With a single phrase—"to avoid suspicion"—Hudson had turned himself from the protagonist into a bystander watching the drama unfold. The princes and ministers who had been preparing to haggle were left dumbfounded.
If even the person involved did not care, how were they supposed to bargain?
Not everyone was as financially clueless as Count Linares. Marquis Delgado, who had risen from the post of Finance Minister to become Chancellor, keenly sensed that something was wrong.
Though he had never run a bank, he understood that doing business required operating costs.
If a bank's operating costs remained unchanged and its lending rates did not rise, then the taxes extracted would come straight out of its net profits.
Even if net profits reached fifty percent, that single cut would take away sixty percent of a bank's profits.
Such ruthless bloodletting would inevitably provoke the nobles whose interests had been touched.
They had originally intended to bargain with Hudson, probe the true state of the banking business, and then determine a specific tax rate. Unfortunately, the person involved refused to cooperate.
Even when Count Linares proposed an exorbitant three-point rate, Hudson remained completely unmoved.
Left with no choice, Marquis Delgado could only turn a pleading gaze toward Caesar IV.
Quite a few people present had invested in banks, but only the Coslo Family and the royal family possessed experience in running them.
"Cough, cough..."
After pretending to cough twice, Caesar IV slowly said, "Bank profits are not as high as you imagine.
"After amortizing operating costs, capital costs, and risk gains and losses, lending interest needs to be at least seven or eight points just to break even.
"At present, Near East Development Bank is the only one capable of keeping costs down.
"If we directly impose a three-point tax rate, lending rates