ECONOMICS REPORT - Citigroup's Prince Resigns as CEO
Thu, 8 Nov 2007
This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.
经济报道――花旗集团CEO普林斯辞职。
2007年11月8日，星期四。
这是VOA特别英语的经济报道。
Last week, we told you about big losses at the investment bank Merrill Lynch. But the losses may be even bigger at the nation's biggest bank, Citigroup.
Citigroup estimated this week that it would take losses of eight billion to eleven billion dollars on investments in risky housing loans. Many people who bought houses with subprime mortgages are now unable to pay them back.
上周，我们向你报道了投资银行美林的巨额亏损。但是，美国最大的银行花旗集团的亏损也许更大。
花旗集团本周估计，在风险性的房贷投资有80－110亿美元的亏损。许多利用次贷抵押而购买房子的人目前无力还款。
The estimated write-downs are for the bank's current period, October through December. Citigroup says they represent five to seven billion dollars after taxes. The bank reported six and a half billion dollars in credit-related losses for the third quarter of the year.
Charles Prince, Citigroup's chief executive officer, resigned under pressure on Sunday. He led the New York-based bank since two thousand three. He took over for Sanford Weill who built Citi into one of the world's largest financial groups.
所估计的是花旗10－12月报告期的减值；花旗说，这些减值是税后50－70亿美元。花旗银行曾报告说，三季度信贷亏损为65亿美元。
查尔斯.普林斯是花旗的CEO，迫于压力于星期日辞职。自2003年起，他领导着位于纽约的花旗银行。他的前任是桑福德•威尔，是他将花旗建设成为世界最大的金融集团。
Win Bischoff, chairman of Citi Europe and a British and German citizen, will serve as chief executive for now. Former United States treasury secretary Robert Rubin was named chairman of the board. He will help lead the search for a permanent replacement for the C.E.O.
温.比肖夫,欧洲花旗的CEO，是英国与德国公民，他将暂时担任（花旗的）CEO。前美国财长罗伯特.罗宾曾被任命为董事会主席，他将帮助并牵头寻找CEO的长期人选。
Charles Prince was the second head of a major bank to be forced out in recent days. Last week, Stan O'Neal resigned at Merrill Lynch after his company reported a loss for the third quarter of over two billion dollars. Merrill Lynch had to write-down eight billion dollars in mortgage-related losses.
查尔斯.普林斯是近期被赶下台的第二位主要银行的首脑。上周，斯坦.奥尼尔在美林公司报道三季度亏损20多亿美元之后去职美林。美林因抵押亏损必须减值80亿美元。
Citigroup announced that it has fifty-five billion dollars worth of investments directly related to subprime mortgages. Forty-three billion dollars of that is in complex investments called collateralized debt obligations.
A big problem for banks is putting a value on the mortgage-related securities that they hold. Investors are no longer interested in trading these securities. This has frozen the market for them. So banks like Citigroup depend on mathematical models to place a value on these complex investments.
花旗集团宣布，花旗在次贷抵押的直接投资有550亿美元。其中，430亿美元是在称之为CDO（债务担保证券）的复杂投资。
银行的一个大问题是将其价值投资于其所持有的抵押证券。但是，投资人不再对这些证券的交易感兴趣，这使这些证券的市场冻结。因此，诸如花旗等银行将其数学模型与这些复杂投资的价值挂钩。
Credit rating agencies reacted to this week's bad news. Moody's Investors Service lowered Citigroup's credit rating one level to its third highest rating. Moody's said the expected write-downs would result in a sizeable quarterly loss for Citigroup.
And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. To learn more about the problems with subprime mortgages, go to www.unsv.com. I'm Steve Ember.
信用等级评估机构对本周的坏消息作出了回应。穆迪投资者服务公司将花旗集团的信用等级降低一档（至第三档）。穆迪投资者服务公司说，预期的减值将使花旗集团季度巨额亏损。
这是由Mario Ritter编写的、VOA特别英语的经济报道。关于次贷抵押的问题，请访问www.unsv.com；我是Steve Ember。
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