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

Chapter 748 revolves around how to handle the power struggle among Gao Pan's several vice presidents.
Lin Wei was indeed efficient and decisive. Within two days, Jinghai Bank received three official letters from her.

The first document is a "Confirmation Regarding the Termination of Certain Credit Default Swap (CDS) Contracts," stating that the structured investment (Cayman SPV) CDS contract with D.E. Shaw Asset Management has been formally terminated, and all funds under the contract, totaling RMB 12.5 billion, have been returned to the accounts of the three designated manufacturing companies.

The second document is a "Memorandum of Understanding on Referral and Joint Underwriting Cooperation," which stipulates that Goldman Sachs China will have priority in referring or jointly underwriting high-quality local companies recommended by Jinghai Bank in bond issuance or syndicated loan projects over the next three years.

The third agreement is the "International Business Priority Cooperation Agreement," under which Jinghai Bank grants Goldman Sachs the right to act as the lead underwriter in any future overseas bond issuances, M&A financing, or other international business, under the same conditions. Goldman Sachs paid an advance payment of RMB 5 million as consideration for this agreement.

Apart from the first item which has been completed, the other two items are drafts. Subsequently, a negotiation team led by Chen Danlu, Vice President of Jinghai Bank, will conduct specific negotiations with the team led by Lin Wei, Vice President of Goldman Sachs China.

Fang Qingye did not participate in the negotiations. As the head of the group, once the general policy was set, the specific operations were left to his subordinates to carry out.

He currently has another matter to deal with—the accountability and punishment of Gao Pan, the branch manager of Huangpu branch, in this incident. To this end, he convened a special meeting of branch managers.

“Everyone knows the ins and outs of this matter, and Gao Pan bears an unshirkable responsibility for it.” Fang Qingye said, turning her gaze to Zhao Wenjun on her left. “President Zhao, you are in charge of personnel, please give your opinion.”

Zhao Wenjun calmly picked up her thermos, took a sip of tea, and said, "Gao Pan, as the branch manager and the direct approver of the project, failed to fulfill his most basic due diligence obligations, revealing a serious mismatch between his professional competence and his position, almost causing huge losses to the unit. He must be dismissed, or even fired. Of course, it would be best to suggest that he resign voluntarily, as that would save him some face."

Expelled?
Deng Rong was startled. She hadn't wanted to get involved.

Gao Pan was recruited by Chen Danlu; he was his junior and also his right-hand man. The "Jinghai Gang," led by Zhao Wenjun, and the "Shencheng Gang," led by Chen Danlu, have always been at odds. Now that Gao Pan has made a mistake, Zhao Wenjun naturally wants to take the opportunity to cut off one of Chen Danlu's arms.

But isn't this method a bit too ruthless?

Although Deng Rong was also categorized as part of the "Jinghai faction," perhaps due to her educational background and experience working at an insurance company in Hubei Province, she didn't view Chen Danlu and other members of the "Shanghai faction" with the same aversion as Zhao Wenjun. In her view, everyone was working for the development of Jinghai Bank, so why distinguish between factions?
She couldn't help but speak up: "I think Gao Pan made a mistake, but he doesn't deserve to be fired. He can be dismissed and transferred to another branch, where he can be reassigned to a more suitable position. After all, he is quite capable in the banking investment business."

"Capable? How could someone so capable make such a mistake?" Zhao Wenjun scoffed. "I think it's a case of 'a full bottle makes no sound, but half a bottle rattles'!"

“We can’t entirely blame ourselves this time, can we? Goldman Sachs China is too cunning. Who in our bank has ever seen such a complex financial product structure?” Deng Rong argued.

"If you knew Goldman Sachs was difficult to deal with, why didn't you do any financial products with them in the first place? Wouldn't that have prevented all this trouble?" Zhao Wenjun retorted.

"Aren't you just throwing the baby out with the bathwater? Look, we're still cooperating with them this time, aren't we? So, according to you, this is wrong too!"

Zhao Wenjun was speechless for a moment, after all, this cooperation was an agreement personally reached between Fang Qingye and Goldman Sachs!

Seeing that the two were arguing, Chen Danlu, who had been silent all along, spoke up: "Let me say a few words."

The two fell silent and looked at him. Chen Danlu's expression was grave: "First of all, as the vice president in charge of financial investment business and Huangpu branch, I bear an unshirkable leadership responsibility for this matter, and I request that I be punished."

"As for Gao Pan, he does bear direct responsibility, and I agree to remove him from his position as the head of the Huangpu branch. But as Deng Xing said, he should not be dismissed. Let him go back to the Pudong branch, and I will keep an eye on him."

All three vice presidents have expressed their opinions; now it remains to be seen how Fang Qingye will decide.

Fang Qingye took a sip of tea and said slowly, "Everyone thinks that Gao Pan is no longer suitable to serve as the branch manager of Huangpu Branch, and I agree with that."

He paused, then continued, "But we can't condemn him outright. Gao Pan is capable, but he lacks experience in certain areas. He hasn't been a bank leader for long, and he's always stayed in Shanghai, lacking experience in other regional branches."

Upon hearing this, Deng Rong had a sudden thought: Could it be that President Fang wanted to transfer Gao Pan to another place to continue serving as president? Otherwise, the word "training" wouldn't be used for ordinary employee transfers.

Sure enough, Fang Qingye continued, "Now that Director Wu of the Wuyang branch has been dismissed, there is a shortage of a key person in charge. My suggestion is to transfer Gao Pan to serve as the acting director of the Wuyang branch. The Wuyang branch's performance has been sluggish for the past two years, so let him give it a try. Since it's an acting position, we'll see how he performs."

"I agree!" Chen Danlu immediately stated. "The Wuyang branch not only has weak traditional core businesses, but its fee-based income is also very poor. Gao Pan can leverage his strengths and will definitely achieve great results!"

“I agree. Letting Gao Pan change his environment will allow him to continue dealing with investment banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, as well as credit unions, cooperatives, and farmers, which will benefit his growth. The national team is paying more and more attention to microfinance, and the tasks assigned to our bank are also very heavy. Relying solely on our big data risk control is still limited. Let’s see if he has any good ideas,” Deng Rong echoed.

Fang Qingye made the suggestion, and the two vice presidents supported it. Zhao Wenjun knew that there was no point in opposing it anymore, so she asked in a low voice, "If Gao Pan is transferred to the position of acting president of Wuyang branch, who will take over as president of Huangpu branch?"

“Let Zhang Rong from the Dongping branch go there,” Fang Qingye said without hesitation. “Zhang Rong has worked in Dongping for almost three years and has performed well. Let him go to Shanghai and test his skills against those investment banks!” As for the position of branch manager of Dongping, their former deputy branch manager, Li Songlei, will take over; he has also done a good job.”

The controversy surrounding the "Jinghai Anying-Smart Manufacturing Phase I" wealth management product, a collaboration with Goldman Sachs China, has finally come to an end.

The responsible persons were also dealt with accordingly: Vice President Chen Danlu was penalized with a three-month performance bonus for his leadership responsibility; Gao Pan, the former president of Huangpu Branch, was directly responsible, transferred to Wuyang Branch as acting president, and penalized with a six-month performance bonus; relevant business personnel of the Financial Investment Department and Huangpu Branch were also penalized with a one- to three-month performance bonus.

In addition, Zhang Rong, the former head of the Dongping branch, was transferred to the position of head of the Huangpu branch, setting a precedent for exchanges between leaders and cadres of branches in the Jinghai area and those in Shanghai (including Anhui, Beijing, Suzhou and other places).

The personnel adjustments at Jinghai Bank are still ongoing. That morning, Fang Qingye was still working on a briefing for the special task force when she suddenly received a call from Liu Shuai.

"Qingye, Zhang Dongwen has resigned from Goldman Sachs and is leaving Shanghai to return to her hometown. Her high-speed train leaves at 2 PM today. Do you want to go see her off?"

(End of this chapter)