口译时事：新加坡应加强NDF市场监管

　　　　Singapore generally dislikes drawing attention to itself when it comes to financial markets.　
　　　　在金融市场方面，新加坡通常不愿意成为外界关注的焦点。　
　　　　Having discreetly built itself up as an Asian financial hub, Singapore has now become one of the world’s largest centres for wealth management and commodities trading. But recently the Lion City has been drawing some unwelcome attention in the foreign exchange markets, where it is ranked fourth-largest in the world by trading volume.　
　　　　新加坡不声不响地把自己建设成亚洲金融中心，如今已成为全球最大的财富管理与大宗商品交易中心之一。但是最近，这座“狮城”却在外汇市场方面招来些许不快的目光。新加坡外汇市场的交易额位居全球第四。　
　　　　Last month two former UBS traders sued the Switzerland-based bank alleging they were wrongfully dismissed and accused by the bank of gross misconduct. In two lawsuits filed in Singapore, they claim they were fired to cover up any role the bank had in allegedly manipulating the pricing of foreign exchange derivatives.　
　　　　上个月，两名前瑞银(UBS)交易员对这家总部位于瑞士的银行提起诉讼。二人声称，瑞银指责他们存在重大不当行为并因此开除他们是不公正的。二人在新加坡提起两场诉讼，称瑞银开除他们是为了掩盖该行在所谓操纵外汇衍生品定价方面所扮演的角色。　
　　　　One, Prashant Mirpuri, was employed as an “emerging market southeast Asia non-deliverable forward trader”, according to court filings. The other, Mukesh Kumar Chhaganlal, was a former co-head of macro-trading, emerging markets Asia.　
　　　　法庭文件显示，其中一人名叫普拉尚特 米尔普里(Prashant Mirpuri)，曾任瑞银“东南亚新兴市场无本金交割远期(NDF)交易员”；另一人名叫穆凯什 库马尔 查甘拉尔(Mukesh Kumar Chhaganlal)，曾任瑞银亚洲新兴市场宏观交易联席主管。　
　　　　Behind these opaque job titles lies an equally opaque business done in Singapore: dealing in a type of foreign exchange contract known as a non-deliverable forward. NDFs trace their roots in Asia to the region’s financial crisis of the mid-1990s, after which many countries slapped currency controls in place.　
　　　　在这种晦涩的职衔背后，隐藏着一种在新加坡展开的同样晦涩的业务：交易一种称之为NDF的外汇合约。NDF在亚洲的起源可追溯到20世纪90年代中期的亚洲金融危机。那次危机过后，很多国家立刻采取了外汇管制措施。　
　　　　NDFs are an obscure corner of the over-the-counter derivatives markets where two parties agree to buy or sell a foreign currency – in the Singapore case, currencies of southeast Asian countries Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam – for a fixed price at some future date. Such contracts are used by companies to protect themselves against fluctuations in non-convertible currencies. Banks in Singapore run trading desks where they are also traded speculatively, usually over the phone. Mr Mirpuri was in charge of one such desk at UBS.　
　　　　NDF是场外衍生品市场中不起眼的一个角落：交易双方达成协议，以设定的价格在未来某一天买卖某种外国货币——就新加坡的情况而言，买卖的是马来西亚、印尼、菲律宾以及越南等东南亚国家的货币。企业用此类合约来保护自己，以免受非自由兑换货币汇率波动的影响。新加坡的银行也设立NDF交易部门，投机性地交易这些合约——通常是通过电话交易。米尔普里就负责瑞银的一个这样的部门。　
　　　　Because it is not possible under an NDF to take delivery of the local currency when it comes to settling the contract on expiry, both counterparties take their cue from a “fixing rate” set daily by a panel of banks in Singapore, in Indonesian rupiah, Malaysian ringgit, Vietnamese dong and so forth. That is used to calculate a dollar profit or loss at contract expiry.　
　　　　NDF的性质决定了在合约期满结算时不可能以当地货币交割，因此，交易双方会参照每日由若干新加坡银行设定的印度卢比、马来西亚林吉特以及越南盾等货币的“定盘汇率”，以此在合约期满时计算美元收益或损失。　
　　　　Quite how this “shadow” fixing system has emerged in Singapore, alongside the official rates set by southeast Asian central banks, is a bit of a mystery. Bankers say it was because traders did not historically trust the onshore fixing. It is easy to forget the depth of anti-market feeling in Malaysia during the Asian crisis.　
　　　　东南亚各国央行会设定本币的官方汇率，那么这个“影子”定盘系统到底是如何在新加坡冒出来的——这个问题让人有点搞不懂。银行家表示，之所以会出现这个“影子”定盘系统，是因为交易员向来不信任在岸定盘汇率。人们很容易忘记亚洲金融危机期间马来西亚的反市场情绪有多么严重。　
　　　　But the fact is Singapore is the biggest NDF market in Asia outside Japan. This has become awkward for Singapore, due to the UBS lawsuits and the scandal over manipulation of the London interbank offered rate, or Libor.　
　　　　事实上，新加坡是亚洲(不含日本）最大的NDF市场。然而，由于发生了瑞银诉讼案以及伦敦银行间同业拆借利率(Libor)丑闻，这一地位让新加坡感到有些尴尬。　
　　　　As part of its own probes into Libor and Sibor, a local equivalent, the Monetary Authority of Singapore in September directed banks to review their processes for setting rates for NDFs. Banks should “report immediately any irregularities” and take “appropriate disciplinary action against staff involved”.　
　　　　作为调查Libor及新加坡银行间同业拆借利率(Sibor)行动的一部分，新加坡金融管理局(MAS)去年9月指示各家银行检讨它们设定NDF汇率的流程。根据该局的要求，银行“若发现任何违规行为应立即举报”，并“对涉案员工采取适当的纪律处分”。　
　　　　UBS declines to comment on the traders’ lawsuits. It says it is “co-operating fully with the authorities” on the Singapore regulator’s review. In his lawsuit, Mr Chhaganlal claims that after the Libor scandal emerged he raised “concerns over the way in which reference rates were being set in the Singapore market”. He observed “increasingly unrealistic” US dollar-rupiah rates.　
　　　　瑞银拒绝就上述两名交易员的诉讼置评。该行表示，它在新加坡监管机构的审查问题上正在“全面配合当局”。查甘拉尔在诉讼中称，在Libor丑闻出现以后，他开始“担心新加坡市场设定参考汇率的方式”。他观察到，美元兑卢比汇率“越来越不切实际”。　
　　　　At least one central bank in southeast Asia seems uneasy. Bank Negara, Malaysia’s central bank, this month reminded domestic banks to use a locally set reference rate for dollar-ringgit transactions, implicitly steering them away from the rate set in Singapore.　
　　　　至少有一家东南亚央行显得有些坐立不安。马来西亚央行(Bank Negara)本月提醒国内银行使用一项本国设定的参考汇率从事美元-林吉特交易，暗中引导国内银行摆脱新加坡设定的汇率。　
　　　　None of this looks good. It was the opaqueness of largely unregulated OTC markets, such as credit default swaps, that fuelled the 2008 global financial crisis.　
　　　　上述种种迹象似乎都不太有利。正是因为信用违约互换(CDS)等基本上不受监管的场外市场缺乏透明度，才引发了2008年的全球经融危机。　
　　　　The Singapore regulator is expected to wrap up its review of the NDF market soon. It is also working on new rules for OTC derivatives as part of Singapore’s compliance with a global drive to tighten up on this area.　
　　　　预计新加坡监管机构将很快结束对NDF市场的审查。新加坡还在针对场外衍生品交易制定新规，以顺应全球加强对该领域监管的努力。　
　　　　The US Dodd-Frank Act pushes for NDFs to move away from the clubby, phone-brokered market and on to more transparent electronic trading platforms. Singapore and other Asian regulators are less keen.　
　　　　美国的《多德-弗兰克法案》(Dodd-Frank Act)力求推动NDF离开通过电话撮合交易的较封闭市场，转而登陆更加透明的电子交易平台。新加坡与其他亚洲国家的监管机构这一努力不是那么热衷。　
　　　　They do not want to choke off nascent markets, for understandable competitive reasons. But leaving the NDF market unregulated should not be an option if Singapore wants to avoid attracting any more unwanted attention.　
　　　　出于可以理解的竞争因素考虑，这些国家不想扼杀新兴的市场。但是，如果新加坡不想引来更多不必要的关注，它就不应选择对NDF市场不加监管。