Big banks have started pulling their business out of Barclays’ “dark pool” after the British bank was sued by New York’s top securities regulator for allegedly misleading institutional investors over its anonymous trading venue.
各大银行已开始从巴克莱(Barclays)的“暗池”撤出业务。这家英国银行因涉嫌在其匿名交易场所误导机构投资者，被纽约州最高证券监管机构提起诉讼。
Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse were among the institutions that yesterday withdrew from Barclays’ LX dark pool in the wake of the lawsuit from Eric Schneiderman, the New York attorney-general. Barclays said any drop in trading volumes at LX might be due to a technical glitch.
纽约州总检察长埃里克•施奈德曼(Eric Schneiderman)提起诉讼后，德意志银行(Deutsche Bank)和瑞信(Credit Suisse)等机构昨日退出巴克莱的LX暗池。巴克莱表示，LX交易量的任何下降可能是技术故障所致。
More than $13bn was wiped off the market value of the 10 biggest dark pool owners as analysts assessed who US prosecutors might target next. Shares in Barclays, which operates one of the biggest, lost more than 6 per cent, while shares in other large operators, including Credit Suisse, UBS and Deutsche Bank, also fell.
在分析师们推测哪一个暗池将是美国检方的下一个目标之际，10个最大暗池的东家超过130亿美元的市值蒸发。运行最大暗池之一的巴克莱股价下滑逾6%，其它大型暗池运营商的股价也下跌，包括瑞信、瑞银(UBS)和德意志银行。
Investors called for a management shake-up at Barclays’ equity trading business and said the US lawsuit underlined the challenge for Antony Jenkins, chief executive, to achieve his goal of changing the bank’s culture.
投资者呼吁巴克莱的股票交易部门进行管理层改组，并表示，美国的诉讼突显了巴克莱首席执行官安东尼•詹金斯(Antony Jenkins)要实现企业文化改革所面临的挑战。
Mr Schneiderman cited a pattern of “fraud and deceit” by Barclays starting in 2011. He accused the bank of lying to clients about the level of protection they would receive in its dark pool from high-frequency traders aiming to profit from their speed advantage.
施奈德曼称，巴克莱从2011年起出现一种“欺诈和欺骗”的模式。他指控该行向客户撒谎，在其暗池提供的保障客户不受高频交易商损害的保护等级上误导客户。高频交易商寻求利用自己的速度优势获利。
Dark pools allow investors to trade large blocks of shares anonymously, with prices posted publicly only after deals are done. They were created as a way for institutional investors to place large orders without disadvantaging themselves by signalling to the wider market any market-moving trades.
暗池让投资者能够匿名交易大批股票，交易价格只会在交易完成之后公布。这种交易机制让机构投资者能够在大笔下单的同时，不会因向市场泄露足以影响行情的交易而使自己陷于不利境地。
But regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, are concerned they may allow high-frequency traders to exploit other investors’ orders to profit in an opaque, unregulated venue. The SEC is still investigating Barclays.
但是，包括美国证交会(SEC)在内的监管机构担心，暗池可能让高频交易商利用其他投资者的买卖单，在一个不透明、不受监管的场所获利。美国证交会仍在调查巴克莱。
“The allegation that investors have been misled is clearly not acceptable,” said Helen Roberts at the UK’s National Association of Pension Funds, whose members have almost £900bn of assets. “There should be a level playing field for all investors.”
“投资者被误导的指控显然是不能接受的，”英国退休基金协会(National Association of Pension Funds)的海伦•罗伯茨(Helen Roberts)表示。该协会的成员拥有近9000亿英镑资产。“应该有一个面向所有投资者的公平竞争环境。”
The dark pool lawsuit is the latest legal setback for Barclays, which in 2012 agreed a £290m settlement in the Libor rate-fixing scandal and last month paid a £26m fine after one of its traders manipulated the London gold fix.
暗池诉讼是巴克莱遭遇的最新法律挫折，该行2012年就伦敦银行同业拆借利率(Libor)操纵丑闻同意支付2.9亿英镑和解费，上月又因该行一名交易员操纵伦敦黄金定盘价而支付2600万英镑罚款。
“We felt that the flow of bad news about bank conduct was slowing down, but it looks like it continues to be a problem,” said Jennifer Walmsley, director of Hermes Equity Ownership Services. A former senior equities banker said Barclays’ case was far from unique. “Most of the bulge-bracket firms think their clients would do their own due diligence.”
“我们之前还觉得有关银行行为的坏消息开始减少，但看起来这仍是一个问题，”Hermes Equity Ownership Services董事珍妮弗•沃姆斯利(Jennifer Walmsley)表示。一名前资深股票银行家表示，巴克莱的情况并非独一无二。“多数大型跨国投行认为，他们的客户会自己做好尽职调查。”
When asked whether other institutions were being probed, Mr Schneiderman said: “I cannot comment on ongoing investigations. The conduct here was so egregious and ongoing we felt we had to move on this.”
在被问及是否也在调查别的机构时，施奈德曼表示：“我不能对正在进行的调查发表评论。本案的行为如此令人震惊，而且是进行时的，以至于我们觉得必须采取行动。”