當中國證券公司愛上影子銀行以後

Shall I compare thee to a pain in my neck? Let me count the ways.

我該說你讓我感覺如芒在背嗎？讓我細說一下理由。

Maybe the People's Bank of China wasn't quite that blunt in its 2014 China Financial Stability Report issued Tuesday. But when it came to talking about securities companies and how they help distort risks in the banking system, it certainly came close. The source of its ire? So-called 'directional asset management plans.'

或許中國央行在週二發佈的《中國金融穩定報告（2014）》中沒說得這麼直截了當。但對於證券公司及其如何助長了銀行體系的風險失真，中國央行顯然說得夠直白。中國央行爲何感到不悅？是因爲所謂的定向資產管理計劃。

According to the report, the outstanding amount of directional asset management plans issued by securities companies at the end of 2013 was 4.83 trillion yuan ($790 billion), up a whopping 186% from a year earlier.

據該報告顯示，截至2013年末，證券公司定向資產管理業務規模達人民幣4.83萬億元（合7,900億美元），較2012年末增長186%。

A glance at a number of banks' recent IPO prospectuses also shows just how prevalent these plans are. At the end of June, Bank of Chongqing held 3.86 billion yuan worth of such plans on their books compared with 1.11 billion yuan six months earlier. Harbin Bank held 16.3 billion yuan at the end of September, without giving a comparison.

一些銀行最近的首次公開募股(IPO)招股說明書也顯示出了定向資產管理計劃有多盛行。截至去年6月底，重慶銀行定向資產管理計劃結餘爲人民幣38.6億元，2012年底爲人民幣11.1億元。截至去年9月底，哈爾濱銀行定向資產管理計劃結餘爲人民幣163億元，但沒有披露與之前進行比較的數據。

But what are they and why are they riling up the PBOC? Here's the definition from Harbin Bank:

但定向資產管理計劃是什麼，它們爲何令中國央行感到不快？以下是哈爾濱銀行給出的定義：

'W e enter into directional asset management contracts with securities companies and such securities companies are entrusted by us to provide loans to red by guarantees or by collateral. Directional asset management plans are not part of trust loans or the loan portfolio of our bank and are non-standard debt securities of our bank.'

根據定向資產管理計劃，我們與證券公司簽訂定向資產管理合同，證券公司受我們的委託向借款人提供融資，資產管理安排由中國的金融機構予以擔保，或由借款人提供擔保物予以擔保。定向資產管理計劃不作爲委託貸款或本行的貸款組合的一部分，而屬於本行的非標準化債權證券。

Got it?

明白了嗎？

Thankfully, if that isn't clear enough for you, the PBOC has provided an outline of exactly what these directional asset management plans are used for. And it's pretty clearly not happy about it.

幸運的是，如果你還不是很清楚，中國央行提供的參考中界定了這類定向資產管理計劃的具體用途。很顯然，中國央行對它並不是很滿意。

1. Firstly, these plans allow banks to make off-balance-sheet loans. That process involves a bank entrusting its funds to a securities company, which then repackages it as an investment. Such an investment could involve buying a trust product (which banks aren't allowed to do directly anymore) that's backed by a loan to a company. Or it could involve buying the income stream from a company's accounts receivable, or investing in banker acceptance drafts, which would appear as loans on a bank's books, were the bank to discount them directly itself .

1. 首先，這些業務允許銀行發放表外貸款。在這一過程中，銀行把資金委託給一家證券公司，後者把資金重新打包成投資。這類投資可能涉及購買由公司貸款支持的信託產品（按照規定，銀行不得直接購買這類信託產品），也可能涉及購買一家公司應收賬款的現金流或是投資於銀行承兌匯票，如果銀行自己進行貼現，這些投資將在銀行賬面上顯示爲貸款。

Turning loans into investments also has the added advantage of turning interest income into fee income. Doing so makes it look as though the bank is diversifying its operations away from an over-dependence on lending, something regulators have been pushing for years

將貸款變成投資還有另外一個好處，那就是把利息收入轉變爲手續費及佣金收入。這樣做讓銀行看起來是在推動業務多樣化，不再過度依賴貸款，這正是監管機構多年來一直鼓勵的做法。

2. One of the major limits on banks' operations is a loan-to-deposit ratio of 75%. That is, for every dollar a bank collects in deposits, it can only lend out 75 cents. One way to get around that limit is to shift lending off the books (see point one). The other way is to boost deposits. According to the PBOC's report, banks have been using securities companies to turn interbank deposits (which don't count toward their loan-to-deposit ratio) into ordinary deposits. They can do that by using the interbank deposits -- which come from other banks and financial institutions that trade in the interbank market -- to purchase wealth management products issued by insurance companies. The funds raised by the insurance company are then transferred back to the bank as ordinary deposits.

2. 75%的貸存比率是銀行業面臨的主要制約之一。也就是說，銀行每收到一塊錢存款，只能把七毛五分錢貸出去。規避這一限制的方法之一就是表外貸款（見第一點）。另一個方法是增加存款。根據中國央行的報告，銀行一直在利用證券公司把銀行間存款（不算入貸存比率）轉變爲普通存款。具體做法是用銀行間存款（來自銀行間市場的其他銀行和金融機構）購買保險公司發行的理財產品，保險公司再將發行理財產品籌集的資金以普通存款的形式存入銀行。

The central banks says in its report that, beyond help banking avoid regulatory requirements, directional asset management plans are spreading risk around the financial system. That's exacerbated by the fact that banks, securities companies and insurers are all kept separate under the purview of three different regulators. With the system growing more complicated, such complexities could mean gaps in oversight are opening up.

中國央行在報告中說，除了幫助銀行規避監管要求外，定向資產管理業務正在金融系統中散播風險。而考慮到銀行、證券公司和保險公司分歸三個不同的機構監管，這樣的風險又被放大。隨着金融系統變得更加複雜，這樣的複雜性意味着出現監管漏洞。