Chapter 343: A Bit More Rough

Imperial Hotel Conference Room.

People are having a meeting.

Everyone is in a good mood. A large number of companies have resumed work and production, which has restored a lot of economic activities in Japan. They see the benefits, especially now that they control a large number of companies, involving all aspects of Japan, forming a monopoly situation.

Hadi glanced at the people present and said, "Next, we will focus on the crackdown on Japan's banking, financial and insurance industries."

"I looked at the data and found that there were not many banks, financial institutions and insurance companies acquired in the early stage. It can be seen that Japan is still trying to maintain the independence of the financial industry, which is not desirable."

"Now that most of the industries are under our control, I believe it will not be too difficult to regulate those financial companies."

"I will mention a few key areas and ask everyone to work together. First, all the funds of factories and enterprises, including workers' wages, should be transferred to banks under our control, draining the funds of those banks."

In the early stage, Hardy did not impose any restrictions on those companies. Many banks used their connections to pull funds over, and Hardy just watched from the side. Now that the industrial layout is completed, it is time to cut off the source of funds.

In fact, managing a bank is not as difficult as you think, as long as you have enough funds and strength.

"Second, we need to ask those factories to provide insurance for their workers. This is required by law, but these insurances must be handled by insurance companies that we designate."

"The third is to transfer all financial services to financial enterprises under our control."

Everyone present smiled.

There are many financial experts here, so they naturally know how much damage Hardy's tricks will cause to the banks, insurance and financial industries.

I believe they will succumb soon.

This is the advantage of multiple companies working together. Once they take action, you will be unable to resist.

......

Originally, all of Toyota Motor's funds were deposited in Sakura Bank, including corporate working capital and worker salary payments. But one day, Toyota people suddenly came to the door and asked to transfer all the funds and no longer use Sakura Bank's services in the future.

Sakura Bank is the core bank of the former Mitsui Group.

This scared the head of Sakura Bank, and he quickly contacted Kiichiro Toyota. Kiichiro Toyota had been on good terms with the Mitsui family before, and the two families had even been consolidated through marriage. To outsiders at that time, Toyota was considered to belong to the Mitsui Group.

After the war, the Mitsui Group was broken up, some military industrial enterprises were confiscated, other enterprises were separated, and the Mitsui family only retained the financial industry.

Previously, the Japanese economy was on the verge of collapse and financial companies were having a very hard time. During this period, Americans injected large amounts of capital and many companies started operations. Mitsui Financial saw an opportunity and used its connections to find companies that were previously affiliated with the Mitsui Group, hoping that they would place their funds in Sakura Bank.

Kiichiro Toyota agreed immediately.

In addition, more than 40 companies including Toshiba, Seiko, and Ishikawa Machinery all provided Sakura Bank with large amounts of funds.

Sakura Bank suddenly became prosperous again.

Hardy and his team mainly acquired larger and more representative Japanese companies. There were also a large number of smaller companies that were still struggling on the line between life and death. These companies sought bank loans in the hope of receiving support from Mitsui.

With the savings, Sakura Bank began to lend.

And because of the tight funds, the interest rate is much higher than before, which has greatly increased the profit margin of Sakura Bank.

Another part of the funds was used by banks for fund trading. There is an American fund company in Tokyo that is now thriving in Japan. It promises very high interest rates, and many individuals and banks have invested in this fund company.

But today.

Toyota Motor suddenly wanted to withdraw all funds and was preparing to transfer the workers' wages to other banks. The person in charge of Sakura Bank quickly contacted Kiichiro Toyota.

"Mr. Toyota, what happened? We have been working together very well. Why do you want to withdraw all the funds?" asked the person in charge of Sakura Bank.

Toyota Kiichiro said helplessly, "I'm sorry, Mr. Mitsui, this is an order from the board of directors, I have to obey it. Not only me, but I also heard that all the funds of American companies will have to be transferred to the bank they designated. Please be careful."

Kiichiro Toyota hung up the phone after saying this.

The person in charge of Sakura Bank stood there in a daze with the microphone in his hand.

American companies now account for the bulk of bank savings. If they withdraw all their funds, the banks will become empty.

Moreover, most of the time, banks do not keep too much money. They need to use money to make money. These large companies want to withdraw funds, but they simply cannot do so.

A layer of cold sweat broke out on Mitsui's back.

He felt that something bad was going to happen, and even felt that it was a conspiracy, that those damn American bankers were going to take action against Japan's banking and finance.

Right after.

The phone on his desk kept ringing.

These were all reported by the client managers below, who called to report that a large corporate client had come and asked to withdraw their deposits and transfer all salary accounts.

Mitsui was a little devastated.

It seemed that what he had guessed was really going to happen.

In fact, it is not just Sakura Bank. More than a dozen banks, including Sumitomo Bank, Mitsubishi Bank, Fuji Bank, Kyogy Bank, and Sanwa Bank, are now facing this kind of situation.

squeeze.

This is naked financial warfare.

If it were in the past, Japanese banks would definitely not be afraid of the other party's approach. Before World War II, although Japan's economic scale was far smaller than that of the United States, it also had its own confidence.

But after World War II, Japan's financial resources were emptied. There was not much cash in the vaults of banks. Business was difficult and countless banks went bankrupt.

Later, after sanctions from the United States, the conglomerates were broken up. Now only isolated financial institutions remain of the former Japanese conglomerates. It is like they were originally a big tree, and the companies below are the roots grasping the ground and the branches absorbing sunlight.

Now all the roots and branches have been cut down, leaving only the bare trunks. Now that the U.S. financial groups are wielding the axe, they have no ability to resist at all.

What to do?

Contact the government.

While the banks were refusing to process fund transfers for those companies, they came together to find Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru.

To be honest,

Even if they wanted to give, they don't have that much money.

Most of their deposits were turned into loans, and they didn't know where to find so much cash at the moment.

When Yoshida Shigeru heard the complaints of several banks, he immediately realized that this must have been a deliberate act by the American financial groups for the sake of Japan's financial system.

"How much money can you come up with now?" asked Yoshida Shigeru.

"The money was loaned to other companies that were not acquired by the U.S. financial group. You know, the U.S. financial group did not acquire these companies. The U.S. financial group provided funds to support the companies they acquired. The remaining companies were afraid that their survival space would be taken away, so they begged us for loans. All our money was scattered among those companies, and now we can't get it back at all."

"Prime Minister Yoshida, the U.S. financial groups are doing this to control Japan's finance. They already control most Japanese companies. If they control banks and finance, Japan's economy will be completely controlled by these financial groups, and there will be no possibility of rising again."

Yoshida Shigeru naturally knew.

But what else could he do?

Hardy once told him that if Japan wanted to return to the international community and become an independent country again, it would have to make sacrifices.

In terms of military, politics, economy, culture, and other aspects, we must make the United States feel there is no threat.

The arrival of Hadi's special envoy was gradually devouring Japan's economic system. Their cabinet could see it, but they were still unable to stop it.

There was even discussion in the Cabinet that perhaps all of this could be abandoned in order to achieve the goal of regaining independence.

Besides, it’s not a question of whether you give it or not, but if someone insists on taking it from you, you have no way to resist.

"I'm going to meet Special Envoy Hadi now, and I hope he can help resolve this matter," said Shigeru Yoshida.

Yoshida Shigeru came to see Hardy in a hurry.

Hardy has moved out of the Empire Hotel at this moment. The last time he talked to the Foreign Minister about buying a property in Tokyo, it was not just casual talk. His subordinates actually arranged a property for him here.

This is a European-style manor. Several decades ago, it belonged to a British-Indian businessman who was engaged in import and export business, exporting cotton and coal to Japan. Because he often came to Japan, he built this manor in Tokyo.

The building of this manor has a European appearance, but the interior decoration is very mixed. The living room has both Indian and European styles, while the hot spring room is Japanese style and the garden is Indian style.

Before World War II, the Indian businessman saw that Japan was going to be in chaos and never came to Japan again. During the war, business dealings were also interrupted. The property was eventually confiscated by the Japanese government and has now been acquired by Hardy.

When Yoshida Shigeru saw Hadi, he bowed respectfully and said, "Special Envoy Hadi, I am here to talk to you about the banking situation. Many banks have come to me and said that the collective withdrawal of enterprises has caused them great pressure. I beg you to slow down for a while."

Hardy looked at Yoshida Shigeru and asked him to sit down. After they were seated, Hardy said calmly, "You already have a guess in your mind, right?"

Yoshida Shigeru was stunned.

He didn't expect that Special Envoy Hadi was going to make this matter clear.

"Mr. Special Envoy, what do you mean?" Yoshida Shigeru asked tentatively.

"I can tell you clearly that I want to clean up those banks. As the prime minister, you should understand that the banks that approached you were originally the core of Japan's six major financial groups."

"Before Japan launched the war, several large conglomerates controlled 60% of Japan's large companies, 55% of total capital, 60% of sales channels and 20% of employees. They manipulated politics and even launched wars to plunder the economy. Am I right?"

Yoshida Shigeru had beads of sweat on his forehead.

"In order to prevent that from happening again, the old chaebol system must be eliminated, which is also a key step in making Japan a democratic society. You go back and tell them that they have two choices."

"One is to accept the capital injection from the acquisition and give up the controlling stake. The other is that the capital chain breaks and the banking system collapses. The final outcome is bankruptcy and acquisition."

Hardy put it too bluntly.

Unlike Eastern thinking, many things take a long time to go around in circles and require you to experience them yourself.

Hardy will tell you straight out.

We are messing with you. Either you surrender or you go bankrupt.

The main reason is that he has the ability to say such things.

The bank's funding chain is broken and it is unable to pay corporate funds. When other depositors see this situation, they will lose confidence in the bank and will also withdraw money. The bank will fall into a vicious cycle and will not be able to conduct normal business.

Under such circumstances, it is difficult for banks to avoid bankruptcy.

Finally, Hadi said: "Prime Minister Yoshida, I have said that Japan has the possibility of regaining independence and returning to the international community, but it must accept the transformation. This is also part of the transformation. You can weigh it yourself."

Yoshida Shigeru said goodbye and left.

He returned to the Prime Minister's residence and called a meeting of all cabinet ministers to make Hadi's attitude clear to everyone.

The cabinet members were silent again.

There was nothing they could do.

Confrontation?

How to fight.

If they are sovereign states, they can use administrative power or even the military to protect their economic lifelines.

But they are an occupied country, they have no army and no administrative power. The Americans have the power of life and death over them, and they are completely powerless to resist.

A cabinet minister said: "Nowadays, most large companies have been acquired. All the companies and funds are in the hands of American financial groups. What's the use of only banks? Americans have their own banks in Japan. If our own banks have no economic activities, they will sooner or later go bankrupt. So I think it is better to choose cooperation, at least we can preserve some strength."

finally,

Japan chose to surrender.

Several large banks were injected with capital by American financial groups and lost their controlling rights. Although they are still run by them, the real bosses have changed.

In fact, in later generations.

Many of the largest banks in the United States also have the shadow of American financial groups behind them.

There is no escape from this fate.

It’s just that in this world the time came earlier and the process was more direct, unlike in later generations where it took years of economic aggression to reach that result.

Hardy took off the other person's pants and went straight for him.

A little rougher.

Yesterday, Hardy was an economic savior in the eyes of the Japanese people, but today, in the eyes of Japanese entrepreneurs, he is a naked predator.

If you look at the problem from different angles, the results will naturally be different.