监管机构告知银行清理不良行为或者面对经济下行

来源：纽约时报
Regulator Tells Banks to Clean Up Bad Behavior or Face Downsizing

William C. Dudley, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.Credit Rob Kim

华尔街主要监管这周一加快其提升大银行道德文化的步伐。

一年前，纽约联邦储蓄银行主席William C. Dudley在一次演讲中，对于一系列银行丑闻的发生，
就银行人员的行为，表现出失望。


Wall Street’s main regulator on Monday stepped up his campaign to improve the ethical culture of large banks.

A year ago, William C. Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, took aim at banker behavior in a speech that revealed his frustration after a string of bank scandals. But on Monday, after more cases of wrongdoing in the industry, Mr. Dudley seemed intent on signaling that he wanted to add actions to his words. In particular, he told bankers assembled at the New York Fed that continued ethical lapses would be a sign that their institutions were too big to manage — and that they might need to be reduced in size.

“If those of you here today as stewards of these large financial institutions do not do your part in pushing forcefully for change across the industry, then bad behavior will undoubtedly persist,” Mr. Dudley said in a speech. “If that were to occur, the inevitable conclusion will be reached that your firms are too big and complex to manage effectively.”

The Wall Street executives at the New York Fed were there for a conference devoted to bank culture. James P. Gorman, chief executive of Morgan Stanley, was named as a participant in a list posted by the New York Fed, but neither Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, nor Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive of Goldman Sachs, were listed in the document.

A participant at the conference said that the executives in attendance were unnerved by the section of Mr. Dudley’s speech in which he talked about downsizing large banks.

“It is up to you to address this cultural and ethical challenge,” Mr. Dudley added. “So let’s get on with it.”

Mr. Dudley, a former Goldman Sachs economist, has attempted to overhaul the culture of his own staff. In the lead-up to the financial crisis, the New York Fed failed to spot some of the large risks building up in the banks it regulated. But questions about the Fed’s progress arose recently when a former New York Fed bank regulator, offering audio recordings as evidence, asserted that her fellow bank examiners had lacked resolve.

Mr. Dudley’s speech contained actual suggestions on how to create a cleaner bank culture.

He focused in particular on how to structure Wall Street compensation so that banks could recoup pay at a later date if a bank decided an employee needed to be held accountable for ethical lapses.

Right now, banks defer some pay for several years, and have the right to claw it back if employees are involved in missteps.

Mr. Dudley suggested that a deferral period of 10 years might be appropriate. “Given recent experience, a decade would seem to be a reasonable time frame to provide sufficient time and space for any illegal actions,” he said.

Mr. Dudley also presented an idea that would involve partly paying bank employees with a so-called performance bond set up by their employer. If a bank were fined for illegal activity, it could pay the penalties with the money that effectively backed the performance bonds. Not only would this dent the income of all employees holding the bonds, creating an incentive for employees to report wrongdoing early, it would also shield shareholders from footing the legal bill, as often happens now, Mr. Dudley said.

He also suggested that regulators could keep a central registry to record the conduct of financial sector employees, along the lines of the system that keeps track of brokers. “It would be helpful if financial firms, prior to making a hiring decision, could look up a candidate’s ‘ethics and compliance score’ that reflects the individual’s past performance at other financial firms.” Mr. Dudley said.

As he had in the past, Mr. Dudley noted that his views did not necessarily reflect those of the Federal Reserve system.