Modern Villainess – Volume 1 Chapter 2 Part 7

Translator: Flowingcloud    Editor: Arocks141

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Ojou-sama Soars Part 7

 

If you are reading from a pirate or aggregator site, please read from the translator’s site: yado-inn (dot) com I have to put the link like this or else the bots will remove it, sorry 🙁

Why was the Ministry of Finance keeping their eyes on the Far East Bank?

The reason was the discrepancy of jurisdictions.

The Ministry of Finance was a huge government agency, and its jurisdictions were divided into vertically segmented administrative systems.

Particularly in the financial sector, they were made up of three sections: Banking, Insurance, Bonds. It was strictly forbidden to step outside their jurisdiction.

“It seems like the Ministry of Finance caught on to how we dealt with the American Moonlight Fund.

Ichijo grumbled.

The Moonlight Fund, based in the United States, not only invested in IT companies and received their returns but also made high profits through trading IT company shares.

This is what caught the eyes of the Ministry of Finance.

“It’s in the United States, so there shouldn’t be any problems with Japanese regulations, right?”

“Even so, it’s also true that we didn’t show them due respect.” ¹

The Japanese bureaucracy is excellent.

In particular, at attacking those who disturb things under their jurisdiction.

As the Ministry of Finance’s convoy system for disposing of non-performing loans is coming apart, or rather, because it is coming apart, it is time for them to fix it.

“So, is the Ministry of Finance going to set something up?”

“For now, they’re just keeping their eyes on us. However, we’ll be scolded if we make any more flashy movements. This is the command from the current Minister of Finance.”

I grasped what was happening with Ichijo’s words.

The only piece I can move in the Far East Bank is only Ichijo, and if the Ministry of Finance feels like it, they can order the president of the bank to take administrative measures to remove Ichijo in a flash.

In other words, the moment they have your eyes on you, it’s a losing game at that point.

“That’s fine. Let’s keep quiet for now. However, I want to invest in domestic IT companies as well.”

Launched in 1995 by an American company, their operating system was a big hit and became the de facto standard, explosively popularizing IT throughout the world. ²

Afterwards, the next-generation operating system released in 1998 would be the deciding point.

Then, the IT bubble bloomed instantly in this country as well, but I wanted to take some measures before then.

“Tachibana. As a shareholder of the Far East Bank, I want to propose possessing a brokerage firm. Talk to the president about the acquisition.”

“Understood. If it’s a medium-sized security company, there should be a few you can buy.”

“However, most of the medium-sized security companies carry large amounts of bad debt. It would be bad if we purchased one poorly and have our profits be taken away by bad debt.”

Tachibana nodded to my instructions and put Ichijo on a hold.

If it’s just earning, it’ll be safe to make a new method only if there is no loss.

“Hmm. Let me think about this problem for a while. For the time being, continue investing in IT companies until they say something.”

In the end, I put off making a decision that day.

 

“The Far East Bank is accelerating their aggressive management.

After finishing the disposal of their non-performing loans, the Far East Bank has been repeatedly investing mainly in IT-related companies through the foreign Moonlight Fund.

They are trying to push a business model that will make money by popularizing computers that have been becoming popular among businesses and personal users.

This would be good if they succeed in disposing of their non-performing loans, but the Ministry of Finance did not have a good impression on this business model which involved security operations, and Far East Bank is now searching for any sort of solution.

In an interview with Far East Bank, they replied that they understood the problem, and on top of that, are discussing starting up a new securities company or acquiring a domestic mid-sized securities company……”

 

Even if I take off my child mask, I am still a child to the maids of this mansion. On top of the fact that my body is a child’s, my actions will be taken as a child’s no matter what I do.

“Ojou-sama. Today’s is Ojou-sama’s favorite, pudding.”

“Yay♪”

I always want something sweet when I use my head, so I have no problems at all.

Thus, the person who made it, Katsura Naomi-san, was happy to see me eating the pudding with fresh cream on top deliciously.

“When I see Ojou-sama eating so happy, I feel like it was worth the effort.”

Naomi-san is part of the Keikain Family’, not because she was not from a branch family, but because she was a woman connected by the blood of a branch family.

It seems like she was the illegitimate child of my grandfather’s little brother, and it seems like the rising Keikain Family at the time picked her up when she had nowhere to go.

Although she was treated as a family member, in the end, she understood the difference between herself and others, participated in the matchmaking conducted by the Keikain Family, and married.

Her son is a bank employee working at the main office.

“Come to think of it, wasn’t your son working at my Far East Bank’s head office?”

“Unfortunately not, Ojou-sama. He hated connections and as a result of studying a lot, he’s working in a slightly more well-off bank. I may introduce him one day, so I hope you will treat him kindly at the time.”

A bank better than Far East Bank, a member of the Second Association of Regional Banks, must be a regional bank or metropolitan bank. ³

Considering the Keika Group’s business transactions, weren’t they with Iwazaki business conglomerate’s Iwazaki Bank?

“I will be looking forward to that. By the way, which bank is it?”

There’s no way Naomi-san will know the future, so she somewhat proudly said the bank’s name.

“Yes. He is employed at Hokkaido Takushoku Bank’s comprehensive development department.”

Hokkaido Takushoku Bank, a low-rank city bank.

The comprehensive development department was said to have produced huge amounts of bad loans that triggered the bankruptcy.

 

“From the stock price perspective, it’s practically bankrupt.”
—March 1997, a few words from the commentator from “Sunday Project” news program—

 

While Hokkaido Takushoku Bank was counting down their days till bankruptcy, my assets continued to increase and kept rolling in.

When it had already surpassed 1USD:120YEN, I had already liquidated my funds and moved my profits, but even after handling Far East Bank’s bad debts, the same amount of yen remained in my hands.

On top of that, I still have not touched my assets from the Moonlight Fund.

“It’s inevitable that we need to be a securities company. However, it’s unacceptable if we have to take over one riddled in a bunch of bad debt.”

I was issuing instructions to Tachibana and Ichijo.

At this moment, I was preparing to buy a securities company, but I needed to create appropriate rules.

Our target was Sankai Securities, a domestic mid-sized securities company struggling with non-performing loans.

Despite it being targeted by the market, the Ministry of Finance was desperately searching for relief.

“All executives on the other party must resign. Those who have done unfair practices shall take responsibility for their wrongdoings. All bad debt, including those that are hidden, is to be cut off completely and passed to the settlement collection mechanisms. In order to stabilize during the financial crisis, we must receive the special loan issued by the Bank of Japan when companies merge or are acquired. Tell the Ministry of Finance that we will buy Sankai Securities under these conditions.”

Although they are small-scaled, the Ministry of Finance has to bail Sankai Securities out to maintain their reputation. ⁴

Sankai Securities fell into a deficit since 1992, and the Finance Ministry Securities Bureau has been pushing for a restructuring plan, but Sankai Securities, to this very day, continues to stay in the red and their management situation has not changed at all.

I guessed that the Finance Ministry Securities Bureau, who pushed for the plan, would want to conceal this incident to protect its reputation and I hit the mark.

A series of guidelines for disposing of non-performing loans, later called the “Keika Rule”, was agreed upon by the Ministry of Finance, setting the precedent of relieving Sankai Securities.

The Ministry of Finance decided to accept this rule in June.

 

“Far East Bank acquires Sankai Securities!”

Far East Bank, based in Sakata, Yamagata Prefecture, announced the acquisition of Sankai Securities, a second-level securities company based in Tokyo.

The amount of the acquisition is estimated to be 400 billion yen, and all executives from Sankai Securities have taken responsibility and resigned.

Prior to the acquisition, Sankai Securities’ subsidiary, Sankai Finance, also had a large amount of non-performing loans and filed under the Corporate Rehabilitation Law.

All other non-performing loans are expected to be sold off to a collection agency at market value and will be expecting a loss.

In response, Far East Bank said it has plans to invest and supplement the excess debt after reducing the capital by holding the shareholders responsible.

In addition, after this measure is implemented, the low capital adequacy ratio will be at a bottleneck, so they will be compensated with Bank of Japan’s special loan in order to stabilize.”

 

Helping Sankai Securities before they were driven into a dead-end meant that it removed the trigger for the nightmare chain that would follow Sankai Securities, Hokkaido Takushoku Bank, and Ichiyama Securities.

If there’s no chain effect, the bomb disposal can be carried out individually.

That was what I thought at that time.

If you are reading from a pirate or aggregator site, please read from the translator’s site: yado-inn (dot) com I have to put the link like this or else the bots will remove it, sorry 🙁

1. Slavemaster (Cloud): Is this a Chinese novel now? Losing face kekw.
   Slothmaster (Arocks): No! I refuse to let the Chinese taint this masterpiece! <b>Edited from:</b><i>“While that may be true, it’s a reality that we didn’t put on a good face for them.</i>
2. Slavemaster (Cloud): Microsoft if you couldn’t tell what she was talking about.
   Slothmaster (Arocks): As an avid hater of Microsoft and Windows, I hate to admit it, but Microsoft was indeed the harbinger of the era of computers.
3. Slavemaster (Cloud): Weird Japanese banking system that’s too much to explain.
   Slothmaster (Arocks): Not very comprehensive, but for those who want a direct link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_financial_system#Banks
4. Slavemaster (Cloudy): Chinese novel confirmed kekw.
   Slothmaster (Arocks): I! Refuse! <b>Edited from:</b><i> Although their scale is small, the Ministry of Finance has no choice but to bail out Sankai Securities due to keeping face.</i>