財經世界:巴塞爾委員會打擊"監管套利"

Global banking watchdogs have announced their first big crackdown on regulatory arbitrage since the passage of the Basel III reform package with a plan for hefty charges on banks that use pricey credit default swaps to cut their capital requirements.

全球銀行業監督機構宣佈，計劃對利用昂貴的信用違約互換(CDS)來降低自身資本金要求的銀行徵收高額費用。此舉是自《巴塞爾III》(Basel III)改革方案通過以來針對“監管套利”行爲出臺的首輪重大打擊。

The highly technical consultation announced on Friday by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, which sets global bank safety rules, takes aim at banks that have been exploiting a regulatory loophole by buying credit protection on risky loans but spreading out the premiums for several years.

負責制定全球銀行安全規則的巴塞爾銀行監管委員會(Basel Committee on Banking Supervision)上週五宣佈了這項頗爲技術性的磋商。其矛頭指向那些鑽監管漏洞的銀行，它們爲高風險的貸款購買信用保險，但把保費分攤至數年。

The Basel group, made up of 27 countries with major financial centres, announced 15 months ago that it was concerned about these arrangements because they immediately cut a bank’s capital charges, though the costs – and the risk of buying the insurance – do not show up until later.

由27個國家（擁有一些大型金融中心）組成的上述巴塞爾委員會曾在15個月前宣佈，對此類安排感到關切，原因是它們會立刻降低相關銀行的資本金費用，儘管其成本——以及購買保險的風險——將在以後顯現。

The US Federal Reserve had said the practice called “into question the degree of risk transfer of the transaction and may be inconsistent with safety and soundness”. But the deals remained popular.

美聯儲(Fed)曾表示，這種操作“使人質疑交易的風險轉移程度，可能不利於安全和穩健”。但此類交易仍十分流行。

Last month it emerged that Citigroup had bought protection from Blackstone , the private equity group, on a pool of shipping loans. Other banks that have engaged in “reg-cap” deals recently include Standard Chartered and Barclays.

上月傳出的消息顯示，花旗集團(Citigroup)曾針對一批航運貸款向私人股本集團黑石(Blackstone)購買保險。近期從事過所謂“監管資本金”(reg-cap)交易的其他銀行包括渣打(Standard Chartered)和巴克萊(Barclays)。

Now regulators have taken a much tougher line, saying they plan to amend the hard-fought Basel III deal to close the loophole. Banks can continue to use CDSs to hedge their losses but they must reflect the cost of the insurance up front and take a capital charge, the consultation says, adding: “The proposed changes are intended to ensure that the costs, and not just the benefits, of purchased credit protection are appropriately recognised in regulatory capital.”

現在監管機構大幅收緊了立場，稱他們計劃修訂經過艱苦談判才得以達成的《巴塞爾III》協議，以求堵塞這個漏洞。磋商文件稱，銀行可繼續利用CDS對衝自己的虧損，但它們必須從一開始就報告保險成本、錄得資本金費用。磋商文件還稱：“擬議的變動意在確保所購買之信用保護的成本——而非僅僅是收益——恰當地計入監管資本金。”

The move comes as regulators fight to reassure investors and politicians that Basel III will make the financial sector safer and that banks will not be able to evade the new rules by “optimising” their balance sheets to make them appear less risky.

此舉出臺之際，監管人士正努力向投資者和政界人士保證，《巴塞爾III》將提高金融行業的安全性，而且銀行將無法通過“優化”自身資產負債表、使其看上去風險不那麼大來逃避新規。

“It appears pretty draconian,” said one person who works at a counterparty fund.

“這項計劃看起來相當嚴厲，”在一隻基金工作的一名人士表示。該基金是銀行的交易對手。

Daniel Davies, analyst at BNP Exane, said: “It seems like a sensible piece of regulation. It’s pretty difficult to make a case that capital credit should be given for credit protection without recognising the full cost.”

BNP Exane分析師丹尼爾??戴維斯(Daniel Davies)表示：“這看上去像是一條明智的監管規定。在不承認全部成本的情況下對信用保護給予資本金信用——這種做法很難站得住腳。”