監管部門出臺方案 終結"大到不能倒"現象

The world’s banking regulators unveiled at the weekend their last great plan for ending the phenomenon of banks that are ‘too-big-to-fail’, proposing that the most important institutions should carry at least as much as capital as other banks to ensure that taxpayers don’t ever have to rescue them again.

上週末，全球銀行業監管部門公佈一項新的重大方案，意在終結銀行“大到不能倒”的現象。該方案提議，那些最重要的金融機構持有的資本金，至少應該和其他銀行相當，以確保納稅人再也不需要向它們伸出援手。

The Financial Stability Board, which coordinates the global regulatory response to the 2008 financial crisis on behalf of the Group of 20 major economies, said that Global Systemically Important Banks, or G-SIBs, should in future have to hold loss-absorbing capital equivalent to between 16%-20% of their total assets, adjusted for risk.

金融穩定委員會（Financial Stability Board）代表20國集團（G20）主要經濟體，協調全球監管機構共同應對2008年金融危機。該委員會表示，剔除風險因素後，全球系統性重要銀行（G-SIB）今後用於吸收損失的資本，必須達到自身總資產的16-20%。

That’s more than double the 8% ratio that was prescribed in the so-called “Basel III” accords in 2011, which are being phased in around the world by 2018. The actual ratio required may even be higher than the basic range of 16%-20% range, as the plan allows national regulators to add on further capital charges if they deem it necessary.

2011年出臺的《巴塞爾協議III》（Basel III）對此類資本的要求是8%。這項計劃正在全球範圍內分階段推進，預計到2018年全面落地。而金融穩定委員會提出的要求高了一倍多。同時，實際比例可能會更高，因爲按照這個方案，如果各國監管部門認爲有必要，還可以進一步提高對銀行的資本支出要求。

The scale of the new requirements reflects, in part, the fact that regulators have largely failed to crack the legal and political problems of resolving a global bank (such as Lehman Brothers was), if its collapse leaves a trail of creditors in numerous jurisdictions, all with competing claims on its assets.

這項新規要求的資本金水平在一定程度上表明，監管部門基本上未能解決與處理【曾經的雷曼兄弟（Lehman Brothers）】那樣的全球性銀行有關的法律和政治問題。此類銀行倒閉後，債權人往往遍佈各地，而且對倒閉銀行的資產擁有同樣的索賠權。

The new requirements would hit 30 banks that the FSB considers G-SIBs. They include JP Morgan Chase Inc. JPM 0.75% , Citigroup C 0.26% , Goldman Sachs , Morgan Stanley MS 0.62% , State Street STT 0.40% and Wells Fargo Inc. WFC -0.02% , as well as all of the largest European and Japanese banks, plus two Chinese lenders.

這項新規定將影響被金融穩定委員會列爲全球系統性重要銀行的30家銀行，包括摩根大通（JP Morgan Chase）、花旗集團（Citigroup）、高盛（Goldman Sachs）、摩根士丹利（Morgan Stanley）、道富集團（State Street）、富國銀行（Wells Fargo）、所有歐洲和日本最大的銀行，以及兩家中國銀行。

Mark Carney, chairman of the FSB and governor of the Bank of England, told the BBC Monday that the pre-crisis system, which forced governments to carry out multi-billion dollar bail-outs to avert financial disaster, had been “totally unfair.”

週一，金融穩定委員會主席、英國央行行長馬克o卡尼向英國廣播公司（BBC）表示，金融危機前的機制迫使政府斥資數十億美元救助銀行業，以避免金融災難，這“毫無公平可言”。

“The banks and their shareholders and their creditors got the benefit when things went well,” Carney said. “But when they went wrong the…public and subsequent generations picked up the bill–and that’s going to end.”

卡尼說：“情況良好時，銀行及其股東和債權人得到好處；而當他們犯了錯誤，卻由公衆和下幾代人買單。必須結束這種局面。”

Banks have complained ever since the Basel III accords that stringent new capital requirements would make it difficult for them to turn a profit, but such claims have lost credence as bank profits–especially in the U.S.–have rebounded with the economic upturn.

《巴塞爾協議III》出臺以來，銀行方面一直怨聲載道，稱新的資本金要求將使其難以盈利。但這種說法已經失去了可信度，因爲隨着經濟上行，銀行業利潤已經反彈，在美國這種現象尤爲明顯。

The new rules wouldn’t necessarily mean that banks will have to issue floods of new shares that would dilute their existing shareholder base. More likely is that banks–which typically depend to a far greater extent on bonds than equity to finance themselves–will have to rely less on “senior” debt, and switch more of it for “subordinated” debt that regulators can write down to zero if a bank’s losses exceed its equity base.

新規定不一定意味着銀行必須大量發行新股以稀釋現有股東基數。就融資而言，銀行對債券的依賴程度通常遠遠超過股票。更有可能出現的情況是，銀行必須降低對“高級”債券的依賴，並更多地轉向“次級”債券。如果銀行的虧損規模超過了自身股本，監管機構可以把次級債券的價值減記爲零。

The FSB said it expects that banks will be able to use such ‘bail-in-able’ debt securities to meet at least one-third of the requirement.

金融穩定委員會預計，銀行至少可以利用此類“可自救”的債務證券，滿足三分之一的資本金要求。

Under the FSB’s proposals, banks would have until 2019 to meet the requirements. If they fail to do so, then regulators could restrict or ban bonus payments or dividends until a bank met them.

按照金融穩定委員會的方案，銀行滿足新要求的最終期限是2019年。如果屆時未能達到要求，監管部門就可能限制或禁止銀行發放獎金或紅利，直到後者達標。

The final terms of the requirement will be fine-tuned after feedback from the banks themselves, and from a ‘Quantitative Impact Study’ in early 2015.

此項新規定稿前，金融穩定委員會還將根據銀行方面的反饋，以及2015年初的“量化影響研究”結果，對相關要求進行微調。