Chapter 1167 Wall Street, no philanthropists
Chu Gang ignored the reactions of the people in the audience and said calmly:
"On Wall Street, there are no philanthropists, and the nature of all institutions is profit-making.
The buy and sell ratings recommended by various institutions are often based on their own interests.
They usually publicly declare that promising investment targets are not worth investing in.
For example, in the past, some Wall Street institutions ostensibly released various analysis reports and took the opportunity to lower the value of the Huaxia Banking industry, but secretly built a large number of positions in Huaxia Banking stocks, and finally made huge profits.
In addition, Wall Street can change its position at any time for its own interests.
For example, it used to be bearish on China's oil industry, but some time ago, after stock investor Warren Buffett sold more than $4 billion in PetroChina shares to Wall Street brokers, some institutions went against the norm and began to strongly recommend China's energy industry.
Therefore, I remind all investors that it is important to maintain their own independent judgment. ”
The executives or leaders from funds, banks, and securities regulatory commissions from China in the audience nodded. They understood these tricks of the United States, but at the cost of paying a lot of tuition.
Executives from Moody's Ratings, S&P Ratings and major investment banks smiled and looked calm, not at all upset by Chu Gang's words.
Because Chu Gang was right, that's what they did.
How much is integrity worth? First day on Wall Street?
After some preparation, Chu Gang finally talked about the theme of today’s speech:
"Today I will talk about the recent hot topic in the financial market-subprime risk.
Some subprime mortgage bonds were packaged by institutions, rated as "AAA bonds," and then sold to investors around the world.
As far as I know, many investors from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan have bought some subprime housing loan bonds in the past two years, resulting in heavy losses. ”
"Hanhua Research found that the risk exposure caused by subprime mortgages is constantly expanding, and is rapidly forming greater unexposed risks in the entire financial system, which may break out at any time and threaten the real economy."
This is interesting!
Nowadays, most people are relatively optimistic about the risks caused by subprime mortgages and the subsequent market trends.
They believe that the state machinery has taken action and risks are controllable. There is also a small group of people who are firm supporters of the view that a financial crisis is about to break out.
It seems that Hanhua is on the side of a small number of people.
Thousands of people in the audience cheered up and prepared to listen to the star fund manager's opinions.
“Due to the disappearance of confidence in the subprime loan market, the prices of subprime loans and related structured products are continuing to fall. Banks and other financial institutions that hold a large proportion of such products are as anxious as ants on a hot pot.
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Over time, the destructive nature of this toxic asset will be fully apparent and reflected in the financial reports of major financial institutions.
Investor confidence will be hit, leading to a second wave of widespread financial market liquidity problems..."
Chu Gang stood on the stage and shared some views on Hanhua's market outlook.
At present, major central banks led by the Federal Reserve are actively rescuing the market and have achieved certain results. The stock market has stopped falling and has recovered from the previous decline. The storm seems to be over for the time being.
Chu Gang's point of view at this time is equivalent to being bearish on the market outlook.
Domestically, there is a price to pay for such behavior of going against the regulatory authorities.
The United States does not have freedom of speech. Everyone can say whatever they want, so Hanhua is not polite. He comes out to build up his reputation and at the same time build up strength and momentum for the next wave of financial actions.
"Winter in New York may be colder than in the past few decades. Everyone should keep warm."
Chu Gang ended his speech with a witty remark, and the audience immediately burst into warm applause.
When Chu Gang walked back to his seat, the bankers on the side looked at him with complicated eyes.
These bankers were still deeply touched by Chu Gang's speech and wanted to exchange views with this famous fund manager.
Soon, the host came to the stage to announce the end of the morning meeting, and reminded the participants that they could go to the hotel next door to have dinner and continue the branch meeting activities in the afternoon.
Xu Liang, Chu Gang, and Lin Junrui were about to get up and leave when Chinese bankers such as Wu Jianmin, Zheng Jiafa, and Sun Qicheng gathered around them.
"Mr. Xu, can we have dinner and chat together?"
Wu Jianmin was the first to speak, and the bankers following him also extended invitations.
"There will be a meeting in the afternoon, and the time between meals is limited. I'll invite some bosses another day." Xu Liang replied with a smile.
East West Bank is the largest Chinese bank in the United States, with total assets of tens of billions of dollars. Wu Jianmin naturally became the leader of this group.
He has known Xu Liang for several years. They have basically participated in Hanhua's fund-raising meetings in the United States, but their friendship is not deep and they are just acquaintances.
Now that the other party's intention to refuse was obvious, he couldn't bear to keep pursuing him, so he had to look at Duan Yongping for help. He knew that the other party had a good relationship with Xu Liang.
"Mr. Xu, let's chat together. Everyone is very interested in Lao Chu's views on the market outlook."
Xu Liang still has to give Duan Yongping face.
"Well, how about we find a nice place to sit and chat in the evening?"
Wu Jianmin and others happily agreed.
……
In the afternoon, after the annual meeting of TCFA, Xu Liang, Chu Gang, and Lin Junrui were not in a hurry to go to the banquet. They went to the reception organized by the organizer first.
The cocktail party was held in the hotel next door. The number of people was much smaller than during the day, with less than a hundred people. The people invited to attend were all with a certain level on Wall Street or in China.
As soon as Xu Liang and the others appeared at the reception, they immediately became the focus of the audience.
The environment is noisy during the day, so it is inconvenient to get together and become familiar with each other, but now the space is relatively private, and many people come up with wine glasses to make friends with Xu Liang.
Tang Xiaodong, the rotating president of TCFA, acted as a middleman, constantly introducing people who approached Xu Liang.
"This is Li Yanxiu, CEO of Frontier Fund. He manages a hedge fund with a scale of 2 billion US dollars. Like you, Mr. Xu, he is also a financial leader among us Chinese."
Li Yanxiu is about fifty years old, with a three-quarter hairdo and a pair of gold-rimmed glasses. He looks very much like a university professor.
Following Tang Xiaodong's introduction, Li Yanxiu smiled and shook hands with Xu Liang.
"In front of Mr. Xu, I don't dare to be the leader. Mr. Xu is the light of us Chinese and has broken many Wall Street prejudices against us Chinese."
After exchanging business compliments with Xu Liang, Li Yanxiu left with a smile.
Then, Tang Xiaodong introduced Xu Liang to several Chinese who were doing well on Wall Street.
Li Shanquan is one of the 14 core managers of the famous mutual fund company Oppenheimer. His management fund has been rated No. 1 in the United States.
Deng Kun, executive director and partner of Lazard Asset Management.
This man was once selected as one of the top ten fund managers in the world by the Financial Times. The global funds he manages have ranked first in return among hundreds of similar funds around the world for three consecutive years.
After getting in touch, Xu Liang found that Chinese people did not do well in the mainstream financial world in the United States.
In the fields of investment banks, hedge funds, and commercial banks, almost all of them are wage earners.
Li Yanxiu, the founder of Frontier Fund, is the only entrepreneur, or boss, with some stamina.
As for bankers such as Wu Jianmin and Sun Qicheng, they are second and third generation immigrants.
And they are all from Hong Kong and Taiwan.
They are not in the same circle as Tang Xiaodong, Li Yanyan and other Chinese and overseas Chinese from mainland China. It would be a honor to attend the meeting during the day, but not to attend the cocktail party in the evening.
This is also a true portrayal of Chinese American society, which is fragmented and has countless small circles.
After staying for a while, Xu Liang, Chu Gang, and Lin Junrui left the reception and went to Qilu Feast, a high-end Chinese restaurant in Manhattan.
Just by hearing the name of the store, you can tell that the bankers have put their best efforts into catering to Xu Liang's taste.
In the private room, a group of people sat around a large round table, which was filled with famous Qilu dishes such as nine-turn large intestine, first-grade tofu, and sea cucumber roasted with green onion.
Xu Liang felt pretty good eating it, not the kind of castrated Chinese food.
The bankers felt a little overwhelmed, so they only had the lighter dishes in front of them.
"Mr. Xu, does it suit your taste?
I asked, the Shandong cuisine chef in this restaurant was invited from the capital, and he is from Qilu. ”
Xu Liang smiled.
"Mr. Wu is very thoughtful and the taste is very good."
"As long as you are satisfied, eat the food, eat the food." A group of people greeted with a smile.
After drinking for three rounds, Wu Jianmin finally got to the point.
"Mr. Xu, do you think there will be another risk outbreak in the U.S. banking industry?"
Xu Liang laughed and said:
"I believe you all have an answer to this question. You should know the true situation of subprime loans better than a layman like me."
"Mr. Xu, you are so humble."
The speaker was Cathay Bank CEO Zheng Jiafa, a thin old man in his sixties.
This banker was actually a disciple of Chen Ning Yang, and also had a doctorate in applied physics. His dream was to win the Nobel Prize. Later, Chen Ning Yang said that he had no talent, so he had to go home and inherit Cathay Bank, which his father invested as a shareholder.
Cathay Bank is well run by Zheng Jiafa. It was listed on Nasdaq more than ten years ago. It has total assets of more than 6 billion US dollars and nearly 40 branches in the United States. It is slightly weaker than East West Bank.
In 2004, Tsinghua University established the Yang Chenning Lecture Fund. The first donor of the fund was Zheng Jiafa, who donated US$1 million.
At the same time, Zheng Jiafa also established a scholarship in Los Angeles to award six outstanding Chinese students studying in Southern California with US$5,000 each year.
Zheng Jiafa sighed: "We are actually okay. We don't invest much in CDOs. Even if the value is completely wiped out, it won't hurt us."
A cannibal with a short mouth, Xu Liang has no habit of prostitution for free.
"That's good. In my opinion, it's best to clear out the CDO risks as soon as possible. The pain now is much smaller than the pain later."
"Thank you, Mr. Xu, for your kind advice today. If you find it useful in the future, just give me your instructions."
Sun Qicheng from Guobao Bank said with a smile that this old man is much older than Zheng Jiafa. He is 72 years old and is still struggling on the front line of work.
Perhaps because he was born in China, this old man still has feelings for China. During the Asian financial crisis in 1997, he even wrote to Prime Minister Tie to offer advice.
Wu Jianmin nodded in agreement: "Yes, after all, we are all descendants of the Yan and Huang people. It is very difficult for the Chinese to work hard in the United States, so we should be united." After eating and talking with several Chinese bankers, Xu Liang took Chu Gang and Lin Junrui said goodbye and left.
——
The next day.
Chu Gang's keynote speech at TCFA made the front pages of several mainstream media.
"Private equity giant Hanhua is firmly bearish on the market outlook, believing that the risks of subprime mortgages are still spreading, and speculates that the losses of financial institutions involved in subprime bond derivatives transactions have reached astronomical figures. When the next financial reporting season comes, the subprime mortgage crisis will Stepping up a notch” - The Wall Street Journal
"Financial giant Hanhua has changed its low-key style in the past, and its star fund managers have made high-profile statements about subprime risks. They believe that the rescue actions of various countries will have limited effect, and huge financial system risks will break out in the second half of the year, and may even affect the real economy." - —"Economic Times"
"Winter is coming! Hanhua made a pessimistic prediction about the market: The coldest winter on Wall Street is coming. The coldness is comparable to that of the Great Depression in the 1930s. Everyone should pay attention to keeping warm." - "The New York Times"
……
Sitting in the large office at No. 1184 Greenwich, Xu Liang swiped his mouse and browsed today's news reports from major mainstream financial media.
Hanhua grabbed another front page headline.
However, the remarks made by Chu Gang on behalf of Hanhua were quite topical, and this may be the main reason why it was widely reported and reprinted by major financial media.
Xu Liang then looked at the comment section again and was happy.
"Chinese people predict financial risks? Man, today is not April Fool's Day, right? Do Chinese people understand finance?"
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"Chinese people are better at mathematics. Maybe they have calculated some amazing results?"
"Because they only understand mathematics, Chinese people can only do some analyst jobs on Wall Street."
"Hanhua is already a top private equity firm with an asset management scale of US$100 billion. Green Dragon Fund and Pacific Fund are world-famous. We must treat this company objectively and fairly."
"I bet that if this speculation was issued by a white fund, it would definitely not be the current comment."
……
Xu Liang found that the opinions in the comment area were roughly divided into three groups. One group ridiculed and disdained the predictions proposed by Hanhua; one group remained neutral and believed that it could be verified by waiting for time; and the other group strongly supported it.
The three parties got into a quarrel and even changed the topic to race.
However, there are no curse words, because several major financial media have human reviewers, and the comments are only released after review.
However, the intentions of several major financial media are quite sinister. They only refrained from publishing abusive comments, but released other comments that ridiculed and refuted Hanhua.
Maybe this will be more topical and can be used to increase the popularity, right?
Of course, the financial media will not suffer any loss. If Hanhua's prediction is successful, it will follow behind and sing its praises.
After closing the news webpage, Xu Liang began to check work emails.
At this time, he suddenly received a call from Zhang Lei. The other party said on the phone that he wanted to bring two people to visit him.
Xu Liang thought about it briefly and agreed.
Among all the shadow funds invested by Hanhua, Zhang Lei’s Hillhouse is one of the ones he is most optimistic about.
In the future, when the memory of past lives is used up, Hanhua will have to rely on these shadow funds to achieve performance.
After a while, Li Jinling led Zhang Lei and three others into his office.
"Mr. Xu, I won't disturb your work, right?"
Zhang Lei shook hands with Xu Liang, acting a little reserved.
As the identity gap between the two parties widens, he now feels more and more pressure when facing Xu Liang.
"How could it be?"
Xu Liang retracted his hand with a smile and turned his attention to the two young men in their twenties behind Zhang Lei.
"Let me introduce, this is Ma Ziming, the long-short fund manager of the hedge fund company Ziff Brothers."
Xu Liang smiled and nodded.
He had heard of this man in his previous life, the founder of the hedge fund Snow Lake Capital and a disciple of Zhang Lei.
The company kept a low profile for ten years and became famous after shorting Luckin.
There are not many Chinese bosses in the field of hedge funds, and even fewer with a fund scale of billions of dollars. This man can be regarded as one of the best.
It is worth mentioning that Sun Hongbing’s son Sun Jiyi also worked at Snow Lake Capital, and Sunac has a very close relationship with Snow Lake Capital.
"Hello."
Xu Liang shook hands with Ma Ziming with a smile on his face, making the latter extremely excited and his face turned red.
He is just a small manager, a low-level employee on Wall Street. Unexpectedly, the famous Golden Caesar is not only willing to meet him, but also has no pretensions, which makes people feel good about him.
Zhang Lei then introduced another young man who wore a pair of glasses and looked a bit nerdy.
"This is Zhao Peng, a quantitative analyst at Citadel Investment."
Xu Liang's eyes lit up. He felt that the quantitative trading department he had been thinking about for a long time had hope.
This guy is also a great guy.
He is known as one of the few North American Chinese with an annual income of 9 figures after Lu Qi.
"Mr. Xu, even though Zhao Peng is young, he is actually very powerful.
Born in the prodigy class of Beijing No. 8 Middle School, he was admitted to the Mathematics Department of Peking University at the age of 14. At the age of 22, he received a doctorate in statistics from Berkeley, California. During more than a year of working at Castle Investment, he created multiple profit equations for the company..."
The Prodigy Class of Beijing No. 8 Middle School is an experimental class for extraordinary children education established by Beijing No. 8 Middle School since 1985.
Selected students enter school at the age of 10 or 11. After four years of study, they take the college entrance examination. They go to university at the age of fourteen or fifteen and become Ph.D.s by the time they are in their twenties.
Zhao Peng also had a classmate in the children's class named Yin Xi, who became a Harvard professor at the age of 24 and was very famous on the Internet in his previous life.
As far as Xu Liang knew, Zhao Peng cheated all the way after joining Castle Investment Company.
He was promoted to partner in four years. When he was in his thirties, he killed former Microsoft COO Kevin Turner and became CEO of Citadel Investments, in charge of a US$35 billion hedge fund.
But what he didn't know was that Castle Investment played a key role in the "Retail Investors vs. Wall Street" in 2021, but it was just the villain.
Retail investors are actually just pawns, and this long-short war is actually a hunt for each other between institutions.
Castle Investment and its equity subsidiary Melvin Capital, as one of the short sellers, lost US$2 billion and US$6 billion respectively.
Netflix and MGM plan to make this financial drama into a movie.
As the CEO of Castle Investment, Zhao Peng may become the villain in the movie.
After a few words of greeting, Xu Liang asked Zhang Lei, Ma Ziming, and Zhao Peng to sit down on the sofa.
"Mr. Xu, I actually came to you for nothing else. I just want to recommend these two young people to you."
Xu Liang smiled and said: "Hanhua welcomes top talents from all over the world, especially us Chinese people."
Zhang Lei felt relieved.
"I heard you talk about your long-term optimism about quantitative investment before, but you were suffering from the lack of a suitable project leader. Ma Ziming recommended Zhao Peng to me. I chatted with this young man Zhao Peng and felt that he was quite good, so I brought him Coming to see you.
If it weren't for Gao Ling's small temple, I would have wanted to keep him. ”
Xu Liang vaguely remembered that he mentioned this when he sent an email to the other party.
He wanted the other party to find some financial talents for Hanhua through his many years of connections in the United States.
Xu Liang glanced at Zhao Peng, who seemed a little embarrassed to be praised so much.
"Hanhua has been established for too short a time. In order to open up the market as soon as possible and gain visibility in the financial industry, our energy has been mainly focused on the private equity field in recent years.
The foundation of quantitative investment is relatively weak.
Of course, this is also related to Hanhua's talent strategy. We have always adhered to the attitude of preferring shortage to waste for leaders of important departments.
But since Lao Zhang recommended you, I trust his judgment.
So, welcome to join Hanhua. ”
Zhao Peng nodded heavily, his tone a little excited.
"Mr. Xu, Mr. Chu's speech yesterday was really inspiring.
On Wall Street, ruled by old white men, few Chinese can reach the top of the industry.
I decided to join Hanhua at that time, but unfortunately Mr. Xu was in a hurry and did not have time to recommend himself.
Only then did he shamelessly ask Senior Brother Zhang to introduce him on his behalf. ”
Looking at the excited Zhao Peng, Xu Liang also didn't expect that the meeting of the Chinese Financial Association that he attended unexpectedly could actually attract talents?
But then again, Hanhua emerged on Wall Street and in the global financial world.
All senior executives are Chinese, which is like a bright light that will attract all talents who are not found on Wall Street and even in the global financial field.
Wall Street recognizes that Chinese people are good at mathematics and are suitable for financial investment jobs, but it is difficult for Chinese people to climb to the top in this financial world dominated by white people.
As we all know, Chinese people in the United States will encounter a "transparent ceiling."
In Silicon Valley, becoming a vice president in charge of technology is a top job, and in Wall Street, being a managing director is almost the same.
Even on Wall Street, the ceiling is even lower. In large financial institutions, Chinese can only become a few hundred people at the top, but cannot become a few dozen or a few people at the top.
"Are there any requirements in terms of salary?" Xu Liang asked.
Zhao Peng said directly: "I want to be in charge of an independent fund with investment authority without interference.
And the initial amount cannot be less than US$10 million. ”
Xu Liang smiled and said: "With your qualifications, 10 million U.S. dollars is too little. Let's do this. After you join Hanhua, the company will directly give you an initial capital of 100 million U.S. dollars.
If we are completely on the right track and start raising funds, it will be no problem whether it is one billion U.S. dollars or two billion U.S. dollars. ”
Zhao Peng's breathing became rapid for a moment.
It's US$100 million at the beginning. Is this the strength of top hedge funds?
Zhao Peng instantly felt that he had come to the right place this time. Mr. Xu was obviously more generous than his current boss.
(End of chapter)