Franz had a sense of national responsibility. In order to raise war funds for the Kingdom of Prussia, he, the emperor, took the lead in donating one million guilders, which was deposited in the Royal Austrian Bank.
(1 shield ≈ 11.69 grams of silver)
Soon Austrian nobles, businessmen, students... all rushed to donate money, but these funds were not directly handed over to the Prussian government, but deposited into the Royal Austrian Bank.
That's right, this Royal Austrian Bank was just created by Franz, and its main business is to collect donations from the public, and at the same time supervise the use of this money in the defense of the Schleswig-Holstein Principality.
Now the Prussian army is crisscrossing Jutland, which has exceeded this limit and does not meet the conditions for the use of this donation.
Franz doesn't care what the Prussians think. Anyway, he is very happy now. The Royal Bank, with a registered capital of only one million dongs, has absorbed nearly 30 million dongs of deposits in just one month. It's not a donation.
It's just that the bank has issued a receipt to the donor, and all donations are used proportionally, and if they are not used up, they will be refunded.
In order to show his patriotic integrity, Royal Bank did not even charge the most basic handling fee, it was completely free service.
Since it is a donation, the interest naturally does not exist. Before this huge sum of money was used, Franz had another amount of liquidity in his hands.
If a large amount of cash is left untouched, it is a crime, so Franz gave himself a loan to invest in the construction of a comprehensive food business, and by the way, he also bought a lot of good quality mines.
Gold and silver can be directly used as currency these days, and gold and silver mines are naturally very valuable, even if Franz is the emperor, it is not so easy to get them.
In contrast, iron, coal, lead, zinc, manganese, rare earth and other minerals are much cheaper. The industrial revolution is still in progress, and even the most basic coal and iron consumption is very limited. Many rare minerals are now The industry simply cannot use it.
Franz is also too lazy to go to the tiger's mouth to grab food. Taking advantage of the fact that these resources are worthless now, he will collect valuable minerals in the future in advance.
It is a pity that the Austrian Empire has no giant mines, otherwise, this wave will be eaten for a lifetime.
In short, if you have money in your hand, you can buy and buy everywhere. When others invest in mining, they must first consider transportation.
Franz didn't think about it so much. As long as the quality of the minerals is good enough and the reserves are abundant enough, is there any need to worry about transportation
If others don't know, can he not know it himself? It will not be long before the Austrian government invests heavily in domestic infrastructure.
It seems that mines that have no development value now will be worth twice as soon as the road is repaired. Coupled with the advancement of industrialization, the demand for mineral resources will increase, and it will be difficult not to make a fortune.
In just over a month, more than 5.8 million dongs were spent, and Franz was so frightened that he quickly stopped. Even if it is embezzlement of public funds, there must be a limit, right
If all this huge sum of money is spent in one go, and someone finds out, how will it end
The assets of the Habsburg family, but not so much cash, even if Franz is the emperor, it is difficult to borrow so much cash in a short period of time.
If he only misappropriated part of it, Franz still has a way to balance the account, after all, he opened a bank. If it weren't for the shortage of manpower now, the Royal Bank has already begun to siege the city.
A bank with a huge sum of 30 million is a giant in this era. In terms of cash flow, it is definitely the largest bank in Austria, and it is also a top-ranking existence in the world.
At present, the Royal Austrian Bank has opened more than 30 stores in total. In terms of scale, it can only be regarded as a small and medium-sized bank, and its business outlets are all concentrated in several large cities in Austria.
Johann Stewart was originally an executive of the First Austrian Savings Bank, and was dug over by Raul to serve as the first industry of the Royal Bank.
It was not until this time that Franz discovered that the Habsburg family had shares in many banks, and he was too lazy to pay attention to how it came.
Anyway, any bank has supporters behind it. Otherwise, it is not so easy to survive in this era, or even in an earlier era.
"Your Majesty, the Royal Bank is ready to be put in place, and it can absorb foreign reserves." John Stewart said nervously
"You are the professional for banking issues. Your management will discuss and decide on this issue. In a short period of time, Royal Bank will not carry out loan business to the outside world." Franz said blankly.
Embezzled such a huge sum of money, but I have to pay it back. God knows how long the Prussians can hold on. Once the Prussian government makes a compromise, the money will be returned.
"Yes, Your Majesty," John Stewart replied
"You estimate, how many of these donations can be converted into our depositors? How much will be saved?" Franz asked with concern
"Your Majesty, our bank interest rates are set with reference to average levels, but Royal Bank is far more creditworthy than any competitor.
About 20% of the donors will become our users, because government donations account for one-third of these donations, and the final remaining funds may be around 3 million dong. "John Stewart thought about it and said
Don't think that three million dong is less. In this era, people didn't have the habit of depositing money in the bank, and most nobles were used to stacking gold coins in the basement.
There is also a threshold for opening a bank account. For example, the threshold set by the Royal Bank is one hundred and fifty rupiah. Below that number, sorry, it's not for you here.
The total savings of the entire Austrian Empire in 1848 was less than 100 million guilders, and if three million guilders were left, it accounted for more than 3% of Austria's total savings.
Franz also thought about lowering the account opening conditions, but considering that it requires a large number of counter staff, and also increases the difficulty of management and operating costs, he decisively gave up.
Banks are also very competitive. In this era, the people who enter and leave the bank are the middle and upper classes of society. Once the restrictions are lifted, a large number of people from the bottom will flood in. If these high-quality customers run away, it will be too late to cry.
The Austrian people are so poor that they can save a dozen guilders every year, which is considered a good income. Against this backdrop, the possibility of running this business at a loss is too high.
"Understood, start the storage business as soon as possible after you go back. All salesmen must be strictly trained, and everyone is required to receive every customer politely." Franz instructed
"Yes, Your Majesty," John Stewart replied
During this period, the attitude of the bank's service staff was actually not bad. Because of the limit on the amount of account opening, the people who could handle deposit business in the bank were basically the middle class, or the existence of a higher level.
At the social level, bank staff do not have a sense of superiority, and naturally there is no so-called discrimination.
In addition, it is a private bank. Everyone has to fight for performance. Good performance will be promoted, and poor performance will get out. If you want to lie down and dream!
Franz is concerned but chaos, and now he still has a hole to fill
The Habsburg family does not have the arrogance of giving out millions of dongs in cash at any time. The Royal Bank is still his personal property, and Franz does not want others to join in.
Now the Royal Bank does not lend to the outside world. It is not that he does not want to do this business, but that he does not dare to do it. If the Prussians are cowardly tomorrow, he will immediately usher in the peak of withdrawals.
For these donations, Royal Bank has promised to use the funds for special purposes. If the money cannot be raised, and the donations are stabbed out and misappropriated, the damage to the reputation will be great.
Secrecy is impossible. Now no one has pierced the window paper, that is, Franz is the emperor, and no one dares to be this early bird.
Also, they don't know how much Franz embezzled, and if the number is small, it's not difficult to fill the hole. At that time, the crime of spreading rumors and ruining the emperor's reputation will also kill people.