巴菲特副手支持拆分大银行

    现在，请在认为美国大银行应当进行拆分的顶尖金融界高管名单当中加上查理•芒格的名字。

    美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）对伯克希尔-哈撒韦（Berkshire Hathaway）年度股东大会进行的一次报道中，沃伦•巴菲特的主要副手芒格表示，他认为美国大银行仍然太过复杂，可能威胁到美国经济。他不认为美国参议员谢罗德•布朗和大卫•维特最近提出的提案能解决这个问题，虽然这项提案已经得到其他呼吁加强大银行管制人士的称赞。

    芒格说：“我认为，如果在提高大银行的资本金要求后允许银行为所欲为，大银行将再一次陷入麻烦。”

    芒格的首选方案似乎是更为严苛的沃克尔法则；沃克尔法则包含在多德-弗兰克法案（Dodd-Frank）中，旨在限制银行的高风险交易，但迄今尚未实施。他希望能强制银行退出衍生品承销和交易业务。衍生品指的是可对大宗商品、利率和其他金融标的进行投机（有些人称之为对冲）的金融合约。大约一年前，摩根大通（JPMorgan Chase）宣布，一项未按预期发展的信用衍生对冲交易导致该行损失了数十亿美元。

    “我认为，银行业应当得到更严格的监管，”芒格说。“我们不应看到这些享有存款保障的银行拥有如此庞大的衍生品业务。”

    过去一年来，已有一小部分前华尔街高管【包括前花旗（Citigroup）CEO桑迪•威尔】表示，他们支持银行业务拆分。但对于芒格而言，最值得一提的是他不仅仅是一位金融界资深人士。他还是伯克希尔的最高管理者之一，而这家公司是美国银行（Bank of America）和富国银行（Wells Fargo）等美国大银行的最大投资者之一。

    不过，芒格似乎认为，推动变革是监管机构的职责，而不是大投资者的责任。芒格表示，他和巴菲特的投资决定都是根据现状，不是愿景。当然，这也没错。

    Add Charlie Munger to the list of top financial executives who think the nation's biggest banks should be broken up.

    In an interview with CNN at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting, Munger, who is Warren Buffett's chief lieutenant, said he thinks the big banks are still too complicated and dangerous for the economy. But he doesn't think a recently proposed bill by SenatorsSherrod Brown and David Vitter, which has gotten praise from others who want to rein in big banks, is the answer.

    "I think if you increase the capital requirements and let them do what they want, they will just get in trouble again," says Munger.

    Munger's preferred prescription sounds like a stricter version of the Volcker Rule, which was meant to limit risky trading at the banks and was included in Dodd-Frank, but has yet to be implemented. He would force the banks to get out of their business of underwriting and trading derivatives, financial contracts that allow you to speculate, some say hedge, on commodities, interest rates, and other things. About a year ago, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) announced it had lost billions on a credit derivative hedge that had not worked out as expected.

    "I think banks should be more heavily regulated," said Munger. "We shouldn't have vast derivatives books in banks with insured deposits."

    In the past year, there has been a small stream of former top Wall Street executives, including former Citigroup (C) CEO Sandy Weill, who have said they are now for breaking up the banks. What's notable about Munger, though, is that he is not only a financial services veteran. He is also one of the top executives of a company, Berkshire (BRKA), that is one of the largest investors in some of the nation's largest banks, including Bank of America (BAC) and Wells Fargo (WFC).

    Still, Munger seemed to suggest it was the role of the regulators, not big investors, to push for changes. Munger said he and Buffett make investment decisions based on the world they are in, not what they wished it to be, which is fair.