The first domino

Bethmann watched the French factory owner rise to gather his documents-or rather, the Nassau factory owner, since his core agricultural machinery factory was in Düsseldorf-and a conflicted look crossed his face.

He had already conducted a detailed investigation. This Rochefoucauld owned a sizable agricultural machinery company in France, while his newly built factory on the East Bank of the Rhine River had received a loan from the Holy Investment Bank.

This meant that his profitability and ability to repay had won unanimous recognition from financial circles from Madrid to Milan and from Paris to Münster-the Holy Investment Bank was a mammoth bank jointly funded and owned by all the member states of the Holy Trade Alliance, each of which had appointed directors to oversee the flow of funds.

Moreover, Rochefoucauld's agricultural machinery company in France had an A+ rating from all three of Europe's major rating agencies.

Every sign indicated that this was a deal worth making.

Just as Rochefoucauld turned to fetch his hat, Bethmann finally decided to break with precedent. "Very well, an interest rate of 7.1%. You have your loan. However, I will assign an accountant to audit your finances regularly."

"That is perfectly reasonable." Little Fatty held his hat against his chest and bowed slightly. "Please believe me, this will absolutely be one of the loans with the most stable returns you have made in recent years."

In the second week after Rochefoucauld signed the loan agreement for 600,000 francs with Bethmann Bank, another French company, this one operating a shipping business in Mainz, approached Bethmann seeking a loan of 450,000 francs.

It, too, offered a very high interest rate-6.9%. With interest subsidies from the French Government, they had no fear of being crushed by interest payments.

And the company's rating was even higher than that