[FT]Intensive talks failed to prevent demise

Intensive talks failed to prevent demise
demise: 사망, 양도
By Krishna Guha in Washington and Francesco Guerrera in London

Published: September 15 2008 20:26 Last updated: September 15 2008 20:26

For bankers with long memories, the irony was inescapable. Ten years after Wall Street was called upon to bail out Long Term Capital Management, the fallen hedge fund, the world’s top banks had once again been called into an emergency meeting in the headquarters of the New York Federal Reserve.
롱텀사태 후 10년만에 다시 위기가 찾아왔다.

This time, though, the gathering of bankers, which began at 6pm on Friday night as downtown Manhattan emptied for the weekend, was to save one of their own.


Hank Paulson, the US Treasury secretary and Tim Geithner, the president of the New York Fed, had hauled Wall Street’s finest into the cavernous first floor of the Fed’s building to discuss the plight of Lehman Brothers.

hauled into:소환하다. cavernous:동굴같은 plight:곤경

With its shares in free-fall and concerns over its ability to withstand another day of trading, Lehman’s crisis had to be solved over the weekend one way or the other. Dick Fuld, the Lehman chief executive, who had sat at one end of the table for the LTCM talks, was not in the room this time to allow rivals to discuss matters more freely.
롱텀케피털 때 긴급회의에 참여했던 레만의 사장은 이 날 이 자리에 나오지 못 했다.
withstand:버티다

The original plan, outlined at the beginning of the meeting attended by banking chiefs such as Goldman Sachs’ Lloyd Blankfein, Morgan Stanley’s John Mack and Merrill Lynch’s John Thain, was to seek a takeover of Lehman from one of two interested suitors, Bank of America and Barclays of the UK. To facilitate that, the banks had to agree to fund collectively the purchase of a “bad bank” containing at least $33bn of Lehman’s commercial assets.

facilitate :~하기 쉽게하다 collectively:총괄하여

As Mr Paulson and Mr Geithner left the room, leaving the bankers to discuss the situation, it appeared that the “bad bank” plan had slim chances of succeeding.

정부는 이번 안건에 반대했다.

A number of Wall Street executives expressed reluctance to use their firms’ strained balance sheets to buy yet more toxic assets, according to people familiar with the discussions. Others pointed out that their efforts and resources would only benefit a rival, enabling BofA or Barclays to acquire Lehman’s still-powerful investment banking franchise.
회의에 참여한 투자은행 관계자들도 레만을 도우면 결국 그들의 라이벌에게만 좋은 일이 될 거라고 생각했다.
reluctance:꺼림 strained:팽팽한

From the start the discussions extended beyond the problems at Lehman, with officials and private sector executives debating the systemwide stress and a succession of companies – including Merrill Lynch, the investment bank, AIG, the insurance group, and Washington Mutual, the largest savings and loan – which were under severe market pressure.

severe:심한

As the talks drew to a close at 8pm on Friday, a specific Merrill track began to emerge, according to people familiar with the discussions. These people say that Mr Thain was encouraged by regulators to seek a deal that would help Merrill escape Lehman’s fate. Mr Thain did not need much encouragement. As Lehman’s problems intensified, he had already told colleagues he would act decisively should Merrill find itself in a similar position.

intensified: 증대하다

With growing fears that if Lehman had to file for bankruptcy, Merrill would be the next to be abandoned by investors worried about its capital position, it was time for Mr Thain to take action.

레만이 위기에 빠지자 메릴린치도 어떤 방법이든지 써야 하는 상황에 놓였다.

People close to the talks said Mr Thain and his lieutenants contacted several banks on Saturday morning, including BofA, Morgan Stanley and some foreign lenders. Ken Lewis, BofA’s chief executive, was the most enthusiastic respondent.

lieutenants: 부관 enthusiastic:열렬한

Mr Lewis had been a long-time admirer of Merrill and believed that adding its army of retail brokers with BofA’s commercial and retail banking strengths would turn the bank into a formidable rival.

formidable:무시무시한

On the Lehman front, after a lot of haggling, the wider group of bankers neared agreement on what one person familiar with the situation said was a pool of funds “in the tens of billions” to take care of the toxic assets.

haggling:논쟁하다 neared:접근하다

But the proposed takeover of the rest of Lehman was faltering. By Saturday lunchtime, Lehman’s fate was all but sealed, with BofA having pulled out to enter merger talks with Merrill and Barclays withdrawing after the US government stuck to its guns and refused to provide any interim guarantees to facilitate the takeover.
리먼의 인수는 정부가 보증을 거부하면서 물거품이 되었다.

faltering:비틀거리는 sealed:봉인된 interim:임시

From the outset, while trying to achieve a Lehman takeover the principals and staff-level groups of experts had been working on strategies to mitigate the damage if it failed. These preparations intensified on Sunday as a deal slipped away, with particularly intense efforts to figure out ways to curb the impact in the vulnerable repo and derivatives markets.

outset:발단 mitigate :완화하다 preparations :준비 intensified:강렬하게 하다 slipped away: 빠지다. figure out:해결하다 curb:억제하다 vulnerable:공격당하기 쉬운 repo:환매

In part by design but also in part by the momentum of discussions and the chance outcome of pressured negotiations, a new strategy was emerging to let Lehman go, and contain the damage by creating a firewall against market disruption and pressing other weak institutions into shotgun marriages.

disruption:붕괴

Late on Sunday, 11 of the banks agreed to create a $70bn liquidity pool to self-insure against loss of access to fi­nance. The Fed, meanwhile, prepared to announce it was sharply easing the terms on which it lends to in­vestment banks. The Securities and Exchange Commission was charged with orch­estrating an orderly wind-down of Lehman – no small task given the lack of a special legal framework for investment bank insolvencies.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

회의 초반에는 레만을 살리는 방안을 논의했으나 정부가 발을 빼면서 레만은 망하게 하고 시장의 충격을 어떻게 완화할 것이냐를 고민했다. 이제 정부는 부실은행에 투입할 돈이 없다는 것을 드러냈다. 사기업들은 자구책을 마련하지 않으면 위기를 벗어나기 어려울 것이다.