苏格兰皇家银行向美国缴纳巨额罚款换取“里程碑时刻”

苏格兰皇家银行集团（Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc）宣布与美国达成一份临时协议，支付49亿美元罚款，结束美国对其在2008年金融危机之前推销和销售住房抵押贷款证券的长期调查。

该银行在一份电子邮件声明中表示，大部分罚款将由公司预留的资金支付，但此次和解仍将导致公司第二季度业绩减少14.4亿美元。分析师预测的罚款金额远远高于双方达成的和解费。德意志银行（Deutsche Bank）预测的罚款金额为90亿美元，彭博智库（Bloomberg Intelligence）预测的金额超过110亿美元。

苏格兰皇家银行首席执行官罗斯·麦克尤恩在声明中表示：“与美国达成的协议，消除了有关和解费金额的不确定性，这意味着投资这家银行的理由更加明确。”这是“一个里程碑时刻”，也是“我们为银行在金融危机之前的全球野心必须付出的代价。”

苏格兰皇家银行称一旦了结此事，将恢复发放股息。越来越多大型贷款机构解决了美国对危机时期抵押贷款业务的调查，但苏格兰皇家银行与美国的谈判一直毫无进展，导致其成为少数几家始终未能解决这一遗留问题的机构之一。即便其现在与美国司法部达成的和解协议，原则上也不具有约束力，并且该银行在声明中称“不能保证”双方能够就最终条款达成一致。

未确定的条款

美国麻省地区联邦检察官办公室在Twitter上证实双方达成了初步协议。

它表示：“在达成正式协议之前，仍有许多细节有待协商。”

在达成正式协议之前，仍有许多细节有待协商。

— 麻省地区联邦检察官办公室

有迹象表明，其他大银行可能很快与美国达成协议。1月份， 富国银行（Wells Fargo）首席财务官约翰·施鲁斯伯里告诉彭博社，该银行可能在今年敲定最终条款。虽然他拒绝讨论潜在的和解费金额，但在2017年，富国银行的诉讼费高达33亿美元，大部分都用于住房抵押贷款相关问题。

据知情人士上个月透露，野村控股（Nomura Holdings）的账目中与美国对其在危机之前销售住房抵押贷款债券的调查有关的成本超过300亿日元（2.75亿美元），并可能额外增加相关拨备。当时，野村发言人拒绝对此发表意见。

3月，巴克莱银行（Barclays）同意支付20亿美元，了结美国的调查，罚款金额远低于美国当局最初的要求。据彭博社在2016年报道，美国司法部最初要求的罚款金额约为50亿美元，但巴克莱银行拒绝支付超过20亿美元的罚款。（财富中文网）

译者：刘进龙/汪皓 

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc said it reached a tentative agreement to pay a $4.9 billion penalty to resolve a long-running U.S. probe into its packaging and sale of mortgage-backed securities before the 2008 financial crisis.

While most of the cost will be covered by money the company already set aside, the deal will cut second-quarter earnings by $1.44 billion, the bank said in an emailed statement. Analysts had estimated the firm would pay more to resolve U.S. scrutiny of its mortgage business. At Deutsche Bank they projected $9 billion, and at Bloomberg Intelligence more than $11 billion.

“Removing the uncertainty over the scale of this settlement means that the investment case for this bank is much clearer,” RBS Chief Executive Officer Ross McEwan said in the statement. It’s “a milestone moment” and “the price we have to pay for the global ambitions pursued by this bank before the crisis.”

RBS has said it’s well-positioned to restore dividends once the case is over — yet talks kept dragging on, leaving it among a dwindling number of big lenders yet to resolve probes into crisis-era mortgages. Even now, the settlement in principle with the U.S. Department of Justice isn’t binding, “and there can be no assurance” both sides will agree on final terms, RBS said in the statement.

Terms Pending

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts confirmed on Twitter that a preliminary deal was reached.

“Further details remain to be negotiated, however, before a formal agreement,” it said.

Further details remain to be negotiated, however, before a formal agreement can be reached.

— U.S. Attorney MA

There are signs other big banks may soon reach their own accords. In January, Wells Fargo & Co. Chief Financial Officer John Shrewsberry told Bloomberg his firm would likely hash out terms this year. While he declined to discuss the potential cost, the firm took a $3.3 billion litigation charge late in 2017, mainly for mortgage-related issues.

Nomura Holdings may make additional provisions after booking more than 30 billion yen ($275 million) in costs tied to a U.S. probe into mortgage-bond sales before the crisis, a person familiar with the matter said last month. A Nomura spokesman declined to comment at the time.

In March, Barclays agreed to pay $2 billion to settle its U.S. probe, securing a penalty less than half of what U.S. authorities originally demanded. The Justice Department originally wanted a fine of about $5 billion, but the British lender refused to pay any more than $2 billion, Bloomberg had reported in 2016.