Carlo was also paying attention to the continuously active Primor Governnt during this period. Although both legislative asures achieved significant success, the enactnt of such laws was bound to arouse dissatisfaction among so vested interests.
A single legislative asure might not cause much of a stir, but when several asures accumulate, their impact could be imasurable.
Fortunately, the second legislative asure had little effect on the nobility. The old nobility held large amounts of land and had not yet transford into capital-driven new nobility.
The new nobility, however, did not possess substantial funds and mainly participated in the operations of the Royal United Bank, thereby receiving dividends from it.
Carlo went to great lengths to court these new aristocrats. The Royal Family held 75% of the shares in the Royal United Bank, with the remaining 25% divided among a consortium of noble families.
The consortium’s shares were further divided into several portions. If any new noble wished to participate in the consortium, they would need to invest funds to subscribe to the consortium’s shares.
All future investnts by the consortium would produce dividends, which would be distributed to the noble families behind the consortium according to the proportion of shares held.
Of course, to prevent so new nobles from having insufficient funds to purchase consortium shares, Carlo also provided certain incentives to the new nobles.
For example, all nobles ennobled after Carlo’s ascension, even though lacking substantial land, would directly receive so shares from the noble consortium.
Initially, the value of the shares rewarded to them was not very high, totaling only a few hundred pesetas. Yet, as the noble consortium developed, these shares’ value would eventually rise to thousands or even tens of thousands of pesetas.
These new nobles, after accumulating a certain amount of wealth, could also purchase shares in the noble consortium, increasing their shareholdings, and naturally, future dividends would also be higher.
Do not underestimate the currently not very large noble consortium.
The Royal United Bank had already beco a colossal enterprise in the Spanish banking sector, surpassing even the newly established Spanish National Bank assembled at significant governntal expense.
Admittedly, one of the main reasons is that the Spanish National Bank started too late. The Royal United Bank had already beco a giant in the Spanish banking industry before it even began and had now beco the largest financial group in Spain.
Compared to the Royal United Bank, the Spanish National Bank was smaller. But when compared to other banks in Spain, the National Bank was still a behemoth.
Both the Royal United Bank and the Spanish National Bank were not only the top two banking giants in Spain but also accounted for eighty percent of all bank custors and deposits in Spain.
Of course, over fifty-five percent of these were in the Royal United Bank, while the National Bank had only about twenty-five percent of the custor base and deposits.
All remaining Spanish banks combined accounted for less than twenty percent of the market, underscoring the monopoly status of the Royal United Bank and the National Bank in the Spanish banking industry.
The formation of monopolistic giants is a necessary developnt of the tis and sothing every country cannot avoid.
For Spain, having these two giants monopolize the banking industry is much better than having a proliferation of various dium and small-sized banks.
The two official banks would enjoy more public support and attract more deposits, enabling them to effectively utilize Spain’s private capital to develop its economy.
Although both official banks perhaps harbored so self-serving interests in developnt, they would not back down in the face of national developnt imperatives.
Should the governnt face a funding shortage, it could have these two officially oriented banks subscribe to national debt, at least temporarily alleviating the governnt’s funding crisis.
If private funds were completely dispersed among various private banks, gathering them would be cumberso, and small-scale banks would be prone to bankruptcy.
While monopolistic giants might not be suitable for Spain’s future developnt, they were the best choice for Spain, which was currently in need of comprehensive revival.
Spain’s developnt was not smooth sailing; all industries would encounter nurous challenges.
On June 3, 1872, at a routine eting of the Spanish Cabinet Governnt, the governnt discussed the current issues facing Spain’s developnt.
Having not attended a cabinet eting for a long ti, Carlo returned to the governnt’s eting and listened to the cabinet’s discussions.
Carlo’s presence at the cabinet eting was actually due to Pri Minister Prim’s invitation. Why? Because presently, only Carlo had extra funds to focus on developing certain industries, which was also why Pri Minister Prim invited Carlo.
Dressed by a maid in the royal court’s custom white military uniform, with the rank of Marshal of Spain and holding a custom-made royal sword, after bidding farewell to Queen Sophie, Carlo headed confidently and smilingly to participate in the governnt eting.
Carlo had every reason to be confident. Becoming the king of a European power like Spain before the age of nineteen and now, at twenty-one, having gained so control over power, who wouldn’t wear a confident smile?
The good news was that the 19th-century nobles and kings had discarded the robes of the 17th and 18th centuries in favor of more handso and simple military uniforms.
With military ranks and a series of dals and tassels adorned, the military uniforms of kings and nobles appeared more imposing and handso compared to the previous robes.
Carlo particularly liked wearing military uniforms. Besides donning the royal dress suit for necessary occasions, Carlo preferred wearing a military uniform when going out.
First, the uniform was not cumberso; secondly, it was truly handso. As a king, Carlo could customize the uniform according to his style, ensuring maximum impressiveness.
Upon walking into the governnt’s conference room, the cabinet mbers were respectfully waiting for Carlo.
As the guards opened the door, the cabinet mbers all rose, respectfully greeting Carlo.
Carlo smiled and nodded, taking his ti to walk to the head of the conference table where he leisurely sat down under everyone’s gaze.
No matter who leads the governnt, as long as the king attends a governnt eting, the head position must be reserved for the king.
After all, the king is theoretically the highest ruler of a country, and even the current Spanish governnt must serve the king.
Power is power, and status is status; these are not the sa.
Once everyone was present, the cabinet eting officially comnced. Pri Minister Prim, as the governnt’s leader, naturally set the the for this cabinet eting.
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