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European banks’ fourth-quarter earnings, releases of which are clustered around early February, have been surprisingly optimisti

admin2022-11-01  184
问题     European banks’ fourth-quarter earnings, releases of which are clustered around early February, have been surprisingly optimistic. Yet the chronic illness that has dogged the industry for years remains. Interest rates are rock-bottom, compressing lending margins. Lenders must set aside lots of capital to reassure watchdogs, which depresses returns. And Europe has too many banks, which constrains scale and profits. UBS forecasts the European sector’s return on tangible equity (ROTE) will hit 8% by 2022—above last year’s 5.6%, but still below its cost of capital of 10%. Its price-to-book ratio hovers around 0.5, below its lowest point in 2009.
    Much of that has been outside bosses’ control. The current bosses, drafted in to restore lenders to health in the 2010s, has also managed to lift core capital ratios. But reviving profits and valuations requires a strategic rethink that "wartime" CEOs have shown little will or skill for. A growing chorus of investors and board members want fresh faces to embrace the mission.
    One problem is that the pool of candidates is drying up. When Mary-Caroline Tillman of Russell Reynolds Associates, a headhunter, worked on bank CEO searches ten years ago, her shortlists included 15-20 qualified candidates. Today she typically finds five or six. A lot of industry stars are now too old; a few others have lost their prime. Many suitable executives do not want the top job, which comes with more scrutiny from the press than elsewhere. It is also less richly rewarded. Last year James Gorman, who runs Morgan Stanley, an American bank, was paid $33m. ING faced public criticism in 2018 when it proposed raising its boss Ralph Hamers’s pay to €3m ($3.6m).
    Recruiting outsiders is also hard. Aspiring CEOs must be closely examined by European regulators, implying a ton of banking experience, says Elena Carletti of Bocconi University, who also sits on UniCredit’s board. In America Wells Fargo is the only big bank subject to such rules. Language can create barriers, too. After falling out with Jean Pierre Mustier, its French boss who is due to step down in April, UniCredit’s board is said to have favoured Italian-speakers.
    There is hope, however. Industry veterans praise a class of bankers climbing up the ranks. Headhunters, meanwhile, are considering bright executives in adjacent industries, such as payments or insurance.
    Whether they make it to the top or not largely depends on banks’ boards, many of which pay lip service to transformation but choose boring candidates. That partly reflects their own conservative position. To cure ailing banks, boards too need new blood.
According to the last paragraph, the author’s attitude towards banks’ boards is one of
选项 A、indifference
B、contempt
C、appreciation
D、skepticism
答案 D
解析 根据题干提示，定位至第六段。该段指出：“CEO候选人能否登顶获得高管职位，很大程度上取决于银行董事会，许多董事会对转型做出口头承诺，但却选择了乏味的候选人。这在一定程度上反映了他们的守旧思想。要改善不景气的银行业，董事会也需要新鲜血液。”由此可知，作者对银行董事会不是很满意，觉得董事会也需要更新，其中boring、conservative可以体现出作者的看法。选项[D]“怀疑”对应此含义，故为正确答案。
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