Chapter 113: Problems with Subprime Loans

Facing Zhou Ming's request, Louis did not respond right away, but instead stood there staring blankly at Zhou Ming. Zhou Ming curiously asked him what the problem was, and Louis said, 'Mr. Zhou Ming, I now very much suspect that you are deliberately trying to make things difficult for me, because within the Brighton Bank, many of the holding companies of our Lowell family operate these subprime loan companies.'

Zhou Ming smiled and shrugged his shoulders: 'I didn't know this, but from what you said, it seems that I have asked the right person. Due to your responsibilities, you would know more about the subprime loans of Brighton Bank.'

Almost as soon as Zhou Ming finished speaking, Louis jumped up and shouted, 'Chinese, I want to solemnly tell you that I am the head of the proud Lowell family, not your servant. If you want to know any information, please go through these documents yourself!'

Zhou Ming was taken aback by Louis's agitation. He didn't expect Louis to jump to his feet and curse as soon as he had not even made any demands. It seemed that his barrage of questions had driven him over the edge. But despite Louis's cursing, Zhou Ming remained indifferent. Instead, he asked Louis a question in return: 'Mr. Louis, are you really sure you want me to go through the documents myself?'

Nonsense! Of course I want you to go through the documents yourself, and not just these subprime loan documents, but also other documents about Brighton Bank!

This was the answer that came to Louis's mind first, but in the end, Louis didn't even say it, because Zhou Ming's meaningful smile made him instinctively feel a tightening of the buttocks.

'Zhou Ming, what do you want?' Louis asked very warily.

Zhou Ming answered with his hands spread out: 'What else can I do? Since Mr. Louis is unwilling to help, I will have to look through the documents myself, except that by then, my thoughts may not be shared with Mr. Louis.'

Louis said in a low voice, 'Mr. Zhou Ming, what do you mean by that? Are you threatening me?'

'I didn't say that. It's just that whatever you think, it's none of my business,' Zhou Ming said, glancing at his watch. 'We've already delayed too long in Rhode Island. I'm going to start looking through the information now. If Mr. Louis is fine, you can leave first. After all, you're not going to help us find the documents, are you?'

After giving Louis the order to leave, Zhou Ming took Lin Muqing and walked towards the pile of documents, which was as big as a quarter of a basketball court and as high as half a person. They then divided up the work and started looking for them.

Louis was left on his own. He watched the actions of Zhou Ming and Lin Muqing, and snorted disdainfully, 'Don't pretend in front of me, thinking that I will be scared?'

Zhou Ming and Lin Muqing just gave him a cold stare in response to his words and then left him alone. This made Louis panic, because if they really found the hidden dangers of subprime loans and then deliberately hid it from him and Edward Lawrence to make some kind of deal and betray the interests of the Lowell family, what would they do? Even if it wasn't a problem with subprime loans, if there were any other problems, Louis believed that they would definitely be able to work together with the other two families to take advantage of him.

This damned despicable Chinese!

Louis cursed in his heart, then walked out and said to them, 'You really have had enough. You want to know about the subprime mortgage crisis, so I'll tell you, okay?'

Upon hearing this, Zhou Ming immediately raised his head from the pile of documents. 'It seems that Mr. Louis has finally come to his senses.'

After saying this, Zhou Ming put down the documents, sat back down on the sofa with Lin Muqing, and at the same time, they invited Louis to come and sit down and talk.

Louis didn't know how many times today he had wanted to vomit blood. From the way Zhou Ming and Lin Muqing had behaved, Louis knew that he had obviously been tricked by them. They had clearly been pretending to threaten him before, with the aim of making him lose his composure and then take the initiative to help them find information. It was hateful that he had clearly thought of it all, but still fell for their trick.

How could Zhou Ming and Lin Muqing not see the anger in Louis's eyes? Yet they still had innocent expressions on their faces.

Zhou Ming's approach was very manly. He knew that Louis was so angry that he wanted to kill someone, but he wasn't worried that Louis would back out because, as a nobleman, it was not in his character to go back on his word.

In the end, just as Zhou Ming had expected, Louis was so angry that he was shaking all over, but he sat down anyway and said with gritted teeth, 'Chinese, one day, I will throw you into the White Mountain Forest to feed the wolves!'

In the face of Louis' threat, Zhou Ming said nonchalantly, "Let's talk about that some other time, but for now I think we should first understand the problem with the subprime loans at Brighton Bank.'

Although Louis was still full of anger, he had decided to sit down, so he still answered honestly, "The so-called subprime loans refer to people with insufficient credit ratings who, due to the bank's lending regulations, are unable to obtain loans directly from the bank and can only obtain bank loans through some loan companies in the secondary market.'

'In fact, Brighton Bank has been operating in the subprime loan business for a long time. As early as two hundred years ago, Harry Investment Bank, controlled by the Adams family, began to provide loans to low-income earners, minorities and people with little financial knowledge at interest rates much higher than Brighton Bank's. This business has never stopped, until recently, with the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act and the Alternative Mortgage Transaction Parity Act and the latest tax reform bill, Brighton Bank has accelerated the development of its subprime loan business.'

Louis added, 'Of course, due to the restrictions of the Banking Act and Brighton Bank's own positioning, Brighton Bank was unable to directly participate in subprime loans. Therefore, the consortium relied on cultivation and acquisition to control more than 100 investment companies that operate subprime loans.'

'So the largest company is Harry Investment Bank, which you just mentioned, Mr. Louis?' Lin Muqing asked.

Louis shook his head and replied, 'Although Harry Investment Bank is the oldest subprime loan company in the Adams family, it is not the largest company. The largest is McDowell Investment Bank, an investment bank that has emerged in the past decade. It was acquired and controlled by the Adams family because of its outstanding performance in the subprime loan market. As far as I know, this McDowell Investment Bank has its own set of business methods.'

'It can't be that it relies on other investment companies to buy all the subprime loans of other investment companies in the form of bonds and then sell them to other investors, can it?' Zhou Ming picked up where Louis left off and asked.

'Yes, that's the method.' Louis gave Zhou Ming a high look, 'It seems that Mr. Zhou Ming also has some understanding of the secondary loan market.'

Zhou Ming smiled lightly and didn't say much on this issue. Instead, he said to Louis, 'I think I have a certain understanding of the subprime loans of the Brighton Bank. Then would you please do me another favour and help me prepare the information on investment companies like Harry and McDowell? Lin and I are very tired and would like to go back and rest first.'

After dropping these words on Louis, Zhou Ming immediately pulled up Lin Muqing and left the living room.

Louis watched Zhou Ming and Lin Muqing leave in a daze. After a while, he cursed, 'Zhou Ming, you shameless bastard!'

However, at this time, Zhou Ming had already returned to the room with Lin Muqing, so he did not hear it. Of course, even if he heard it, he would be very at ease and indifferent, but Lin Muqing would be a little worried.

'Zhou Ming, do you think Louis will help us prepare?' Lin Muqing asked.

Zhou Ming shook his head and said, 'I don't know about that, but I think he will, because I could sense from his tone that he or the Lowell family is not optimistic about this subprime loan.'

'I think this is very normal. After all, the targets of subprime loans are low-income people and ethnic minorities, and the repayment risk is very high, which can easily lead to bad debts and dead debts. Even if the risk can be shared with other investors by distributing bonds, for an orthodox financial family, there is still no need to take this risk,' Lin Muqing said.

'I think there's another point,' Zhou Ming picked up where Lin Muqing left off, "From my contacts, these French people from the Lowell family are all very arrogant. I think the reason they don't like subprime loans is that they don't want those poor people to tarnish their noble loans.'

Lin Muqing was very surprised: "Is there really such a thought?'

Zhou Ming shrugged and said, 'Who knows, there's nothing strange in the world.'

Lin Muqing had to accept Zhou Ming's way of thinking. She asked Zhou Ming again, 'Do you really think that subprime loans can threaten the Adams family?'

'Of course not if it's just subprime loans. After all, Brighton Bank is the core pillar of this super consortium, and it's impossible to invest all that huge assets in this. My idea is to affect the bond market through subprime loans and then spread to the entire financial market...' Zhou Ming thought about it and continued, 'Put simply, I want to create a financial crisis that targets the Adams family through subprime loans.'

'Manually create a financial crisis?' Lin Muqing took a sharp intake of breath.

Lin Muqing was very shocked, because this was really crazy. Although Lin Muqing had been the chairman of the Hong Kong-City Joint Investment Fund for some time, she also believed that many financial crises were manipulated by people, but those were manipulated by huge consortia. Now, Zhou Ming was just one person, and even most of the funds had been frozen, so how could he still create a financial crisis targeting the Adams family?

Even if the person saying this is Zhou Ming, and even if she has witnessed too many incredible miracles from Zhou Ming, those miracles can all be traced back to a cause, and they are still within the normal scope of finance. It's just that Zhou Ming's vision is a little more accurate. But now, this is far from a matter of vision.

It's not that Lin Muqing doesn't believe in Zhou Ming, but if just anyone can create a financial crisis, then the financial crisis would be too cheap. How can something so cheap affect a huge family? Could it be that there is help from the Kennedys, the Lawrences, and the Lowell family?

Zhou Ming could see what Lin Muqing was thinking. He told Lin Muqing, 'Regarding this matter, the three families are all masters at not acting unless they see a rabbit. I don't think they will contribute casually before the financial crisis takes shape.'

'So what exactly do you want to do, Zhou Ming?' Lin Muqing asked, puzzled.

'I haven't thought of a concrete plan yet, and I can't make a decision until I've looked at the detailed information,' Zhou Ming said, looking at Lin Muqing. 'But there is one thing we can do first. Muqing, your investment fund is still available, right? How much money can we use specifically right now?'

The answer to this question was directly imprinted in Lin Muqing's mind, so she almost responded reflexively, 'I still have US$3 million left in my investment fund that I can use.'

'Since that's all there is, there's nothing we can do,' Zhou Ming said. 'Sister Muqing, then let's go talk to Brighton Bank about a merger in the name of the merger and acquisition fund.'