高盛因不當銷售MBS支付51億美元和解金
Goldman Sachs has reached a $5.1bn settlement with the US government and other agencies for mis-selling mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the financial crisis, in a move that will wipe out most of its profits for the fourth quarter.
高盛(Goldman Sachs)與美國政府和其他機構達成了協議，就其在金融危機之前不當銷售抵押貸款支持證券(MBS)之事支付51億美元和解金。此舉將抹去該行去年第四季度的大部分盈利。
On Thursday afternoon Goldman said it would pay a $2.4bn civil monetary penalty to the Department of Justice, and make $875m in cash payments to various other agencies. The bank said it would also provide a total of $1.8bn in relief for distressed borrowers and underwater homeowners, financing for affordable housing, and support for other programmes to boost the housing sector.
週四下午，高盛表示，將向美國司法部繳納24億美元民事罰款，並向其他不同機構支付8.75億美元現金。該行表示，也將向苦惱的借款人和潛在購房者支付18億美元，作爲補償，用於購買價格合適的住房或支持其他項目，以提振住房行業。
Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and chief executive, said in a statement that the bank was “pleased to have reached an agreement in principle to resolve these matters.”
高盛董事長兼首席執行官勞埃德布蘭克費恩(Lloyd Blankfein)在聲明中稱，高盛“很高興達成了原則上解決這些問題的協議。”
The agreement comes days before Goldman was expected to present fourth-quarter earnings of $1.9bn, down about 12 per cent from a year earlier, after a period marked by subdued trading volumes and reduced capital-markets activity. The bank said on Thursday that its earnings for the period would be cut by about $1.5bn by the settlement.
協議達成幾天之後，高盛原本預計將公告第四季度盈利爲19億美元——比上年同期減少約12%——因爲此前一段時間內，交易量萎靡，資本市場活動減少。高盛週四表示，在和解的影響下，第四季度盈利將減少15億美元。
The agreement in principle will resolve actual and potential civil claims by the DoJ, the New York and Illinois Attorneys General, the National Credit Union Administration and the Federal Home Loan Banks of Chicago and Seattle. The claims relate to Goldman’s securitisation, underwriting and sale of residential MBS from 2005 to 2007.
該和解協議將在原則上了結美國司法部、紐約州和伊利諾伊州的司法部長、美國國家信貸聯盟署(National Credit Union Administration)、以及芝加哥和西雅圖的聯邦住宅貸款銀行(Federal Home Loan Bank)提出的索賠。這些索賠針對的是2005年至2007年間高盛對住房抵押貸款支持證券的證券化、承銷與銷售。
Earlier in the day, Goldman had agreed to pay a much smaller fine to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which found that the Wall Street firm routinely broke federal laws when asked by clients to find stocks to short.
週四早些時候，高盛已同意向美國證交會(SEC)支付一筆金額小得多的罰款。美國證交會發現，在客戶要求尋找可做空股票時，這家華爾街銀行總是違反聯邦法律行事。
Under SEC rules, broker-dealers are supposed to have reasonable grounds to believe that a security can be borrowed and delivered on the due date, before carrying out a short selling order. This “locate” must be made and documented before executing the trade. But the SEC found that over a period of almost five years, Goldman performed inadequate reviews when it tried to locate borrowable securities. It fined the bank $15m.
根據美國證交會的規定，經紀自營商(broker-dealer)在執行一筆做空指令時，應當有充分理由相信，在截至日期被做空證券是可以借到並交割的。執行交易之前，必須進行這一“尋找”程序，並將其記錄在案。但美國證交會發現，在大約5年時間裏，高盛在努力尋找可借入證券時，所做的評估工作並不充分。美國證交會對高盛處以1500萬美元罰款。
