Barclays and HSBC：Happier days

HSBC and Barclays battle bad debts, but their investment banks boom
汇丰和巴克莱正为坏账浴血奋战，可旗下的投行却春风得意

WHEN the rug was pulled from under Britain’s big banks, only HSBC and Barclays remained upright, avoiding state rescue by raising capital from private sources. Now their sense of superiority is likely to be compounded by first-half results. On Monday August 3rd both banks reported big profits. By contrast, Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland, which are now state-controlled, are both forecast to make losses.
英国各大银行风雨飘摇之时，只有汇丰和巴克莱傲然独立，躲过了从私人资本筹集资金活命之灾。而今上半年运转良好，他们可能加倍自豪。8月3日（周一），两行都汇报了高额利润。相比之下，现在由国家控股的劳埃德银行集团和苏格兰皇家银行都被冠以亏损之测。

Along with most lenders at the moment, Britain’s healthy pair have been boosted by their investment banks. Barclays’ division saw profits double compared with last year, and HSBC’s unit did even better. Pent-up demand from companies to raise funds, as well as wider trading spreads and low interest rates, explain the windfall.
正如当下大部分放款机构，投行业务也让英国双子星盈利激增。相比去年，巴克莱投行分支盈利加倍，汇丰收益更是有过之而无不及。因为公司筹集资金存在潜在需求，贸易差价进一步扩大，银行利率水准降低，投行得此机会，发了一笔横财。

Since this boom in investment banking is expected to fizzle, investors ask what the likely state of bad debts may be. As in America’s diversified banks, traders cheer record profits while on the other side of firms’ Chinese walls the retail bankers are being bludgeoned. Barclays’ bad-debt charge rose by 86% from a year ago and HSBC’s remained at the very high levels seen late last year. In the first stages of the credit crisis most write downs came from securities, now rising unemployment means bad debts come from bog-standard credit cards and mortgages.
鉴有预测投行繁荣行将终结，投资者们发问，坏账能糟糕到什么境地。贸易商纷纷庆祝盈利创下新纪元，情景颇似美国多元化银行，而透过双子星密不透风的墙壁，零售银行家们却遭遇恫吓追打。巴克莱的坏账收费同比增长86%，汇丰也保持着去年年末开始的高水准。信贷危机的第一阶段，大部分减记都来自证券，现在失业率一再上升，意味着那些普普通通的信用卡和房贷也会出现坏账。

Oddly though, it is bad-debt levels that provide the most optimistic sign from the two banks’ results, specifically those in HSBC’s American consumer-credit arm. This specialised in subprime lending and was one of the first big businesses to suffer serious problems. Half-way through 2006, when the rest of the financial world still partied, delinquencies on its loan book were soaring. HSBC’s 2006 results were marred by what it called the “US mortgage issue”. Since then it has suffered $19 billion of pre-tax losses in North America.
无巧不成书，正是高额的坏账，让人们从两家银行的业绩中看到了最乐观的迹象，在汇丰的美国消费借贷分支机构中更是如此。此分支专门经营次级贷款，还赶上了危机的第一波巨浪。2006年中期金融业还在笙歌艳舞之时，次贷部门的贷款登记簿上欠款就已经一路飙升。2006年，汇丰所谓的“美国抵押贷款问题”毁了他们当年财报的大好图景，自此之后，汇丰在北美地区的税前亏损高达190亿美元。

The past three months have brought hints that the worst is over. Overall, fresh bad debts in America fell compared with the first quarter, and in mortgages in particular the bank ran down slightly its stock of bad-debt reserves, suggesting it does not see things getting worse. HSBC gives warning that credit trends can be seasonal and that a boost to the economy from the government stimulus package may wear off. Still, as a sign that things are improving, this is more reassuring than an unseemly boom in investment banking.
从最近三个月看来，最糟糕的光景已经过去。纵观全局，美国的新坏账相比第一季度有所抑制，尤其是房贷方面，坏账储备金已经有所降低，这就意味着他们已经走出谷底。汇丰发出警告，信贷趋势可能一季一变，而政府刺激计划对经济的强心剂药力也可能消失。不过，要把这个看成好转迹象，可不是比投行业不合时宜的繁荣更让人放心吗？