香港金融監管不僅需要“交警”和“刑警”

Carrie Lam had been in the job as Hong Kong’s chief executive less than a month when she threatened to shut its financial community in a room until it sorted out the city’s markets. That might have sounded extreme but, just days later, one of the likely prisoners responded with an analogy of the situation that involved the city’s regulator bringing out its “handcuffs, tear gas and big guns”.

香港特首林鄭月娥(Carrie Lam，見上圖)就任還不到一個月，就威脅要把該市的金融界關在一間屋子裏，直到他們解決香港市場的問題。這可能聽起來有點極端，但就在幾天後，其中一名可能被關在屋子的人士做出迴應，把當前局面比喻爲該市監管機構祭出“槍枝、手銬等多種大火力武器”。

Hong Kong’s financial watchdogs are toughening their language. And in a city where the stock market is at the heart of its financial power — played by rich and poor alike — that means something. Asked about suspected cases of market manipulation, including the small-cap crash in July that wiped $6bn off stocks in hours, Ms Lam told a forum that the city needed stronger leadership in the sector. “We need to bring together our regulators and our market development practitioners,” she said, “and perhaps lock them in a room and let them find out the way forward for Hong Kong.”

香港的金融監管機構正在放出狠話。在股市位於其金融實力核心、窮人和富人都在股市操盤的這個城市，這是有相當大分量的。在被問及疑似市場操縱個案（包括7月份小盤股崩盤，導致60億美元市值在幾小時內蒸發）時，林鄭月娥對一個論壇表示，該市金融業需要更強有力的領導。她表示，香港需要彙集監管者和市場發展從業人員，也許把他們鎖在一間屋子裏，讓他們找到香港的前進道路。

Charles Li, chief executive of the Hong Kong exchange, then brought handcuffs to the party, defending the HKEX’s actions by likening its position to a traffic cop against the sheriff role played by the city’s watchdog, the Securities and Futures Commission.

香港交易所(HKEx)行政總裁李小加(Charles Li)隨後用手銬做比喻，捍衛港交所的行動，將其比作一個交警，在職責上有別於“刑警”——該市金融監管機構證券及期貨事務監察委員會(SFC)。

“Standard gear for the traffic cop is a whistle, a night stick and an alcohol detection device,” wrote Mr Li in a blog last week. “Those tools are effective to control the traffic, but are not terribly useful when it comes to apprehending suspects or deterring violations. The sheriff’s department is, however, equipped with big flashlights, handcuffs, tear gas and big guns. Those heavy weapons do not work well with the general traffic but they are highly effective in capturing and deterring criminals.”

“交警僅配備哨子、指揮棒、酒精探測器和路障設置等，”李小加上週在一篇博文中寫道。 “在日常交通管制上，這些工具是有效的，但碰到重大案件時沒有什麼威懾力。而刑警則配備各類槍枝、手銬等多種大火力武器，必要時還可以進行搜查與拘捕。這些武器可威懾罪犯，並非爲管理普通民衆而配備的。”

Confronted with such a convoluted analogy, most Hong Kong market players would probably prefer the simplicity of a locked room and an order from Ms Lam to produce a solution. But the problems involved are too complex for a quiet room and a pot of coffee to solve.

面對這樣一個複雜的類比，大多數香港市場參與者很可能更喜歡林鄭月娥的簡潔言論：一間上鎖的房間，由她下令拿出一個解決方案。但是這裏涉及的種種問題太過複雜，不是一間安靜的房間和一壺咖啡能夠解決的。

At its heart, the city is battling to make a system with its roots in the colonial era suitable to maintain its status as a leading global centre for initial public offerings — all the while coping with the flood of Chinese companies and capital that raised it to the top of the rankings in the first place. Problems have inevitably followed, not least shares that can rocket and plunge for no clear reason. Another wrinkle has been so-called “shell farming”, where companies list in the expectation a majority stake will eventually be bought by another group keen on a listing without the rigours of an initial public offering.

問題的核心是，該市正在努力調整一套根植於殖民時代的制度，使其適合維持香港作爲一個全球領先的首次公開發行(IPO)中心的地位——與此同時應對內地企業和資本的洪流，正是這股洪流使香港升至排行榜首位。各種問題不可避免地接踵而來，尤其是股價會出現貌似無厘頭的大漲大跌。另一個問題是所謂的“啤殼”，即公司上市的初衷就是讓急於上市、但不想走IPO嚴格審批程序的另一家集團買下其多數股權。

But not all problems emanate north of the border. Hong Kong has its own rich history of financial shenanigans. Insider trading, after all, was not criminalised until 2003. Tycoons including Li Ka-shing were among those censured when a rap on the knuckles was all the authorities could do. Mainland press still refer darkly to the tricksters — loh tsin in Cantonese — believed to lurk amid the smaller stocks in the Hong Kong market.

但並不是所有問題都源自內地。香港歷史上的金融欺詐手段並不少見。畢竟，內幕交易直到2003年才被界定爲刑事犯罪。包括李嘉誠(Li Ka-shing)在內的大佬都曾受到批評，而批評是那時當局能夠採取的最嚴厲行動。內地媒體仍然陰暗地提到粵語所稱的“老千股”（大股東不以做好上市公司業務來盈利，而是採取不正當手段佔小股東便宜的股票——譯者注），據信香港市值較小的股票中有一些這類股票。

One headache is just how to tackle all the problems, and in what order. Recently both the HKEX and the SFC have begun acting more aggressively in individual cases to block IPOs or question capital raisings. In the past year, the two have also consulted on streamlining the listings process, reforming the city’s junior market and creating an entirely new board that could allow dual-class shares — a sore point for the city since it lost Alibaba’s float to New York in 2013 over that issue.

令人頭痛的是如何解決所有這些問題，以及按什麼順序來解決。近期，香港交易所和證監會均已開始對一些個案採取更加強勢的行動，阻止IPO或質疑資本募集操作。過去一年裏，兩家監管機構還發起了一系列意見徵詢，涵蓋精簡上市流程、改革香港初級市場，以及創建一個可能允許雙層股權結構的新市場——自2013年香港因爲這個問題而與阿里巴巴(Alibaba)的上市失之交臂，導致該公司赴紐約上市以來，這一直是香港的一個痛點。

But most agree there is one single problem that even Ms Lam is powerless to solve — the fact that the regulators have limited powers to pursue directors, executives and traders across the border whatever officials say about mainland co-operation. On one occasion, the chairman of a listed group flatly told the SFC he could not guarantee co-operation by the group’s Chinese parent — in spite of the fact he controlled that company.

但是多數人認爲，有一個問題是就連林鄭月娥也無力解決的，它源於這樣一個事實：監管者在追究內地董事、高管和交易員的責任方面權力有限，無論官員們就內地合作說些什麼。有一次，一家上市集團的董事長坦白地告訴證監會，儘管他控制着該公司，但他無法保證集團的內地母公司會配合。

“It is all very well being traffic cops and sheriffs, but what do you do when most of the miscreants are driving around with the equivalent of diplomatic plates?” asks one long-time equity market specialist.

“有關交警和刑警的比喻都很好，但在多數歹徒用外交牌照開車的時候，你怎麼辦？”一名長期研究股市的專家問道。

Which is one way of saying it will take more than tough talk and extensive analogies to work through the many issues facing Hong Kong’s markets.

這也就是說，要解決香港市場面臨的諸多問題，需要的不只是狠話和長篇比喻。