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Too big to bail out 太大而无法挽救 Mervyn King declares for narrow banking 墨而文·金宣称“狭义银行”主张 From The Economist print edition FOR more than a year, deep thinkers have been pondering how to prevent the most catastrophic financial crisis in decades from happening again. Should banks be cut down to more manageable size, or given a stern talking-to and loaded with capital requirements to deter recklessness? So far, regulators and politicians seem to be plumping for the second option. But as bank profits and bonuses mount, discontent at what looks like business as usual is growing. This week one of Britain’s biggest financial beasts broke cover to argue for the more radical solution. 在一年多的时间，沉思者一直在苦苦思索怎么样来阻止这次几十年来最惨重的经济危机再次发生。银行是否应该缩减到可操纵的规模，或来一顿狠狠的训斥并满足它的资金需求以威慑其轻率行为？到目前为止，监管机构及政客们看起来正在选择第二种方案。但是随着银行的利润以及分红都在不断增加，像平常一样，对这种看起来像商业的行为的不满也在不断增多。本周，英国最大的金融巨鳄之一的试图寻找更根本的解决办法。 Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, told businessmen in Edinburgh on October 20th that regulation is not enough to keep banks from becoming “too important to fail”. Moral hazard is endemic: bankers take big risks, pocketing the profits but counting on governments to pick up the pieces if things go wrong. 英国央行行长默文•金在十月二十号告诉爱丁堡的商人们，法规不足以保证银行变得“很重要而不能破产”。道德上的危害是难以摆脱的：银行家们冒很大的风险，把利润装进自己的口袋却在出现差错的时候指望政府去收拾残局。 Instead, he said, banks should be split up. Taxpayers’ money should underpin only those that operate as economically-necessary “utilities”—broadly, running the payments system and converting deposits into productive investment. Racier operations, including proprietary trading and other sorts of “casino” banking, should be spun off to outfits prepared to live and die by their wits, with no state guarantee. 相反，他说，银行应该拆分。纳税人的钱应该加强那些经济所需的公用工程。概括地说，是去管理支付系统，将储蓄转化为获利丰厚的投资。交易，包括自由资金交易和其他的赌场性质的银行，应该被抛弃。他们应该依靠自己的智慧去生存或是死亡，而不是依靠国家的保障。 In arguing for an updated version of America’s now-defunct Glass-Steagall divisions, the governor diverges from many at home and abroad. Both Gordon Brown, the prime minister, and the chancellor of the exchequer, Alistair Darling, made clear on October 21st their opposition to this approach. Although Lord Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the City regulator, has suggested that the financial-services sector could usefully get smaller, the FSA also rejects the notion of forcing banks to split. Like the Group of 20 big countries and the Basel Committee of bank supervisors, the Treasury and the FSA want to rely mainly on heavier capital requirements to keep the system safe. 在讨论寻找一个现代进化版的美国业已不存在的格拉斯——斯蒂格尔分配时，执政者在国内和国外都有很多的分歧。包括首相戈登布朗和财政大臣达林在十月二十一日都明确反对了这种做法。尽管英国金融服务局主席、伦敦市长特纳爵士已经建议金融服务范围可以有效地减小，但金融服务局仍然拒绝强制银行拆分的观念。像G20的那些大国家和巴塞尔委员会的银行监事会，财政部和金融服务局想主要依靠更加广阔的资金支持来保障系统的安全。 There is no neat way to divide utility from casino banking, though it must be possible. Narrow banks have gone bust as well as broad ones. And if a troubled casino bank were big enough, the government might well bail it out anyway. 没有最好的办法去区分公用事业和赌场性质的银行，尽管这是必须要做的。狭义银行（纯商业银行）已经破碎了，正如宽银行一样。如果一个麻烦缠身的赌场银行太大了，无论如何政府还是帮它摆脱困境。 Other ways to whittle down banks are thinkable. Capital ratios that penalise risky activities could make them less profitable, persuading banks to ditch them. If banks have to plan for their own demise by making “living wills”, they may downsize voluntarily. Compulsory “catastrophe insurance”—issuing convertible debt that turns into equity if a bank’s core capital falls too far—is an idea Mr King views with some favour. The state could charge heftily for acting as lender of last resort—or, less desirable, impose a windfall tax on bank profits or a “Tobin tax” on transactions. 另外一些削减银行的办法是值得考虑的。用来惩罚风险行为的资本比率能使他们盈利减少，说服银行摆脱他们。如果银行一定要为他们的倒闭做出计划，他们可能就会主动缩小规模。强制的“巨灾保险”——如果银行的核心资本降低太多，就发行可转换债务转成股权——是金先生青睐的一种方法。国家可以对作为最后贷款人的债主重重地收税，或者，不合意地，对银行盈利征收重税，或在交易过程中课以“托宾税”。 Much will come down to politics. The Conservative Party, favourite to win a general election next spring, took steps of its own this week, setting up a panel to help shift most responsibility for banks from the FSA to the Bank of England. Though Mr King will still be there, George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, has made it clear that Britain will not move alone to split up banks. The City and the Treasury have too much to lose if financiers go elsewhere, taking their tax payments with them. 许多会取决于政治。想在明年春季的大选中一举获胜的保守党本星期采取了自己的措施，他们成立了一个专门的小组去帮助银行从金融服务局和英格兰银行那里转移了大部分责任。尽管金先生仍然会在位，影子议长乔治•奥斯本已经明确表示大不列颠不会拆分自己的银行。如果金融机构连同自己的税务一起远走他方，伦敦及财政部都会失去太多太多。