時事新聞:高盛交易業務祕密會議受調查

【英文原文】

Goldman Subpoenaed On Huddles

William Galvin, Massachusetts's chief financial regulator, has subpoenaed Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs Group Inc., demanding information on the firm's weekly trading huddles between its research analysts and traders.

Mr. Galvin, the Massachusetts secretary of the commonwealth, said he is concerned that the huddles, in which Goldman's research staff give verbal short-term stock tips to the firm's traders and then its clients, disadvantage some Goldman customers.

'We have concerns about the research analysts and the efforts under way to use them to secure additional business,' Mr. Galvin said on Wednesday.

The huddles, which were the subject of a page-one article on Monday in The Wall Street Journal, also are being examined by both the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority -- the industry self-regulatory body known as Finra -- and the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to people familiar with the matter.

Internal documents reviewed by the Journal show that at times, these short-term trading tips differed from Goldman's long-term research. Critics complain that Goldman's distribution of the trading ideas to its traders and major clients hurts other Goldman customers who aren't given the opportunity to trade on the information and may be relying on the firm's longer-term research to make investment decisions.

The huddles, and what is discussed during or after them, currently aren't disclosed in Goldman's long-term research. On Monday, the firm internally discussed adding information about the service on its client Web site.

Some firms also give stock ideas to clients but disclose the service in their longer-term research and on their Web sites.

Mr. Galvin's subpoena, also reviewed by the Journal, asks for a host of internal Goldman documents related to the huddles.

A Goldman spokesman declined to comment. In the Monday Journal article, a Goldman spokesman said ideas that arise from the huddles are simply 'market color' and 'always consistent with the fundamental analysis' in published research reports.

In 2003, Mr. Galvin was one of several regulators involved in negotiating a $1.4 billion settlement with 10 big Wall Street firms, including Goldman. The firms were accused of issuing overly optimistic research in a bid to win more lucrative investment-banking business.

Mr. Galvin on Wednesday said he is concerned that now the trading arms on Wall Street are putting undue influence on research analysts to win business. 'Even the term 'huddles' sounds suspicious,' he said. He said his investigation may expand to look at practices at other firms.

【中文譯文】

高盛交易業務祕密會議受調查

馬薩諸塞州金融監管負責人蓋文(William Galvin)向華爾街公司高盛集團(Goldman Sachs Group Inc.)發出了傳票，要其提供公司研究分析師與交易員每週就交易業務所舉行祕密會議的信息。

馬薩諸塞州州務卿蓋文說，他擔心這些祕密會議使高盛的一些客戶吃了虧。在這類祕密會議上，高盛研究人員向交易員口頭提供短期薦股信息，之後再提供給重要客戶。

蓋文週三說，我們對研究分析師和時下那種利用他們以獲得更多業務的做法表示擔憂。

《華爾街日報》週一在頭版報導了高盛的交易業務祕密會議。知情人士說，金融業自律機構金融業監管局(Finra)和美國證券交易委員會(SEC)也都在對此事進行調查。

《華爾街日報》看過的內部文件顯示，這些短期薦股信息有時與高盛長期研究報告有出入。批評人士抱怨說，高盛向交易員和主要客戶提供交易信息的做法傷害了其他高盛客戶，這些客戶沒有獲得利用這類信息進行交易的機會，他們可能依靠高盛的長期研究報告來做投資決策。

交易業務祕密會議以及會中、會後的討論內容目前沒有披露在高盛的長期研究報告中。週一，高盛內部討論了在公司客戶網站上增添有關這類服務的信息之事。

一些公司也向客戶提供薦股信息，不過會在長期研究報告和公司網站上披露這類服務。

《華爾街日報》也看了蓋文發的傳票。傳票要求高盛提供一系列與交易業務祕密會議有關的文件。

高盛發言人拒絕置評。《華爾街日報》週一的報導說，高盛發言人表示，交易業務祕密會議上產生的建議只具有“市場色彩“，與公開發表的研究報告中的“基本面分析始終是一致的”。

2003年，蓋文曾參與達成了與包括高盛在內10家大型華爾街公司的一樁14億美元和解協議。這些公司被指控公佈過於樂觀的研究報告，以贏得更多有利可圖的投行業務。

蓋文週三說，他擔心現在華爾街的交易部門向研究分析師施加了過度的影響來贏得業務。他說，甚至連“祕密會議”這個詞聽起來都可疑。他說，調查可能會擴大到其他公司。