AFTER THE pain of the Asian financial crisis in 1997 most of South Korea's foreign assets were deploy(部署，动用)ed for one purpose—to defend the won. By 2016 the central bank had gathered a pile of dollars, euros, other currencies and gold worth $400bn. These net reserves, which could likewise be sold to prop up(支撑，扶持) the local currency, made up roughly 80% of the country's total foreign assets. Financial policymaking was laser-focused on(高度聚焦于) the next crisis.
1997年亚洲金融危机带来的创痛过后，韩国的外汇资产大多只服务于一个目的——保卫韩元。到2016年，韩国央行已囤积了价值4000亿美元的外汇储备，包括美元、欧元、其他货币和黄金。这些净储备同样可以出售以支撑本币，约占韩国外汇资产总额的80%。当时的金融决策高度聚焦于防范下一场危机。
The crisis never came, and foreign assets kept mounting(不断增加的)—but for different reasons. Although South Korean foreign-exchange reserves are unchanged from a decade ago, the central bank has been overtake(超过，超越)n by the National Pension Service (NPS)(韩国国民年金公团，全球最大养老基金之一), a government-owned nest egg(养老储蓄，储备金), as the country's biggest international investor. NPS owns some $650bn-worth of foreign assets, up from $80bn in 2012.
危机始终没有到来，外汇资产却持续攀升——但原因已大不相同。尽管韩国外汇储备与十年前持平，但央行已被国民年金公团（NPS）超越，后者是一家政府拥有的“养老储蓄罐”，如今是韩国最大的国际投资者。NPS持有约6500亿美元的外汇资产，而2012年仅为800亿美元。
South Korea is one of several countries where foreign reserves are no longer the government's only big source of financial firepower(金融火力，财力). Others include Japan, China and Saudi Arabia. In the past decade their governments have accumulate(积累，积聚)d foreign assets in the portfolio(投资组合，资产组合)s of public pension systems, sovereign-wealth funds and state-owned banks. Some, like Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF)(沙特主权财富基金，全球最活跃的投资者之一), have attracted attention owing to flashy(高调的，浮华的) stakes in skyscrapers and sports tournaments. But their rise also has less visible implications for the financial system, because the new players take more risks than central bankers, hoping for better returns. This exposes governments' large stockpile(储备，囤积)s to volatility(波动性，易变性).
韩国并非个例。在多个国家，外汇储备已不再是政府唯一的金融火力来源，日本、中国和沙特阿拉伯也是如此。过去十年，这些国家的政府通过公共养老金体系、主权财富基金和国有银行的资产组合积累了海外资产。其中一些，如沙特公共投资基金（PIF），因在摩天大楼和体育赛事上的高调持股而备受关注。但它们的崛起对金融体系还有更隐蔽的影响：这些新玩家比央行官员更敢于冒险，以追求更高回报。这使政府庞大的资产储备暴露于市场波动之中。
Reserve judgment
储备之判