Chapter 216: Our teacher

On 12 December 2014, in front of the International Finance Centre in Beijing, a bald foreigner was shouting into his mobile phone: 'Why aren't you here yet? Do you know what today is? Today is the day of the National Securities Dealers' Conference in China, where representatives of the country's most important securities dealers will gather. This is an important event in the domestic financial sector, and it's news we mustn't miss! Listen, I don't care what difficulties you've encountered over there, and I don't care about some damn presidential speech. If you're not there when the meeting starts, we'll all be cleaning toilets tomorrow!'

After that, he swore, put on his special credentials for foreign TV stations, and looked towards the entrance of the building. He saw a long red carpet laid out from the entrance, with huge hot air balloons on either side of the entrance rising into the sky, each pulling up a pair of couplets. Above the main entrance of the Financial Centre Building, there was also a banner hanging, which said: 'Warmly celebrate the successful convening of the 10th Securities Dealers Conference.'

'As the fastest growing economy in the world, the development of the securities industry here is truly amazing. It would be a great pity to miss the China Securities Conference.'

The foreign reporter said as he walked into the building. At this time, preparations for the conference were already underway. It was not yet time, and the venue had not yet officially opened, so everyone was waiting outside.

My goodness! That's Huang Ping, the youngest vice-chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, that's the deputy director of the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress, and over there are representatives of securities companies, that's Ye Ning, the general manager of the First Private Equity Company, and Li Yang, the deputy general manager of An Guo Securities Company. They represent the top securities wealth in the country!

After verifying his identity, the foreign reporter walked into the lounge. He was immediately shocked by the situation in front of him. He wanted to go over and say hello, but the venue had already been arranged. In order to give these financial bigwigs a quiet environment, they deliberately divided the press lounge on the other side, so he didn't get that chance.

The foreign reporter cursed, 'This damned system doesn't respect freedom of the press at all, and it's inhumane. Do you know that there are so many news figures over there, but we reporters are here with so many questions, but we can't ask a single one? Do you know what kind of torture this is for us? Especially there is Ms Ye Ning over there, she is the goddess of finance in the whole world!'

Of course, cursing is not just the monopoly of this foreign reporter, and other reporters are also jumping up and down here, accusing the organizers of being heartless.

However, no matter how much these reporters grumbled, the rules were the rules, and they could only wait here obediently.

More than an hour later, the conference began, and all the reporters were allowed to enter. They immediately rushed into the conference room like wild dogs off the leash, and even though they had been assigned seats, some still wanted to grab better seats for themselves.

These people were grabbing, but they still didn't cause any trouble. On the other side, Huang Ping, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, walked up to the podium and announced the official start of the conference.

There was an instant burst of applause from the audience, and it was only when the applause died down that Huang Ping said again, 'I am very happy to be able to preside over this securities conference. Although this is the first securities conference I have attended since taking office, it is actually the tenth one, and it has been twenty-five years since the establishment of the country's first stock exchange.'

'The first stock exchange was the Nanjiang Stock Exchange, and Nanjiang is a special economic zone of the country. Therefore, since the day it was established, development and reform have been the focus, and this is still the case today. This is not something I am saying, it was also well explained in the notice issued by the State Council a few days ago on a number of opinions on the healthy development of the capital market.

After saying this, Huang Ping paused for a moment and continued: 'As the most important intermediary in the capital market, reform and innovation are essential for securities operating institutions. Moreover, due to the different domestic situation, we cannot completely copy foreign experience. We must take our own path in every step, and move forward while ensuring the vitality and stability of the entire capital market!'

Huang Ping's impassioned speech was once again met with applause from the audience. After him, an official from the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress spoke, and it wasn't until 2pm that the first private equity company general manager Ye Ning was scheduled to speak.

In the financial industry, women like Ye Ning are undoubtedly a beautiful sight, and her appearance also invigorated everyone.

When she walked up to the podium, Ye Ning first thanked the main committee and leaders by microphone before saying, 'I'm in private equity. I remember when I first entered this industry, many people advised me to go to a securities company or bank, but I didn't want to. Now that the development of third-party financial management is booming, it has quickly become an unignorable force in the financial management market, which proves that I made the right choice at the beginning.'

'What is this? This is development and innovation. No matter how popular private equity was originally abroad, it was a new thing in China at the time.'

Ye Ning continued, 'The same is true now. I believe everyone knows that my first private equity fund partnered with a certain treasure to launch a balance value-added service last year. Some people say that we are parasites on the financial market for doing this and threaten to kill us with one blow, but I want to say that we have just opened the door to a new world of Internet finance.'

'I can tell you here that since its launch, our service has attracted more than 400 billion yuan, which shows that our innovation has been a great success. You can denigrate and hinder our success, but you can never stop the huge market of internet finance. The wealth management services launched by Xuxin and Xudong later have all proved this point.'

Ye Ning continued, 'What is development innovation? This is development innovation! Internet finance abandons the old thinking of the past and starts entirely from the habits of users. It uses cash management as a breakthrough point, and directly shows customers the difference between our revenue operations and bank deposits. You can deposit and withdraw money at any time, which is market-oriented!

'With this innovation, we are not targeting high-end customers, we are only targeting the general public. There are tens of millions of users nationwide, and if one person gives out one dollar, it will be tens of millions; if one person gives out one thousand dollars, it will be tens of billions. I don't think anyone can't give out one thousand dollars now, right? Since banks don't do this kind of wealth management, and other third-party institutions look down on such small amounts of money, let us do it!'

Ye Ning's tone became more and more excited as she spoke, and at the end she waved her powdered arms vigorously, and her speech also caused the audience to erupt into warm applause once again.

The foreign journalist was also applauding desperately. If he hadn't had to observe the order at the conference site, he would have even shouted out in support of Ye Ning: 'Ye Ning, you are truly the goddess of finance in the world. Your words are so infectious, your ideas are the most advanced, and I will definitely support your Internet financial wealth management product with 100,000 yuan!

But at the same time, he thought of another point: Ms. Ye Ning's speech seemed similar to that of the previous vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission!

After another hour or so, the first day of the National Securities Dealers Conference came to an end. According to international convention, the end of the conference is the time for reporters to interview the attendees. A group of important figures, including Huang Ping and Ye Ning, were besieged by reporters as they exited.

'Chairman Huang, you emphasised development and reform at this conference, as well as the need to stand out from the crowd. Ms Ye Ning, on the other hand, talked about innovation and the launch of internet finance. Isn't this contradictory?'

Facing this question from the reporter, Huang Ping replied, 'There is no contradiction, because the current Internet finance is a kind of reform and development, and it is also showing its own style.'

Immediately afterwards, a reporter followed up, 'But now all the banks and major securities companies have begun to join forces to suppress it, and even the central bank has had to... come out with a series of documents. Isn't this proof that the state does not support it?'

'The state is not unsupportive, but rather regulating,' replied Ye Ning. 'Because internet finance is still in the initial stages of exploration, and the various systems are still very incomplete, although large fund companies like mine can ensure standardized operations, it is hard to say about some other small fund companies that move at the first sign of trouble. So the intervention of the relevant state departments is needed to regulate this emerging market.'

'The rise of this internet finance is aimed at third-party financial management, so will it threaten the interests of securities companies in the future? It has already offended the banks, so will there be even greater obstacles in the future? What are the plans and intentions of First Private for the future...'

All the reporters were still asking questions one after the other, but among these reporters, the question from the foreign reporter stood out: 'Hello Ms Ye Ning, I just heard your speech and Mr Huang Ping's speech feel somewhat similar. May I ask if you two know each other, or if you had discussed your speeches before this conference?'

Facing this question, Huang Ping laughed: 'This foreign friend's question is very interesting. I think many people in the industry know that Ms Ye Ning and I were classmates twenty years ago. We both entered a special financial class and studied under the same teacher. We both admired this teacher, and his words, deeds and way of thinking still influence us today.'

'So it's only natural that we have similar ways of speaking.' Ye Ning took up Huang Ping's words and said, "As for the obstacles to interconnected finance that you mentioned, I don't think they're a problem at all. Because all new things will encounter problems of one kind or another. Perhaps you don't know what happened when our first stock exchange was born, but we were able to solve those problems. We are confident that we can solve any problems that arise now!'

Huang Ping also said, "Our teacher taught us development and innovation, but he didn't teach us to hold back.'

'So who is this teacher?' all the reporters at the scene asked in unison.

Facing this question, Huang Ping and Ye Ning smiled at each other and said, 'He is a great man who transcends the times!'

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