商业报道:英国银行为经济危机道歉

UK bankers apologize

Bankers get a grilling¹ from Britain's parliament for their role in the financial crisis. CNN's Jim Boulden reports.

Protest's outside, apology's inside.

"And we are extremely sorry."

The four former bosses of Britain's two biggest troubled banks, the Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS, gave a little of what the members of parliament wanted to hear.

"We are profoundly, and I think I would say unreservedly, sorry at the time of events."

"There is a profound and unqualified apology for all of the distress² that has been caused."

These were far cries from mere³ culpas, none of the four said it was their fault.

But on the day that RBS confirmed that another 2,000 job cuts, the former head, nickname Fred the Shred⁴, for his cause cutting after 140 billion dollars worth of mergers⁶ continues to be the focus of a lot of shareholder⁷ and union anger.

"It's just too simple if you want to blame it all on me, you want to blame it all on me and close the book, that will get the job done very quickly, but it does not go anywhere close to this, because all of this."

The UK government has spent tens of billions of dollars buying stakes in these banks. The taxpayer⁸ now owns 43% of HBOS, which is merged⁹ with Lloyds TSB and 68% of RBS. The RBS board was criticised for its takeover of Dutch bank ABN AMRO in 2007, just as the Credit Crunch¹⁰ to acold.

"At that time, it seemed like a good thing to do, I bought a lot of shares on the day it happened and I thought it was a good thing to do."

Critics say ABN AMRO was a deal too far.

"You are still defending, the great position of the bank on the 16th September, and we are listening here, thinking what I gonna meet it three weeks later, the government has to put in 20 billion pounds to keep that bank going."

The bonus culture also came under scrutiny¹¹.

"There is no doubt that the bonus systems in many banks around the world have been proven to be wrong in the last 24 months."

The four men who have explained themselves before parliament on Tuesday all lost their jobs during the crisis. On Wednesday afternoon, it's the turn of those who now run Britain's banks.

Jim Boulden, CNN, London.

GLOSSARY¹²

1. the Royal Bank of Scotland（= RBS） 苏格兰皇家银行

2. HBOS 苏格兰哈里法克斯银行（Halifax and Bank of Scotland，HBOS）

3. unreservedly adv.不客气地, 率直地

4. far cry n.长距离 很远的距离

5. culpa n.[律]疏忽, 罪

6. merger⁵ n.合并, 归并

7. close the book 结帐

8. stakes 股份

9. Lloyds TSB 英国劳埃德银行

10. ABN AMRO 荷兰银行

11. acold adj.寒冷的

12. bonus system 奖金制度,分红制,职工奖金制度

 

由于金融危机，银行家被迫在议会前道歉。CNN记者Jim Boulden报道。

现在，银行家面临外部的反对，在议会上发表道歉。

“我们感到非常抱歉。”

英国两大问题银行 苏格兰皇家银行和苏格兰哈里法克斯银行的四个前任老板说了一些议会想听到的话。

“坦率的说，我们为经济危机感到深深的抱歉。”

“我们为经济危机带来的消极影响表示深深的道歉，但是这是不够的。”

但是这并是表示他们承认这是他们的疏忽造成的，四个人中没有任何一个承认是他们的错误。

但是在RBS确认，由于前领导Fred的原因，裁员2，000人，此前曾进行了价值1400亿的合并，这仍然是股东和工会愤怒的焦点。

“如果把责任全都推给我，这也太简单了，你想将一切责任让我承担，这很容易解决，但是事实并不是这样。”

英国政府投资数百亿美元购买该银行的股权，现在，纳税人持有苏格兰哈里法克斯银 43%的股权，该银行由英国劳埃德银行和RBS 68%的股权合并而成。RBS董事会由于在2007年信用紧缩的时候接管荷兰银行受到广泛批评。

“当时看上去好像还不错，我购买了许多股权，我认为这样做应该挺好的。”

批评说荷兰银行这笔交易并不靠谱。

“你仍然在保卫这个银行9月16日的位置，我们在这里倾听，我们在想，三个星期之后会是什么样的情况，政府必须投入200亿英镑帮助银行继续运转。”

奖金在制度也必须经得起推敲。

“毫无疑问，过去的24个月证明，世界上许多国家的红利制度都是错误的。”

周二在议会面前检讨自己的四个人在经济危机期间都失去了工作。周三下午，轮到现在接管英国银行的人进行检讨。

1 grilling   

v.烧烤( grill的现在分词 )；拷问，盘问

参考例句：

• The minister faced a tough grilling at today's press conference. 部长在今天的记者招待会上受到了严厉的盘问。
• He's grilling out there in the midday sun. 他在外面让中午火辣辣的太阳炙烤着。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 distress   

n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛

参考例句：

• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
• Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。

3 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

4 shred   

v.撕成碎片，变成碎片；n.碎布条，细片，些少

参考例句：

• There is not a shred of truth in what he says.他说的全是骗人的鬼话。
• The food processor can shred all kinds of vegetables.这架食品加工机可将各种蔬菜切丝切条。

5 merger   

n.企业合并，并吞

参考例句：

• Acceptance of the offer is the first step to a merger.对这项提议的赞同是合并的第一步。
• Shareholders will be voting on the merger of the companies.股东们将投票表决公司合并问题。

6 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

7 shareholder   

n.股东，股票持有人

参考例句：

• The account department have prepare a financial statement for the shareholder.财务部为股东准备了一份财务报表。
• A shareholder may transfer his shares in accordance with the law.股东持有的股份可以依法转让。

8 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

9 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。

10 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

11 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

12 glossary   

n.注释词表；术语汇编

参考例句：

• The text is supplemented by an adequate glossary.正文附有一个详细的词汇表。
• For convenience,we have also provided a glossary in an appendix.为了方便，我们在附录中也提供了术语表。