Chapter 1041: Norman Shi Yahuai fell
Early on Wednesday morning, after the Standard Chartered Bank headquarters in Central, Hong Kong Island opened, the mountain of HK$1 billion in cash in the centre of the lobby shocked all depositors who were preparing to withdraw their money.
With Jiuding Bank's example in front of them, Standard Chartered Bank followed suit and also used HK$1 billion in cash to demonstrate its strength.
The effect was of course unquestionable, and the depositors who came to prepare for withdrawals were basically reassured and gave up withdrawing their money.
And through their mouths, the news that Standard Chartered Bank had confirmed its strength by taking out a billion in cash quickly spread throughout Hong Kong, and a large number of onlookers and bank depositors rushed to Central, Hong Kong Island, to witness Standard Chartered Bank's strength for themselves.
Just as Standard Chartered Bank and Jiuding Bank were shining like two bright stars, another landmark event occurred in the banking industry.
At 9:18 a.m.,
a bank officially announced that it had run out of funds and declared bankruptcy.
This bank was called Skyfame Bank, a small bank that obtained its banking license and was established in 1979. It has only three branches and total assets of just over 80 million Hong Kong dollars.
In order to develop rapidly, Skyfame Bank has attached itself to the thigh of the Carrian Group, and the funds of depositors have basically been lent to companies under the Carrian Group.
Wang Yiqing, the chairman of Skyfame Bank, was originally struggling to borrow funds to support it, but after the news broke yesterday afternoon that the Hong Kong Police Force had handed over the Carrian Group case to the Department of Justice, Wang Yiqing immediately asked a friend in the police department for details.
After learning that Carrian Group and Chen Qingsong were indeed suspected of committing a huge economic fraud and that Carrian Group was 95% likely to be insolvent, Wang Yiqing wailed in utter despair.
When registering Skyfame Bank, he also brought in a few friends to join the partnership. The registered capital was HK$10 million, and he contributed HK$3 million to take up 30% of the shares, the largest stake, and served as the chairman.
Last night he gathered his partners together for a meeting. After discussion, everyone agreed to let Skyfame Bank apply for bankruptcy.
If they don't declare bankruptcy, after losing the HK$10 million of their registered capital, they will still have to cover the HK$60 million loss with the Carrian Group.
At a time when the stock market crash is upon them, they will never be able to scrape together that kind of money, no matter how hard they try.
Anyway, the remaining money has basically been withdrawn by depositors. Instead of suffering and dragging themselves and others into the abyss, it would be better to apply for bankruptcy and liquidation decisively, and the losses can be greatly reduced.
When the general manager of Tianyu Bank came forward that day and announced the bank's bankruptcy and the suspension of all operations, the bank was immediately filled with depositors waiting to withdraw their money. The general manager, who had been pushed out by Wang Yiqing and others, was beaten into a pig's head. Fortunately, Wang Yiqing had called the police station in advance to warn them, and the police arrived in time to temporarily stabilise the situation.
But even if he became a pig's head, he could not prevent the spread of the adverse effects of the bankruptcy of Tianyu Bank.
Everyone has relatives and friends.
After the depositors of Skyfame Bank who had not yet withdrawn their money rushed to call their friends and family to inform them of the situation, many people became anxious. Some people even skipped work and rushed to the bank where they had their money with their ID cards and bank cards.
When the banking industry learned that Skyfame Bank had filed for bankruptcy, they were all shocked. They immediately realised one thing:
With the bankruptcy of Skyfame Bank, the crisis of bank runs in the banking industry had officially escalated!
Apart from Jiuding Bank, which had already demonstrated its strength, and its wholly-owned subsidiary bank, as well as Standard Chartered Bank, all other banks were under even greater pressure!
Of course, there were also some small banks that had been badly hurt by the Carrian Group, like Skyfame Bank. After Skyfame Bank took the lead, the shareholders or principals of these banks called Wang Yiqing and the others one after the other.
They were also prepared to follow suit and dump their burdens...
Due to the groundbreaking developments implemented by the Carrian Group and the negative impact of the bankruptcy of Skyfame Bank, investors, who had gradually calmed down, panicked again.
After the stock market opened, the Hang Seng Index plummeted from 779 points.
The stock price of Carrian Realty Limited, whose market value had already fallen to HK$470 million, plummeted again.
Despite the fact that Carrian Property had a large number of properties and subsidiaries, the value of which was certainly well over HK$470 million, the stocks flooding the stock market were still not in demand.
Some companies' stocks are worth buying at the bottom, while others' stocks are not.
Carrian Property's stocks undoubtedly belonged to the latter.
After all, Carrian Property had a large amount of assets, but its debts were likely to be even larger than its current assets!
Anyone who takes over Carrian must also accept its debts. No one dares to take this risk.
Not to mention that Carrian's market value is currently over 470 million Hong Kong dollars. Even if they were to take it over for one Hong Kong dollar, they would still need to have the courage to do so!
If they really have the strength and interest to take over, they would have to wait until the High Court of Hong Kong has conducted an asset liquidation, and then take over the assets they are interested in.
At 11:08 a.m.,
United Allied Bank, which was majority-owned by the Carrian Group, announced that its capital chain had broken and it was filing for bankruptcy protection.
Less than two hours after the announcement of the bankruptcy of Skyfame Bank, another bank went bankrupt!
Panic further spread, and the crisis of bank runs once again escalated.
The banks that had not yet collapsed were about to lose patience and confidence.
In particular, banks that provided financial leverage for securities companies and fund companies forced liquidation of stocks that had reached the liquidation line, and if the stocks had not reached the liquidation line, they forced the relevant investment companies to return the funds as soon as possible.
The pressure on securities companies and fund companies has increased sharply, intensifying the selling of stocks in an attempt to clear positions and recover funds.
This includes the stocks of companies such as the Swire Pacific Group and Swire Shipping, which currently have extremely high price-to-earnings ratios in the entire stock market.
A large number of sell orders were placed, catching Swire Finance off guard, and the pending buy orders were instantly offset.
The speed at which pending buy orders continued to be placed was still not as fast as the speed at which sell orders were placed.
The stock prices of many companies began to plummet.
Swire Finance.
Cedric Quincy's anxious voice rings in Norman Shi Yawei's ears: 'Chairman, the funds are running out, and they have already fallen below 100 million Hong Kong dollars.'
'The company's stock price is still falling.'
'There are too many sell orders, and even if we place buy orders for all of the 100 million Hong Kong dollars, they will be cleared in just a minute at most!'
Norman Shiyahuai pushed Cedric Quincy aside and looked at the electronic board with its dense sell orders and the falling share price. His face turned pale.
This is really the end!
Cedric Quincy was right. HK$100 million of capital thrown into the stock market would just make a splash and be gone. The selling trend of other institutions and investors had already formed a rolling flood.
There was no other way out but to put in 3 billion Hong Kong dollars and buy up all the shares!
'There are only 80 million left!'
'Stop!'
Norman Shihai whispered these three words to Cedric Quincy after hearing the statistics. After he finished speaking, it was as if all the strength in his body had been sucked out, and he felt like collapsing. Cedric Quincy immediately helped him up.
At the same time, he shouted out an order to everyone: 'Stop buying immediately.'
All the traders immediately stopped what they were doing, and everyone looked on with a grimace as the stock price, which had lost its last barrier, fell unimpeded.
...
In the securities investment department of HSBC.
When the manager of the investment department saw that the share prices of Swire Pacific and other companies had begun to plummet, he urgently reported to Shen Bi, who came directly to the securities department with grave concern.
Seeing that no buy orders had been placed for three seconds, the manager of the investment department, Lin Changlong, turned pale and immediately said to Shen Bi, 'Chairman, Swire Pacific has retreated, there is no hope.'
'Look at the share price of Swire Pacific.'
Following Lin Changlong's finger, Shen Bi saw a number constantly fluctuating.
15.27
14.81
14.66
...
13.33!
When the share price fell to HK$13.33 per share two minutes later, the market value of Swire Pacific Group fell to HK$6 billion.
Lin Changlong immediately said, 'Chairman, the share price has fallen below the warning line!'
Shen Bi's face changed, and he closed his eyes and sighed.
A moment later, Shen Bi reopened his eyes, his eyes becoming cold and ruthless. He ordered Lin Changlong, 'Go and inform Norman Shi Yahuai to make up the security deposit or collateral according to the loan agreement, otherwise we will dispose of all the pledged shares ourselves.'
'He has been at Swire Finance these days, you go directly there to find him and ask him face to face!'
Lin Changlong decisively replied, 'Yes!'
Ten minutes later.
Lin Changlong met Norman Shi Yahui at Swire Finance, not far from the securities investment department of HSBC.
Norman Shi Yahui, who also knew that the stock price had fallen below the warning line, met Lin Changlong and heard his ultimatum. After that, he was so exhausted that he could no longer hold on, and fainted directly.
Fifteen minutes later.
The ambulance arrived at Swire Finance, and the doctor and nurse carried the stretcher out with the still unconscious Norman Shi Yahui.
The investors who had gathered outside Swire Finance demanding their investments were completely panicked when they saw that it was Norman Shi Yahuai who had collapsed, and they frantically blocked Cedric Quincy from leaving.
Central, Hong Kong Island is home to a concentration of financial institutions, and what happened at Swire Finance spread throughout the capital market in an instant...