Washington. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Eric. Root. Atez sat on a bench outside one of the SEC's offices, calm and undisturbed by the noise around him.

As Chief Risk Officer at Deutsche Bank USA, he has just resigned from Deutsche Bank. While the market was still speculating about his next destination, he quietly appeared in Washington, the headquarters of the SEC.

At this time, his mind kept remembering a mysterious phone call a few days ago.

"Mr. Eric?"

It was a bright afternoon, and Eric was monitoring the traders' positions when an unnumbered phone called him, "Do you have time to talk?" ”

His instincts told him that the call was important. So despite his busy schedule, he patiently asked, "I'm Eric, who are you, and what's the matter with me?" ”

"It's not convenient to talk here, you'd better leave the company."

The voice, which was not even inaudible to the gender, was clearly specially treated, continued, "Three blocks north of Deutsche Bank's headquarters, there is a public phone booth numbered 8745, where you will be contacted by phone. Of course, you can not listen to the call, but think about the interest rate manipulation case and don't make a scapegoat for nothing. ”

Hearing this, Eric felt a pang in his heart.

Interest rate manipulation that began in Europe is now intensifying. In addition to Barclays, which was the first to break out, several large banks such as Swiss Bank and Deutsche Bank were involved one after another. The SEC is very resolute in its attitude of giving these large consortia a little color. As the investigation deepened, some shocking inside stories were gradually exposed.

There is no doubt that there is indeed an alliance among traders at the big banks to manipulate the dollar interest rate of Libor.

Under the pressure of public opinion and judicial pressure, the top management of Deutsche Bank could not withstand it. There is now a rumor circulating within Deutsche Bank that Deutsche Bank will settle with the SEC for $2 billion and fire all the traders who handle it.

Eric is well aware that what these traders are doing is definitely not their own initiative, and the probability of their superiors or even the top management of Deutsche Bank being completely unaware of this is almost nil. In other words, Deutsche Bank's dismissal of these traders is throwing the whole thing at them.

For these traders, this result is extremely tragic, meaning that their reputation in this industry is completely ruined, and they will never find the same job again. Naturally, this treatment is also unfair, because they are not acting on their own. But sadly, they have absolutely no proof of their innocence, and even if they do, it won't help.

The cunning rabbit dies and the lackey cooks.

Don't say it's the chief risk officer, even if it's the CEO, he's just a desk agent in front of the company's interests, and he will never say anything when it's time to abandon it.

As soon as the other party hinted at him, Eric couldn't sit still, hurriedly took a leave, and left the company without telling anyone.

While he has no doubts about Deutsche Bank's or even other companies' approach, it doesn't mean that he can accept such a solution. In fact, he has always had a feeling of "rabbit death and fox sadness", because he knows very well that one day he may become the protagonist of a similar incident.

"Jingle Bell ......"

Not long after finding phone booth 8745, the payphone suddenly rang without warning. I don't know why, Eric is a little nervous in his heart, and now the plot development is more and more like a spy movie, and he is the male protagonist.

Flusteredly looking around the crowd, he noticed that people didn't seem to notice the ringing of the phone booth, and even if they did, they only glanced at it, and continued their hurried steps. Although public phone ringing is rare, it doesn't get noticed.

He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, pretending to step into the phone booth unintentionally, and slammed the door shut.

"I'm Eric!"

He reported to himself, "What the hell is the matter with you?" Can't talk about it on a mobile phone, do you have to say it here? ”

"Your phone is not secure, and I can't guarantee that there is no eavesdropping, so for the sake of safety, it is better to use a public phone, which is good for everyone."

This time, a clear male voice sounded, not the voice change just now, which made Eric stunned, "As the chief risk officer of Deutsche Bank, I think you should be familiar with the term leveraged ultra-advanced trading, right?" ”

"What are you talking about?"

Eric panicked for a moment, but he quickly stabilized his mood and asked rhetorically, "What is leveraged ultra-advanced trading?" I don't understand what you're talking about, sir. ”

But in his heart, it was a stormy wave.

"Looks like you don't trust me very much!"

The voice didn't become emotional by Eric's denial, but after chuckling, he explained slowly, "Since you don't know the term, I'll explain it." ”

"The so-called ultra-premium refers to CDOs rated higher than AAA, and for these CDSs with interest rates of only a dozen basis points, neither investors nor rating agencies are interested, because they have low risk and lower returns, which are almost equivalent to risk-free and return-free assets. Even if the subprime mortgage crisis breaks out, because there is a large buffer of subordinated assets, these ultra-premium CDS will not have losses. ”

"Bundling AAA, super A and super advanced CDOs together, because the credit rating is very high, it can be made into a high-leverage financial product, which is the so-called leveraged ultra-advanced trading. I don't know exactly how many times the leverage is, but it certainly won't be less than ten times for traders. And Deutsche Bank is a big player in this market, and it is said that your accumulated ultra-premium trading positions account for 60% of the total market share, and I am not wrong about that? ”

"With such a large share, Deutsche Bank has at least hundreds of billions of dollars in ultra-premium CDO assets on hand. With such a large asset, I believe that Deutsche Bank must have done risk hedging, and CDX or S&P put options should be the best target for hedging risks in these assets. But it seems that in terms of the amount of hedging, the financial statements published by Deutsche Bank do not reflect all this truthfully, right? ”

"How did he know this?"

After listening to the other party's words, Eric's mind turned sharply, and he secretly mused, "Regarding the content of leveraged ultra-advanced trading, what he said is not wrong. But for Wall Street bond traders, everyone knows about it. But not many people know about the fact that we don't have an equal amount of hedging internally, but it is not reflected in the financial statements, how does this guy know? ”

These transactions were approved by him, and he knew the numbers very well, so he knew the inside information.

"Are you thinking now, why do I know all this?"

The voice knew his thoughts very well, and said lightly, "Of course it was told to me by your own insiders, and there is more than one source. It was only after a number of confirmations that I concluded that Deutsche Bank had manipulated its financial statements. ”

"What do you want?"

Sure enough, it was revealed by an insider, and Eric didn't have the heart to investigate who leaked the secret at this moment, but just asked nervously, "Call me out, you don't just want to say this, right?" ”

He knew very well that since the other party had called him out, he would not just say these things. There are no simple things in this world, and this one is no exception.

"Do you remember what I said? Think about the traders in the interest rate manipulation case, I don't want their today to be your tomorrow! ”

The voice finally showed its fangs, "You can assume that I am trying to persuade in good faith, or you can interpret it as malicious coercion. But what I want to say is that I hope you will abandon the darkness and report Deutsche Bank's false accounts to the SEC as soon as possible. ”

"What happens if I don't?"

Without thinking, Eric said, "What else do I get other than being fired by Deutsche Bank as a scapegoat, and I can't get in this business?" You must know that even if these things are shaken out, I'm afraid I won't have much benefit personally, and when the time comes, I will be notorious, and I'm afraid I won't get mixed up on Wall Street. ”

"Either way, you're not going to be on Wall Street any longer."

The voice sneered, laughing so hard that Eric felt furious, "This is a fact that cannot be changed. Let's be honest with you, even if you don't agree, your colleagues will come forward to expose it. So if you can take the initiative to stand up, not only will you get an honest reputation, but you will also have an additional reward of $10 million. Of course, there will be rewards on the SEC side, you know that. But if you don't take the initiative to stand up, you should know what the consequences are, think about it. ”

"$10 million?"

Eric gasped and silently hung up.

Eric's life is not very satisfactory at the moment, his wife is divorcing him, and there will be a large amount of alimony waiting for him to pay in the future. And according to the other party, Deutsche Bank seems to be unable to hide it anymore, and he will be greeted by the fate of being swept away. If he can't continue his career on Wall Street, I'm afraid he won't even be able to pay for his wife and children.

The thinking didn't last long, and on a stormy night, Eric woke up from a nightmare gritted his teeth and made up his mind.

Soon he chose to resign voluntarily.

"Eric. Root. Mr. Artez, who is it? ”

At this moment, Eric's musings were interrupted by a sweet female voice, and he raised his head to look at the person who was speaking, a bewitching blonde, who was smiling at the people waiting outside the door, and asked softly, "Is Mr. Artez here?" Now it's your turn! ”

With a sigh of relief, Eric stood up, buttoned up his suit, and strode into the office of the SEC Whistleblowing Division, led by the secretary.

"My name is Eric. Root. Artez was formerly the Chief Risk Officer at Deutsche Bank. ”

Faced with a half-gray-haired receptionist and a female clerk, Eric first reported to his home, and then said solemnly, "I'm here to report Deutsche Bank's illegal disclosure of financial information to the SEC." As far as I know, they used to misrepresent the true situation of some positions during '08. Under federal law, they are suspected of making false accounts. ”

"Damn, this is the third time this month, and it's all about Deutsche Bank."

The committee member wearing reading glasses cursed in a low voice, then raised his head in surprise and asked loudly, "Deutsche Bank falsely reported its position and was suspected of making false accounts?" Excuse me, Mr. Artez, do you have any evidence? ”

Only then did he find out that these three reports were all about Deutsche Bank's false accounts. At this moment, the commissioner suddenly realized that perhaps Deutsche Bank really had a major problem.

"Yes, Mr. Commissioner, I have definite proof!"

Eric, who had been prepared, unhurriedly took out a thick stack of documents from his briefcase, "It's all here......"

The half-white-haired commissioner's face changed suddenly, and he understood the seriousness of the situation.

……

It didn't take long for the news that Deutsche Bank was suspected of whitewashing its financial statements during the financial crisis, and public opinion around the world was in an uproar for a while. Along with this, Deutsche Bank's shares around the world have also fallen to varying degrees. (To be continued.) )