Chapter 453

Negotiations between Russia and Austria have already begun. Alexander II is not a reckless man. The main reason for the default is because of lack of money, which does not mean that he is not aware of the consequences of losing his credibility.

Even if it is to default, the impact must be minimized as much as possible. One day in the future, the tsarist government will still have to rebuild its credibility.

The worse the impact is now, the harder it will be to clean up in the future. The grain of the Russian Empire still needs to be exported, and relations with European countries cannot completely deteriorate.

Otherwise, even if it is the price of cabbage in the future, no one will want it. At that time, it will be a tragedy. You must know that overcapacity of food can also lead to an economic crisis.

The Russian Empire's own market alone does not have the strength to maintain an economic cycle. The era of playing behind closed doors has ended since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

Austria is not only the biggest creditor and part-time ally of the Russians, but also the most important part of the Russians' foreign relations.

If you can't even do it in Austria, you won't have to do the rest of the work. Future activities on the European continent will have nothing to do with the Russians.

In this era, many people still think that Russia is an Asian country. After all, the seven continents are also artificially divided, and the dividing line between Asia and Europe has not been recognized by the world.

Most of the territory of the Russian Empire is in Asia, and the European part is just over a quarter. It is not too much of a problem to say that they are Asian countries.

Of course, the Russians will not admit that they are an Asian country, and even Franz will not admit that if they are divided according to the location of the country, he will become an "non-chief".

This title alone is very ugly, so it is scientific to use the capital location to classify which state the country belongs to, and it must not be divided according to the location of the main land area.

At the Vienna Foreign Office, Wesenberg sent a note to the Russian minister to discuss the issue of Fao's debt.

"Mr. Solace, your country's sudden announcement of financial bankruptcy is a bit too much! As far as I know, your country's finances are difficult, but they are not at the point of immediate bankruptcy."

It's really not to the point of immediate bankruptcy, just in a few months. After the end of the civil war, the tsarist government had to pay more than half of its current fiscal revenue.

In this case, default can be said to be inevitable. Of course, if the czarist bureaucracy suddenly became clean and honest, it might be able to fill this hole.

Obviously, this is not possible. In this era, the bureaucrats of the governments of various countries are not so clean, and the so-called clean government is only relative.

Compared with the Russians, European bureaucrats are considered clean. It's not that they have less corruption and bribes, it's just that they have evolved to know what money can be received and what money can't be touched.

There are still very few fools who want money and not life. European countries basically have supervisory agencies, and the bound bureaucracy naturally performs better than the non-binding bureaucracy.

Minister Solace wept very calmly and said: "Your Excellency Minister, you do not understand our suffering. Years of continuous wars have taken a devastating blow to our domestic economy.

To tell you the truth, this year's fiscal revenue is probably less than 200 million rubles, which is back to 20 years ago.

However, the annual debt that needs to be repaid is as high as 120 million rubles, and the remaining money is simply not enough to maintain the government.

From the outbreak of the Russian-Prussian War to the present, our annual fiscal deficit has exceeded our fiscal revenue. Please read the detailed information here. "

Looking at the thick document, Wesenberg did not reach for it. These are open secrets, and the Vienna government is well aware of how bad the financial situation of the Tsarist government was.

The current fiscal revenue is less than 200 million rubles, which is normal. After losing so much land and smashing the Moscow region, the only problem is that the fiscal revenue does not decrease.

"Mr. Solace, today we are not discussing your country's financial issues, you should report this to your country's Ministry of Finance, they are the ones in charge.

The purpose of our meeting today is to discuss the debt issue between the two countries. Debt repayment is approved by God, and your country must give a clear answer. "

The failure to take off the topic, Solace is not frustrated. You can fool for a while, but you can't fool for a lifetime. Such a large amount of debt cannot be solved by talking about it.

"I'm sorry, Your Excellency. With our current financial situation, we are unable to continue to pay our debts, and we request an extension of payment.

This period is tentatively set after five years. At the same time, we hope that the loan interest and the debt default penalty can be waived, otherwise we will not be able to repay it after five years. "

With no interest repayment, the total debt between Russia and Austria has been directly reduced by half, and the actual payment that the Russians need to pay has shrunk to less than one-third of the original amount.

This obviously exceeds the bottom line of the Vienna government. According to this standard, the Vienna government will lose money for the Russians.

Wesenberg shook his head and said solemnly: "Sorry, Your Excellency Minister, we cannot accept this condition.

We have guaranteed many of your government's loans, otherwise you wouldn't be able to get the loan at such a low interest rate.

Now that you default, this debt needs to be borne by us, and as an ally, we can't be so deceitful.

We require that it be implemented in accordance with the contract, and the deferred payment of the loan can be negotiated. The loan interest we provide is already very favorable, and we cannot continue to reduce it. "

No one is doing the money-losing business, and the Vienna government can't take advantage of it. The Tsarist government did not want to declare bankruptcy because it was forced by reality, and Austria would not dare to follow suit.

...

Negotiations are still in a stalemate, and both sides want to fight for more interests. This news is not a good thing for the Austrian financial community.

In particular, the securities firms that undertook Russian bonds in private, and the banks that provided loans to Russians. This kind of private cross-border debt has always been the most difficult to collect.

Originally, compared with commercial loans, the security of national debt is actually the highest. Under normal circumstances, few countries default on their debts.

It's a pity that I met the Russians. If it was a small country, even if it was going to default, it would at most announce the suspension of payments, and then take the initiative to negotiate to extend the debt.

It is tragic now that the Russian representatives are gone. If the tsarist government hadn't acknowledged the existence of this debt, they would have wondered if they had been deceived.

Admit it, admit it, no money or no money anyway. When will the money be repaid, no one has given any answer to this question.

Their only hope is this Russia-Austria negotiation. If the Vienna government doesn't get the Russians, then this debt is everyone's bad debt.

Who does not have a few bad debts in the hands of finance? If it weren't for the strict supervision of the Vienna government, they would have already dumped their losses on private investors and reopened their businesses with a new vest.

Regrettably, Austrian law is too strict, even if it escapes punishment. The law also stipulates that after the bankruptcy of any financial institution, all three generations of management and shareholders are not allowed to engage in similar businesses.

This is very restrictive for the financial predators, and the trick of Jin Chan's shelling does not work. Risks must be considered when speculating, and if something goes wrong, it is very likely to be implicated behind the scenes.

Otherwise, starting with Russia's declaration of default on its debts, there should have been a wave of bankruptcies in Austrian financial institutions.

So far, more than three-digit financial institutions across the continent have declared bankruptcy because of Russia's default, and Austria's financial industry is still struggling.

Looking at the long-term interests, as long as the capitalists can survive, no one wants to be out at this time.

Philip Potter was just one of them, and after a lot of running around, he still didn't get the answer he wanted.

High profits are always accompanied by high risks, and it is easy to reduce risks. Don’t make capital preservation commitments when selling bonds, and clearly inform investors of the risks.

The issuance of bonds is not based on credit, but with guarantees. As long as it has been strictly reviewed, even if there is a problem with the final debt, it is impossible to lose everything.

Returning to the company in a hurry, Philippe sat in the office and smoked a cigarette. I have already started to think about whether to raise funds from other places to fill this hole.

The high commission plus the liquidated damages paid in advance, in the case of calculating the company's operating costs and taxes, the loss this time is about 5.6 million Aegis.

As for the company's operating costs and taxes, in fact, the commissions obtained at the beginning and the benefits brought by rolling in the financial market can already be made up for.

If it is comprehensively calculated, the loss of this business may be even smaller, otherwise the financial industry will not be called a profiteering industry.

Even all bondholders need to pay in advance, and the funds that need to be spent are only 66.7 million Aegis.

Half of the funds on the company's projects can be solved, some of the long-held stocks and bonds can be sold, and another 1.5 million Aegis can be raised.

Selling a few mansions under your own name can also raise 40,000 or 500,000 Aegis, and the final shortfall is one million Aegis.

As long as the company is kept, the money can be earned back. After all, Philip Potter's securities company does not exist alone, and also holds shares in a bank.

Part of the profits that Philippot gets from the company is used for personal consumption, and the vast majority is invested in other fields, one of which is the bank.

Even at this moment, he has no intention of selling his bank shares. Without the status of bank shareholders, it is difficult for securities companies to seek financing.

While he was thinking about how to raise funds, a familiar voice came from outside the door.

"Mr. Philippot, good news, good news!"

Philippe said calmly: "Alpha speak slowly, don't get excited."

The young man of Alpha said breathlessly: "Just received news that Wells Fargo Securities is buying Russian bonds in the market.

It's just that the price is a bit low. They are only willing to pay two layers of face value, which is lower than the current market value, and also restricts to only accept the exclusive bonds issued by the Russians to Austria. "

After the tsarist government declared default, the value of Russian bonds fell. It didn't suddenly become waste paper. After all, it is still possible for the Russians to pay, but there is little hope.

Price is price, but unfortunately there is no market. No matter how much the price is, no one in the market dares to accept it. To collect debts from the Russians, everyone still doesn't think they have that ability.

The actions of Wells Fargo Securities have undoubtedly injected a good medicine into the market. However, this has little to do with Philip Potter. Repurchasing Russian bonds is terrible, and then collecting bonds from the market to earn the difference, let's forget it!

This kind of high-risk money, only the predators dare to play. As a pawn in the capital market, don't join in the fun.

"Contact them immediately, we have a lot of bonds in hand, ask them if they want it. As long as they can offer 50% off, I'll sell it to them if it's not 40% off!"

This is a test. Compared with the financial giants, Philip Potter's news is still not well-informed.

Whether it was a smoke bomb released by Wells Fargo Securities or whether things really took a turn for the better is completely unknown.

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After all, the number of bonds held by big institutions is much larger than they are. There are not one or two financial institutions that are forced to repurchase bonds in advance.

In order to stabilize people's hearts, it is entirely possible to deliberately release a message. It's not just Philippot who is skeptical, many financial institutions in Austria are skeptical.

It is an open secret that the Russia-Austria negotiations have reached a deadlock, and most people in the financial industry are closely watching the negotiation process.

It is not difficult to know the specific content, it may be difficult to get information from the Austrian diplomacy, but to find out the negotiation process from the Russian side, it is only a matter of money.

However, no one can judge whether the news is true or not. Under normal circumstances, the reputation of Russian bureaucrats is still very good, and it is their good professional ethics to collect money and do things.

If things can't be done, it is very likely that you will still enjoy the refund service, which many people have experienced.

This time, however, the situation is different, and the problems involved are too great. If someone offers a high price, it is not impossible for them to act on the scene.

The most reliable way is to ask the Foreign Minister to confirm in person that no one knows how to do such a stupid thing. Courting death is not like this. The dignity of the Vienna government cannot be provoked, and it will kill people to dare to peep at state secrets.

Experimenting with Wells Fargo Securities became the only option. If the negotiations made progress, then everyone would make a lot of money by holding a large number of Russian bonds in their hands. Otherwise, the big deal was the same as now.