Reborn in Russia as a Big Shot

Chapter 98 An underground bank is one that operates without a license.

Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh City.

Li Xiang is arriving in Vietnam tomorrow, and Shopee (Vietnam) needs to arrange for someone to pick him up at the airport. The person in charge is Nguyen Minh Tat, Nguyen Minh Chi's brother.

The company also has another related party, Chen Qiucao.

Ruan Mingda only knew that Chen Qiucao was recommended by Ruan Junying, and that the two were from the same hometown, coming from the same mountain valley.

In remote mountain villages, even people with different surnames are mostly related by blood or marriage.

Ruan Mingda was a little worried about Chen Qiucao picking him up from the airport tomorrow, so he specially called her out, and the two of them had a meal together.

"I haven't decided what to wear tomorrow yet; I need to make a good impression on him."

Chen Qiuyuan believed that his former brother-in-law Ruan Junying and Li Xiang had a deep relationship, and that he was just helping to pass on a message.

She realized that this job wasn't so easy when she didn't even see any Russians on her last trip.

Do you trust me?

Nguyen Minh Tat was wearing a floral shirt, had a small mustache, and looked rather sleazy.

Shopee (Vietnam) is said to be a foreign company, but there are very few office positions, and employees often have to go out to factories. There is no uniform dress code.

"Just say what you have to say."

Chen Qiucao didn't have a very good impression of Ruan Mingda, but they were the only two people with connections in the company, so many things could only be discussed and opinions exchanged between the two of them privately.

"Wear something with little fabric, without buttons." Ruan Mingda grinned slyly, mouthing "Convenient" instead of saying it aloud.

Chen Qiucao wanted to swear, but she held back and just muttered, "So much food and you still can't shut your mouth."

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The two were in a private room at the hotel, with no one else around, so they spoke without any restraint.

Ruan Mingda said quite bluntly, "You still haven't found your place."

"I am Mingzhi's older brother, a direct relative. What is your relationship with Ruan Junying? He has many fellow villagers. Why did he squeeze you in? It's because you're not bad looking."

"I've booked the hotel for Mr. Li, the Sheraton, a five-star hotel. Never stayed in one before, have you? You'll be staying there this time. Tomorrow, when you pick him up from the airport, you'll be responsible for carrying his luggage and taking him to his hotel room. You don't need to come back."

Chen Qiucao said with disgust, "Is this all you can think about?"

"Ah, I understand now." Ruan Mingda waved his hand with a sly smile. "My brother still needs Ruan Junying's help. You should put in a good word for him in the future and arrange for someone else to work with Mr. Li."

"What do you understand?"

"Don't you understand what I understand? Of course you do."

"Disgusting!" Chen Qiucao rolled her eyes in anger.

After picking his teeth, Ruan Mingda rinsed his mouth with beer and said, "I know myself very well. I can't even read all 26 letters of the English alphabet, let alone Russian. The reason I'm where I am today is because of my brother's connections."

"What do I know about the company's business? The more I try to help, the more trouble I cause, and people just find me annoying."

"All I can do is try my best to arrange Mr. Li's schedule. Even if some things are not explicitly stated, you have to understand them yourself. He may not want them, but I can't say no when he wants them."

"If Mr. Li is happy, my brother is happy, and then my efforts won't have been in vain."

"As for you? You know best how you got in. The worst thing for a person is not making a mistake, but deceiving themselves and then believing it in the end."

"Just keep working hard. Some college graduates still end up working in factories, while we're leaders sitting in offices. We earned all of this through hard work."

Ruan Mingda patted his stomach, stood up and said, "I'm leaving. I'm going to wash my hair. You can eat slowly by yourself. Remember to get an invoice when you pay the bill; it's hard to get reimbursed without one."

Even flattery can backfire. When Li Xiang arrived in Vietnam, Nguyen Minh Tat made adjustments to most of the itineraries he had arranged.

"We've already arranged a restaurant, but you didn't go. Instead, you came here to eat at a roadside stall. This place isn't clean." Ruan Mingzhi complained, but he still sat down.

"You two both have public service jobs, it's not good to go to places that are too expensive." Li Xiang looked at Ruan Mingzhi and said with a smile, "My stomach is fine, if you're worried about getting an upset stomach, then you don't have to eat, but let's be clear, we'll split the bill tonight, you'll have to pay even if you don't eat."

"Why shouldn't I eat it?" Nguyen Minh Chi accepted the offer.

Ruan Junying smiled broadly, "Let's order."

Although the street food stalls were bustling with people, Li Xiang and his group spoke Russian, which most people couldn't understand.

After all the dishes were served and a few bottles of beer were downed, we started to get down to business.

"If you don't bleed a little on our side this time, I won't let you go," Ruan Junying said half-jokingly.

Li Xiang said, "I don't have the money to invest in e-commerce right now."

Ruan Mingzhi chimed in, "We'll give you the loan. I've already spoken to our bank manager. As for how to approve the credit line, it's just a matter of a word."

Li Xiang said, "Is it compliant? We can get away with it for now, but problems will arise sooner or later. What if someone digs up the truth later?"

After thinking for a few seconds, Nguyen Tuan Anh said, "I can get Binh Duong province to issue a guarantee letter and use government credit to help you get financing."

""

"Can you handle it?" Nguyen Minh Chi asked with a serious expression.

Ruan Junying: "Why not give it a try? If you don't try, you'll definitely have no chance."

"Is this business yours or mine? You're going back and forth like you're discussing it." Li Xiang stopped joking and said seriously, "Shopee hasn't even opened up the Russian market yet, so it's impossible for us to expand overseas in the short term."

"But I do have a favor to ask of you. I'd like to open a Moneybookers store in Vietnam. Could you possibly get a payment license?"

"Not doing e-commerce, just doing payment?" Ruan Junying was a little confused.

Li Xiang explained in detail: "With e-commerce and payment, can I beat eBay? They have a market value of over 20 billion. If a money-burning war breaks out, I will surely die. No matter how many loans I take out, it won't help."

"But it would be different if we abandoned e-commerce and focused solely on payments."

"PayPay is trapped by eBay. It has to prioritize serving its parent company and minimize cooperation with eBay's competitors."

"I want the market they don't want. I have no competitors, and I can cooperate with anyone."

Ruan Junying frowned and said, "There are rumors that a pilot program for payment licenses is going to be launched, but it's uncertain when it will be implemented and whether foreign companies will be able to obtain them."

"PayPa is definitely operating illegally in Vietnam, but they don't care, so they definitely won't be able to touch you. You can do it without worry."

"6

"The bold get rich, the timid starve. If something really happens, everyone gets punished together, and it's over after paying a fine."

""

Li Xiang then changed the subject, saying, "It's also possible to operate under a bank's name and use the bank's financial license. I'm cooperating with Deutsche Bank in Russia, and we've almost finalized the deal."

Ruan Mingzhi chimed in, "Leave this to me. It'll be registered under our bank's name."

Li Xiang said with a serious expression, "I want to make a small cross-border remittance, which involves currency exchange. Can your bank handle that?"

'

Russia has completely liberalized its foreign exchange controls, but Vietnam has not.

Ruan Junying interrupted and answered for Ruan Minh Zhi, saying, "They are the Foreign Trade Bank, and this kind of business is their main focus. If they can't do it, then no one can."

Ruan Mingzhi asked Li Xiang, "How do you plan to operate this?"

"Matching transactions," Li Xiang further explained. "If we can really establish a partnership, Vietnamese manufacturers and Russian suppliers won't need to use international wire transfers to settle payments, saving users a lot of transaction fees."

"Isn't this just an underground bank?" Ruan Mingzhi subconsciously swallowed.

Ruan Junying corrected, "Only those without licenses are called underground banks; those registered under your bank's name are called cross-border payment instruments."

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"We have joined the WTO, and our export trade volume will continue to grow in the future, which will save some expenses for export-oriented enterprises. This is a good thing for the country and the people."

"Especially for those small businesses, they only make a small profit on a single transaction, but they have to pay forty or fifty US dollars for a single cross-border wire transfer."

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