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Chapter 879: Chapter 764: Purchasing a Bank License (Subscribe Please!)
February 19th.
Myanmar.
Myanmar Economic Zone.
Wangsa had rushed to Xin’an Town early in the morning.
He hadn’t even had breakfast.
Last night, he had received a call from Deputy Leader Ling who said there was something to discuss, but Ling did not specify what it was about.
This left Wangsa anxious throughout the night, as the matter Ling intended to discuss must be significant, especially given Ling’s current status and power; there really wasn’t much he couldn’t handle in this country.
And seeking him out.
It was likely related to Thailand, and it was not simple.
Wangsa looked at the familiar scenery outside the window.
The streets of Xin’an Town hadn’t changed much in the past few months.
The construction planning here was completed in one go.
There wasn’t a single building that was constructed only to be demolished and rebuilt; the streets were crowded with pedestrians, as today was the weekend. It was both a market day and the only holiday of the week for the factory workers here, making the streets exceptionally bustling.
The concept of a weekend.
Had not been implemented here yet.
For the business owners, of course, this was cause for great joy. Although by regulation, wages on Saturdays were double the usual, compared to the value created by the employees working one more day, this amount of money was negligible.
Not just local businessmen from Myanmar.
A large number of businessmen from Huaxia had appeared here.
Because the Myanmar Economic Zone is adjacent to Huaxia and the construction of the border port had been completed, with roads unobstructed and cross-border procedures very convenient, many people from Yunnan Province of Huaxia came here to do business, work, or travel.
Initially, they thought they could capitalize on Huaxia’s advantages in the small commodities manufacturing sector and make a large profit, but after conducting some research, they discovered to their dismay that the scale of small commodities manufacturing here was frighteningly strong.
Essentially, all daily necessities, hardware furniture, and clothing and accessories could be produced locally. They later learned just how ’relentlessly’ and ’thoroughly domestic’ the Myanmar Bank Group was in building the whole industry chain.
Not just in low-end manufacturing.
High-end manufacturing was also flourishing, completely contrary to their expectations that they wouldn’t even see mobile phones here; mobile phones were already widespread and very affordable, with decent quality too.
The variety of home appliances here stunned the businessmen from Huaxia.
How could they compete with this?
It seemed even more modernized than the domestic county towns, with clean streets, stylish and distinctive buildings, developed transportation, well-established infrastructure, and even solar-powered streetlights.
It completely changed their perception of towns in Myanmar.
Except for passenger cars.
It seemed that foreign imports were truly rare to see here.
Moreover, due to the strict quality management standards set by the Myanmar Economic Zone, many small commodities produced by small coastal factories in Huaxia simply couldn’t pass the customs here, with their numerous inspection standards making the businessmen tremble in fear.
Especially products that contained chemical elements harmful to health were strictly detained; because of this, customs had detained dozens of batches of harmful products, with no possibility of return, and barred the owners from entering unless they paid a fine.
Selling products harmful to human health.
Was almost akin to poisoning.
The Myanmar Economic Zone always cracked down hard on such practices.
It finally curbed the intentions of some unscrupulous businessmen to earn dirty money.
Furthermore, some businessmen from Huaxia discovered something else distressing: the factory price of products of equivalent quality here was actually thirty percent lower than the coastal factory prices in Huaxia.
This was indeed frustrating.
I came here to sell products, not to buy them.
Consequently, many businessmen from Huaxia had no choice but to shift largely to ’specialty’ businesses like catering, fruit and vegetables, furniture, and breeding. As for investing in factories, there was basically no opportunity at the moment.
They had investigated.
The Myanmar Economic Zone was still under a semi-planned economic model.
To avoid malicious competition.
To ensure reasonable profits for enterprises.
The density of manufacturing enterprises in the same industry was strictly limited; the service industry was less restricted, but compared to manufacturing, it was difficult to grow big here; manufacturing was what the businessmen from Huaxia wanted to focus on.
However.
Only those businessmen who initially invested here had the privilege to choose to build factories, and although many others subsequently proposed investments, Myanmar Bank approved less than one-tenth of them.
This left the businessmen from Huaxia conflicted again.
The factory owners here enjoyed profits with virtually no competition.
Businessmen from various countries were somewhat envious.
But there was nothing they could do.
The Myanmar Bank was just that dominant; in this territory, the Myanmar Bank had a firm grip on everything; whatever it said went, and everyone had to play by its rules, or else they couldn’t succeed.
Passing through the streets.
A large number of calls in Mandarin reached his ears.
Wangsa watched a street vendor and even bought a pancake to try. Now, he often just drove here for breakfast, or when superiors from Thailand came for inspection, he often brought them here to eat Chinese food.
Their days were much lovelier than before.
This conversation did not take place in Xin’an Town.
Weekend.
Ling would not be working here.
As the car passed through the urban area of Xin’an Town and arrived near the industrial town where Ling had last received them, Wangsa found the layout to be the same, remembering that it was here where Ling had decided on the list of fruit wine distributors.
Thinking of this,
Wangsa grew excited.
Fruit wine.
It had brought tremendous economic benefits to his family, now accounting for fifty percent of their annual income, not an exaggeration, along with the construction company and other factories.
Ninety percent of their family’s annual income was created through collaboration with Ling.
Wangsa hoped these wonderful days would last forever.
Although he also knew it wasn’t possible.
Upon arriving at the villa where the conference room was located,
Wangsa saw Ling for the first time in over a month.
He noticed Ling looked no different than before, still so vigorous.
"Deputy Leader Ling," Wangsa greeted as Ling stood up.
The two shook hands.
Ling gestured for Wangsa to sit down.
"Officer Wangsa, long time no see, have you gained some weight recently?" Ling chuckled.
Wangsa felt even more nervous, why was Ling discussing his weight, it always felt like being ’entrusted with a weighty task,’ that rarely seen smile was somewhat disconcerting.
"Deputy Leader Ling, please speak straightforwardly, I’ll definitely honor my duties."
Wangsa managed a forced smile.
"I want a bank license in Thailand," Ling stated plainly.
Wangsa almost choked.
Such a sudden twist.
Was a bit abrupt.
"What does Deputy Leader Ling need a bank license for?" Wangsa felt he had asked a foolish question.
"To open a bank," Ling replied.
Of course, that wasn’t the answer Wangsa was hoping for.
"Deputy Leader Ling, if I remember correctly, Myanmar Bank’s banking operations aren’t entirely complete. If a bank is established in Thailand, it might lack competitiveness," Wangsa advised tactfully.
In Thailand, Myanmar Bank’s business model basically had no prospects.
Ling shook his head.
"The main purpose of this bank is to facilitate bilateral trade settlement between the two countries, to reduce the number of intermediary settlements, and to explore the operation models of banks," Ling said, half truth, half lie. Tang Qing mainly wanted to complete a task.
It’s worth noting,
although the trade volume between the Myanmar Economic Zone and Thailand was already high, the Bank of Thailand held no Asiadollar reserves, and general transactions were handled through Myanmar Bank; the Bank of Thailand did not provide exchanges between Asiadollars and Thai Baht for local merchants.
This seemed wasteful to Tang Qing.
The bilateral trade volume between the two countries reached between fifty to eighty billion RMB each month, yet the Bank of Thailand did not have a single Asiadollar in reserve, all were managed solely by Myanmar Bank, which, of course, Tang Qing wanted to transform.
He wanted Thailand to recognize the Asiadollar as a reserve and to initiate exchanges.
Lang Cai would certainly have objections.
Because Thailand, unlike Huaxia, did not have the same special circumstances. There was an issue with Myanmar Central Bank’s reserves, which Huaxia’s Central Bank didn’t want to bear, and only then had Lang Cai agreed. However, the trade settlement with Thailand didn’t have this issue.
The difficulty for Lang Cai to agree was high.
But, if a bank was established in Thailand,
and forcefully bind the settlement channels,
this could be used to negotiate with the Bank of Thailand, and a rigorous push afterwards might achieve the goal. This way, the tasks of establishing the reserves and constructing the branch would be completed, achieving the best of both worlds.
And for Wangsa,
whose family was deeply entrenched in Thailand,
he would help facilitate and connect the necessary parties.
This, in turn, would minimize a lot of trouble.
Wangsa was skeptical.
But he still had some assurance in his mind. A few days prior, he had received news that Huaxia had agreed to list the Asiadollar as a temporary national reserve currency, though limited. This was good news for the reputation of the Asiadollar.
Ling wouldn’t want Thailand to agree as well, right?
Wangsa speculated anxiously.
After thinking it over, he said, "What do you need me to do?" Better to ask clearly first.
"Help me handle the upper and lower relationships for the bank license, successfully acquire the license, and secondly, persuade the Thai Government to list the Asiadollar as a national reserve currency or a temporary national reserve currency, incorporating future bilateral trade settlements under the jurisdiction of the Bank of Thailand."
