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

In Chapter 655, General Manager Zhu of Zhongjin urgently requested Fang Qingye to return to Shanghai.

Fang Qingye pressed the answer button.

"Hello, Mr. Zhu, I am Fang Qingye." Fang Qingye's voice immediately caught the attention of Ma Yun, who was focused on fishing nearby, and he glanced over.

Fang Qingye didn't avoid Ma Yun and continued on the phone: "President Zhu, I'm not in Shanghai. I'm fishing with Mr. Ma from Alibaba in Hangzhou right now." After saying that, she smiled and glanced at Ma Yun.

"Hehe, I met a monk at the bamboo grove and chatted with him, thus stealing half a day of leisure from my busy life."

"Something urgent? You're in Shanghai? Okay, I'll come over."

"You are welcome! See you."

After seeing Fang Qingye finish her call, Ma Yun asked, "Mr. Zhu from CICC?"

“Yes, it’s urgent. I need to go back to Shanghai to see him,” Fang Qingye replied.

"Hehe, Mr. Zhu's matters are all important. Alright, then I won't keep you any longer. Let's have lunch before you leave?" Ma Yun said.

"No need, I'll leave now and have lunch in Shanghai," Fang Qingye politely declined.

“Alright, have a safe trip. Let’s have tea and go fishing again sometime!” Ma Yun stood up.

"it is good!"

Fang Qingye waved, and Yue Kai immediately came over to help pack up the fishing gear. The two said goodbye to Ma Yun and hurriedly left Taiji Zen Garden to pick up their luggage at the Four Seasons Hotel.

After seeing Fang Qingye off, Ma Yun did not leave the riverbank and continued to fish leisurely by herself.

Just then, a man hurried over. It was Jing Xiandong, the president of Ant Financial. He was a little surprised to see that only Ma Yun was fishing.

"Mr. Ma, where is Mr. Fang?"

"General Manager Zhu from CICC called him, saying he had an urgent matter and needed to return to Shanghai."

"General Manager Zhu from CICC?" Jing Xiandong was surprised. "They're very familiar with each other?"

“I don’t know.” Ma Yun shook her head. “Don’t underestimate Fang Qingye. He knows quite a few people, even though he only lives in a small county town.”

At this point, Ma Yun suddenly turned to look at Jing Xiandong: "What is the leverage ratio of Ant Financial's ABS financing now?"

Jing Xiandong was taken aback, not expecting Ma Yun to ask this question. Coming to his senses, he quickly replied, "3 times."

"How many times do you plan to do it?"

“According to the Basel Accords, the leverage ratio is capped at 10.” Jing Xiandong paused and added, “But in reality, many international banks do not comply, including some domestic investment banks.”

Ma Yun paused for a moment before saying, "Let's be cautious."

“I understand,” Jing Xiandong quickly replied.

But in his heart he was thinking, 10 times is far from enough! The asset securitization traders hired from Wall Street are aiming for 100 times!
However, 100 times seems a bit crazy.
"You can go now, I'll continue fishing for a while."

"Ok."

After Jing Xiandong left, Ma Yun sat alone by the river, motionless, whether fishing or lost in thought, it was unclear.

After returning to the Four Seasons Hotel, Fang Qingye packed her luggage and immediately took a car straight to Shanghai.

As the car left Hangzhou, the lush greenery of Jiangnan surged in through the window—the paddy fields were like mirrors, reflecting fluffy white clouds, and occasionally a white egret would fly by, its wingtips breaking the stillness of the water's surface. But Fang Qingye's heart was not at peace.

Zhu Yunlai's words on the phone were very simple. He said that China International Capital Corporation (CICC) had encountered some trouble with its investments in the international futures market and asked him to come to Shanghai to discuss it. He also mentioned that CICC was looking for his opinion and specifically mentioned copper futures.

Actually, even without Zhu Yun saying it, Fang Qingye knew it was copper.

In 2015, copper prices fluctuated wildly in both spot and futures markets, with fierce battles between bulls and bears raging in the capital markets.

However, Zhu Yunlai did not say whether CICC was going long or short.
Two hours later, the Mercedes-Benz entered the city of Shanghai and headed straight for the Shanghai World Financial Center in Pudong New Area, as Zhu Yun had instructed over the phone. The Shanghai branch of China International Capital Corporation (CICC) was located there.

Of course, Fang Qingye wasn't going to CICC, but to the Park Hyatt Hotel on the 91st floor. It was already noon, lunchtime, and Zhu Yun was inviting him over the phone to have lunch at the hotel's Century 100 restaurant.

The two took the elevator to the 91st floor. Fang Qingye told Yue Kai to order whatever he wanted, while he went into a private room in the restaurant.

There were already three middle-aged men in the private room. He didn't recognize the other two, except for Zhu Yunlai.

Upon seeing Fang Qingye arrive, Zhu Yunlai greeted him with a smile: "President Fang, please sit down. I'm sorry to have dragged you away from Ma Yun."

"It's alright. I've had tea with Mr. Ma and fished, it's time to come back," Fang Qingye replied with a smile.

"Let me introduce you," Zhu Yunlai said, pointing to a man sitting to her left. "This is Li Baoming, chairman of Jiangxi Copper Corporation."

"This is Chen Jinghe, Chairman of Zijin Mining."

The two men stood up with smiles and shook hands to greet each other. Fang Qingye also smiled and responded, but he was a little surprised that the chairmen of the two major copper groups in China had arrived!

There were only four of them in the private room. The dishes were served quickly: aged Shaoxing wine-infused drunken crab, Sichuan-style Australian Wagyu beef cubes with Sichuan peppercorns, and crab roe tofu with caviar. All of them were the restaurant's signature dishes.

"President Fang, do you prefer the soy sauce flavor or the strong flavor?" Zhu Yunlai asked again.

"I can't hold my liquor, so don't worry about me, you can all do as you please," Fang Qingye replied with a smile.

"This time, we specially invited you from your industry. We won't be drinking at noon; we have some things to discuss later." Zhu Yunlai brought out some drinks, and everyone ate and chatted.

"President Fang, have you noticed any news about the domestic copper industry lately?" Zhu Yunlai asked while eating.

Are you referring to the "Qingdao Port incident"?

"Ah."

The "Qingdao Port Incident," later known as the Qingdao Port loan fraud case or the "copper financing scam," was a major scandal in China's capital market in 2015.

Copper financing, also known as copper financing, is a financing model that emerged after 2010, where domestic companies used commodities such as copper for "financing trade." Specifically, importers purchased copper from overseas at low prices through letters of credit and then pledged the copper to banks to obtain loans.

However, the loan funds were not invested in real business operations, but instead flowed to high-yield sectors such as real estate and shadow banking.

Even more alarming is that copper inventories are repeatedly pledged by some unscrupulous companies to multiple banks or institutions, creating a "one woman, multiple marriages" scam.

By 2014, the scale of domestic financing through copper trade was estimated to have reached hundreds of billions of yuan, with Qingdao Port being an important hub.

Just a few days ago, a major news story broke: Qingdao Port revealed that a company called Dezheng Resources Co., Ltd. used the same batch of copper inventory to repeatedly pledge to multiple banks to fraudulently obtain loans, with the amount involved exceeding US$30 billion!
The incident caused an uproar in the market.

This also quickly attracted the attention of the global market, because Qingdao Port is one of the largest copper import ports in China, and its inventory has a significant impact on global copper prices.

Futures prices plummeted!
Of course, the consequences are even more serious than this, but they haven't shown up yet.

This is a nuclear bomb in the futures market. Fang Qingye was an investment manager before his rebirth, how could he not know?
(End of this chapter)