How luxurious could an office be?
This question was ridiculous. People had different understandings of luxury, so there would be different luxuries. However, this was indeed a luxurious room.
The gold-plated ceiling and natural crystal chandeliers, plus bear heads and lion heads on the wall, and two ivory tusks that were taller than a person on the display cabinet. Such "simple" furnishings were enough to show how luxurious the decoration of this room was.
However, the things in this office were the same as most offices. They were the property of the company. Only a few personal items belonged to the employees of the company who used this room.
His name was Joe Griman, and he was the manager of the credit department of the Jinhui Bank branch in Saibin City.
This kind of administrative manager was completely different from the customer service managers outside. He was one step away from being promoted to the level of a bank branch president, but this step was very difficult to cross.
Unlike most official institutions, the second-ranked official in the local area would be promoted to the first-ranked position in the local area. Within the Jinhui Bank, if Joe Griman wanted to be promoted, he might be transferred from the branch to the regional branch or the headquarters, starting from the middle to lower level.
The meaning of being a president was not as simple as the title. Of course, Joe Griman did not think that he could become a president. This kind of thing was unlikely to happen.
He lacked a lot of capital. He had no support on the board of directors of the head office, and those people looked down on a general manager of the credit department of a branch in a second-tier city. This made his road to promotion very long. Fortunately, he was easily satisfied.
He was just forty-two years old, had a successful career, a young and beautiful wife, and three very lively and cute children. If there were not too many problems, he might stay in Saibin City until he was forty-eight years old, and then transfer to the branch to make way for other people.
The generous treatment of the bank made him never think about some problems after he was transferred from an important position. High benefits and high treatment were enough for him to live happily for the rest of his life.
Of course, everyone would have some kind of small trouble. It had nothing to do with whether they were successful or not. Even the president of the Bailey Federation could not have everything to worry about.
What Joe Griman was worried about was that the number of loans in Saibin City had been declining. The number of loans had nothing to do with managers of his level.
If he completed more loans, he might be talked about by the higher-ups of the branch in a meeting.
The ones who didn't complete a lot of tasks were the ones who were unlucky, even though they were all managers.
But it was still a bit unpleasant. Every year at the end of the year, Jinhui Bank would have a paid trip at public expense. Everyone worked in the same company, but they were in different areas. It was inevitable that they would talk about their work together.
If they did well, they would definitely be praised by others. Moreover, if they completed their tasks well, they would have more opportunities to be promoted. In the future, they might even become his superiors.
If they didn't do well, although they wouldn't be openly mocked by others, they would become the green leaf that set off others in the process of various comparisons. That feeling wasn't good at all.
He wanted to solve these problems, but there was nothing he could do. As one of the six major banks in the Bailey Federation, Jinhui Bank had a good understanding of the financial market and international economic trends.
Ever since the explosive economic development of the Bailey Federation ended a few years ago, the economy had been a bit sluggish in recent years.
The financial market was still very active, and there was no obvious trend of decline. This made people say that this was a "short" period of silence after the explosion. After the "rebound period" was over, the economy of the Federation would have a significant increase again.
Everyone believed these words, but the problem was, wasn't this rebound period too long? It had been almost three years, and the weak market and declining economy had begun to prick people's nerves, especially when the explosive growth dividend period was gradually coming to an end. People had begun to walk out from the blind spectators. The entire Bayler Federation seemed to be thriving on the surface, but there was an undercurrent surging underneath.
In the seven months of this year, a total of more than two thousand companies had been registered in Saibin City. At the same time, more than six hundred small and micro enterprises had gone bankrupt and liquidated. It wasn't that the banks couldn't find people to borrow money, but that they didn't dare to lend money.
If they lent out the money and couldn't get it back, they would be in big trouble. The higher-ups said that they would give each branch a quota of bad debts every year, but if you really tried to fill up the quota, a single phone call could change the personnel structure of the entire branch.
As the person who gave the final approval, George Griman was always very cautious. He would rather not lend out a single cent than be kicked out. He wanted to stay in this position for a few more years until his three children were grown up and he arranged for them to work in the bank.
When people reached his age and didn't have many pursuits, they would start to think about their children. Most people were like this.
While he was reading some dirty magazines at his desk to kill time, one of the four phones in front of his desk rang. It was a private phone. Only those who had a good relationship with him knew this number. After adjusting his mood a little, he picked up the phone. "This is Joe Griman …"
"It's me, Johnson. Are you free at noon?"
On the other end of the phone, the director of the local tax bureau called.
The number of times the banks dealt with the tax bureau was far more than the number of times they greeted the Bureau of Investigation. Although they often dealt with the Bureau of Investigation, they didn't like the people in the Bureau of Investigation.
On the contrary, the tax bureau was easier to get in touch with. It was mutually beneficial, especially for the middle and senior management of the bank. Their income was ten times or even dozens of times that of others. How to legally avoid taxes had become a headache for them. However, if they had people from the tax bureau to help them organize the materials, then everything would be much simpler.
In return, they would also give the tax bureau very active cooperation. Occasionally, they would push some insider information, such as the recent good market of a certain fund, changes in the board of directors of a listed company, and so on.
George Griman was mostly in contact with middle-level personnel like Michael. He knew Johnson and had contacted him a few times, but the number and frequency of contact was very low.
When it came to Johnson's position, the Bailey Federation's Ministry of Supervision would check him from time to time to see if he was involved in crimes committed by duty.
The Federation didn't pay much attention to the grassroots and frontline staff. Even if these people used their power to commit crimes, the damage to the entire Federation and society was extremely limited. However, the main people in charge of the local area were different. Once they were involved in crimes committed by duty, the damage caused was immeasurable.
The Ministry of Supervision would keep an eye on them. Even if George Griman had the opportunity to sit down and make friends with Johnson, he would try his best to avoid suspicion.
This time, the other party came looking for him. He couldn't avoid it. He could only say that he was free.
Johnson invited him to have lunch together. This request was honestly very strange. They didn't have any friendship. It was obvious that the other party wanted to talk to him about something.
After hanging up the phone, he thought for a long time but still couldn't find a reason why Johnson suddenly invited him. He could only prepare in advance with a stomach full of doubts.
On the other side, 20 minutes before the appointed time, Lynch and Johnson had already arrived at the meeting place.
George Griman dug out his brain and ate it to fill his brain, but he still couldn't figure out that Johnson was just a medium. The person who really wanted to meet him was Lynch, an ordinary person.