大公國際下調安邦人壽信用評級

Anbang Insurance Group, the acquisitive Chinese conglomerate that owns New York’s Waldorf Astoria hotel, has suffered a credit downgrade, with a local rating agency warning that its life insurance unit’s “wealth creation ability has weakened”.

收購意識較強、旗下擁有紐約華爾道夫酒店(Waldorf Astoria hotel)的中國企業安邦保險集團(Anbang Insurance Group)遭遇信用評級下調。中國的一家評級機構警告，其壽險部門“財富創造能力減弱”。

The downgrade of Anbang Life Insurance is the latest setback for the once high-flying group, whose chairman and founder, Wu Xiaohui, disappeared in June and is presumed to be in government detention.

安邦人壽(Anbang Life Insurance)評級下調是這家曾經風光的集團遭遇的最新挫折，該集團的董事長和創始人吳小暉在6月份失聯，據信是被政府帶走。

At the height of his powers, Mr Wu met Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s adviser and son-in-law, to discuss the purchase of a Manhattan office tower owned by Mr Kushner’s family.

在他最得志的時期，吳小暉曾會晤唐納德?特朗普(Donald Trump)的顧問和女婿賈裏德?庫什納(Jared Kushner)，洽談購買庫什納家族擁有的一棟曼哈頓辦公大樓的事宜。

On Thursday, Dagong Global, a Chinese rating agency, downgraded Anbang Life Insurance from triple A to double A plus, saying that “income has fallen substantially [and] the availability of debt financing is reduced”.

週四，中國評級機構——大公國際資信評估有限公司(Dagong Global Credit Rating)將安邦人壽的信用評級從AAA下調至AA+，稱“經常性收入大幅下降，債務融資渠道的可獲性降低”。

In an apparent reference to Mr Wu’s detention, Dagong said “external support has weakened due to risk incidents involving the controlling shareholder”.

大公指出，“外部支持因控股股東風險事件影響受到削弱”。此言顯然是指吳小暉被帶走。

Anbang Life posted a net loss in the first half of 2017, Dagong said, without disclosing specific figures.

大公表示安邦人壽在2017年上半年發生淨虧損，但沒有披露具體數據。

In May, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission accused Anbang Life of “wreaking havoc” on the insurance market through aggressive pricing of short-term investment products. The agency banned Anbang Life from selling new products for three months.

今年5月，中國保險監督管理委員會(CIRC)批評安邦人壽對短期投資產品進行激進的定價，“擾亂市場秩序”。該監管機構禁止安邦人壽申報新產品三個月。

An industry-wide crackdown on so-called “universal insurance” caused premiums from such products to drop more than half in the first half of this year, according to CIRC data. At Anbang, such premiums fell 98 per cent.

根據中國保監會的數據，在全行業開展的整治所謂“萬能險”的努力，導致這些產品的保費在今年上半年下降一半以上。在安邦，這類保費暴跌98%。

Universal insurance products, which bear little resemblance to protection-style policies, are popular with investors because of their short maturities and high yields. But analysts warn of risks from the maturity mismatch between insurers’ short-term liabilities to their investors and their investments in illiquid assets such as real estate and private equity.

與保護型保單沒有什麼相似之處的萬能險產品，因爲期限短、收益率高而受到投資者歡迎。但分析師們警告，保險公司在他們對投資者的短期負債與他們對非流動性資產（如房地產和私募股權）的投資之間期限錯配，帶來種種風險。

In an illustration of the risks, Foresea Life Insurance, which also suffered a CIRC ban on new product sales, in May warned of defaults and social unrest if the ban was not lifted. Foresea’s urgent plea to CIRC highlighted the extent to which issuers of universal life policies rely on sales of new products to meet payouts on maturing ones.

表明這些風險的一個事例是，同樣被保監會禁止銷售新產品的前海人壽(Foresea Life Insurance)在5月警告稱，如果不解除禁令，就可能導致違約和社會不安定。前海人壽向保監會發出的緊急呼籲，突顯萬能險保單的發行人在多大程度上依靠銷售新產品來履行到期產品的兌付義務。

In July, China Bond Rating, another local agency, downgraded Foresea from double A minus to A plus.

7月，另一家本土評級機構中債資信評估公司(China Credit Rating)將前海人壽的評級從AA-下調至A+。

Chinese credit rating agencies tend to give higher ratings to the same companies than western counterparts. Investors do, however, discount the domestic ratings — in general, issuers rated below double A minus cannot sell bonds.

與西方同行相比，中國的信用評級機構往往對同一家企業給出較高的評級。然而，投資者往往會對國內評級打折扣；一般來說，低於AA-級的發行人不能發售債券。

The ratings gap between Chinese and foreign agencies is due in part to the greater emphasis that local agencies place on the likelihood of government bailouts.

中外機構之間的評級差距，在一定程度上是因爲本土機構更加重視政府紓困的可能性。

Analysts have said they believed the Chinese government would not allow Anbang to collapse, because that could cause panic among its millions of policyholders, posing risks to the financial system.

分析師們表示，他們相信中國政府不會讓安邦崩潰，因爲那可能導致該公司數以百萬計的保單持有人恐慌，進而對金融體系構成風險。

Last month, banking regulators concerned about “systemic risk” ordered lenders to check their exposures to Anbang and other private conglomerates that have engaged in large, debt-financed foreign acquisitions.

上月，對“系統性風險”感到擔憂的中國銀行業監管機構，要求各銀行檢查其對安邦和其他一些民營綜合企業的風險敞口，這些企業都進行了依靠債務融資的大手筆境外收購。

Anbang Life has Rmb24bn ($3.6bn) in bonds outstanding, of which about a third were sold offshore to foreign investors. Prices were little changed on Thursday.

安邦人壽有240億元人民幣（合36億美元）的未清償債券，其中約三分之一是向海外投資者出售的。週四，這些債券的價格沒什麼變動。

An Anbang spokesman declined to comment.

安邦的一名發言人拒絕置評。