Financial-technology firms

　　金融技術公司

　　Apps at the gate

　　應用近在咫尺

　　Tech start-ups promise to transform finance, ifregulators will let them

　　如果監管者允許，技術創業公司希望改變金融業

　　Aug 3rd 2023 |From the print edition

　　TWO millennia after the Temple was cleansed of money-changers, the Archbishop ofCanterbury, Justin Welby, plans to open his churches to moneylenders. This is nocapitulation in the struggle between God and Mammon. It is an effort to compete out ofexistence payday lenders that offer expensive loans by supporting not-for-profit creditunions.

　　在寺院與金錢交易撇清關系兩千年之后，坎特伯雷大主教Justin Welby計劃開放教堂給放貸者。這不是選擇上帝或者貪婪之間的妥協。這是通過支持非盈利信用合作社讓高利息貸款失去市場。

　　The archbishop is right that more competition is needed, but old-fashioned credit unionsare unlikely to be able to beat the slick systems and snappy service of online providers,like Wonga. A more effective way of pushing down rates would be lighter regulation toallow more lenders to flourish.

　　大主教是對的，確實需要加強競爭，而這些老古董銀行也不太可能被像Wonga之類的擁有更加靈活的系統和快速的服務的網上金融服務提供商擊敗。推低利率更有效的方法是放松監管，允許更多放貸者進入市場。

　　Digital communications have given birth to a new generation of finance companies . Money-transfer agents such as Xoom have drastically cut the time and costs formigrant workers to send money home. Peer-to-peer lenders are matching savers andborrowers, slashing fees and delivering a better deal to both. New foreign-exchange firmsare giving travellers access to the prices quoted on wholesale currency markets. Cardcompanies such as Square and iZettle let anyone from yoga teachers to plumbers acceptpayments by credit card. Firms such as M-Pesa have given millions of people in developingcountries access to mobile money.

　　線上交流已經催生出了新一代的金融公司。像Xoom這種轉帳機構大大減少了外國務工人員匯款回家的時間和費用。點對點借貸配對債權人和借債人，降低費用，給雙方最好的選擇。新的外匯公司讓旅行者以大型外匯市場的匯率兌換現金。諸如Square和iZettle這樣的信用卡公司讓從瑜伽老師到管道工的客戶都能使用信用卡消費。M-Pesa這類公司已經讓發展中國家數百萬的人民使用上了移動錢包。

　　Heavy regulation of financial companies means many firms stick to small niches to skirt theboundaries of banking regulations. Peer-to-peer lenders do not offer savers the security ofdeposit insurance or the convenience of guaranteed instant access to their cash. This limitstheir appeal. Other firms that take deposits such as Holvi, a Finnish start-up that offers groupaccounts, are not allowed to lend. Those that do lend, such as Wonga, cannot take deposits.

　　金融公司嚴格的監管制度意味著許多公司許多堅持小利基的公司要繞過銀行監管的局限。點對點借貸不提供給債權人存款保證或者直接取錢的便利。其他的公司像Holvi，一個位于芬蘭提供集體賬戶的初創公司，只提供存款，但不能借貸。而像Wonga這樣能借貸的公司則不能存款。

　　Creating a financial-tech company is arduous. Whereas it takes less than a day to register acompany in Britain, it takes months or years and can cost millions to get authorised as abank. The number of new banks started over the past decade can almost be counted onone hand. Even those that have started, such as Metro Bank or Aldermore, are penalised byregulation: rules on capital favour large and complex firms. In America the Dodd-Frank Actis an imposing barrier to all but the biggest firms. And regulation is closing in on someexisting firms. M-Pesa has struggled to grow much beyond Kenya, partly because authoritiesstand in its way. The market for remittances has been a hothouse for start-ups in Britain,partly because it was lightly regulated. Yet almost half the countrys money-transfer firmsmay be shut as banks close their accounts to comply with money-laundering rules.

　　創建一家金融科技公司很費力。在英國一家普通公司可能不到一天就注冊完成了，而要是成立一家銀行則有可能經歷長達數月甚至數年的審批，而且可能要花費上數百萬的費用。過去十年里成立的銀行數量一只手就能數過來。即使是成立了的銀行像Metro Bank和Aldermore，都被監管部門處罰過。關于資本的規定更有利于大型公司。在美國，多德弗蘭克法案對所有非大型公司是一個障礙。對很多公司的監管很嚴。M-Pesa努力在肯尼亞之外發展，部分原因就是政府出面阻礙其發展。在英國，匯款市場在初創公司中很火，部分原因就是其監管相對較松。但是如果銀行以違反洗錢規則關閉它們的賬戶，那么近一半的轉帳公司將會關門大吉。

　　Banks need to be more heavily regulated than other firms because of their central role inthe economy. However, governments could regulate more smartly, raising capitalrequirements for big and systemically important banks while easing the burden on smallerones. Regulators should be even more relaxed about many of the new entrants to themarket, most of which simply provide quicker and simpler ways of shifting money around.Most of these start-ups avoid the alchemy of bankingthe transformation of short-termdeposits into long-term loansso pose little systemic risk.

　　銀行比其他公司的監管更嚴厲，原因是它們在經濟活動中至關重要。但是，政府能更聰明地管理銀行業。提高對大型系統性銀行的監管，放松對小型銀行的管理。監管人員應該對新入行的公司放輕松，這些公司只是提供更方便快捷的轉賬方式。大多數初創公司避開銀行業的核心業務--將短期存款轉換成長期借貸--這樣系統性風險就很小了。

　　The idea of lighter-touch regulation will seem to many an anathema after the financialcrisis. It would certainly lead to more failures by small banks and start-ups. This would alsoimpose some costs on society and deposit-guarantee schemes. Yet these costs would beoutweighed by the enormous benefits to consumers and businesses of a far morecompetitive financial system.

　　對很多人來說，金融危機之后放寬監管很危險。當然，放松監管會帶來很多小銀行和初創公司的失敗。這也會給社會以及存款保證計劃帶來很多代價。但是這些代價會被消費者的獲利和金融系統更激烈的競爭所抵消。

　　Financial-technology firms

　　金融技術公司

　　Apps at the gate

　　應用近在咫尺

　　Tech start-ups promise to transform finance, ifregulators will let them

　　如果監管者允許，技術創業公司希望改變金融業

　　Aug 3rd 2023 |From the print edition

　　TWO millennia after the Temple was cleansed of money-changers, the Archbishop ofCanterbury, Justin Welby, plans to open his churches to moneylenders. This is nocapitulation in the struggle between God and Mammon. It is an effort to compete out ofexistence payday lenders that offer expensive loans by supporting not-for-profit creditunions.

　　在寺院與金錢交易撇清關系兩千年之后，坎特伯雷大主教Justin Welby計劃開放教堂給放貸者。這不是選擇上帝或者貪婪之間的妥協。這是通過支持非盈利信用合作社讓高利息貸款失去市場。

　　The archbishop is right that more competition is needed, but old-fashioned credit unionsare unlikely to be able to beat the slick systems and snappy service of online providers,like Wonga. A more effective way of pushing down rates would be lighter regulation toallow more lenders to flourish.

　　大主教是對的，確實需要加強競爭，而這些老古董銀行也不太可能被像Wonga之類的擁有更加靈活的系統和快速的服務的網上金融服務提供商擊敗。推低利率更有效的方法是放松監管，允許更多放貸者進入市場。

　　Digital communications have given birth to a new generation of finance companies . Money-transfer agents such as Xoom have drastically cut the time and costs formigrant workers to send money home. Peer-to-peer lenders are matching savers andborrowers, slashing fees and delivering a better deal to both. New foreign-exchange firmsare giving travellers access to the prices quoted on wholesale currency markets. Cardcompanies such as Square and iZettle let anyone from yoga teachers to plumbers acceptpayments by credit card. Firms such as M-Pesa have given millions of people in developingcountries access to mobile money.

　　線上交流已經催生出了新一代的金融公司。像Xoom這種轉帳機構大大減少了外國務工人員匯款回家的時間和費用。點對點借貸配對債權人和借債人，降低費用，給雙方最好的選擇。新的外匯公司讓旅行者以大型外匯市場的匯率兌換現金。諸如Square和iZettle這樣的信用卡公司讓從瑜伽老師到管道工的客戶都能使用信用卡消費。M-Pesa這類公司已經讓發展中國家數百萬的人民使用上了移動錢包。

　　Heavy regulation of financial companies means many firms stick to small niches to skirt theboundaries of banking regulations. Peer-to-peer lenders do not offer savers the security ofdeposit insurance or the convenience of guaranteed instant access to their cash. This limitstheir appeal. Other firms that take deposits such as Holvi, a Finnish start-up that offers groupaccounts, are not allowed to lend. Those that do lend, such as Wonga, cannot take deposits.

　　金融公司嚴格的監管制度意味著許多公司許多堅持小利基的公司要繞過銀行監管的局限。點對點借貸不提供給債權人存款保證或者直接取錢的便利。其他的公司像Holvi，一個位于芬蘭提供集體賬戶的初創公司，只提供存款，但不能借貸。而像Wonga這樣能借貸的公司則不能存款。

　　Creating a financial-tech company is arduous. Whereas it takes less than a day to register acompany in Britain, it takes months or years and can cost millions to get authorised as abank. The number of new banks started over the past decade can almost be counted onone hand. Even those that have started, such as Metro Bank or Aldermore, are penalised byregulation: rules on capital favour large and complex firms. In America the Dodd-Frank Actis an imposing barrier to all but the biggest firms. And regulation is closing in on someexisting firms. M-Pesa has struggled to grow much beyond Kenya, partly because authoritiesstand in its way. The market for remittances has been a hothouse for start-ups in Britain,partly because it was lightly regulated. Yet almost half the countrys money-transfer firmsmay be shut as banks close their accounts to comply with money-laundering rules.

　　創建一家金融科技公司很費力。在英國一家普通公司可能不到一天就注冊完成了，而要是成立一家銀行則有可能經歷長達數月甚至數年的審批，而且可能要花費上數百萬的費用。過去十年里成立的銀行數量一只手就能數過來。即使是成立了的銀行像Metro Bank和Aldermore，都被監管部門處罰過。關于資本的規定更有利于大型公司。在美國，多德弗蘭克法案對所有非大型公司是一個障礙。對很多公司的監管很嚴。M-Pesa努力在肯尼亞之外發展，部分原因就是政府出面阻礙其發展。在英國，匯款市場在初創公司中很火，部分原因就是其監管相對較松。但是如果銀行以違反洗錢規則關閉它們的賬戶，那么近一半的轉帳公司將會關門大吉。

　　Banks need to be more heavily regulated than other firms because of their central role inthe economy. However, governments could regulate more smartly, raising capitalrequirements for big and systemically important banks while easing the burden on smallerones. Regulators should be even more relaxed about many of the new entrants to themarket, most of which simply provide quicker and simpler ways of shifting money around.Most of these start-ups avoid the alchemy of bankingthe transformation of short-termdeposits into long-term loansso pose little systemic risk.

　　銀行比其他公司的監管更嚴厲，原因是它們在經濟活動中至關重要。但是，政府能更聰明地管理銀行業。提高對大型系統性銀行的監管，放松對小型銀行的管理。監管人員應該對新入行的公司放輕松，這些公司只是提供更方便快捷的轉賬方式。大多數初創公司避開銀行業的核心業務--將短期存款轉換成長期借貸--這樣系統性風險就很小了。

　　The idea of lighter-touch regulation will seem to many an anathema after the financialcrisis. It would certainly lead to more failures by small banks and start-ups. This would alsoimpose some costs on society and deposit-guarantee schemes. Yet these costs would beoutweighed by the enormous benefits to consumers and businesses of a far morecompetitive financial system.

　　對很多人來說，金融危機之后放寬監管很危險。當然，放松監管會帶來很多小銀行和初創公司的失敗。這也會給社會以及存款保證計劃帶來很多代價。但是這些代價會被消費者的獲利和金融系統更激烈的競爭所抵消。