Goldman Sachs has reached a $5.1bn settlement with the US government and other agencies for mis-selling mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the financial crisis, in a move that will wipe out most of its profits for the fourth quarter.

高盛(Goldman Sachs)与美国政府和其他机构达成了协议，就其在金融危机之前不当销售抵押贷款支持证券(MBS)之事支付51亿美元和解金。此举将抹去该行去年第四季度的大部分盈利。

On Thursday afternoon Goldman said it would pay a $2.4bn civil monetary penalty to the Department of Justice, and make $875m in cash payments to various other agencies. The bank said it would also provide a total of $1.8bn in relief for distressed borrowers and underwater homeowners, financing for affordable housing, and support for other programmes to boost the housing sector.

周四下午，高盛表示，将向美国司法部缴纳24亿美元民事罚款，并向其他不同机构支付8.75亿美元现金。该行表示，也将向苦恼的借款人和潜在购房者支付18亿美元，作为补偿，用于购买价格合适的住房或支持其他项目，以提振住房行业。

Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and chief executive, said in a statement that the bank was “pleased to have reached an agreement in principle to resolve these matters.”

高盛董事长兼首席执行官劳埃德布兰克费恩(Lloyd Blankfein)在声明中称，高盛“很高兴达成了原则上解决这些问题的协议。”

The agreement comes days before Goldman was expected to present fourth-quarter earnings of $1.9bn, down about 12 per cent from a year earlier, after a period marked by subdued trading volumes and reduced capital-markets activity. The bank said on Thursday that its earnings for the period would be cut by about $1.5bn by the settlement.

协议达成几天之后，高盛原本预计将公告第四季度盈利为19亿美元——比上年同期减少约12%——因为此前一段时间内，交易量萎靡，资本市场活动减少。高盛周四表示，在和解的影响下，第四季度盈利将减少15亿美元。

The agreement in principle will resolve actual and potential civil claims by the DoJ, the New York and Illinois Attorneys General, the National Credit Union Administration and the Federal Home Loan Banks of Chicago and Seattle. The claims relate to Goldman’s securitisation, underwriting and sale of residential MBS from 2005 to 2007.

该和解协议将在原则上了结美国司法部、纽约州和伊利诺伊州的司法部长、美国国家信贷联盟署(National Credit Union Administration)、以及芝加哥和西雅图的联邦住宅贷款银行(Federal Home Loan Bank)提出的索赔。这些索赔针对的是2005年至2007年间高盛对住房抵押贷款支持证券的证券化、承销与销售。

Earlier in the day, Goldman had agreed to pay a much smaller fine to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which found that the Wall Street firm routinely broke federal laws when asked by clients to find stocks to short.

周四早些时候，高盛已同意向美国证交会(SEC)支付一笔金额小得多的罚款。美国证交会发现，在客户要求寻找可做空股票时，这家华尔街银行总是违反联邦法律行事。

Under SEC rules, broker-dealers are supposed to have reasonable grounds to believe that a security can be borrowed and delivered on the due date, before carrying out a short selling order. This “locate” must be made and documented before executing the trade. But the SEC found that over a period of almost five years, Goldman performed inadequate reviews when it tried to locate borrowable securities. It fined the bank $15m.

根据美国证交会的规定，经纪自营商(broker-dealer)在执行一笔做空指令时，应当有充分理由相信，在截至日期被做空证券是可以借到并交割的。执行交易之前，必须进行这一“寻找”程序，并将其记录在案。但美国证交会发现，在大约5年时间里，高盛在努力寻找可借入证券时，所做的评估工作并不充分。美国证交会对高盛处以1500万美元罚款。