Chapter 1008 Conscience Bank
Unlike the shit-stirring stick who fears chaos in the world, as a pacifist, Franz has always hated chaos the most.
Seeing that the European continent is about to fall into chaos, as a responsible European overlord, Franz knew that he should do something.
In essence, the turmoil in Europe this time is due to the economic crisis. The time of the outbreak of the crisis was artificially delayed, but the follow-up flood discharge work was not done well, so that the situation lost control after the outbreak of the crisis.
Previous economic crises were usually caused by one or two of economic policy errors, money supply and demand imbalances, overheated investment, stock market bubbles, excess debt, natural disasters, financial turmoil, and excess capacity.
This economic crisis is different, except for natural disasters, everything else is complete. The consequences are naturally unprecedented.
The governments of various countries have no experience in dealing with this kind of large-scale economic crisis, and each of them has adopted a laissez-faire attitude, watching the situation deteriorate to the point where it is now.
According to the data collected by the Vienna government, after the outbreak of the economic crisis, unemployment rates in all countries have experienced explosive growth.
Although they are all sending immigrants overseas to ease the employment pressure in the country, immigration is not an easy task.
Shinra has rich immigration experience, and there are a large group of noble lords vying for important people. The one-stop service is perfect, and even the countries with the entire German-speaking cultural circle benefit, and someone arranges it from beginning to end.
It's different in other European countries, and not every aristocrat is a master of linguistics, and immigrants who don't understand the language and culture don't dare to ask for it.
There is no team to take the initiative to recruit people, and the immigration is mainly by the people spontaneously. Even if the government provides convenience, not many people leave. What's even more tragic is that most of the people who ran out were middle-class people. Ordinary people couldn't even afford a boat ticket to the colony, and they had to rely on relatives and friends to make things up.
In this context, the progress of immigration is naturally not fast. If they were all like Shinra, where someone ran over to pull people as soon as they lost their jobs, where would there be any risk of revolution?
Getting rid of the economic crisis will not happen in a short while. It’s not okay to hang up, you must abide by the natural regulation of the market. Relying on policy to stimulate the economy compulsively can only relieve the urgent need, and it will also leave serious sequelae.
If you can't solve the problem, then solve the person who caused the problem. Don't look at the dangers of those little brothers, in fact, not many of them have problems.
If you do the math, you can tell that the total population of the seven states in Italy is about 15 million, Greece has more than one million people, Belgium now has more than 4 million people, and Switzerland has about 2 million people. Ten thousand people, Spain's largest population is more than 18 million people, and all together it is about 40 million people.
Calculated according to this population ratio, there are no more than 20 million people of working age who have a labor force, and the actual number may be even smaller. Even though the unemployment rate is as high as 20 percent, only 4 million people are unemployed.
Unemployment could not be higher. Except for Belgium, which is slightly more industrialized, the rest are agricultural countries. The proportion of the industrial population is less than 30%, so they can't all be unemployed, right?
Even if they are unemployed, not everyone faces difficulties in life, and immigrants who run away don't need to worry about it. Those with a little wealth who can survive the economic crisis don't need to worry about it either.
Taking into account the actual situation, as long as the employment problem of 3 million of them is solved, the social order can be initially stabilized.
Franz definitely doesn't have jobs, but it doesn't matter, the colonies of the Shinra Empire definitely have them. With so many noble lords, even if they help them build castles, manors, and farms, they can create three million jobs.
Not hiring overseas labor is not because the nobles and lords don't want to hire them. The key is the language barrier and the inability to command flexibly.
Personally, this is a big hassle. But for the government, it is not a problem. As long as it can be managed in a unified manner, whether it is language training or language translation, it is a good choice.
It doesn't even need the government to intervene, and the labor dispatch company can handle it. You must know that in recent years, there have been several labor dispatch giants in the Shenluo Empire.
Accumulatively provided tens of millions of labor force to the American continent, made outstanding contributions to the economic development of the Americas, and accumulated rich experience in labor dispatch.
Now there is nothing to do with the American route. These guys have been exporting to domestic sales, and they continue to organize immigrants from the European continent to the colonies to obtain commissions from noble lords.
Frankly speaking, if it weren't for the powerful boss Franz, the group of fief nobles in Shinra would definitely not be as rich as they are now.
Territory construction is very expensive. Although the nobles are quite wealthy, if they don't know the planning, it is easy to bankrupt themselves.
In order to help everyone build their territories, Franz specially hired noble children who have experience in building territories to act as their territory development consultants and help them formulate development plans according to the actual situation.
This is obviously not enough. In addition to the development plan, there are also bank loans with sufficiently low interest rates. Compared with the commercial loan interest rates of more than ten points and dozens of points on the market, the policy loans provided by the Royal Bank only charge a symbolic two points.
It's really symbolic, there are no additional conditions, and only two points of interest are charged. It is not even enough for operating costs, and there is no profit at all. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is doing charity.
In fact, since its inception, the Royal Bank's special attributes have determined that it cannot pursue high interest rates and high returns like ordinary commercial banks.
Therefore, the Royal Bank has never accepted ordinary commercial loans, only engaged in international loans, or policy loans, and the interest rate has never been higher.
Of course, the royal consortium is an exception. Their own business can still get preferential loans from the Royal Bank, after all, the emperor also has to eat. For the reputation of the royal family, the Royal Bank does not aim at profit, but it did not say that it cannot make money indirectly through other channels!
Including providing low-interest loans to nobles, which seems to have little benefit, but the hidden interests behind it are actually extraordinary.
If Franz hadn't been the emperor, he wouldn't have been able to do such a business. The loan is indeed inconspicuous, but behind the loan is the economic lifeline of many feudal nobles in the Shenluo Empire.
Franz could see it, and so could others. As early as the beginning of the enfeoffment of the nobles, capitalists who were unwilling to be lonely stepped in, but the ending of these people was not very good in the end.
There is no way, all the fief nobles of Shenluo were killed with one knife and one gun. If they want to control the lifeline of others through economic means, what is it if they are not courting death?
Especially the group of guys who fantasized about occupying the magpie's nest through loan traps, and now grass is growing on every grave. It doesn't matter if you play with a contract, as long as you can play with a gun.
The feudal nobles are equal to the princes and kings, this is not a joke. When it comes to other people's territory, if they want to turn their backs, how can a few capitalists turn their backs?
It is a tradition left by our ancestors not to repay the debt. As long as you read the history books, you will know that it is never a new thing to kill creditors without paying the money.
The Royal Bank can do this business because Franz is the lord of the nobles, and the loan interest provided is very low. It can be declared to the outside world that he is helping the younger brother to overcome the financial difficulties and gain both fame and fortune. There is no such thing as trouble.
Others can't do it, and it won't work if anyone comes. The seniors have already set an example, there is no problem in borrowing usury, and they dare to sign even the harshest loan conditions, as long as they kill the creditor afterwards.
It doesn't matter if you can't kill it. In your own territory, the lord has the right to formulate laws and taxes, as long as they don't conflict with the central government's decrees.
For example: Some lords enacted the "Usury Debt Exemption Law", and they directly stipulated in the legal situation that all commercial loans with a loan interest exceeding 8% were not protected by law.
It fully complied with the spirit of the Constitution of the Shenluo Empire, except that one of the usury identification standards was removed, and then the standard usury interest rate dropped from 48% to 8%, legally repaying the debt.
As for the spirit of the contract, that can't be eaten as food. As long as you let go of your integrity, the capitalists will have nothing to do with these princes and kings who can make rules.
learn from mistakes. With the lessons learned from the blood of the martyrs, the bankers have learned to be smart, and they have included these princes and kings in the loan blacklist early.
Even if commercial banks really want to lend money, they have to go back to the mainland to sign the loan contract, and even the collateral must be in the mainland, because they are afraid that these guys will not be able to repay the debt and throw the table.
Excluding potential political benefits, low-interest loans can actually be profitable, but this time period needs to be extended to 20 to 30 years, or even longer.
Royal Bank does not accept personal business loans, and it is not that it does not accept personal deposits. Don't look at these aristocratic lords who are poor now, but once the territory develops, all of them will be big local tyrants in the future.
With the deposits of these people, the Royal Bank will be the bank with the most abundant cash flow in the world in the future, bar none.
Otherwise, the two-point loan interest ghost ability, especially if you have to open branches in the colonies, even with the support of the central bank, it is a proper loss-making project. It is the same to push the political benefits to the state-owned banks.
According to the Royal Bank's public financial report, only overseas colonial branches are operating, and they lose millions of Aegis every year.
If it were not for value-added services such as agency bond issuance and listing and financing for companies, this top ten bank in the world would have occupied the top of the World Bank's loss list for many years.
Making money has the benefits of making money, and not making money also has the benefits of not making money. A royal bank that is not profitable and often loses money has also gained a lot of reputation for Franz.
Even though the bank's asset scale has been expanding since its establishment, because of its non-profitable nature, people can't even feel jealous.
Of course, this is just the opinion of ordinary people. The eyes of those who play finance have long been jealous. Only they know the potential benefits of having a bank with sufficient cash flow.
Jealousy is useless. On the surface, the Royal Bank is a charity. Once "profits" are generated, except for making up for the previous financial losses, the excess is used by the emperor for charity.
Compared with all banks on the market, Royal Bank is a model of conscience in the banking industry. All of this will be blamed, and other banks will not be able to survive.
In a sense, the Royal Bank also acts as an "intelligence organization", monitoring every move of the colony.
Although it is impossible to know what the nobles eat every meal, the general development of the colony can still be figured out.
Which ones are quiet, which ones are ambitious, which ones want to do something, is on record.
The prime minister can punt a boat in his belly, and Franz's mind is not bad. As long as these people don't challenge his bottom line, then the emperor and his ministers are compatible; if they cross the line, then no wonder he, the emperor, cheats people.
That's right, it's a scam. In the context of European society, as long as nobles do not commit major crimes, the emperor can do nothing about them.
Even for a powerful emperor like Franz, it is impossible to convict others before something happens. What the emperor can do is to wear small shoes for others, or to wear shoes in front of others.
Dig a few holes.
Wearing small shoes for people is too untechnical, and it is easy to be criticized. In contrast, digging holes in the dark is much more comfortable. Many people fell into the pit and were buried without knowing who did it.
It's just that this kind of treatment is not something that ordinary people can enjoy. Ordinary minor nobles, unless they raise their flags to rebel, otherwise they won't be able to catch Franz's eyes at all.
Franz has seen many aristocrats who committed suicide, but he has never encountered one who directly raised the flag to rebel, and the most stupid one is to join the Revolutionary Party. "Princes and generals are kind to each other", this slogan is really not shouted.
In line with the concept of being helpful, Franz decided to help the younger brothers. Anyway, the colony is short of young and strong labor force now, and the nobles are about to fight to rob people.
Franz did not dare to absorb several million foreign immigrants at one time, but there is still no pressure to provide several million temporary jobs.
I'm not afraid that the nobles will refuse, the rare cheap labor, once you pass this village, there will be no such shop anymore.
Now is the worst period of the economic crisis, the average salary of European workers has dropped to the lowest point in ten years, and is still declining slowly.
Don't look at the fact that French mercenaries can get a high salary of almost 15 Aegis per month, but that is life-saving money during the war, and they need to fight with their lives. Even if ordinary workers go to the colonies, their salaries cannot be much higher.
According to the current market conditions of the labor market in continental Europe, hiring a young and strong labor force to open up wasteland in Africa can be done with 5 Aegis per month including food and housing.
Considering the uneven income of people in various countries, some poor countries can also hire people as long as they provide simple board and lodging and a monthly salary of 3 Aegis.
Such cheap labor is completely unimaginable in the Holy Roman Empire. If the salary is not doubled, hiring people is a joke.
Affected by the Great Immigration Policy, unknowingly, the labor cost of the Shenluo Empire has climbed to the highest in continental Europe, keeping pace with Britain.
"Cheap" labor, that has become history. If the industries of the Shenluo Empire hadn't developed, the high labor cost alone would have killed all labor-intensive industries.
The cost of labor is determined by the economic level and the relationship between supply and demand in the market. The labor cost in Shinra is high, and the labor cost in the colonies is even higher.
Without a high salary, who would like to go to the poor land?