2019-05-05

Tech’s raid on the banks
Digital disruption is coming to banking at last
原文来源：The Economist 2019-5-3

Article

https://frankzhougq.github.io/article/TE-2019-05-05/

Notes

Giant firms in retailing, carmaking and the media have been humbled by new competitors.
be humbled: 被轻松打败

one industry has withstood the tumult
经受住了混乱

and tech giants are muscling in.

muscle 'in (on sb/ sth) (informal, disapproving) to involve yourself in a situation when you have no right to do so, in order to get sth for yourself 强行干涉；粗暴干涉

Using the difficult trick of “maturity transformation” (turning deposits that you can demand back at any time into long-term loans) they enable savers to defer consumption and investment and borrowers to bring them forward.
描述银行的职能，borrower和lender的期限配置

Banks are so vital that the economy reels when they stumble
都是摇摇晃晃，蹒跚的意思

have been preoccupied with repairing their balance-sheets
忙于

Late is better than never, however.
迟了没关系，总比永远不好

In Asia payment apps are bundled with e-commerce, chat and ride-hailing services offered by firms such as Alibaba and Tencent in China
绑定了

These networks link to banks but are vying to control the customer relationship.
抓住客户的资源

are nibbling at customer bases.
小口地咬

Younger people no longer stay with the same bank as their parents

The credit card’s arrival in 1950 revolutionised shopping but also sparked America’s consumer-debt culture.
变革了购物方式；也促使了美国的借贷消费文化

Securitisation lubricated capital markets in the 1980s but fuelled the subprime crisis.
证券化润滑了资本市场

One dystopian scenario is that power becomes more concentrated, as a few big banks learn to exploit data as ruthlessly as social-media firms do. Imagine a crossbreed of Facebook and Wells Fargo that predicts and manipulates how customers behave and is able to use proprietary economic data to squeeze rivals.
有意思的表述，悲观的反乌托邦的畅想

Banks could lose depositors to untested neobanks
失去了存款人

If bank customers transact via tech or payment platforms, banks could end up with huge balance-sheets but without a direct connection to their clients.
实际上现在的很多银行依托于支付宝、微信，提供借贷资金，但是不和客户发生直接业务关系，银行肯定是想拿客户信息的，但是这需要和各金融科技公司商务了。

To tap the benefits of technology safely,
利用、开发

preventing firms hoarding information.
贮藏

Banks have formidable lobbying power, however.
可怕的游说能力。
科技公司也许能在其他领域轻松打败传统企业，但是在金融领域一定是合作共赢，因为这涉及到politics，利益所在，奶酪不可能让你乱动的。