At the Hong Kong Financial Conference, no one invited was absent. Except for some staff from the Financial Department, those present were either general managers (presidents) of banks or securities investment companies, or major shareholders of banks or securities investment companies.
Financial Secretary Ross expressed his gratitude to those who came to attend the meeting, and also talked about the achievements of Xiangjiang Financial over the years. He also affirmed the contribution of HSBC and Standard Chartered to the currency stability of Xiangjiang.
Then he changed his tone and said: "Hong Kong's Chinese-owned enterprises have developed rapidly in recent years, and in order to promote the financial and monetary stability of Hong Kong, after considering the opinions of all parties, we will add a bank headquartered in Hong Kong to have the right to issue Hong Kong dollar notes.
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Currently, 11 banks that meet the requirements include Xin Jian, East Asia, K. Wah, Nanjiang Hang Seng, Dao Heng, New Asia, Sun Hung Kai, Wing On, Xingchuang, De'an and Guangqing.
The main topic of our meeting today is to identify one of these eleven banks as the third note-issuing bank in addition to HSBC and Hong Kong Bank."
As the new chairman of the board of directors of Hong Kong Bank, Kwok Ho-nien directly stated that Bank of Hong Kong was already discussing mergers and acquisitions with Guangzhou Bank controlled by Hong Leong Group, and Guangqing Bank automatically withdrew from the competition for the right to issue Hong Kong dollar notes.
Obviously the Nanyang Consortium has no intention of interfering in the struggle between the major forces in Hong Kong. Through some transactions, they have already acquired Standard Chartered Hong Kong, changed its name to Hong Kong Bank, and have the right to issue Hong Kong currency notes. If they continue to compete, they will probably fall into public criticism.
Although the forces behind De'an Bank have intentions, at this time they also know that it is impossible.
Firstly, De'an Bank is too weak, and secondly, the Bryan government cannot allow them to obtain the right to issue Hong Kong dollar notes at this time. They can only wait for the negotiation between the two parties to conclude before seeking the right to issue Hong Kong dollar notes.
Therefore, at this time, the general manager of De'an Bank was very wise and directly gave up the competition for the right to issue Hong Kong dollar notes.
The presidents of Hing Chong, Wing On, Dao Heng, K. Wah, and East Asia Bank also gave up, so that only representatives of Xin Jian, Nanjiang Hang Seng, New Asia, and Sun Hung Kai did not give up.
“I believe everyone is familiar with Xinjian Bank, Nanjiang Hang Seng Bank, New Asia Bank, and Sun Hung Kai Bank, and everyone should be aware of their strength.
But as the Hong Kong dollar note-issuing bank, it not only depends on the strength of the bank, but also on whether it can provide assistance to Hong Kong's economy, finance and currency stability.
Now we would like to ask representatives of the four major banks to explain their policies after obtaining the right to issue Hong Kong dollar notes, especially their plans or plans for currency."
After Ross's speech, the host of the meeting first invited the representative of Xinjian Bank to speak.
This time the representative is not bank president Jin Yiming, but Li Jianhui himself.
"At the request of Chief Executive Mr. Ross, I would like to briefly talk about some measures taken by Xinjian Bank to maintain the stability of the Hong Kong dollar after it obtained the right to issue Hong Kong dollar notes.
Everyone knows that our Hong Kong dollar issuance is mainly collateralized by foreign exchange and gold, and it is in full. The appreciation or depreciation of our Hong Kong dollar is mainly affected by the foreign exchange and gold of the Exchange Fund.
And because the Hong Kong Monetary Authority is managing the Exchange Fund, there is also profit there. Generally speaking, the Hong Kong dollars we issue are far less than the amount in the Exchange Fund based on the exchange rate, so the risk of depreciation is not too great.
In addition, in order to ensure that the Hong Kong dollar does not depreciate and that the assets of the more than six million citizens of Hong Kong are not damaged, our Bank Note Issuance Bank also has the responsibility to coordinate with the Exchange Fund to conduct timely position adjustments in major foreign exchange currencies.
Our Xinjian Bank has obtained the right to issue Hong Kong dollar notes. In the future, we will mainly use gold as reserves to issue Hong Kong dollars to balance the impact of foreign exchange on the Hong Kong dollar.
At the same time, our Xinjian Bank will promote the proportion of Hong Kong dollars in settlement in international trade and internationalize our Hong Kong dollars. Lisboa and Brunei are just the beginning. In the future, we will promote more regional currencies to be linked to our Hong Kong dollars.
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After Li Jianhui's speech, Li Chaoren, Chen Youqing, and Feng Jingxi successively spoke on behalf of their banks and came up with many plans. However, unlike Li Jianhui's plan to issue Hong Kong dollars in gold, these parties basically chose foreign exchange, focusing on the British pound and the
JPY.
After several people spoke, Ross said: "This time is related to the stability of our financial currency in Hong Kong. Several parties have also clearly put forward their own proposals. Next, we will conduct a discussion with representatives of all banks and securities investment companies present.
Vote and the bank with the most votes will become our third bank with the right to issue Hong Kong dollar notes."
However, as soon as Ross said this, he was immediately strongly opposed by representatives of the Tung Wah Association.
Li Guobao first spoke: "Such a rule vote is completely irresponsible for Hong Kong's financial and monetary stability. As a Hong Kong dollar note-issuing bank, it must first have the strength to be trusted by more than six million citizens.
Secondly, the bank itself must be stable enough. How can the public be reassured by frequent changes?
In addition, if it is only determined by quantity, how can we keep Xiangjiang's financial currency stable? After all, it only costs a few dollars to establish a securities investment company. With such rules, I can make tens of thousands of them in a short time.
I think the rules should be changed, and voting should be done by representatives of the top ten local banks and the top ten local securities investment companies, so that they can represent the main opinions of Hong Kong’s financial community.”
Feng Jingyao, Lei Juekun, Li Chunxue, Wang Shanbin, Guo Zhiquan, Du Ningxue and others immediately echoed.
It's a pity that other people are not fools. How can they agree with this opinion? If this is the case, they can just designate Xinjian Bank as the Hong Kong dollar note-issuing bank. Why vote?
We must know that among the top ten local banks in Hong Kong, after several mergers and acquisitions, Tung Wah Club now accounts for half, followed by Xin Jian in second place, East Asia in third, K. Wah in fourth, Dao Heng in sixth, and Wing On in ninth.
As for local securities investment companies, Tung Wah Club is even more terrifying. Xinjian Securities Investment ranks first, Kowloon Securities Investment ranks second, Guanghua Securities Investment ranks third, and Xinbin Securities Investment ranks fifth.
, Xinhui Securities Investment ranked sixth, Haojiang Securities Investment ranked eighth, and Desheng Securities Investment Company ranked tenth.
Among the top ten local securities investment companies, the three major securities investment companies, Swire, Jardine, and Shun Tak, are not affiliated to the Tung Wah Association.
This has to be said about Li Jianhui, a strange person. Xinjian Bank has a securities investment department and a securities investment company, and this company mainly serves Li Jianhui personally.
But such a company has been ranked first among local securities investment companies for several consecutive years. Not to mention its profits from the stock market, the market value of just the shares it holds exceeds that of countless rich people on this year's Hong Kong Rich List.
Listening to the dispute between the Tung Wah Association and several parties, Ross was quite satisfied. They had actually decided long ago that the right to issue Hong Kong dollar notes could not be given to Xin Jian Bank.
The reason is also very simple, because many of the actions of the Tung Wah Association are not in their interests, especially many policies that they cannot implement because of the Tung Wah Association, such as the peg of the Hong Kong dollar to the pound.
Therefore, no matter how dissatisfied the Tung Wah Association is today, the representatives present will vote according to the set rules to determine which bank will obtain the right to issue Hong Kong dollar notes.
Before this meeting was held, it had already been decided. Everything today was just a formality.