太大不能倒：貝爾斯登

Abstract

這份報告介紹的是2008年美國貝爾斯登銀行瀕臨破產的事件。從一開始的信用緊縮導致借貸困難，使貝爾斯登難以順利取得資金，又加上財務槓桿倍數增大，以及出現類似商業銀行的存款擠兌現象，因此產生金融恐慌，但真正的導火線是貝爾斯登內部兩支押注次級房屋抵押貸款債券的對沖基金因為巨額的虧損發生崩潰，公司的營運資金也發生不足，貝爾斯登就瀕臨破產的危機。 我們透過上網查詢貝爾斯登事件的始末，以及互相討論來了解每個人所查詢的金融事件背景。 貝爾斯登瀕臨破產，政府不能坐視不理，因為貝爾斯登管理著大量的客戶資產，如果倒閉了，將會使整個金融體系翻起滔天巨浪，就是所謂的「太大不能倒」，因此Fed透過間接融通的方式，讓摩根大通收購貝爾斯登。但是道德風險也因此產生，政府盡力救援貝爾斯登卻讓納稅人承擔風險。所以金融機構應該以貝爾斯登事件汲取教訓，並不是每一次的危機都能夠有政府的出手幫忙，平時應該要將風險分散化，才不致危機發生。

The report describes that the Bear Stearns Bank nearly went to the bankruptcy in 2008. Credit crunch at first prevented the potential lender to get the loan, and also highly leveraged was another element that caused the problem of solvent and bank run, so that Bear Stearns had difficulties obtaining funds, resulting in financial panic. But the last straw that breaks the camel’ s back was that Bear Stearns’ hedge funds based on mortgage-backed securities were written down the value because of huge losses. The company's working capital was also underfunded, and Bear Stearns was on the verge of bankruptcy. We searched information online to find out the whole story of the Bear Stearns, and discussed with every group member about the background of each financial event. When Bear Stearns was on the verge of bankruptcy, as it should be, the government couldn’t sit on his hand, because Bear Stearns took over a large number of customer’s assets. If Bear Stearns had collapsed, the financial system would have been hung in the balance. In other words, was the so-called "too big to fall". Fed used the indirect way to finance, so that JP Morgan could acquire Bear Stearns. However, the moral hazard also came out; the Government let taxpayers take the risks in order to rescue Bear Stearns. Therefore, financial institutions should learn a lesson from the Bear Stearns; government wouldn’t help in every crisis. Those institutions should do the risk spreading for the sake of preventing from crisis happened.