经济学人02:操之过急的巴塞尔

 　　Finance and Economics;Bank capital;Half-cocked Basel;

　　财经;银行资本;操之过急的巴塞尔;

　　Stop-gap rules on banks' trading books may add perilous¹ complexity².

　　把银行交易帐户作为权宜之计可能增加了危险的复杂性。

　　The nnew year hangover throbbed³ agonisingly for investment bankers this year. Blame Basel 2.5, a new set of international rules which charges banks higher capital for the risks they run in their trading books (as opposed to their banking⁴ books, where they keep assets that they intend to hold to maturity). Those charges were too low before. And heaping higher costs on banks should please politicians and Joe Public. But they add another layer of complexity to banks' risk management.

　　今年，新年遗留问题沉闷地牵动了投资银行家的神经。这都得归咎于巴塞尔协议2.5版（以下简称巴塞尔2.5），这是一套新的国际规则，它针对银行交易帐户（与银行账户不同，在银行账户里他们打算持有资产至到期日）中操作的风险性资产收取更多费用。以前收取的费用太低了。银行成本累加应该会讨政治家和普通百姓的喜欢。但是他们给银行的风险管理增加了另外一层复杂性。

　　Basel 2.5 came into force on December 31st in most European and major world financial jurisdictions⁵. Switzerland applied⁶ the rules a year early, and the costs are substantial. Third-quarter figures for Credit Suisse show a 28% increase in risk-weighted assets, and hence capital charges, for its investment-banking activities purely⁷ because of Basel 2.5.

　　12月31日，巴塞尔2.5在欧洲大部分地区和世界主要金融辖区开始实施。瑞士一年前贯彻了这一法规，成本很高。瑞士信贷第三季度数据显示风险加权资产增长了28%，因为巴塞尔2.5，今后资本费用仅仅是针对投行业务的。

　　The most notable laggard⁸ is America. US financial regulators do not oppose Basel 2.5, but it clashes with the Dodd-Frank act, America's big wet blanket of a financial reform. Basel 2.5 uses credit ratings from recognised agencies such as Moody's and Standard & Poor's to calibrate⁹ capital charges. Dodd-Frank expressly forbids the use of such ratings agencies, whose poor judgments¹⁰ are held partly responsible for the crisis. Instead American regulators are working on their own cocktail¹¹ of credit-risk calibrations for Basel 2.5, using market data and country-risk ratings from the OECD. Their solution is still months away from application (though not as distant as implementation¹² by the Russians or Argentines).

　　最引人注意的拖延者是美国。美国金融监管机构并不反对巴塞尔2.5，但是巴塞尔2.5与美国大的金融监管改革法案《多德-弗兰克法案》却存在冲突。巴塞尔2.5使用的信誉评级从评级机构穆迪和标准普尔到校准资本收费。《多德-弗兰克法案》特别禁止了使用评级机构，他们匮乏的判断力对危机负有部分责任。而美国的校准人都忙于利用来自世界经济合作发展组织的市场数据和国家风险评级，应付他们自己在巴塞尔2.5下的信用风险校验。他们的方案距离实施仍有数月之久（虽然执行力不和俄国或者阿根廷一样虚幻）

　　Basel 2.5 for the first time charges banks extra capital for the credit risk of what they hold in their trading portfolio¹³ (because the crisis showed that markets are not always liquid enough to be able to offload assets). That includes a charge for the risk that a counterparty goes bust¹⁴. It also imposes heavy charges on securitised bundles of assets unless the credit risk of each piece of the bundle has an identifiable market price. Banks that have portfolios¹⁵ of trading positions which they reckon offset¹⁶ each other have to convince regulators that their risk models work or face being charged at a cruder, standardised rate.

　　巴塞尔2.5第一次针对于银行交易性资产的信贷风险收取额外费用（因为危机显示了市场并不是一直有足够流通性来剥离资产）。这包括了交易对象破产的风险。它也对资产证券化产品征收了高额的费用，除非产品包中每种资产的信贷风险有明确的市场标价。那些自己认为拥有彼此抵消投资组合的银行必须说服监管机构他们所使用或者面临的风险模型正在被以野蛮的、标准的费率收费。

　　The problem with Basel 2.5, recognised by regulators and bankers alike, is its complexity. The risk of a trading portfolio must now be broken down into five “buckets”—value at risk (VaR), a measure of how much could be lost in an average trading day; stressed VaR (how much could be lost in extreme conditions); plus three types of credit risk ranging from the risk of single credits to those of securitised loans. Traders are understandably confused. For some banks, developing risk models and getting them approved is just too expensive: more complex businesses will be shut down. That will please those who want banks to be more boring.

　　监管机构和银行家似乎承认了巴塞尔2.5 问题的复杂性。交易性资产的风险现在必须分解成五个“桶”：风险值（VAR），估计平均每个交易日的可能损失；极限风险值（极限状态下的可能损失）；再加上三个不同类别的信用风险值，从单个信贷风险到抵押贷款依次排列。交易员都觉得很困惑。对于一些银行而言，开发风险模型并获得通过成本太高了：更复杂的业务将被停止。这将使一些想让银行更加令人厌烦的人非常满意。

　　But unintended consequences will doubtless follow. Useful products may become less tradable. Trading of riskier¹⁷ products could migrate to unregulated entities¹⁸. Banks may be tempted¹⁹ into new forms of regulatory arbitrage²⁰, by juggling²¹ assets between their trading book and their banking book. Worst of all, perhaps, is the increased risk of back-office bungling²² because of the extra complexity.

　　但是这无疑将招致意外的后果。实用的产品交易量会减少。风险产品的交易可能转移至不受监管的实体。银行可能会被交易账户和银行账户之间变换的资产诱惑，进入一套新的监管套利模式。最坏的情况可能是由于额外的复杂性造成的后台拙劣的工作风险增加 。

　　Regulators recognise this risk. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision²³, which drew up the rules and is also responsible for the full Basel 3 regime that will come into force in 2019, is still conducting what it calls a “fundamental review” of capital rules for banks' trading books. Publication is not expected before March. Those sore heads will not soon clear.

　　监管部门认识到了这种风险。起草规则并负责2019年开始执行的全部的巴塞尔3的巴塞尔委员会银行监督机构，仍在指挥着他们称之为对银行交易账户的资金制度“基本审查”的行动。三月前是不会发行官方文件的。头疼的问题也一时不会被解决。

1 perilous   

adj.危险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• The journey through the jungle was perilous.穿过丛林的旅行充满了危险。
• We have been carried in safety through a perilous crisis.历经一连串危机，我们如今已安然无恙。

2 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

3 throbbed   

抽痛( throb的过去式和过去分词 )； （心脏、脉搏等）跳动

参考例句：

• His head throbbed painfully. 他的头一抽一跳地痛。
• The pulse throbbed steadily. 脉搏跳得平稳。

4 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。

5 jurisdictions   

司法权( jurisdiction的名词复数 )； 裁判权； 管辖区域； 管辖范围

参考例句：

• Butler entreated him to remember the act abolishing the heritable jurisdictions. 巴特勒提醒他注意废除世袭审判权的国会法令。
• James I personally adjudicated between the two jurisdictions. 詹姆士一世亲自裁定双方纠纷。

6 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

7 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

8 laggard   

n.落后者；adj.缓慢的，落后的

参考例句：

• In village,the laggard living condition must be improved.在乡村落后的生活条件必须被改善。
• Businesshas to some degree been a laggard in this process.商业在这个进程中已经慢了一拍。

9 calibrate   

校准；使合标准；测量（枪的）口径

参考例句：

• Pesticide levels in food are simply too difficult to calibrate.食品中杀虫剂的含量很难精确测定。

10 judgments   

判断( judgment的名词复数 )； 鉴定； 评价； 审判

参考例句：

• A peculiar austerity marked his judgments of modern life. 他对现代生活的批评带着一种特殊的苛刻。
• He is swift with his judgments. 他判断迅速。

11 cocktail   

n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物

参考例句：

• We invited some foreign friends for a cocktail party.我们邀请了一些外国朋友参加鸡尾酒会。
• At a cocktail party in Hollywood,I was introduced to Charlie Chaplin.在好莱坞的一次鸡尾酒会上，人家把我介绍给查理·卓别林。

12 implementation   

n.实施，贯彻

参考例句：

• Implementation of the program is now well underway.这一项目的实施现在行情看好。

13 portfolio   

n.公事包；文件夹；大臣及部长职位

参考例句：

• He remembered her because she was carrying a large portfolio.他因为她带着一个大公文包而记住了她。
• He resigned his portfolio.他辞去了大臣职务。

14 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

15 portfolios   

n.投资组合( portfolio的名词复数 )；（保险）业务量；（公司或机构提供的）系列产品；纸夹

参考例句：

• Price risk arises in non-trading portfolios, as well as in trading portfolios. 价格风险中出现的非贸易投资，以及在贸易投资组合。 来自互联网
• How do we fatten our portfolios and stay financially healthy? 我们怎样育肥我们的投资结构和维持财政健康呢？ 来自互联网

16 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。

17 riskier   

冒险的，危险的( risky的比较级 )

参考例句：

• Now they are starting to demand higher returns on riskier assets. 而今他们开始在风险更高的资产上要求更高的回报。
• The problem with that: RIM's business is getting riskier every quarter. 不过问题也随之而来：RIM面临的业务风险正逐季增大。

18 entities   

实体对像； 实体，独立存在体，实际存在物( entity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Our newspaper and our printing business form separate corporate entities. 我们的报纸和印刷业形成相对独立的企业实体。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities. 北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

19 tempted   

v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词）

参考例句：

• I was sorely tempted to complain, but I didn't. 我极想发牢骚，但还是没开口。
• I was tempted by the dessert menu. 甜食菜单馋得我垂涎欲滴。

20 arbitrage   

n.套利，套汇

参考例句：

• This is an example of arbitrage.这就是套利的一个例子。
• That is interest arbitrage in practice.这就是所谓的套利。

21 juggling   

n. 欺骗, 杂耍(=jugglery) adj. 欺骗的, 欺诈的 动词juggle的现在分词

参考例句：

• He was charged with some dishonest juggling with the accounts. 他被指控用欺骗手段窜改账目。
• The accountant went to prison for juggling his firm's accounts. 会计因涂改公司的帐目而入狱。

22 bungling   

adj.笨拙的，粗劣的v.搞糟，完不成( bungle的现在分词 )；笨手笨脚地做；失败；完不成

参考例句：

• You can't do a thing without bungling it. 你做事总是笨手笨脚。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• 'Enough, too,' retorted George. 'We'll all swing and sundry for your bungling.' “还不够吗？”乔治反问道，“就因为你乱指挥，我们都得荡秋千，被日头晒干。” 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛

23 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。