Chapter 1538 Financial Institutions
Cai Jinmei's reputation does not only exist within Haihan. Most bank bosses in Zhejiang have also heard that the official in charge of Haihan Bank is a woman, and her methods are quite powerful. Although businessmen generally do not have the stereotype that "women cannot manage accounts", it is shocking that a woman is managing the bank behind the scenes of Haihan Bank.
Just how rich the Haihan Bank is, just like how high the combat effectiveness of the Haihan Army is, is a puzzle that is difficult for Akito to have a specific answer to. However, some big businessmen who have close relations with Haihan were lucky enough to visit the vault of Haihan Bank on Zhoushan Island. It is said that there are millions of cash reserves in it that can be used at any time. Even if there is any emergency, it can be transferred from Fujian within three days. With another million in cash, the funds can be said to be very abundant, and this is just a branch of Haihan Bank in Zhejiang.
There is also an office of Haihan Bank in Ningbo city. However, because the trade relationship between Haihan and Daming was not officially recognized before, the business scope of this office is relatively narrow and there is no public savings and lending. This type of business only provides account settlement services for merchants who have money transactions with Haihan. As long as Ningbo businessmen open a dedicated account at Haihan Bank, all trade transactions with Haihan can be settled through this office, without the need to take risks and carry boxes of money back and forth.
Of course, it is also very convenient for depositors to withdraw money stored in Haihan Bank. They only need to go through the procedures with their own passbooks and seals. For larger withdrawals, the bank will also provide additional weapons escorted by golden shields. Bodyguard escort service to your home. Although the deposit and loan business is left to local banks, in fact, in order to facilitate trade settlement, merchants in coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang still have a considerable amount of funds deposited in Haihan Bank. According to people familiar with the matter, the amount may be larger than that of Haihan Bank. There is two to three times more cash in bank vaults.
With such a huge amount of funds, Haihan Bank only needs to do a little off-the-counter operations and use some financial means to collapse local banks with capital of only a few hundred thousand taels in just a few days. This is clear to both local businessmen and bank bosses. Haihan has never taken such radical measures to get rid of his competitors, which is enough to make these bank bosses feel in awe. Nowadays, senior officials from Haihan have come to Ningbo to convene a meeting with local top figures in the industry to discuss the formulation of industry standards. Naturally, no one dares to be absent, otherwise it will be like isolating themselves from the financial system built by Haihan. It's just that the old man hanged himself because he thought he had a long life.
So even though they knew that the person presiding over the meeting was a woman, no one dared to neglect it because of this reason. They all came to the house where Shi Diwen was staying early to wait. Several bosses have been working in the industry for many years and have made a living in Ningbo. They are also familiar with each other, so they exchanged information before the meeting. However, after asking around, they still don’t know much about Haihan. What is the real purpose of this industry conference?
Jin Mingfa is the boss of "Xinlonghao", a local bank in Ningbo. "Xinlonghao" has a wide network of contacts in Ningbo's business community and is the largest in terms of business scale. Therefore, the boss Jin Mingfa can be regarded as a leading figure in this industry. He was the first to ask: "Do you know what the Haihan people mean by integrating the industry this time?"
Everyone looked at each other and said they didn't know. He Tinggui, the boss of "He Xing Hao" said: "At this critical moment, Boss Jin, please stop talking in circles. If you have any news, you might as well make it clear so that everyone can sum it up quickly."
Jin Mingfa sighed, shook his head and said: "What else are you planning? They have made it clear that they want everyone to obey orders and run the bank according to their wishes from now on. How dare you not listen?"
He Tinggui coughed dryly and said: "Since the Haihan people politely invited everyone to come for a meeting, there is room for negotiation. If the method they come up with is not to everyone's liking, it may not be impossible to bargain again."
Jin Mingfa said: "When bargaining with the Haihan people, when have you ever seen them suffer a loss? In my opinion, I'm afraid there won't be any room for maneuver this time. Everyone, get ready to change the name of the bank!"
When everyone heard Jin Mingfa's words, it was obvious that Haihan was planning to merge various banks. Wouldn't this have shaken their foundation? How could everyone endure it? They all started talking about it. How to protect your family property and business from being easily swallowed up by Haihan.
Seeing that several others were still trying to negotiate with the Haihan people, Jin Mingfa sighed and interjected: "Everyone, the Haihan people have so much cash on hand. As long as they make a little move, various banks can appear. Run and run, even if Haihan makes this method public and allows you to prepare in advance, which bank can withstand it? It is also easy to destroy your stores outside Ningbo.”
"Are we just going to let the Haihan people do whatever they want?" Although Jin Mingfa's words were reasonable, there were still some people who were unwilling to become puppets bound by Haihan and questioned angrily.
"Sorry, you can really do whatever you want with money."
Suddenly a woman's voice sounded from outside the door. Everyone turned to look over and saw a thin and tall middle-aged woman walking towards the door. This woman is thin and tall among men from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. She is wearing a black cotton gauze skirt and a pair of deerskin sandals. Her long hair is tied into a bun on the back of her head. She has deep facial features and thin lips like wings. His eyes were like those of a hawk, scanning everyone's faces one by one as if looking for food. The man who had just spoken to question Haihan's actions had her eyes lingering on his face for a moment, and couldn't help but shudder, feeling as if he was being stared at by a predatory beast.
The woman crossed the threshold and walked into the hall with her hands behind her back. Although she didn't even have an entourage with her, she had the aura of a superior person exuding from her body. Without any introduction at all, everyone knew that this person must be the rightful owner today.
The tall woman quickly walked to the top seat and sat down, then introduced herself: "I am Cai Jinmei, the person in charge of banking affairs in the Haihan Ministry of Finance. You can also call me Director Cai." These bank bosses I have been dealing with Haihan for a year or two, and I also know that the official position of "director" can be high or low in Haihan's bureaucracy, but if it is a director who is sent from Haihan's "department" on official business, that is definitely not the case. What a small role. What's more, Cai Jinmei is already well-known, and no one dares to treat her as an ordinary woman. Although it is strange for Haihan to appoint a woman as an official, it does not mean that they can show any disrespect to Cai Jinmei.
Everyone stood up quickly to greet him. With Jin Mingfa as the capital, he called himself "Lord Cai", but no one matched his official position. As for the extremely arrogant line Cai Jinmei said when she appeared just now, everyone didn't think there was anything wrong. After all, they themselves deal with money all day long, so it can be said that they quite agree with the values revealed by Cai Jinmei's words. With Haihan's wealth, even if he wants to do whatever he wants, isn't that a matter of course?
Cai Jinmei was a little disappointed when she saw that everyone was so submissive. She originally wanted to use those words to provoke these local bank bosses, so that if there were any thorns that wanted to jump out at this juncture, she could use her tactics on the spot. If the suppression continues, it can also have the effect of killing chickens and deterring monkeys. But she didn't expect that these people had no intention of refuting her intentional provocation, so she had to give up the plan.
At that moment, a servant came in to give Cai Jinmei a special cold drink, and brought a few more basins of ice cubes to put in the hall to cool down. Although the method of using saltpeter to make ice in summer is not uncommon in Ningbo, only a few wealthy families can afford to do so. Several basins of ice cubes have been placed in this hall before the guests arrived, and they are replaced every half an hour. The temperature in the room can be described as cool. The drinks that everyone drank were both hot and cold. The hot ones were high-quality tea, and the cold ones were iced juice or sugar water. This kind of treatment can only be arranged like this by Haihan people who are not short of money.
Cai Jinmei is also a person who works neatly. She did not waste time talking in circles with these bank bosses, but quickly got to the point: "The reason for inviting you here today is clearly written on the invitation. I hope that the banks you run can unify the operating standards with our Haihan Bank in the future and gradually establish a universal deposit and withdrawal system. As for the benefits of doing so, I don’t think I need to explain them in detail because you are all in the industry.”
If these private banks can connect deposits and withdrawals with Haihan Bank and open up deposit and loan procedures, it will undoubtedly greatly increase their capital flow speed and business volume, and reduce daily operating risks. The benefits are indeed obvious. But this matter also has two sides. Although it is undoubtedly a big leg for private banks, the size of these banks is too small compared with Haihan Bank. If universal deposits, redemptions and other operations are realized, The unification of standards actually means that they are already affiliated institutions of Haihan Bank from that moment on. In terms of capital operations, they do not have enough ability to compete with Haihan Bank. This unification of industry standards is actually a disguised annexation for private banks.
There are many people who can see through this essence, but few dare to raise objections. Everyone looked at each other, neither agreeing nor disapproving, and fell into a strange silence for a while.
Cai Jinmei is such a shrewd person. He can guess the general thoughts of everyone just by looking at their strange attitudes. In the Ming Dynasty, financial institution operators would rather be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix. This had actually been expected by senior officials of the Ministry of Finance such as Schneider and Cai Jinmei. However, financial activities are one of the basic factors of social life. Haihan is bound to gain control of this industry and will not be shaken by the hesitation of several bank bosses.
Cai Jinmei looked at everyone's faces one by one. Those who were stared at by her eyes felt as if there were thorns in their backs and did not dare to look at them for too long. Finally, Cai Jinmei's eyes stopped on Jin Mingfa's face: "Boss Jin's Xinlonghao is the largest local bank in Ningbo and is considered the leader in this industry. I would like to hear Boss Jin's opinion."
Jin Mingfa braced himself and responded: "Master Cai is ridiculous! It's lucky that this small business can be noticed by Master Cai. How dare you call it a leader..."
Jin Mingfa looked at Cai Jinmei's face as he spoke, but did not gain anything from that expressionless face. He could only continue: "The unified industry standards that Mr. Cai just mentioned and the implementation of universal deposits and withdrawals are natural. It is a good thing, but the government may not agree to this matter, and there may be problems in its implementation.”
Cai Jinmei responded calmly: "There will be no problems with the government. Daming and Haihan will establish diplomatic relations soon. Ningbo is one of the first ports to open trade between the two countries. Since it is formal trade, the agency responsible for money exchange We must unify our business standards. If we want to be independent from this standard, we may need to think carefully about how to maintain our business in the future.”
The news that Ming Dynasty and Haihan were about to establish diplomatic relations had not spread in Ningbo. Only a few people had heard the rumors, but there was basically no evidence. Although the bank bosses present all have government backgrounds or connections, only Jin Mingfa had heard the relevant rumors before coming here. He Tinggui and others were shocked when they heard what Cai Jinmei said, but Cai Jinmei's expression was quite serious, and it didn't look like she was joking at all. Everyone immediately began to think about what impact it would have on the industry if the situation was as Cai Jinmei said.
At present, almost all money exchanges between the two countries are carried out by Haihan Bank, but in fact the Haihan banknotes issued by Haihan Bank already have certain currency transaction capabilities in the business districts of coastal state capitals. If the two countries formally establish diplomatic relations and open up trade, the circulation speed and volume of Haihan banknotes in the Ningbo market will inevitably increase greatly. If private banks still cannot implement universal deposits and exchanges, Haihan Bank will not prohibit all meat and vegetables. If you take it all, you will undoubtedly lose a lot of customers. Although Cai Jinmei's words contain a certain degree of threat, they are not empty talk and should not be ignored.
Jin Mingfa saw that his colleagues were all turning their attention to him, and he knew that these people were counting on him to negotiate with Cai Jinmei. He gritted his teeth and said: "Master Cai, establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries is not a piece of cake. Even if they really want to do business, from the announcement to the There is also a process for implementation, which can take as short as a few months or as long as a year and a half. I think we can discuss how to implement universal deposits and exchanges between local banks and Haihan Bank, but there is no need to rush for success to avoid making mistakes in the process. .”
(End of chapter)