How Long to Read Letters of Credit

How Long Does it Take to Read Letters of Credit?

It takes the average reader 11 hours and 17 minutes to read Letters of Credit by Steven R. Champion

Assuming a reading speed of 250 words per minute. Learn more

Description

Tristram Fall was in the last stages of the training program for new lending officers at the highly-regarded, extremely conservative Cosmopolitan Bank in Chicago. He had received his MBA degree the previous spring and expected to glide seamlessly into a glamorous assignment at the bank's London Branch where he would work on complex loans in the booming eurodollar market. It was early 1974, and the genteel world of international banking was proceeding in its traditional slow-and-steady, relationship-focused way where new bankers developed their professional credibility over a period of years, if not decades.Fall could look to well-respected role models, like the elegant training manager Jack Prescott or the internationally-admired David Giovanni, for guidance in this process, but he also recognized that not everyone in the bank lived-up to these demanding standards. Chief among these was Fall's loud, uncouth training supervisor, the dreaded Eugene Webbermann, who had apparently been hired as a part of a clandestine sociological experiment being conducted by the bank's elephantine Chairman Homer Gunderson.Fall's hitherto sheltered life and his smooth transition into his imaginary London assignment are interrupted by an unexpected meeting with the vice president in charge of the bank's Asian operations, the notorious "Yokohama Fats," an outside-hire from the more internationally experienced Globobank. This meeting sets off a chain-reaction which soon results in Fall's surprise transfer to the bank's new branch in the gritty, rapidly changing city of Taipei, a far cry from his lofty, unrealistic expectations.Fall is no stranger to Taiwan, having lived there as a child up until the mysterious disappearance of his father when he was a sixth grader at Taipei American School. Fall returned to Taiwan years later as a junior naval intelligence officer attached to the murky, ambiguous Auxiliary Communications Center. It was the era of the Vietnam build-up, and Fall found the changes to the city brought about by the thousands of American troops enjoying their down-market Rest and Recuperation leaves disturbing and disorienting.Fall soon discovers that economic conditions are starting to change: OPEC has quadrupled oil prices, the era of fixed foreign exchange rates has ended, and the so-called recycling process for the flood of petrodollars hits some major bumps in the road. Then the Franklin National Bank suddenly collapses, followed by Bank Herstatt in Germany, which defaults on its huge, unauthorized foreign exchange transactions and paralyzes the market. Next, the highest inflation rates and most severe recession in recent memory strike the economy just as the Watergate scandal has complicated the American political scene. Added to this is the seemingly-irreversible U.S. trade surplus with China and a new environmental threat to the world climate - Global Cooling!As all this plays out, Fall begins his Taipei assignment and finds the chaotic branch there to be the polar opposite of his expectations. While the corporate banking market could not be more promising, Fall must contend with his mixed bag of bank colleagues: the disengaged branch manager, Stan Shen, the malevolent, intermural athlete LeRoy Escamillo, the extremely impulsive German-American Heinz Rohde, the mischievous, slightly sinister Freddie Foo, the too-perfect Sandra, and the rapidly developing, highly curious tea girl, Mei Mei.Outside the bank, Fall meets an even more colorful cast of characters, including Father Lionel Haggis, General Johanson, Kraut von B�low, Jake Grubek, Boss Kung, Colonel Ng, the lovely Lulu, and Cynthia, the mystery woman from the Dragon Bar. Fall also receives numerous hints about his father's secret past life in Taipei during the 1950s which prompt him to look for more information.

How long is Letters of Credit?

Letters of Credit by Steven R. Champion is 672 pages long, and a total of 169,344 words.

This makes it 227% the length of the average book. It also has 207% more words than the average book.

How Long Does it Take to Read Letters of Credit Aloud?

The average oral reading speed is 183 words per minute. This means it takes 15 hours and 25 minutes to read Letters of Credit aloud.

What Reading Level is Letters of Credit?

Letters of Credit is suitable for students ages 12 and up.

Note that there may be other factors that effect this rating besides length that are not factored in on this page. This may include things like complex language or sensitive topics not suitable for students of certain ages.

When deciding what to show young students always use your best judgement and consult a professional.

Where Can I Buy Letters of Credit?

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