商业报道:花旗CEO下课

Writing was on the wall for Chuck Prince wasn't it?

Writing was on the wall for Chuck prince not just related to the sub-prime crisis and the additional four maybe eight billion of asset write-downs we will see in the fourth quarter or quarter one next year ,but also because the citi, oh, sorry, wall street had questioned severely¹ whether he was the right man in the first place. the succession issue following on from Sandy Weill back in 2003, was never, was never liked by the street.

yeah, their exposure to the subprime market is big but it's not that big,it's enough, it's not enough to cause the major damage to the company.

well,you're both right and wrong in saying it. This is half the problem,we don't actually know what the total exposure to the SIVs, or to the pa(per), to essentially² the paper , that is floating around the world so it clearly is substantially higher than I think has been alluded³ to by Chuck prince in the very confident statement he made a few months ago.

what I most gonna say is that the bigger of the two problems for Chuck Prince was the, was citigroup itself, that the unveiled the nature of the business.

That's absolutely right .I mean, it, to be fair to him, he came in 2003 as a lawyer. And now that's a problem because he had precious little banking⁴ experience he was thrust to the Enron issues that didn't help his cost base was far too high the investors⁵ don't believe that he has brought that down fast enough and so on and so forth⁶ and now we have this the sub-prime situation which is what 3 months old today in terms of the way that markets have given the banking set to the clout⁷, you know a real clouty.yeah we've, this problem will get worse not better.

Stan O'neal last week Chuck prince over the weekend , who's next ?

Well,I think there is a lot of pressure on the Bear Stearns, because Bear Stearns was the, was where this should really came to a head but of course European banks aren't out of the morrow either, I mean BNP paribas they've had, they've had exposure ,Is there a bank in, a major bank in Europe and in the US that hasn't had exposure so all of them will be seriously questioned by the investors, so I think this is the, this is only the start of the pile.

Notes:

SIV: A structured investment vehicle (SIV) is a fixed⁸ income maturity⁹ transformation¹⁰ fund, similar to a CDO or Conduit.

1 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

2 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

3 alluded   

提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• In your remarks you alluded to a certain sinister design. 在你的谈话中，你提到了某个阴谋。
• She also alluded to her rival's past marital troubles. 她还影射了对手过去的婚姻问题。

4 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。

5 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

6 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

7 clout   

n.用手猛击；权力，影响力

参考例句：

• The queen may have privilege but she has no real political clout.女王有特权，但无真正的政治影响力。
• He gave the little boy a clout on the head.他在那小男孩的头部打了一下。

8 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。

9 maturity   

n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期

参考例句：

• These plants ought to reach maturity after five years.这些植物五年后就该长成了。
• This is the period at which the body attains maturity.这是身体发育成熟的时期。

10 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。