英國央行可能捲入貨幣市場操縱調查

The Bank of England risks becoming embroiled in an unprecedented criminal investigation over the potential rigging of its money-market auctions launched at the onset of the financial crisis.

英國央行(Bank of England)可能捲入一項史無前例的刑事調查，原因是央行在金融危機剛爆發時展開的貨幣市場拍賣可能受到了操縱。

Investigators at the UK’s Serious Fraud Office are probing the results of an independent inquiry that have been referred to it with a view to launching a formal investigation, according to people familiar with the matter.

據知情人士稱，英國嚴重欺詐辦公室(Serious Fraud Office)調查人員正對一項提交給該辦公室的獨立調查結果進行研究，以期啓動正式調查。

The central bank’s oversight committee instructed Lord Grabiner QC last year to investigate whether any BoE official knew of, or even participated in, attempts to rig a series of auctions as the financial crisis began to bite in late 2007 and 2008, the Financial Times reported last year.

英國《金融時報》去年報道稱，英國央行監督委員會去年曾指示皇家律師格拉比內勳爵(Lord Grabiner QC)調查，2007年底和2008年金融危機爆發時，是否有英國央行官員知曉、乃至參與旨在操縱一系列拍賣的圖謀。

If the SFO does open an official investigation, it will be the first time the BoE has been caught up in a criminal inquiry in the law agency’s 28-year history. The revelation comes as the BoE faces intensified scrutiny over its governance, in particular over the rigour of an earlier investigation over its involvement in the foreign exchange rigging scandal.

如果嚴重欺詐辦公室真的啓動正式調查，這將是該司法機構成立28年來，英國央行首次捲入刑事調查。目前英國央行正因其管理問題面臨更密切的審視，特別是在早先針對其捲入外匯操縱醜聞的調查是否嚴格的問題上。

Governor Mark Carney this week told lawmakers that in the aftermath of that forex inquiry, the BoE had spotted 50 instances of potential market abuse that in the past it might have missed. It is unclear whether the fresh SFO probe will focus on the behaviour of external traders or BoE officials, or both. The BoE and SFO declined to comment.

英國央行行長馬克•卡尼(Mark Carney)本週告訴議員們，在外匯調查之後，英國央行發現了50例可能的市場濫用行爲，過去英國央行可能會忽略這些行爲。目前尚不清楚，嚴重欺詐辦公室的最新調查是將針對外部交易員還是英國央行官員的行爲，或者二者兼有。英國央行和嚴重欺詐辦公室均拒絕置評。

During the central bank’s internal investigation into the auctions, Lord Grabiner interviewed about 10 staff, who were provided with lawyers at the BoE’s expense, people familiar with the investigation told the FT last year.

瞭解此次調查的人士去年告訴英國《金融時報》，在英國央行鍼對這些拍賣活動展開內部調查期間，格拉比內勳爵約談了大約10名員工，英國央行出資爲這些員工聘請了律師。

His inquiries were focused on late 2007 and early 2008 when the BoE ran a series of auctions as a way of keeping interbank lending markets functioning. This was before it launched its full quantitative easing programme in 2009.

他的調查針對2007年底和2008年初，當時英國央行展開了一系列拍賣活動，以維持銀行間貸款市場正常運轉。這些拍賣發生在英國央行2009年推出全面量化寬鬆計劃之前。

Mr Carney declined to give details about the money-markets internal inquiry when questioned by lawmakers on Tuesday. They were discussing Lord Grabiner’s earlier probe into whether officials knew of potential manipulation of the forex market, which has led to six banks paying a total of $4.3bn to US, UK and Swiss authorities.

在週二接受議員質詢時，卡尼拒絕提供有關貨幣市場內部調查的細節。議員們正在討論格拉比內勳爵之前所做的調查，調查內容是英國央行官員是否知曉潛在的外匯市場操縱。因爲存在外匯市場操縱行爲，6家銀行向美國、英國和瑞士當局支付總計43億美元罰金。

The BoE has pledged to be more accountable after politicians said that a lack of checks on its top levels of decision-making hampered its response to the crisis.

政界人士表示，英國央行最高決策層缺乏制約，影響了其對此次危機的迴應。之後英國央行承諾將負起更多責任。