I'm in the county town, and you say I'm a big shot?

Chapter 601 Trust Company under Mintian Holdings

The four bank presidents sat on the stage, ready to start the meeting. Fang Qingye glanced at the people below the stage.

Apart from the Pudong branch, the branch managers of the other eight branches and the head of the business department were all present.

Now, branches have been set up in all three districts and four counties of Jinghai City. Two branches and one business department have been set up in Nanxin. All the department heads have arrived, except for the two department heads of the Digital Finance Department and Information Technology Department who are working in the Pudong branch. It seems that they are in the same car as Chen Danlu.

Just as Zhao Wenjun was about to announce the start of the meeting, Chen Danlu walked in breathlessly, carrying a briefcase, followed by two ministers.

"I'm sorry, there was a traffic jam on the highway, I'm late." Chen Danlu apologized to the people on the stage as soon as he entered.

"It hasn't started yet, please have a seat," Fang Qingye replied. Chen Danlu sat on the stage, at the very edge, next to Zhao Wenjun.

"Zhao Xing, briefly tell Chen Xing about the content of the bank president's meeting just now," Fang Qingye said.

Zhao Wenjun whispered a few words to Chen Danlu before announcing the start of the meeting.

"As required by the just-concluded meeting of the bank president, the main purpose of today's meeting is to review the business operations of each branch and business department, and thoroughly investigate projects and products that violate relevant regulations."

Upon hearing Zhao Wenjun's words, the audience was astonished, not expecting the meeting to cover this topic!

Immediately, a flurry of discussion arose again.

"Quiet!" Zhao Wenjun said, raising her voice in dissatisfaction.

The meeting room suddenly became quiet.

"The first item on the agenda is for me to inform everyone about the background, purpose, and significance of this cleanup of competing businesses."

Zhao Wenjun began by discussing the current liquidity crisis in the market and the problems existing in the business operations of peers, going on and on. Then she announced the second item, which was to be announced by Deng Hui regarding the content and method of inspection.

After Deng Hui finished speaking, Zhao Wenjun announced, "The last item on the agenda is a concluding speech by President Fang. Please give him a warm welcome!"

A round of applause erupted in the conference room.

Fang Qingye spoke concisely and clearly: "Comrades, President Zhao and President Deng have already explained this cleanup work very clearly, so I will not repeat it here. I just want to emphasize two points."

"First, interbank business is a very important part of our bank's work and one of the future profit growth points. This cleanup is not a suppression or a ban, but for a healthier future development! Please understand."

"Secondly, I want to focus on the current market liquidity problem, also known as the cash crunch. This is not the first time this has happened; it occurred once in 11. However, I need to point out that this time, don't expect the central bank to intervene like it did in 11: intervene in the market, inject some funds, stabilize funding costs, etc. But I want to make it clear to you: the information I have is that the central bank will not intervene this time! So everyone must pay close attention to the risk of insufficient liquidity!"

Fang Qingye's words caused her subordinates to whisper among themselves again.

If the central bank doesn't step in to help, the problem will be much more serious this time.

Also, how did Fang Qingye get this information?!

"Everyone, please be quiet." Zhao Wenjun raised her voice again.

"That concludes my speech," Fang Qingye said, then asked Chen Danlu in a low voice.

"President Chen, do you have anything to say?"

"No," Chen Danlu quickly replied.

"Then let's break up the meeting."

"The meeting is dismissed!"

The attendees left one after another, discussing as they went; some had relaxed expressions, while others looked serious.

Fang Qingye had just entered her office when she heard a knock on the door. It was Chen Danlu who came in.

"President Chen, are you stuck in traffic on the highway? I don't know what's going on lately, there have been a lot of car accidents on the road. You should tell your driver to be careful," Fang Qingye said.

"Actually, we didn't encounter any traffic jams on the way," Chen Danlu said.

"Oh?"

"We were late. This morning, while we were checking our business with other companies, we discovered some serious issues. We were late because we needed to investigate thoroughly," Chen Danlu said, her expression grim. "What issues?"

"We discovered that one of the purchased trust products was actually a mortgage project, and it was short-term debt invested in long-term projects," Chen Danlu replied.

"How much is the funding?"

"5000."

"Quite a few."

"Yes, I've organized the documents and brought them with me." Chen Danlu said, taking a document out of his briefcase and handing it to Fang Qingye.

Fang Qingye sat in the sofa area and looked at it intently.

New Era Trust Co., Ltd.?
Fang Qingye was taken aback when she saw the name of the trust company:
Isn't this a trust company under Mintian Holdings?!

He looked up at Chen Danlu: "Have you looked into this trust company? Do you know their shareholders?"

“No, that’s fine.” Chen Danlu said frankly, “As long as the trust company isn’t illegal, we mainly look at its trust products. We bought this product two months ago because the returns were relatively high, and New Era Trust has a high reputation in the industry.”

High reputation?
It hasn't been leaked yet.

The sudden thunderstorm gave you a real fright!

Isn't that what Hengda in the real estate industry is like?
However, Fang Qingye did not want to discuss this issue for the time being, as there was no point in saying more without concrete evidence.

Fang Qingye looked at it carefully again, and slowly frowned.

"Chen Xing, why is this listed under the 'Repurchase of Financial Assets' account? Doesn't this violate accounting rules?" Fang Qingye frowned.

"Repurchase agreements" refer to short-term financing transactions between financial institutions based on repurchase agreements. It involves a company purchasing securities, bills, or other assets according to an agreement and then reselling them to the original seller at a fixed price; this also falls under interbank business.

"The main reason is to circumvent the China Banking Regulatory Commission's requirement that loans to the real estate sector cannot exceed 25% of total loans. Our branch already has no lending quota left, so we made a workaround," Chen Danlu explained in a low voice.

"Oh, who was in charge of handling this transaction?" Fang Qingye asked.

"President Gao, he was only recently hired by the branch and was in charge of this matter. It's also my fault for not checking properly and for not being strict enough," Chen Danlu said, taking the initiative to take responsibility.

"Now is not the time to hold people accountable. President Chen, don't go back to Shanghai today. Have Gao Pan come over as well. Tomorrow morning, he and President Deng will discuss how to handle this issue," Fang Qingye said.

"Okay, I'll call him."

"Okay, you can go and rest now. Leave the documents here."

After Chen Danlu left, Fang Qingye looked at the document, drank tea, and pondered for a while before picking up the landline on her desk and dialing Deng Hui's number.

"President Deng, come here for a moment."

A few minutes later, the sound of high heels approaching came from the hallway. After Deng Hui came in, Fang Qingye handed her the document.

"This was sent by Director Chen. It's an interbank contract from their branch. Take a look."

Deng Hui took the document and looked at it for a while. Her expression turned very serious: "Packaging a mortgage project as a trust product, using short-term debt for long-term investment, and deliberately registering it as a repurchase financial asset. This contract has serious problems and a very high risk of default!"

"Yes, some people like to take chances, thinking that nothing will go wrong, but then they run into a cash crunch, and now all the problems are exposed." Fang Qingye sighed.

“I suggest transferring this trust product immediately, even if the returns are discounted, as long as the principal is preserved,” Deng Hui suggested.

Fang Qingye nodded.

Actually, that wasn't what he was thinking about. After a moment of contemplation, he suddenly blurted out a sentence.

"Why do you think Gao Pan signed this trust agreement?"

(End of this chapter)