Chapter 120 Visit to Hang Seng Bank
Chapter 120 Visit to Hang Seng Bank
Bai Yujie nodded slightly and said, "Society is the biggest school?"
"That's about right." Yang Wendong agreed.
School is more like a greenhouse. Only when you enter society will you realize the benefits of school. However, as long as you are capable and self-controllable, you can learn much more in society than in school.
After a while, after lunch, Bai Yujie took Yang Wendong for a walk on the path outside. Along the way, they met a few acquaintances. They all looked at Yang Wendong, not knowing who this person was, but they didn't come over to ask.
Hong Kong at this time was at the junction of the old era and the new era. Even in relatively open universities, many girls were embarrassed to talk to strangers casually.
After walking for a while, Bai Yujie asked: "Mr. Yang, I know that the restoration of the Rubik's Cube should be your trade secret, and I don't want to know how it is restored, but since you have a restoration method, you should be more familiar with it;
Can I know how long it would take for ordinary people to figure it out if they really did study it?"
Yang Wendong asked back, "Why are you asking this? Are you really going to invest a lot of energy in research? For the 10,000 yuan prize?"
"The 10,000 yuan prize is indeed very attractive. I am also very tempted. Even my family members are in business, so they are also tempted." Bai Yujie continued, "You know I have a sister. I just mentioned that she is obsessed with the Rubik's Cube. She has been studying it recently and is a little obsessed."
After that, she took out a Rubik's Cube, one side of which was red, and said, "This is the side she restored before."
Yang Wendong glanced at the Rubik's Cube and asked, "Are you worried that your sister is too obsessed with it and it will affect her studies?"
Bai Yujie nodded and said, "Yes, although she has self-control and will attend class normally during class, she likes to study this thing at other times. She said that this Rubik's Cube is a very complex mathematical model, and she wants to study it out."
"Your sister studies economics. Is she good at math?" Yang Wendong asked again.
Bai Yujie replied: "Very good, she had a strong talent for mathematics when she was young, and even when she was preparing to go to college, she wanted to go to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States to major in mathematics;
It’s just that the tuition at MIT is too expensive, and the Hong Kong economy was not very good in the past two years, which happened to affect our family, so she didn’t go and chose financial economics instead. ”
"Is your family in real estate?" Yang Wendong asked after listening.
Hong Kong’s economy was indeed not very good in the past two years, and the fundamental reason was that the real estate industry was not doing well;
However, industry and export trade are developing normally.
From the early 50s to the present, it has been growing continuously because of Hong Kong's developed shipping and port industries, low labor costs, and the rapid recovery of the global economy after World War II, the entire export industry is still doing well.
Of course, Hong Kong also has a tertiary industry, which may also be affected by real estate, but these should not be greatly impacted, unless they happen to be operating with debt leverage, in which case they may be ruined by the slightest fluctuation.
Bai Yujie shook her head slightly and said, "Not really, my family runs a decoration company."
"Oh, it can be considered as the real estate industry." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Then the business should be good in the past year."
Starting from mid-1958, about the time when Changxing Industries just started to open its factory, Hong Kong real estate began to rebound from the bottom, with land prices, housing prices and even various rental prices all the same.
Many businesses that exist specifically for real estate will also improve, such as decoration, decorative materials, furniture and appliances, etc.
Of course, the slope of the real estate bull market in the 50s and even 60s was far less steep than that in the s and s.
"It's OK. I don't know the details." Bai Yujie replied, "It's just that my family has become busier, and they don't seem to be as worried as before."
"This is a good thing." Yang Wendong smiled and said, when doing business, everyone wants to be busy.
Bai Yujie smiled and then asked, "By the way, I still don't know what your Changxing Industry does? Toys?"
Yang Wendong nodded and said, "I guess so."
Toys will definitely be one of Changxing Industrial's future development directions. After all, sticky notes and mouse traps are finished products themselves, and there are no similar products, so it is not easy to expand further.
Unless the glue industry is developed well in the future, it can develop towards other industries that require glue. However, this road is not easy. Unless there are products made with new ideas and invention patents, it will be difficult to compete with old companies, especially since 3M is still the king of this industry.
As for toys, it is much simpler. The Rubik's Cube has an invention patent. If we expand into other toys in the future, we can also obtain related cultural copyrights. With these, it will be easier to succeed.
Of course, it is difficult to successfully operate a good toy copyright, but as a time traveler, although it is not as simple as registering a patent, it at least has a great advantage.
"Oh oh." Bai Yujie did not ask any further questions.
"Let's go, you treat me to a meal and I'll treat you to a drink." Yang Wendong said with a smile again.
In this day and age, it is not easy to investigate a company. Without the Internet, if you want to find out clearly, you have to spend a lot of money to hire a lawyer.
If it is not a large company, or a rising star like Cheung Kong Holdings, or someone within the same industry, outsiders will not know about it.
Yang Wendong actually cherishes the present days. It’s not that he likes them, but he knows that when his business becomes bigger in the future, he will definitely not be as free as he is today.
One reason is safety, and the other is that once you become famous, many people will no longer treat you the same way.
There were not many drinks in that era. After drinking Coke, Yang Wendong invited Bai Yujie to drink a bottle of soda called "Green Treasure". He didn't know what brand it was, but it seemed to sell well and tasted good.
It’s a pity that there was no milk tea in this era, otherwise it would be more suitable to invite a beautiful girl;
He had actually thought about this before, but this kind of industry was not suitable for him to develop;
Even if it is made, others can quickly copy it. After all, there is no patent for this thing and it cannot be exported. Moreover, the development of milk tea depends on the local economy being good enough. In the current environment in Hong Kong where most people cannot get enough food, it is estimated that only people in Central will buy milk tea.
At about 3 pm, Yang Wendong returned to the company and ran into Wei Zetao who had just returned from outside. Yang Wendong asked with a smile: "Old Wei, I remember you went there very early in the morning, right? You came back so late, and were kept by Liao Chongxing's people?"
Wei Zetao put down the bag in his hand, nodded and said, "Yes, the account manager knew that I came to ask for bank statements, and he specially notified Liao Liewen. He insisted on inviting me to have lunch at the hotel next door, so I went. I couldn't be too disrespectful."
"Haha~" Yang Wendong said with a smile: "Did you get the running water?"
"I got it. I insisted. They couldn't refuse to give it to me. Otherwise, the bank would be criticized if the news got out." Wei Zetao said with a faint smile: "Although Liao Chongxing Bank used depositors' funds to invest in real estate, the bank's own business is still being carried out. This is their foundation."
Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Okay, now that we have the cash flow, when will we go to other banks?"
Wei Zetao said: "I have an appointment with Hang Seng Bank. I will go and talk to their key account manager tomorrow."
Yang Wendong put away the bank statement, returned it to Wei Zetao, and asked, "Where is the headquarters of Hang Seng Bank?"
Wei Zetao replied: "It is at 163-165 Queen's Road, which is also a property owned by Hang Seng Bank."
"That's a good location. The strength of Hang Seng Bank can be seen from this." Yang Wendong said with a smile.
When real estate prices in Hong Kong were high, many companies would not leave the most central business areas, such as financial, legal and other institutions. It is not that they had to stay here like hotels, but being able to stay here could better demonstrate their strength.
If it is your own property, it would be even more awesome.
Wei Zetao smiled and said, "That's nothing. Hang Seng Bank just bought an old building next to the old fire station in Central at the beginning of this year. They are planning to demolish it and build a new headquarters. The location is not much worse than Queen's Road."
"Hang Seng Bank already has a headquarters on Queen's Road, and they are going to build a new headquarters. I guess they are optimistic about the real estate industry, but they are indirectly using the name of building a new headquarters." Yang Wendong shrugged and said, "When our production capacity is increased this time, we will have the money to build a building in Central."
Although he had already made up his mind to develop industry in his early years, his resources and energy in all aspects are currently being directed in this direction.
In terms of real estate, Hong Kong is still in its early stages of growth and is profitable, but it cannot compare with industry, let alone the industrial future brought about by time travelers who hold many cutting-edge patents and know a lot about the benefits of the future.
But there is one thing about Hong Kong's real estate industry that even Yang Wendong dare not say is that the patents in his hands are definitely better than others; that is the properties in Central.
In the past, especially after the 80s, even if you had money, you might not be able to buy buildings or land in Central. These were high-quality assets comparable to stocks of top global companies. Even during the real estate crisis from 1982 to 1984, many people in Hong Kong believed that the future of Hong Kong was uncertain. However, under such circumstances, only a handful of buildings in Central were sold.
In the 50s and 60s, although the price of land in Central was not low, it was far less than that decades later. If you had real money, you could still buy it. There are still many old buildings from the s and s in Central today.
Wei Zetao said carefully: "In fact, this is indeed a good idea. Chinese people prefer land and real estate, and so do banks. If we have a good property, it will be much easier to get a loan in the future, and we can even lend out more funds."
"I understand the logic, but our only task now is to increase production capacity." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Once the production capacity of sticky notes is sufficient, as long as there are no larger investment plans later, our funds will not be a big problem. We can buy large properties at that time."
In another ten years or so, a powerful man will come across the ocean from Southeast Asia. He will use various powerful scams to receive tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars from many banks, financial institutions, money houses, funds, stock markets, etc. in Hong Kong, performing a scam that can be called the most amazing myth in human business history.
This person is none other than Chen Songqing, the biggest fraudster in Hong Kong. He took advantage of loopholes in Hong Kong banks in the 70s and used some illegal means to continuously borrow money from banks. He then used real estate to desperately magnify his bubble, and as a result, he became bigger and bigger, and even successfully went public to raise money.
This was the case with bank supervision even in the 70s, let alone now. If Yang Wendong didn't already have his own industry, he might have tried to copy Chen Songqing.
"Yes, now we just need to wait for the bank loan." Wei Zetao thought for a moment and said, "Mr. Yang, do you want to go to Hang Seng Bank tomorrow?"
"I go? That's fine, I also want to get to know Hang Seng Bank better." Yang Wendong thought for a moment and felt that he should go, after all, there might be more cooperation between them in the future.
Wei Zetao said with a smile: "In addition to going to Hang Seng, we can also go to Central to have a look. Mr. Yang can check out some buildings in advance and buy them directly when we have money."
"Yeah, that makes sense." Yang Wendong said with a smile.
He had been to Central in his previous life, but that was almost 60 years later. It is estimated that except for some ancient buildings, all modern commercial buildings in Central have probably been demolished.
Since they are different, except for those prime locations, everything else is unfamiliar to Yang Wendong. He might as well learn about them first. Just like kitchen appliances, no matter what he does in the future, it won’t hurt to know them in advance.
The next day, the bodyguard and driver Ah Qiang drove his Mercedes to the Hang Seng Bank in Queen's Building.
The car arrived at the entrance of the building, and the security guard took a look and let it pass.
Yang Wendong said with a smile: "This Mercedes-Benz is really easy to use. It is popular everywhere."
Wei Zetao nodded: "Of course, it is rare to be able to buy a car in Hong Kong, and only people of a certain status can buy a Mercedes-Benz."
Yang Wendong said: "That's true."
Sometimes when he drove his Mercedes-Benz out by himself, he would often meet women who came up to him to chat with him, but he didn't dare to mess around. There might not be "AI" in this era, but there were some other things.
Besides, those who were so casual in Hong Kong in the 50s were most likely not good people. Women of this era generally tended to prefer the ancient model of how men and women get along, and were at most a little more open.
"We're here. We'll get off here." Wei Zetao followed Aqiang and said, then pointed to a woman on the left and said, "Mr. Yang, that person is the key account manager of Hang Seng Bank, who is responsible for connecting with our business."
"Okay, go out." Yang Wendong nodded. For big customers, banks usually have professional contacts to facilitate one-on-one service.
After the two got off the car, the woman came over, shook hands and said with a smile: "Mr. Yang, Mr. Wei, welcome to Hang Seng Bank."
Seeking monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)