Michael Sandberg, Who Put Interests Above All Else (Continued)
"Well, Mr. Morse's understanding; he knows I was about to see him." Michael Sandberg hung up the phone.
He stood up, straightened his suit, chewed a few mints to clear his breath, then left his office and took the elevator to the office of Arthur Morse, chairman of HSBC.
HSBC taipan Morse was a 59-year-old traditional England, though he looked older than other elderly Britain men. He wore a well-tailored dark suit with a matching tie, and his silver hair was neatly combed. He sat behind his desk with a walnut cane beside him, looking every bit the epitome of an elderly Britain gentleman.
"Mr. Morse, Hart says you want to see me," Michael Sandberg said to Morse, who was writing at his desk, after being led into the spacious office by his secretary Hart.
Morse capped his gilded fountain pen and set it aside, then carefully put away the ink cartridge before looking up and saying, "Hello, Michael, please find a seat."
Michael Sandberg sat down in a velvet-covered chair, waiting respectfully for the old man to speak.
Every employee who joined HSBC after World War II had a sense of admiration for Morse, and Michael Sandberg was no exception. Three days before the fall of Hong Kong, this old man was forced to usurp power as the general manager of HSBC's London branch, bypassing four successors to take over the management of HSBC. He quickly transferred the management of HSBC's headquarters to London, Britain, three days before the fall of Hong Kong, thus avoiding the misfortune of HSBC being forcibly frozen by other regions and countries, especially the United States.
Morse took office in 1941 without a resolution from the HSBC board of directors and was directly authorized by the Britain Colonial Office, has been in the position of HSBC taipan for eleven years. From the transfer of assets during World War II, to the World War II refocusing on China, to the China Civil War, and now the Embargo Order, it seems that this old man has an endless amount of work to deal with. These eleven years have also fostered his stubborn, self-willed, and autocratic personality.
Since returning to the Hong Kong headquarters from the Japan branch, Michael Sandberg had only met Morse four times, including this time. Three of those meetings were related to Song Tianyao. It can be said that without Song Tianyao as a major client, it would be no easier for a small account manager like himself to get a meeting with the big Morse than for him to go to the Government House to meet the Governor.
"Hart, prepare two cups of tea for Michael and me," Morse said to his secretary after Michael Sandberg had sat down.
After Hart left the office, Morse said to Michael Sandberg, "I think you should know why Hart called you."
With his hands on his knees, Michael Sandberg said, "Yes, sir, you rejected the loan application submitted by Manifest Glory Trading Company to HSBC."
"So, I can't let a capable employee yell 'why' in his office. I have to give him an answer, right?" Morse smiled. "The loan amount on that application is thirty million Hong Kong dollars, secured by Manifest Glory Trading Company and its controlled factories and other companies. If I agree, then, combined with the loan application you helped this Miss Angie Miss Pellis with a while ago, she's already borrowed sixty million Hong Kong dollars from HSBC. That's an outrageous figure. Do you know what she's planning to do with it?"
"Expand development and prepare to get involved in the real estate industry," Michael Sandberg said to Morse.
"Your client's expansion methods seem somewhat aggressive; she appears to be looking to hostilely acquire Xizhen Properties."
Sitting there, Michael Sandberg said neither humbly nor arrogantly, "Sir, we are a bank. As long as the client's information and collateral are reasonable, we don't need to care about the methods they use to do business. What we value is the return."
"But this is Hong Kong, not Britain. Here, class and friendship are more important. The Lin Family, the controlling family of Xizhen Properties, and the land and assets they control are more valuable to me than this Miss Angie Miss Pellis and her China lover. What I need is stable development, not someone buzzing around like a fly, ruining the atmosphere. Mr. Lin Xiaohe called my home this morning after I got up to talk to me about this. I agree with him more. Hostile takeovers should not be supported, and that the China guy shouldn't try to be clever. Putting Miss Pellis Angie Perlis on the table won't help me. I'd rather hear Mr. Lin Xiaohe's advice on the Lin Family's development direction than this China guy. And, coincidentally, the Lin Family is also preparing to borrow money from HSBC." Morse said to Michael Sandberg, "The reason I used for rejection on the application was that the client's submitted documents were not complete enough. You can use that reason to reply to them. I won't let your performance go to waste. Given your performance recently, I plan to arrange for you to be the deputy general manager of the Sai Wan branch."
"Is it because someone from the Lin Family called you that you rejected my application? Can I understand it that way?" Michael Sandberg took a deep breath after listening to Morse's words, then looked at Morse and asked.
Morse nodded. "If you don't want to think about things more deeply, this is fine too."
"Banks are brokerage firms. We lend money to people or accept their deposits. We should always remember that we cannot let other factors affect these two fundamental points. We shouldn't ask whether a borrower is China person, Britain, or even India. Song Tianyao, China person, has a good reputation, owns fixed assets, and has a bright future in his industry. Naturally, he can be a high-quality client that we value. As for the Lin Family, what do they own now besides those land plots? Only their so-called friendship with the Britain. Mr. Morse, if you want to befriend the Lin Family, you should go to the club, not sit here and still consider their friendship. Now, sitting here, what you should be considering most is HSBC's interests," Michael Sandberg said to Morse in a very serious tone.
He admired Morse, Morse had indeed saved HSBC, but Michael Sandberg disapproved of HSBC's current treatment of China person, finding it extremely unfriendly, or rather, discriminatory. This meant that HSBC was turning away countless depositors. Out of his own identity and sense of belonging to HSBC, Michael Sandberg felt it was necessary to remind Morse.