China's Markets Ignore Action Over Top Broker
China's markets brushed off news that regulators had taken over one of the country's biggest brokers, China Southern Securities Co., sending a strong signal of confidence that Beijing has the ability to handle major financial system problems.
On Monday, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 51.16 points, or 3.4%, to 1568.35 -- its highest level since last June. Interest rates were basically unmoved, although talk about the troubled brokerage firm dominated all the country's markets, suggesting the crackdown on one of the securities industry's biggest players had no impact on the credit flow that powers so much trading in China.
An announcement carried in Saturday's newspapers said the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the Shenzhen city government "decided to administratively take over" the brokerage firm Jan. 2.
"China Southern Securities was doing illegal business and violating relevant regulations and its management was disorderly," the notice said. The notice also pledged that the brokerage firm's obligations would be met and that its business operations wouldn't be disrupted.
With a presence in China's markets comparable with that of Morgan Stanley & Co. or Lehman Brothers Inc. in the U.S., a smooth restructuring of the broker is far from assured. Southern Securities dates to 1992, the beginning of stock markets in the country, and state-run media reported it faces a loss of more than $1.4 billion for last year alone. Yet, the market's calm reaction underscores the confidence Chinese investors say they have in their government's ability to maintain stability, even in a financial system that appears to many outside economists as dangerously shaky.
Confidence is particularly key for China's biggest four banks, which sit on the financial system's bedrock: $1.2 trillion in customer deposits. Standard & Poor's Corp. estimated last year that in addition to accounting for most deposits, the four top banks also own about $864 billion in problem loans, or about 45% of total lending. The average person knows China's banks have troubles and isolated bank runs do happen, but panic has always been arrested with quick infusions of cash by the government.
In the latest move to restructure banks, China in recent days pumped $45 billion of its foreign-exchange reserves into two debt-strapped banks, Bank of China and China Construction Bank. The Xinhua News Agency said early Tuesday that the injections are part of a plan to eventually sell shares in the two state-owned banks and make them healthy institutions. The recapitalization move, which Xinhua said occurred at the end of last year, is unlikely to be the final step before these banks are permitted to sell shares, but no timetable for their listings was announced. (See related article.)
Beijing has already spent nearly $200 billion in the past five years to fix its bad-loan problem, a legacy of government-mandated lending and, more recently, poor management, malfeasance and corruption.
Unlike regulators in the U.S., which summarily shutter problem financial firms and leave the sorting out of frozen assets to the courts, China has tended to handle financial mischief more quietly, by shifting client books to a separate firm. One result is that any inquiries into wrongdoing usually happen behind closed doors.
It is unclear what went wrong at Southern Securities under the helm of Chairman and General Manager He Yun, a former head of Shenzhen Development Bank Co. and one of the financial industry's original power brokers. But more than a year of rumors about the firm's financial difficulties suggest it had promoted investments that illegally guaranteed returns, and then couldn't make good on those guarantees. The brokerage firm didn't respond to questions and a notice said relevant officials are barred from talking.
The firm's woes appear to have few direct overseas implications. The official Xinhua news agency said it was capitalized at $416.7 million and has 56 major shareholders, including banks and insurance companies.
By several accounts Monday, the action against Southern Securities sent no ripples through the financial system. "All the company's business activities are continuing normally," said Niu Guanxing, head of the takeover team was quoted as telling Xinhua from Shenzhen. "Transactions are not being interrupted, and there have been no complaints from clients."
Day traders filled one of the brokerage firm's public trading halls in Shanghai like they do most days, even as regulatory inspectors were poring over the firm's books. Through a brokerage official, the regulators declined to comment.
The market impact appeared mostly limited to stocks that local media said the brokerage firm held in its portfolio. Hardest hit were Harbin Pharmaceutical Group Co., off by the day limit of 10% to close at 9.93 yuan ($1.20), and Hafei Aviation Industry Co., also down 10% to 11.86 yuan. Media reports said Southern has a 14% stake in Harbin Pharmaceutical and a 3.2% stake in Hafei Aviation.
Hafei is one of Southern Securities" few possible foreign connections -- and a tenuous one -- as Hafei has made aircraft in a joint venture with Brazil's Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica SA.
南方证券被接管未引起中国市场波动
中国市场对监管当局行政接管中国南方证券有限公司(China Southern Securities Co., Ltd.)的消息反映平淡，表明市场对中国政府处理金融系统重大问题的能力充满信心。南方证券是中国最大的经纪公司之一。
基准的上证综合指数周一创下数周来的最大涨幅，收盘上涨51.16点，至1568.35点，涨幅3.4%，为2003年6月以来的最高收盘点位。尽管陷入困境的南方证券在周一成为中国几乎全部金融市场的主要话题，但市场利率基本保持稳定。这表明，作为中国证券市场最大的参与者之一，南方证券被接管一事并未给市场的资金流带来影响。 上周六各报纸刊发的一份公告表示，中国证券监督管理委员会(China Securities Regulatory Commission, 简称：中国证监会)和深圳市政府决定自2004年1月2日起对南方证行政接管。
上述公告称，南方证券违法违规经营，管理混乱。其中重要的是，公告承诺在行政接管期间，南方证券将履行各项义务，业务将照常进行。
南方证券在中国市场的地位可与摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley & Co.)和雷曼兄弟公司(Lehman Brothers Inc.)在美国市场的地位相媲美。正因为如此，不能确保南方证券能平稳脱困境。南方证券成立于1992年中国证券市场创建之初。据官方媒体报导，该公司仅2003年一年的亏损就达到14亿美元以上。然而，市场平静的反映凸现了中国投资者对政府有能力维持金融系统稳定充满信心，尽管有许多外国经济学家认为中国金融系统所存在的问题已经到了非常危险的地步。
市场的信心对中国四大国有银行来说显得尤为重要。这四大银行是中国金融系统的根基。四大银行的存款额高达1.2万亿美元。
标准普尔公司(Standard & Poor's Corp.)去年估计，除了巨额存款外，这四大银行还有约8,640亿美元的坏帐，约占贷款总额的45%左右。中国各银行的坏帐问题妇孺皆知，偶尔也曾发生银行挤兑的现象，但是每当这种情况发生时，政府都会迅速向银行注入资金，使恐慌迅速得到平息。 标准普尔驻香港一位分析师Ryan Tsang说，市场的信心对金融系统来说非常重要。
在美国，出现问题的金融公司会被监管当局关闭，其资产将被冻结并移交法院处理，与此不同的是，中国政府倾向于悄悄地处理金融系统中存在的问题，比如将顾客帐户转移给另外一家公司管理。这样一来，针对违规行为的调查通常在不为外界知晓的情况下进行。
目前还不清楚南方证券在该公司董事长兼总经理贺云的带领下发生了什么问题。他曾担任深圳发展银行股份有限公司(Shenzhen Development Bank Co. Ltd., 000001.SZ, 简称：深发展A)的负责人，也曾是证券业中的举足轻重的经纪人。不过，一年多来有关南方证券面临财务困境的传闻表明，该公司通过担保回报来吸引投资，但事实上却无法履行承诺。
有中国官方背景的香港报纸《文汇报》(Wen Wei Po)报导，南方证券从客户帐户中不正当挪用了1.69亿美元左右的资金，而贺云很快将卸任。
南方证券公司没有就记者提出的问题作出回复，该公司发布通知称，相关管理人士被禁止就此发表评论。
监管当局行政接管南方证券事件本身似乎也没有对海外市场产生直接影响。新华社报导称，南方证券此前通过股份制改革融资4.167亿美元，现有股东56家，其中包括部分银行和保险公司。
尽管中国监管当局在过去几年已接管数家证券公司，但从未彻底关闭任何一家。分析师预计，南方证券最终将被并入其他证券公司，尽管目前还不清楚将并入哪一家公司。中国政府曾于去年以类似方式关闭了河北财达证券有限公司(Hebei Caida Securities Co.)和富友证券公司(Fuyou Securities Co.)，上述两家证券公司未被披露的问题也因此隐没于无形。此外，另两家大型证券公司，国泰君安(Guotai Junan Securities Co.)和申银万国(Shenyin & Wanguo Securities Co.)也均为1990年代证券丑闻事件后的合并产物。
周一数家媒体的报导表明，当局对南方证券采取的行动并未在金融市场引起轩然大波。
新华社援引南方证券行政接管小组组长牛冠兴的话报导称，南方证券目前情况总体平稳，各项业务运行正常，公司并未受到客户指责。
南方证券位于上海的各家营业大厅内，交易员依然繁忙工作，尽管监管当局巡查人员此时正在二楼紧闭的玻璃大门后进行著紧张的帐目核查。监管人员还通过南方证券管理人员对外表示拒绝对此发表评论。
正在南方证券营业大厅进行交易的许多散户投资者告诉道琼斯通讯社记者，对于负责南方证券重组工作的官方委员会所发布的通知，以及中国证监会与深圳市政府联合发布的公告，他们感到相当满意。 在营业大厅全线飘红的显示屏前，一些老年投资者聚集在一起，谈论著基于技术面的股市上行空间；而另一些人则明显是为避雨而进入大厅的。交易大厅内的气氛相当平静，似乎没有一位客户希望注销帐户。
一位已经退休的78岁蔡姓老人说，即使出现问题，政府也会设法稳妥解决。
此时，南方证券下属这家营业部的总经理戴先生正指著公告上的政府盖章，对这位老人和其他投资者继续进行著口头安慰。
即使在南方证券总部所在地深圳--深圳，人们对于政府此次行动也感到欣慰，因为这次行动一扫他们多年来对公司未来前途的不确定心理，并使他们相信政府行动可能会为南方证券带来稳定前景。 该事件对于市场的影响似乎也仅限于当地媒体所披露的南方证券在投资组合中所持的股票。在周一股市，因此事件受到最大打击的是哈药集团股份有限公司(Harbin Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd., 600664.SH, 简称：哈药集团)，当日该股以跌停板收于人民币9.93元；此外，哈飞航空工业股份有限公司(Hafei Aviation Industry Co. Ltd., 600038.SH, 简称：哈飞股份)亦下跌10%，收于11.86元。据媒体报导，南方证券持有哈药集团14%的股份，持有哈飞股份3.2%的股份。
哈飞股份是南方证券事件可能造成的为数不多的海外影响之一，但影响程度不会很大，因为哈飞股份曾与巴西Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica SA (ERJ)合资建立了飞机制造企业哈尔滨安博威飞机工业有限公司(Harbin Embraer Aircraft Industry Co.)。
此外，南方证券还持股海南海虹企业(控股)股份有限公司(Searainbow Holding Corp., 000503.SZ, 简称：海虹控股)以及金地（集团）股份有限公司(Goldfield Industries Inc., Q.GFI, 简称：金地集团)，其中，对前者的持股比例超过4.0%。周一，上述两只股票在早盘均下跌2.0%左右，但截至收盘时，又双双反弹收高
