Chapter 803 Dublin

  Ireland, located on the east side of the Atlantic Ocean, across the sea from Britain, is the bridgehead from Europe to America. The natural environment of this island country is very well maintained, with crisscross rivers and green grass, it has the reputation of "Emerald Island". It covers an area of ​​more than 70,000 square kilometers and has a population of less than 5 million. However, its GDP exceeds 250 billion U.S. dollars and its per capita GDP exceeds 50,000 U.S. dollars. It is a highly developed capitalist country.

  Dublin is the capital of Ireland, a metropolitan area with a population of 1.2 million. Here is Ireland's largest port and the most important manufacturing city, as well as a financial center and a cultural center.

   Coming out of Dublin International Airport, Bell Stone and Bill are greeted. Gross has a continuous drizzle, because it is in a warm maritime climate, the temperature difference between winter and summer in Dublin is not very large, and October is the rainiest season.

In September, the Irish government once auctioned a national bond with a total amount of 1.9 billion euros. At that time, the Pacific Investment Management Corporation bid for some of the bonds, so when they officially applied to the Irish government to meet with the Minister of Finance, this The request was quickly granted.

   "Mr. Zhong, this meeting is mainly about me?"

   This time the stalactite is Bill. The identity of the staff around Gross followed. Although this identity cannot be concealed at all, the original content of this visit is not considered confidential, so there is no need to delve into this identity.

"Yes!"

  Zhong Shi took a deep breath, feeling the freshness and humidity in the air, and couldn't help being a little intoxicated. After looking around indifferently, he said in a low voice, "The main issue is their handling of the current banking situation and the measures they may take if a debt crisis occurs."

"I see!"

   Bill. After silently reading it twice, Gross took a deep breath, and showed a questioning look at a man in black.

   This was the reception staff sent by the Irish government to greet them. After asking Gross's identity, he took the initiative to take the luggage of the two, and greeted them to a Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicle that had been waiting here for a long time.

   "Gentlemen, Minister Lenihan has two hours to spare tomorrow morning, and he will receive the two of you in his office."

  The man in black is in his thirties, with red hair, pale skin, and freckles on both sides of the nose, which are typical Celtic characteristics.

  He didn't ask Zhongshi's name, obviously thinking that Zhongshi was just Gross's follower. It's just that he didn't know that this follower in his eyes was much more famous than Gross.

   Gross snorted and didn't say much.

  The man saw Gross' gesture, so he naturally didn't say anything more, and sent the two of them to the reserved hotel all the way without saying a word.

   Nothing to say all night.

   "Mr. Gross, hello!"

   Lenihan is the current Minister of Finance of Ireland. The man in charge of the entire country's fiscal policy is still tall and straight, but the years have left many marks on his face, making him look extraordinarily old.

At this time, he was taking off his reading glasses, and looked at the two impressive visitors outside the door. After the secretary reminded him in a low voice, he remembered today's itinerary, and immediately with a polite smile on his face, he stood up and walked towards Gross and Zhongshi greeted them, and at the same time stretched out their hands and said enthusiastically, "Welcome to Ireland."

   "Thank you very much, Mr. Minister!"

  Gross took two quick steps, held the other's palm tightly, and also had a smile on his face, "It's our honor to take part of the time in such a busy schedule to receive us."

   "This is my assistant, Mr. Zhong Shi."

   After finishing speaking, he then introduced Zhong Shidao to the other party, "He is my right-hand man in bond analysis, and I think he is very grateful for your interview."

   "Hello, Mr. Zhong!"

Lenihan's expression was obviously taken aback, and he couldn't help but sized up Zhong Shi suspiciously, and then asked tentatively, "I heard that there is also a financial tycoon in Hong Kong, also named Zhong Shi, isn't it?" Know the two?"

   "Recognized!"

  Zhong Shi thumped in his heart, and with the same expression on his face, he admitted frankly, "Yes, Mr. Minister, I am the Mr. Zhong you mentioned."

   "He's my business partner now!"

  Seeing that his cover was exposed, Gross quickly explained, "We are all interested in the current Ireland, so we came here together to see if there are any investment opportunities here."

   Regarding Zhong Shi's frankness, Lenihan obviously didn't expect that, after looking at Zhong Shi meaningfully, Lenihan waved his hand, "Please take your seats first, both of you."

   This is not a big office. On the left side of the room is a two-meter-high bookshelf filled with all kinds of books. On the right is a small reception space, where several sofas and a small coffee table form a small conversation place. In the middle of the room was a mahogany desk, which was where Lenihan usually handled documents. A tiny Irish flag stands on a tabletop, and that's all there is to a national treasurer's office.

  Placing the meeting place here instead of a special meeting room, it is obvious that Lenihan intends to characterize the meeting between the two parties as a private one, rather than an official official interview.

   "You two came here, I don't know why?"

After the two parties were seated, Lenihan pondered for a while before asking, "If I remember correctly, Pacific Investment Management Corporation specializes in bond business, and Tianyu Fund is a hedge fund. I'm right. Right, two?"

  Although it is located on an island in Western Europe, Lenihan has heard of large financial institutions in the entire world, which greatly exceeded the expectations of Zhongshi and Gross.

   "Yes, we specialize in bonds."

  Gross replied cautiously, "Although what we bought was treasury bonds, which are theoretically the safest investment products in the world. But out of consideration for investors' rights, we still need to do some due diligence."

"I see!"

Lenihan touched the tip of his nose, feeling a little amused in his heart. There was nothing wrong with Gross' remarks. In fact, the heads of many financial institutions would try their best to talk to high-level government officials. This kind of visit was completely normal and legal. But the appearance of Zhong Shi is a problem, at least he has never heard that Tianyu Fund participated in the issuance of Irish national bonds, "But Mr. Zhong does not seem to be our creditor, so what is his purpose?"

  He didn't ask Zhongshi directly, but asked Gross. Obviously he has not been able to trust Zhongshi so far.

  “Although we have not been involved in the Irish national debt market so far, in fact we have been paying attention to Irish national debt for a long time, which is why I came here.”

  Naturally, Zhong Shi wanted to take the initiative to express his intentions, and he said calmly, "We believe that there is a lot of room for investment in Irish national debt, and we will not rule out our plan to buy Irish national debt in the future."

   "So it is!"

   Lenihan nodded expressionlessly, rubbed his hands together, then patted his head and asked the two, "So gentlemen, what do you want to know?"

   "We want to know what the current government's plans are for dealing with bank bad debts?"

After smiling at Zhong Shi, Gross first asked, "According to the public information, since the Anglo Irish Bank provided capital injection a year ago, up to 34 billion U.S. dollars have been injected into the banking industry so far. I I would like to ask, so far, is there any sign of a turning point in the banking crisis in Ireland? Or, if the problems in the Irish banking industry still exist, will the Irish government still have the ability to continue to support the injection of funds into them with the current financial strength?"

   I have to say that this question is very sharp, and it directly hits the crux of the problem. You must know that Lenihan is also very anxious about this issue. Of course, when he announced to the outside world, he would definitely not admit that the Irish government does not have this ability.

   “We are very confident in saving the banking industry!”

Lenihan didn't hesitate for a moment, and said very simply, "At least so far, our rescue plan has been very effective. Although the real estate bubble has caused us some damage, it is certain that after the injection of funds , The fundamentals of the bank have been significantly improved. As for how it will develop in the future, we still need more data. But what is certain is that the government will not allow a bank to have a crisis, this is a matter of principle.”

   "Old fox!"

  Zhong Shi secretly cursed in his heart. There is nothing practical about this bureaucratic answer. But it is obviously impossible for the other party to lie, so the meaning of this answer depends on how the listener interprets it.

   Regarding Lenihan's remarks, Zhongshi's interpretation is that the Irish government is about to fail.

   "OK, I think I see what you mean!"

After exchanging glances with Zhong Shi, Gross continued to ask blankly, "Another question I want to know is, if there is a debt crisis in Ireland, I'm talking about a small probability happened, so is the Irish government going to ask Europe for help?"

   "If you ask for help, I want to know how you plan to accept the conditions of the IMF or the EU?"

Gross carefully organized his words, and after a while he said slowly, "As far as we know, the Irish government's support for certain domestic industries is obviously contrary to certain policies of Europe or the IMF. I would like to ask, in What would you do as finance minister in this situation?"

   "What you said is nothing but worrying!"

Lenihan obviously couldn't sit still, and waved his hand to stop Gross from continuing, "Not to mention the debt crisis, just talk about our current economic situation. Even after the real estate bubble burst, our The real economy is still not seriously hurt. Our GDP is still growing. Although our debt level is somewhat high, it is still within a manageable level. As for the situation you mentioned, so far, we have not discussed it .”

   "You haven't discussed how to deal with the debt crisis?"

Hearing the other party's words, Gross' expression was obviously a little flustered, and he pondered for a moment before continuing, "Well, let's not talk about this for now. I have another question, why is the Irish banking industry being rescued in a blanket manner? Instead of allowing them to merge and reorganize, the funds that the government can save after the two parties merge will also be much smaller."

   "To prevent monopoly!"

Lenihan looked at Gross, then at Bell Stone, burst into laughter after a while, pointed to the two and said, "Gentlemen, you don't even understand such a simple truth, do you? It is not a big country, and the number of financial institutions is far less than that of countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States. If mergers and reorganizations are carried out, the financial situation of the entire country will be concentrated in a few large institutions, and it is easy to form a situation that cannot be lost. In this way, it will be difficult for small and medium-sized enterprises and rural households that can easily get loans to get what they want from large institutions, thus losing the original function of banks.”

"Another important point is that we can't give the outside world an image of partiality. If we provide financial support to big banks and reject small banks or even persuade them to be annexed, then we are not a qualified government. They are the spokespersons of certain classes. Our government will never take the blame for this kind of blame.”

  He spoke righteously, but Zhong Shi and Gross were dubious.

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  (end of this chapter)