中资银行积极为亚洲基础设施提供资金

As Asia teems with infrastructure activity, western banks are quietly disappearing from the market. In their place regional banks have emerged as the dominant players, with Chinese lenders now the driving force.

就在亚洲基础设施活动火热之际，西方银行正悄然从这个市场消失。它们撤出后，地区银行成为主力玩家，尤其是中资银行现在成了推动力量。

The whittling away of European and US names from the region’s infrastructure financing line-up has been a long time coming. The crises of 1997 and 2008 helped clear out weaker players.

欧美银行从亚洲基础设施融资机构的阵容撤出由来已久。1997年和2008年的两场危机，帮助清理掉了实力较弱的玩家。

But more recently, a flood of new projects and liquidity in local markets have made regional banks difficult to beat on the cost of financing. With appetite for currency and sovereign risk low among global banks, lenders such as China Development Bank and Korea Development Bank have quickly stepped up, cheque in hand.

但近年来，当地市场上出现大量的新工程和流动性，使地区银行在融资成本上难以打败。由于全球银行对汇率和主权风险的偏好较低，中国国家开发银行(CDB)和韩国产业银行(KDB)等银行迅速填补空白，带来大量资金。

“In some respects, Chinese banks are prepared to change the basis on which these types of projects have been traditionally financed,” says Martin David, a principal at Baker McKenzie Wong & Leow, the law firm, who is based in Singapore.

“在某些方面，中资银行准备改变这类工程的传统融资依据，”贝克?麦坚时律所(Baker & McKenzie Wong & Leow)驻新加坡的合伙人马丁?戴维(Martin David)说。

By the end of 2016, just one western bank was in the league tables for the top 20 bank financiers for infrastructure in Asia, data from Dealogic show. Crédit Agricole retained the number 18 spot on the list, with $854m. A year earlier, six European banks made the list, pulling off $3.6bn in financing.

Dealogic数据显示，到2016年底，亚洲基础设施领域前20大银行融资人排行榜上，仅有一家西方银行。法国农业信贷银行(Crédit Agricole)保住了第18位的排名，提供资金额为8.54亿美元。一年前，上榜的欧洲银行有6家，提供融资额总量为36亿美元。

Among the top 10, Chinese banks took seven places, up from one the year before. China Development Bank crowned the list.

在榜单前10名里，中资银行占了7席，而上一年占了1席。中国国开行位于榜首。

The race to the top was rapid. In 2012, banks from China that made it into the top 20 did $4.47bn in infrastructure finance in Asia, holding 11.2 per cent of the total market. Four years later, Chinese banks did $38.4bn, more than 60 per cent of the market.

中资银行的冲顶速度非常快。2012年，进入榜单前20名的中资银行在亚洲基础设施领域提供了44.7亿美元资金，占市场总额的11.2%。4年后，中资银行提供融资384亿美元，市场份额高于60%。

A surge in domestic liquidity has hastened the trend — and has helped exclude capital markets financing. As US interest rates gradually rise, many Asian countries have kept their markets cushioned with cash. For countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, where domestic economic growth has been strong, banks are resting on deposit bases ready to be deployed. The People’s Bank of China, the central bank, has only in recent months started to tighten the strings after years of monetary easing.

国内流动性大增加快了这一趋势，并帮助排除了资本市场融资。随着美国逐渐加息，许多亚洲国家用现金为市场提供缓冲。对于近年国内经济增长强劲的泰国、印尼和菲律宾等国而言，银行依靠随时可动用的存款基础。在多年保持宽松货币政策之后，中国人民银行(PBoC)只是在近几个月才收紧了政策。

“You continued to have strong bank liquidity in the market so it has been harder for the capital markets and institutional investors to get an increasing portion of regional infrastructure financing volumes,” says James Cameron, HSBC’s Asia Pacific head of infrastructure finance.

“市场上有着强劲的银行流动性，因此一段时间以来资本市场和机构投资者更难分得亚洲基础设施融资的更大份额，”汇丰(HSBC)亚太基础设施融资业务总监詹姆斯?卡梅隆(James Cameron)说。

Instead of capital market-based finance, government-supported deals have taken a lead position in the sector. China, for example, has launched a $900bn “One Belt, One Road” infrastructure programme with several projects — ports, roads, rail lines — popping up across Asia. Many of those deals are brokered directly with local governments and bring in state-controlled banks and companies to finance and build the projects.

政府支持的交易超过资本市场融资，在亚洲基础设施融资领域占据了领先地位。例如，中国启动了规模达9000亿美元的“一带一路”(OBOR)基础设施计划，其中多个项目——港口、公路和铁路——在亚洲各地突然冒出来。这些交易有很多是直接跟当地政府达成的，同时让国有控股的银行和企业出资和承建项目。

Global banks are often limited to projects with dollar revenue streams, says ANZ’s Stella Saris, a director on the bank’s resources, energy and infrastructure team in Singapore. ANZ recently took part in the financing of international container terminals at Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok port. International ships docking in the port pay fees in US dollars, which can be used to pay back bank loans with little currency risk.

澳新银行(ANZ)驻新加坡的资源、能源与基础设施业务团队主管斯特拉?萨里斯(Stella Saris)表示，全球银行往往局限于能够开启美元收入流的项目。不久前，澳新银行参与了为雅加达丹戎不碌港(Tanjung Priok)国际集装箱码头提供融资。靠泊该港的国际船舶以美元支付费用，这些美元收入随后可用于偿还银行贷款，几乎没有汇率风险。

Other obstacles have been more difficult for global banks to sidestep. As the number of infrastructure projects swells in the region, there are more questions about quality. Experts say the market is flooded with poor-quality deals that only local banks will consider. “This is certainly a problem,” says Vivek Rao, a principal financial sector specialist at the Asian Development Bank who focuses on infrastructure. “Companies are struggling to establish quality contracts.”

其他障碍是全球银行更难回避的。亚洲基础设施项目数量的增多，引发了关于质量的更多疑问。专家表示，市场上充斥着太多质量低劣的项目，只有当地银行才会考虑介入。“这肯定是个问题，”亚开行(ADB)专门研究基础设施业务的金融行业主管专家维韦克?拉奥(Vivek Rao)说，“企业很难签到高质量的合同。”

Many of the problems are connected to local laws. In Indonesia, for example, it can take five years to secure the rights to land, leading to a timeframe and regulatory risk only local banks have been willing to take.

许多问题与当地法律有关。例如，在印尼，可能需要5年时间才会获得地权，由此带来的时间框架和监管风险只有当地银行才愿意承受。

In one recent case, a coal-fired power plant project in the region failed to secure a coal supply agreement, according to Mr David. Such an agreement is indispensable when demonstrating to potential creditors that the project is feasible.

律师戴维表示，近期的一个例子是，亚洲一个燃煤电厂项目未能达成煤炭供应协议。在向潜在债权人证明项目可行性时，这类协议是必不可少的。

Chinese banks, however, opted for a completion agreement from the project’s Chinese financial sponsors in place of the coal-supply agreement, taking on an unheard-of level of risk while at the same time sealing the deal.

然而，中资银行选择跟该项目的中国财务赞助方达成一份项目完工协议，而不是煤炭供应协议，在敲定交易的同时承担了闻所未闻的风险。

“Global banks and even local banks would never consider doing this type of approach,” Mr David says.

“全球银行、甚至当地银行绝不会考虑这种做法，”戴维说。