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经济学人精读节选100篇European banks are making heady profits in Russia欧洲银行在俄罗斯赚取了丰厚的利润

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本期选文来源：The Economist|June 8th 2024 ，需要经济学人原版PDF|全文中英翻译|MP3|大家下拉至文末下载|也可以自助开通本站会员后加入专属QQ社群或下拉至文末获取全文文档PDF中英翻译PDF,MOBI,EPUB,AZW3,MP3🎵等多种格式。

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European banks are making heady profits in Russia欧洲银行在俄罗斯赚取了丰厚的利润

【1】DAYS AFTERVl adimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Raiffeisen, an Austrian bank, said it was considering selling its business in Russia. Twenty-seven months later, the lender’s unit in the country is doing rather well. Its staff has grown to nearly 10,000, a 7% rise since 2022. Last year its profit reached €1.8bn ($2bn)—more than any of the bank’s other subsidiaries and a tripling since 2021. Raiffeisen is one of a dozen lenders that Russia deems “systemically” important to its economy. The bank also matters to the Kremlin’s own finances, since it paid the equivalent of half a billion dollars in tax last year.

单词解析：lender：放款人

例句：Then you have one loan payment to one lender. 那么你有一金一贷放款。

弗拉基米尔（Vladimir Putin）攻入乌克兰几天后，奥地利银行Raiffeisen表示正在考虑出售其在俄罗斯的业务。27个月后，该贷方在该国的部门表现相当不错。其员工已增长到近 10,000 人，自 2022 年以来增长了 7%。去年，其利润达到18亿欧元（20亿美元），超过该银行的任何其他子公司，自2021年以来增长了两倍。Raiffeisen是俄罗斯认为对其经济“系统性”重要的十几家贷款机构之一。该银行对克里姆林宫自己的财政也很重要，因为它去年缴纳了相当于五亿美元的税款。

【2】Raiffeisen is the biggest Western bank in Russia, but not the only one. The combined profits of the five EU banks with the largest Russian operations have tripled, reaching nearly €3bn in 2023. Success makes the banks a target. In May America threatened to curb Raiffeisen’s access to its financial system because of the bank’s Russian dealings. On June 10th, in an attempt to placate critics, the lender plans to stop making dollar transfers out of the country. Russia, for its part, is starting to seize the assets of Western banks it deems “unfriendly”. Western lenders’ Russian paper profits are at risk of turning to ash.

单词解析： curb：vt.遏制；控制，抑制，限定，约束(不好的事物) n.起控制(或限制)作用的事物

例句：He needs to learn to curb his temper. 他得学着控制自己的脾气。

Raiffeisen是俄罗斯最大的西方银行，但不是唯一的一家。俄罗斯业务最大的五家欧盟银行的总利润增长了两倍，到 2023 年达到近 30 亿欧元。成功使银行成为目标。今年5月，美国威胁要限制赖夫菲森进入其金融体系，因为该银行与俄罗斯的交易。6月10日，为了安抚批评者，该银行计划停止将美元转出该国。就俄罗斯而言，它开始没收它认为“不友好”的西方银行的资产。西方银行在俄罗斯的账面利润有化为灰烬的风险。

【3】Some European banks, such as France’s Société Générale, sold their Russian operations at the start of the war. Although those that remain have reduced their staff by just 3%, their portfolios have shrunk by quite a bit. Only Raiffeisen retains significant exposure, with 15% of its assets remaining in the country, compared with 5% for UniCredit, which has the next-most. But it, too, has slashed its loan book—by 58% since the invasion—and stopped making new loans (even if it is rolling over some existing ones).

单词解析：exposure：暴露；曝光时间；面临

例句：I used a long exposure for this one.我这张照片用的曝光时间长。

一些欧洲银行，如法国兴业银行，在战争开始时出售了其在俄罗斯的业务。尽管那些留下来的人只减少了3%的员工，但他们的投资组合已经缩水了不少。只有Raiffeisen保留了大量风险敞口，其15%的资产仍留在该国，而UniCredit的资产比例为5%，后者排名第二。但它也削减了贷款账簿——自入侵以来削减了58%——并停止发放新贷款（即使它正在滚动一些现有贷款）。

【4】What, therefore, explains the continued profitmaking? One answer lies in the spread between the meagre interest rates banks pay depositors and that of the Russian central bank. The latter stands at 16%, nearly four times as high as three years ago. Another answer is technical. In 2022, anticipating a rush of Russian defaults, banks booked hefty loan-loss provisions. When the feared tsunami of bad debt failed to arrive, these provisions were released, buoying profits, notes Halil Sentürk of Morningstar DBRS, a rating agency.

单词解析：profitmaking：获利

那么，是什么解释了持续的盈利呢？一个答案在于银行向储户支付的微薄利率与俄罗斯央行的利率之间的利差。后者为16%，几乎是三年前的四倍。另一个答案是技术性的。2022 年，由于预计俄罗斯将出现大量违约，银行计提了巨额贷款损失准备金。当令人担忧的坏账海啸未能到来时，这些准备金被释放，提振了利润，评级机构晨星DBRS的哈利尔·森图尔克（Halil Sentürk）指出。

【5】On top of this, sanctions have weeded out most Western competition. As a consequence, European diehards—in particular Raiffeisen—have benefited. After the invasion deposits at the Austrian lender soared, even though it kept its rates extremely low. That is because Russian depositors like to stash some of their cash in a Western bank, just in case domestic ones blow up. The lender also played a crucial role in helping foreign businesses move money in and out of Russia, accounting for nearly half of all payments with the rest of the world in February last year.

单词解析： diehards：n.顽固分子

例句：A few diehards are trying to stop the reforms. 少数顽固分子试图阻止改革。

最重要的是，制裁已经淘汰了大多数西方竞争对手。结果，欧洲的顽固分子——尤其是莱夫菲森——从中受益。入侵后，奥地利银行的存款飙升，尽管它的利率保持在极低的水平。这是因为俄罗斯储户喜欢将部分现金存放在西方银行，以防国内银行爆炸。该银行在帮助外国企业将资金转入和转出俄罗斯方面也发挥了至关重要的作用，占去年2月与世界其他地区所有付款的近一半。

【6】Yet such business is lucrative only on paper, since profits are tough to repatriate. Russia has stringent capital controls that prevent banks from shifting cash. At the same time, sizeable paper profits are attracting the attention of American and European regulators. Last month several lenders received a letter from the European Central Bank urging them to cut their exposure to Russia. Raiffeisen was ordered to slash its Russian loan book by a further 65% by 2026, faster than the bank had planned. In December the White House issued an executive order exposing foreign banks to secondary sanctions if they were found to facilitate transactions involving Russia’s military-industrial complex. In May Janet Yellen, America’s treasury secretary, warned European banks that “operating in Russia creates an awful lot of risk”.

单词解析：sanction：n.制裁；处罚；(正式)许可，批准；约束 v.实施制裁；惩罚；许可；准许；准予

例句：The ultimate sanction will be the closure of the restaurant. 最严厉的处罚将是关闭这家餐馆。

然而，这种业务只是在纸面上有利可图，因为利润很难汇回国内。俄罗斯有严格的资本管制，防止银行转移现金。与此同时，可观的账面利润正在吸引美国和欧洲监管机构的注意。上个月，几家贷款机构收到了欧洲央行的一封信，敦促他们减少对俄罗斯的风险敞口。Raiffeisen被勒令到2026年将其俄罗斯贷款账簿进一步削减65%，比该银行的计划要快。去年12月，白宫发布了一项行政命令，如果发现外国银行为涉及俄罗斯军工联合体的交易提供便利，它们将受到二级制裁。今年5月，美国财政部长珍妮特·耶伦（Janet Yellen）警告欧洲银行，“在俄罗斯经营会产生可怕的风险”。

【7】The problem for European banks in Russia is that they have few exit routes. Ideally they would sell local units to other foreign companies, but few are interested in picking up such geopolitically complicated businesses. Selling to locals requires the approval of Mr Putin and, given the context, any deals are unlikely to be concluded at a fair price. Most recent attempts to complete sales have either dragged on or collapsed. More creative ways to repatriate capital involve big risks, too. Raiffeisen first came into the cross-hairs of America’s Treasury this spring, when it tried to swap some of its Russian assets for a stake in Strabag, an Austrian construction firm, ultimately owned by Oleg Deripaska, an oligarch under sanctions.

单词解析：geopolitically：

例句：”The reality is that Antarctica is geopolitically contested.” 现实是，南极洲是地缘政治的竞争目标。

俄罗斯的欧洲银行面临的问题是，它们几乎没有退出途径。理想情况下，他们会将本地单位出售给其他外国公司，但很少有人对接手这种地缘政治复杂的业务感兴趣。向当地人出售产品需要得到普京的批准，鉴于当时的情况，任何交易都不太可能以合理的价格达成。最近完成销售的尝试要么拖延，要么失败。更有创意的资本汇回方式也涉及巨大风险。今年春天，Raiffeisen首次成为美国财政部的焦点，当时它试图将其在俄罗斯的部分资产换成奥地利建筑公司Strabag的股份，该公司最终由受制裁的寡头奥列格·德里帕斯卡（Oleg Deripaska）拥有。

【8】That leaves European banks with a final option: to continue winding down their Russian portfolios. But even this is far from straightforward, and not just because of the increased scrutiny from Western regulators. In May a Russian court ordered the seizure of the assets of Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank, two German lenders, because of their involvement in a gas project that was cancelled after the invasion. In a parallel lawsuit, the court also seized assets belonging to UniCredit, which is an Italian institution. All this means there is a good chance that many Western units in Russia will end up being at least partly written down. European banks face a high reputational price—and the pay-off is hardly likely to be worthwhile.

单词解析：reputational：声誉

例句：There is no insurance against this reputational risk. 它们缺乏预防这种声誉风险的手段。

这给欧洲银行留下了最后的选择：继续缩减其在俄罗斯的投资组合。但即便如此，也远非易事，这不仅仅是因为西方监管机构的审查越来越严格。5月，俄罗斯法院下令扣押德国商业银行和德意志银行这两家德国银行的资产，因为它们参与了一个在入侵后被取消的天然气项目。在一项平行诉讼中，法院还扣押了属于意大利机构UniCredit的资产。所有这些都意味着俄罗斯的许多西方单位很有可能最终至少部分被减记。欧洲银行面临着高昂的声誉代价，而这种回报几乎不可能是值得的。

长难句分析：

1）原文：Raiffeisen first came into the cross-hairs of America’s Treasury this spring, when it tried to swap some of its Russian assets for a stake in Strabag, an Austrian construction firm, ultimately owned by Oleg Deripaska, an oligarch under sanctions.

2）解析：

Raiffeisen first came（谓语） into the cross-hairs (of America‘s Treasury)（后置定语） [this spring]（状语）, || when it tried to swap some (of its Russian assets)（后置定语） for a stake [in Strabag, <an Austrian construction firm>]（状语）, ultimately owned（过去分词作状语） [by Oleg Deripaska], an oligarch (under sanctions)（后置定语）.

2）句子语法结构详解：

* came 为谓语，采用一般过去时。
* when 为连词，引导时间状语从句。
* tried 为谓语，采用一般过去时。
* to swap 为不定式，作宾语。
* an Austrian construction firm 为同位语
* ultimately owned 为过去分词，作状语。
* its 为物主代词。some 为不定代词。America’s 为名词所有格。the 为定冠词。a/an 为不定冠词。