富國銀行悄然做大投行業務
Wells Fargo’s investment banking operations grew faster than all its rivals in the first quarter and knocked Switzerland’s UBS out of the top 10 table of global fee earners, according to Thomson Reuters.
Best known for being the dominant US retail bank, Wells has been quietly building up its investment bank since it acquired Wachovia during the financial crisis in 2008.
2008年金融危機期間收購美聯銀行(Wachovia)後，原來以零售銀行業務著稱的富國銀行悄然做大了投行業務。It earned $544m of fees from underwriting the issue of bonds, equity and loans as well as advising on mergers and acquisitions in the first three months of 2015, a year-on-year increase of 21.4 per cent.
2015年第一季度，富國銀行通過承銷債券、股票和貸款及併購諮詢服務賺取了5.44億美元的佣金收入，同比上升21.4%。
The San Francisco-based lender earned most of its investment banking fees in the US from capital markets activity and loan syndication. It earned a relatively small proportion from advising on M&A and less than 7 per cent of its fees came from outside the US.
富國銀行總部在舊金山，其在美國本土的投行業務佣金大部分來自於資本市場活動和銀團貸款。來自併購諮詢業務的佣金佔比相對較低；美國以外的投行業務佣金佔比則不到7%。Under Tim Sloan, who stepped up from chief financial officer to run the wholesale banking group last year, Wells has sought to make more profitable use of its many corporate relationships, which include about 95 per cent of Fortune 500 companies.
前首席財務官蒂姆•斯隆(Tim Sloan)去年接管批發銀行業務後，富國銀行尋求利用與衆多企業的關係，更好地從中謀利，這些企業包括約95%的《財富》(Fortune)500強公司。In the first quarter Wells moved up to ninth place in the global investment banking fee table, unseating UBS, which fell to 11th place as its fees declined a fifth to $434m.
今年第一季度，富國銀行升至全球投行佣金收入排行榜的第9位。佣金收入下降五分之一至4.34億美元的瑞銀則跌至11位，無緣前十名。UBS, which is overhauling its investment bank, improved its position in Europe thanks to its work on big deals, such as the $15.4bn sale of Telefónica’s UK operation. But it lost significant ground in the Americas, where its fees fell 40 per cent. A person close to the bank said it was “more focused on returns than revenue”.
正在整改投行業務的瑞銀因大額交易方面的業務提升了在歐洲的地位，比如西班牙電話公司(Telefónica)出售英國業務的154億美元交易。但瑞銀在美洲明顯失利，佣金收入下降了40%。熟悉該銀行內情的人士表示，瑞銀“更專注於回報而非收入”。Swiss banks had a poor quarter, as Credit Suisse also fell two places to eighth place, as its fees fell 23 per cent to $707m.
今年首季度，瑞士各家銀行表現都不佳，瑞信(Credit Suisse)佣金收入下降23%，至7.07億美元，在排行榜上下降了兩位至第8位。Overall the top five investment banks were stable, with JPMorgan Chase in top slot with $1.49bn of fees, Goldman Sachs close behind in second, followed by Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup.
總體上，佣金收入前五名的銀行排名較爲穩定，摩根大通(JPMorgan Chase)以14.9億美元的佣金收入居於榜首，高盛(Goldman Sachs)緊隨其後，之後則是美國銀行(Bank of America)、摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)和花旗(Citigroup)。The top European banks were Deutsche Bank in sixth place and Barclays in seventh.
上榜的歐洲銀行是分列第六、第七位的德意志銀行(Deutsche Bank)和巴克萊(Barclays)。In total, investment banking fees fell 8 per cent year-on-year to $20bn in the three months to March. They were flat in the Americas, but down in Europe and Asia. The drop in investment banking fees contrasts with the trading operations of many banks, which enjoyed a resurgent quarter.
總體而言，2015年頭3月，投行佣金收入同比下降8%，降至200億美元。在美洲的佣金收入與去年同期持平，但在歐洲和亞洲出現下降。相較投行佣金收入下降，許多銀行的交易業務在該季度出現復甦。Wells’s wholesale banking unit, which includes investment banking as well as many other activities such as commercial mortgages, treasury management and asset-backed financing, earned $7.6bn of net profit last year. That is treble what it earned in 2007, before the Wachovia acquisition.
富國銀行的批發銀行部門除投行以外還包括其他許多業務，如商業抵押貸款、財資管理以及資產支持融資。批發部門去年實現淨利潤76億美元，比2007年水平增長兩倍，當時富國銀行還沒有收購美聯銀行。According to one senior executive at the bank, there is “an all-points bulletin for quality loan growth. [But] if it means scooping up the remnants of other people’s wholesale or investment banking activities, we won’t do it.”
富國銀行一位高管透露：“我們希望看到貸款質量全面優化。（但）如果這意味着要把別人剩下的批發銀行或投行業務統統弄進我們的籃子裏，我們不會去做。”Wells worked on large equity issues for several companies in the first quarter, including Actavis and Citizens Financial Group.
今年一季度富國銀行經手了多家公司的大規模股票發行，包括阿特維斯(Actavis)和公民金融集團(Citizens Financial Group)。Wells is also the sole corporate bank for about three-quarters of the Fortune 2000 companies in its mid-market business. “Even where we are killing it, we have a 10 per cent share,” the executive said. “Going from 10 to 15 to 20 per cent — those are big steps.”
富國銀行還是約四分之三的《財富》(Fortune)2000強企業的中間市場業務的唯一企業銀行。這位高管稱：“即便在我們做得不順利的地方，我們都有10%的份額。從10%到15%到20%，這是很大的進步。”Doug Burtnick, a US portfolio manager at Aberdeen Asset Management, said he has long held Wells for its domestic orientation and the spread of its businesses, across basic lending, capital markets and wealth-management activities.
安本資產管理(Aberdeen Asset Management)的美國投資組合經理道格•波特尼克(Doug Burtnick)表示，他一直持有富國銀行，因爲該行以美國國內市場爲重心，業務範圍廣泛，覆蓋基本貸款、資本市場以及各類財富管理活動。“We like how they’re able to manage their credit in a way that adjusts for the growth rates of various parts of their books,” he said. “Where other overcapitalised banks have started to see opportunities, they can get out before profitability compresses.”
他說：“我們喜歡他們管理信貸的方式，他們能夠根據賬面上各個部分的增長速度作出調整。當其他投資過度的銀行在某個領域纔看到商機，富國銀行能夠在盈利壓縮前脫身。”Wells’s investment bank is heavily reliant on the oil and gas sector. In a recent presentation to investors, it said the two sectors provided $200m-$300m of average annual revenue from loan syndications and debt and equity underwriting.
富國銀行的投行業務嚴重依賴石油和天然氣行業。在最近對投資者的介紹中，富國銀行表示這兩個行業爲銀團貸款和證券承銷的平均年收入貢獻了兩、三個億的美元。The recent drop in the oil price has left some banks vulnerable to higher defaults on loans made to companies in the energy sector. But it said in its presentation that its 675 energy sector clients, more than half in exploration and production, had “deep relationships” with the bank, with an average of seven products each.
近期油價下跌，讓部分貸款給能源業公司的銀行面臨較高的違約風險。但富國銀行向投資者表示，與自己“關係深厚”的能源業客戶有675家——其中一半以上集中在勘探生產環節——平均每家有7樣富國銀行產品。Another big client is Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway holding company, which is the bank’s biggest shareholder with 9 per cent.
富國銀行的另一個大客戶是沃倫•巴菲特(Warren Buffett)的伯克希爾哈撒韋(Berkshire Hathaway)，該公司持有這家銀行9%的股份，是其最大的股東。
