2012托福考试复习：双语阅读篇四

会计考友 · 发表于 2012-8-14 23:21:39

As banks cut staff around the world, they are fighting in China over a rare commodity: a banker licensed by the government to do stock and bond deals.
Chinese securities rules require that every underwriter on a domestic initial public offering of shares or a bond sale have two qualified 'sponsors' among the bankers working on the deal. The pair nursemaid the IPO from beginning to end and ultimately take responsibility for signing off on the company's books and business plan.
The pressure on sponsors, already great, is increasing as the country's regulator steps up its efforts to root out accounting fraud by listed companies and cracks down on underwriters.
Only about 2,000 sponsors are active in China, home to many of the world's biggest IPOs. Based on last year's deal flow, they are fully employed. China limits each to working on no more than two deals at a time, and deals can take a year or more to complete. Salaries, already high by local standards, are rising rapidly as firms compete for the relatively small number of people.
To earn the title, bankers must show proficiency in accounting, law and finance through a written exam in Chinese that takes place once a year. Only about 10% pass, according to a banker who did pass as well as several senior bankers; the China Securities Regulatory Commission wouldn't disclose the rate. Bankers say all who pass are Chinese nationals, and most have studied abroad.
'Ultimately this is a very coveted position, given there are a limited amount of sponsors and the exam is not easy,' said Jonathan Penkin, co-head of equity capital markets for Asia, excluding Japan, at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The 14 sponsors at Goldman's China joint venture Goldman Sachs Gao Hua Securities Co. report to him.
China's government tightly restricts the ability of foreign firms to operate in its capital markets and requires them to do business through licensed joint ventures, in which they can hold a maximum stake of 33%.
To keep their securities licenses, banks need to employ at least of four sponsors. But for a firm to do a reasonable number of deals, it needs many more. That has led to a scramble as more Western banks set up securities joint ventures. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc. and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC have set up such ventures this year and are adding employees. Bankers complain the scarcity of sponsors is creating a bottleneck for deal making in China and driving up banks' costs.
'There is a huge fight for [sponsors],' said one banker in China who works for a Wall Street firm.
In one example, Morgan Stanley is in the process of hiring a team of roughly 20 bankers, about half of whom are qualified sponsors, from J.P. Morgan Chase's joint venture, according to people familiar with the matter. The switch may accelerate the plans of Morgan Stanley's Shanghai-based joint venture, Morgan Stanley Huaxin Securities, to add offices in Shenzhen and Beijing, one of the people added.

会计考友 · 发表于 2012-8-14 23:21:40

A sponsor typically earns around 2 million yuan (US$300,000) a year, including bonuses, which is high for locally hired bankers, and rising due to strong demand. Chinese banks sometimes outbid Western banks because they often offer commission-based pay allowing a sponsor to double his base salary in a good year, the bankers said.</p>'Once you have this license you are all set for life, even if you don't do deals,' said the head of a Wall Street firm in China.
Still, the life of a sponsor isn't easy. One 30-year old sponsor said he lives in a state of constant anxiety. Getting detailed answers from massive, complicated state-owned Chinese companies to meet the regulators' deadlines is difficult, he said. In some fast-growing companies, records are incomplete and ownership opaque.
Penalties for a sponsor who is found to have been negligent range from a warning to losing the license, fines and criminal prosecution, according to the securities regulator's website.
Bankers complain that the system puts too much responsibility in the hands of young, book-smart but unseasoned bankers who may miss instances of fraud. Some even claim the regulator is deliberately restricting the number of sponsors so it can more easily control the flow of IPOs. The regulator, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, declined to comment.
Now China's new top securities regulator is stepping up scrutiny of the industry. Local media have reported that Guo Shuqing, former chairman of China Construction Bank Corp., who was appointed to the job in October, has opened a record number of securities investigations. On its website, the CSRC says it has investigated 82 securities-market cases this year, of which half relate to insider trading. The regulator this year has disciplined 35 firms, including brokerage firms and handed out fines to some.
The CSRC, which created the sponsor system in late 2003, has argued that holding specific people responsible can prevent fraud as well as accounting scandals. In the U.S., the norm is that the investment bank, not the individual, is held culpable for errors unless fraud is involved.
While Chinese companies have been accused by short sellers of accounting fraud, most of the cases occurred in companies that used so-called reverse mergers to list in the U.S., a process that doesn't require a qualified sponsor.
In November, the regulator stripped the licenses of two sponsors who worked for Chinese firm Ping An Securities, saying their due diligence on the IPO of Chinese rice wine maker Shengjing Shanhe Bio-Technology Co. had been sloppy. The IPO was canceled earlier this year by the regulator because it said the company didn't disclose important information for investors.
'The objective is to remind people they cannot hide behind the name of an institution if they make major mistakes in the listing process,' said Heiner Braun, managing partner of law firm Freshfields' Shanghai office.

世界各地的银行在裁员之际，也在奋力在中国争夺一种稀缺商品：具备中国政府认可的股票和债券交易从业资格的银行业人士。
按照中国证券法规的要求，国内首次公开募股(IPO)或债券销售交易的每一个承销商，在所有进行此项交易的银行业人士当中，必须有两个合资格的保荐人。这两名保荐人要全程对IPO负责，并且为公司的账簿和商业方案的签署负最终的责任。
相关报道随着中国监管机构加强根除上市公司会计欺诈的举措并严格要求承销商，本来就已经很大的保荐人方面的压力与日俱增。
目前，作为全球很多宗最大规模IPO发生地的中国只有约2,000名保荐人。从去年的交易状况来看，这些保荐人的工作都排满了。中国限定1名保荐人同时处理的交易不得超过两桩，而每桩交易可能要花费一年甚至更长的时间才能完成。以当地标准衡量，保荐人的工资已经很高，但随着各家公司争夺相对稀少的人才，保荐人薪水还在飞速上涨。
为了获得保荐人资格，银行从业人士必须通过每年一次的书面考试，证明自己熟练掌握会计、法律和金融方面知识。据一位通过保荐人考试的银行业者和几位资深银行业者表示，考试的通过率只有10%。中国证监会拒绝透露考试通过率数据。银行业者称，所有通过保荐人考试的都是中国籍人士，而且大多数人有海外留学经历。
高盛集团(Goldman Sachs Group Inc.)亚洲（除日本）股权资本市场部联席负责人派金(Jonathan Penkin)说，基本上这是一个非常令人艳羡的职位，因为保荐人的数量非常少，而且考试也不容易。高盛在中国的合资企业高盛高华证券有限责任公司(Goldman Sachs Gao Hua Securities Co.)的14名保荐人都是派金的手下。
中国政府严格限制外国公司在中国资本市场的运营，并要求这些公司通过设立合资企业的方式开展业务。而在合资企业中，外国公司最多只能拥有33%的股权。

会计考友 · 发表于 2012-8-14 23:21:41

银行若要保住手里的证券从业执照，就要雇用至少4名保荐人。但对一家公司来说，交易量若要达到一定规模，就需要更多的保荐人。这导致越来越多的西方银行在中国设立合资企业的过程中争夺保荐人。今年，摩根大通(J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.)、摩根士丹利( Morgan Stanley)、花旗集团( Citigroup Inc.)、苏格兰皇家银行集团( Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC)等都在中国设立了此类合资企业，也都在扩大雇员规模。银行业内人士抱怨说，由于保荐人数量太少，中国市场交易量遭遇了瓶颈，而且还推高了银行的成本。</p>华尔街一家金融机构驻中国的一名银行家说，对保荐人的争夺非常激烈。
举一个例子。据知情人士透露，摩根士丹利目前正在着手从摩根大通的合资企业招聘一个20人的团队，其中半数都是合资格的保荐人。其中一位知情人士说，这一转变可能会令摩根士丹利在上海的合资企业摩根士丹利华鑫证券(Morgan Stanley Huaxin Securities)加速实施在深圳和北京增设办公室的方案。
通常来说，一名保荐人的年薪（包括分红在内）大约为200万元（约合30万美元），对于本土银行业内人士来说，这一数字已经相当高了。由于市场需求旺盛，保荐人的年薪还在上涨。上述银行业内人士说，中资投行开出的年薪有时能超过外资投行，因为中资投行的薪酬制度是以佣金为基础的，如果市场行情较好，那么保荐人的底薪可能会翻倍。
一家华尔街金融机构驻中国的负责人说，一旦获得了保荐人资格，你后半生就高枕无忧了，就算你不做交易也没关系。
尽管如此，保荐人的工作并不轻松。一位30岁的保荐人说，他常年生活在焦虑之中。他说，要在监管机构规定的时限内从规模庞大、结构复杂的中国国有企业得到详细的答复并不容易。在一些快速成长的企业当中，有关记录并不完整，企业所有权也不透明。
中国证监会网站公布的相关法规规定，如果工作疏忽，保荐人可能受到的处罚包括谈话提醒、失去保荐人资格、被处行政处罚以及追究刑事责任。
银行从业人士抱怨说，年轻的从业人士书读得很好，但缺乏经验，当前的体制让这些人承担了过多的责任，他们可能无法识别某些欺诈行为。有些人甚至抱怨说，监管机构故意限制保荐人的数量，这样就能够更容易地控制IPO的数量和节奏。中国证券监督管理委员会（简称：中国证监会）拒绝就此置评。
眼下，新上任的中国证监会主席正在加大对证券业的监管力度。据国内媒体报道，今年10月履新的证监会主席郭树清已经揭开了一系列证券业调查。中国证监会在官网上说，2011年以来，证监会在对各类线索核实的基础上，共立案调查案件82起，其中内幕交易39起。对35家机构（包括1家期货经纪公司）分别进行了行政处罚。郭树清曾任中国建设银行（China Construction Bank Corp.）董事长。
中国证监会认为，具体追究个人责任可以防止欺诈和会计丑闻。中国证监会在2003年底推出了证券发行上市保荐制度。美国的规定是，除非涉及欺诈，否则就由投资银行而不是个人对错误承担责任。
尽管做空者指责中国企业存在会计欺诈行为，但大多数此类案件发生在利用所谓“反向收购”赴美上市的中资企业身上，而这一过程并不需要合资格的保荐人的参与。
今年11月，中国证监会撤销了平安证券两名保荐人的资格，称保荐人对湖南胜景山河生物科技股份有限公司（简称：胜景山河）的尽职调查工作不完善、不彻底。今年早些时候，因招股说明书存在重大遗漏，中国证监会撤销了此前做出的允许胜景山河首次公开发行股票的行政许可。
英国富而德律师事务所（Freshfields）上海分所执行合伙人博海纳（Heiner Braun）说，证监会此举的目的是提醒从业人员，如果在上市过程中出现了重大错误，他们是无法躲到所在机构身后逃避责任的

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[托福阅读] 2012托福考试复习：双语阅读篇四

2012托福考试复习：双语阅读篇四

2012托福考试复习：双语阅读篇四