諾伊 讓沒有前途的銀行有序消失

The eurozone’s new chief banking regulator has warned that some of the region’s lenders have no future and should be allowed to die, heralding a far tougher approach to supervision across the currency bloc.

歐元區新的銀行業監管最高官員警告說，該地區的一些銀行沒有前途，應當允許它們死掉。此言預示着整個歐元區的銀行監管方式將變得更加嚴厲。

In her first interview since taking charge of the euro area’s new banking overseer, the Single Supervisory Mechanism, Danièle Nouy also signalled she wanted to weaken the link between governments and the bloc’s banks that lies at the core of the region’s crisis by breaking with tradition and demanding lenders hold capital against their sovereign assets.

丹妮兒•諾伊(Danièle Nouy)在執掌歐元區新的銀行監管機構——單一監管機制(Single Supervisory Mechanism)以來首次接受採訪時還發出信號暗示，她希望削弱歐元區各國政府與銀行之間的聯繫，此類聯繫是歐元區危機中的核心問題，具體做法是打破傳統，要求銀行鍼對各自的主權資產持有資本。

“One of the biggest lessons of the current crisis is that there is no risk-free asset, so sovereigns are not risk-free assets. That has been demonstrated, so now we have to react,” Mrs Nouy said. “What I would admit is that maybe it’s not the best moment in the middle of the crisis to change the rules – that’s possible. This being said, there is the possibility to do more and some countries are applying stricter rules.”

“當前危機的最大教訓之一是，不存在沒有風險的資產，因此主權債務並不是無風險的資產。這一點已被證明，所以我們現在必須做出反應，”諾伊表示。“我承認，危機期間也許不是改變規則的最佳時機——這是可能的。可話說回來，採取更多行動是可能的，一些國家正在實施更嚴格的規則。”

Global rules set before the financial crisis allowed lenders to hold no capital against their government bond portfolios, at the discretion of national regulators. But, despite the region’s crisis exposing the depth of the interconnections between the sovereigns and their banking systems, Europe’s lenders have been buying government bonds in increasing amounts.

按照金融危機之前制定的全球規則，銀行對所持政府債券可以不持有資本，具體規定由所在國家監管機構自行決定。但是，儘管歐元區危機暴露了主權國家政府和本國銀行體系之間互連的深度，但該地區銀行在購買越來越多的政府債券。

Mrs Nouy agreed with Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, that the ECB’s upcoming health check of the region’s biggest lenders would need to see some institutions fail to be credible. “We have to accept that some banks have no future,” she said, parrying speculation that consolidation could save the currency bloc’s weakest lenders. “We have to let some disappear in an orderly fashion, and not necessarily try to merge them with other institutions.”

諾伊贊同歐洲央行(ECB)行長馬里奧•德拉吉(Mario Draghi)的說法，即歐洲央行對歐元區大銀行即將進行的健康檢查如果要可信，就需要看到某些機構“不及格”。“我們不得不接受的是，有些銀行沒有前途，”她表示。她迴避了有關通過合併可以拯救歐元區最弱銀行的猜測。“我們必須讓某些銀行以有序方式消失，而不一定是試圖讓它們與其他機構合併。”

The appointment of Mrs Nouy, who joins the SSM from the helm of France’s banking supervisor, comes at a crucial time for the region’s lenders. Her first task is to oversee the health check, which will include an asset quality review and stress tests, before overseeing their supervision towards the end of this year.

此前諾伊是法國銀行業監管最高官員，她的任命適逢歐元區銀行處於關鍵時刻。她的第一項任務是領導健康檢查工作，其內容將包括資產質量審查和壓力測試，然後在接近今年底的時候督察對它們的監督。

Mrs Nouy said European lenders were in a better state than investors thought and hoped that the health check would prove this by providing more transparency on banks’ assets.

諾伊表示，歐洲各銀行目前的情況好於投資者的判斷，她希望健康檢查將證明這一點，因爲檢查將給銀行資產帶來更大透明度。

Her readiness to countenance bank failures will trigger alarm among national politicians reluctant to see local lenders go to the wall. Italy has moved to reject the idea of setting up a “bad bank” for fear that it will focus market attention on the exposure of Italian banks to a rising level of non-performing loans and put the country’s credit rating at risk.

她準備讓銀行倒閉的態度，將引起不願看到本國銀行倒閉的各國政客警覺。意大利已拒絕設立一家“壞銀行”的想法，擔心此舉引導市場關注該國銀行對不良貸款的敞口越來越大，使該國的信用評級面臨風險。