Chapter 1284

The collapse of the Tokyo Stock Exchange naturally drew the attention of Japan's financial regulatory authorities.

The violent stock market tsunami centered in Ginza quickly brought the heads of various regulatory departments—including the Securities Bureau of the Ministry of Finance, the Securities and Exchange Council, the Bank of Japan, and the Japan Securities Dealers Association—into a single conference room.

However, what made people feel a bit bitter was that the government official nominally in charge of securities and finance in Japan, the Minister of Finance... Kiichi Miyazawa, was deeply mired in the Recruit bribery scandal and had to resign to apologize...

Moreover, many officials in the Ministry of Finance were also involved, and the current functional state of the Ministry of Finance was effectively less than one-tenth of what it should be.

"Gentlemen, the situation has reached an irreparable point!"

Ryotaro Takayama, Deputy Director of the Securities Bureau of the Ministry of Finance and Supervisor of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, said in a heavy tone.

"The storm in New York cannot be stopped. Even though the President, the Treasury Secretary, and various financial titans are calling for calm, once a flood has formed, no one can make it stop!"

"I have already notified the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister..."

Speaking of this, Ryotaro Takayama paused. He also knew that those two high-ranking officials, who were currently in the midst of scandal storms and party struggles, were unlikely to take immediate measures!

"In the short term, we need to quickly come up with a way to minimize the impact of this stock market crash..."

Bank of Japan Governor Haruo Maekawa said:

"We must indeed take measures quickly. We have learned from various banks that they previously provided many loans to offer leverage to investors, but now that the stock market has crashed, there is no one to take over the positions even with forced liquidations... If this continues, a large amount of loans will become bad debts!"

"And there are many listed companies whose stock prices have collapsed; if the companies go bankrupt, the loans won't be recovered either..."

One must know that loans in this era were very loose. As long as you wanted one, it was no problem for an ordinary person with a house to borrow hundreds of millions... and major companies borrowed even more!

Now, facing such a stock market crash, banks were already considering stopping credit for some professional brokerage firms, fearing they would go bankrupt and be unable to repay their loans...

"Bank presidents have already communicated with me, wanting to stop credit loans to various brokerage firms and listed companies!"

Ryotaro Takayama remained silent. He looked helplessly at the Governor of the Bank of Japan but dared not reprimand him... because Haruo Maekawa represented Japan's largest capital interest group, and what he said was the thinking of every bank.

That is to say, banks are like this: they take back the umbrellas they lent out on a rainy day!

At this time, someone suggested:

"Why don't we learn from Hong Kong and temporarily close the market for a few days, waiting for the storm to pass?!"

"..."

Closing the market was impossible; that would cause market confidence to be completely lost and might even cause greater damage to Japan's economic market!

Didn't they see that on the other side of the ocean, even though the New York Stock Exchange had collapsed like that, the US government was still telling the media that it would continue to open the next day!

The Chairman of the Japan Securities Dealers Association spoke up to break the awkward atmosphere:

"I think we must work together now to overcome the difficulties... Under these circumstances, I believe it is necessary to summon the major brokerage firms to discuss countermeasures together!"

"They are the ones facing the market directly! Their understanding of the stock market crash is clearer!"

"That is well said!" "The stock market crash came too suddenly, and we are also confused... we don't understand the reality of the situation!" "This isn't far from Ginza..." "..."

Things were developing too fast. Although the big shots were all titans in the financial world, they actually had a lot of confidence in the Japanese stock market before this... They never expected it to collapse to this point in just half a day!

"By the way, I heard that Tree Friend Capital was warning the market about risks early on?!"

The name Tree Friend Capital suddenly popped into Ryotaro Takayama's mind. This investment company was actually quite famous in the Ministry of Finance, having managed to break into the financial circle in just a few years and possessing a capital pool of tens of billions...

And its president, Naoki Nagayama, was so famous...

"Hmm... that is true!"

A peer nodded.

"It seems they were even mocked in the circle because of this..."

"Then let's invite him over this time too..." Ryotaro Takayama said, "Let's see if he has any good suggestions..."

"Yes!"

At this moment, the Naoki Nagayama everyone was talking about was in the conference room of Tree Friend Capital, receiving a group of uninvited guests.

Some of these people were investors, some were private equity investment managers, some were small brokerage firms, and some were previous clients of Tree Friend... but now they were all filled with panic and loss...

They had all suffered heavy losses in the stock market and were at their wit's end; otherwise, they wouldn't have come to Tree Friend Capital to find Naoki Nagayama because of a rumor.

"President Nagayama, please save us!" "There is really no other way!" "Our positions have all been liquidated!" "..."

They wailed one after another, crying to the very famous Naoki Nagayama in front of them, hoping to get a solution.

"..."

Naoki Nagayama rubbed his forehead, feeling somewhat helpless.

"Even if you say that, I have no way..."

"Impossible, didn't your Tree Friend Capital predict the stock market crash a long time ago?!"

"You must have already prepared for it!" "You must have a solution!" "..."

Naoki Nagayama coughed twice:

"The solution of our Tree Friend Capital, don't you all know it already... Shrink! Be extremely conservative!"

"Only in this way can we ensure that we preserve our funds during the stock market crash..."

"But before, didn't many clients disagree with our strategy, and even closed their accounts to take their money to other brokerage firms..."

Hearing this, regret appeared on the faces of some people!

Why couldn't they suppress the greed in their hearts at that time? Wasn't it just one month of not making money? Why couldn't they hold on?!

If they had stayed at Tree Friend Capital at that time, they should be feeling very fortunate now! Just like those people in the work area of Tree Friend Capital!

"Naoki-san... please, show us a bright path!"

"I beg you!" "..."

Seeing that someone was about to immediately kneel down, Naoki Nagayama immediately helped the person up...

"It's not that I don't want to help you all..." Naoki Nagayama looked around and said with difficulty, "But you all currently have no principal left..."

Actually, during a stock market crash, those clients who bought stocks only needed to remain still and wait for the stock market to recover. Most of these people who suffered losses were playing with leverage and expectations, where the returns were high and the risks were high... that's why their positions were liquidated!

"Naoki-san!!!" "President Nagayama!" "Is there really no way?!"

"If Naoki-san saves my life, I am willing to spend the rest of my life supporting you!"

"..."

"Cough, cough!"

Startled into coughing by such crazy words, Naoki Nagayama hurriedly waved his hands.

"That won't be necessary... not necessary!"

Then, seeing that the people in the conference room had no intention of leaving and it seemed impossible to get them to leave without a solution today, he could only come up with a bad idea:

"If you ask me, you might as well contact the media and cry about the sudden disaster... put pressure on the regulatory agencies... if you can't handle it, you might get some chance for relief..."

"For example, banks relaxing their authority to approve some temporary loans or something... delaying repayment times or something... banks don't want many loans to become bad debts either..."

"You must know that Japan's economy itself is still very good. This is just a temporary disaster, and the stock market will recover soon... take this opportunity to borrow a sum of money to buy the dip, or be a bit more aggressive and go long... maybe the losses can be made up..."

"..."

At this moment, the many bankrupt people would grasp at any tiny opportunity like a life-saving straw.

These people were all speculators who dared to use leverage, and after hearing Naoki Nagayama's words, they actually felt it made some sense!

And when Naoki Nagayama saw a glimmer of hope in their eyes, he didn't say anything more... If he kept talking, they might even ask him, Naoki Nagayama, to borrow money!

Just at this time, Kaori Kanai hurried into the conference room:

"Naoki-san, officials from the Ministry of Finance have come to invite you to attend the emergency stock market crash discussion meeting! They say they want to consult you on ways to deal with the crash!"

"!!!"

Everyone's eyes focused on Naoki Nagayama. Sure enough, Naoki Nagayama really had the ability; even the regulatory agencies had to invite him!!

One must know that after such a big event, those who went to discuss it were all the highest-level people in the Japanese financial world... Naoki Nagayama's future level could also be called a financial titan!!

"This... where are they?"

"They are waiting in the reception room!" Kaori Kanai said in a hurried tone, "But the two seem to be in a great hurry..."

"Alright then, I'll get ready..."

After Naoki Nagayama said goodbye to the others in the conference room, he followed the people from the Ministry of Finance to the Kasumigaseki office in Chiyoda.

When Naoki Nagayama arrived at the large conference room, it was already arguing uncontrollably inside.

Walking in, he saw representatives of several large brokerage firms arguing with bank representatives!

"If you dare to withdraw loans now, that's taking the lives of us brokerage firms!!!"

Koji Nagai of Nomura Securities was roaring at the president of Mitsui Bank.

"At such a moment, you dare to pull the rug out from under us; you are the sinners behind the complete collapse of the Japanese stock market!"

"You brokerage firms are!" Haruo Maekawa shouted loudly, "It is you who ignored the risks and added leverage recklessly, making the stock market so fragile! You are the sinners!"

"I am now considering the interests of the bank's shareholders! Their money cannot go uncollected!"

"You dare!"

"Watch if I dare!"

"..."

These two were just one pair in the noisy crowd; Naoki Nagayama also saw others arguing with each other.

"I think we should just close the market! Let market sentiment cool down!"

"Impossible! Closing the market will cause the market to collapse completely!!! It will affect every aspect of society!!"

"But hundreds of billions of yen have already evaporated!!"

"But there are still trillions of funds in the market!!!"

The few people who looked like officials had much quieter arguments, mostly communicating:

"What is the Prime Minister's reaction?" "Have you communicated with other countries?"

"Isn't the Minister of Finance coming to preside over the big picture?!" "..."

Seeing that he was the last wave of people to arrive, Naoki Nagayama originally wanted to sneak into the conference room and find a seat near the door... However, the heavy solid wood door of the conference room closed at an inopportune time...

"Clang!!!"

For a moment, everyone's eyes looked at the person who had just entered from the door!!

And that young and handsome appearance made people recognize who this was immediately! The eyes of the many financial titans subconsciously carried a sense of scrutiny...

"..."

Naoki Nagayama felt so awkward at this moment... like a late student caught by the head teacher when sneaking into the classroom!

Fortunately, most people in the institutional system have good emotional intelligence. Ryotaro Takayama, Deputy Director of the Securities Bureau of the Ministry of Finance, smiled and said:

"Ah... President Nagayama has arrived!"

He stood up, shook hands with Naoki Nagayama very enthusiastically, and introduced himself.

"I am Ryotaro Takayama, Deputy Director of the Securities Bureau of the Ministry of Finance. I will be presiding over this emergency discussion meeting today... Please give me your guidance."

"Please give me your guidance..."

Naoki Nagayama also nodded to show respect.

Then Ryotaro Takayama introduced him to the big shots in the conference room:

"Gentlemen, this is Naoki Nagayama, President of Tree Friend Capital. Everyone should recognize him!"

"Haha~ A big celebrity!" "A great writer!" "A well-known director!" "The one who married Akina Nakamori!" "..."

A group of financial titans nodded in agreement. Naoki Nagayama was indeed very famous; although most people hadn't met him privately, they could always see him on TV and in newspapers.

Naoki Nagayama also saw a few familiar faces in the conference room, either from some party or from seeing them at the Tokyo International Film Festival... After all, the entertainment industry is backed by capital~

However, Ryotaro Takayama had no intention of introducing them one by one at this moment; it was an emergency situation!

After letting Naoki Nagayama sit in an empty seat, he began to continue presiding over the meeting:

"Everyone has already discussed many aspects just now, and I roughly know everyone's thoughts... but one thing is clear: closing the market is impossible!"

"The New York stock market only truly collapsed after the news of the market closure appeared! We cannot repeat the same mistake!"

"..."

Then Ryotaro Takayama let the participants continue to propose countermeasures and measures...

Naoki Nagayama listened for a while. Setting aside those extreme measures, the financial titans actually had sharp minds, and the measures they proposed were very targeted.

For example, official statements to control public opinion, bank institutions staying calm, suspending loan withdrawals, brokerage firms increasing investment, the police system sending more personnel to maintain social stability, and subsequently establishing circuit breaker measures, etc...

However, these were mainly based on delaying and appeasing, and there were no effective good ways to solve the current stock market crash!

Ryotaro Takayama listened for a long time without any new ideas, and his eyes noticed the newcomer, Naoki Nagayama, so he asked directly:

"President Naoki Nagayama, you predicted this stock market crash in advance and are the only one among the investment banks present who was spared!"

"Do you have any thoughts on dealing with the stock market crash?!"

"Me?"

Naoki Nagayama raised his head. He had thought he was just here to make up the numbers... In Japanese society, in such occasions, the opinions of young people are not valued.

However, seeing that everyone's attention was on him, he didn't panic too much. He had thought of some measures on the way here:

"If you want to quickly resolve this plummet, the best way is for major brokerage firms and banks to unite and buy up all the stocks being sold!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the financial titans immediately laughed...

"So young!" "President Nagayama probably doesn't know how many people are selling in the market right now?!" "How could we buy them back!" "Our money added together isn't enough!" "..."

Everyone didn't take the young man's words seriously, and a subtle sense of contempt rose again, thinking that Tree Friend Capital must have just been lucky this time!

And Naoki Nagayama was not discouraged by these people's words. He came here partly to get rid of that group of people from Tree Friend Capital, and partly to make a name for himself in the upper echelons of the financial world!

"I certainly know that the money is far from enough!"

Naoki Nagayama continued, his voice becoming a bit louder.

"But we don't need to really buy all the stocks; we just need to make a gesture... perhaps a few dozen representative large company stocks will do..."

"Then, combined with statements from government officials and various financial experts and professors, we can first dissipate the panic in the market..."

Seeing that his words had caused everyone to think, Naoki Nagayama continued to guide them, relying on the US rescue operations he remembered!

"The Bank of Japan should activate reserve funds, inject them into the banking system, ensure market liquidity... support banks in providing loans to brokerage firms, and ensure that brokerage firms have money in their hands!"

"Banks and trust institutions need to promise to guarantee the funds of listed companies, allowing listed companies to restore confidence..."

"And if possible, unite a group of large companies to carry out stock buybacks to stabilize stock prices..."

"Once retail investors see hope, they won't go to extremes!"

"In this way, the Japanese stock market should get a chance to ease!"

The people in the conference room looked at Naoki Nagayama in surprise. They didn't expect him to really be able to propose a series of measures... and they sounded like they made some sense!

This young man has some substance!!

However, at this time, a bank representative questioned:

"President Nagayama, how can you be sure whether the stock market will continue to go lower?! What if the money our bank lent out cannot be recovered?! Should the bank go bankrupt?!"

Naoki Nagayama shook his head:

"Actually, we all know that Japan's economic situation is actually very good. This stock market crash does not match the national economic operation..."

"The suddenness of this stock market crash is due to programmatic trading relying on computers, where at a certain time and a certain scenario, many transactions happened to collide, forming a run... This is a systemic risk and does not represent the economic situation itself!"

"In the long run, the Japanese stock market will definitely recover! Banks will not lose money!"

"Japan is in a golden age!"

"..."

Naoki Nagayama's words made the bank representative's tone choke. Banks know the Japanese economic situation best!

It can be said that this is Japan's best era!

And Ryotaro Takayama's eyes were full of surprise at this moment!

He didn't expect Naoki Nagayama to really be able to give new measures!!

"As expected of Naoki Nagayama, who predicted the stock market crash in advance! His insights into the stock market and the economy are truly precise!!"

He raised his hand and took the lead in applauding Naoki Nagayama... then the second person, the third person...

Finally, the entire conference room was applauding...

Many financial titans recognized Naoki Nagayama's speech!

"Good... let's act according to President Nagayama's measures first!"

Ryotaro Takayama was also a decisive person.

"Governor Haruo Maekawa, let's go together to communicate with the Treasury Secretary and the Prime Minister to discuss having the Bank of Japan inject funds into various banks..."

"Afterward, contact major financial groups and listed companies and ask them to buy back stocks..."

"Next, there is still a lot... Everyone here is a well-known person in the financial circle, and you can also leak the news through the media!"

"..."

Hearing this, Naoki Nagayama breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that his words had already taken effect!

The remaining things naturally didn't need him, a young man, to continue running around... He would just wait for the market to rise!

Come to think of it, he hadn't slept for two days and one night. At this moment, as his spirit relaxed, exhaustion immediately surged up... He just wanted to return to the Mountain Cherry Garden and sleep soundly, regardless of the wind and rain outside!

By the way... he had promised Hua-chan that she would see her father as soon as she opened her eyes in the morning... He had broken his promise...