渣打被批反洗錢不力 香港金管局連夜迴應
The midnight oil was burning Wednesday at the Hong Kong Monetary authority--courtesy of its colleagues at the New York State Department of Financial Services, which announced a $300 million fine and new anti-money-laundering controls on UK bank Standard Chartered PLC .
紐約州金融服務部週二宣佈，渣打集團有限公司(Standard Chartered PLC, 簡稱：渣打集團)將向該局支付3億美元罰金，並採取措施糾正反洗錢程序中的漏洞。香港金融管理局(Hong Kong Monetary Authority, 簡稱：香港金管局)挑燈夜戰，在週三凌晨發表聲明做出迴應。What's that got to do with Hong Kong? The new settlement--the second set of penalties leveled by the New York regulator against Standard Chartered in two years--requires Standard Chartered to suspend U.S. dollar-clearing through its U.S. bank for what NYDFS calls 'high-risk retail business clients' of its Hong Kong branch.
這對香港有怎樣的影響呢？根據新的和解協議，紐約州監管金融服務部要求渣打紐約分行暫時終止爲渣打銀行(香港)有限公司（簡稱：渣打香港）的部分小型企業客戶提供美元結算服務。紐約州監管金融服務部將渣打香港的這類客戶稱爲“高風險零售業務客戶”。這是該監管機構兩年內第二次對渣打採取懲罰措施。
Dollar clearing involves the conversion of payments on behalf of clients into U.S. dollars from a foreign currency, and is used in many types of transactions a bank might perform on behalf of its clients. A person familiar with the matter said that there is no set list of targeted Hong Kong firms, and that instead both sides have agreed on selection criteria for categories of problematic companies.
美元結算服務涉及代表企業客戶把一種外幣兌換成美元的支付服務，銀行代表客戶開展的許多交易類型都會用到美元結算服務。據一名知情人士透露，和解協議中沒有目標香港企業客戶的具體名單，不過關於哪些企業客戶將被歸爲問題公司，雙方在選擇標準上達成了一致。
Put on the spot by this singling out of Hong Kong as a point of origin for dodgy transactions, HKMA emailed out two statements in the wee hours of the morning--the first at 1:55 AM Hong Kong time, and a supplementary statement at 2:51 AM--that read as the written equivalent of a shrug.
美國方面把香港視爲可疑交易的源頭，這讓香港感到尷尬。香港金管局在凌晨時分通過電子郵件發表了兩份聲明（第一份是香港時間凌晨1:55發佈的，凌晨2:51又發佈了補充聲明），從聲明措辭來看，香港金管局對紐約州監管部門的這一做法表示失望。In the first statement, HKMA wrote that while it had 'identified some areas for improvement,' in anti-money-laundering controls at Standard Chartered's Hong Kong branch, 'they are not issues that cause significant supervisory concerns.'
在第一份聲明中，香港金管局寫道，雖然發現渣打香港的反洗錢管控措施存在一些有待改善之處，但並不構成重大監管關注。The second statement added that 'different jurisdictions face different money laundering and terrorist-financing threats' and that 'it is not the practice of regulators to asses/monitor banks' compliance with foreign [anti-money-laundering and counter financing of terrorism] requirements on behalf of overseas authorities.'
金管局的第二份聲明稱，不同地域面對洗錢及恐怖分子資金籌集的威脅未必相同，由本地監管機構評估/監察銀行是否符合海外的打擊洗錢及恐怖份子資金籌集法規要求並非慣常的做法。That leaves readers guessing as to just how big a center for money laundering Hong Kong might be. The territory implemented a new anti-money laundering law in mid-2012, and the South China Morning Post reported in June that the HKMA's first investigations under the law are in progress.
這使讀者不禁猜測香港到底會是一個多大的洗錢中心。香港在2012年實施了新的反洗錢法。據《南華早報》(South China Morning Post)今年6月份報道，香港金管局根據該法進行的首批調查已在進行當中。Without clarity on exactly which clients are affected, it's also hard to determine what the actions mean for Standard Chartered--though Hong Kong is the bank's largest market, generating 20% of its operating income and 28% of its pretax profit in 2013, according to the group's annual report. Despite being based in London, Standard Chartered generates about 90% of its profits in Asia , the Middle East and Africa.
由於相關方面沒有說明渣打的哪些客戶會受到影響，目前還很難確定美國監管部門此舉對渣打意味着什麼。但香港是渣打的最大市場。該集團的年報顯示，2013年渣打20%的營運利潤和28%的稅前利潤來自香港市場。儘管總部位於倫敦，渣打約90%的利潤來自亞洲、中東和非洲。
