Massive financing could not be negotiated in a day or two. Even if these invited chamber of commerce representatives were persuaded, they could not make the decisions themselves.
Inviting them here was mainly to have them carry the news back to the powers behind them.
No one would turn their nose up at money. Even if they had no interest in financing, this new business model would still draw their attention.
Besides, in the grand vision Hudson painted, banks would not merely make money; they could also control the economic lifeblood of entire regions.
With such a huge piece of bait thrown out, if the real masters behind the scenes could still sit tight, they had no business being in the game.
Even just to understand this business model, everyone would eagerly get involved. No emerging industry could rise without someone blazing the trail first.
The Near East Development Bank, taking the first step, was undoubtedly an excellent chess piece. As long as the story was told well afterward, there would be no shortage of investment.
The troublesome part was that this net might catch rather a lot of people. Not only would international capital take the bait, but many great domestic nobles would likely join in as well.
Once these people became familiar with how banks operated, it would not take long before banks started springing up all across the continent.
Several major merchant associations active on the continent might even directly rebrand their lending businesses and appear before the world as banks.
After all, traditional lenders used their own money, while banks lent other people's money—and could use leverage, too.
If not for the cash crunch and the difficulty of attracting deposits, the Near East Development Bank would not lack funds at all if it operated according to