America’s Road To Wealth

  Chapter 442 French style

  As the Consul General of the Hong Kong Island Consulate.

  Michael Crosson, compared with the American envoys in other regions, belongs to the capable group.

   Gao Lesheng has to do a lot of things to pay attention to.

  The rights and abilities he possesses are of a level sufficient to serve as an envoy of a major country, and he is a professional-level diplomat.

   In other words, Gao Lesheng has a very high emotional intelligence.

  Unknowingly, he diverted Abel's attention away from blaming Nathan De Funeso.

  Of course, this also has something to do with Abel not being really angry.

  If Abel is really upset, then Gao Lesheng's cleverness is useless.

  Abel arrived at No. 26 Garden Road at about three o'clock in the afternoon.

  He has been here until late in the evening before leaving.

He naturally also learned that Gao Lesheng will invite the entire Hong Kong and Olympic places tonight in the name of a banquet for him tomorrow night (the tonight written earlier has been revised and changed to tomorrow night, after all, the words that day were hasty and unreasonable). Celebrities participated.

  In order to increase the influence of the consulate in Hong Kong, Hong Kong and Austria, and even Guangdong Province.

   Abel agreed.

  He planned to leave Hong Kong Island the day after tomorrow, and promised that George would help with something.

  Not doing the ones that Nathan De Funeso asked himself to help because those things involved the north, which made Abel feel a little uncomfortable.

   To help Gao Lesheng and do some simple things, Abel reluctantly agreed.

   left No. 26 Garden Road.

  Abel didn't go to other places, but returned directly to the Peninsula Hotel.

   "Mr. Smith, you are back..."

  When passing by the hotel lobby, Michael Gadori greeted him with a smiling face.

  On Hong Kong Island, there are very few people who can make Michael Jiali pay so much attention to it.

   But now it is obvious that the chairman of the big hotel group made a special trip to wait for Abel's return in the hotel lobby of his own home.

   "Mr. Gadori, this afternoon... no, the sun is already setting. It should be evening."

   Reach out without hitting the smiling face. What's more, since I moved in, Michael Jiali has been very understanding and cooperative.

  Its cooperation is almost as strong as Queen Elizabeth's stay.

  For this sake, Abel was more polite to him.

   "Good evening, good evening. Mr. Smith, I have an impudent request that I wonder if you will consider it."

  Michael Cadori was very polite and said with a worried expression on his face.

   It's just that the acting is a bit big, even Abel can see it.

   "Oh? Tell me."

"Is such that."

Michael Gadley said: "Since you came to Hong Kong Island yesterday. Henry from the Keswick family, Merlin from the Swire family, and Douglas Flint from HSBC all want to invite you to join us Dinner, I wonder if you can..."

  Abel was silent for a while, "Douglas Flint? I remember he seems to be the chairman of HSBC Holdings in London? He should be in London."

   "You're right." Michael Cadori smiled and said, "He came here on a special trip last night, and he just arrived on Hong Kong Island at noon today..."

  HSBC's business and profits are all in Asia or Hong Kong Island.

  But after the new century, the power center of HSBC is no longer Hong Kong Island.

  The HSBC Taipan, the chairman of HSBC, who was known as the invisible governor of Hong Kong back then, is no longer in Hong Kong Island.

  The most powerful figure in Hong Kong Island HSBC has been downgraded to the chairman of HSBC Asia Pacific.

  The Brits are also very witty to hand over this position to the Chinese on Hong Kong Island after the new century.

   It looks like HSBC is really in charge of the Chinese themselves.

   But in fact, the real HSBC Taipan is still British.

  The chairman of HSBC Holdings, Douglas Flint, is actually the Taipan of HSBC.

   "Okay, here it is, in your hotel."

   As April approaches, the weather on Hong Kong Island is getting hotter and hotter.

   Fortunately, the Qingming Festival has not yet arrived, and the minor heat and the major heat have not yet come.

  The weather on Hong Kong Island is the most comfortable time of the year.

   Neither cold nor hot.

  So this evening, Abel chose to meet at the terrace restaurant of many restaurants in the Peninsula Hotel to meet the British magnates on Hong Kong Island mentioned by Michael Gadley.

  The Terrace Restaurant of The Peninsula Hotel has a long history. Since its opening in 1933, it has enjoyed a high reputation in the gourmet circle for its exquisite cuisine.

  Sitting on the edge of the terrace, the sky is full of stars above the head, the bustling city night of Hong Kong Island is in front, and the Victoria Harbor at night is on the left, which can be said to be very beautiful.

   And Abel also met the current leaders of the four major British consortiums on Hong Kong Island.

   are Michael Gardner, Merlin Swire, Henry Keswick, and the real chairman of HSBC, Douglas Flint, chairman of HSBC Holdings.

   Here I want to give a special mention to Douglas Flint.

  Douglas Flint is the executive chairman. He came from a humble background and ascended to this high position purely by ability.

  He is not on Hong Kong Island on weekdays, but in London, the headquarters of HSBC.

  In addition, regardless of the fact that HSBC earns more than 90% of its profits, 60% of its business is in Hong Kong Island.

  But people have always claimed to be a British bank, and have never regarded themselves as a Hong Kong Island company.

   Among its shareholders, except for a small number of rich Chinese in Hong Kong Island, most of them are owned by European and American companies.

  So it is a matter of course that it will listen to the words of the Americans.

  Abel has no business contact with them, nor does he have any business dealings.

   Most of the meals with these four people, or these four people and Abel, wanted to get acquainted with him.

   This is Abel's idea of ​​contact so far.

  After eating a meal, it becomes a very common communication in the West.

  Abel felt a little bored. After drinking for three rounds, he simply called Carla Yeager Beneteau from the Beneteau Group.

  The presence of the French beauties made the Big Four of the Hong Kong Island British-funded giants look sideways.

  Judging by appearance alone, Karla is very outstanding.

   It's just that they don't know Karla, and they haven't seen her photo on the list of women who have a relationship with Abel.

  For a while, the Big Four were guessing and curious about Karla's identity.

   And Karla is mainly responsible for the direction of North America because of her work in the Beneteau Group.

  Asia is not under her control, and she doesn't know any of these rich and powerful people on Hong Kong Island.

  Shweiya and the others don't know Karla, and Karla doesn't know them either.

   Being called over, Karla originally wanted to talk about what Abel told her today.

  But before she could say a word, she was blocked by Abel and was only in a state of accompanying drinks.

   "Business matters, let's not talk about it now. I have a drink, and I am afraid that if I am impulsive, I will agree to your conditions just because of your beauty."

   "Of course, of course, I'm not in a hurry. Seeing Mr. Smith again tonight, I understand."

  Karla is not stupid, she sat beside him with a sweet smile, but looked at the four British giants opposite.

  She didn't know them well, and Abel didn't intend to introduce them.

   At this time, the eyes couldn't help intertwined, and because of Abel, it seemed very harmonious on the surface.

"Hong Kong Island is a very good place. Even better, it has a big backer in the north. Wall Street is very optimistic about Huaxia, and so am I. If I have a chance, I will go to the north to see it like Bill Gates and David. one look."

  After letting Karla sit down, Abel smiled and continued the topic with Swire and the others.

  Just now they talked about Hong Kong Island, the impact of their British consortia after returning to their home country, and their British views on the country to the north.

   Abel was very optimistic about Huaxia inside and out, and Shi Huaiya and the others were not surprised.

  Because the richest man has always held a friendly attitude towards China in his speeches reported by newspapers.

  Chinese people who don't know the inside story will think that Abel likes their country very much.

   Thus having a good impression on him.

  But the business elites of the Angsa camp, the British people actually know that the reality is probably not like this.

  Because almost any Wall Street boss, when it comes to Huaxia, almost all of them have a friendly attitude.

  This situation has been the case for a long period of time from the reform and opening up of that country to the future.

  The reason for this appearance is very simple.

  Because the further you go to the back, as the economy becomes more and more developed, China's financial control becomes more and more stringent.

  Strict controls keep the greedy Wall Street out.

   This is very anxious for the guys on Wall Street.

  They watched the leek fields that they couldn't touch, and those leeks grew fatter and fatter.

   already fat enough to make them drool.

   But no matter what means they use, they can't put their hands in the circle to cut it.

   At most, we can only use some indirect, very complicated and troublesome methods to smell it a little bit.

  So for a long time, the bigwigs on Wall Street have known the attitude towards China...

  They showed their favor to Huaxia, and what they did and wanted was simple and direct.

  I just want China to open up, like those Southeast Asian countries, like those small countries.

   It’s just that before Abel’s rebirth, Wall Street’s overtures have never received positive feedback.

  Abel has the identity of a Wall Street boss.

   No matter how good his attitude towards Huaxia is in public opinion.

  The world in Europe and the United States said that we understand too well.

  David Rockefeller, and bigwigs from Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Fuguo, etc., have been there in person in the 1980s and 1990s.

   I’ve been there more than once, and I’ve been welcomed by the bosses over there. I had a great chat, and even made a point of donating some money or doing some assistance.

  It's a pity that the person over there is very witty, and his words are nice and polite.

  When it comes to business, then keep pushing...

   On this topic, the four British giants chatted with Abel for a while.

  Suddenly, Douglas Flint's words changed.

   It also let Abel know that tonight, this guy who came here specially from London was the main person who invited himself to this meal.

   "Mr. Smith, what do you think of HSBC's development in the United States?"

  Hearing this, Abel looked at Douglas Flint.

  As far as Abel knows, HSBC has developed business in the United States as early as the 1960s.

   But at that time, it was just a small fight.

   Wait until the Sino-British agreement is signed.

  HSBC began to transfer the place of registration, and also wanted to shift the focus of business development to avoid being too dependent on Xiangjiang.

  Because the United States is the world's largest economic power, HSBC has always focused on the United States.

  After decades of development, HSBC is now one of the top 30 banks in the United States.

   In many big cities in the United States, there are branches of HSBC Bank.

   But... Yankees have always eaten people without spit out bones.

  Don't say that HSBC is a British bank.

  Even if it is an American bank, it is easy to be tricked in the United States.

  For so many years, HSBC has not been developing smoothly in the United States.

   Over the past few decades, I have not made much profit, and I have been fined several times.

  The amount of fines alone has exceeded 1 billion US dollars.

  In the parallel time and space, after 2010, because the Americans are too ruthless.

   HSBC was a little bit unbearable to be fined, and finally began to stop considering the US business as its own development center.

  For 40 years, HSBC lost more than 20 billion U.S. dollars in total due to losses in the U.S. market and fines...

   As for the money lost by HSBC, 95% came from Hong Kong Island business, and 4% came from Asian business.

   Earn money from Hong Kong people, pay it back to the Americans, and fine the relevant departments in the United States. This is the 40-year development history of HSBC in the United States.

   These Abels are clear. Because Smith Financial Group is the company he is most familiar with, it can be said to be a professional counterpart.

  Before rebirth, because of a Chinese mobile phone brand, he had paid attention to HSBC and read a few articles.

   Also because of rebirth, Abel's memory of his previous life is very clear.

   Facing Douglas Flint at this time, in a few seconds, Abel's mind flashed these things about HSBC.

   "Mr. Flint, what aspect do you want to ask? As far as I know, HSBC's development in the United States is not going well."

   "Haha—you're right." Douglas Flint admitted directly.

  The British man tentatively said softly: "That's why we want to know what real Americans like you, Mr. Smith, think of HSBC."

   "Real American", these words, Douglas Flint said with special emphasis.

   "You lack local partners. In the United States, no matter what industry you are in. As long as there are no local partners, it is impossible to continue."

  Abel smiled: "This is the freest country in the world, with its internal rules."

   Douglas Flint would like to say, you Yankees are so shameless.

  Double standards are nothing more than that.

   But he didn't want to think that what the Yankees did was actually better than blue because of blue, and maybe even not as shameless as blue.

  This blue is the home country of Douglas Flint and HSBC Bank. The sun used to never set, but now the sun has set.

  Conjugate the relationship between father and son, that's not a joke.

   "Then..." Douglas Flint remembered the reason why he flew over from London on purpose. The chairman of HSBC Holdings finally couldn't help but whispered:

   "Mr. Smith, are you interested in being our partner of HSBC in the United States?"

  In the parallel time and space, later HSBC did not think of finding a backer in the United States.

  Later they approached BlackRock Group and made it the second largest shareholder among the actual controlling shareholders of HSBC.

   This is why HSBC was barely able to gain a foothold in the United States later.

   "It depends on the sincerity of everyone's cooperation." Abel smiled and did not respond directly.

  Abel remembers that it took 10 years for HSBC to find a backer in the United States.

  But Douglas Flint, now has a position to find a backer.

  This proves that HSBC has discovered this a long time ago. If it is not stupid, it should have started looking for backers in the United States.

   But why did it take more than ten years to find it?

   There may be some problems here, and I still don't know it yet.

  Abel intends to ask the Smith Intelligence Group to investigate and confirm the depth of the water here before considering the tempting proposal of Douglas Flint.

  That's HSBC, the bank that holds the most money-issuing rights on Hong Kong Island, and one of the most profitable banks in the UK.

  If it hadn't been losing money in the United States, it might still be one of the most profitable banks in the world.

   Seeing Abel's statement, Douglas Flint was not reconciled, and wanted to say something more.

  Abel raised his glass and said with a smile:

"Four gentlemen, we have been together for a long time. Now I have a small wish that I hope you can grant me. I hope that for the rest of the evening I can be alone with the beautiful Miss Beneteau .”

  The other three British giants who had not spoken just now, let Douglas Flint talk to Abel.

  Seeing that Abel has issued an order to evict guests, Douglas Flint still wants to talk.

  The initiator of this dinner, Michael Gadori was the first to stand up with a smile, and cleaned up with a glass of wine.

   "Oh, I just remembered that I have some things to attend to. I'm very sorry, Mr. Smith, but I may need to leave first."

  Merlin Swire and Henry Keswick immediately laughed and cooperated, saying that they were too.

  Douglas Flint no matter how much he wants to chat with Abel.

  Seeing the state of the other three members of the group, I knew it would be impolite to chat any longer.

  The chairman of HSBC Holdings could only stand up reluctantly and leave with a smile.

   After a while, the Big Four of the British capital walked cleanly.

  In the huge and beautiful terrace restaurant of the Peninsula Hotel, there was only one seat left in the middle, and Abel and Carla hadn't left yet.

  Under Abel’s gaze, Karla raised her hands and brushed her hair back, and said with a charming smile:

   "Mr. Smith, tonight's wine is really good, the scenery is also very beautiful, I'm a little drunk. Is Hong Kong Island so hot in March?"

  This action immediately reveals her slender neck, and the proud French beauty seems to be confined and depressed.

Abel smiled and asked: "Miss Beneteau, I heard that the Beneteau Group has also set up an office in Hong Kong Island. It should also have the best display yacht right now? I'm free tomorrow. Maybe I can try it first. Take a ride and experience the experience."

   Karla let go of her hand, her hair fell down again, bringing out the smell of perfume on her body, and then said with a smile:

   "Okay, welcome to Mr. Smith's test~ride~experience~"

  A few words, spoken in a gentle voice.

  Abel looked at the gentle sparkle in her blue eyes, and knew in his heart that this was a very smart girl.

   Or the people behind her are smart.

   "I'm very happy..." Abel said with a smile:

   "However, I invite Miss Beneteau to come here, and I still want to ask, what did you and Mr. Ander Beneteau think about what I said this morning?"

   "We've thought it through. We'd love to work with you, Mr. Smith."

  Her graceful upper body was swaying slightly, her movements were a bit flirtatious, but she didn't look like much, but a unique style, "Mr. Smith, do you want to know the secret of Beneteau?"

   Abel sighed in his heart.

  Beneteau's secret, it seems that as long as I want to know now, I can understand it very deeply.

   This French beauty is really different from the Anza girls.

  There was Sophie Marceau who wanted to break free from her "spider web" before, and Karla who immediately showed her unique style after thinking clearly.

  Abel smiled and said, "Beneteau's secret, I'm looking forward to it..."

  Karla bit her lip, and then she stood up. The soft clothes she was wearing were open and closed, and she stretched out her slender white hands to Abel.

"Don't wait for tomorrow. As the most valued guest of the Beneteau Group. Mr. Smith, maybe we can go on the most outstanding yacht of Beneteau now, experience the special features of Beneteau yachts, and understand... Beneteau secret."

  It's really tempting.

  Looking at "Beneteau's Secret" in front of him, Abel stretched out his hand with a smile, and was held by her.

"It's an honour."

  (end of this chapter)