RBCT Chapter 97 Early Accident Cases? [7 Updates, Requesting Monthly Tickets]
Chapter 97 Early Accident Cases? [7 Updates, Requesting Monthly Tickets]
Chapter 97 Early Accident Cases? [Seventeenth Update, Requesting Monthly Tickets]
Standing in the main seat, the pressure on Yamada Masakazu was evident in his expression: "That's right, eight hundred million."
Section Chief Wakako Kishigami asked softly, "How does our shop plan to classify this?"
This is the most crucial issue.
After a two-second silence, Masakazu Yamada finally uttered the worst possible words: "If we cannot come up with a decent recovery plan or a clear path to stop the losses within two weeks, we will classify this case as..."
"Early accident cases."
The meeting room fell even quieter instantly.
The term "early incident case" is one of the most offensive terms used by banks.
This means that a credit line that has undergone formal review and disbursement deteriorated into a large amount of non-performing loans in a very short period of time.
In our view, this is a failure of the review process.
If the review fails, someone must be held accountable.
Yuka Nakamura pursed her lips and asked Yusuke Hashimoto, who was standing next to her, "Department Head, if it's really classified as an early-stage accident case, what will happen to our section?"
Yusuke Hashimoto frowned: "The department's rating will be downgraded by one level."
"Summer prizes are frozen."
"Department heads and above are subject to escalation review; all will be retained."
"Section Chief Personnel, re-evaluate."
"As for you newcomers, your first or annual performance evaluation report will all be stamped with 'Undercover Officer'."
"Future transfers, promotions, and recommendations for training at our store will all be affected."
At this point, no one could remain calm.
Including Kiryu.
Because this is no longer as simple as Section Chief Yamada being unlucky.
According to the bank's regulations, the entire financing review department should share the blame.
Wakako was the first to bow her head.
She has a mortgage and children, and with her bonus reduced, the pressure will be very real.
Yuka Nakamura bit her lip.
She originally had a chance to fill the position of director this year, but if the department's evaluation drops, she will lose everything.
Yusuke Hashimoto is not far from retirement, so he is not too affected, but even he frowned.
Because this isn't about money.
The entire classroom was labeled "negligence in review".
Once this label is applied, no one can remove it in a short period of time.
Looking at everyone, Masakazu Yamada slowly said, "This time, I'm not the only one who will be punished."
"I'm truly sorry that everyone has been affected because of me."
He bowed to everyone: "But starting today, the financing review department and the debt management department will be jointly overseeing the Higashi-Osaka Seiko case. Whoever has other work on hand should postpone it first, and prioritize this case."
"I'll go back to Higashi-Osaka Seiko this afternoon and have a good talk with the president to see if there's any room for negotiation."
"After the meeting, Chihaya and Kiryu stayed behind."
"Everyone else, return to your workstations."
The sound of chair legs scraping against the floor echoed repeatedly.
But this time, no one whispered among themselves while collecting the documents as usual.
Everyone walked back to their workstations with somber faces, carrying their documents.
Soon, only three people remained in the conference room.
Masakazu Yamada stood at the end of the long table, holding a briefing document that read "Higashi Osaka Seiko Co., Ltd." in his hand, his brows furrowed tightly.
Chihaya Yuri gently closed the door and sat down.
Kiryu Yaya pulled out a chair and waited quietly for the section chief to speak.
Masakazu Yamada paused for a few seconds, as if gathering his thoughts, before slowly saying, "There were too many people around, so there were some things I couldn't explain clearly."
He spread out the documents in his hand, his finger pressing on the first page.
"I felt something was off about the Higashi-Osaka Seiko case ever since it was released last year."
Kiryu Yaya raised his eyes.
Masakazu Yamada continued, "Last September, Higashi-Osaka Seiko took one billion yen from us under the pretext of 'upgrading its precision machining production line.' Six hundred million yen was used to introduce new NC machining equipment, and four hundred million yen was used to replenish working capital."
"My first impression was that this structure wouldn't work."
"Nominally it's for equipment upgrades, but only 600 million was actually invested in equipment, and the remaining 400 million was for working capital."
"For a long-established workshop that has been in business for 30 years, having to upgrade its equipment while also relying on large amounts of working capital to stay afloat often indicates that the company's cash flow has already begun to tighten."
"In addition, Higashi-Osaka Seiko's customer structure is too concentrated."
"Our largest customer accounts for nearly 40% of sales, and the second and third customers together account for more than 30%. These may seem like high-quality orders, but they are actually a form of dependence. Once the top customer reduces orders, the factory's cash flow will be immediately strangled."
"Starting from the second half of last year, the economy has clearly declined. While other small and medium-sized manufacturing companies are shutting down, they are expanding production lines against the trend. Borrowing 1 billion to increase capacity at this time is inherently risky."
He paused, his tone becoming more serious: "There's another point, which was also something I felt awkward about at the time."
"Kajiwara Masazo has been in business for thirty years. Logically speaking, he shouldn't be a president who has no buffer at all."
"But the personal assets he submitted at the time were excessively low. His own home, a small amount of savings, and a guarantee seemed clean and simple, which made me very uneasy."
"Even more suspicious is that the accounts receivable and inventory figures in Higashi-Osaka Seiko's financial reports at the time also deviated significantly from the industry average—"
'
"The combination of long accounts receivable aging and unusually short inventory turnover days is almost impossible to occur simultaneously in the precision machining industry."
"I suspected the reports themselves were inflated, but Minister Ogaki said that long-term clients wouldn't be affected," so I suppressed my doubts.
Chihaya Yuri picked up the conversation and added, "Presidents of factories in the East Osaka area who have been in business for decades usually own some warehouses, rental properties, old land, or securities assets."
Masakazu Yamada nodded.
"Yes. So my opinion at the time was to hold it down a bit more."
"It would be best to ask them to provide more detailed customer order documentation, or add a statement of personal assets. At the very least, the loan disbursement should be broken up, with a portion disbursed first and subsequent disbursements made based on the company's performance."
"But Minister Ogaki was very proactive at the time. He said that Higashi-Osaka Seiko was a long-time customer of Higashi-Osaka Seiko, and had been doing business with us for more than ten years without any major problems; he also said that the competitors were watching closely, and that dragging it out could easily drive away our customers."
He gave a wry smile as he said this.
In the end, the money was still lent out.
There was a moment of silence in the conference room.
Clearly, the root cause of this bad debt lies with Kiyomasa Ogaki.
Masakazu Yamada flipped through the documents and continued, "For the first six months after the loan was disbursed, the accounts were normal. But starting in March of this year, their main clients suddenly reduced orders, and the payment cycle from suppliers was also lengthened. By late April, their cash flow began to tighten noticeably."
"Last week, the loan was frozen; this week, even the interest payments have started to fall behind."
Chihaya Yuri flipped to the middle page of the records she had retrieved from yesterday's debt management class: "The debt management class went to the site yesterday."
"The factory is operating at less than 40% capacity. Although the machines are still running, they are mostly processing old orders. Suppliers have also started to shorten payment terms and are requiring cash payment for some materials."
"If we don't think of a way, this 800 million yen..." She paused, then looked up.
"It's very likely we won't be able to get it back."
The air in the conference room suddenly became even heavier.
Masakazu Yamada continued, "Once I'm labeled like that, I, as the section chief, will be the first to be held accountable."
"The evaluation of the financing review department this year, the bonus coefficient, the number of promotions, and even the position in the branch for a period of time afterward will all be affected."
He finished speaking with a wry smile, as if mocking himself: "To put it bluntly, I'm the one who dragged the whole class down."
Kiryu Yaya looked at the documents on the table but did not speak immediately.
But he knew that the root of all this was Kiyomasa Ogaki, the head of the financing department.
But he is about to retire, and even if the bank knows that he is primarily responsible, it will only give him a lenient punishment for inadequate supervision.
The majority of the remaining funds still went to Masakazu Yamada and the Financing Review Division.
Kiryu Yaya slowly closed his eyes.
Given the current situation in Higashi-Osaka, there's no way to save it, but they must find a way to recover the 1 billion yen.
Higashi-Osaka Seiko.
Eight hundred million yen.
Early accidents.
The meaning is quite clear when these keywords are put together.
This was a real firefighting operation.
Moreover, what was saved was not only Masakazu Yamada, but also the entire financing review department.