Marchioness G and Wang Mingshan visited the museum run by the Medici family. The Marchioness was dressed in a beautiful China silk dress, a dark silk made in China. The dyeing of the silk was exactly the same, but the diameter of the colored silk used was subtly different. So the patterns and textures were based on the difference of the fabric itself. The gatekeeper of the museum was used to seeing big shots, but this luxurious dress still made them awe. Leading the way, explaining, serving, everything was done meticulously.
Wang Mingshan did not understand Italian. He could speak extremely broken China English, and occasionally he could say some English jokes about China, such as "You, can, you, up, no, can, no, BB", "Give, you, some, colors, to, see!" and so on. Marchioness G was proficient in Italian, English, French, and German. The Italian finance minister introduced Marchioness G to Wang Mingshan after careful consideration.
So the Marchioness did not hire a museum guide, but just tipped the gatekeeper and sent him away. She took Wang Mingshan to visit the museum, communicating with Wang Mingshan's broken English in fluent English.
"I would advise you, sir, to open your business in Florence now." The marchioness was talking more about business than art.
"Is there such a large flow of funds in Italy?" Wang Mingshan was deeply skeptical.
"Hehe," Marchioness G chuckled, "Sir, in Europe, it is normal to walk back and forth in Europe with a large sum of money. I think you need to be concerned about customer service, not whether there is such a large flow of funds. If you are worried, then you can start with the big customers. "
Wang Mingshan used to know nothing about Europe. Even though he knew a lot about it now, he still felt very uncomfortable. The banking industry in China was completely controlled by the state, and all business was a means of controlling the economy by the state. During his recent travels in Italy, Wang Mingshan vaguely sensed one thing. What the rich in Italy needed was to completely avoid the surveillance of the state, allowing their funds to move around according to the wishes of the rich. This kind of feeling made Wang Mingshan very unhappy. He could not help but feel like he was taking the side of a tyrant.
"As far as I know, there is a huge demand for capital flows in the big cities of Italy. And the bank that you want to establish, if it is accepted at high speed, then the fees can be very high. "The Marchioness G talked about her desire in a soft and steady tone.
"But does Italy allow its own funds to move around in this manner?" Wang Mingshan was still hesitant. As the governor of the central bank, one of his jobs was to prevent domestic funds from flowing to foreign countries through various channels.
Marchioness G smiled and said, "Your Excellency, the key lies in the remote remittance service provided by the China Bank under your leadership. I can tell you that many people are actually looking forward to China's unlimited exchange ability. Everyone believes that with the endorsement of the powerful China Government, any amount of money can be exchanged remotely. China's navy can protect the transportation and interests of China Bank, isn't that the case? "
Hearing this, Wang Mingshan was a little surprised. When they were going to Europe, Vézé also said the same thing to Wang Mingshan. It was clear in China's upper class that the British Grand Fleet supported the pound sterling. As long as no one doubted the ability of the British Grand Fleet to protect the currency transportation, as long as no one doubted the ability of the British Grand Fleet to collect debts. The position of the pound sterling as the gold standard was unbreakable.
"Ma 'am, what did you do before? I see that you are very familiar with the bank. "Wang Mingshan could not help but ask this personal question.
"I graduated from the University of Florence in law. My husband is also in the banking industry, and I am his secretary. "The Marchioness G softly talked about her experience.
It turned out that he was an expert. Wang Mingshan was suddenly enlightened. But this could not completely reassure him. The purpose of China this time was to provide a product of the combination of the RMB and the European financial industry, which was the expansion of the RMB in Europe and the world. What the Marchioness proposed was to disregard the RMB and simply rely on the strength of China to provide a service system for a large amount of funds to flow back and forth in Europe.
"Ma 'am, do you think that this bank does not provide deposits and loans at all, but only provides a service for the flow of funds? I think this will consume too much of China's credit resources. "Wang Mingshan had to treat this issue with caution.
The Marchioness G's beautiful eyes widened a little, and she asked with a little surprise, "Sir, do you not believe in the strength of China? If you believe in the strength of China, this is not a problem at all. This system provides more protective financial services. If your bank is like other banks, and has to be controlled by the European governments, then why should people trust you? "
At this point, it could be said that the dagger was revealed. This kind of discussion had been held many times recently, and different people made the same request to Wang Mingshan. If China only provided a faster communication service, the rich people in Italy had no urgent need for it. What they needed was a financial service based on this high-speed, fast, and safe communication service.
Money could be in Italy today, and tomorrow it could be in London, Paris, Marseille, Berlin, Frankfurt, Vienna, Prague, Oslo, New York, Istanbul, and St. Petersburg. It could appear at the fastest speed in places where they could use money to quickly speculate and make a lot of money.
China spent 100 tons of gold to buy a large amount of land from Russia, and 250 tons of gold to buy the British colonies in North America in addition to Quebec, which had proved China's strong military power and bottomless financial resources. The Italians who were very interested in the banks that China wanted to establish in Europe were looking forward to China providing financial services that surpassed the United Kingdom.
Wang Mingshan was not a timid person. After this period of time, he had roughly determined the services that he needed to provide if he wanted to open a bank in Europe. Now that Marchioness G had spoken so thoroughly, the only thing left to do was probably to report back to China.
After letting go of these thoughts, Wang Mingshan no longer talked about this issue. He began to seriously visit the museum. Although he did not have a strong appreciation for art, and there were major differences in aesthetic and artistic concepts between China and Europe, since he was here, Wang Mingshan had to take a good look at these sculptures, stone carvings, murals, paintings, and drawings that made his hair stand on end. Since he was here, he might as well take things as they come.
Wang Mingshan was very anxious when he wrote the report, but Vézé himself was not nervous when he read the report. In Vézé's view, this was just a business that Swiss banks engaged in in the 20th and 21st centuries. The reason why the world's rich people were keen to deposit money in the Swiss banking system was because Swiss banks did an excellent job of protecting their customers' money.
The United States invaded Panama because of its huge interests in the Panama Canal. But the excuse was also very legitimate. Panamanian banks did provide deposit and money laundering services for major South American drug traffickers. For example, there was a plot in "American Narcos" starring the male lead of "Pirates of the Caribbean" when he was young. To launder the money earned from drug trafficking in the United States, one only needed to pay 60% or even 70% of the money to be deposited directly in Panamanian banks.
Providing such services was not a problem. There was only one problem, and that was whether the war would affect the business of China banks. Switzerland's permanent neutrality was not just a claim. In 1815, the Treaty of Paris was signed at the Vienna Conference, and all the participating countries unanimously recognized Switzerland as a permanent neutral country. The permanent neutral country itself gave up the right to sign military alliance treaties with countries around the world, and basically gave up the right to wage war. This was very useful and advantageous for a small country like Switzerland, which was sandwiched between the major countries. But for a large country like China, this was not necessarily the case.
After thinking about it for a while, Vézé used his authority and made an instruction. He allowed the establishment of a commercial bank called Bank of China in Florence, Italy, to provide deposit and remote remittance services for European customers. As for the funds, the commercial profits of the East African administrative region in the Indian Ocean and Europe could be used as the start-up funds for the bank.
When making this decision, Vézé still hesitated. As the most important pasture supplier in China, the East African administrative region could be said to have fulfilled its mission with due diligence. Similarly, the extensive management of the East African administrative region also made the local Chinese officials and personnel very rich. If the East African administrative region was suddenly given the responsibility of providing funds, there would definitely be a lot of trouble.
Thinking of this, Vézé still made some concessions. He divided this decision into two parts. One part was to let Wang Mingshan start the work of opening the bank first, and the other part was to wait until Bi Qingshan returned from East Africa. The former Prime Minister in East Africa did not achieve independence or attract other people to go to East Africa to dominate. Now the people in East Africa were just planning to make a profit in East Africa, and then run back to China with the money.
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