经济学人:澳大利亚最大金融机构正在受审 (2)

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　　Financial regulators were lax, negotiating minimal⁴ fines for those who broke the rules rather than taking them to court. 金融监管松散，金融监管者会和那些破坏规则的人协商最低罚款，而不是将他们送上法庭。

　　Sanctions were often "immaterial", the report stated. In the decade to June, 该报告称处罚经常是“非实质性的”。截止至6月的10年中，

　　the infringement⁵ notices (a kind of fine) issued to large banks by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the conduct regulator, came to less than A$1.3m. 执行监管部门，澳大利亚证券和投资委员会发给大型银行的违法通知总计不足130万澳元。

　　The institution hit hardest by scandal has been AMP, a wealth manager, which not only charged for non-existent services but then lied to the regulators about it. 受丑闻重创的公司是一家财富管理公司AMP，这家公司不仅对不存在的服务收费，还对监管者撒谎。

　　It has lost its chief executive, chairman and half its board. AMP and the four biggest banks have agreed to repay A$216m charged for services they never provided. 该公司损失了其董事长、主席以及董事会的半数人。AMP和四家最大银行已经同意偿还对未提供服务征收的2.16亿澳元。

　　Financial institutions are now scrambling⁶ to prepare for the inquiry⁷'s final recommendations, due in February. 金融机构现在争先恐后地为调查的最终建议做准备，日期定于2月。

　　They have tightened⁸ home-loan assessments⁹, and some have said they will sell their wealth-management businesses. More than that may be needed. 他们加紧了对住房贷款的评估，一些银行还表示他们将卖掉自己的财务管理交易。需要做的不仅仅只是这些。

　　The commission may call for statutory separation of lending and financial advice, and for an overhaul¹⁰ of bonuses. 委员会或许会要求对借贷和理财建议进行法定分离，并要求对红利进行彻查。

　　It seems likely to demand better enforcement, rather than new laws (there are plenty already). 似乎可能会要求更好的执行而非新的法律（已经有够多的法律规定了）。

　　The conservative coalition¹¹ government, which had at first opposed the inquiry, has allocated¹² more money to the regulators. 起初反对调查的保守联合政府向监管者分配了更多资金。

　　It says a recently appointed counsel will improve the chance that misconduct will be punished in court. Yet the regulators' reputation has been damaged. 其表示近期任命的法律顾问将提高错误行为在法庭上受到处罚的机会。但监管者的口碑已经受损。

　　Allan Fels, the former chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, thinks his old employer should be given greater power to step in. 澳大利亚竞争和消费者委员会前主席艾伦·菲尔斯认为他的老员工应该被赋予更多介入此事件的权利。

　　Others call for an entirely¹³ new regulator. 其他人则要求采用全新的监管者。

　　The commission looks unlikely to be able to wrap everything up before the final report is due. 最终报告达成前，委员会似乎不可能圆满完成任务。

　　Mr Fels suggests that unfinished business could be turned over to other review boards. 菲尔斯建议未完成的交易可以移交给其他审查委员会。

　　Or the inquiry could be extended—an idea favoured by the Labor¹⁴ Party, which is on course to win an election due next year. 或者该调查可以被延期—工党支持该想法，他们正忙于获得明年的选举。

　　Either way, the banks stand exposed to potentially huge regulatory penalties and to consumer lawsuits¹⁵. 不管以上哪一种方法，银行都将暴露于潜在的监管处罚和消费者的诉讼。

　　The days since the interim¹⁶ report was published have seen billions of dollars wiped from their market capitalisation. 自中期报告发布以来的这些天，他们的市场总值已消失数百万美元。

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