Tokyo Barrister: Start the law firm bankruptcy

Chapter 757 Past Events

Shirai doesn't mind dragging one more person into the water.

This is the world.

Sometimes knowing more doesn't mean better.

Knowing something you shouldn't know can put you in a dangerous situation.

Ignorance always makes people happy.

As long as you can't see the danger, you are safe.

As long as there are no icebergs visible on the route, the cruise ship is safe.

As for the bad consequences that are sure to happen? We'll talk about it when the time comes.

Shirai picked up the water glass and took a sip to prepare for the next narration.

The vice president looked up at the ceiling, as if lost in memories. After a while, he said:

"I first met Eriko at the Industrial Central Bank. As you know, the Tokyo Central Bank was formed by the merger of Tokyo First Bank and Industrial Central Bank. I knew Eriko before the merger."

"If you just look at the personnel records of the Tokyo Central Bank, you wouldn't think that Eriko and I have much in common."

Kitahara listened to Shirai's words and agreed in his heart. If you only look at the resumes of the Tokyo Central Bank, Shirai and Eriko were even in different departments. The only overlap was that Shirai and Eriko went to the Stern School of Business at New York University for a short period of overseas training.

Shirai continued, "At that time, I was working at a local branch. In the performance evaluation that year, I completed the bank's tasks by nearly twice the amount. That year, I was transferred to the Financing Department 3 of the Industrial Central Bank's head office."

"At the head office level of the Industrial Central Bank, corporate financing is divided into five departments. They are Department 1, Department 2, Department 3, etc. Just like the current Business Department 1 and 2 of the Tokyo Central Bank. Although there are five departments, there are actually overlaps among them, and the work boundaries of each financing department are not clear."

"At that time, Eriko was the director of the third financing department."

"When I was at the Industrial Central Bank, the performance of the Financing Department III led by Eriko was not the most outstanding one. It looked a bit unremarkable. At that time, there was also a satellite investment boom. Many banks rushed to return funds to communications companies and space companies that were researching satellites. It was a bubble."

"But at that time, Eriko's Financing Department 3 was unmoved by this investment boom. While other departments were rushing to lend funds to satellite-related companies, our Financing Department 3 did not even visit a single company in the related industry."

"I was still young at the time, and I once asked Jiang Lizi, somewhat puzzled, why she didn't lend the funds to popular satellite companies? She didn't answer, but just let me figure it out on my own."

"Later, satellite investment proved to be a bubble. Even with strong subsidies and support from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and subsidies from local city halls, these companies still collapsed. They could not generate enough profits to cover costs. So a large number of bad debts appeared. We, Financing Department 3, actually escaped this disaster."

"After this incident, I was in awe of Eriko. Gradually, I found that the performance of the third financing department was not necessarily the most outstanding, but it was definitely the most stable. Although the annual growth was not amazing, if it continued like this, the accumulated figure would be a considerable number."

In Shirai's narration, Eriko's calm personality was immediately outlined. Kitahara pondered secretly.

A person who can resist the temptation of investment bubbles must have extremely strong endurance and ability to act.

It seems that this Jiang Lizi is a very difficult and tough person to deal with.

"So if this continues, Eriko should eventually be promoted to a position similar to a director or vice president of the Industrial Central Bank. After all, according to what you said, with years of accumulation, the performance of the Financing Department 3 will sooner or later be number one."

"That's not right." Shirai smiled bitterly.

"On the contrary, when Eriko was at the Industrial Central Bank, she was often suppressed by the top management. This is a bank, and personnel is everything. No matter how outstanding your abilities are, it won't work."

"What happened? Why are you being suppressed by the top leaders?"

"From what I understand, there was a director of the Industrial Central Bank who wanted to lend the bank's funds to his affiliated company. Although it was an affiliated company, it was also a large company with strong financial resources. It seemed that it specialized in valves for a certain device in the car. So, the director found Eriko and hoped that she could lend the money to this automobile valve company."

"At that time, several industrial bubbles burst one after another. All the financing departments had a lot of bad debts, and they were all hesitant and didn't dare to lend money. Only the third financing department had a relatively large amount of funds available. So under such circumstances, the director found Eriko."

"I heard that Eriko rejected the director mercilessly. The two of them had a quarrel in the corridor on the spot. The quarrel was very loud and attracted other people to watch."

"Later, the director convened a loan review meeting. He brought several loan projects to the meeting for review, including the rejected loan project. The director tried to use the procedure to force the loan of his related companies through."

"However, things did not go as planned. Eriko also participated in the meeting. The two of them had a direct conflict at the meeting, and this time, their relationship was completely strained."

"You know, it's very common in the Industrial Central Bank to lend to people with connections. Of course, this is undoubtedly against the rules. However, sometimes, close relationships can help you get to know the company better, and it's easier to talk about many things. Lending to people with connections doesn't necessarily mean it will become a bad debt, it may even become a high-quality loan project."

"So, this time, Eriko not only offended a director, but also offended many people in the Industrial Central Bank. After all, most of the senior executives have done such illegal things. Why do you, a small director of the third financing department, come here to pretend to be so noble?"

"So, Eriko is still the director of the third financing department. However, her career as a banker is essentially over. As long as a suitable candidate is found, she may be transferred at any time."

“That was the first lesson I learned from Eriko.”

“Never go against your superiors.”

"Otherwise, this is the outcome."

"Just when I thought that my superior had reached the end of his career, Tokyo Dai-ichi Bank and Sangyo Chuo Bank merged..."

(End of this chapter)