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U10
The alchemists of finance
金融魔法点石成金
May 17th 2007
From The Economist print edition
（本文由ECO论坛dtchengxc翻译，原文版权归经济学人集团（The Economist Newspaper Limited）所有，译文版权归译者所有，未经授权，不得转载，谢谢合作！）
漫画作者玛丽亚•吉夫斯（Maria Jeeves）
Global investment banks are taking ever more risk, and are devising ever more sophisticated ways of spreading it, says Henry Tricks. Is that reassuring or worrying?
亨利•特里克斯(Henry Tricks)说：“全球的投资银行正承受着越来越大的风险，也在设计着越来越复杂的分散风险的方法。”这究竟是会让人放心还是让人担心？
AT LEAST since 1823, when Byron's Don Juan described “Jew Rothschild, and his fellow Christian Baring” as the “true Lords of Europe”, investment bankers have inspired awe, envy and, rightly or wrongly, a measure of disdain. Exactly 100 years ago the undisputed patriarch of the modern industry, J. Pierpont Morgan, stemmed the Panic of 1907, a financial crisis caused by unregulated trusts (the hedge funds of their day). Acting, in effect, as lender of last resort from his Wall Street office, he was briefly feted before Americans realised the danger of having such power vested in one man. Cartoonists then mercilessly mocked him. After his death in 1913 the Federal Reserve was set up.
不晚于1823年——那时拜伦（Byron）在《唐璜》（Don Juan）中将“犹太人罗思柴尔德（Rothschild）和他的同伙基督徒巴林（Baring）”称为“欧洲真正的主宰”，投资银行家们博得了敬畏、羡慕以及一定程度的蔑视——不管这正确与否。正好100年前这个现代产业无可争议的鼻祖J•皮尔庞特•摩根（J. Pierpont Morgan）制止了1907年的大恐慌（the Panic of 1907）——一场由非受监管信托（unregulated trusts）（当时的对冲基金（hedge funds））引起的金融危机。他在其华尔街的办公室中充当了实际上的最后贷款人的角色，受到了人们的追捧。其后不久，美国人意识到让一个人拥有如此的权力是多么的危险。当时的漫画家对他进行了无情的嘲弄。在他1913年死后，美联储（the Federal Reserve）就成立了。
The investment-banking industry was further constrained during the Depression of the 1930s, when Wall Street firms such as that founded by Morgan were split into commercial banks and securities houses. The latter—today's investment banks—underwrite stocks and bonds and advise companies on mergers and acquisitions, rather than collect deposits and make loans. In the 1980s and 1990s they developed a reputation for gluttonous excess. But a lot has changed since then.
在上个世纪30年代的大萧条（the Depression of the 1930s）期间投资银行业受到进一步的抑制，华尔街的许多公司（比方说摩根创立的公司）被拆分为商业银行和证券交易所。后者即今天的投资银行，它承销股票和债券，并就企业合并和收购事宜为公司提供咨询服务，而不经营存、贷款业务。在上个世纪80和90年代它们得到了过于贪婪的名声。但从那时以来情
况发生了很大的变化。
Intensely private partnerships have become publicly traded companies. Commercial banks such as Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase have muscled back into investment banking. And European warhorses such as Deutsche Bank, UBS and Credit Suisse have joined the race for global supremacy. The bets, and the profits, have got bigger, though investment banks are trying to keep quiet about that, for several reasons.
很大程度上私人合伙公司已经可以公开交易。诸如花旗集团(Citigroup) 、摩根大通（JPMorgan Chase）这样的商业银行又挤回了投资银行业。欧洲老字号如：德意志银行（Deutsche Bank) 、瑞银集团(UBS)、瑞士信贷（Credit Suisse），也加入了争夺全球霸权的竞争。虽然投资银行基于几点理由试图对此保持沉默，赌注和收益却已越来越大。
First, they are under more scrutiny. Wall Street firms had their wings clipped by Eliot Spitzer, New York's former attorney-general, for plugging worthless shares during the dotcom era. Being publicly traded companies has tamed some egos, too. Star traders do not enjoy the same headroom on salaries (albeit very large salaries) as they did when they were partners in the business. At UBS, a Swiss bank which in 2000 moved into the American equity markets by merging with PaineWebber, a brokerage, “fiefs” are explicitly banned. Richard Fuld, boss of Lehman Brothers, a fast-growing W all Street firm, imposed a “one-firm culture” when it was spun off from American Express in 1994. Now, says Scott Freidheim, a top executive, Mr Fuld uses “culture” in speeches more often than any other word except “the”.
首先，它们受到了更多的审查。华尔街的公司被纽约州前总检察长艾略特•斯皮策（Eliot Spitzer）捆住了手脚，起因是这些公司在.com时代推广垃圾股票。成为可公开交易的公司也挫伤了些许自尊心。尽管交易明星们的薪水仍然很高，但薪水的上升空间与他们作为业务合伙人时相比逊色不少。瑞银集团(UBS)是一家瑞士银行，在2000年通过与经纪公司普惠（PaineWebber）合并而进入美国股票市场。在瑞银集团，“封地”是被明确禁止的。莱曼兄弟公司（Lehman Brothers）是华尔街一家快速成长的公司，当它在1994年从美国运通公司（American Express）分割出来时，其老板理查德•富尔德(Richard Fuld) 就强制推行“公司一体统筹的文化”。斯科特•弗赖德海姆（Scott Freidheim）是一个高层管理人员，他说现在富尔德先生在演讲中使用“文化”这个词的频率比除了“the”之外的所有单词都要高。
Meanwhile another group has overtaken the investment banks in the excess stakes: their money-spinning clients in the private-equity and hedge-fund industries. Already they throw the biggest parties, do the boldest deals and launch the most celebrated initial public offerings. The IPO of part of Blackstone, a private-equity group, might well raise more money than Goldman Sachs's did in 1999, when even the company's doormen and drivers became extremely rich.
同时，要说到过分，另一个群体已经超过了投资银行：它们在私募股权和对冲基金业赚大钱的客户。他们已经举行了最大规模的派对，进行了最大胆的交易，发起了最著名的首次公开招股（IPO，initial public offering）。黑石（Blackstone）是一家私募股权集团,其部分的首次公开招股所筹集的资金甚至超过高盛公司（Goldman Sachs）在1999年全年的业绩——那时即使是高盛公司的门卫和司机都赚得盆满钵满。
（图表说明：Rich list财富榜
