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Chapter 1038: Chapter 910: Getting a Membership Card (Please Subscribe!)
Outside the bank.
Hearing such uninteresting chatter.
In the gradually warming sunshine, many people were nearly falling asleep.
Even the Mozambican media journalists looked listless.
If politicians’ words were of any use,
the presidents of Mozambique would have brought the country to the peak of the world long ago, surpassing Europe and America effortlessly. But now, damn it, you’d have to start from the bottom of any positive data list to find Mozambique.
And you’d be right every time.
Mozambique often appeared on the first page of various negative lists as well.
Fortunately, everyone was used to it.
They’d just listen for the sake of it.
Have a laugh.
Then go back to whatever they were doing.
If you have money, spend it; if not, you won’t starve. With such abundant natural resources, you can always scrape by.
...
In the crowd.
There were quite a few Chinese.
Their faces revealed a strong interest.
The appearance of a bank holds the utmost attention for the Chinese here because doing business in a foreign land and figuring out how to send money back home, or how to make convenient transactions in such a backward country,
is always problematic.
There aren’t any ICBC branches in Mozambique.
The usual mode of transaction is only cash.
Moreover, the Mozambican currency - the metical - cannot be directly exchanged with RMB, and the lack of a direct exchange rate means they can’t go to the Mozambique Central Bank to convert meticais to RMB.
They have to exchange it for Euros or dollars first.
Then, they have to transfer it through foreign banks to the ICBC in order to bring it back home, not to mention that the service charge is not low, and the process is quite cumbersome.
"Old Yang, have you heard of this bank?" a middle-aged Chinese man asked.
"No, I don’t know where this small bank came from. Let’s hurry and go. With so many people around, be careful to avoid theft." The capital city of Mozambique is relatively safe, but that’s limited to fewer robberies.
Thefts are still rampant.
"Hmm, we’ll come back to check it out after they disperse. There’s Chinese writing on it, it very likely handles RMB. That would be great."
"Good point. Myanmar Bank, I’ll ask some friends back home to see if it’s trustworthy or not."
...
On stage.
Locke was speaking enthusiastically.
After about fifteen minutes.
The speech ended.
Locke and his entourage then toured the bank briefly, he experienced the account opening service, and after taking a few photos with the bank’s customized commemorative card, he left.
Even though Mozambique is a bit poor.
There aren’t many issues to deal with.
But after all, it’s a sovereign state, and when the forest is big, there are plenty of birds.
...
At three in the afternoon.
Once the 1.3 billion U.S. dollars arrived, it was immediately transferred out, and it went towards covering a maturing debt. This left Locke and the relevant departments feeling a bit dejected—it was as if the money had barely warmed up before it had to be handed over to someone else.
That feeling.
Was like finally borrowing some money,
only to have the landlord sweep it away directly.
In the office.
"Mr. President, can we ask Myanmar Bank for another U.S. dollar loan?" the Central Bank governor of Mozambique pondered cautiously. The main purpose of this repayment was to take out a loan from the International Monetary Fund.
But even if the loan were granted,
The quota for Mozambique wouldn’t be too high.
At most three hundred million U.S. dollars.
In such a situation, it seemed easier to obtain a loan from Myanmar Bank. The 1.3 billion U.S. dollars had been paid over too smoothly; as if they had caught the only sheep in the grassland.
This handsome fleece.
Who wouldn’t want to give it a good tug again?
Other countries wouldn’t lend them money, or else they wouldn’t be hoping for assistance from the International Monetary Fund. Now that there’s a bank willing to cooperate with them, they had to resort to this solution.
"But why would they lend money to us?" Locke frowned.
If they could borrow,
Who wouldn’t want to!
But the banking systems of most countries globally operate on a profit-making basis, and they show almost no interest in their country’s minerals, nor likely to offer terms like Myanmar Bank did.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t be in such trouble.
"Mr. President, they must have some purpose for lending us so much money, and I think we can start with that," the Central Bank governor said thoughtfully with a wrinkled face.
Locke wasn’t surprised.
This suspicion had already been circulating among the upper echelons of Mozambique; they just never had an answer.
"What exactly might their purpose be?" Locke muttered to himself.
The governor shook his head helplessly, "I don’t know. They value our cooperation a lot. We could find solutions from this angle. Currently, our foreign trade settlements are nearly paralyzed, with all the foreign currency that comes in immediately going out. Without dollars, there’s almost nothing we can do."
Any government that controls currency issuance
Can keep going by printing its own money.
But international trade,
Everybody mainly recognizes the dollar.
Then come currencies like the Euro, Yen, RMB, and other minor ones. Their countries import goods, all of which consume foreign currency. According to common practices worldwide, foreign exchange reserves should maintain a trade settlement volume for three months.
But they have been relying on borrowing money all along.
Barely sustaining Mozambique’s trade settlements.
This has also made it one of the world’s most severely indebted nations. As the Central Bank governor, his pressure is immense; all past Presidents have considered ambitious plans to turn around the situation.
But reality has slapped them in the face time and again.
The economy is stagnant.
Agriculture is inefficient.
There’s virtually no industrial manufacturing.
Dependency on imported goods is extremely severe.
Because of the economy’s stagnant state, not even the tax revenue is enough to pay off debts, and his hair has turned white over the four terms he served as the Central Bank governor.
"The delegation will come again in a few days. We’ll feel them out then, as this can’t go on," Locke said, feeling a headache coming on at the mention of foreign exchange. He truly wanted to get things done.
But he was left weak-kneed by the mountain of debt his predecessor left behind.
...
Four o’clock in the afternoon.
The two Chinese men arrived at the bank entrance again.
They originally planned to come to check it out in the morning.
A sudden incident had delayed them.
At this time.
The crowd at the entrance had long dispersed.
They could now see clearly that the bank had many doors, but only one was open; all others were closed, and six strong black security guards stood in a row, holding batons in their hands.
Through the glass, they could see everything inside.
It was a bit quiet.
But there were people conducting transactions.
"Let’s go and take a look at the Myanmar Bank’s overseas branch," said Yang Cheng as he walked inside. He hadn’t heard of the Myanmar Bank before, but after returning and inquiring a bit, not only him, but the whole Chinese community in Maputo was stirred.
Some of them had trade dealings with the Myanmar Economic Zone.
However, they were all second-hand merchants.
So the information about the bank’s opening hadn’t reached them.
In those merchants’ descriptions.
An image of a behemoth took shape in their minds, and the official website of the Myanmar Bank also had information about this bank, which wasn’t some random small institution, so they were no longer doubtful.
Approaching the entrance.
They went through a two-meter-long corridor.
The two underwent a security check before entering the bank; they had no objections to the check or the frisk, rather, they felt a strong sense of security, at least they didn’t have to worry about the big black fellows next to them suddenly pulling out guns and robbing them.
Walking into the lobby.
An Asian-faced bank employee stood at the door.
"Hello, may I ask what service you need?" asked the employee, speaking in Chinese.
A sense of familiarity came over them.
Yang Cheng promptly said, "I want to open an account."
He wasn’t the first Chinese person to come open an account. Since the first person this morning learned about Myanmar Bank’s services, the news had spread throughout the local Chinese community, and they expressed their wishes to come and get their bank cards.
Just by opening an account here.
They could directly exchange their Metical for Asia Dollars without any service charge. After having Asia Dollars in their cards, they could directly operate here and transfer Asia Dollars into their ICBC accounts at the current exchange rate.
All in one stop.
Much more convenient than before.
"Here’s your queue number. Please bring your identity documents and passport to the collection room, where someone will assist you," the bank employee handed him a business card-style queue number, and Yang Cheng hurriedly accepted it.
His accompanying Chinese peer also received a card.
Arriving at the collection room entrance.
Yang Cheng went straight in, finding it nearly empty.
He passed the card over.
His passport and ID card were handed over as well, only to see an employee placing both items on a glass plate. As the robotic arm moved, a red light flashed by, and his documents were returned to him.
"Place your hand on top," they said, and a red area appeared on the glass platform in front of Yang Cheng, into which he promptly placed his hand within the fifteen by fifteen-centimeter square frame.
With a "beep,"
Yang Cheng knew his fingerprint collection was successful.
Then.
The person on the other side handed back the queue card.
"You can go to the counter now."
Yang Cheng thanked them and turned to leave the collection room. He noticed, just as others had described, that the whole process took less than half a minute. When his companion came out, it was just in time for his number to be called.
He presented his queue card once more.
After quickly signing two contracts, Yang Cheng got his bank card and a not-so-thin booklet of Myanmar Bank’s services, which every new user could receive for free with their first card.
Yang Cheng couldn’t help but be amazed. 𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙥𝒖𝒃.𝒄𝒐𝒎
It all added up to less than two minutes, and faster still, one could save up to a minute and a half to get a bank card issued. With such speed, no wonder the bank was so quiet. In Africa, where there’s almost no habit of saving, it would be hard not to be quiet.
This was the first time for card issuance.
So it required a personal visit.
From now on.
Clients like them, who had already entered full information.
Could simply make a phone call to get a card. Half an hour after the call, they could just come and collect the card. They even offered a card delivery service, although that would incur a service charge.
