蓋特納出書披露金融危機爆發內幕

Tim Geithner says he would have supported a US Federal Reserve loan to help Barclays buy Lehman Brothers on the weekend in September 2008 that ended with the largest bankruptcy in US history.

曾任美國財長的蒂姆•蓋特納(Tim Geithner)表示，在2008年9月份那個週末，他原本支持美聯儲(Fed)發放一筆貸款，幫助巴克萊銀行(Barclays)收購雷曼兄弟(Lehman Brothers)。那一天後來以出現了美國曆史上最大規模的破產案收場。

In his memoir of the financial crisis, Stress Test, to be published today, Mr Geithner, the former New York Fed president and Treasury secretary, reveals divisions among officials trying to save Lehman.

蓋特納週一出版了關於金融危機的回憶錄《壓力測試》(Stress Test)。這位曾經的紐約聯邦儲備銀行(New York Fed)行長及美國財政部長在書中披露了那些試圖拯救雷曼的美國官員之間的分歧。

His book raises the tantalising possibility of Fed support that might have persuaded UK regulators to let Barclays go ahead with buying Lehman, thus avoiding its bankruptcy and changing the course of the financial crisis, although Mr Geithner says that was unlikely.

他的書令人忍不住要去考慮這樣一種可能性（儘管蓋特納表示這種情況不太可能發生）：美聯儲的支持也許會說服英國監管機構，令他們批准巴克萊對雷曼的收購，從而避免雷曼破產，改變金融危機的進程。

“In the end, I’m confident the Fed would have helped finance a deal with a willing buyer, and I think Hank [Paulson, then Treasury secretary] would have supported that, no matter what his people had told the press,” writes Mr Geithner.

蓋特納寫道：“我相信美聯儲本來是可以爲有收購意願的買家提供相應資金的，而且我認爲不管（時任美國財長的）漢克•保爾森(Hank Paulson)手下的人對媒體說了什麼，他原本是會支持這一方案的。”

“But Fed assistance would not have eliminated the risk to Barclays, much less the British requirement for a shareholder vote, and I don’t see how it would have changed the British position.”

“不過美聯儲的援手可能不會消除巴克萊銀行面臨的風險，更不會影響英國讓股東投票的要求。此外，我也看不出這麼做會改變英國人的立場。”

Mr Geithner was known to be more willing to save Lehman than Mr Paulson or the then Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke, but previous acc­ounts of the crisis have emphasised that public money was off the table.

衆所周知，蓋特納比保爾森或時任美聯儲主席本•伯南克(Ben Bernanke)更願意拯救雷曼，不過在此之前人們對危機的解讀，始終在強調動用公共資金解救雷曼不在磋商的範圍之內。

“This was one of the few times during the crisis when there was any distance between Hank and me,” writes Mr Geith­ner. “There was even some dist­ance between Ben and me.”

蓋特納寫道：“這是危機期間漢克與我之間存在的少數分歧之一。在這個問題上，本和我之間也存在更大分歧。”

In the end, Mr Geithner’s willingness to use public money was moot, because UK regulators opposed the Barclays deal and time ran out. Barclays was the last remaining bidder for Lehman after Bank of America decided to pursue Merrill Lynch instead.

最終，蓋特納動用公共資金拯救雷曼的想法不了了之，原因是英國監管機構反對巴克萊對雷曼的收購，而且時間也來不及了。在美國銀行(BoA)決定轉而收購美林(Merrill Lynch)之後，巴克萊銀行成爲雷曼僅剩的唯一競購方。

Lehman was insolvent and, without a buyer, the Fed had no authority to lend, writes Mr Geithner. That echoes what Mr Bernanke has said about the Lehman weekend.

蓋特納寫道，雷曼因此陷入破產。由於沒有買家收購雷曼，美聯儲也無權發放貸款。蓋特納這種說法與伯南克對雷曼破產的那個週末的描述一樣。

By and large, Stress Test does not rewrite the history of the financial crisis. Mr Geithner’s main theme is the wisdom of propping up the financial system rather than punishing bankers. He attacks the “Old Testament populism and moral hazard fundamentalism” of those who opposed bailouts for fear they would encourage future irresponsibility.

大體上說，《壓力測試》一書並未改寫金融危機的歷史。蓋特納寫此書的主旨是表達如何以極大的智慧支持整個金融體系，而不是懲罰銀行家。他大力批判了人們持有的那些“舊約式民粹主義及道德風險原教旨主義”——因擔心會鼓勵不負責任的行爲而反對紓困。

Among insider details, Mr Geithner writes that he was put forward for chief executive of Citigroup in Nov­ember 2007 but declined. The job went to Vikram Pandit. He recalls an awkward moment when John Thain, the chief executive of Merrill Lynch, appeared not to know the name of his own chief risk officer; and recounts how his staff gave a snippet of false information to aides to Sheila Bair, the head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, to see if it would leak to the press. “It quickly did,” he writes.

蓋特納還在書中披露了一些內幕細節，他寫道2007年11月他曾被提名爲花旗集團(Citigroup)首席執行官，不過這一提名被否決了，這一崗位後來被指派給潘偉迪(Vikram Pandit)。他還記得一些十分難堪的場面，比如美林首席執行官約翰•塞恩(John Thain)似乎不知道自己的首席風險官的名字；此外，蓋特納的員工層曾故意向美國聯邦存款保險公司(Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation)主席希拉•拜爾(Sheila Bair)的助手泄露過一段虛假信息，以考察這段信息是否會被泄露給媒體，“消息很快就被泄露出去了”。

But Mr Geithner saves his harshest criticism for Congress during the effort for financial reform and in rows over the debt ceiling.

不過，蓋特納並未像在他試圖開展金融改革及與國會陷入一系列關於債務天花板的爭端時那樣，尖銳地批評美國國會。