A century-old wealthy family that rose from Shanghai

Chapter 230 The Beginning of a Bank

In early October, the Oriental Newspaper held a board meeting.

Chen Guangliang decided to hand over the position of "Chairman" to Hong Yanbin, and he would only serve as "Executive Director" and retreat to the second line.

Huang Chunsun continues to serve as general manager, responsible for the operation of the newspaper.

In addition, Chen Guangliang sold another 6% of his shares to Du Yuesheng, worth 8 oceans; in this way, Chen Guangliang only retained 50% of the shares.

The reason for doing so was that Chen Guangliang naturally intended to start "avoiding suspicion" - to completely hand over the management rights of the Oriental Newspaper to the "professional team" headed by Huang Chunsun, Zhang Jinglu and Feng Zhiming, and he only enjoyed the right to dividends.

In the past, Chen Guangliang needed the Oriental Daily News as his "influence and power"; but now, the Oriental Daily News has become a burden to him.

Why do you say that?

Taking the "September 18th Incident" as an example, the Shenbao was able to criticize the Nanjing side and the commander-in-chief, and gained a lot of new readers with its sharp criticism; the Xinwen Bao and the Oriental Daily also reported on this matter. Although not as sharp as the Shenbao, they were naturally dominated by criticism.

Chen Guangliang cannot interfere, and deep down he doesn't want to interfere!
But he didn't want to get involved in such right and wrong. After all, he knew the direction of history and didn't think about changing it much.

So just take a back seat!
In the future, the scale of "Oriental Daily" will be controlled by Zhang Jinglu, who is the editor-in-chief and will also be valued by Nanjing; "Capital" magazine will be hosted by Feng Zhiming.

If they get into any trouble, they are the ones being targeted, not you.

After the meeting, Chen Guangliang pointed to the chairman's office and said, "This office is for Mr. Hong to work in directly. I don't have anything left!"

Huang Chunsun immediately said, "The office building of the Oriental Newspaper is large enough. I'll keep this office for you."

Hong Yanbin also said: "I'm still used to that office!"

Obviously, as the founder of Oriental Daily and Capital, everyone knows Chen Guangliang's important position among the more than 800 employees of the newspaper.

Chen Guangliang added: "Change the brand quickly."

Huang Chunsun replied, "Then let's change to honorary chairman. What do you think?"

Looking at everyone's expectant eyes, Chen Guangliang hesitated for a moment and said, "Okay."

It is probably unrealistic to completely ignore it all of a sudden. If there is internal chaos, it would be a waste of this industry.

After all, Chen Guangliang will preside over the "relocation of Oriental Daily News' headquarters to Hong Kong" and may return to power in the future.

After communicating with everyone, Chen Guangliang left the office of Oriental Daily. In fact, everyone was in the same building and they would see each other every day.

Return to the office on the 8th floor.

Lu Yuantai walked in happily and said, "Boss, I've found a suitable piece of land for a bank building for you. It's at the intersection of Ningbo Road and Jiangxi Middle Road, covering an area of ​​1 mu (8 square meters). The owner is asking 1200 yuan."

Looking at the location on the map, Chen Guangliang began to think seriously.

Jiangxi Middle Road is a famous banking street and is located in the second inner area on the west side of the Bund. Past it is Sichuan Middle Road, and beyond that is Huangpu Beach Road and the Bund. Well-known buildings include the China Construction Bank Building, the Zhejiang First Commercial Bank Building, the Juxingcheng Bank Building (now the temporary property of the US Consulate), Xiangtai Bank, etc.

Ningbo Road is a famous money-shop street and bank street. The new building of Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank is also on this street (completed this year). The rest of the streets are mainly filled with money-shops, nearly sixty in number. Of course, many of these money-shops just hang a sign in the "new-style alleys".

The land is a little small, and the price of 25 yuan per mu is not expensive.

There was an 1800-square-meter plot, and Chen Guangliang bought it without hesitation.

The main reason was that he had a competitive mentality. For example, Liu Hongsheng built a "corporate building" on Sichuan Middle Road, the Hua Xia Enterprise Bank Building with a total investment of over one million yuan; two or three years later, Du Yuesheng invested two million yuan on Henan Middle Road to build the Zhonghui Building.

When opening a bank, credibility is key. A high-quality bank building is a testament to credibility.

The land at No. 52 Ningbo Road covers an area of ​​1200 square meters. If you want to invest in a seven- or eight-story building, the total investment is estimated to be 80 yuan.

Chen Guangliang has made a lot of money recently, and his appetite has become bigger.

"Boss, the land over there is easy to find. There are always large, high-quality plots of land released every year. As long as you are willing to wait, there will definitely be even bigger ones later."

Chen Guangliang immediately said, "I just can't wait. Please make an appointment with the owner for this piece of land."

It doesn't matter if it's a little smaller, after all, he doesn't have any plans to develop the bank to a certain extent.

But time, in particular, is very tight.

After the land is acquired, it will take one year to complete the project, including the design.

Chen Guangliang's purpose of opening a bank was to facilitate the transfer of assets in the future. In 1937, he moved the headquarters to Hong Kong; and in 1941, he deposited the assets in the United States.

In this way, his bank can survive those years smoothly. Isn’t this how Jian Dongpu of the Bank of East Asia did it in his previous life?

After deciding to buy the land, Chen Guangliang also calculated his assets.

The investment in this building is 80 to 90 yuan. Ping An Bank's initial capital is 100 million yuan, which means he needs to prepare 190 million yuan.

This time he made 50 yuan from cotton yarn futures, plus the 8 yuan from the sale of the Oriental Newspaper, plus the 100 yuan he had originally prepared for the bank, totaling about 160 million yuan.

Not even close!
他钱倒是多，基本都是标金，包括最早投资的200万标金（当前价值210多万），以及从汇丰银行和渣打银行‘抵押贷款’35万英镑都换成了标金（价值700多万两白银）（目前1英镑=3.8美金=15.5两白银）。

Chen Guangliang did some calculations and realized that although he only had 158 million yuan, the construction costs were not a one-time expense, so it should be no problem. Furthermore, with his reputation, he should have no problem borrowing more.

The main reason is that his company had just withdrawn 15 yuan for donations and could not come up with more working capital in a short period of time.

However, although his funds were so "tight", it was also because he was reluctant to use his "standard gold (a large yellow croaker worth 10 taels of gold)", otherwise his funds would definitely be very abundant.

A few days later, Chen Guangliang bought the property at No. 52 Ningbo Road (covering an area of ​​1 mu (approximately 8 acres)) for 40 yuan.

The next step was naturally to apply to the Municipal Council for reconstruction and invite Chinese designer Zhuang Jun to design it.

Ping An Bank's temporary office is located in an office building on Sichuan Middle Road. It serves as the administrative department, and a storefront is rented downstairs as the bank's head office. In addition, Ping An Bank also opened a branch on the first floor of the Oriental Press Building on Yuyuan Road.

This is roughly the initial scale!

Of course, Ping An Bank will not open until next month (November) with an initial capital of 11 million.

In the conference room, Chen Guangliang listened to the preparatory work reports from General Manager Xia Gaoxiang, Assistant Manager Ye Ximing, Savings Department Manager Qin Bohou, Project Department Manager (Loans) Wang Yaxin, Accounting Department Manager, Cashier Department Manager, General Affairs Department Manager and others.

Even three "street runners" (field salesmen) - Chen Yongqi, Ge Pingfu, and Chen Chengzong - attended the meeting. They were "transferred" from other banks and had some industrial and commercial customer relationships.

There were about 17 or 18 people in the conference room. Ping An Bank had already recruited more than 30 people, and the management and staff were basically in place.

The upper management mainly consists of a general manager, an assistant manager, and five department managers.

Xia Gaoxiang said, "Ping An Bank's charter, management structure, and branch arrangements are already in place. The next step will be training branch staff on service standards. Regarding safes, we've rented ten from the Shanghai Savings and Commercial Bank as backup."

Although Chen Guangliang had just started working in the bank, he also felt that the level of this management team was very high. After all, they were all talents "invited" from various banks.

After listening to everyone's reports, he said, "In a year, Ping An Bank will have its own bank building at 52 Ningbo Road. I estimate the investment is 90 yuan. By then, we'll have our own safe in the basement, our sales department on the first floor, and our administration department on the second floor."

The third to seventh floors are ready to be rented out.

Xia Gaoxiang said, "This is very exciting news. A high-quality bank building is a guarantee of credibility. Coupled with your reputation and influence, it will be of great help to us in attracting deposits."

Everyone nodded.

Ping An Bank now has a very good 'signboard', 'building' and 'team', and Chen Guangliang also has high hopes for it.

Chen Guangliang continued, "After the bank is established, I will transfer the financial relationships of the four major companies, Changjiang Real Estate, Shangri-La Hotel, Changjiang Taxi, and Global Shipping, to Ping An Bank."

Upon hearing this, Xia Gaoxiang said, "Boss, although it's a good thing for these four companies to transfer to Ping An Bank, if the lending situation at these four banks is relatively large, I suggest not transferring them to Ping An Bank. If these four banks abandon their cooperation with the original banks, it will be detrimental to their capital allocation if an emergency occurs. After all, Ping An Bank is still small and may not be able to withstand it."

The words are rather obscure, but very clear. Assuming that Global Shipping borrows 50 yuan, and this 50 yuan debt is transferred to Ping An Bank (repaying the previous bank first), the first question is whether Ping An Bank has such a large amount of money.

The second question is, once Global Shipping breaks away from its relationship with other banks, if it needs money urgently, other banks will no longer provide support. So, does Ping An Bank have the ability to provide assistance?

Xia Gaoxiang is a qualified banker, and there are even powerful connections involved.

After Chen Guangliang becomes a banker, if he transfers all the financial relations of his company to Ping An Bank, it will no longer be convenient for him to borrow money from other banks in the future.

"Don't worry, my four companies have no loans and are financially very healthy. Furthermore, they will rarely, if ever, borrow money from us in the future."

Everyone was stunned. Is there such a company that survives without relying on loans?

But soon everyone understood something, because Chen Guangliang made a lot of cash flow in real estate and finance, these four companies may have been invested purely with cash flow.

Xia Gaoxiang immediately said, "In this case, the financial transfer is a good thing, a very good thing."

"Well, let's focus on these four companies first. The rest of the companies have more or less some problems, so there's no need to earn money from Ping An Bank for the time being."

"Ok"

Everyone then realized that the boss had already figured out the seriousness of the situation.

at this time.

Although Chen Guangliang mortgaged Changjiang Real Estate, Shangri-La Hotel and Changjiang Taxi, the debt was in his personal capacity; in addition, these mortgages were given to HSBC and Standard Chartered, and the loaned funds had been invested in physical assets, so there was no risk at all.

On the contrary, these four companies (including Global Shipping) do not have any debt, and their operating cash flow will be very large every month.

Currently.

Changjiang Real Estate: In fact, it is already a rental and property management company, and its projects have been completed; the main income comes from the rental of 2.5 houses on Xiafei Road (all rented out), some scattered properties on Nanjing West Road and Yuyuan Road (although many are used as employee dormitories, other sister companies also have to pay rent after all), income from "land leasing and construction" projects ( yuan a year), and property income, etc.

Shangri-La Hotel: Business is very good, with stable profits; revenue will double after the hotel building opens next year.

Changjiang Taxi: It maintains the No. 1 market share and has good profitability.

Global Shipping: Although it is engaged in a price war, it has a cash flow of 300,000 (no debt), and the two ships in Guangzhou Bay have started to transport sugarcane and generate steady profits, so it can fully sustain itself.

All in all, there is indeed no problem with the four companies.

而这四家企业的总资产，高达1000万——长江地产约200万、香格里拉饭店250万、长江出租车350万、环球航运200万，属于陈光良的核心资产企业。

After Ping An Bank took over these four companies, it immediately became more competitive than Liu Hongsheng's Hua Xia Enterprise Bank and Du Yuesheng's Zhonghui Bank.

In terms of influence, Chen Guangliang is now higher than Liu Hongsheng; in terms of the bank's reputation, he is definitely higher than Du Yuesheng.

After finishing his work at Ping An Bank, Chen Guangliang took a bus home. He no longer liked working overtime and wanted to go home.

The home on Weihai Road was only about five kilometers away. Two cars quickly drove into the front yard of the villa and parked. Then some bodyguards began to go off work, leaving only six armed bodyguards at the security post and four female bodyguards at home.

"Brother Liang"

Yan Renmei ran out happily wearing the school uniform of Zhongxi Girls' Middle School.

After all, she was a newlywed wife, and when she saw him, she trotted forward, but she was a lady from a wealthy family after all, so she just walked inside side by side with Chen Guangliang.

"Today, the school organized a protest and we went to participate!"

"Well, you should participate in such activities. However, apart from school activities, don't participate in other organizations' activities privately. It's unsafe."

Since the September 918th Incident, Shanghai has held various marches, demonstrations and protests every day, with the largest protest involving up to 20 people. The anger of the people across the country has reached its peak, and they boycotted all Japanese products and commercial activities.

"I know. I'm being very careful! Besides, Lingyi, Hanfen, and I are all under the watchful eyes of bodyguards."

"Well, be careful. Of course, I will also support the protest."

After chatting for a while, we went to the restaurant in the lobby on the first floor, where a family of four was preparing to have dinner.

During the meal, Chen Guangliang asked, "Guangcong, have you participated in any protests recently?"

Chen Guangcong put down his chopsticks and said, "Brother, our school organized a demonstration. And today I also saw the display of plaques against profiteers, including Chen Bingzhang, a profiteer in the foreign cloth industry; Li Jiafu, a profiteer in the southern goods industry; Ouyang He, a profiteer in the fruit industry; and Li Renfu, a profiteer in the cotton cloth industry. They were all dressed in special clothing representing traitors and photographed for public display. They were fined for selling Japanese goods and remained unrepentant after repeated warnings, with fines ranging from 3,000 to 10,000 yuan. In addition, all their goods were confiscated, and if they didn't have the money to pay the fines, they would starve."

The "law enforcer" was the Shanghai Anti-Japanese National Salvation Association, and this move was intended to warn other businessmen that any act of disloyalty to the interests of the motherland would be severely punished.

In special times and special eras, this is how we deal with these unscrupulous businessmen.

Anyway, ever since Chen Guangliang traveled through time, he has insisted on not doing business with the Japanese and not using Japanese products.

This is a special period, different from the peaceful times of later generations.

Of course, if Japan had been defeated a few years later, Chen Guangliang would have considered doing business with them, because that would have been the time to make money from them.

"Eating and supporting the protests against Japan are good things, but we must remain calm. Getting excited is useless, and we must learn to think calmly."

"Okay, big brother."

Chen Guangcong picked up his chopsticks and continued eating. His excitement finally subsided.

Yang Hui also took the opportunity to say: "Protect yourself and avoid causing trouble."

"Oh"

Chen Guangcong answered with just one word.

Yan Renmei replied, "I know, Mom!"

After dinner, they chatted for a while, then Chen Guangliang took Yan Renmei upstairs where they had their own space.

"Brother Liang, would you like to change your clothes?"

"No more trouble"

What I want is "Avatar", and I have always had a good impression of the students in the Republic of China.

"Then take it off."

"Don't bother"

The skirt is very convenient.

Afterwards, Yan Renmei lay in Chen Guangliang's arms and said weakly, "Brother Liang, your behavior is seriously abnormal!"

Those scenes just now were so embarrassing.

Chen Guangliang said with enjoyment: "Men are all lustful. But at least I can love only one person, so Renmei, don't blame me!"

Yan Renmei said: "I'm not blaming you, I'm just worried that you'll think I'm that kind of person."

Chen Guangliang smiled and said, "This is what I like. How could I have that impression of you? Anyway, the matter of the boudoir is just between us, don't worry."

"Um"

The ancients were not necessarily conservative, and their moves were not bad either, who knows!
Having more fun with your spouse can help improve their relationship.

(End of this chapter)