里昂證券關(guān)閉美國股票業(yè)務(wù)

CLSA has pulled down the shutters on its US equities business, becoming one of the highest-profile victims of a big squeeze on research.

里昂證券(CLSA)關(guān)閉了其美國股票業(yè)務(wù)，成為又一個大舉壓縮研究部門的知名投行。

The Hong Kong-based brokerage, wholly owned by China’s Citic Securities, on Monday said it would cut more than half of its staff in the US. About 90 positions are to go from US equity research, sales and trading, corporate access and associated support functions, while the remainder — about 85 — will continue to focus on offering Asian stocks to American clients.

這家總部位于香港的經(jīng)紀(jì)公司由中國中信證券(Citic Securities)全資控股。周一，里昂證券表示將把其在美員工裁減一半以上。即將裁撤的約90個工作崗位來自美國股票研究、銷售與交易、公司聯(lián)誼(corporate access)以及相關(guān)支持職能部門，而保留的約85名員工將繼續(xù)把主要精力放在向美國客戶提供亞洲股票上。

CLSA said it was still “fully committed” to its equity business in Asia, where it consistently tops polls of investors, and noted that it continues to offer the biggest dedicated Asia-markets sales desk in North America.

里昂證券表示它仍“全心致力于”其在亞洲的股票業(yè)務(wù)(在亞洲，里昂證券一直是最受投資者好評的投行)，并指出它仍將在北美提供最大的專注于亞洲市場的銷售隊(duì)伍。

Rick Gould, chief executive of CLSA’s Americas business, said that while the company had succeeded in providing “differentiated insights” on US stocks, “the economics of providing US equity research [had] become increasingly challenged. Our focus now is to continue to provide our clients access to liquidity and best execution”.

里昂證券北美業(yè)務(wù)首席執(zhí)行官里克•古爾德(Rick Gould)表示，盡管公司在提供對美股的“差異化見解”方面取得了成功，但“提供美國股票研究的經(jīng)濟(jì)效益已變得越來越差。如今，我們的重點(diǎn)是繼續(xù)為客戶提供獲得流動性和最佳執(zhí)行的渠道”。

Profits in the research business have been falling pretty steadily since the dotcom bust, when allegations of biased recommendations led to tighter use on the rules around using analysts to drum up investment-banking mandates. Then, after the financial crisis, newly cost-conscious banks started cutting economists, strategists and stock pickers because they made little direct contribution to earnings.

互聯(lián)網(wǎng)泡沫破滅時，一些人指責(zé)投資建議存在傾向性，這導(dǎo)致有關(guān)部門收緊了對利用分析師來爭取投行業(yè)務(wù)的規(guī)定。自那以來，研究業(yè)務(wù)的利潤一直在相當(dāng)穩(wěn)定地下滑。接著，在金融危機(jī)之后，突然之間樹立起成本意識的銀行開始裁減經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家、策略師和選股師，原因是他們對盈利幾乎沒有什么直接貢獻(xiàn)。

The number of analysts working at the world’s 12 biggest investment banks fell to 5,981 last year, according to numbers prepared for the Financial Times by Coalition, a data provider on the industry. That is down from 6,282 at the end of 2015, and 6,634 at the end of 2012, when Coalition began to collect the numbers.

該行業(yè)數(shù)據(jù)的提供商Coalition為英國《金融時報(bào)》準(zhǔn)備的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，去年供職于全球12家最大投行的分析師的人數(shù)降至5981人。這一數(shù)字低于2015年底的6282人，也低于2012年底的6634人——當(dāng)時Coalition剛剛開始收集相關(guān)數(shù)據(jù)。

Shenzhen-based Citic bought CLSA from France’s Crédit Agricole for $1.25bn in 2012, in the first big acquisition by a Chinese broker of a foreign competitor.

總部位于深圳的中信證券于2012年斥資12.5億美元從法國農(nóng)業(yè)信貸銀行(Crédit Agricole)手中買下了里昂證券，這是中國券商對外國競爭對手的首宗大手筆收購。

Citic’s parent company was established in 1979 at the behest of Deng Xiaoping and was a pioneer in China’s experiments with capitalism. Its businesses now span banking to real estate and mining, and the group reports directly to China’s cabinet.

中信證券的母公司是1979年按照鄧小平的指示成立的，它曾是中國開展資本主義試驗(yàn)的先鋒。如今，該集團(tuán)的業(yè)務(wù)已從銀行業(yè)拓展至房地產(chǎn)及采礦，該集團(tuán)直接向中國國務(wù)院匯報(bào)。