Since Britain embarked on the Big Bang deregulation of its financial markets in the 1980s, UK banks have struggled unceasingly to break into the top tier of the global investment banking business.

自上世纪80年代英国发起“金融大爆炸”(Big Bang)，在金融市场推行去监管化改革以来，英国的银行一直在不懈努力，想要挤进全球投资银行业的顶级梯队。

The roll call of aspirants is long. Both Britain’s biggest clearing banks and its fading class of merchant banks – blue-blooded, traditional suppliers of capital and takeover advice to companies – have sought to muscle into the “bulge bracket” dominated by US groups such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. For all the capital hurled at the endeavour, success has proved elusive. Each apparent breakthrough has been fleeting.

有此抱负的银行不在少数。英国最大的清算银行和逐渐衰落的商人银行（它们出身高贵，一直以来为客户提供资本以及收购建议）都试图挤进由高盛(Goldman Sachs)和摩根士坦利(Morgan Stanley)等美国银行占主导地位的“大型投行”(bulge bracket)之列。它们为实现这一目标投入了大笔资金，但收效甚微。任何表面上的进展也都转瞬即逝。

SG Warburg briefly built a large bond-trading presence on Wall Street only to collapse into the arms of Swiss Bank Corporation in 1995. Barclays assembled and then dismantled an equity operation in the 1990s, unable to generate sufficient returns from UK stock trading to justify the high salaries and bonuses involved. Its exit proved traumatic. The bank briefly considered spinning off the investment bank before settling on the ejection of Martin Taylor, its then chief executive.

华宝银行(SG Warburg)在华尔街开设了一家大型债券交易公司，但是好景不长，该公司于1995年被瑞士银行集团(Swiss Bank Corporation)收购。巴克莱银行(Barclays)于90年代组建了股票业务，由于无法从英国股票交易中赚取足够收益来承担高额的薪资与奖金，不久又将其解散。此举给巴克莱造成了创伤。巴克莱曾考虑过剥离投资银行业务，不过最终选择解雇其当时的首席执行官马丁•泰勒(Martin Taylor)。

The years following the crisis have witnessed more dismantling on an epic scale. Royal Bank of Scotland, felled by the crash and now a ward of the state, has been forced to wind down its investment bank. Now, as part of a restructuring that will cost 7,000 highly paid jobs and shunt £400bn of trading assets into a new “bad bank”, Barclays is following suit.

危机过后的数年中，更多大规模业务被解散。苏格兰皇家银行(Royal Bank of Scotland)深受危机打击，被置于政府监护之下，不得不收缩其投资银行部门。如今，巴克莱正在步其后尘——由于业务重组，需要裁掉7000个高薪职位，价值4千亿英镑的交易资产将被转入“坏银行”。

The story is all too familiar. Both RBS and Barclays failed to build up profitable equities and advisory operations in the 1990s because they were unable to break into the lucrative US market. The two banks switched their attention to bond trading – a transactional activity where longstanding corporate relationships are less critical.

这个情景再熟悉不过了。因为无法打入利润丰厚的美国市场，苏格兰皇家银行与巴克莱银行在90年代都未能发展起盈利的股票与咨询业务。此后两家银行将注意力转向了债券交易，在债券交易活动中，公司长期关系的重要性要小得多。

For a time the move seemed to pay off. Unlike RBS, Barclays came through the crisis without state support. The purchase of the US business of Lehman Brothers at the height of the crisis made it briefly one of the biggest investment banks in the world.

此举在一段时间里似乎奏效了。与苏格兰皇家银行不同，巴克莱是在没有政府帮助的情况下走出危机的。在危机最严重时收购雷曼兄弟(Lehman Brothers)美国业务使其一度成为全球最大投行之一。

Barclays says that it is not pulling out of investment banking. But new regulations and capital requirements have exposed the underlying frailty of its trading arm. Once again, low returns mean the bank cannot sustain the high salaries that bulge-bracket bankers demand.

巴克莱银行表示，它不会撤出投资银行业务。但是新监管法规与资本要求已经暴露了其交易部门的内在脆弱性。再一次，低收益意味着巴克莱无法承受起大型投行银行家索求的高额薪酬。

Antony Jenkins, the bank’s chief executive, wants to withdraw from marginal lines of business while staying in areas where the bank can make money. This means winding down trading and focusing on equities and advisory work.

巴克莱银行首席执行官安东尼•詹金斯(Antony Jenkins)希望撤出不重要的业务，保留盈利的业务。也即收缩交易业务，专注于股票和咨询业务。

Investors’ capital may be spared, as well as Mr Jenkins’ blushes: he will no longer have to justify such a large bonus bill. But Britain’s one-time global aspirant has shrunk into little more than a niche operator.

投资者的资金也许能省下了，詹金斯也不用为自己感到羞愧了：他再也不用为高额奖金辩护。但这家曾经志在全球的英国银行如今落得比一家利基市场运营商好不了多少。

A dose of realism is no bad thing. The obsession with global investment banking has delivered little for the clearers’ shareholders. Arguably it led these banks to neglect their core function as utilities, to the detriment of their retail customers. The mixture of too-big-to-fail institutions and aggressive risk-taking activities is unappealing. It leaves taxpayers exposed to unjustifiable tail risks.

面对现实不是件坏事。清算银行痴迷于全球投行业务没给银行股东带来什么好处。可以说，过分关注投行业务导致这些银行忽略了其本身作为公用事业企业的核心功能，也对其零售客户不利。“太大而不能倒”的机构与激进的冒险行为的组合不讨人喜欢。它将纳税人暴露在不合理的尾部风险之下。

Nor will the dismantling of Barclays and RBS undermine the City of London. The comparison with Wimbledon may be hackneyed but it is valid. The City will remain a global hub, generating billions of pounds in tax revenues for the rest of the country, whether or not any UK banks sit at the top table of the securities business.

巴克莱与苏格兰皇家银行收缩业务不会削弱伦敦金融城(City of London)的地位。将伦敦金融城与温布尔登(Wimbledon)作比较或许陈腐，但很得当。无论英国有没有哪家银行跻身顶级投资银行之列，伦敦金融城仍将是全球金融中心，为英国其他地区创造高额税收收入。

Investment banking is a volatile activity suited to partnerships, or institutions where pay can be significantly varied from year to year. Clearers are not the best repository of such a business. If this is the game, Britain is better off out.

投资银行业变化不定，适合合伙制，或者不同年份薪酬水平会有显著变化的机构。清算银行不是最适合此类业务的机构。如果情况如此，英国的银行还是抽身为好。