Chapter 1114: The Astute Governor of Hong Kong

As a futures exchange in Hong Kong, it is very provocative to use the stock index futures of another country as a trading commodity. Once this is realised, it will definitely shock the financial world. After all, there is no precedent for this in the world!

But even if the operation is a bit tricky, it doesn't mean it can't be done!

And even if Xia Yu doesn't do it now, in a few years, someone else will set the precedent.

In fact, Xia Yu is preparing to once and for all cut off the future of the as-yet-unseen Xingcheng International Financial Exchange, seize its luck, and turn Xiangjiang into Asia's futures trading centre, or even one of the world's futures trading centres.

In its previous life, Xingcheng had already established a very good reputation in the futures industry. The Xingcheng International Financial Exchange, established in 1984, launched the Nikkei 225 stock index futures in 1986, before the island nation did. Once launched, it shocked the entire Asian financial community, and then influenced the world, attracting a large number of international financial institutions to enter Xingcheng, making the Xingcheng International Financial Exchange the main venue for international financial institutions to trade Nikkei 225 stock index futures.

To what extent has the Star City International Financial Exchange made the Nikkei 225 stock index futures?

It has reached the height of being the number one in the world!

Even though the island nation urgently launched the Nikkei 225 stock index futures in 1988 and spent more than 30 years catching up, it has only reached half the trading volume of the Nikkei 225 stock index futures on the Star City International Financial Exchange!

It can be said to be a disgrace to the island's financial sector. Many people in the island's financial sector are indignant, but secretly they are longing to go to the Star City International Financial Exchange to trade Nikkei 225 stock index futures.

In fact, the island nation itself is also largely responsible for the fact that Nikkei 225 stock index futures were developed first by Star City.

After all, in this era, if a financial index is launched in a developed country around the world, stock index futures derivatives will appear. This is the case in the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries. After Xia Yu's FTSE Index Company launched the FTSE Index, wasn't the corresponding FTSE Index futures also quickly launched by the futures exchange?

But among them, the island nation is unique.

This is because the island nation's own laws and regulations restrict it.

Now the island country's securities trading law stipulates that securities investors are prohibited from engaging in futures trading. Therefore, the island country's securities market does not currently have the legal conditions to launch stock index futures trading.

However, the island country's economy is currently booming. In 1978, it surpassed the Soviet Union and ranked second in the world in terms of gross national product. The strong economic scale has helped the island country's stock market continue to expand. Under these circumstances, the island country's Nikkei 225 index has no futures contracts, which is obviously a big piece of cake that no one is paying attention to.

No wonder the chicken thief Star City coveted it!

With the influence brought about by the Nikkei 225 stock index futures, the Star City International Financial Exchange quickly grew, and then successively launched crude oil futures. Following its establishment as the first financial futures exchange in Asia, it became the first energy futures trading market in Asia. In 2000, it was even named the world's best derivatives exchange of the year!

Now Xia Yu has asked Xiangjiang Futures Exchange to do this in advance, and also to launch the FTSE 100 stock index futures and Hang Seng Index futures along with it. Not only will this bring Xiangjiang Futures Exchange the honour of being the first financial futures exchange in Asia, it will also sever the future of the Star City futures market in one fell swoop.

Without a strong futures market, how can Star City compete with Xiangjiang for the position of Asia's financial centre in the future?

Xia Yu was confident that once the Nikkei 225 stock index futures were launched, they would definitely become one of the pillars supporting the Xiangjiang Futures Exchange.

In addition to the Nikkei 225 stock index futures, the Hang Seng Index futures, FTSE 100 stock index futures and natural rubber futures that Xia Yu had designated would all become pillar futures commodities.

Needless to say, the Hang Seng Index futures. After the Xiangjiang Futures Exchange was launched in the previous life, the trading volume of Hang Seng Index futures at its peak accounted for more than 90% of the entire futures exchange.

As for the FTSE 100 stock index futures, although the London Futures Exchange has now launched it, with the connections between the Hong Kong financial sector and the UK financial sector, and considering the time difference between Hong Kong and London, as well as the international financial institutions in Hong Kong, it is definitely able to capture a portion of the market.

As for natural rubber futures, the market is even more enormous. After all, rubber is the industrial cornerstone of world transportation, and it is needed in many fields of industry.

In the future, natural rubber will be traded on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange, the Shanghai Futures Exchange, the Star City Exchange and the Thai Agricultural Products Exchange. Natural rubber futures are sufficient to support these four futures markets.

But at this time, only the Tokyo Commodity Exchange has the world's only natural rubber futures.

Although Hong Kong does not have the huge rubber consumer market of an island country, Hong Kong is close to Southeast Asia, a rubber-producing region, and Xia Yu has the support of Southeast Asian rubber giants, which is sufficient to support the Hong Kong Futures Exchange in creating natural rubber futures.

He had been laying the groundwork for natural rubber futures since last year. Although the Hong Kong Futures Exchange was behind the Tokyo Commodity Exchange, it was definitely capable of competing with it!

The next afternoon, Xia Yu gave Wang Qi the suggestions and plans he had previously written for the creation of the Hong Kong Futures Exchange. Wang Qi was overjoyed and eagerly threw himself into the project.

...

According to past practice, after the new Governor of Hong Kong took office, the leaders of the political and business circles of Hong Kong would jointly hold a celebration ball, usually on the third day after taking office.

However, after Peter Monroe took office, he delayed this ball.

Because on the evening of May 22, Peter Monroe took the initiative to come to Kowloon with his entourage and visited Xia Yu at his home!

After all, Peter Monroe was the Governor of Hong Kong, albeit a puppet, and Xia Yu still gave him his due respect, welcoming him personally at the door, which made Peter Monroe, who had taken up his post in a depressed mood, feel a lot better.

'Governor Peter Monroe, welcome!'

'Mr Xia, thank you for welcoming me personally, I'm deeply honoured!'

'By the way, you can call me by my Chinese name, Su Xingjian!'

'Haha, yes, Governor Su, please come in!'

With a laugh, Xia Yu invited Governor Su Xingjian into the house. Xia Yu's parents and family warmly welcomed Governor Su Xingjian's arrival, especially Xia Yu's parents, who were not aware of Xia Yu's deal with the British Prime Minister and were therefore flattered that the Governor of Hong Kong had come to visit in person.

However, Su Xingjian had already adjusted his mindset and appeared very easygoing. He even gave Xia Yu's younger siblings small gifts that he had carefully prepared.

Next, Xia Yu invited Su Xingjian to enjoy a warm and sumptuous dinner together.

After dinner, Xia Yu invited Su Xingjian to chat in the garden pavilion.

Perhaps because Su Xingjian is straightforward, after sitting down in the garden, he made no attempt to hide his feelings and told Xia Yu directly, 'Mr Xia, before coming to Hong Kong, the prime minister and foreign minister came to see me together and explained some things to me. In the future, as long as you don't violate the principles, you can tell me anything and I will do my best to help.'

Xia Yu poured a cup of tea for Su Xingjian and said with a smile, 'Governor Su, thank you!'

'This is our first encounter today, and you may not know me very well. I like to make friends, and I will take the initiative to consider for others. I can't do anything that will make my friends feel difficult.'

'Since you have come to Hong Kong to take office, I will definitely fully support your governance of Hong Kong and achieve outstanding political achievements.'

'Moreover, I am very good friends with Prince Philip and the Duke of Kent. The Bright Foundation is also an industry of some friends and I think I also have certain connections in the British business and political circles.'

'If you or your family encounter any difficulties in Hong Kong or the UK, please feel free to talk to me. I would be happy to help a friend in need.'

Su Xingjian's eyes lit up. He understood Xia Yu's meaning, and his mind suddenly became active.

He himself had two children, and the Monroe family was also a small family in the UK. He was the patriarch of the Monroe family.

He suddenly realised that although he was going to be a puppet in Hong Kong this time, if he could get along well with Xia Yu, it might be a great opportunity to quickly strengthen the family.

He had also heard that Xia Yu had good connections at the top in the UK and was the head of a consortium. As long as Xia Yu was willing to genuinely help him, the next generation of the Monroe family would have a bright future, whether they were in business or politics. His family might even become a big family in the UK...

After having this idea, Su Xingjian's mentality changed significantly, his tone unconsciously softened a little, and his posture lowered a little.

'Mr. Xia, thank you, you are the first friend I have made since coming to Hong Kong, and you will also be the most sincere friend...'

The two then had a very pleasant chat, which lasted until after 9 o'clock in the evening. Su Xingjian realised that it was getting late and suggested that they should go, so Xia Yu personally saw him to the door, waving as he watched his car disappear into the night.