经济学人24:意大利忠利保险换帅

 　　Finance and Economics；Generali；Ciao, Giovanni；Italy’s biggest insurer fires its boss.

　　财经；意大利忠利保险换帅；再见，乔瓦尼；意大利最大保险公司的老板被解雇了。

　　Rarely elegant, often brutal¹, sacking the boss is a traumatic way to change direction. The dispatch of Giovanni Perissinotto, Generali’s chief executive since 2001, was no exception, but at least his end came swiftly. He was turfed out on June 2nd, just two days after Italy’s stockmarket regulator told Generali, the country’s largest insurance company, to convene² a board meeting to tackle a boardroom split. Mr Perissinotto has been replaced by Mario Greco, currently head of general insurance business at Zurich Insurance of Switzerland.

　　企业要转向，解雇老板这条路是伤痛的，很少能做到优雅，大多时候都很残酷。乔尼瓦·佩里斯诺托自2001年起就担任忠利保险首席执行官，那么现在他的离去也不例外。意大利证券市场调控机构要求意最大保险公司忠利集团召集董事会，解决董事成员之间的争议，两天之后，即6月2日，佩里斯诺托就被解雇了。现任瑞士苏黎世保险公司普通保险业务总裁的马里奥·格雷科将接替佩里斯诺托的位置。

　　The main charge that several directors levelled at Mr Perissinotto was that Generali had performed poorly on his watch. Recent figures bear that out. Profits slumped³ last year to 856m Euro(1.2 billion Dollar) from 1.7 billion Euro in 2010, and net profits in the first quarter of 2012 were down on the same period last year. Moreover, the Italian insurer’s stockmarket performance has been far worse than that of European competitors. Since the beginning of 2011 Generali’s shares have lost 37% while Zurich’s have declined by only 21%. Little wonder that one director told Mr Perissinotto bluntly that he was not up to the job.

　　有好几名董事不满意佩里斯诺托的表现，主要是认为他在任期间，忠利保险的表现很差。而且，最近的数据尤其令人担心：2010年的利润有17亿欧元，2011年下降到12亿欧元，2012年第一季度利润相比上年同期又有减少。另外，忠利保险的股票表现比欧洲同行差得多。自2011年初以来，苏黎世保险股价下跌了21%，可是忠利保险的股价竟下跌了37%。难怪一名董事直接对佩里斯诺托说他工作做的很差。

　　By tradition prudent⁴ in its investments, Generali has a large portfolio⁵ of government bonds but they are not as safe as they once seemed. Losses on Greek bonds contributed to last year’s sorry results and Generali’s holding of about 50 billion Euro of Italian bonds adds to the market’s wariness⁶. Moreover, its place in a web of business connections and some tricky⁷ shareholdings bring other problems. Its biggest shareholder⁸ is Mediobanca, an investment bank. Mediobanca is urgently trying to seal the rescue of one of Generali’s competitors. Rather than Mediobanca’s preferred candidate, Mr Perissinotto is thought to have encouraged a stronger rescuer from private equity⁹.

　　忠利保险在投资方向上保持着谨慎的传统，所以有很大一部分资产投资政府债券，可惜今日的政府债券并不如老一辈想的那么安全。去年的利润下降很大部分都得归因于在希腊政府债券上的损失。目前，忠利保险还持有500亿欧元的意大利政府债券，难免令市场担心其预期收益。另外，忠利保险在业务网所处的位置，以及一些棘手的股权问题又给公司带来另一些问题。米兰投资银行正急着救援忠利保险的一大竞争者，佩里斯诺托不是米兰投资银行的菜，不过他正努力游说一家更强大的私募股权公司救援忠利保险。

　　Mr Perissinotto’s replacement¹⁰ arrives with a bagful of insurance experience but mostly obtained in American, German and Swiss firms, where the business cultures are very different from Italy’s political wheeling, dealing¹¹ and compromising. Investors¹² expecting Mr Greco to transform Generali may be disappointed.

　　继任者格雷科确实有着丰富的保险业从业经验，不过大多数都是从美国、德国和瑞士公司得来的经验，这些国家商业的文化与意大利大不相同。意大利政治与商业纠葛颇多，政商交易、妥协之事也比较多。投资者当然希望格雷科能够带领忠利保险成功转型，只是，怕这希望最终还是要变为失望喽。

1 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

2 convene   

v.集合，召集，召唤，聚集，集合

参考例句：

• The Diet will convene at 3p.m. tomorrow.国会将于明天下午三点钟开会。
• Senior officials convened in October 1991 in London.1991年10月，高级官员在伦敦会齐。

3 slumped   

大幅度下降，暴跌( slump的过去式和过去分词 )； 沉重或突然地落下[倒下]

参考例句：

• Sales have slumped this year. 今年销售量锐减。
• The driver was slumped exhausted over the wheel. 司机伏在方向盘上，疲惫得睡着了。

4 prudent   

adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的

参考例句：

• A prudent traveller never disparages his own country.聪明的旅行者从不贬低自己的国家。
• You must school yourself to be modest and prudent.你要学会谦虚谨慎。

5 portfolio   

n.公事包；文件夹；大臣及部长职位

参考例句：

• He remembered her because she was carrying a large portfolio.他因为她带着一个大公文包而记住了她。
• He resigned his portfolio.他辞去了大臣职务。

6 wariness   

n. 注意,小心

参考例句：

• The British public's wariness of opera is an anomaly in Europe. 英国公众对歌剧不大轻易接受的态度在欧洲来说很反常。
• There certainly is a history of wariness about using the R-word. 历史表明绝对应当谨慎使用“衰退”一词。

7 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

8 shareholder   

n.股东，股票持有人

参考例句：

• The account department have prepare a financial statement for the shareholder.财务部为股东准备了一份财务报表。
• A shareholder may transfer his shares in accordance with the law.股东持有的股份可以依法转让。

9 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

10 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

11 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

12 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