日本金融廳長官批評央行負利率政策

The negative interest rate environment is weakening Japan’s banks — a key transmission valve for stimulating economic growth — the country’s chief financial regulator has warned.

日本頭號金融監管官員警告稱，負利率環境正在削弱日本的銀行，而日本的銀行是刺激經濟增長的重要傳動閥。

The oblique but unusually critical comments from Nobuchika Mori, a former cheerleader of the country’s Abenomics growth programme, come as central banks across the globe face a backlash, and in some cases unintended consequences, over the unorthodox monetary policy of negative rates.

這一委婉但極具批評性的言論，出自曾帶頭爲日本的安倍經濟學(Abenomics)增長計劃搖旗吶喊的森信親(Nobuchika Mori)。他發表這番言論之際，全球各地的央行正因負利率這一非常規貨幣政策而遭遇反彈，部分央行還遭遇到了意想不到的後果。

In Europe and Japan, which joined the negative interest rate club in late January, so-called Nirp has also failed to weaken the currency, with both the euro and yen appreciating in value this year.

日本是在1月底加入負利率俱樂部的。不論是在歐洲還是在日本，所謂的負利率政策都未能壓低本幣匯率——歐元和日元今年都出現了升值。

As a result, investors have been withdrawing from Japan in droves. Foreign investors have pulled more than Y5tn ($46bn) out of Japanese equities since the start of the year and, in a clear vote against Nirp and the future direction of Japan under Abenomics, global fund managers surveyed by Bank of America Merrill Lynch revealed they were underweight Japanese equities for the first time since Shinzo Abe became prime minister in December 2012.

其結果是，投資者近來一直在大舉撤出日本。自今年初以來，外國投資者已從日本股市撤出逾5萬億日元（合460億美元）資金。而接受美銀美林(Bank of America Merrill Lynch)調查的全球基金經理披露，自2012年12月安倍晉三(Shinzo Abe)出任日本首相以來，他們首次減持日本股票，這是對負利率政策、對安倍經濟學下日本未來發展方向的明確否定。

Mr Mori, commissioner of Japan’s Financial Services Agency, told financial market participants: “Low interest rates have prevailed and the yield curve has become flat. In this environment, it will become more and more difficult for banks to achieve balances between risk, return and capital.”

作爲日本金融廳(Financial Services Agency)長官，森信親向金融市場參與者表示：“低利率已成普遍現象，收益率曲線已變得平坦。在這種環境下，銀行越來越難以在風險、回報和資本金之間找到平衡。”

His speech on Wednesday, at the annual meeting of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association in Tokyo, highlighted a series of threats to the banking sector and added to escalating criticism of the path taken by the Bank of Japan.

週三，森信親在東京國際互換和衍生工具協會（International Swaps and Derivatives Association，簡稱ISDA）年會上發表的這番講話，突顯出銀行業面臨的一系列威脅，並給人們對日本央行(BoJ)政策路線的不斷升級的批評填了一把火。

Senior officials have privately questioned the wisdom of the policy as a whole and are especially critical of BoJ governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s suggestion of pushing even deeper into negative territory.

日本高級官員私下裏已在質疑日本央行的政策總體上是否明智，對央行行長黑田東彥(Haruhiko Kuroda)有關將負利率進一步下調的說法更是持批評態度。

As in Europe, banking and finance shares were pummelled in the immediate aftermath of the Nirp announcement. This drove a broader slump in the Topix benchmark index, which has dropped 14 per cent since the start of the year.

和歐洲的情況類似，日本的負利率政策甫一公佈，銀行股和金融股就直線下跌，帶動基準股指東證指數(Topix)全面下挫，該指數今年初以來已下跌14%。

Mr Mori has in the past been a big public supporter of Mr Abe’s Abenomics economic revival programme and of the unconventional monetary policies of the BoJ.

過去，森信親一直是安倍經濟學經濟振興計劃和日本央行非常規貨幣政策的一大公開支持者。

But he surprised some ISDA members by taking the opportunity to voice concerns about the impact of these policies. Among the risks, he said that Japan, along with many other countries, was already feeling the effects of an ageing population, matured consumption and what he called “limited room for economic growth”.

但這次他卻利用在上述會議講話的機會，表達了對這些政策之影響的擔憂，這令部分ISDA成員感到意外。森信親說，除了其他風險以外，日本和許多國家一樣，已經體會到了人口老齡化、消費見頂和他所謂的“經濟增長空間有限”等問題。

Many financial officials fear it is impossible to increase growth artificially through monetary policies that are not sustainable over time.

許多金融官員擔心，靠無法長期維持的貨幣政策來人爲提振增長是行不通的。