The nation's top bankers walked away from a summit with President Barack Obama pledging broad support for his bank-bailout program and efforts to revive the economy, but the meeting failed to resolve tensions over executive pay and the president's tough rhetoric of recent weeks.
美国银行业高管结束了与奥巴马总统的峰会，奥巴马承诺向银行救助计划提供广泛支持，并采取措施振兴经济，不过会议没能化解围绕着高管薪酬和几周来奥巴马强硬言辞的紧张气氛。
The highly unusual meeting, which came after weeks of public feuding between Democrats in Washington and banks, brought President Obama face to face with 15 of the nation's top bank executives, including the heads of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley. All of the banks have received federal bailout cash -- in some cases after being told they must -- and some have openly bristled over mounting public criticism of their pay and their banks' lending.
在这次极其不同寻常的会议上，奥巴马与美国15位银行老板进行了面对面的磋商，其中包括摩根大通(J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.)、美国银行(Bank of America Corp.)、富国银行(Wells Fargo & Co.)、花旗集团(Citigroup Inc.)和摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)的老板。所有与会银行都获得了联邦救助资金(有些是在被告知必须接受的情况下接受的)，其中有些银行公开对公众对其薪酬和放贷情况的批评表示不满。此前华盛顿的民主党人士与银行之间的公开敌对状态持续了数周。
That was one topic of discussion Friday at a meeting all sides described as cordial. According to participants, some of the chiefs told the president they want to return their bailout money later this year, but Mr. Obama told them that regulators would permit such a move only if the banks were truly healthy. This account of the meeting is based on interviews with participants, White House aides and others familiar with the gathering.
各方都表示周五进行的会议气氛热烈，高管薪酬是其中的一个讨论话题。据一些参与者说，一些银行老板对奥巴马说，他们希望在今年晚些时候归还救助资金，不过奥巴马告诉他们，只有在银行确实健康时，监管机构才会批准它们退回资金。本文是根据对与会者、白宫助手和其他熟悉会议内容的人士的采访整理出来的。
For his part, Mr. Obama told the group that bankers should be more modest in their compensation and spending practices, participants said. The bankers responded that the administration should try to cool its anti-Wall Street rhetoric.
与会者说，奥巴马告诉他们，银行家应该在薪酬和开支行为上更加适度。银行家们则回应说，政府应该努力缓和反华尔街的论调。
The economy was also discussed, attendees said, with Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis and Northern Trust's Rick Waddell expressing cautious optimism that the downturn is either at or near the bottom of the cycle. There was agreement that despite the tension of recent weeks, the White House needs investors to implement its banking and housing programs, and the financial system needs the government for capital.
与会者说，经济也是一个议题，美国银行首席执行长刘易斯 (Kenneth Lewis)和北美信托(Northern Trust)的威德尔(Rick Waddell)表达了谨慎乐观的看法：当前的低迷要么是到了本周期的底部，要么接近底部。与会者一致认为，尽管最近几周出现紧张气氛，白宫需要投资者来实施银行和住房计划，金融体系则需要政府来获得资金。
'I think there are very few financial institutions who would not say we've made mistakes and that we feel awful bad about the mistakes we have made,' Mr. Lewis said after the meeting. But 'at some point you have to stop focusing on the past, and focus on the present.'
刘易斯在会后说，我认为很少有金融机构不用说“我们犯了错误，我们对自己犯的错误感到非常难过”。不过，到了一定时候，你必须停止把眼光放在过去，而是要专注于现在。
Said Robert Kelly, CEO of Bank of New York Mellon: 'Our interests are very much aligned with the administration's.'
纽约银行(Bank of New York Mellon)首席执行长凯利(Robert Kelly)说，我们的利益与政府的利益基本相符。
（责任编辑:doublejp）
