各大銀行從巴克萊"暗池"撤出業務

Big banks have started pulling their business out of Barclays’ “dark pool” after the British bank was sued by New York’s top securities regulator for allegedly misleading institutional investors over its anonymous trading venue.

各大銀行已開始從巴克萊(Barclays)的“暗池”撤出業務。這家英國銀行因涉嫌在其匿名交易場所誤導機構投資者，被紐約州最高證券監管機構提起訴訟。

Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse were among the institutions that yesterday withdrew from Barclays’ LX dark pool in the wake of the lawsuit from Eric Schneiderman, the New York attorney-general. Barclays said any drop in trading volumes at LX might be due to a technical glitch.

紐約州總檢察長埃裏克•施奈德曼(Eric Schneiderman)提起訴訟後，德意志銀行(Deutsche Bank)和瑞信(Credit Suisse)等機構昨日退出巴克萊的LX暗池。巴克萊表示，LX交易量的任何下降可能是技術故障所致。

More than $13bn was wiped off the market value of the 10 biggest dark pool owners as analysts assessed who US prosecutors might target next. Shares in Barclays, which operates one of the biggest, lost more than 6 per cent, while shares in other large operators, including Credit Suisse, UBS and Deutsche Bank, also fell.

在分析師們推測哪一個暗池將是美國檢方的下一個目標之際，10個最大暗池的東家超過130億美元的市值蒸發。運行最大暗池之一的巴克萊股價下滑逾6%，其它大型暗池運營商的股價也下跌，包括瑞信、瑞銀(UBS)和德意志銀行。

Investors called for a management shake-up at Barclays’ equity trading business and said the US lawsuit underlined the challenge for Antony Jenkins, chief executive, to achieve his goal of changing the bank’s culture.

投資者呼籲巴克萊的股票交易部門進行管理層改組，並表示，美國的訴訟突顯了巴克萊首席執行官安東尼•詹金斯(Antony Jenkins)要實現企業文化改革所面臨的挑戰。

Mr Schneiderman cited a pattern of “fraud and deceit” by Barclays starting in 2011. He accused the bank of lying to clients about the level of protection they would receive in its dark pool from high-frequency traders aiming to profit from their speed advantage.

施奈德曼稱，巴克萊從2011年起出現一種“欺詐和欺騙”的模式。他指控該行向客戶撒謊，在其暗池提供的保障客戶不受高頻交易商損害的保護等級上誤導客戶。高頻交易商尋求利用自己的速度優勢獲利。

Dark pools allow investors to trade large blocks of shares anonymously, with prices posted publicly only after deals are done. They were created as a way for institutional investors to place large orders without disadvantaging themselves by signalling to the wider market any market-moving trades.

暗池讓投資者能夠匿名交易大批股票，交易價格只會在交易完成之後公佈。這種交易機制讓機構投資者能夠在大筆下單的同時，不會因向市場泄露足以影響行情的交易而使自己陷於不利境地。

But regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, are concerned they may allow high-frequency traders to exploit other investors’ orders to profit in an opaque, unregulated venue. The SEC is still investigating Barclays.

但是，包括美國證交會(SEC)在內的監管機構擔心，暗池可能讓高頻交易商利用其他投資者的買賣單，在一個不透明、不受監管的場所獲利。美國證交會仍在調查巴克萊。

“The allegation that investors have been misled is clearly not acceptable,” said Helen Roberts at the UK’s National Association of Pension Funds, whose members have almost £900bn of assets. “There should be a level playing field for all investors.”

“投資者被誤導的指控顯然是不能接受的，”英國退休基金協會(National Association of Pension Funds)的海倫•羅伯茨(Helen Roberts)表示。該協會的成員擁有近9000億英鎊資產。“應該有一個面向所有投資者的公平競爭環境。”

The dark pool lawsuit is the latest legal setback for Barclays, which in 2012 agreed a £290m settlement in the Libor rate-fixing scandal and last month paid a £26m fine after one of its traders manipulated the London gold fix.

暗池訴訟是巴克萊遭遇的最新法律挫折，該行2012年就倫敦銀行同業拆借利率(Libor)操縱醜聞同意支付2.9億英鎊和解費，上月又因該行一名交易員操縱倫敦黃金定盤價而支付2600萬英鎊罰款。

“We felt that the flow of bad news about bank conduct was slowing down, but it looks like it continues to be a problem,” said Jennifer Walmsley, director of Hermes Equity Ownership Services. A former senior equities banker said Barclays’ case was far from unique. “Most of the bulge-bracket firms think their clients would do their own due diligence.”

“我們之前還覺得有關銀行行爲的壞消息開始減少，但看起來這仍是一個問題，”Hermes Equity Ownership Services董事珍妮弗•沃姆斯利(Jennifer Walmsley)表示。一名前資深股票銀行家表示，巴克萊的情況並非獨一無二。“多數大型跨國投行認爲，他們的客戶會自己做好盡職調查。”

When asked whether other institutions were being probed, Mr Schneiderman said: “I cannot comment on ongoing investigations. The conduct here was so egregious and ongoing we felt we had to move on this.”

在被問及是否也在調查別的機構時，施奈德曼表示：“我不能對正在進行的調查發表評論。本案的行爲如此令人震驚，而且是進行時的，以至於我們覺得必須採取行動。”