经济学人中英对照America27s improved giant

Americas Improved Giant美国巨人又长高了The insurer has done a good job of rehabilitating itself. Can it stand on its own feet?保险公司恢复元气的工作做得还不错。它能靠自己站起来吗？AMERICANS are often asked by politicians if they are better off now than they were four years ago. Anyone involved with American International Group (AIG), an insurance company felled by the financial crisis, can safely answer “yes” to that question. In just four years it has freed itself from a $182 billion bail-out; gone from being publicly owned back to the private sector (the Treasury sold the last of its stake in December); and turned itself into a leaner, simpler business. Now that it has successfully shaken off government ownership, AIGs next task is to prove its worth as a stand-alone, listed company.政客们常常这样问美国民众：相比四年前，现在的生活是不是更好了？任何参与到美国国际集团（AIG，曾于2008年金融危机严重受挫的一家保险公司）活动中的人，这个时候都能挺起胸膛回答“是”。公司用了整整四年来摆脱1820亿美元的救助款；不再由大众控股重回私人手中（12月财政部卖掉了手中最后一支AIG股）；自身业务也发生变化：更精简、更简易。既然AIG摆脱了政府这样一个所有者，那么下一个任务就是要以独立上市公司的身份来为自己正名。That AIG is around at all is remarkable. By piling into what would emerge as the most rotten part of the financial system (insuring investors against losses on securities linked to American subprime mortgages) during the credit bubble, it ended up owing billions of dollars to those holding the other side of its bets. Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserves chairman, famously derided AIG as a hedge-fund attached to a large and stable insurance company.AIG所取成就可以用鹤立鸡群来形容。信贷泡沫期间，AIG闯入金融系统中最腐朽不堪的行业防止投资者在美国次贷环境下受损失。最终AIG竟然得到几十亿美金，这些钱都来自买有AIG保险业务股票的股民。美联储主席本伯南克曾公开嘲笑AIG就是背靠着一个庞大、稳定的保险公司的一支对冲基金。Todays AIG is different. The buccaneering financial-products unit, whose need for collateral caused the government to intervene in September 2008, is all but shuttered. Many of AIGs prized units have been sold to help finance its rescue, notably Alico and AIA, both non-US life-insurance businesses with bright prospects. An aircraft-leasing arm is in the process of being flogged.今天的AIG大有不同。掠夺式的金融产品部门，其对于附属品的需求曾引得政府2008年9月介入，而现在差不多关停了。为了出资自我救赎，AIG卖掉了许多有价值的部门，最出名的就是美国人寿保险和美国友邦保险，二者都经营非美国本土的人寿保险业务而且前景光明。出售飞机租赁部门也在洽谈中。The transition back to private ownership has been pretty smooth. Much of the credit for the transformation falls to Bob Benmosche, a former boss of MetLife, an insurance rival, who was pulled out of a retirement spent cultivating grapes in Croatia to take the reins in August 2009. Known for his blunt, speak-your-mind approach (a month into the job, he said he was avoiding “those crazies down in Washington”), he has helped turn a demoralised group with a radioactive brand into a company with a renewed sense of self.重回私人掌控的过程异常顺利。转换过程大部分信贷任务落在竞争对手美国大都会人寿保险公司的前任老板鲍勃本默切肩上。2009年8月，AIG将还在克罗地亚享受种葡萄退休生活的鲍勃请出山。以“口直心快”出名的鲍勃（接手一个月，他表示就一直在避免“华盛顿那些蠢货情绪低落”），他帮助士气低落、附带着一个放射性品牌的小组重塑自我意识并且组建公司。The happy ending to this corporate fairy tale is still some years away, however. What remains of AIG is hardly a world-beating company. Return on equity, at 5%, is just about the lowest of its American peers. Margins are lousy at both the general-insurance division (known as property-casualty, which insures homes, cars and the like) and the life-insurance bit (which offers bank-like savings products).不过，公司童话般的快乐结局是很久以前的事了。AIG当务之急要解决的是拯救跌出世界一流团队的公司。股本收益率在5%，几乎是全行业最低水平。无论是一般性保险（一般为财险，包括房屋险、车险，等等类似险种），还是人寿险（提供类似于银行储蓄利息），盈利情况都是一塌糊涂。Mr Benmosche claims AIG now has the right structure and positioning to thrive. “We had to cut some branches off the tree, but the tree is still there and its a big trunk,” he says. Even after the cuts, AIG has some 62,000 staff (down from 116,000) in 90 countries. Despite the wild swings of the recent past, it is still Americas largest insurer by market capitalisation (see chart).本默切宣布AIG如今结构良好、定位准确，已经做好蓬勃发展的准备。“我们不得不像园丁一样剪掉一些枝丫，但是树还在，树干仍然粗壮。”他说道。即使精简裁员之后，AIG仍在90多个国家有6.2万名员工（之前为11.6万）。抛开近几年公司剧烈震动不谈，就市值而言（见图表）AIG仍是美国最大的保险公司。With less management time spent fire-fighting and negotiating with politicians, more attention is being lavished on the nuts and bolts of running each unit. The goal is to reach a 10% return on equity by 2015, thus matching its rivals. Mr Benmosche relishes detailing the humdrum measures AIG is taking to get there: consolidating data centres to cut costs, tweaking the product mix towards more profitable lines, offering more tailored pricing by crunching customer data more intelligently. This is a world away from dabbling in credit derivatives, he implies.没有把太多管理时间花在同政客斗嘴和协条上面，而是集中精力做好每个部门细节之处。公司目标是在2015年时资本回报率可达到10%，因此也就是同竞争对手水平相当。本默切津津有味地细化谈及AIG正在向目标前进的方法：整合数据中心以降低成本，调整产品结构向利润更大的方向发展，通过更智能地处理客户数据信息从而提出更具针对性的价格。他暗示说，这是一个远离信贷衍生品的世界。Both sides of AIGs business need nourishing. The general-insurance arm currently pays out slightly more in claims than it receives in premiums, once costs are factored in. Profits come from investing the cash float it holds to pay out claims as they arise, which is not the most lucrative business when interest rates (and thus returns) are at rock bottom. Chronic underinvestment in IT systems has left it trailing rivalsstories abound of AIG units bidding against each other for contracts. Bad luck hasnt helped. Hurricane Sandy will have dented fourth-quarter profits to the tune of $2 billion before tax, the most of any American insurer (it also flooded AIGs Wall Street offices).AIG两方面业务都需要投资。成本一旦考虑进来，那么一般性保险部分近期索赔支出便会稍大于其保险费收入数额。利润来源于投资浮存资金，公司用这笔资金支付需要理赔的保险金。当利率（当然还有回报率）跌落谷底时，保险业也就称不上是最有利可图的行业了。信息技术领域长期投资不足导致步了对手后尘AIG各部门之间为同一份合同竞标的报道比比皆是。坏运气理应不会帮忙。飓风桑迪破坏了第四个季度的税前总额可达20亿美元的利润利润超过美国所有的保险公司（桑迪还淹了AIG在华尔街的办事处）。The good news is that insurance prices in America are rising, and that AIGs higher-margin international franchise (despite asset disposals, half of the firms general-insurance sales are made abroad) is growing fast. More controversially, the company is also cutting reinsurance coverage, which is how insurers offload their own risks. This will juice margins but could lead to AIG shouldering larger one-off losses.好消息是美国投保费用在上升，而且AIG国际上获利颇丰得特许经销店（尽管出让资产，但是公司一般性保险业务有一半是在国外实现的）也在快速发展。更具争议的是公司砍掉了再保险业务范围，这也是现在保险公司规避风险的一般做法。虽然可以挤出一些利润来，但是也会让AIG承受更多的永久性损失。The impact of low interest rates is even greater for its life-insurance and retirement-planning business, which makes up the other half of the groups earnings. Many of its life products offer customers fixed returns on premiums paid. AIG has limited flexibility to lower the rates it extended in frothier times. In common with rivals, it is now changing its focus towards products which are less sensitive to interest rates. But lower returns and a still-soft economy also has the effect of dampening interest from consumers, who appear keener to squirrel away money into savings products when they feel rich. Profits in this area of the business are expected to be flat for the foreseeable future.低利润率之于人寿保险和退休计划业务影响更大了，同理填补了其他部门利润收益。许多人寿部门推出产品可以给予客户固定保险金回报。AIG限制降低在泡沫时期延伸后利率的灵活度。与竞争对手相同的是，公司现在将自身的关注点转向对利率并不敏感的产品。但是更低的回报和仍显疲态的经济会产生影响抑制消费者利益，而此时消费者会把钱转而投向他们认为能获利的储蓄产品。在未来可以预见情况下，这方面业务利润仍将不景气。Bits of AIG continue to baffle outsiders. It still holds $158 billion of credit derivatives on its books, a small slice of its pre-crisis $1.8 trillion portfolio but still nearly three times its market capitalisation. The firm also holds more sub-investment-grade securities on its balance-sheet than any of its life-insurance rivals, according to J.P. Morgan. Much of this exposure comes from mortgage-backed securities taken over by the government during the crisis and subsequently repurchased by AIG.AIG一些产品持续让外行人迷惑不解。账目上看来它仍然握有1580亿美元的信用衍生品，和一小组金融危机前且仍然是几乎三倍于其市值1.8万亿美元组合产品。而且据JP摩根大通称，AIG公司比任何一家竞争对手在各自的资产负债表上都更多的控有次投资级债券。大部分内幕曝光是因为金融危机时期政府买入抵押贷款支持证券，随后由AIG买回。“We have a detailed understanding of these assets,” says Mr Benmosche. Maybe so. His most obvious successor (Mr Benmosche is 68 years old and was diagnosed in 2010 with an unspecified cancer) is Peter Hancock, who now heads the general-insurance division but is famed in financial circles for having pioneered credit derivatives at J.P. Morgan two decades ago. But however well AIG understands itself, many analysts quietly admit that parts of the groups finances are still hazy to them.“对于这些资产我们都十分了解，”本默切说。或许就像他说的一样吧。本默切头号继承人（本默切先生今年68岁，2002年诊断出患有新型癌症）是彼得汉考克。彼得现在是一般性保险业务领域的领头人；20年前金融危机时期在JP摩根大通，他采用金融衍生品而出名。不过，无论AIG对自身了解得如何透彻，许多分析家私底下都认为AIG对于部分金融业务还是进行着模糊化处理。Investors are nonetheless bullish on the shares. That is partly because they trade at just over half AIGs book value, whereas other insurers are trading closer to or above book value. Investors like the regular recent payouts of excess cash to shareholders, although the firms focus is now expected to be on paying down debt to maintain its A- credit rating. Huge accounting losses during the crisis will lower AIGs tax bill for the next few years, bolstering profits. And although some fret about a tighter regulatory regime, with the Fed likely to impose bank-like “stress tests” from 2014, others see stricter supervisory oversight as a reassuring plus given the groups recent history.然而，投资者仍看好AIG股票。这也是为什么他们仅仅在超