The Obama administration has announced plans to impose greater regulation and oversight on financial markets to reduce systemic risk and avoid a repeat of the current financial meltdown. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced more details of the plans in a congressional hearing.
奥巴马政府宣布了对金融市场加强监管的计划，以减少系统性的风险以及避免目前这样的金融危机再次发生。美国财政部长盖特纳在一个国会听证会上宣布了有关这个计划的更多细节。
The plan, which includes a proposal to create a new regulating authority to monitor risk in the financial system, has been long in preparation and the subject of discussions between lawmakers and the administration.
这个包括成立一个新的监管机构来对金融体系的风险进行监测的计划已经准备了很长的时间，而且一直是国会议员和奥巴马政府讨论的话题。
Secretary Geithner told the House Financial Services Committee Thursday that it has become clear there is a need for better and tougher regulation in a complex and flawed financial system.
财政部长盖特纳星期四对众议院金融服务委员会表示，现在情况越来越清楚，有必要对一个既复杂又有问题的金融体系进行更好以及更严格的监管。
"Comprehensive reform, not modest repairs at the margin, but new rules of the game. And the new rules must be simpler and more effectively enforced," he said. "They must produce a more stable system, one that protects consumers and investors, rewards innovation and is able to adapt and evolve with changes in the structure of our financial system."
他说：“(需要)进行全面的改革，不是在边边角角的地方进行修修补补，而是制订全新的规定。这些新的规定必须更简单而且能够更加有效地得到实施。它们必须使得这个体系更加稳固，一个能够保护消费者和投资人以及对创新进行奖励的体系，而且能够跟着我们金融体系结构的改变而改变和调整。”
The plan would extend federal government supervision to hedge funds and other investment houses that package sometimes risky and exotic investments. The rules would require the investment houses to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission if their assets exceed a yet to be determined size. Similar rules are already in place to regulate banks.
这个计划将把联邦政府的监管扩大到对冲基金以及其他的投资机构。这些投资机构有时候会创造出高风险和不常见的投资产品。新的规定将要求那些资产超过一定规模的投资机构向证券交易委员会进行注册。目前这个资产规模还有待最后敲定。现在已经有类似的规定来对银行进行监管。
Also proposed is greater control and oversight over complicated financial transactions like credit default swaps, which played a major role in the collapse of companies such as American International Group (AIG).
这个计划还提议对像信用违约互换这种过于复杂的金融交易进行更多控制和监督。信用违约互换对于美国国际集团这样的公司的衰败起了很大作用。
Earlier this week, Secretary Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke also discussed with Congress another step which would enable the government to take control of major non-bank financial institutions threatened with collapse.
House Financial Services Committee chairman Democrat Congressman Barney Frank has taken a lead role in working with the administration on regulatory reform.
众议院金融服务委员会的主席、民主党议员弗兰克在同政府就监管改革进行合作的问题上发挥了领导作用。
"There are problems, as there were with the trusts or with the stock market, when there are no rules," he said. "Our job is to craft rules, as did Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt, that allow the society to get the benefit of these wonderful value-added financial innovations, while curtailing some of the abuses."
他说：“在没有规则的时候，就会有问题，就像信托基金或是股市。我们的工作就是制订规则，就像西奥多·罗斯福、伍德罗·威尔逊和富兰克林·罗斯福总统当年所做的那样，使得整个社会从这些很好的增加价值的金融创新中得到好处，同时遏制一些创新的被滥用。”
Republicans on the financial services committee, including Representative Scott Garrett, voiced concerns that greater regulation may not be effective.
金融服务委员会中的共和党人，包括众议员加勒特，表达了更大的监管可能不会有效的担忧。
"How can we possibly assign powers to a systemic regulator if we have not fully examined the appropriate roles for the existing regulators? And even more fundamentally than that, before we get too far down the road of fixing certain problems, how do we do so before we actually identify what those problems are," asked Garrett.
他说：“如果我们没有对现有的监管机构的角色进行全面的审核，我们怎么能够对一个系统性的监管机构赋予权力呢？而且比这更根本的一个问题是，在我们在解决某些问题的道路上走得太远之前，在我们实际上找出这些问题是什么之前，我们怎么能够解决这些问题呢？”
Republican Spencer Bachus voiced another Republican concern about the Obama administration's proposals for dissolving failing institutions.
共和党议员巴屈斯提出了共和党人对奥巴马政府解散面临倒闭的机构的建议所存在的担忧。
"By creating this process [by] which non-banks whose failure would have systemic consequences could be wound down in an orderly fashion, we would restore balance and force firms to face the consequences of their actions," he said. "However, it is essential that any new regime for resolving or liquidating non-banks not rely on taxpayer funding."
他说：“通过建立一个程序，使会给整个金融体系带来后果的非银行机构的倒闭能够有序的进行，我们将能恢复系统的平衡而且迫使公司面对它们自己的行动带来的后果。但是，至关重要的是，任何解决或是清算非银行机构的新体制不能依靠纳税人的资金。”
Texas Democrat Al Green said the proposals Geithner outlined do what is necessary to prevent the failure of large institutions from devastating the economy.
来自德克萨斯州的民主党议员格林说，盖特纳提出的建议做了所必需做的事情，以防止大的机构的倒闭对整个经济造成毁灭性的影响。
"You are doing the right thing because the American people understand that too big to fail is the right size to regulate," he said.
他说：“你正在做正确的事情，因为美国人理解，一个公司如果发展到因为太大而不能让它破产的地步，那就意味着已经到了对它进行监管的时候了。”
Treasury Secretary Geithner said the Obama administration will continue working with House and Senate lawmakers on details of the proposal as it moves into final legislative form.
财政部长盖特纳说，在这个建议最终成为一个法案的过程中，奥巴马政府将继续同众议院和参议院的议员就有关的细节进行讨论。
Geithner said President Obama will use his talks with other world leaders at the G-20 summit in London next week to underscore the need to raise regulatory standards globally.
盖特纳说，奥巴马总统将利用他在下个星期的伦敦20国集团首脑会议上同其他国家领导人举行的会谈来强调提高国际监管标准的必要性。 |