Chapter 92 Clearing house: the "router" of the financial network

"We've always imagined that if you wanted to cripple the U.S. economy, you'd cripple its payment system first, that banks would fall back to the inefficient manual process of transferring money, that commerce would fall back to barter and IOUs, and that the nation's economy would Activity levels will plummet like a free-falling stone...Fed's electronic payment system moves up to $4 trillion in currency and securities between banks and around the world every day...I doubt the '9/11' hijackers thought of that Substantially undermine (the power of) the financial (clearing and payment) system." [1]

— Greenspan In the Internet world, the router is the core part of the free, orderly, accurate and efficient flow of information in the network.On the circulation path where millions of computers send and receive information at the same time, if there is no path guidance from the router, the flow of information will be completely chaotic. The flow of money in the financial network nodes also requires the "router" of the financial network, which is the clearing and payment system. From the "transfer system" pioneered by Ningbo banks in the Qing Dynasty to the "big remittance transfer system" implemented by the Shanghai Money Industry Association, from the central bank's clearing system to the US federal funds transfer system (Fedwire), "global interbank financial Telecommunication Association" (SWIFT) and Europe's "Pan-European Automatic Real-time Gross Settlement Direct Transfer System" (TARG) payment and settlement system, from Visa (VISA) credit card to China UnionPay's bank card clearing center, the flow of money is instant It is inseparable from the operation of the clearing and payment system.

The key to the liquidation system is that every transaction of funds will leave traces here. If you follow the vine, through the current data mining technology, you will be able to discover the rules of the funds transfer account, the information of the account owner, and even the consumption habits. of great value. In 1939, Rothschild submitted to Churchill an analysis report on the procurement of strategic materials in Germany. He studied military issues through the analysis of the financial system, creating an unorthodox but visionary way of thinking.The branches of the Rothschild family banks in various countries collect a variety of financial transaction information, including key data on the purchase and transaction of various materials in Germany.All material purchases by the Nazi government, as long as they are traded through the banking system, will be within the scope of monitoring of the Rothschild family banking system.Through careful analysis of these financial data, Rothschild obtained key information such as the scale of Germany's procurement of military supplies and weapons and equipment, and concluded that the Nazis were implementing a military expansion plan.Churchill's War Office praised the young man's novel research ideas.It was this report that allowed Rothschild to successfully join Department B of the UK's Fifth Intelligence Bureau in 1940, mainly engaged in commercial anti-espionage work. 【2】

The Luo family used bank transaction records and clearing data in the bank network, as well as relevant information of transaction account owners to conduct analysis and research, and estimated the time and scale of war when Germany was preparing to launch a war. That is the power of financial "data mining" that has been proven 70 years ago. If combined with today's supercomputers and large-scale and complex data mining software technology, the traces of financial activities left by the clearing center will reveal more behind the funds. secret. This is the crux of the competition between Visa and China UnionPay for liquidation rights!This is not just a matter of commercial profits, it is a matter of national financial core secrets!

In China, foreign credit cards are prohibited by Chinese law from building their own payment and clearing systems, so they cannot grasp the confidentiality of core financial data of customers in China.This legal requirement, of course, makes the Visa company jump in anger.However, if they are allowed to go deep into China to issue hundreds of millions of credit cards and build their own clearing system, it will be a trivial matter for the money to be stolen. The key is that the data of every credit card transaction of hundreds of millions of people in China will be mastered, so that The consequences would be unimaginable.Imagine that every time you swipe your card, your bank account, the store where you bought the goods, the transaction amount, the transaction time and other information will be leaked. All your transactions will be closely watched by others.The other party collects your bank account information, real estate information, stock transaction information, etc. through other channels. When this information is spliced ​​and analyzed by powerful data mining tools, the financial and property secrets of hundreds of millions of people will be mastered, even your most What brand of red wine do you like to drink, what brand of cigarettes you smoke, what type of car you drive, what brand of clothing you wear, where you like to travel, which airline you like, etc. will all be revealed.In a word, the details of your life may be carefully viewed and analyzed by others, what kind of life would that be!As small as personal privacy, as large as state secrets, or the commercial activities of enterprises cannot withstand such "mining" and "analysis".The economic and strategic value of these data may be even more precious than the secrets of strategic nuclear weapons!

At present, the focus of the struggle between Visa and UnionPay cards is which clearing center will be used by customers who use dual cards for overseas transactions.If the clearing channel of the Visa card is used, the transaction details of all customers who consume with the card will be captured by the data clearing network of the Visa card and stored in a huge data center "waiting to be issued". If the Chinese military does not dare to rely on the US GPS satellite positioning system or the European Galileo system to guide and locate its missiles in the event of war, then who can guarantee that the financial transaction data of Chinese customers will not be lost in war or financial games? Will it be used for other purposes by clearing centers in Europe and the United States?

The construction of a high financial frontier must include the establishment of an independent global financial clearing and payment system, just like China independently developed its own Beidou system.Without its own financial "router", when China's money flows outside its borders, there is no reliable information security guarantee, let alone the concealment and suddenness of funds in commercial wars.In fact, many domestic financial institutions have suffered disastrous defeats in foreign financial markets. They should think from the perspective of whether the funds may be leaked in the process of overseas flow.

The internationalization of the renminbi does not mean that everything will be fine when the renminbi is released. The "extracorporeal circulation" of the currency needs to strengthen capital supervision.The United States has a very strong ability to monitor international capital transactions. No matter which country, no matter whose account is used, and no matter what time, as long as there is any fund transaction with a bank account of a hostile country of the United States, as long as it is not a cash transaction, almost all escape. Don't leave the "eyes of justice" in the United States!It is through the control of the global liquidation system that the United States has opened up this "eyes of justice".Just imagine, if this "eye" not only focuses on the bank accounts of terrorist countries, but monitors the bank accounts of certain countries or companies with interest, what state secrets and commercial secrets cannot be detected?During the Asian financial turmoil in 1997, Mahathir complained that no one knew where the funds of hedge funds came from and how they launched attacks against Asian currencies.That is Malaysia can not see, how can the US "eyes" can not see? !

If you don't grasp the world settlement system, you will be completely passive when a currency war breaks out, and the other side, with the support of the settlement system, will clearly see the formation of troops by this side, as if through a spy satellite. With all the arrangements, how can we fight this battle? If the renminbi goes out of the country, if there is no clearing center, it will become "released, invisible, and out of control", and the problem will be troublesome.Also during the Asian financial turmoil, Thailand's baht and Hong Kong's Hong Kong dollar are both freely convertible currencies. The difference is that the Thai baht is scattered in Southeast Asian countries, while the Hong Kong dollar is only concentrated in Hong Kong.When Soros began to quietly collect Thai baht in Southeast Asia, the Central Bank of Thailand was unaware. Finally, Soros launched a sudden and powerful offensive, and the Thai baht was quickly defeated.

In Hong Kong, Soros is ready to repeat the old trick.When he collected a large number of Hong Kong dollars, he was quickly discovered by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. As a result, the sneak attack turned into a violent attack.The Hong Kong Monetary Authority adopted the trick of significantly increasing the overnight lending rate, which greatly increased the cost of Soros's attack on the Hong Kong dollar, and finally forced back the financial predators and kept the Hong Kong dollar.An important difference between the fate of the Thai baht and the Hong Kong dollar is that Thailand cannot monitor the whereabouts of the Thai baht circulating abroad, and was caught off guard, while the Hong Kong dollar is concentrated in Hong Kong, which is completely within the scope of the authority's management power, and it is difficult for financial predators to attack succeed.

Currency standard, central bank, financial network, trading market, financial institutions and clearing centers together constitute the strategic system of the financial high frontier.Under this system, currency starts from the moment it is created by the central bank, enters the global financial network, circulates in the world clearing center, appears in the international trading market, and transfers between the accounts of financial institutions in various countries. Returning to the central bank, in this currency cycle, every link must be under strict protection and monitoring.Currency management agencies must clearly know what state the currency is in during the international cycle, who is the ultimate demander of the currency, how he intends to use the currency, what channel and method he is using it, whether these transactions In line with the normal business category, who is his counterparty and other important information. If the RMB is to go global, it is imperative to establish an independent, powerful, efficient and safe global RMB clearing system, and at the same time, it should vigorously support the global expansion of UnionPay cards.