美国国家公共电台 NPR--Swiss bank UBS will take over its competitor Credit Suisse for more than $3 billion

Swiss bank UBS will take over its competitor Credit Suisse for more than $3 billion

Transcript¹

The deal was brokered² by the Swiss government to try to contain a crisis of confidence in global financial markets.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

One big Swiss bank is buying a competitor that's in trouble.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The Swiss bank UBS is the buyer. And it is picking up Credit Suisse. To some English speakers, that may look on the page like Credit Suisse. People following the news have seen and heard that name in recent days. The bank was under pressure after other banks failed and investors⁴ lost confidence in banking⁵ stocks. Now UBS has bought it cheap as part of a government-brokered plan to restore confidence.

FADEL: But has it? NPR's Rob Schmitz joins us now from Berlin to talk about this. Good morning, Rob.

ROB SCHMITZ, BYLINE⁶: Good morning, Leila.

FADEL: So Switzerland's biggest bank just got bigger by taking over the country's second biggest bank. What's the significance of this move?

SCHMITZ: It's a big deal. Last week, Credit Suisse lost around a fifth of its value in a single day. And this was spurred in part by Credit Suisse's mismanagement, but also in part by bank failures in the U.S. that began with Silicon⁷ Valley Bank and then spread to other small banks.

FADEL: Yeah.

SCHMITZ: Credit Suisse is not a small bank. But it's been weakened in recent years by scandals. And customers had been withdrawing money for months. Switzerland's central bank tried to help last week with a $50 Billion injection of capital. But it didn't restore investor³ confidence. So over the weekend, the Swiss government brokered a deal for UBS to take over Credit Suisse. The government took the unusual move of bypassing a vote by Credit Suisse shareholders⁸ because they were in a rush to do this before markets opened on Monday morning. At a press conference last night, Karin Keller-Sutter, head of Switzerland's federal department of finance, explained why they were working so fast.

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KARIN KELLER-SUTTER: The bankruptcy¹⁰ of Credit Suisse would have had a collateral¹¹ damage, a huge collateral damage, on the Swiss financial market, also risk of contagion¹² for UBS and other banks and also internationally.

FADEL: The risk of contagion. So the Swiss government was worried about a domino effect that would put other big international banks at risk. How likely is it that the deal will prevent that?

SCHMITZ: Yeah, that's a big question. And it depends on who you talk to and how pessimistic they are about the health of the overall financial system. The Swiss government emphasizes that this deal is not a bailout. And observers are actually calling this a bail-in, meaning that instead of the government spending massive amounts of taxpayer¹³ money to save a bank, they've persuaded another bank to save one of its competitors. And even though, in this case, the Swiss government did agree to contributing a $100 billion liquidity¹⁴ line to UBS as part of this deal, for Mark Williams, a professor of finance at Boston University, he says he's somewhat hopeful.

MARK WILLIAMS: In essence, what's happened here hopefully is UBS' purchase will put a line in the sand and hopefully quell¹⁵ any other concerns about growing depositor runs.

FADEL: OK. He's saying hopefully a lot.

SCHMITZ: Yeah.

FADEL: How hopeful are people that this deal will prevent other bank runs? How are the markets responding?

SCHMITZ: Not well. The first markets are open in Asia, were not encouraging. We're seeing across-the-board declines. Here in Europe, markets just open. And they're down across the board by around 2%, with shares of Germany's two biggest banks down 3%. And most tellingly, UBS shares are down more than 14% in opening trading. That is not a good sign. A big problem here is that the holders⁹ of $17 billion worth of Credit Suisse bonds have had their investments wiped out in this deal. That is not a good signal to investors or to debt markets. So even though this deal was meant to reassure¹⁶ the markets and prevent other bank failures, when it all comes down to it, there is a fair amount of anxiety over all of this. And the risk of contagion is still there, Leila.

FADEL: NPR's Rob Schmitz in Berlin. Thanks, Rob.

SCHMITZ: Thank you.

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1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 brokered   

adj.由权力经纪人安排（或控制）的v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的过去式和过去分词 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排…

参考例句：

• a peace plan brokered by the UN 由联合国出面协商的和平计划
• Your husband brokered the deal to go in, transfrer the assets and get our man out. 你丈夫后来插了一脚，把生意都抢了过去，我们的人也被挤了出来。 来自电影对白

3 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

4 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

5 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

8 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

9 holders   

支持物( holder的名词复数 )； 持有者； （支票等）持有人； 支托（或握持）…之物

参考例句：

• Slaves were mercilessly ground down by slave holders. 奴隶受奴隶主的残酷压迫。
• It is recognition of compassion's part that leads the up-holders of capital punishment to accuse the abolitionists of sentimentality in being more sorry for the murderer than for his victim. 正是对怜悯的作用有了认识，才使得死刑的提倡者指控主张废除死刑的人感情用事，同情谋杀犯胜过同情受害者。

10 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

11 collateral   

adj.平行的；旁系的；n.担保品

参考例句：

• Many people use personal assets as collateral for small business loans.很多人把个人财产用作小额商业贷款的抵押品。
• Most people here cannot borrow from banks because they lack collateral.由于拿不出东西作为抵押，这里大部分人无法从银行贷款。

12 contagion   

n.(通过接触的疾病)传染；蔓延

参考例句：

• A contagion of fear swept through the crowd.一种恐惧感在人群中迅速蔓延开。
• The product contagion effect has numerous implications for marketing managers and retailers.产品传染效应对市场营销管理者和零售商都有很多的启示。

13 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

14 liquidity   

n.流动性，偿债能力，流动资产

参考例句：

• The bank has progressively increased its liquidity.银行逐渐地增加其流动资产。
• The demand for and the supply of credit is closely linked to changes in liquidity.信用的供求和流动资金的变化有密切关系。

15 quell   

v.压制，平息，减轻

参考例句：

• Soldiers were sent in to quell the riots.士兵们被派去平息骚乱。
• The armed force had to be called out to quell violence.不得不出动军队来镇压暴力行动。

16 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。