时候到了，欧洲银行业该瘦身了

    摆脱这个烂摊子的最好办法也许是直接出售资产。这种做法将降低它们手头所需持有资金的规模，因为资产规模缩减将导致资本拨备公式中的分母缩小。欧洲的银行共持有约46万亿欧元的资产，因此它们有很多家当可以出售。但是，在缩减资产规模上，它们一直有所保留。今年以来，欧洲银行售出资产的总规模仅为460亿欧元，仅占它们总资产的1%。

    因此，欧洲的银行如果希望满足资本要求，同时填补不良贷款留下的缺口，它们在未来数月将需要加紧出售资产。普华永道会计师事务所估计，明年欧洲各大银行可能将出售总计多达2.4万亿欧元的资产。虽然这与今年资产出售规模相比有大幅上升，但可能仍不足以满足新的资本要求。

    太多的资产同时入市可能会适得其反，因为它会导致资产价格暴跌。欧洲央行可能会通过成立一家清算信托公司，转移银行资产供日后出售，从而防止大规模资产贱卖的现象。银行将可以把资产转移至资产负债表外，而不必进行有可能让情况恶化的减记。

    赶早出售资产的银行有望获得最好的价格。今年美国和亚洲的投资者已在欧洲大陆投入了数十亿资金，押注欧洲经济复苏，因此它们对任何一种欧洲投资工具都可能垂涎欲滴。如果将近期惨淡的收益报告视为一种指标，那么很可能有足够资产标的来供投资者挑挑拣拣。（财富中文网）

    译者：默默

    Probably the best way to get out of this mess would be for the banks to simply offload assets. This would lower the amount of capital they would need to have on hand, since it shrinks the denominator in the capital buffer equation. Banks in Europe have around 46 trillion euros in assets, so there is plenty of stuff they can sell. But they have been reticent to shrink. So far this year, European banks have sold just 46 billion euros in assets, equating to a tiny 1% of total assets.

    As such, the European banks will need to step up their asset sales in the next few months if they hope to meet their capital requirements and fill the holes left by failed loans. PwC estimates that the banks could offload some 2.4 trillion euros next year. While that is a significant bump up from sales this year, it still might not be enough to meet the new capital requirements.

    But too many assets hitting the market at the same time could be counterproductive as it would send asset prices tumbling. The ECB could prevent a massive fire sale by creating a resolution trust corporation that the banks could transfer assets to for sale at a later date. This would get the assets off the banks' balance sheets without having to take a nasty write-down, which would make the situation even worse.

    It seems like the earliest movers will be able to gain the best prices for their assets. American and Asian investors have poured billions into the continent this year betting on an economic recovery in the region, so they will probably be hungry for any kind of European investment vehicle. If the recent dismal earnings reports are any measure, then there will probably be plenty of assets for investors to pick through.