Normally, the elder would never cooperate with Huang He's actions; wouldn't that just be giving Huang He more ammunition?
However, the elder quickly thought of a problem: if Huang He could use this product he designed, couldn't his own Goldman Sachs use it as well?
If he were to unilaterally block the plan from passing, wouldn't that also obstruct Goldman Sachs' own path?
After all, even if the Western Mustang Fund expanded as much as possible, it would still be only a few tens of billions of dollars. But if Goldman Sachs' own funds could operate this way, it would involve hundreds of billions, even trillions, in massive capital. This could increase Goldman Sachs' annual revenue by at least 30% or more, which would translate to at least tens of billions in additional profits!
And now, if he blocked Huang He, wouldn't he also be blocking his own source of wealth?
The elder's expression was constantly changing, his mind entangled in various thoughts, leaving him undecided for a while.
Fortunately, Hao Jianguo, standing nearby, saw through the situation. His eyes moved, and he proactively said, "Sir, I think it's better to agree to Huang He's request and help him out!"
"Why?" the elder asked, narrowing his eyes.
"Firstly, doing so won't actually block Huang He's path to wealth. His fund is already making money, and making a lot of it. For instance, the third phase of the fund is conservatively estimated to generate around 10 billion US dollars in returns. But if this fund is converted to a completely new online model, the returns will decrease to around 6 billion US dollars. So, by changing the model, Huang He will actually earn less!" Hao Jianguo explained.
"But this will ensure the stability of the fund's returns!" the elder said, frowning. "Most importantly, it mitigates risk. Even the true god of finance cannot guarantee stable profits on every transaction. Little Swift will eventually make a mistake, and the moment he does, Huang He will have to return all the money he previously earned!"
"But by changing the model now, he is in a position of guaranteed profit, and that's what worries me!"
"The premise is that his Jiangnan Group can survive until that time!" Hao Jianguo said dismissively. "As long as our shorting plan is successful this time, and the PT equipment produced by Jiangnan Group, along with several hundred million dollars in investment, goes down the drain, it will deliver a fatal blow to Jiangnan Group and might even cut off its funding chain!"
"Even if Huang He survives this time, it doesn't matter. They can then target the Western Mustang Fund. With Goldman Sachs' strength, it would be a simple matter to set up a situation that causes the Western Mustang Fund to lose money."
"And at this time, this easily accessible mechanism will become the Achilles' heel of the Western Mustang Fund. Those users terrified by the decline will madly demand their funds, and at that point, the 10% reserve will not be enough. Huang He, to repay the money, will have to sell various stocks at rock-bottom prices, and eventually, the entire Western Mustang Fund will collapse. All of this is a trivial matter for Goldman Sachs!"
"Finally, and most importantly, I believe Huang He will not stand idly by in the current situation. He doesn't need to do anything; he simply needs to make this new plan public, and then all the financiers who smell opportunity will flock to help Huang He pry open the mouths of the regulatory authorities. At that point, will Goldman Sachs still dare to oppose the entire Wall Street?" Hao Jianguo concluded.
"I didn't realize you had such insight. It seems I haven't been raising you in vain!" the elder glanced at Hao Jianguo. The latter humbly bowed, and the elder nodded, thereby agreeing with Hao Jianguo's opinion.
Meanwhile, within Goldman Sachs Group, their own online financial plan was being rapidly formulated. They even intended to launch their own online financial products even earlier than Huang He, to steal Huang He's market and leave him completely out in the cold!
Look, this is the power of large capital. Our Boss Huang is no match for it!
Indeed, in less than half a month, the plan submitted for review once again received unanimous approval from the entire Securities Supervisory Commission. This new financial product had obtained its market pass and could be sold in the market.
Upon receiving this news, the Western Mustang Fund immediately began its promotional work. However, they did not initially promote their newly launched product, but rather the returns of their third-phase fund.
Due to some minor unrest orchestrated by Iraq, international oil prices once again climbed, historically breaking the 60 US dollar per barrel mark.
This was an extremely shocking figure, and also the first time in history that international oil prices had surpassed the super mark of 60 US dollars. The entire oil market was immediately filled with lamentations.
It was at this very moment that the Western Mustang Fund directly announced the maturity of its third-phase fund and began settlement.
The Western Mustang Fund had entered the market when international oil prices had just broken $30 per barrel. Now, with it breaking $60, the Western Mustang Fund, which was originally only making half the profit, became a doubled massive profit.
Of course, after some complex calculations, the actual rate of return was 87%. After deducting the 30% agency fee, the actual return for users was 56%. This meant that each user's $1,000 investment in the fund had now become $1,560.
Therefore, the returns of the third-phase fund were still lower than the previous phase, but this rate of return was still a unique massive profit in the entire fund market, and still the most astonishingly high-returning large fund in the entire United States.
Some might wonder, doesn't the operation of the Western Mustang Fund simply involve holding money in the oil futures market without moving it? Why can't other funds learn such a simple operation?
The reason is simple: the larger the fund, the more it emphasizes stability and never ventures into risky investments. Otherwise, once a loss occurs, it would be an extremely terrifying massive loss, affecting the economic interests of countless people and countless influential figures. Not everyone dares to gamble with funds in the oil market like this.
In early 2005, international oil futures prices were still $30 per barrel. When they rose to $35 per barrel, many investment institutions took their profits. Who knew if they would fall back to $30 after rising to $35?
In fact, the entire oil futures market did indeed fluctuate, with astonishing rises and falls. Many people who invested in oil futures during this strong period ended up losing everything precisely because they couldn't manage their timing when entering and exiting.
No fund had the audacity of the Western Mustang Fund to simply leave their money in the oil futures market without moving it, watching the ebb and flow. Therefore, this was the achievement of Little Swift alone, and it was also why he received widespread recognition, solidifying his position as the black financial god.
The Western Mustang Fund's actions were swift. The next day, they announced that all users could collect their fund returns through online or offline channels.
Concurrently, the Western Mustang Fund also announced a not-so-major piece of news: to complement its own financial services, the Western Mustang Fund decided to establish a bank, naturally named Western Mustang Bank.
For a private enterprise to establish a private bank would be earth-shattering and god-shocking in China, capable of dominating front-page headlines for a month and marking a major breakthrough in the financial sector.
However, in the United States, this was by no means big news. There were over a hundred thousand banks in the US, and any reasonably large financial institution would equip itself with a bank.
But these banks were generally not open to the public; they merely served to simplify the operational services for their own institutions.
Banks are generally divided into five types, classified by type: central banks, policy banks, commercial banks, investment banks, and the World Bank, each with different responsibilities.
Let's not mention the World Bank; that is not a national entity.
Among them, central banks are the administrative banks of a country, responsible for a nation's financial policies and banking supervision. They do not accept ordinary banking business; they handle interbank transactions or macro banking and financial planning. There is generally only one such bank in each country, and it is not something private individuals can meddle with.
Of course, some countries are special, and private individuals can also get involved.
Then there are policy banks, which are banks specifically established to implement certain financial policies, such as the China Development Bank, Export-Import Bank, and Agricultural Development Bank, among others.
The three types mentioned above are generally banking sectors that private enterprises cannot access. The banking sectors that private enterprises can truly establish are commercial banks or investment banks.
For the vast majority of financial enterprises, the banks they establish are investment banks, which serve as auxiliaries to their investment businesses, or they are the main body of the entire investment business.
By all accounts, Western Mustang Bank should also be an investment bank.
However, when attentive individuals carefully examined the application for Western Mustang Bank, they discovered that it was a commercial bank, meaning it could directly provide financial services to all ordinary people, much like the Agricultural Bank of China or the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.
This point became extremely unusual. Ordinary financial investment institutions had no need to establish commercial banks; it was more troublesome to apply and quite expensive, with site rental alone incurring astonishing costs.
But Western Mustang Bank was a commercial bank, indicating that Little Swift's ambition had become extremely vast. He seemed to want to take his fund a step further and serve all Americans. This prospect was somewhat terrifying!
Many financial institutions even became extremely vigilant because of this.