Chapter 1505: Attack on the Banco Bilbao Vizcaya
Compared to other continents, the countries of South America were among the first to be colonised.
As early as 1500, Portugal arrived in Brazil with its powerful ships and cannons, and in 1509, Spain, which was competing with Portugal, also arrived on the American continent.
Portugal established a viceroyalty in Brazil, while Spain established one in Peru.
From then on, Spain and Portugal began a history of helping and fighting each other in South America. After a series of struggles, the final result was that, except for Brazil, which was occupied by Portugal, all countries including Argentina, Peru, Chile, etc., were colonised by Spain.
Even though the countries in South America have become independent one after another after World War II, the traces of centuries of colonialism have penetrated into every corner of the South American continent.
Culture, institutions, economy, and other fields can be said to be ubiquitous.
This cannot be erased in a few decades.
And in the banking sector.
As Spain's largest bank, it is also the largest foreign bank.
The influence of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria in South America is extremely far-reaching. It is one of the top banks in many countries, and in some countries it is even the largest bank.
And in terms of assets.
The total assets of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria in South American countries reached 26 billion US dollars, which is almost 40% of the entire Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria!
According to the latest issue of The Banker magazine's ranking of the world's top 100 banks.
BBVA ranks 39th in the world, with total assets of 66.426 billion US dollars.
The US Wells Fargo Bank, which ranks 90th in the world, has total assets of only 26.034 billion US dollars.
This means that
If you isolate the assets of BBVA in South America, it would also be able to break into the top 100 banks in the world.
In fact,
the assets of BBVA in South America are indeed one of the two pillars of BBVA.
The other pillar is undoubtedly its assets in Spain.
As the core financial platform of the Francisco family, BBVA was of course firmly in the hands of Sáren Francisco, who paid close attention to any developments.
Especially as the European capital world was in turmoil at the time, and he was involved in it.
Not to mention that after seeing multiple allies, especially the Warburg family, having their backyards on fire, he also stepped up efforts to check his own situation and sensed that danger was approaching.
However,
The devil is one foot taller than the Dao.
His reaction had long been factored into Xia Yu and the Bright Foundation's calculations.
The Art of War says that the fundamental principles of attack are, first, swiftness is precious in war, and second, attack the enemy's vital points.
Saran Francisco had the confidence to confront the Bright Foundation and dare to snatch the Schroder Group as prey, and his greatest support was the Banco Bilbao Vizcaya.
It was just different from other companies.
Under the control of Francisco's uncle, who ruled Spain for decades, even though BBVA has been listed, the Francisco family still holds a cumulative 58.64% stake in the bank.
Considering the publicly listed nature of BBVA,
it is impossible for outsiders to threaten the Francisco family's rule over BBVA.
Most of the tactics that Xia Yu has used in the past are ineffective against him, and it is difficult to carry out capital-based sniping and acquisitions.
However, this does not mean that Xia Yu is helpless.
Based on this situation,
from the beginning, Xia Yu has never wanted to directly snipe against BBVA, the Francisco family's money bag.
Instead, he targeted BBVA's South American branches, which were out of Sarón Francisco's reach.
After nearly two months of preliminary preparations,
With Xia Yu's order.
The operation finally began.
...
As the president of the South American region of Brook Gascoigne, Brook Gascoigne feels that this year is his lucky year.
Since the Latin American sovereign debt crisis, the economic development of South American countries has been in a quagmire.
And the banking industry, as the heart of economic development, has inevitably been the most affected.
What's more.
As a top South American bank, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya, S.A. has of course also suffered considerable losses in the Latin American sovereign debt crisis.
In the past few years, he has been so busy that he has had no time to rest, let alone relax, and as a result, he has even forgotten his sea fishing skills.
Fortunately, since 1987, it seems that he has turned a corner.
In countries such as Argentina, Peru, Chile, Uruguay, etc., the original big depositors seem to have emerged from the quagmire and ushered in a second spring of economic development, and the funds in the accounts opened with the Bilbao-based bank have soared.
Not only that.
Branches all over the world are also reporting good news.
One of the biggest transactions was a 520 million US dollar deposit from the Argentine branch in mid-January, which was directly transferred to Coca-Cola.
It is reported that Coca-Cola is preparing to make large-scale investments and expand production in South America again, and it has an eye on BBVA's local influence in South America, and is prepared to subsequently ask BBVA to assist in a series of acquisitions and the implementation of business strategies.
With a large amount of liquid funds, Brooke Gascoigne certainly could not let it idle, after all, this money has to pay interest, even if the interest rate on temporary deposits is very low.
Therefore,
the funds must be quickly put into circulation and lent out.
After research by the think tank, BBVA directly and significantly lowered the loan interest rate, effectively snatching a group of customers and increasing BBVA's market share in South America by one notch.
The only thing that made Brook Gascoigne frown was that the head office in the country knew that his side was developing rapidly and directly transferred 1.5 billion US dollars in liquid funds.
If the 1.5 billion US dollars had not been transferred, he was confident that he would have been able to increase the market share of BBVA in the loan market considerably.
With his work going well, Brook Gascoigne naturally had more time to relax.
He has also picked up his sea fishing skills again after many years of inactivity, and has bought some more technologically advanced sea rods for the purpose. He often goes sea fishing on his private yacht.
'It looks like this grouper must weigh at least 50 pounds, definitely the biggest one I've caught this year.'
'Haha, Jack, help!'
After a fierce tug of war, as the fishing line was continuously reeled in, a huge grouper finally surfaced. Brooke Gascoigne couldn't help but cheer when he saw the size of the grouper.
His assistant immediately took the opportunity to strike with the right tool and hook the big grouper.
'Quickly take my camera and take a picture for me, I have to remember this!'
After the fishhook was unhooked, Brooke Gascoigne, still breathing heavily, said with a big smile, 'Take a picture of me, I must remember this!'
Just then.
Brooke Gascoigne's secretary walked quickly out of the inner cabin of the yacht, holding a satellite version of a Motorola mobile phone in her hand, and with a hint of panic on her face.
'President, there is some bad news.'
Brooke Gascoigne, who was happily preparing to take a photo, frowned and said unhappily, 'What is it? Tell me after I've finished taking the photo.'
'President, it's really urgent. We have to go back right away. We just got a call from President York in Argentina. Coca-Cola wants to withdraw all of the $520 million in deposits they have with our bank, but President York can't come up with the money!'
The secretary blurted out the information.
'What?'
'Bang!'
Along with Brooke Gascoigne's startled voice was the sound of the grouper crashing heavily onto the deck.
Everyone else on the yacht also fell silent in an instant...