The executive in his shining armor

Shenzhen finance security boss Hu Ke finds that the cashless society trend has dented his company’s business. He has turned to Hong Kong to help enterprises transport valuable goods. Lin Wenjie reports.

Ex-banker Hu Ke seems to have the whole world on his shoulders each day, making sure that all the astronomical loads of cash being transferred to and from banks in Shenzhen under his watch are safe and sound.

But, despite the growing popularity of electronic transactions on the Chinese mainland, which may appear to have taken some of the heat off him as cash shipments wane, he’s dead set on making up for the loss. Apart from cash, transporting valuables — gold, platinum, diamonds and jewelry — has become part and parcel of his company’s business.

Hu has been president of Shenzhen Vpower Finance Security — the first security designated by the central bank, the People’s Bank of China, in 1997 — for the past eight years.

He sees the rapid advent of e-commerce having planted a deep dent in his company’s revenues which have been shrinking by the day. The natural response is to transform and expand Vpower’s operations to Hong Kong by providing armed escort services for enterprises or individuals in transporting valuables, taking full advantage of the escalating financial, trade and social links between the SAR and the mainland.

Founded in Shenzhen some two decades ago, Vpower has 18 investors drawn from the ranks of mainland banks and financial institutions. It now employs more than 3,000 people with a fleet of 600 armored vehicles in Shenzhen.

“We mainly provide cash escort services for banks in Shenzhen. But, with the rapid development of digital payments, cash transactions have been declining. Our business has since started to come down. So, we’ll be expanding our business to other places while transforming cash escort services to escort services for valuables,” Hu tells China Daily.

The former banking executive joined Vpower in 2010 as the electronic payment trend took hold in the market. He saw the drift and figured out ways to ride out the digital age.

Anticipating the vast opportunities that deepening crossboundary links would bring, Vpower has invested HK$50 million taking its armored vehicles and high-tech security systems to Hong Kong to meet the high demand for the transportation of valuables, as well as cash, from Hong Kong to the mainland.

Vpower set up its Hong Kong unit — Vpower Finance Security (HK) — in September last year with an initial strength of 100 employees and 30 armored vehicles. With just more than a year in the city, the company has managed to make ends meet, raking in millions of Hong Kong dollars in revenue monthly.

Links fueling demand

“Hong Kong, as a collecting and distribution center for luxury goods, such as gold and silver jewelry, diamonds and luxury watches, has a huge demand for valuables transportation. Furthermore, the strengthened relationship between Hong Kong and the mainland means bigger demand for such services between Shenzhen and Hong Kong. This is where our advantage lies, aided by our years of experience in Shenzhen,” says Hu.

The most expensive item Vpower had ever escorted was a legendary luminous pearl worth 2 billion yuan ($318 million) owned by a mainland businessman. The escort fee charged was based on the value of the goods, so “that’s not a small amount of money”, according to Hu.

With the Greater Bay Area taking shape, Vpower has jumped on the bandwagon, helping the Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society to deliver and safeguard gold bullion between Hong Kong and the Qianhai Free Trade Zone in Shenzhen.

“Hong Kong is just the first step in our global strategy,” Hu continues. “We want to expand to Southeast Asia and follow the Belt and Road route in future.”

Vpower has also stepped up cooperation with securities companies in Frankfurt, Dubai and Singapore, and intends to team up with US security company Brink’s to jointly develop the valuable goods escort business.

Vpower’s Hong Kong office is located in a rather inconspicuous building in Tsuen Wan — just a five-minute drive from two police stations. Its interior design resembles a perplexing maze surrounded by motion detectors and surveillance cameras. One needs to take a lift and use an access card to use all the automatic doors and walkways, and then pass the facial recognition system to reach the vault, taking approximately five minutes. So, in the event of a heist, the police could be at the scene in the nick of time.

There are also two armed security officers guarding and patrolling outside the vault, which provides custodial services for valuable items.

According to Hu, Vpower adopts a unified three-tier operational strategy — unified management of its regional bank vault, unified dispatch and control of armored transportation vehicles, and unified training and management of security guards.

Efficient strategy

“This strategy helps us perform smoothly and efficiently, especially through unified

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training and management. By implementing semi-military management, our armored security guards work and live together. We have strict rules for them. We make a roll call every night and evaluate their performance every quarter. Under an elimination mechanism, 30 percent of the lowest-rated employees will be retrenched every year.”

To ensure every staff member stays alert while on duty, Vpower has a set of rigid rules to restrain their behavior when they are out or in vehicles, including their standing position, gun-holding pose and the length of time they take for lunch. The control room is in contact with the guards by walkie-talkie every five minutes to make sure that everything is under control.

Strict rules may be just one of the measures to guarantee staff discipline. Vpower also wants its staff to feel the company’s warmth by offering various opportunities to help them develop their interests and hobbies, such as setting up hiking and chess clubs and organizing travel for employees annually.

One of the biggest challenges Vpower faces is the lack of talents, says Hu, with the company developing at a rapid pace.

“We need to maintain sufficient mobility in our company because the job’s nature requires strong and energetic young people. But, every year, we can only have half of our headcount filled in Shenzhen. The situation in Hong Kong is much better. We’re providing better-than-average wages and benefits in the industry, as well as a comprehensive promotion system to attract young talents. But, young people nowadays find it difficult to bear hardships,” he says.