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Chapter 881: Chapter 766: Act First, Report Later (Please Subscribe!)
Next,
both parties began preparing the materials.
Within just three days,
all the documents had been submitted to the Thai Government.
Unlike Western developed countries such as the United States, developing countries have very strict requirements for the establishment of banks, mainly because the finance industry in Western countries is more prosperous, while developing countries have just solved the problem of food and clothing and are aiming for moderate prosperity.
They don’t dare to engage in too many financial products and tools.
There is no demand.
Hence, the market is naturally bleak.
Moreover, due to the significant currency risk they face, it’s even less likely that they would allow someone to open a bank casually, especially Southeast Asian countries that have suffered heavy losses from several financial crises and have a rather negative attitude towards the banking industry.
This matter must first go through a discussion and approval by the Thai Government.
Then, it must pass a joint review by all relevant departments and be submitted to the Thai Government for review and approval again.
The final step would be the approval process of the Bank of Thailand; in a word, the process is ’complicated.’
During these three days,
related public relations work was also underway simultaneously.
There were basically no major problems on the Thai side, Wangsa’s family had controlled a share of the fruit wine market during this time, and their network in Thailand stretched far and wide. Although many of these connections were not deep, it was still easy to find people.
It wasn’t necessarily about asking for support.
That would be too obvious.
And it would be a big favor.
It was only important that key figures didn’t oppose them when it mattered.
In theory, Wangsa’s family should be going all out, but damn, they weren’t the Thai royal family, how could they discuss such ’clear’ matters with Thai presidents, vice presidents, and the like.
The phrase ’avoid suspicion’.
They had to adhere to it as well.
.......
February 23rd.
Myanmar.
Neipyidaw.
Morning.
Lang Cai urgently convened a meeting for a plan that Ling had.
"Deputy Leader Ling, why didn’t you discuss this with us beforehand?" Lang Cai questioned.
After seeing the report yesterday morning, he immediately had it checked and found that Ling had already started working on this matter in Thailand without informing him beforehand, which annoyed Lang Cai.
It was such an important matter.
There had been no advance notice.
They were presented with a fait accompli.
It was like they didn’t even consider his position at all.
But... it did seem quite in keeping with Ling’s habits.
Thinking of this,
Lang Cai was somewhat speechless.
Why was he accepting it so quickly? On reflection, was it not often that Ling acted this way? And each time, not only did Ling proceed, but he also succeeded every time, making Lang Cai feel like he was just memorizing a script.
"Ladies and gentlemen, first and foremost, I’d like to clarify that Myanmar Bank is an independent regional banking institution that has the right to independently expand general banking business and doesn’t need to report to or apply with the Myanmar Central Bank for such affairs.
Of course, there’s a reason Myanmar Bank is doing this. The materials in your hands are the trade data between the Myanmar Economic Zone and Thailand during this period, and it’s showing an increasing trend every month, expected to soon break through ten billion Asia Dollars.
However, prior trade settlements have always been conducted through Myanmar Bank, which means that while Myanmar Bank takes on the currency risk, it also needs to prepare sufficient foreign currency reserves to exchange for the trade parties.
And now, a problem has arisen. In the bilateral trade between the Myanmar Economic Zone and Thailand, we have always been in a trade deficit, and with the devaluation of the Myanmar Kyat, customers who previously settled in Myanmar Kyat are dumping it on us to exchange for Thai Baht. Currently, our Thai Baht reserves are almost depleted.
Therefore, Myanmar Bank has decided to relinquish its function as a currency intermediary and has proposed a bank establishment application to Thailand, allowing it to obtain financing from the Bank of Thailand and resolve Myanmar Bank’s shortage of Thai Baht."
Ling’s explanation.
Once again confirmed Lang Cai’s view.
This guy, indeed, never fought battles he wasn’t sure of winning.
Look at it.
Now,
it directly pinned the blame on the devaluation of Myanmar’s currency.
The reasons were ample.
"I have no more Thai Baht, and Thai merchants’ money is flowing back in large amounts, resulting in the Myanmar Bank not having enough Thai Baht to exchange for them. Now, Myanmar Bank’s solution is to involve the Bank of Thailand to address this issue," Qian Zheng explained.
"Don’t you have RMB and dollars?" Kundun suddenly chimed in.
His logic was simple: you don’t have Thai Baht, but you do have RMB and dollars, don’t you? Just give those to them, and they can directly exchange them at Thai banks for Thai Baht. It sounded perfect.
Ling gave Kundun a cold look.
Kundun was startled.
There were quite a few others who shared his view, but none of them showed it, lest they embarrass themselves later.
"Deputy Leader Kundun, foreign currency reserves represent the Myanmar Bank’s redemption ability, especially in stable-value currencies. To deplete it just to help with Thailand’s issue, I don’t think that’s wise," Ling said indifferently.
Kundun thought it over.
That seemed to make sense.
The whole incident started with the devaluation of the Myanmar Kyat.
A great amount of capital from Thai merchants who held Myanmar Kyat and Asia Dollars was flowing back. The Myanmar Central Bank didn’t deal with them, and while Thai banks could, they would incur losses and absolutely refused large exchanges.
Now,
Ling didn’t want to bear all the risk anymore.
He sought to drag the Bank of Thailand into the fray.
It seemed like... a good thing.
"Ahem, that is, Deputy Leader Ling, the reasons are sufficient, and I understand, but is the consumption of Thai Baht really that fast? Should we support the Myanmar Bank a bit?" Lang Cai found no grounds for rebuttal.
But to just go along with Ling’s wishes seemed somewhat humiliating.
Of course, that last sentence was not spoken aloud.
To give the Bank of Thailand’s Thai Baht to the Myanmar Bank,
what would the Myanmar Bank use to exchange?
Myanmar Kyat?
Forget about it, this isn’t a loan, what would Myanmar use it for?
As for the Asia Dollar, holding it doesn’t seem very useful; and as for the RMB and dollars, it would be a wonder if Ling agreed to exchange them for Thai Baht—that would be like going to a leader’s home to give a gift.
It’s just like when, before a meal, someone politely asks, "Join us, just one more pair of chopsticks," if you stayed.
You would be a fool.
"No need, I just need your consent to open a new Myanmar Kyat settlement channel for the Myanmar Bank’s branch and deal with the communication with the Bank of Thailand, to facilitate the establishment of this branch as soon as possible, and to resolve the issue of trade settlements quickly," Ling said.
"That won’t be a problem," Lang Cai agreed on the spot.
It was a small matter after all.
It just felt a bit odd.
Why would Thailand agree to something that’s clearly disadvantageous? Can it be out of righteousness?
Two days later,
the news from Thailand made Lang Cai seem to understand something.
After two active days,
Thailand proposed that during the settlements in the Myanmar Economic Zone, half should be done using Asia Dollars.
The reasons were ample.
Holding Myanmar Kyat while it’s still depreciating,
and the fate of the Asia Dollar is also uncertain.
Half and half.
Reasonable.
Lang Cai could not argue with that, and in the past two days, Myanmar had been very proactive in facilitating this cooperation, showing a lot of ’sincerity.’ Given all this, when Thailand made a condition, Myanmar couldn’t just flip the table.
They had to talk.
They really had to talk.
Lang Cai was not willing to take a loss just like that.
