to realize the overall asset transfer of HSBC Group by issuing new shares and listing overseas. According to the original plan, this whole set of restructuring plans will be officially announced and implemented next month!

The idea of ​​the HSBC board is that, through this method of boiling frogs in warm water, the retreat can be implemented in steps without causing a huge shock from the outside world. But now that the merger of Jiahua and Hong Kong Standard Chartered is ahead, if HSBC acts as originally planned, it will be easy for Hong Kong public opinion to compare the two things together.

And this is bound to completely detonate the negative public opinion of Hong Kong society against HSBC, thereby causing an inestimable serious blow to the group’s subsequent development in Hong Kong! For Pu Wei Shi, he has reservations about the decision of the board of directors of the group. Although Hong Kong is only a small place, it is the most important source of profit for the entire HSBC group.

Not only is HSBC not prepared to further consolidate its fundamentals, but instead it keeps withdrawing from Hong Kong and uses the profits from Hong Kong as a blood transfusion for the group’s global layout. This is also one of the important reasons why Jiahua and other competitors can quickly catch up with HSBC.

It is a pity that although Pu Wei Shi is the chairman of HSBC, he cannot reverse the majority of the company’s shareholder Deutsche. In their view, as long as the huge political risks brought about by Hong Kong’s “1997 return” can be avoided, even some short-term economic losses are worth it!

It’s a pity that what HSBC has lost now is as simple as some short-term interests. It is throwing away a huge opportunity for further success in the future!

Pu Weishi’s predecessor, Shen Bi, was recognized as one of the best managers of HSBC for more than 100 years. The reason why Shen Bi can get such a high evaluation is that he has successfully harvested huge economic dividends in the post-war rise of Hong Kong through his strong support for Hong Kong’s emerging Chinese entrepreneurs represented by Bao Yugang and Li Jiacheng~www.mtlnovel .com~ thus leading the HSBC Group to a new development peak!

But when Pu Wei Shi took the executive chair of HSBC, Hong Kong’s economic fundamentals once again undergone tremendous changes. Hong Kong’s electronics industry, represented by the Oriental Group, has risen rapidly and has become a new funding and engine for Hong Kong’s economy!

However, HSBC has been marginally excluded from this short but profound industrial transformation in Hong Kong. As a result, HSBC could only watch helplessly as Jiahua Bank transformed itself from an inconspicuous Chinese-funded bank in less than ten years to become its strongest competitor!

It’s not that Pu Weishi thought about letting HSBC also get a share of the thriving electronics industry in Hong Kong. For this reason, he stabbed the Jardine Group in the back during Li Xuan’s acquisition of Landmark. At that time, HSBC was the largest creditor bank of Hongkong Land, and it also maintained a close cooperative relationship with the entire Jardine Group.

However, when Li Xuan forcibly acquired the Land Company, HSBC chose to be neutral, and was unwilling to provide financial support for Jardine’s reverse takeover. This also directly led to the fact that Jardine Matheson had little resistance, and Li Xuan took control of the Geology Company, the highest quality real estate company in Hong Kong.

It was by sacrificing the interests of the Jardine Group that Pu Wei Shi got a promise from Li Xuan. Orient Group will not deliberately create obstacles to HSBC’s entry into Hong Kong’s electronics industry.

Although Li Xuan has kept his promises in recent years, HSBC’s influence in Hong Kong’s electronics industry has not only failed to catch up with Jia Hua Bank, but has a tendency to be further widened!