经济学人财经 || 一首凉凉送给德国金融科技巨头Wirecard

原文:http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzU1MDQwNTgzMg==&mid=2247490929&idx=1&sn=2a281c8df2d7595925bb0831f72c84ab&chksm=fba04ed6ccd7c7c0642de5c4e7f225ff6842208cb0327ae102cd2f59bfe25a57d08234aa0ed4#rd

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导读

感谢思维导图作者

Ashley,女 ,金融硕士,爱宠物 爱英语,爱旅游,经济学人粉丝


一文回顾支付巨头Wirecard(被称为欧洲支付宝)12年财务造假史

 https://www.chainnews.com/articles/033205675917.htm

(强烈推荐阅读)


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听力|精读|翻译|词组

The demise of a Wunderkind

神童的陨落

英文部分选自经济学人20200627期Finance版块

The demise of a Wunderkind

神童的陨落


注释:

Wunderkind:出自德语;指神童,少年得志者,有巨大成就的青年人,而文中所提及的Wirecard正是一家德国公司。


How a fintech star fooled most of the people all the time

看金融科技巨头如何一直骗过了大多数人


Wirecard’s success was once regarded in Germany as rivalling that of SAP, a software-maker and the country’s most valuable firm. No longer. Felix Hufeld, the head of BaFin, the financial regulator, was blunt: the accounting scandal at the payment-processing firm is a “complete disaster”, and a “shame for Germany”. “We would have expected such a situation anywhere in the world, but not in Germany,” said Peter Altmaier, the economy minister. Mr Altmaier may have unwittingly put his finger on a key point—that everyone with influence over the firm, from board members to auditors and regulators, seems to have been complacent. In a darker version of events, the actions of some may have been complicit, even criminal.


在德国,Wirecard 的成功曾被认为可与 SAP 相媲美(SAP是一家软件制造公司,也是德国最具价值的公司)。但Wirecard已今非昔比。德国金融监管机构联邦金融监管局(BaFin)局长菲利克斯胡菲尔德(Felix Hufeld)直言不讳:这家支付处理公司的会计丑闻是一场彻头彻尾的灾难,是德国的耻辱。德国经济部长彼得阿尔特迈尔(Peter Altmaier)表示: “这样的丑闻发生在哪都不应该发生在德国啊。阿尔特迈尔可能无意中指出了一个关键点ーー从董事会成员到审计师和监管机构,每个对公司有影响力的人都过度自信了。该事件的腹黑版本暗指这些关联方可能涉嫌同谋,甚至犯罪。


注释:

1.rivallingn.竞争对手;v.相匹敌;比得上

2.unwittingly:无意地;不经意地;不知不觉地


On June 18th Wirecard’s auditor for the past decade, ey, said that it could not find €1.9bn ($2.1bn), amounting to nearly a quarter of the firm’s balance-sheet, that was meant to be held in escrow accounts in the Philippines. Wirecard then withdrew its results for the last fiscal year and for this year’s first quarter. Markus Braun, the chief executive, resigned. On June 22nd Wirecard admitted that the €1.9bn “probably does not exist”. By then more than 80% of its market value had evaporated within three trading days. Later that day Mr Braun was arrested on suspicion of using fraudulent accounting techniques to inflate reported revenues. The next day he was released on bail. On June 25th Wirecard began insolvency proceedings.


618日,为Wirecard提供审计服务长达十年之久的安永(EY)表示,他们无法确认19亿欧元(约合21亿美元) 的资金,这些资金本应存放在菲律宾的第三方托管账户中,占该公司资产负债表的近四分之一。随后,Wirecard 撤回了上一财年和今年第一季度的业绩。首席执行官马库斯布劳恩(Markus Braun)辞职。622日,Wirecard承认19亿美元可能不存在。之后,超过80% 的市值在三个交易日内蒸发。当天晚些时候,布劳恩因涉嫌使用欺诈性的会计手段虚增报告收入而被捕。第二天他被保释出狱。625日,Wirecard 开启破产程序。


注释:

1.escrow accounts:条件交付帐户;第三者保管帐户;口袋帐户

2.evaporatedvi. 蒸发,挥发;消失,失踪

3.suspicionn. 怀疑;嫌疑;疑心;一点儿;vt. 怀疑

4.inflatevi. 膨胀;充气


It is a brutal fall from grace for a once-feted executive. After taking the helm in 2002 Mr Braun transformed the startup into a pioneer of processing digital payments, offering its services to porn sites and online-gambling sites, which other digital-payment platforms tended to shun. Over the years Wirecard attracted hundreds of thousands of new merchants, including Aldi and Lidl, supermarket chains, and several airlines. In 2006 it bought a bank and evolved into a full-service payment operation. In 2018 it knocked Commerzbank out of the dax, causing a sensation in Germany. “It was an amazing growth story,” recalls Wolfgang Donie, an analyst at Norddeutsche Landesbank who, like many other equity analysts, used to recommend the stock to his bank’s clients. By June 18th Donie’s notes to clients were warning: “hands off Wirecard shares!!!”


曾经受人追捧、万丈光芒的管理层落下了神坛。布劳恩在2002年执掌公司大权后,将一家初创企业转变成了电子支付处理的先驱,为成人网站和线上博彩网站提供服务,而这些是其他电子支付平台所有意避开的。过去几年间,Wirecard 吸引了成千上万的新商家,其中包括连锁超市AldiLidl,以及多家航空公司。2006年,它收购了一家银行并逐步发展成为一家提供全方位支付服务的公司。2018年,Wirecard取代德国商业银行,成为了德国DAX股指成分股企业。这件事在德国引起了轰动。北德意志银行的分析师Wolfgang Donie回忆道,Wirecard曾是一家多么棒的成长型企业。他和其他许多证券分析师一样,曾向客户们大力推荐Wirecard的股票。在618日,Donie则警告客户们,卖光Wirecard的股票!!!


注释:

1. Fete: v. 热情招待、表彰

2. DAX: 德国重要的股票指数。由德意志交易所集团推出的一个蓝筹股指数。该指数中包含有30家主要的德国公司。DAX指数是全欧洲与英国伦敦金融时报100指数齐名的重要证券指数,也是世界证券市场中的重要指数之一。

3. Sensation: n. 感觉;轰动一时的事


Neither equity analysts, asset managers, auditors nor regulators come out of the story well. All seem to have ignored numerous red flags. BaFin’s record looks especially poor. In 2016 short-sellers released a report accusing Wirecard of corruption, fraud and weak money-laundering controls, which the company denied. In 2019 the Financial Times (ft) published an investigation into Wirecard’s dubious accounting practices. In response BaFin filed a criminal complaint against two FT journalists and several short-sellers. It also took the unprecedented step of banning short-selling against Wirecard, citing risks to the economy and market stability.


证券分析师、资产管理公司、审计师和监管机构都无法从这个事件全身而退。所有参与者似乎都忽视了众多的危险信号。德国联邦金融监管局的记录看起来尤其差劲。2016年,做空者曾发布报告指责Wirecard涉嫌腐败,欺诈和洗钱控制不力等行为,但都被Wirecard否认了。金融时报在2019年发表了一份关于Wirecard可疑的会计实务的调查。作为回应,德国金融监管局对两名金融时报的记者和多位做空者提起了刑事诉讼。该局还以经济和市场稳定面临风险为由,采取了前所未有的举措来禁止做空Wirecard


注释:

dubious: adj. 不可信的


On paper, BaFin is required to regulate only Wirecard’s banking arm. But it is also meant to make sure that the boards of firms listed on the dax are up to the job. The members of both Wirecard’s management and its supervisory board lacked the competence to lead a multinational tech firm, says Bernd Ziesemer, chairman of the Cologne School of Journalists. None sat on the boards of any other firms listed on the dax. Three of the four members of the management board came from Austria, like Mr Braun, inviting comparisons of board meetings to a Brettljause, a hearty Austrian snack break with mates on an Alpine peak.


理论上,德国联邦金融监管局只需要监管Wirecard的银行部门。但Bafin也有义务保证德国DAX指数成分股企业董事会正常稳定运行。科隆记者学院(Cologne School of Journalists)主席贝恩德·齐泽默(Bernd Ziesemer)称,Wirecard的管理层和监事会的成员都缺乏领导一家跨国科技企业的能力。他们中没有一个人还任其他德国DAX指数成分股企业的董事会成员。与布劳恩(Braun)一样,公司管理委员会的四名成员中有三名都来自奥地利,使得董事会议可以与什锦冷盘(Brettljause)用餐相比拟(很随意),后者是与同伴在阿尔卑斯山顶峰享受丰盛的奥地利小吃时间。


注释:

1. on paper:仅照字面看;理论上 judged from written information only, but not proved in practice

2. heartyadj. (饭菜)丰盛的 large and very satisfying

3. Brettljause(什锦冷盘):在奥地利的阿尔卑斯山区,经常会在菜单上看到一道名为Brettljause的美食。“Jause”在奥地利是正餐时分小吃的意思;“Brettl”是盛放小吃的木头板,通常上面会放奶酪、果酱、泡菜和面包片,不过也根据地区的不同,让食客选择添加其它的小吃。


Germany will need to rethink its piecemeal regulatory system, particularly if it wants Frankfurt to lure business from London. The bulk of Wirecard’s business, bizarrely, is regulated by the Upper Bavarian district government, which was woefully ill-suited to oversee a global fintech firm. After claiming that the regulators “worked very hard and did their job”, Olaf Scholz, the finance minister, has promised to consider changing the rules. That is surely only the start of the soul-searching. 


德国将需对其尚不完整的监管体系重新思考,尤其是如果它希望法兰克福能从伦敦吸引来生意。诡异的是,Wirecard的大部分业务由上巴伐利亚行政区政府所监管,但该区政府极其不适合监管一个全球性金融科技企业。在财政部长奥拉夫·朔尔茨(Olaf Scholz)声称监管机构非常努力且称职后,他承诺考虑改变监管规则。这必将只是深刻反省的开端。


注释:

1. piecemealadj. 逐渐做成(或发生)的;零敲碎打的;零散的 done or happening gradually at different times and often in different ways, rather than carefully planned at the beginning

2. woefuladj. 糟糕的;严重的;不合意的 very bad or serious; that you disapprove of

ill-suitedadj. 不合适的; 不相称的 If something is ill-suited to a particular purpose, it is not right or appropriate for that purpose. If someone is ill-suited to a particular job, they are not right or appropriate for that job.

3. do the job:起作用;有效 to be effective or successful in doing what you want

4. soul-searchingn. (深刻的)反省 a long and careful examination of your thoughts and feelings, especially when you are trying to make a difficult moral decision or thinking about something that has gone wrong

5. Upper Bavarian district(上巴伐利亚行政区):是德国巴伐利亚州的7个行政区之一,首府慕尼黑。


翻译组:

Ellie,女,金融硕士,经济学人粉丝

Chao,男,爱读书思考的DPhil CandidateTE粉丝

Brittany,女,会计金融美本,行业分析师,爱经济学人


校对组:

Zihan,男,对冲基金,大数据工程师

Emily,女,食物链底端金融民工,经济学人粉丝


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观点|评论|思考


本次感想

Alan,男,金融工程硕士,经济学人粉丝

随着企业日趋全球化、服务模式日趋复杂化、供应链日趋延长,对于企业经营的监管也变得越来越难。上市公司的首席执行官、民营企业老板们是对于法律、监管最精明的人群,因为追逐利润的驱使,其中最精通监管的人总是可以依靠监管漏洞套利,而相比之下,监管者对于市场变化的调整速度就显得慢得多,究其原因可能有:1)监管者把工作做得再好也没有剩余利润可以获得,激励不够;2)监管者本身处在信息不利的地方,信息不对称;3)监管本身只有在出现问题后才能补救,具有延迟性;4)监管者并不是这个猫抓老鼠游戏中最聪明的人,最聪明的人并不甘愿做猫,这一点与第一点相关联。


这篇文章中的BaFin即德国的金融监管机构在监管Wirecard时就是令人震惊得傻楞,竟然还禁止做空某家特定公司,目的还是为了会对经济和市场稳定性带来风险。


再比如之前的Facebook因为用户隐私数据泄露问题闹得沸沸扬扬,扎克伯格去华盛顿参加听证会引起全球关注,结果其中一个年老的议员问他的第一个问题是:你们的公司是做什么的?是怎么盈利的?扎克伯格听完这个问题第一反应是想笑但是马上努力收住笑容不笑出来。可想而知,在闹得这么沸沸扬扬的情况下他一定盘算过最最坏的情况,脸书甚至有可能连带着之前的垄断问题而被要求分拆。结果我准备了所有应对的问题,监管者竟然问我我的公司是干什么的靠什么盈利?


扎克伯格当时努力收住笑容的同时就故作严肃地回答:先生,我们公司是社交软件公司,通过我们的客户投放在我们网站上的广告赚钱。然后这个议员的提问居然就这样结束了。而整场听证会几乎没有给扎克伯格带来任何难度。


一味斥责监管者老套、迂腐当然是不公平的,因为监管本身就是不断被市场参与者发现bug然后再修复的一个过程,但是从目前的情况看很多监管机构远远跟不上市场参与者的进化速度,这给监管者提了更高的要求,解决方式可能有:

1)提供监管者更好的激励和更高的回报;

2)从行业招募更优秀的玩家;

3)设计一个制度,让游戏的玩家也能承担起一部分监管竞争对手的任务并能从中得到奖励和竞争优势,这样可以分担监管压力和减少监管者的信息不对称性。


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