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

Chapter 650 This is not an ant at all, but a behemoth that can devour everything!

That evening, Fang Qingye and Bai Ou returned to their lakeside residence.

Originally, Bai Ou's mother wanted her daughter to stay at her own home, while Fang Qingye would stay at her own home alone. However, after staying for two days, Bai Ou insisted on going back to her own home. Her mother couldn't persuade her otherwise, so she decided to let her stay at her parents' home at night, but go to her parents' home during the day. She repeatedly told Fang Qingye to take good care of her daughter at night.

Of course, he had to take good care of his wife. Fang Qingye helped Bai Ou into the living room on the first floor. Bai Ou, heavily pregnant, turned around a couple of times and said, "It's still better to be home."

"Go upstairs and change your clothes, I'll wash your feet," Fang Qingye said.

"Ah."

After helping her upstairs to change her clothes, Fang Qingye brought a basin of water for Bai Ou to wash her feet. His wife was too pregnant to bend over, so she needed someone else to wash her feet. Fang Qingye usually washed her feet whenever he was home.

My feet were quite swollen in the later stages of pregnancy, so I had to wash them with hot water and massage them. Fang Qingye gently massaged Bai Ou's instep and said, "You go to sleep first, I still have some things to write."

"What are you writing?" Bai Ou asked curiously.

"It's the speech I gave at the forum."

Bai Ou was a little confused: "Didn't you say you had already written it?"

During the phone call with Director Luo, he suggested to Fang Qingye that her speech could focus on developing an enterprise-level distributed ledger platform and building an ecosystem around that platform.

Two days ago, Fang Qingye had Xin Tiejun prepare a speech, which she herself had revised and approved, which is why Bai Ou asked this question.

Fang Qingye replied, "I have thought about this issue and feel that it is too early to announce it now that the platform has not yet been developed."

"Is it possible that you'll remain silent until you make a stunning debut in the future?" Bai Ou asked with a charming smile.

"That's the idea, but it's not the main point," Fang Qingye said.

"I plan to talk about microcredit for farmers at the forum. This is related to millions of farmers. In the future, the country will raise rural development to an unprecedented new level. It is very necessary and worthwhile for everyone to discuss how to solve this difficulty and pain point from a technical perspective."

"Are those the ideas you told me about? Satellite remote sensing measurement? Big data precision targeting and stuff like that? Project Great Tit?"

"That's only one aspect. Ideally, the country should consider it from a strategic perspective and elevate it to the national level. I need to think about it carefully."

"I'm going to sleep now. You should get some rest too, and don't stay up late," Bai Ou instructed.

"Ah."

While Fang Qingye was racking her brains for her speech material for the forum, a heated debate was also taking place at the Ant Financial headquarters on Xixi Road in Hangzhou.

At the invitation of the Lujiazui Forum Organizing Committee, Ant Financial will present its "Scenario-based Finance" at the "Internet Finance Development and Regulation" sub-forum on the morning of May 27. Of course, the content of the presentation will be determined by Ant Financial itself, as long as it does not exceed the specified time.

The debate mainly took place between Jing Xiandong and Shao Xiaofeng.

The former is the president and chief financial officer of Ant Financial. The latter is the chief risk officer (CRO) of Ant Financial, formerly the head of Alibaba's security department, who built Ant Financial's early risk control system.

“Mr. Jing, my opinion is that the focus of the forum should be on the significant meaning of Ant Financial’s ‘technology empowering finance’ rather than showcasing Ant Financial’s specific internal operating procedures,” Shao Xiaofeng said.

“What’s the point of just talking in generalities?” Jing Xiandong retorted. “At Ant Financial, we made the attendees truly feel the powerful force of technology in the financial field and how to use technology to solve regulatory challenges.”

"But this actually exposes the underlying logic of our Huabei and Jiebei: joint lending and ABS financing models!" Shao Xiaofeng warned.

Joint lending is one of Ant Financial's core financial business models, involving partnerships with banks and other financial institutions to jointly issue loans to users. Ant Financial contributes only 2%-5%, while banks contribute 95%-98%!

ABS stands for Asset-Backed Securities. It is a financial instrument that uses assets that lack liquidity but generate stable cash flow (such as loans, accounts receivable, and lease payments) to package into securities and sell them to investors to raise funds. It is characterized by high leverage and high risk.

Jing Xiandong disagreed: "The joint loan company said that the contract we signed with the bank was a case of 'Zhou Yu beating Huang Gai'—one party was willing to hit and the other was willing to be hit."

"As for ABS financing, it's a popular international financing model. Besides, our current leverage ratio is only 3 times, so what are you afraid of?!"

"Mr. Jing, in your minds, is the leverage ratio of ABS only 3 times?!" Shao Xiaofeng stared at Jing Xiandong, his gaze sharp.

Jing Xiandong's expression changed, but he didn't say anything.

“I am the company’s CRO (Chief Risk Officer), and I am also responsible for building Ant Financial’s risk control system. I am very clear about the risks involved. Don’t think that the officials in the regulatory departments are stupid and can’t see it.” Shao Xiaofeng’s tone was tinged with sarcasm.

Jing Xiandong ignored him and instead looked at a middle-aged woman sitting at the head of the table: "Peng, you are the chairman and CEO of Ant Financial, you make the decision."

Peng Lei, one of the "Eighteen Founders" of Alibaba, was the CEO of Alipay and led Ant Financial's transformation from a payment tool to a fintech platform.

At this moment, her face was calm, but her heart was caught in a deep conflict.

How could she not understand Shao Xiaofeng's warning? The dazzling innovations of technology companies in the financial field have indeed misled some people, but there are always a few who can see the huge risks involved.

For example, Ant Financial's joint lending and ABS financing models.

However, Jing Xiandong's approach was not one of seeking quick success or instant benefits, because she had learned that the regulatory authorities would soon issue a regulatory document on internet finance!
We are currently conducting research and soliciting opinions.

If Ant Financial's powerful, even disruptive, technologies are not showcased at the forum, the tone of this document may shift from "encouraging and innovating" to "regulating and tightening"!

This is absolutely a major negative for Ant Financial and even Alibaba!
Thinking of this, she looked at her subordinates and said in a calm tone, "Let's do it according to President Jing's opinion, but we should emphasize risk control and supervision. If necessary, we can announce to the public that our risk control system can open data interfaces to regulators in real time to eliminate their doubts."

“Okay, I’ll revise some details according to your instructions.” Jing Xiandong was overjoyed.

Shao Xiaofeng sighed deeply and said nothing.

He seemed to see a wild horse galloping across an endless grassland, unaware that not far ahead lay a bottomless cliff.
The meeting ended, and everyone left.

Shao Xiaofeng left the building looking dejected. Just as he stepped out, he suddenly heard someone call his name: "Old Shao."

Looking back, the middle-aged man was Cheng Li, the CTO of Ant Financial and one of the founders of Alipay's technology, who led the development of Alipay's distributed architecture. The two had a good personal relationship.

Shao Xiaofeng stopped in his tracks.

"Old Shao, what's there to be sad about? You've said what you needed to say and fulfilled your responsibilities as a risk officer. Let future generations judge the outcome," Cheng Li comforted him in a low voice.

"Sigh, I'm starting to regret getting involved with Ant Financial. It's not an ant at all, but a behemoth that can devour everything!" Shao Xiaofeng sighed.

"Yes, a behemoth, I can already see it opening its blood-red maw. And we created this behemoth." Cheng Li sighed as well.

It's a bit chilly in Hangzhou tonight.

(End of this chapter)