"In 1865, a small bank began operating in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Its assets started from the initial HK$5 million. By the end of 1915, its assets had exceeded 300 million. Ten years after its establishment, the net profit in one year was less than HK$500,000. In 1911, the net profit had reached

More than 100 million yuan, from the beginning of renting other people's buildings to operate, it has now established a huge financial empire in more than ten countries and regions around the world..."

The story of a financial empire

Among all foreign banks in China, HSBC, which ranks first, is undoubtedly the most eye-catching. In the financial world, HSBC’s story is actually the most fascinating. This company originated in Hong Kong, developed and expanded in China, and then expanded to the world.

Over the past half century, British-funded financial institutions have performed extraordinary stories with ups and downs one after another in the realm of power and money.

HSBC has been operating in Hong Kong and Shanghai since 1865. This bank has been dominant in mainland China for a long time. It was not only the first foreign-funded bank to lend large-scale loans to the late Qing government, but also the model for the establishment of China's first modern bank.

It not only kept the customs duties of the Qing Dynasty and the Chinese government for a long time, but also once controlled the financial power of Yuan Shikai's government. Even in the era of "division of government and government", its chief executive was still Li Zicheng's guest.

HSBC, known as the "Lion Bank", always has a pair of bronze lions placed in front of its bank building. On the sea of ​​destiny, the giant ship HSBC can often break through the waves. No matter the international situation,

Big changes are profound changes in China. Either HSBC can always make correct judgments, seize opportunities, and quickly develop itself to a new stage; or when it suffers heavy losses due to the irreversible situation, it can always recover in a short period of time.

Nei made a comeback and grew stronger day by day.

At this time, in the face of the rapidly developing Chinese economy, HSBC's Hong Kong headquarters began to consider moving the bank headquarters to Shanghai. A sea-shaking change was taking place in China's financial sector. The Ministry of Finance of the State Council, which is responsible for China's fiscal and financial management, is implementing

The major far-reaching financial reform - the abolition of the two to the yuan, and the currency reform that is currently under preparation. The former will make the long-standing parallel circulation of silver taels and silver dollars disappear, while the latter will make China bid farewell to the long-standing silver standard.

Silver taels and silver dollars have been circulated in parallel as currencies in China and have a long history. Its emergence is a historical necessity. However, it brings a lot of inconvenience to merchants and people. Silver taels and silver dollars are sold in different colors across the country.

, the trading market is different, and the calculation is particularly complicated. This is the widespread value of banks, because exchange is the scooping game of banks. A rather exaggerated rumor says: There is a person with a tael of silver in his arms.

Starting from one end of the silver street in a big city, he first exchanges the silver into copper coins, and then goes to the next bank to exchange the copper coins into silver. Repeating this process, by the time he reaches the other end of the street, he will be empty-handed.

Nothing left.

As early as the late Qing Dynasty, there were many calls for the abolition of silver taels and the replacement of silver taels with silver dollars. In the third year of the Republic of China, the central government in Beijing stipulated that one silver dollar was equal to seven cents and two cents of silver taels. And in the currency system bureau

Under the leadership of President Liang Qichao, the standard for silver coins was formulated and one-yuan silver coins were minted and issued throughout the country.

Later, the Beiyang government also planned to abolish the silver taels and issue unified silver dollars. However, due to the unstable domestic situation, the chaotic market, and the different opinions in the society, it was never implemented.

It was not until the fourth year of the Republic of China that the new cabinet of the State Council, which was in charge of the Ministry of Finance, was established, and a series of financial reforms were put on the agenda. In September of that year, as the Bank of China, a quasi-central bank, took back its tariff custody rights,

Its business policy is to "unify the currency system, unify the treasury, and adjust finance to achieve the purpose of being a bank of banks." The customs duties revenue originally entrusted to HSBC by the General Taxation Department was transferred to the Bank of China and the Bank of Communications...

After a long period of deliberation, finally, on November 1, the fourth year of the Republic of China, the Ministry of Finance of the State Council officially issued an order to "abolish the two reforms to the Yuan Dynasty", stipulating that it would be implemented first in Shanghai on November 10 and nationwide on December 1.

All transactions were calculated in silver dollars, and the exchange rate between silver taels and silver dollars was stipulated. China's long-term monetary system with silver taels as the main body changed.

Due to the relationship between the two banks, banks have become an indispensable and important part of the financial system. The implementation of the abolition of the two to the yuan is tantamount to ringing the death knell of banks. When the Ministry of Finance wants to carry out this reform, HSBC and Mecca

Banks and other banks are also firmly opposed. The reason is that these foreign banks hold large amounts of silver and silver, and the power to export silver is mostly in their hands. Once the reform is carried out, they will lose the supply of currency and weaken their ability to control banks.

At the same time, it weakens its control over international exchange business.

But no matter how reluctant they are, they all know that no one can stop the State Council's decision, and the governments of the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan and other countries have responded differently. The United Kingdom has the largest investment and the largest commercial interests in China, and the currency system

As soon as the reform was announced, the British Minister in China required British businessmen and British expatriates in China to comply with this decree and use silver dollars instead of silver taels as the settlement unit. After losing the support of their own governments, banks such as HSBC and Macquarie took the lead in converting inventory notes

Silver, silver bullion and foreign banks are handed over to the Bank of China for casting silver coins. The United States is also increasing its influence on China. The U.S. Ambassador to China claimed that the minister has no authority to order its private companies and banks in China to comply with China's

decree, but at the same time secretly ordered companies such as Citigroup, Chase Bank and Mobil to hand over their silver to the Central Bank of the Nationalist Government for redemption and no longer use silver coins. Japan, which stubbornly tried to maintain its own interests, tried its best to criticize the new currency system and demanded that its country

Banks are not allowed to hand over cash to China.

But the overall situation is like this, and no one can change it. However, these foreign banks do not know that the "abolition of the two to the yuan" is only the prelude to China's currency reform, because this is only the first step.

After the "abolition of the two reforms and the reform of the Yuan", China still implemented the silver standard. China is not a large silver-producing country, but a large silver-consuming country. Silver itself is a commodity, affected by market supply and demand, and often rises with market fluctuations.

At that time, China implemented a silver standard system and used silver dollars as its currency. Dramatic changes in the international financial market caused huge fluctuations in silver prices.

In the era of the gold standard, silver became a common commodity in the world market. The increase in global silver production and the decrease in silver usage rate made the decline in silver prices a trend. Although after the outbreak of the European War, a trend of rising silver began to appear, but for the Chinese Ministry of Finance

, their ultimate goal is to end China's silver standard through further currency reform. At the same time, they must also end the long-term practice of relying on HSBC's listing as China's actual exchange rate, and end the situation in which China's financial market was originally dominated by HSBC.

The goal of the leaders of the Bank of China is: "One day the Bank of China will be able to replace the status of HSBC." However, in fact, this is part of the movement to regain sovereignty. Due to the determination and determination of all walks of life in China, At this time, the movement to regain national sovereignty has made progress in many aspects. Last year, China regained its customs autonomy that had been lost for many years, and the import tariff increased from 4% to 25%. This restored it to a more reasonable level. This can protect the domestic market to a certain extent; the abolition of the market entry tax - Lijin - levied on Chinese goods is equivalent to the abolition of an extremely unequal tax between national enterprises and foreign enterprises.

For all of this, HSBC, the financial empire that dominates China's finance, may understand part of it, but it may not understand much. Perhaps through its penetration into China, HSBC understands many things, but for some of them, they will never understand it. For HSBC, what lies before their eyes at this time is still a dazzling Silver Age...

Since the outbreak of the European War, with the development of China's industry, HSBC's lending scale has reached an unprecedented 150 million yuan. At this time, with the expansion of its lending business and investment in public bonds, HSBC has Profits continued to grow rapidly, and more and more silver dollars were accumulated in the safe of the vault.

Even now, with the dual competition from the Bank of China and the Bank of Communications, no one will doubt that HSBC is still the financial empire that dominates China. However, HSBC's goal has always been to not only be the bank with the most efficiency, but also To build the most magnificent building.

Two years ago, when Huaihai Commercial and Savings Bank entered Shanghai and began to coordinate with Shanghai's industrial circles to plan a "Greater Shanghai". When the Shanghai Huaihai Bank Building was built at the same time, that building became the most eye-catching building in Shanghai. While the tall building became the skyline of Shanghai, at the headquarters of HSBC Shanghai, a more spectacular head office building gradually emerged in the mind of Qi Libin, the HSBC banker.

Whether it is the Hong Kong headquarters building built in 1886 or the Shanghai building built 20 years ago, after decades of ups and downs, it has become slightly outdated. More importantly, HSBC has developed so fast that the original design The vaults can no longer hold the increasing number of silver coins used for savings. In addition, and more importantly, against the backdrop of the Huaihai Commercial Savings Shanghai Bank Building, which was completed at the end of last year, not only has the HSBC Shanghai Building lost its glory, but it has indeed become A bit shabby.

To this end, Qi Libin has been planning a building that "will be the most elegant building from the Suez Canal to the Bering Strait in the Far East" and will also be the second largest bank building in the world, second only to the Bank of Scotland in the United Kingdom. It will be the most beautiful building in the entire Bund building complex.

Of course, this building now only exists on the model, and every day, whenever he looks at the Shanghai Branch Building of Huaihai Commercial and Savings Bank across the river, Qi Libin can't help but turn his attention to the model located in the center of the office.

But at this time, the reason why Qi Libin turned his attention to that building was not because he saw the Huaishang Shanghai Branch Building, but because, well, because of a decision.

This is an extremely difficult decision, at least for Qi Libin, who knows very well the risks of accidents if he accepts Jacob's suggestion.

"Mr. Qi Libin, now is the time for us to make a final decision. The price of public bonds is still far from our psychological price. Moreover, what we must consider is that if we cannot use more agents,

If we open new accounts and push up the price of government bonds, our early investment will be in vain!"

Jacob Sassoon, a tycoon who has been in Shanghai for decades, looked at the hesitant Qi Libin and said slowly that for this battle, he not only drained almost all of Sassoon's liquidity.

He also mortgaged all the assets of Sassoon Company to Qi Libin in front of him.

However, all this is still not enough, so apart from the top managers of foreign companies, banks are also involved, and almost everyone cannot give up on that future.

If successful, then they will own the entire country, no, to be precise, they will get the income of millions of Chinese people who have worked hard for several years, but before that, they must

The significance of conducting a "small battle" is not only to enrich their ammunition depot, but also to divert the Chinese people's attention to another aspect.

"Jacob, one thing you have to understand is that HSBC has already invested 100 million yuan!"

While giving a gentle reminder, Qi Libin's heart was shaken again. With China's political success, the Chinese people's eagerness to try has slowly threatened HSBC. More and more privileges are being lost in the process, and

How does HSBC protect its rights and interests?….

For HSBC, it has always been thought that the most powerful weapon is not money, but the support of ministers, but now, this has completely reversed. The most powerful weapon is only money, at least if this development continues

If so, then only money will be left.

"But we must restore the market now! If there were no attacks, all this would be enough! But now, if we want to succeed, we need more funds. Now, we have invested our last copper plate,

My friends, now is the time to show your power!"

This is not flattery, this is a fact. The reason why Jacob came to the "Lion Bank" at the most critical moment was to get Qi Libin to invest more funds.

"Let me think about it!"

Should we continue investing or stop decisively?

For a time, Qi Libin became difficult to make a decision. Joining this war was not just for profit. Both he and the directors of the Hong Kong headquarters knew this very well, but for the future! Of course, he was ensuring that

In the future, they will also gain unprecedented profits. This is the wealth that sweeps a country!

Just like the rubber stocks back then, it was through the operation of rubber stocks that HSBC and other foreign banks completely destroyed China's banking industry and turned China's banking industry into their "hidden branches". Now,

All they need is to do it again, but this time it is far more dangerous than the last time, because...

Just as Qi Libin was thinking in his heart, the phone rang suddenly. Qi Libin, who was interrupted by the harsh ringtone, frowned slightly and looked very unhappy. He stood up and took the phone, listening to the other end of the phone.

content, but his brows furrowed again. After he hung up the phone, he looked at Jacob and said.

“Treasury bonds are down another 15 cents!”

When he uttered this sentence, Jacob's brows furrowed. Another fifteen-point drop meant that HSBC lost more than 10 million yuan! Although now he has the core "good news" about the "attack"

", but before the Chinese government makes a real official response, it is obvious that these "good news" are not enough for ordinary Chinese to stop their selling behavior, unless...

"Concierge Manager Qi, now there is only one choice left for us..."

At this time, when Qi Libin and Jacob were talking, one thing they did not realize was that in the seemingly inconspicuous utility room downstairs where Qi Libin's office was, there seemed to be no one in the utility room.

However, if someone pays attention, they will definitely find that a piece of the ceiling seems to be loose, and at this time, in the compartment on the ceiling, a handyman is lying there, with his ears hanging like a doctor's stethoscope.

The path extends into a hole in the ceiling above, and that hole is just under the sofa in Qi's concierge's office. Although it is very small, it is enough for this handyman. He can hear every detail of the room.

Conversation in the office.

At this time, he was listening to the conversation in Qi Libin's office while taking notes with a pen. As for the records in the notebook, perhaps only he could understand what he was writing down. Finally, another half of the time passed.

Hours later, the handyman closed the notebook. After observing the utility room, he carefully came down from the ceiling. After leaving the utility room, he walked directly to the bathroom, where he tore off the notebook and removed it from the ceiling.

The window uploaded it, and the fruit vendor under the window immediately transferred it to another person after receiving the record.

Ten minutes later, such a piece of information that had changed hands several times appeared in front of Zhou Zuomin's desk. Looking carefully at the information provided by the Secret Service, Zhou Zuomin couldn't help but stand up. He walked to the window and talked with this person.

Opposite the two offices across the river was HSBC. Looking at the HSBC building that seemed to be a bit dilapidated, suddenly, a smile flashed across Zhou Zuomin's face, and after the smile, there was a burst of regret.

"It's really a pity!"

What was he regretting at this time? Perhaps only he knew. After he turned around, he first looked at the time on his watch, then checked the time with the clock, and finally walked to the desk again

, after hesitating for a moment, he picked up the phone.
Chapter completed!