日本黑幫也缺錢 尷尬面臨"錢荒"

Japanese gangsters are poised for a credit crunch after the country’s top banking lobby declared it was fed up with yakuza members defaulting on car and small-business loans and would work with police to cut them off.

日本黑幫面臨一場信貸緊縮，因爲日本銀行業主要遊說團體稱，其對黑社會成員在汽車和小企業貸款上的違約行爲忍無可忍，將與警方合作，切斷流向黑幫成員的貸款。

The move comes amid a scandal engulfing Mizuho, Japan’s second-biggest financial group by assets, which said last month that it had supplied gang members with loans via Orient Corp, a consumer-finance affiliate.

這一舉措出臺之際，日本資產規模第二大的金融集團瑞穗證券(Mizuho)正面臨一則醜聞的困擾，該集團上月承認，曾通過附屬的消費金融公司Orient Corp向黑幫成員提供貸款。

Takeshi Kunibe, chairman of the Japanese Bankers Association, told reporters yesterday that the group would team up with the National Police Agency to share information, so that gangsters seeking funds from about 200 domestic and foreign banks were cut off at the source.

日本全國銀行協會(JBA)會長國部毅(Takeshi Kunibe)昨天告訴記者，該協會將與日本警察廳(National Police Agency)合作，互通信息，對黑幫成員切斷大約200家國內和外資銀行的資金來源。

After the scandal emerged, the Financial Services Agency ordered Mizuho to improve control and compliance functions, declaring them “seriously” flawed. Lending to “antisocial forces” went on for more than two years after it was detected, the FSA said. Mizuho said that transactions totalled Y200m ($2m), mostly for car loans.

瑞穗醜聞曝光後，日本金融廳(Financial Services Agency)曾命令瑞穗證券加強內控與合規職能，聲稱該行在這些方面有“嚴重”缺陷。日本金融廳表示，向“反社會力量”放貸的行爲在被官方察覺以後仍持續了兩年多。瑞穗表示交易規模總計2億日元（合200萬美元），其中大多數是汽車貸款。

Authorities and banks in Japan have struggled for years with the issue of how to deal with yakuza members, who tend to make one or two instalments to avoid prosecution for non-payment, then retain the rest.

多年來，日本官方和銀行一直在如何應對黑幫成員的問題上大傷腦筋，這些黑幫成員常常支付一到兩期的分期付款，以避免因不償還貸款而被提起公訴，然後就侵吞其餘貸款資金。

In 2009, a bank set up by Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara to support small to midsized businesses collapsed, after a chunk of its loan portfolio found its way to the mob.

2009年，由東京都知事石原慎太郎(Shintaro Ishihara)設立的一家支持中小型企業的銀行突然倒閉，原因就是該行有很大一部分貸款落入黑幫手中。

In 2010, the national police announced they were “doubling” efforts to clamp down on the yakuza . A year later, the police rolled out a law requiring loan applicants to sign a declaration that they were unaffiliated to the yakuza.

2010年，日本警方宣佈將“加倍”努力打擊黑社會。一年之後，警方出臺一部法令，要求所有貸款申請人簽署一份聲明，聲明自己與黑社會無關。

The Japan Securities Dealers Association, representing about 500 brokers and intermediaries, this year began screening prospective clients with a police database of tens of thousands of yakuza-affiliated individuals.

代表約500家經紀商和中介機構的日本證券業協會(Japan Securities Dealers Association)從今年開始利用警方數據庫覈查潛在客戶，該數據庫包括數以萬計與黑幫有染的人員。

Yesterday’s move by the JBA could put Japan’s banks on a similar footing.

全國銀行協會昨日的舉措可能會令日本各銀行開始採取類似行動。

The squeeze on mob lending could enjoy some success, said Jake Adelstein, a Tokyo-based writer and yakuza watcher, whose life is set to be dramatised in a biopic starring British actor Daniel Radcliffe.

駐東京的作家及黑社會觀察家傑克•阿德爾斯坦(Jake Adelstein)表示，收緊向黑社會的貸款可能會取得一定成功。阿德爾斯坦的經歷將會搬上由英國演員丹尼爾•雷德克利弗(Daniel Radcliffe)主演的一部傳記電影。

But he warned that loans may simply be channelled to so-called “associate members”, who do not show up in checks.

不過他警告說，這些貸款可能會由所謂“準會員”出面申請，而在覈查過程中這些人的名字不會出現。