Cyprus Believes Europe’s Handling of Crisis Has Left Scars
歐洲處理塞島危機留下傷疤
By Jack Ewing

NICOSIA, Cyprus – The financial world has moved on since Cyprus was briefly the epicenter of market anxiety.
塞浦路斯曾經短暫成為市場焦慮的震央，事情過後，金融世界繼續前進。

Two years ago, the country’s banks failed en masse, the integrity of the eurozone hung in the balance. After a contentious, internationally brokered “bail-in,’’ in which many bank depositors were forced to help pay for a eurozone rescue, Europe’s policy makers soon found other things to focus on.
兩年前，這個國家的銀行大規模倒閉，危及歐元區的完整性。在吵吵鬧鬧、國際調解的「自救方案」祭出後，歐洲的決策者很快就找到其他需要專心應付的事，而在自救方案中，許多銀行存戶被迫支付歐元區的救援金。

Yet Christos Savvides, managing director of an advertising agency in Nicosia, does not have the luxury of forgetting. Daily reminders include the rows of downtown shops that once sold luxury clothing brands but now stand empty. He lost hundreds of thousands of euros that he had deposited in Cyprus banks – money seized in the rescue program to cover bank losses.
不過，對尼科西亞（編按：塞浦路斯的首都）的廣告公司總經理克里斯托．薩維德而言，這件往事卻是想忘掉也難。每天提醒他的包括市區一排排過去賣名牌精品服飾的店面，現在全都空空蕩蕩。他損失了存在塞浦路斯銀行的大筆歐元，這些錢在自救方案中被沒收，用來彌補銀行的虧損。

In retrospect, it is clear that European leaders, international creditors and bank regulators could have done more to limit the economic upheaval caused by seizing portions of depositors’ money above the level of 100,000 euros covered by deposit insurance, roughly $105,000. In fact, a new European Union law written after the crisis would probably have exempted Mr. Savvides, since the deposits in his case actually belonged to his clients.
現在回頭看，顯然歐洲領袖、國際債權人和銀行監管機構官員應該可以更加努力，以降低因沒收存戶部分存款所造成的經濟動盪，當時在存款保險最高額度10萬歐元（約合10萬5000美元）以上的存款部分被沒收。事實上，歐盟在危機過後立下的新法規，可能讓薩維德的存款免遭沒收，因為就他的情況而言，存款實際上屬於他的客戶。

One surprising lesson may be that capital controls – restrictions on withdrawals and on money transfers out of the country – were not as disruptive as feared, but did help prevent even more money from leaving Cyprus. If anything, some economists say, the restrictions should have been applied sooner, before many of the biggest and most sophisticated investors fled. More recently, foreign money has been trickling back into Cyprus.
有件事或許是個意外的教訓，那就是資金管制－限制提款和把錢轉移到 國外－並未如原先擔心的那麼具破壞性，卻確實有助於防止更多錢流出塞浦路斯。若有什麼缺失，一些經濟學家說，便是資金管制應該更早實施，趕在許多最大戶和最精明的投資人跑掉之前。最近，國外資金已慢慢回流。

Cyprus represents what many Europeans see as insensitivity in Brussels, Frankfurt and Berlin toward the people like Mr. Savvides who must suffer the consequences of eurozone crisis management. Among Cypriots, the feeling is widespread that as a country of fewer than one million people, geographically closer to the Middle East than to Europe and with a reputation as a haven for Russian cash, they were used as lab rats to test new and poorly conceived policies.
塞浦路斯代表著許多歐洲人眼中布魯塞爾，法蘭克福和柏林對薩維德這樣的人的無情，這些人必須承擔歐元區危機處理的後果。塞浦路斯人普遍有這種感覺，認為這個人口不到一百萬、地理位置更接近中東，而不是歐洲、以俄國人的現金避風港聞名的國家，被當成實驗老鼠來測試新的和思慮不周的政策。

“It was an experiment,” said Antonis Paschalides, a former government minister who is suing the European Commission and the European Central Bank on behalf of those who say their deposits were seized illegally.
曾任部長的安東尼．帕斯查利德說：「這是一個實驗。」他正代表那些認為存款被非法沒收的人們，出面控告歐盟執行委員會和歐洲中央銀行。

The parallels with Greece are not perfect. The Greek economy is more than 10 times the size of Cyprus’s. And banking played a far bigger role in the Cypriot economy – with assets valued at six times gross domestic product before the crash.
塞浦路斯與希臘情況不盡相同。希臘的經濟規模是塞浦路斯的十倍多。而且金融業在塞浦路斯經濟中所占的分量要大得多，在崩盤前，資產價值是國內生產毛額的六倍。

Unemployment is still above 16 percent. The economy shrank 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014, compared with the previous quarter, the worst performance in the European Union.
失業率仍在16%以上。2014年第四季較前一季經濟萎縮0.7%，是歐盟中表現最差的。

And more than half the outstanding bank loans in Cyprus are classified as nonperforming – a huge obstacle to growth.
而且塞浦路斯一半以上的未償還銀行貸款被列為不良貸款，是成長的巨大障礙。

John Hourican, chief executive of Bank of Cyprus, the largest commercial bank and one of the few left standing, conceded that the level of damaged loans was high. He said that he empathized with Cypriots who believe they were treated poorly by European Union institutions.
塞國最大商業銀行「塞浦路斯銀行」是少數仍屹立不搖的銀行之一，該行執行長約翰．胡里肯承認，不良貸款的比例很高。他說，他同情那些認為自己被歐盟機構惡劣對待的塞浦路斯人。

Account holders at Bank of Cyprus lost almost half their money above the €100,000 level, receiving stock in the bank as compensation. Those shares have since plummeted in value.
「塞浦路斯銀行」帳戶持有人的10萬歐元以上存款損失近半，獲得銀行股票做為補償。那些股票其後價值暴跌。

“In every other country in the European Union without exception this has not been allowed to occur,” he said. “It has caused a psychological scar.”
他說：「在歐盟的所有其他國家，都不容許發生這種事，無一例外。這已留下心理上的傷疤。」

European officials argue that if depositors in Cyprus had not been forced to pay, taxpayers would have had to pay instead.
歐洲官員辯稱，塞浦路斯的存戶若未被迫支付自救金，納稅人就必須支付。

The news from Nicosia is not all bad.
從尼科西亞傳出來的，也不全然是壞消息。

At Bank of Cyprus, deposits rose in the fourth quarter, reversing an outflow that began before the 2013 crisis. And the last remaining restrictions on transfers of money outside of Cyprus will be lifted soon, said Chrystalla Georghadji, the governor of the central bank.
去年第四季「塞浦路斯銀行」的存款增加，扭轉了2013年危機前開始的外流趨勢。中央銀行總裁克里斯托拉．喬加德吉說，對於資金轉往塞浦路斯以外地區的最後限制很快就會解除。

Among Cypriots there is profound unease about what will happen when new legislation gives banks more power to go after debtors. Based on Europe’s ham-handed handling of the bail-in, few people expect anyone outside Cyprus to care.
塞浦路斯人對於新法給銀行更大的討債權深感不安。就歐洲對於自救方案處理方式之笨拙觀之，幾乎沒有人期待塞浦路斯以外的人會在乎。

“We feel bitter,” said Christos Phokas, a former bank worker. “Instead of helping us, they acted like they didn’t know us.”
前銀行人員克里斯托．佛卡斯說：「我們感到怨憤。他們並沒有幫助我們，他們的所作所為就像他們不認識我們。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/17/business/international/as-cyprus-recovers-from-banking-crisis-deep-scars-remain.html

2015-04-14聯合報/G9版/UNITED DAILY NEWS 田思怡譯 原文參見紐時週報七版上