美國聯(lián)邦存款保險公司在倫敦起訴數(shù)家歐洲銀行

The US has taken the unusual step of suing European banks in a London court over the Libor-rigging scandal after parts of a similar New York lawsuit failed.

在一宗類似訴訟在紐約受挫之后，美國官方采取不同尋常的動作，在倫敦一家法院就倫敦銀行間同業(yè)拆借利率(Libor)操縱丑聞起訴歐洲的幾家銀行。

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which is in charge of winding down failing banks, is suing Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, Rabobank and UBS, as well as the British Bankers’ Association, the trade group that oversaw the Libor-setting process, for fraudulent misrepresentation. It claims the banks submitted artificially low estimates to the Libor rate-setting process between 2007 and 2009 — known as “lowballing” — making them seem more creditworthy than they really were.

負責清盤倒閉銀行的美國聯(lián)邦存款保險公司(FDIC)，起訴巴克萊(Barclays)、德意志銀行(Deutsche Bank)、勞埃德銀行集團(Lloyds Banking Group)、蘇格蘭皇家銀行(RBS)、瑞銀(UBS)以及負責監(jiān)管Libor制定流程的英國銀行家協(xié)會(BBA)從事“欺詐性虛假陳述”。FDIC聲稱，在2007年至2009年間，這些銀行在Libor制定過程中提交人為壓低的報價——被成為“低報”——使它們看起來比實際上更具資信可靠度。

The FDIC said in court documents filed at the High Court last month that it was suing on behalf of 39 failed US banks that relied on dollar-denominated Libor when they entered into derivative transactions or calculated interest, and that they “suffered loss as a result,” according to the documents seen by the Financial Times.

根據(jù)英國《金融時報》看到的文件，F(xiàn)DIC在上月提交倫敦高等法院的法庭文件中表示，其代表美國39家倒閉銀行提起訴訟，這些銀行當初在進入衍生品交易或計算利率時依賴美元Libor，它們“因此蒙受了虧損”。

If lowballing had not occurred, the rate would have been set “at an honest, and higher, rate . . . and the closed banks would accordingly have realised higher prices and thus made greater returns” on a variety of Libor-linked loans and mortgages, as well as swaps, options and other agreements that incorporated Libor, the FDIC claims.

FDIC聲稱，如果沒有低報，那么Libor將“被誠實地設定在更高水平……那些倒閉的銀行將相應獲得更高價格”，并在大量的Libor掛鉤貸款和抵押貸款，以及互換、期權和其他包含Libor的合約上“獲得更大回報”。

But it said it was not yet able to put a figure on the losses as it could not yet quantify the scale of the lowballing.

但FDIC表示，其還不能給出虧損數(shù)字，因為低報的程度尚無法量化。

The London lawsuit comes after parts of a similar claim by the FDIC was thrown out of federal court in New York last year after a judge deemed the court lacked jurisdiction to decide the case.

在倫敦提起訴訟之前，F(xiàn)DIC去年在紐約聯(lián)邦法院提起的類似訴訟被拒絕受理，因為一名法官裁定，法院對該案沒有司法管轄權。

The lawsuit comes as the death knell has been sounded for what the BBA previously dubbed as the “world’s most important number”. The UK financial regulator said earlier this summer that Libor would be phased out and has called for alternatives to be in place by 2021.

在本案被提起之際，此前英國銀行家協(xié)會所稱的“世界最重要數(shù)字”的喪鐘已敲響。英國金融監(jiān)管機構今年夏初表示，Libor將被逐漸廢除，并呼吁讓替代安排最遲在2021年到位。

Libor, or the London interbank offered rate, underpinned $360tn of debt worldwide — from complex derivatives to student loans. It was calculated daily by asking a panel of banks for their hypothetical borrowing costs and working out the average.

Libor支撐著全球360萬億美元的債務——從復雜的衍生品到學生貸款。每天，一組銀行會給出它們對自己借款成本的推測值，由此計算出的平均數(shù)就得出Libor。

But the benchmark became better known for the manipulation scandal that erupted following the financial crisis.

但是，金融危機后爆出的操縱丑聞，已成了這一基準利率更出名的方面。

Some of the world’s biggest banks — including those named in the FDIC’s lawsuit — paid as much as $9bn in fines to US and UK authorities over the scandal. Several former traders have gone to jail too, although some convictions have been since quashed and appeals are pending.

世界上一些大銀行——包括FDIC在訴訟中所列的那些銀行——因為操縱丑聞已向美英當局支付了多達90億美元的罰款。多名前交易員也已鋃鐺入獄，盡管有些判決后來已被擱置，等待上訴。

So-called lowballing by Barclays is also the subject of a criminal investigation by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office.

巴克萊的所謂低報，也是英國嚴重欺詐辦公室(Serious Fraud Office)的刑事調查對象。

The FDIC often looks to recover losses through the courts. The banks closed by the FDIC and named in the lawsuit range from small community lenders to some of the largest casualties of the financial crisis such as IndyMac and Washington Mutual.

FDIC經常尋求通過法庭追回損失。被FDIC關閉并在這起訴訟中列出的銀行，既有小型社區(qū)銀行，也有金融危機中的一些最大犧牲品，比如印地麥克銀行(IndyMac)和華盛頓互惠銀行(Washington Mutual)。

While there is no value stated for the English suit, the FDIC’s New York claim was seeking damages as high as $1bn.

盡管在英格蘭提起的訴訟未提及金額，但FDIC在紐約法院要求獲得的損害賠償金高達10億美元。

The Times first reported detailed allegations contained in the London lawsuit, initially filed in March.

《泰晤士報》(The Times)最早報道了倫敦訴訟案的詳細指控內容。該案最初是在3月提起的。

Lloyds, which now owns Bank of Scotland, said in a statement: “We do not believe the claim has any merit and is being contested vigorously.”

目前為蘇格蘭銀行(Bank of Scotland)母公司的勞埃德銀行集團在一份聲明中表示：“我行不認為本案有任何依據(jù)，正在進行有力抗辯。”

The other banks, the BBA and the FDIC declined to comment.

其他銀行、英國銀行家協(xié)會和FDIC都拒絕置評。