After Henry Keswick left Lee's Building, he did not return to Jardine Matheson's headquarters. Instead, he went directly to the HSBC Bank Building. He knew that it was impossible to expect Li Guangyu to stop the current price war. He needed to seek help from HSBC. and the support of Standard Chartered, otherwise it would be difficult for the giant ship Jardine to operate in Hong Kong.
In the HSBC office, Shen Bi invited Henry Keswick to sit down in the reception area, poured him a cup of tea, and said to him: Keswick, is there anything urgent about your sudden visit today?
Henry Keswick briefly explained some of the current situation of Jardine Matheson and asked HSBC to help it.
After hearing what Henry Keswick said, Shen Bi did not rush to respond. He was thinking about the gains and losses in it.
He himself does not want Yihe to fall like this. He knows very well that currently only Yihe in Hong Kong can hold back the Li Group. Once Yihe also gives in, HSBC and Standard Chartered will have to face the Li Group directly. The pressure from the consortium is gone.
Shen Bi now has no confidence that HSBC can compete head-on with the Li Group. The Li Group is now too large. HSBC is just a single financial group, and the Li Group is not only competing with Tianyu Financial Group. , Li's major groups will provide assistance.
Apart from holding the right to issue Hong Kong dollar notes, HSBC and Standard Chartered currently have no advantage over Tianyu Financial Group. Shen Bi is very clear that the Li Group has never given up on the right to issue Hong Kong dollar notes. When the time comes, HSBC The pressure on Standard Chartered will be very high.
But Shen Bi also knows the current situation of Wellcome Supermarket very well. It is a bottomless pit now. Even if HSBC and Standard Chartered enter the market, they will only lose money in it.
Although I am the chairman of the board of directors of HSBC, if I still invest despite knowing that it is a loss, I will definitely face criticism from HSBC shareholders.
The reason why Li Guangyu dares to play this way is that Hengyu Supermarket Group is solely owned by him, and Hutchison Whampoa is also controlled by several major families. They can just make their own decisions.
Shen Bi is just a manager. HSBC does not belong to him. Once he makes a decision that harms HSBC's interests, subsequent shareholders will definitely not let him continue to be the helmsman of HSBC.
Shen Bi said: Keswick, I still need to discuss your proposal with the directors of the bank, so I can't give you an answer for the time being. But don't worry, I very much hope that Wellcome can continue to operate, and I also Will persuade the board members of our bank.
Henry Keswick felt very cold. When this matter was brought up to the board of directors of HSBC, he knew that it would basically not pass. Knowing that Wellcome was a trap, how could they, the directors, be willing to jump down?
As long as the Li Group does not stop its discount sales activities for a day, Wellcome will face the dilemma of no one taking over the business. No one is willing to invest a large amount of money in a company that cannot see any profits.
Henry Keswick said: Shen Bi, you are also aware of the current situation. The Chinese-owned families headed by the Li Group are crowding out other forces. Currently, the only ones who can resist them are our Jardine and Kadoorie families. So you, HSBC and Standard Chartered, can still be stable, and they don’t have the energy to deal with you for the time being. Once we also fall, I’m afraid you will be next.
Shen Bi also fell silent. This issue was what he was most worried about. Several major Chinese banks had already begun to cooperate.
He received news last month that Tianyu Bank, led by Bank of East Asia, Hong Kong Asian Commercial Bank, Sun Hung Kai Bank and Wing Hang Bank, together with Hong Kong China Investment Company and Ho Investment Company, jointly undertook CITIC Group's HK$2 billion corporate bonds. .
This is obviously a combination of Chinese-owned banks, and Shen Bi knows how powerful these major banks are together. Bank of East Asia has always been known as the first Chinese-owned bank in Hong Kong, only behind HSBC and Standard Chartered.
Hong Kong Asian Commercial Bank followed closely behind. More importantly, this bank is also backed by Pangu Bank of Thailand, and its strength is also extremely strong.
Although Wing Hang Bank ranks behind Heng Feng Bank, which it controls, the gap is limited. Although Sun Hung Kai Bank is newly built, Feng Jingxi is not a fuel-efficient lamp. In time, it will definitely be on par with Bank of East Asia and Heung Kong Asian Commercial Bank. After adding comparisons He is not far behind Tianyu Bank, but he doesn't think he can gain an advantage by joining forces with HSBC and Standard Chartered.
Shen Bi now regrets his previous decision. If he hadn't wanted to win over the Chinese-owned family so that HSBC could suppress Standard Chartered Bank, the Chinese-owned family did not have such strength, and he would not need to face such great pressure now. .
Shen Bi knew that what he did before was not wrong at the time, but he did not expect that a freak like Li Guangyu would appear. His own plan was ruined, and now he had to give up his previous strategy and start again. The Chinese-owned family turned back to the British-owned consortium.
After Li Guangyu obtained the banking license, HSBC's advantage over the Chinese-owned families was completely lost.
If an ordinary Chinese gets this license, it won't have much impact on him, but Li Guangyu, as the richest man in Hong Kong, was born into a wealthy family, and has the support of the He family, Luo family, Cao family in Hong Kong, etc., so all the business related to these families' connections will be transferred to Tianyu bank.
Xiangjiang is such a big place, many families are related by marriage, and most of the industries in Xiangjiang are in the hands of these families. They all hope to maintain a close relationship with Li Guangyu. How can HSBC compete with Tianyu Bank.
Shen Bi was a little dissatisfied with MacLehose. He complained that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority had given Tianyu Bank too many business licenses, making it impossible for HSBC and Standard Chartered to maintain their special status, which led to the predicament they now face. .
If MacLehose could impose more restrictions on Tianyu Bank, many of his customers would not be lost.
Shen Bi said: Keswick, I also know the current situation, but I cannot make the decision for HSBC alone, especially in a situation like Wellcome Supermarket. You must know that our bank investment depends on returns, and the returns are low. None of us know how to invest, let alone a loss-making enterprise. I must be responsible for the bank's shareholders and our customers.
Henry Keswick was very disappointed with this. It seemed that he had to think carefully. There might be no need for Wellcome Supermarket to continue operating.
Although he was reluctant to part with the Xiangjiang market, the situation was uncontrollable. Instead of struggling to move forward in the Xiangjiang market and facing unprofitable risks, it was better to withdraw from the Xiangjiang market and operate the Singapore and Australian markets.
Henry Keswick said: Shen Bi, I will go back to Standard Chartered to visit George Lavine later to see what he thinks. I also hope you can think more about it. Now we are in the same boat. We are in harmony. Well, HSBC will not have an easy time either.
After seeing off Henry Keswick, Shen Bi immediately ordered his assistant to inform the directors of HSBC to come to the headquarters conference room for a meeting at three o'clock in the afternoon.
It is necessary for Shen Bi to have serious communication with them. Jardine cannot fail yet. He knows that if HSBC and Standard Chartered do not support it, Jardine will definitely follow Swire's example and give up competing with the Li Group and slowly withdraw from the Xiangjiang market.