美国国家公共电台 NPR--A Senate panel explores the current crisis in the banking industry

A Senate panel explores the current crisis in the banking¹ industry

Transcript²

The collapse³ of Silicon⁴ Valley Bank will be the focus of a Senate hearing Tuesday. Senators want to know why it and a second bank failed this month, and how to prevent similar meltdowns in the future.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

A textbook case of mismanagement.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

That is how a top government regulator describes the meltdown at Silicon Valley Bank this month. Now, today, a Senate panel explores what went wrong at the bank, also why warnings from government supervisors⁵ were ignored and how to prevent similar bank failures in the future.

MARTIN: NPR's Scott Horsley is with us now with a preview. Scott, thank you so much for being here.

SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE⁶: Good morning, Michel.

MARTIN: So the Silicon Valley Bank collapse was the second-biggest bank failure in U.S. history. What do we know about what went wrong?

HORSLEY: It was a collision of some very old-fashioned banking mistakes with the fast-moving tech that Silicon Valley is famous for. The bank more than tripled in size in the last three years, and with that rapid growth, it didn't manage its risks very well. The bank invested a lot of money in government bonds that lost value when interest rates rose. Now, none of this came out of the blue. Government supervisors flagged problems at the bank in 2021 and again last year. In fact, when Federal Reserve officials were briefed last month about the hole that rising interest rates were putting in some bank balance sheets, Silicon Valley Bank was singled out as a poster child. Nevertheless, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell says the problems were not addressed until it was too late.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JEROME POWELL: The supervisory team was, apparently⁷, very much engaged with the bank repeatedly and was escalating⁸. But, you know, nonetheless, what happened happened.

HORSLEY: And what happened was a massive and surprisingly rapid run on the bank. Ninety percent of Silicon Valley's deposits were uninsured, and when customers got wind of the problems through text messages and social media, they pulled money out faster than anybody expected.

MARTIN: But, Scott, if government supervisors were aware of the problems, why weren't they fixed⁹ sooner?

HORSLEY: I'm sure there's going to be questions about that during today's hearing. The Fed itself is looking at how effective supervisors are and whether they have the tools they need. The Fed also says it's looking at its own culture to see if it's adequately supporting bank supervisors. Dennis Kelleher, who heads the watchdog group Better Markets, says for the last five years or so, the culture at the Fed has leaned towards deregulation and a light touch on bank oversight¹⁰.

DENNIS KELLEHER: In fact, The Wall Street Journal had a big headline in 2018 that said "Banks To Get Kinder, Gentler Treatment Under Trump¹¹ Regulators" (ph), and the entire story was about how the Fed people in Washington were beating up on the supervisors to go easy on the bankers.

HORSLEY: Now, it may be that some stronger legislation comes out of this mess, but that's a pretty tall order in a divided Congress. What's more likely are some new rules and maybe some more aggressive bank oversight.

MARTIN: So there's certainly going to be a call to do something because remind us just of how costly¹² this was, right?

HORSLEY: Right. The FDIC estimates that backstopping all the deposits at Silicon Valley Bank is going to cost the government's insurance fund $20 billion. Now, that's not coming from taxpayers¹³, but it will come from an assessment¹⁴ on other banks. And there's likely to be debate about how much deposit insurance should be available. Deposits are typically only insured up to $250,000, but Silicon Valley's top 10 customers had a combined $13 billion in the bank. Most customers at main-street banks don't have anything like that. And Anne Balcer, who's with the Independent Community Bankers, say they don't want to shoulder the cost of insuring bigger, riskier¹⁵ banks. Now, the FDIC does have some discretion¹⁶ in how the insurance bill is divvied up, and it's expected to make some recommendations in about a month.

MARTIN: That is NPR's Scott Horsley. Scott, thank you.

HORSLEY: You're welcome.

1 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。

2 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。

3 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

4 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。

5 supervisors   

n.监督者，管理者( supervisor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I think the best technical people make the best supervisors. 我认为最好的技术人员可以成为最好的管理人员。 来自辞典例句
• Even the foremen or first-level supervisors have a staffing responsibility. 甚至领班或第一线的监督人员也有任用的责任。 来自辞典例句

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 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

8 escalating   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的现在分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The cost of living is escalating. 生活费用在迅速上涨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The cost of living is escalating in the country. 这个国家的生活费用在上涨。 来自辞典例句

9 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

10 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

11 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

12 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

13 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

14 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

15 riskier   

冒险的，危险的( risky的比较级 )

参考例句：

• Now they are starting to demand higher returns on riskier assets. 而今他们开始在风险更高的资产上要求更高的回报。
• The problem with that: RIM's business is getting riskier every quarter. 不过问题也随之而来：RIM面临的业务风险正逐季增大。

16 discretion   

n.谨慎；随意处理

参考例句：

• You must show discretion in choosing your friend.你择友时必须慎重。
• Please use your best discretion to handle the matter.请慎重处理此事。