失当交易曝光 瑞银雪上加霜

　　昨天的一条消息对瑞银(UBS)而言，来得太不是时候了。这条消息称，这家瑞士银行的财富管理部门驻伦敦雇员进行了未经授权的交易，令客户损失逾4200万美元。
　　News yesterday that employees in UBS's wealth management division in London made unauthorised trades that cost clients more than $42m could not have come at a worse time for the Swiss bank.

　　英国金融服务管理局(Financial Services Authority)据此对瑞银处以了历史上第三大规模的罚款。而且，这起不当交易的细节很可能令那些早就感到不安的客户对该行的财富管理部门更加不放心了。
　　Not only has UBS been hit by the third-largest fine ever by the UK Financial Services Authority, but the details of the improper trading could well make already skittish clients more nervous about the bank's wealth management division.

　　受到金融危机冲击严重的瑞银，今年大部分时间陷于和美国政府打的一场艰苦的官司中，官司主要围绕瑞银一些私人银行家在瑞士境内为富有的美国离岸客户提供的服务。
　　Hit hard by the financial crisis, UBS has already spent much of the year embroiled in a bitter legal battle with the US authorities over the activities of some private bankers catering out of Switzerland for rich US offshore clients.

　　英国金融服务管理局昨日发出的最后通告显示，瑞银的内部控制异常薄弱，以至于一名部门负责人和其他三名员工可以在长达两年的时间里，每天进行至多50笔未经授权的外汇和贵金属交易，而没有被抓住。
　　According to the FSA final notice yesterday, UBS's internal controls were so weak that a desk head and three other employees were able to place up to 50 unauthorised foreign exchange and precious metals trades a day for a period of two years without being caught.

　　被过滤广告英国金融服务管理局执行主管玛格丽特•科尔(Margaret Cole)表示：“瑞银薄弱的制度和控制，令这些员工有机可乘，他们可以随意动用客户资金进行未经授权的交易。”
　　“These employees were able to take advantage of UBS's inadequate systems and controls, giving them free rein to make unauthorised trades with customer money,” said Margaret Cole, FSA enforcement director.

　　这些员工利用了规定中存在的一个漏洞，就是他们可以在下单后等上24个小时再说明是代表哪个账户进行的交易。他们还可以把一批交易打包成一笔交易，取“平均”价格，从而隐瞒单笔交易的结果。
　　The employees took advantage of rules that let them place orders and wait 24 hours before specifying which account they were trading for. They were also allowed to bundle together a batch of trades into a single trade with an “averaged” price, hiding the results of individual punts.

　　英国金融服务管理局表示，这些员工在下单后就等着看交易情况，然而再决定把损失（某些情况下是利润）分配到哪里。
　　The FSA said the employees would place trades and waited to see the resulting performance before allocating where the losses (and in some cases profits) would go.

　　根据通告，瑞银员工还“劝说”持有流动资金的客户把资金“借给”其他客户。这些员工们使用的文件读起来让客户感觉这些贷款是受到瑞银批准的，其实则不是。
　　They also “persuaded” customers with liquid funds to “lend” them to other clients using documents “intended . . . to give the lending customers the impression that the loan had been approved by UBS” when it had not, the final notice said.

　　通告表示，许多受害的客户使用了瑞银的“保留邮件”(retained mail)服务，没有及时收到结算单，因此不知道自己的账户正被用于交易。瑞银没有要求员工保留与使用该服务客户之间往来文件的清单。
　　Many of the victims used UBS's “retained mail” service and did not receive timely statements, so they were unaware that their accounts were being used for trading, the notice said. UBS did not require employees to keep a checklist of the documents received for clients using that service.

　　直到2007年12月，一名举报者向一位内部反洗钱官员投诉，上述问题才得到曝光。
　　The problems only came to light when a whistleblower complained to an internal money laundering officer in December 2007.

　　英国金融服务管理局对瑞银处以了800万英镑（合1320万美元）罚款，但如果不是因为该行由于提前部分和解得到了一些折让，罚款总额会是1000万英镑。
　　The FSA fined UBS £8m ($13.2m), but the total would have been £10m had the bank not qualified for a partial early settlement discount.

　　金马伦麦坚拿律师事务所(CMS Cameron McKenna)的西蒙•莫里斯(Simon Morris)表示，此案向“所有理财经理传递了一个明确的信息：所有的交易都必须是适当的，必须对其适当性进行审查。每家银行和基金管理公司都要确保：此类交易事先得到授权，交易活动得到定期审查。”
　　Simon Morris of law firm CMS Cameron McKenna said the case serves as “a clear message to all wealth managers. All trades must be suitable and checked for suitability. Every bank and fund manager needs to ensure that trades of this nature are pre-authorised and trading activity is periodically reviewed”.

　　自问题发现以来，瑞银已显著改进了控制和风险管理。
　　UBS has substantially upgraded its controls and risk management since the problems were discovered.

　　该行在一份声明中表示：“这项制裁针对的是我们英国国际财富管理业务存在的控制缺陷，事情可追溯到2007年。英国金融服务管理局在最后通告中确认了这一点，而瑞银已就此采取了整套补救措施。”声明还指出，该行“对此事深感遗憾”。
　　“This sanction arises from control failings within our UK International Wealth Management business, dating back to 2007, as identified in the FSA's Final Notice and in respect of which UBS has already taken full remedial steps,” the bank said in a statement that also noted it “deeply regrets this incident”.

　　在美国的税务刑事案件中，瑞银被迫支付了7.8亿美元的罚金以达成和解，并交出了4700多名客户的名单。该行随后决定，终止与所有涉案账户的关系。
　　UBS was forced to pay a $780m penalty to settle the US criminal tax case and surrender the names of more than 4,700 clients. It then decided to terminate relationships with all of the accounts involved.

　　自那以来，随着客户不断离开，瑞银私人银行业务的客户资金以惊人的速度流失。自2008年第一季度以来，客户已累计撤资1650亿瑞士法郎（合1620亿美元）。
　　Clients have since been running for the exits and UBS's private banking operations have beenlosing client funds at a dramatic rate. Since the first quarter of 2008 clients have withdrawn funds totalling SFr165bn ($162bn).

　　2008年，瑞银净亏损近200亿瑞士法郎。今年头三个季度，亏损总额已接近40亿瑞士法郎。
　　In 2008, the group reported a net loss of almost SFr20bn. For the first three quarters of this year, losses have amounted to nearly SFr4bn.