In Shanghai in the 1920s, Du Yuesheng's underworld business was becoming more and more prosperous, and his connections were becoming more and more dense, but there was one biggest problem that still lay in front of Du Yuesheng, that is, all his business was not on the table.
With the casino and tobacco soil, Du Yuesheng has money, but he is not satisfied, he wants to be a decent person, to become a real official and nobleman, a celebrity.
The biggest problem in front of Du Yuesheng is how to wash yourself?
In the early days of the Bund in Shanghai, the high-rise buildings on the roadside were almost all banks
Du Yuesheng himself soon figured out this problem, and he must change his income and improve his social status through legitimate economic resources. In layman's terms: whitewashing.
There was a person who saw Du Yuesheng's current troubles and specially offered a plan: to open a bank.
The man who made the suggestion was not a simple person, he was an expert in the banking world - Qian Xinzhi.
Qian Xinzhi, a native of Zhejiang, became the general manager of the Bank of Communications during Zhang Xiao's tenure as president of the Bank of Communications. After Chiang Kai-shek came to power, he served as vice minister of finance and director of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Finance. At this time, he was a financial predator in Shanghai Beach, and he was also an intermediary in the communication between the financial circles of the north and the south.
Du Yuesheng zhonghui bank former site
Opening a bank in Shanghai Beach is not a safe business, although at this time the financial circle in Shanghai Beach is prosperous, but this is only a deformed prosperity, foreign banks are on top, occupying the position of the boss, such as the British HSBC, Standard Chartered, the Japanese zhengjin and so on. The banks of state capital occupy the middle, and at the bottom are the banks of hundreds of national capitals.
At this time, Shanghai's financial circles can be said to be divided by princes and warlords. Du Yuesheng felt that as an outsider, it was extremely risky to rush into the unfamiliar banking field.
Although Du Yuesheng is a layman, he has a younger brother who is proficient in the financial industry. He called in two of his think tanks, "economic adviser" Su Jiashan and "business manager" Tian Hongnian, who together opened a bank.
These two people told Du Yuesheng that we don't have to pay for opening a bank, and with other people's money, we can make a steady profit.
Borrowing someone else's money to open a bank sounds magical, but it really works.
Du Yuesheng Bank's advertisement on the Declaration
It turned out that there was an unwritten rule in the old Shanghai banking circle that every time a new bank opened, the major banks had to deposit a sum of money on the opening day, called "piling flowers". Similar to gift-giving, it means that they are friendly with each other.
In the identity of Du Yuesheng, this pile of flowers will certainly not be less, and the whole Shanghai beach can be said that no one dares to come and send "pile flowers".
As mentioned above, there are hundreds of banks in Shanghai Beach, and you can imagine how much this money is.
In addition, Du Yuesheng's hands covered the casinos and tobacco shops all over Shanghai, and the funds of these casinos and tobacco shops dared to be deposited in Du Yuesheng's bank?
With these two sums of money, Du Yuesheng also felt that he had a bottom in his heart and was determined to wash himself through the bank.
The former site of Zhonghui Bank was later changed to the Shanghai Museum, and Mr. Du Weishan (Du Yuesheng's son) wrote a letter to the director of the Shanghai Museum
In 1929, the first bank under Du Yuesheng's name, "Zhonghui", was officially opened, and the chairman was Du Yuesheng himself.
As the first step in opening a bank, Du Yuesheng first released the sound of the wind and waited for the fish to bite the hook.
Soon, people who brought money to invest in Zhonghui Bank came in an endless stream, and even the French consul in Shanghai, Ge Green, directly brought this box of cash to the door, and he was not even prepared to use the way of investment in Shanghai, but directly deposited the money into the bank.
The former site of Zhonghui Bank today
In this way, with the money of others, Du Yuesheng only used his own connections to successfully open his bank.
The bank successfully opened, Du Yuesheng gradually not satisfied with just whitewashing, he also wanted to develop to a more advanced level.
But the hundreds of banks on the beach are not jealous, in this battle, Du Yuesheng must use all means to gradually win one bank merger war after another.