瑞郎波動重創外匯經紀商
A leading European foreign exchange broker filed for administration on Monday and a Danish bank conceded it faced heavy losses as the UK’s market regulator stepped in to assess the damage wreaked on the industry by last week’s violent swing in the Swiss franc.
歐洲一家領先外匯經紀商周一申請破產保護，同時一家丹麥銀行承認遭受鉅額虧損。英國金融市場行爲監管局(Financial Conduct Authority)出面，對上週瑞郎匯率劇烈波動對金融行業造成的破壞進行評估。
The Financial Conduct Authority sent letters to an unspecified number of currency brokers on Friday asking them to update the regulator about any impact the Swiss move could have had on their balance sheets, according to a person familiar with the situation.
據一位知情人士稱，英國金融市場行爲監管局上週五致信數量不明的外匯經紀商，要求他們報告有關瑞郎波動可能對其資產負債表造成的影響。Global markets were left reeling last Thursday when Switzerland unexpectedly abandoned its currency ceiling against the euro. In one of the most damaging currency swings in the modern trading era, the Swiss franc soared in value, leaving investment banks across the world with big losses and hitting foreign exchange brokers particularly hard.
上週四，全球市場一片震驚，當時瑞士意外宣佈放棄瑞郎對歐元匯率的上限。瑞郎匯率飆升，全球投行遭遇鉅額虧損，外匯經紀商受到的衝擊尤其嚴重，這是現代交易時代最具破壞性的匯率波動之一。
Alpari became one of the biggest casualties when a last-minute rescue ended in failure. Meanwhile, Denmark’s Saxo Bank was forced to admit on Monday that it was likely to suffer losses.
Alpari成爲最大受害者之一，當時最後一刻的挽救努力宣告失敗。與此同時，丹麥的Saxo Bank週一被迫承認可能遭受損失。The fallout of the Swiss franc’s move has heightened scrutiny of a lightly regulated industry in which customers are often offered large amounts of leverage by companies to entice them to trade. London has been the venue for many of these brokers as it remains the world’s main hub for currency trading.
瑞郎波動的影響讓人們加強了對這個輕監管行業的審視。在該行業，公司往往會向客戶提供鉅額槓桿資金，以吸引他們交易。倫敦一直是很多券商的交易場所，因爲倫敦仍是全球主要外匯交易中心。Punters deposit money with the broker and use it as collateral to borrow a much larger amount and magnify their trading positions. In London it is customary to offer 100-200 times the amount deposited into an account, although higher sums are available.
客戶將資金存入券商，並利用這筆資金作爲抵押，借入更大規模資金放大其交易頭寸。在倫敦，融資倍數一般是賬戶存款的100倍至200倍，不過更高的融資倍數也是存在的。Some brokers had a policy of covering client losses beyond their deposit in the short term, thus allowing customers to gear up their accounts. Violent market moves — such as that of the Swiss franc last week — mean investment prices fluctuate substantially and can trigger immediate calls for large payments of margin from customers, who may not be able to pay immediately.
一些經紀商採用的方法是在短期內彌補客戶在其存款之外的虧損，從而讓客戶加速其賬戶的交易。市場的劇烈波動（例如瑞郎上週的波動）意味着，投資價格出現大幅波動，可能導致經紀商立即要求客戶追加鉅額保證金，而客戶可能無法立即繳付。
