经济学人68:回到原点的银行 Bank to square one

 　　Business;Face value；Bank to square one；

　　商业；商业精英；回到原点的银行；

　　Ken¹ Moelis believes that small is beautiful when it comes to investment banking²；

　　肯·莫里斯认为对于投行来说“做小”是件好事；

　　The first investment bank where Ken Moelis worked—Drexel, Burnham, Lambert—failed spectacularly. Another former employer, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ), was bought by a bigger rival. The most recent, UBS, is now on government life-support. During his 25-year career in investment banking, in short, Mr Moelis has seen it all. Over that period investment banks have evolved from staid partnerships³ into huge, publicly traded conglomerates⁴ before stumbling, and in some cases collapsing⁵, last year. But Mr Moelis has survived the upheaval⁶, and come up with some ideas about how investment banking could be improved along the way. He is now trying to put them into practice at the bank he founded in 2007, Moelis & Company.

　　肯.莫里斯工作过的第一家银行Drexel, Burnham, Lambert壮烈地倒下了。另外几家老雇主Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette也被更大的对手收购。最近，瑞银集团也靠政府支持维生。在25年的投行生涯中，莫里斯，简单地说，见证了这个全过程。在这期间，在去年投行业受挫，甚至彻底崩溃之前，他们从一种稳健的伙伴发展成为巨大的，公开交易的混业经营体。但是莫里斯经受住了巨变的考验，并且对如何改进投行业有了一些想法。现在他试图把这些想法在他2007年创办的莫里斯公司付诸实践。

　　Mr Moelis started out in the Beverly Hills office of Drexel, where he worked with Michael Milken, the “junk-bond king” who was later jailed for fraud. They raised money for cable-television channels and mega-casinos in Las Vegas—both innovative⁸ new businesses at the time—with fabled⁹ entrepreneurs such as Ted⁷ Turner and Steve Wynn. Mr Milken’s belief that a small bank with great ideas could shake the establishment made an impression on the young Mr Moelis, despite Drexel’s subsequent collapse¹⁰. Over the course of his career, he says, he concluded that banking conglomerates were too unwieldy to look after clients or employees properly—one reason why he left DLJ in 2000 when it merged¹¹ with Credit Suisse. Nonetheless, a few months later Mr Moelis agreed to join UBS, another big Swiss bank, to build up its American investment-banking unit. And build he did. It quickly became a leader in almost every branch of the business, from mergers¹² and acquisitions (M&A) to share offerings.

　　莫里斯的事业始于比利弗山的德雷克塞尔办公室，和他共事的是“垃圾债券之王”——迈克尔.米尔肯，该人后来因为欺诈而入狱。他们和超级企业家诸如特德?特纳（译者注：CNN的创始人）和史蒂夫?韦恩（拉斯韦加斯赌场巨子）一起，为有线电视频道和拉斯维加斯的超级赌场这两个在当时属于领新的行业筹资蓄款。尽管德雷克塞尔后来倒闭了，但是米尔肯认为有着好思路的小银行能够撼动大机构的观点，给年轻的莫里斯留下了深刻的印象。在他的职业生涯中，他得出这样的结论：银行的混业经营使得不便于恰当地服务客户和员工，这也是他在2000年DLJ兼并瑞士信贷后离开的原因之一。尽管如此，莫里斯还是在几个月以后同意加入另一个瑞士银行巨头——瑞银集团，来组建它的美国投资银行部门。他也的确这样做了，随后瑞银的投行部门成为这个商业领域从合并收购到配股几乎所有业务的龙头。

　　That was not enough for Mr Moelis, who says he still felt uncomfortable at such a big bank. In early 2007, despite the worsening economic outlook, he left to set up a bank of his own. A day after opening Moelis & Company he won the job of advising Hilton Hotels on a $26 billion takeover bid from Blackstone Group—one of the biggest deals of the buy-out boom. As the recession took hold, demand grew for the impartial¹³ advice that “boutique” banks offered but that the giants, with their myriad¹⁴ customers and huge proprietary¹⁵-trading operations, struggle to provide.

　　但是这些对于莫里斯远远不够，这样一个大银行里他还是觉得不舒服。在2007年初，尽管经济前景不乐观，他依然选择离开并创建自己的银行。在开业后的第一天，莫里斯赢得了希尔顿酒店从黑石集团260亿美元的收购要约——买断热潮中最大的一笔交易。随着经济衰退的确立，对“精品”银行的中立意见的需求增加，但是那些有着众多顾客和巨额自营交易（译者注：公司为赚取直接收益，而不是佣金的交易。具体来说，指公司决定通过直接市场交易，而不是通过赚取处理买卖的佣金而获利）的投行巨头们却很难提供。

　　Indeed, big banks’ share of the world’s M&A business so far this year is five percentage points lower than it was last year. Boutique banks, by contrast, have won their highest share ever, at 15%. Both long-established small outfits¹⁶ such as Rothschild and Lazard, and newer ones such as Evercore Partners, have seen their business expand. But Moelis & Company made the biggest splash, briefly¹⁷ becoming one of the top ten banks in the M&A business in America. Mr Moelis’s firm helped Anheuser-Busch, an American brewer¹⁸, sell itself for $52 billion to Inbev of Belgium, and helped Yahoo!, an internet portal, see off a takeover bid from Microsoft, a software giant.

　　的确，截至目前大佬们在全世界并购和收购商业的市场份额下滑了5个百分点，而与之鲜明对比的“精品小投行”则赢得了史无前例的15%。无论是Rothschild 和Lazard这些设立已久的小机构还是诸如Evercore Partners这样的新机构，他们都看到了业务的迅速扩张。但莫里斯公司还是引发了最大的轰动，他曾暂时雄踞全美并购和收购业务前十名。莫里斯的公司帮助美国啤酒酿造商安海斯布希以520亿美元将自己出售给比利时的英博公司，帮助互联网门户雅虎抵制了软件巨头微软的收购。

　　In the immediate¹⁹ aftermath of the crisis, the big banks resembled patients coming down from ether to Mr Moelis: “Everyone awoke to find that profits generated from leverage²⁰ and casino-like bets made with the bank’s own capital were just illusions.” Small banks were able to win lucrative²¹ advisory²² mandates²³ and hire talented bankers from their dazed rivals. Mr Moelis picked up some big names, including Mark Aedy, a former star at Merrill Lynch. In less than two years he has expanded from ten employees in New York and Los Angeles to 230 in six different cities.

　　在金融危机的余波中，对于莫里斯来说那些大银行门就像刚从乙醚中苏醒的病人：“每个醒来发现，用银行自己的资本金来从杠杆交易和赌场般的交易中赚取利润只是幻想。”小投行可以赢得有利可图的咨询委托，并从晕头转向的对手那里雇到优秀的银行家。莫里斯列举了一些如雷贯耳的名字，包括美林的创始人Mark Aedy。在不到两年的时间里，他已经将在纽约和洛杉矶的10名雇员扩大到6个不同城市的230名雇员。

　　Although the sudden seizure²⁴ of the credit markets and the subsequent swoon of the economy afflicted²⁵ the titans of the industry most severely²⁶, it is now beginning to affect boutiques too, as mergers dry up. But Mr Moelis has already experienced such a drought, during the recession of the early 1990s, when he was head of investment banking at DLJ. At the time, rather than wait for M&A deals to return, he decided²⁷ to build expertise²⁸ in loan restructuring, to win business advising the many firms that were struggling with their debts. DLJ’s restructuring group became the market leader and Mr Moelis learned that “When you help a client in trouble, you have a client for life.” So he has repeated the trick at Moelis & Company as the economy has soured: restructuring now makes up half its business.

　　尽管信贷市场的休克和随后经济的晕厥曾经严重折麽了这个行业的巨头们，现在随着并购业务的枯竭，它也开始影响精品小投行。但是早在1990年代初期的衰退中，时任DLJ投行部门负责人的莫里斯就经历过这样的大旱。当时，与其干等着并购收购交易回暖，莫里斯决定在债务重组领域建立专家团队，通过为众多受困于债务的公司咨询来赢得生意。DLJ的重组团队成为市场的先导，莫里斯也学到了“当你在客户陷入麻烦的时候帮助了他，你就赢得了一个终身的客户。”因此在经济低迷的时候，他又在莫里斯公司旧计重演，目前重组占了公司业务的半壁江山。

　　Mr Moelis knows he will have to remain nimble while expanding his firm’s offerings. This week Moelis & Company announced the opening of an Australian office that will focus on Asian deals. Plans are also under way to underwrite securities and develop a trading platform. He hopes the latter move will address a shortcoming of many boutiques: their inability to access capital markets. Mr Moelis has also hired risk-advisory experts to help clients comb through the arcane²⁹ financial instruments (probably toxic) sitting on their books. But he is quick to point out that he will not do any proprietary trading or expand into other fields that could lead to conflicts of interest.

　　莫里斯深知在扩张业务的同时一定要保持机敏。这周莫里斯公司宣布在澳大利亚开设一家专注于亚洲业务的分支机构。他计划承销证券并开发一个交易平台。他希望后者能够应对许多小投行的不足：他们无法进入资本市场。莫里斯也雇佣了风险咨询管家来帮助客户梳理帐面上那些神秘的金融工具（可能也包括有毒证券）。但是他又迅速指出，他将不会做任何自营交易或者将业务扩展到那些可能导致利益冲突的领域。

　　Battle with the bulge³⁰

　　逐鹿群雄

　　Mr Moelis concedes that his firm is unlikely to keep growing so quickly. Just as the crisis provided an opportunity, the recovery is posing a threat as big banks recapitalize and prepare to wrest³¹ business back from the boutiques. Worse, talented bankers from fallen giants such as Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns are now setting up their own boutiques, further stiffening³² the competition. Moelis & Company fell to 82nd in the most recent M&A league tables. That decline, although offset³³ in part by restructuring work, shows how transient success in investment banking can be.

　　莫里斯承认他的公司不可能一直这样快速发展。正如危机提供了机会，复苏也给小投行带来威胁，那些大投行们重组资产后准备从小投行那里抢回生意。更糟糕的是，那些倒下的投行如雷曼兄弟和贝尔斯登里银行家们现在也在创办自己的小型投行，这更加剧了竞争。莫里斯公司在最近的并购收购排行榜中落到了第82位。这种下滑尽管可能部分由于重组业务，但是也显示了投行业的成功是多么短暂。

　　Mr Moelis has proved adept³⁴ at surviving crises, but the banks he has worked for have not all been so fortunate. Can he build a bank that will outlast³⁵ him? He is convinced that new ideas and agile³⁶ management will allow Moelis & Company to flourish. But his own career shows just how easily banks can come and go, in large part because bankers do too

　　莫里斯从金融危机中的幸存证明了他的老道，但是他所服务过的银行们却并不都那样幸运。他能够建立一个比他活得更久的银行么？他坚信新思路和管理的灵活性会使莫里斯公司蓬勃发展。但是他自己的职业生涯却显示了银行是多么容易转瞬即逝，而这多半是因为银行家也是这样做。

1 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

2 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

3 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

4 conglomerates   

n.（多种经营的）联合大企业( conglomerate的名词复数 )；砾岩；合成物；组合物

参考例句：

• At the surface, radioactivity of the conglomerates is locally as high as 30 X background. 在地表，砾岩的局部地段的放射性高达30倍本底值。 来自辞典例句
• The conglomerates failed to understand that books could not be sold like soap. 这些联合大企业不懂卖书不象卖肥皂那样。 来自辞典例句

5 collapsing   

压扁[平]，毁坏，断裂

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The rocks were folded by collapsing into the center of the trough. 岩石由于坍陷进入凹槽的中心而发生褶皱。

6 upheaval   

n.胀起，(地壳)的隆起；剧变，动乱

参考例句：

• It was faced with the greatest social upheaval since World War Ⅱ.它面临第二次世界大战以来最大的社会动乱。
• The country has been thrown into an upheaval.这个国家已经陷入动乱之中。

7 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

8 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

9 fabled   

adj.寓言中的，虚构的

参考例句：

• For the first week he never actually saw the fabled Jack. 第一周他实际上从没见到传说中的杰克。
• Aphrodite, the Greek goddness of love, is fabled to have been born of the foam of the sea. 希腊爱神阿美罗狄蒂据说是诞生于海浪泡沫之中。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

11 merged   

（使）混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 )； 相融； 融入； 渐渐消失在某物中

参考例句：

• Turf wars are inevitable when two departments are merged. 两个部门合并时总免不了争争权限。
• The small shops were merged into a large market. 那些小商店合并成为一个大商场。

12 mergers   

n.（两个公司的）合并( merger的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Mergers fall into three categories: horizontal, vertical, and conglomerate. 合并分为以下三种：横向合并，纵向合并和混合合并。 来自辞典例句
• Many recent mergers are concentrated within specific industries, particularly in retailing, airlines and communications. 现代许多合并企业集中进行某些特定业务，在零售业、民航和通讯业中更是如此。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

13 impartial   

adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的

参考例句：

• He gave an impartial view of the state of affairs in Ireland.他对爱尔兰的事态发表了公正的看法。
• Careers officers offer impartial advice to all pupils.就业指导员向所有学生提供公正无私的建议。

14 myriad   

adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量

参考例句：

• They offered no solution for all our myriad problems.对于我们数不清的问题他们束手无策。
• I had three weeks to make a myriad of arrangements.我花了三个星期做大量准备工作。

15 proprietary   

n.所有权，所有的；独占的；业主

参考例句：

• We had to take action to protect the proprietary technology.我们必须采取措施保护专利技术。
• Proprietary right is the foundation of jus rerem.所有权是物权法之根基。

16 outfits   

n.全套装备( outfit的名词复数 )；一套服装；集体；组织v.装备，配置设备，供给服装( outfit的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He jobbed out the contract to a number of small outfits. 他把承包工程分包给许多小单位。 来自辞典例句
• Some cyclists carry repair outfits because they may have a puncture. 有些骑自行车的人带修理工具，因为他们车胎可能小孔。 来自辞典例句

17 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

18 brewer   

n. 啤酒制造者

参考例句：

• Brewer is a very interesting man. 布鲁尔是一个很有趣的人。
• I decided to quit my job to become a brewer. 我决定辞职，做一名酿酒人。

19 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

20 leverage   

n.力量，影响；杠杆作用，杠杆的力量

参考例句：

• We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
• He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力，他的计划失败了。

21 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

22 advisory   

adj.劝告的，忠告的，顾问的，提供咨询

参考例句：

• I have worked in an advisory capacity with many hospitals.我曾在多家医院做过顾问工作。
• He was appointed to the advisory committee last month.他上个月获任命为顾问委员会委员。

23 mandates   

托管（mandate的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Individual mandates would require all people to purchase health insurance. 个人托管要求所有人都要购买健康保险。
• While I agree with those benefits, I'm not a supporter of mandates. 我同意上述好处，我不是授权软件的支持者。

24 seizure   

n.没收；占有；抵押

参考例句：

• The seizure of contraband is made by customs.那些走私品是被海关没收的。
• The courts ordered the seizure of all her property.法院下令查封她所有的财产。

25 afflicted   

使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• About 40% of the country's population is afflicted with the disease. 全国40%左右的人口患有这种疾病。
• A terrible restlessness that was like to hunger afflicted Martin Eden. 一阵可怕的、跟饥饿差不多的不安情绪折磨着马丁·伊登。

26 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

27 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

28 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

29 arcane   

adj.神秘的，秘密的

参考例句：

• The technique at one time was arcane in the minds of most chemists.这种技术在大多数化学家心目中一度是神秘的。
• Until a few months ago few people outside the arcane world of contemporary music had heard of Gorecki.直至几个月前，在现代音乐神秘殿堂之外很少有人听说了戈莱斯基。

30 bulge   

n.突出，膨胀，激增；vt.突出，膨胀

参考例句：

• The apple made a bulge in his pocket.苹果把他口袋塞得鼓了起来。
• What's that awkward bulge in your pocket?你口袋里那块鼓鼓囊囊的东西是什么？

31 wrest   

n.扭，拧，猛夺；v.夺取，猛扭，歪曲

参考例句：

• The officer managed to wrest the gun from his grasp.警官最终把枪从他手中夺走了。
• You wrest my words out of their real meaning.你曲解了我话里的真正含义。

32 stiffening   

n. (使衣服等)变硬的材料, 硬化 动词stiffen的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• Her mouth stiffening, she could not elaborate. 她嘴巴僵直，无法细说下去。
• No genius, not a bad guy, but the attacks are hurting and stiffening him. 不是天才，人也不坏，但是四面八方的攻击伤了他的感情，使他横下了心。

33 offset   

n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿

参考例句：

• Their wage increases would be offset by higher prices.他们增加的工资会被物价上涨所抵消。
• He put up his prices to offset the increased cost of materials.他提高了售价以补偿材料成本的增加。

34 adept   

adj.老练的，精通的

参考例句：

• When it comes to photography,I'm not an adept.要说照相，我不是内行。
• He was highly adept at avoiding trouble.他十分善于避开麻烦。

35 outlast   

v.较…耐久

参考例句：

• The great use of life is to spend it doing something that will outlast it.人生的充分利用就是为争取比人生更长久的东西而度过一生。
• These naturally dried flowers will outlast a bouquet of fresh blooms.这些自然风干的花会比一束鲜花更加持久。

36 agile   

adj.敏捷的，灵活的

参考例句：

• She is such an agile dancer!她跳起舞来是那么灵巧！
• An acrobat has to be agile.杂技演员必须身手敏捷。