Is the term “systemically important” synonymous with safe or risky? AIG, Prudential Financial and GE Capital were labelled systemically important on Monday as part of US government efforts to spot risks to the financial system from outside the banking world. Some 18 banks with $50bn of assets or more already have the distinction as do some financial market “utilities”, namely clearing houses and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. For the three non-bank systemically important financial institutions, or non-bank SIFIs, named this week officials studied asset size, debt load and mix, leverage and derivatives exposure. Others may be named, while regulators are mulling how asset management behemoths, such as BlackRock, should be treated.
與「系統性重要」這個詞同義的是「安全」，還是「風險」？美國國際集團(AIG)、保德信金融集團(Prudential Financial)和奇異公司金融集團(GE Capital)在週一被貼上「系統性重要」的標籤，這是美國政府全面努力的一部分，目的是發現非銀行金融機構對金融體系構成的風險。大約有18家資產達500億美元或以上的銀行已被列爲「系統性重要」，還有一些金融市場的「公用事業機構」也被貼上這一標籤，如交易結算機構和芝加哥商品交易所(Chicago Mercantile Exchange)。對於本週被點名的這三家非銀行系統性重要金融機構（非銀行SIFI），官員們研究了其資產規模、債務負擔和結構、槓桿率以及衍生品敞口。或許還會有別的SIFI，同時監管機構還在研究該怎麼對待像貝萊德(BlackRock)這樣的資產管理巨擘。