Blythe Masters, a pioneer of credit derivatives, one of the products at the heart of the financial crisis, has resigned from JPMorgan Chase after more than two decades at the bank.
信用衍生品领域的先驱布莱斯•马斯特斯(Blythe Masters)已从摩根大通(JPMorgan Chase)辞职。在此之前马斯特斯已在该行工作了27年。信用衍生品是导致金融危机的元凶之一。
Ms Masters, 45, was at the vanguard of the development of credit derivatives in the 1990s, credited with the creation of a new risk mitigation tool but after the crisis vilified as an architect of “weapons of mass destruction”.
45岁的马斯特斯在上世纪90年代曾是开发信用衍生品的先驱，她因创造了一种新的风险缓解工具而闻名于世。不过在金融危机爆发后，有人指责她设计了一种“大规模杀伤性武器”。

Her friends say it was a caricature: Ms Masters developed but did not invent the product and stopped working in the area years before derivatives on mortgage securities stoked the market meltdown in 2008, though she did later act as an industry advocate.
马斯特斯的朋友表示这种指责太过简单化：马斯特斯开发了这种金融产品，但该产品的创意却不是她发明的，而且她在2008年按揭证券衍生品造成市场崩溃前几年就已停止了在该领域的工作——尽管她后来确实扮演了行业倡导者的角色。
The departure of one of the most prominent women on Wall Street was announced in an internal memo from Jamie Dimon, chief executive, and Daniel Pinto, head of the investment bank. It praised her “remarkable” career and said she was taking “some well-deserved time off [to] consider future opportunities”.
作为华尔街最耀眼的女性之一，马斯特斯离职的消息是摩根大通首席执行官杰米•戴蒙(Jamie Dimon)及投行部门主管丹尼尔•平托(Daniel Pinto)在一份内部备忘录中宣布的。
Jes Staley, former head of investment banking at JPMorgan and now managing partner at BlueMountain Capital, said: “She is one of the few people that had the courage to defend the derivatives market in the financial crisis and she paid a price for it”.
马斯特斯18岁时就以实习生身份加入了摩根大通，她离开的原因是另一个她大力扶持的项目——摩根大通大宗商品交易部门——遭遇挫折。马斯特斯在过去6年里创建了这一部门，没想到只能依令将其出售。
He added Ms Masters was “one of the most capable bankers that I have worked with”.
该部门创造了数十亿美元营收，却也遭到了监管机构的调查。比如，美国联邦能源监管委员会(Federal Energy Regulatory Commission)曾指控该部门涉嫌操纵加州电力市场，去年摩根大通不得不为此支付了4.10亿美元罚金。对违规指控，该行既未承认也未否认。
She is leaving the bank she joined as an 18-year-old intern because of the reversal in fortunes of another project whose growth she championed: JPMorgan’s trading in physical commodities, which Ms Masters built over the past six years only to be told to sell it off.
知情人士称，由于摩根大通感觉监管机构将会继续把该部门作为调查目标，该行决定将该部门出售给总部驻瑞士的交易所摩科瑞(Mercuria)。根据知情人士的说法，马斯特斯决定不去摩科瑞，不过她并未确定离职后做什么。
The business brought in billions of dollars of revenues but also investigations by regulators, including an allegation of market manipulation in the California power market that led to a $410m penalty last year from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. JPMorgan did not admit or deny a violation.
马斯特斯将在摩根大通再待几个月，完成与摩科瑞的资产交接工作。这一35亿美元的交易预计将在2014年第三季度达成。届时私人控股的摩科瑞将与维多(Vitol)、托克(Trafigura)及贡沃尔(Gunvor)一同跻身全球一流大宗商品交易商之列。
The sense that regulators would keep targeting the business led to JPMorgan’s decision to sell the business to Mercuria, a Swiss-based trading house, according to people familiar with the matter. Ms Masters has decided not to go to Mercuria, according to one person familiar with the matter, but has not made up her mind what to do next.
马斯特斯的离职并不令人意外，尽管她过去两年已经谈论过包括资深风险管理岗位在内的其他工作机会。