欧洲银行甩卖问题资产

    上周，欧洲领导人召开紧急峰会，商讨拯救欧元之策。即便如此，很多欧洲银行仍在忙于出售数以万亿欧元计的资产进行瘦身。不过，虽然欧洲银行业为了强化资产负债表和遵守新的资本金监管规定，看来迫不及待地希望出售资产，但似乎他们还不愿减价出售良性资产，那些希望捡便宜的投资者暂时还不能如愿。

    不过，涉及到不良资产时银行家们看来还是愿意配合的。低价购入此类不良资产的美国对冲基金和其他投资公司有望获得不错的回报率，当然，前提是他们愿意承担相关的风险。

    在布鲁塞尔，欧洲领导人们正在弥合分歧，希望能稳住危机重重的银行业和债券市场。上周四晚间，德国同意放弃“私营部门参与救助（PSI）”提议；该提议原本拟规定，如果一个国家获得欧元区救助，持有该国主权债券的投资者就必须接受资产大幅减值。

    这个消息给欧洲银行业（其中一些银行属于主权债券最大的持有者行列）送上了一份好礼。截至去年年底，欧洲排名前十的大银行总计持有约2,260亿欧元的主权债券。现在，这些银行只需按国际货币基金组织（International Monetary Fund）之前救助希腊、葡萄牙和爱尔兰时达成的约定进行主权债券的减值。这使得欧洲人设立5,000亿欧元救助基金的时间表得以前移，他们希望这个基金能稳定债券市场。不过，虽然银行业获得了这一利好，他们要扭转自己的命运仍有很长的路要走。

    Even as European leaders convened this week an emergency summit to save the euro, European banks were busy trying to offload trillions of euros worth of assets in a bid to slim down. But while the banks may appear desperate to sell in order to fortify their balance sheets and comply with new capital restrictions, they don't seem willing to take a bath on their performing assets just yet, frustrating willing buyers hunting for an easy deal.

    Nevertheless, bankers do seem willing to play ball when it comes to their impaired assets. Hedge funds and other investment firms here in the U.S. stand to make some sweet returns buying up those impaired assets at distressed prices - if they are willing to absorb the risk.

    In Brussels, European leaders are hashing out their differences in order to stabilize their crippled banking sector and sputtering debt market. Last night, Germany agreed to drop a provision that would have forced investors to take large haircuts on their sovereign debt holdings if the country that issued the debt is bailed out by the eurozone, something known as private-sector involvement, or PSI.

    This appears to be a gift to the European banking sector, which includes some of the largest holders of sovereign debt. The top 10 European banks held around 226 billion euros of the stuff at the end of last year. The banks will now only be required to mark down their holdings to levels previously agreed to with the International Monetary Fund in its bailouts of Greece, Portugal and Ireland. This has allowed the Europeans to move up the time-table to launch their 500 billion euro bailout fund, which they hope will bring stability to the debt markets. But while the banks have won a victory here, they still have a long way to go if they want to see their fortunes turn around.