华尔街的道歉苍白无力

    “我很抱歉。真的，我的本意并非如此……呃，我的意思是我们的本意并非如此。我希望没人受到很大伤害。哦，对不起，如果你确实受到了很大伤害。我是认真的，我们是认真的。我认为当初我们的本意是好的，但事情就是有点失控了。将来我们一定会尽力避免此类事件再发生……不，不会再发生。这次，我们绝对说到做到。你还能信任我们吗？拜托了？”

    你是在和我开玩笑吗？在那些华尔街菁英以及华盛顿的监管官员们种种无知无畏而又无法无天的行为将我们的市场和经济推下悬崖后，我们能听到的就只是一声“抱歉”吗？

    是谁在进行这些苍白无力的道歉？

    比如，摩根大通(JPMorgan Chase & Co.)的首席执行官杰米•戴蒙和前美联储(Fed)副主席唐纳德•科恩。本周二，戴蒙在俄亥俄州哥伦布市举行的摩根大通年度股东大会上就说了这么多。以下源自彭博新闻社（Bloomberg）：

    摩根大通董事长兼首席执行官杰米•戴蒙表示，他对公司一些不当的止赎收屋行为表示歉意，但数百位抗议者在年度股东大会上要求他采取行动，帮助购房者和小企业走出金融危机阴影。

    对于过去犯下的任何过错，“我们表示深深的歉意”，现年55岁的戴蒙周二在年度股东大会上表示，“我们正在尽一切可能，帮助那些理应住在自己房子里的人们继续住下去。”戴蒙表示，他特别感到抱歉的是公司错误地收回了现役军人的房屋，并弄错了其他被收屋者的一些文书。年度股东大会是在美国俄亥俄州哥伦布市一栋200万平方英尺的写字楼中召开的。

    戴蒙的道歉与周三《金融时报》(Financial Times)报道的唐纳德•科恩“走近耶稣”的声明堪称绝配：

    “对于金融危机给美国及全球数百万人带来的痛苦，我深感歉意……主要责任在于私营部门——那些根据信贷评级买卖这些证券的人。但我同意监管部门也存在失察。”

    “监管部门未对本应引起警觉的风险做出反应，即便是他们看到的风险，也未有效地向业界管理层进行风险提示或采取行动，这些都是他们本来应该做的。所有这些显然都有事后诸葛亮之嫌。”

    那么科恩，“如果当时这些监管部门对现实状况失察，”他们当时究竟在哪里，和谁在一起，在干些什么？”

    戴蒙和科恩都用不着急道歉。那么，美国和全球的投资者们究竟希望从这些从不干好事的金融菁英们身上得到些什么呢?

    公开信息吧，伙计们！

    戴蒙，让我们看看摩根大通按揭贷款生成和偿付操作的现状，并敦促你在花旗(Citi)、美国银行(BofA)、Ally和富国银行(Wells Fargo)的朋友们也这样做吧。

    至于科恩，虽然我对伯南克及其亲密战友盖特纳进一步披露美联储或美国财政部的操作细节不抱什么希望，你确实有些分量，能敦促玛丽•夏皮罗让美国证券交易委员会(SEC)及华尔街自律组织——美国金融业监管局(FINRA)公开信息。

    是的，美国证券交易委员会和美国金融业监管局的家伙们是当时掌握事态发展的真正“警察”，而高高在上的美联储和其他部门的头头脑脑们当时一定是在订购另一盒波士顿派。

    科恩，也许你愿意在埃尔顿•约翰逊起诉美国金融业监管局、要求后者公开信息的案件中，成为约翰逊的一位证人。迄今为止，玛丽•夏皮罗和美国金融业监管局董事会都采取了马克•马奎尔的方式，回避谈论过去，我在今年2月指出了这一点：

    美国金融业监管局是如何回应约翰逊和其他业内人士要求提高透明度的呼声的？基本上就是动动嘴皮子，充耳不闻或在有必要时，请求豁免。什么？豁免？是的，没错。通过请求豁免，美国金融业监管局有效地挡住了约翰逊及其他人要求提高透明度的呼声。这是美国吗？美国金融业监管局可能是通过美国证券交易委员会报告，但它并非政府组织。豁免？我称之为自大！但斗争仍在持续，对透明度的追求也依然不懈。

    没有真正意义上的透明度，道歉苍白无力。

    本文作者Larry Doyle是华尔街资深人士，曾供职于第一波士顿(First Boston)、贝尔斯登(Bear Stearns)和Union Bank等银行。他的博客见http://www.senseoncents.com/。

    "I'm sorry. No, really I am. I did not mean to do it….err, I mean we did not mean to do it. I hope nobody got too badly hurt. Oh, sorry if you did. Really, I mean it and we mean it. I think we were well intentioned but things just got a little out of control. We will definitely try to make sure this stuff NEVER happens again…no, really. This time we definitely mean it. Will you still trust us? Please?"

    Are you kidding me? Is "sorry" the best America gets for the ineptitude, incompetence, reckless and abusive behaviors of those on Wall Street and their regulatory overseers in Washington after driving our markets and economy over the cliff?

    Who is issuing these meaningless mea culpas?

    Try JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon and former Fed vice-chairman Donald Kohn. Yesterday, Dimon said as much at the JP Morgan annual shareholders meeting held in Columbus, Ohio. From Bloomberg:

    Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) chairman and chief executive officer, said he was sorry for foreclosure mistakes as hundreds of protesters at the annual meeting demanded he do more to help homeowners and small businesses recover from the financial crisis.

    For any errors that were made, "we deeply apologize," Dimon, 55, said today at the shareholders' meeting in a 2- million-square-foot office building in Columbus, Ohio. "We are doing everything we can to keep people in their homes that should stay in their homes." Dimon said he especially regretted the bank's mistakes in foreclosing on active-duty military personnel and for fumbling paperwork on other home seizures.

    Dimon's mea culpa is more than matched by Donald Kohn's 'come to Jesus' statements highlighted in today's Financial Times:

    "I deeply regret the pain that was caused to millions of people in the US and around the world by the financial crisis… Most of the blame should be on the private sector -- the people that bought and sold those securities, on the credit rating agencies that rated them. But I also agree that the cops weren't on the beat.

    The regulators were not as alert to the risks as they could have been and, to the extent they saw the risks, were not as forceful in bringing them to the attention of management, or taking actions, as they could have been. All this with 20/20 hindsight obviously."

    So Donald, "if the cops were not on the beat," where the hell were they, with whom and just what the heck were they doing?"

    Both Dimon and Kohn can save their mea culpas. What do the citizens of America and the world really want from these financial ne'er do wells?

    Open the books, boys!

    Jamie, let's see what was really going on within the mortgage origination and servicing practice at JP Morgan and compel your friends at Citi (C), BofA, Ally and Wells Fargo (WFC) to do the same.

    As for you Donald, while I hold out little hope that Big Ben and his sidekick Timmy will be forthcoming with any further details about activities at the Fed or Treasury, you certainly can carry real weight in compelling Mary Schapiro to open the books at the SEC and at Wall Street's self-regulator FINRA.

    Yes, the crowd from the SEC and FINRA were the real cops on the beat while the honchos upstairs at the Fed and elsewhere must have been ordering another box of Boston creams.

    Donald, perhaps you may like to be a witness on behalf of Elton Johnson's lawsuit against FINRA, compelling FINRA to open its books. See to date, both Mary Schapiro and the FINRA board are taking the Mark McGwire approach of not truly wanting to talk about the past. I highlighted this last February:

    How has FINRA responded to calls by Johnson and others within the industry for real transparency? Largely with lip service, a cold shoulder, and when need be, a plea of immunity. What? Immunity? Yep, that's right. FINRA conveniently and effectively utilizes a plea of immunity to obviate the call for transparency by Johnson and others. Is this America? FINRA may report through the SEC, but it is a private organization. Immunity? I call it ARROGANCE! That said, the battle wages on and the pursuit of transparency continues.

    Without real meaningful transparency, sorry means nothing.

    Larry Doyle is a Wall Street veteran, having worked at such banks as First Boston, Bear Stearns and Union Bank. He blogs at http://www.senseoncents.com/