寄生草莓的英文俱樂部

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LIKE many firms with roots in Hong Kong, HSBC has traditionally consulted a feng shui master on the design of its headquarters’ buildings. The bank’s dilemma today is more serious: in which country should its headquarters be? For the past year HSBC has debated moving its domicile(永久居處；定居), which in turn determines its tax base, lead regulator(主要監管機關) and lender of last resort.

就像其他的香港企業一般，匯豐銀行很傳統的向風水師請教總部的建築的風水問題。然而這家銀行今日所面對的難題似乎不是風水師所能解決的 - 他們必須決定要把總部設立在哪裡。過去幾年來，匯豐銀行內部一直針對這個議題爭議不斷，因為總部設立的所在不僅會影響他們課稅的基礎，也決定了誰將是他們的主要監管機關以及中央銀行 (最終貸款人 lender of last resort)。

註解：最後貸款人制度(Lender of Last Resort)——是中央銀行的一項職責，是指在銀行體系由於遭遇不利的衝擊引起流動性需求大大增加，而銀行體系本身又無法滿足這種需求時，由中央銀行向銀行體系提供流動性以確保銀行體系穩健經營的一種制度安排。(資料來源：MBA 智庫百科)

One option is to stay in Britain, with its bank-bashers, latent(潛在的) hostility towards the City of London and ambivalence(矛盾心理) about Europe. The alternative is to move back to vibrant(充滿活力的)-but-riskier Hong Kong, where HSBC was founded 151 years ago and was based until the 1990s. It is not an easy choice, but in the end pub grub(酒館提供的食物) and stability trump(勝過) dim sum(點心) and political uncertainty.

一種選擇是留在英國，但這個選擇卻充滿了對倫敦矛盾心理以及對歐洲潛在的敵意；另一種方法是回遷充滿活力但卻風險較高的香港，匯豐為151年前創立，一直到90年代都立基於此，但這並不是一個容易的選擇。酒吧食物和穩定終究還是勝過了香港點心和政治不穩定因素。(意思是最終還是選擇了倫敦)

HSBC matters. Regulators judge it to be the world’s most important bank, alongside JPMorgan Chase. A tenth of global trade passes through its systems and it has deep links with Asia. (Simon Robertson, a director of the bank, is also on the board of The Economist Group.) Its record has blemishes(瑕疵)—most notably, weak money-laundering controls in Mexico. But it has never been bailed out; indeed, it supplied liquidity(流動資金) to the financial system in 2008-09. It is organised in self-reliant(獨立) silos, a structure regulators now say is best practice.

匯豐銀行當然重要，它和摩根大通銀行並列為世界上最重要的銀行，十分之一的全球貿易都是通過他的系統進行，而他與亞洲又有極深的連結。 （西蒙·羅伯遜，銀行的董事，也是經濟學人集團的董事會成員。）它的記錄有污點，最值得注意的是他在墨西哥對於洗錢控制很差，並在2008 - 09年度提供流動資金給金融體系。??????????????????????????????

For Britain, the departure of its best bank would be perverse(有悖常理的) (if only it could deport 驅逐出境 Royal Bank of Scotland instead). But HSBC is fed up with Blighty(英國本土). A levy(徵稅) charged on its global balance-sheet(全球資產負債表) cost 10% of last year’s profits; rules on ring-fencing(隔離) its retail arm(零售部門) will cost $2 billion. Both are meant to protect Britain from global banks blowing up, but they duplicate other measures aimed at the same problem—silos, capital surcharges(資本付加費), “bail-in” bonds(紓困債券) and liquidity buffers(流動性緩衝). Britain says it will lower the levy. But over time Asia, which accounts for 60% of the bank’s profits, will grow faster than Britain, and so HSBC will too. The tension between HSBC’s ambitions and Britain’s suspicion of giant banks is not going away.

對英國來說，讓他國內最好的銀行離開實在是有悖常理（如果可以，他寧可把蘇格蘭皇家銀行驅逐出境）。但匯豐銀行已經受夠了英國，英國對他的全球資產負債表所徵的稅高達去年的利潤的10％，隔離零售部門的規則將讓他花費20億美金。這兩個措施都是為了保護英國的全球性銀行災難，但他們在同樣的問題上重複施行了其他的措施，包括料倉，資本附加費，紓困債券和流動性緩衝。英國表示將降低稅率，但隨著時間的推移，亞洲成長速度將會超過英國，匯豐銀行也會隨之成長，匯豐銀行的野心和英國對於巨型銀行的疑心之間的緊張關係不會消失。

關於 bail-in 和 bail-out，參考經濟學人 What is bail-in?

bail-in (紓困)：a bail-in forces the borrower's creditors to bear some of the burden by having part of the debt they are owed written off.  紓困意味著強迫債權人註銷一部份債務以協助分擔。

bail-out (保釋)：A bail-out is when outside investors rescue a borrower by injecting money to help service a debt. 保釋就是外部投資者挹注資金給借貸者以助其脫離困境。

Hong Kong is keen for the bank’s return, which would boost confidence after a torrid(灼熱的) time for Chinese markets. HSBC’s biggest subsidiary is already based in the territory and supervised by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), its impressive regulator. By moving, HSBC would not ease its tax bill or capital levels by much. But it would avoid the levy, butt heads(硬碰硬) with Western regulators less and be closer to its biggest markets.

香港對於匯豐銀行的回歸相當熱衷，因為此舉將能增加市場的信心。匯豐銀行最大的子公司已經設在香港境內受到香港金融管理局（金管局）的監管。遷移總部並不會讓匯豐銀行得到太大的稅務或是資本水平的緩減，但可以避免徵費，避免與西方國家的監管硬碰硬，並接近其最大的市場。

From a dirty old river to a fragrant(芳香的) harbour
Time to pack the bags? One objection is that HSBC is already thriving in greater China: it does not need to be domiciled(定居) there to succeed. Nor would moving to Hong Kong insulate(使隔離) HSBC from a British exit from the European Union (see article). But the biggest worry is that Hong Kong is small and a territory, not a country. The HKMA has $360 billion of foreign reserves but it lacks the crisis toolkit of a central bank. It cannot print an infinite amount of money without undermining its currency peg and it lacks a credit line(信用額度) from America’s Federal Reserve to supply it with dollars, HSBC’s operating currency.

是時間打包搬家了嗎？反對的說法是，匯豐已在大中國蓬勃發展，它並不需要藉著定居中國獲得成功。移居香港並無法避免匯豐銀行從英國進入歐盟；最大的擔憂是，香港領土很小而且不是一個獨立國家，金管局有3600 億美金的外匯儲備，但中央銀行缺乏的危機處理工具，它不能無限量的印鈔票而不破壞其匯率制度，他缺乏來自美聯儲的信用額度提供美元，而美元正是匯豐的通用貨幣。

Currency Peg 中文名称：钉住货币指一种汇率政策，通过与另一种货币进行挂钩来控制本国货币的价值。美元是一种被很多其他货币“钉住”的货币。

With a balance-sheet nine times bigger than Hong Kong’s GDP, HSBC’s ultimate backstop(最終擔保) would be mainland China’s government, whose approach to finance is as transparent as Victoria Harbour. That might deter some customers. It would also annoy America, which might not be keen on HSBC playing a big role in the dollar-clearing system, a privilege that is vital for HSBC’s business. For an Asia-centric bank to be based in London is an anomaly(反常). But, for now, one worth keeping.

由於匯豐的資產負債比香港 GDP 大九倍，他最終擔保是中國大陸的政府。中國政府他們融資的方法跟維多利亞港(香港)一般透明。這可能讓一些客戶猶豫，也會惹惱美國。雖然美國對於匯豐在美元結算系統中扮演重要的角色並不熱衷，然而這個特權對於匯豐的業務至關重要。雖然對於一個以亞洲為中心的銀行將總部設在倫敦是一個反常現象，不過，就目前來看，仍是值得保留的事情。

資產負債表：一分鐘搞懂資產負債表。

Backstop  最后担保  为一项证券发行提供最终的保证或担保