Britain's largest bank, HSBC, has written off $17.2 billion in bad debt after the U.S. housing market slide hit the value of its loans in 2007. The annual loss is the largest reported amongst Britain's big five mortgage lenders.
英国最大的银行汇丰银行在美国的房地产市场2007年出现下滑对银行的贷款价值造成冲击之后不得不注销172亿美元的坏帐。这是英国五大房屋贷款提供商所报告的年度损失中最大的一个。
The record HSBC write off is larger than the next four British banks combined.
汇丰银行创记录的坏帐冲销比另外四家英国银行注销的坏帐总和还要多。
HSBC Chairman Stephen Green admits the global financial system had come under what he calls 'extreme strain' in 2007.
汇丰银行的董事长王志浩(Stephen Green)承认，全球金融体系在2007年经历了“极度的冲击”。
As to 2008, he says the outlook is uncertain, but he warns the economic slowdown and the credit difficulties in the United States may get worse before getting better.
至于2008年，他说，前景还不确定，但是他警告说，美国经济的减缓和信贷困难在好转之前可能会更加恶化。
Despite the massive write down due to the U.S. credit problems, gains elsewhere around the world kept HSBC in profit.
尽管由于美国的信贷问题而导致大规模的资产缩水，汇丰银行在全球其他地方的表现仍然使它出现盈利。
Market analyst David Buik from the London brokerage firm BGC Partners says wise choices outside of the U.S. more than covered the debt damage.
BGC合伙人公司(坎特-菲兹杰拉德金融公司所设的合伙企业)在伦敦的市场分析师布伊克表示，在美国以外地区做出的明智选择所获利润超过了在美国的债务损失。
"Strong in Asia; China, India and also other emerging nations and a terrific presence in the United Kingdom as well and this is why unlike the other banks, particularly Royal Bank of Scotland and to a lesser degree Barclays, they produced such a stellar set of number for the second half of the year where profits were up by 17 percent," he said. "Whereas everybody else has been scuttling around trying to work out these provisions for bad debt, HSBC has done that but despite it, managed to do very well."
他说：“亚洲的表现非常强劲，像中国、印度和其他新兴经济体，另外英国的表现也相当不错。这就是为什么与其他银行不同，特别是相对于苏格兰皇家银行以及一定程度对于巴克莱银行，汇丰银行在去年下半年创造了一系列引人注目的数字，利润上涨了17%。而其他银行还一直在到处张罗，试图为这些坏帐找到解决办法。汇丰银行已经完成了这一步，而且尽管存在这种情况，它还能有很好的表现。”
For the year in total, HSBC profits rose 10 percent to $24.2 billion.
在去年全年，汇丰银行的利润上涨了10%，达到242亿美元。
Given the problems in the U.S. market, HSBC is restructuring its operations there. It has reduced the amount of credit it extends and it is closing about 400 of its U.S. branches.
对于美国的问题，汇丰银行正在对那里的运作进行改造。它减少了银行的贷款数量，而且正在关闭大约4百家美国分行。
In other banking news, Britain's Barclays Bank announced Monday that it has agreed to buy Russia's Expobank for $745 million. Expobank has 32 branches mostly in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Subject to regulatory approval, the deal is expected to be completed by midyear.
在其他的银行业新闻方面，英国的巴克莱银行星期一宣布，它同意以7亿4千5百万美元购买俄罗斯的出口银行。出口银行拥有32家分行，这些分行大部分集中在莫斯科和圣彼得堡。如果得到监管机构的批准，这笔交易预计在今年年中会完成。 |