《時代經(jīng)典用詞》商業(yè)篇 金融與投資
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arbitrage
套利
A 10-minute call from Rome to New York City costs $ 32.30;
從羅馬打一次電話到紐約約10分鐘要32.3美元，
New York to Rome is only $8.91
但從紐約打到羅馬只要8.91美元
Using a patented call-back-conferencing mechanism he describes as"telephone arbitrage,"Howard Jonas can make the price spread between foreign opolies and deregulated American phone companies work to your advantage.
Howard Jonas使用稱為“電話套利”的“回Call服務(wù)”，有效利用外國獨占公用事業(yè)與自由化的美國電話事業(yè)之間的價差，造福用戶。
CD
存款單
"We're having to put money back in that business that we had invested in certificates of deposit for our children's education,
“我們必須把投資在存款單，準(zhǔn)備給孩子作教育費的資金抽出來放在公司。
and we have cashed in all our life insurance policies."
而我們也已經(jīng)把壽險都換成現(xiàn)金了。”
Deutsche Bundesbank
德意志聯(lián)邦銀行
t is assuming a forceful leadership role in European foreign policy even as the Bundesbank rules Europe's economic roost.
它正在歐洲的外交事務(wù)上尋求強有力的龍頭地位，即使德意志聯(lián)邦銀行已經(jīng)統(tǒng)御了歐洲的經(jīng)濟力量。
The day after President Clinton publicly urged it to do so,Germany's Bundesbank cut key interest rates
在克林頓總統(tǒng)公開呼吁后的第二天，德國的中央銀行就調(diào)降了主要利率。
With domestic inflation running at more than 4% annually,Germany's Bundesbank sought to dampen it by raising the benchmark discount rate for banks a hefty 0.75% to 8.75%,the highest since 1931.
因為國內(nèi)的通貨膨脹年增率在4%左右，德國央行大幅調(diào)升基本貼現(xiàn)率0.75個百分點到了8.75%以尋求抑制通膨率。
money laundering
洗錢
DEA agents say the Urdinola brothers work somewhat independently from the rest of the Cali consortium,with their own trafficking and ndering organizations across the U.S.
美國緝毒局的干員指出Urdinola兄弟的販毒作業(yè)與卡利組織的其他部門算是分開來的，因為他們在全美布有自已的販毒與洗錢組織。
BCCI,earlier convicted of drug-money laundering in Florida,drew attention because it acquired First American,the largest bank in Washington.
稍早因在假佛羅里達幫毒販洗錢而遭判決有罪的國際信貸銀行，所以能引起注意是因為它曾買下華盛頓市最大的美國第一銀行。
mortgage
抵押權(quán)
If you have a home mortgage,you can be involved in derivatives already without even knowing it.
假如你有抵押房屋貸款，你可能已經(jīng)涉入衍生性金融商品交易而不自知。
These days there's a good chance yours won't be kept in one piece by the banks that lent you the money.
在這年頭，貸款給你的銀行很可能會把你的抵押權(quán)拿云整得片瓦不留。
With 30-year fixed mortgage rates now at about 7%,singlefamily housing starts have returned to the brisk pace of the mid-1980s
目前30年固定房貨抵押利息約在7%上下，自住型的新屋動工率應(yīng)可回到1980年代中期的快速步調(diào)。
mutual fund
共同基金
Faced with falling income from their nest eggs,
面對他們投資組合的收入下降，
consumers have scrambled to switch their savings from such investments as CDs and money-market accounts to riskier but higher-yielding stocks l funds.
消費者爭先恐后的把存款與貨幣市場的投資轉(zhuǎn)換成風(fēng)險較高，但獲利也較高的股票與共同基金。
For the millions of Americans who have poured a record torrent of their hard-earned cash into mutual funds,this should be the best of times.
對數(shù)百尤將血汗錢破紀(jì)錄地投入共同基金市場的美國人來說，現(xiàn)在應(yīng)該是最風(fēng)光的日子。
venture capital
風(fēng)險資本
Micro Computer invented a digital computer that controlled machine tools,
Micro Computer公司發(fā)明了解一部可控制工具機的數(shù)位電腦，
then fell apart in 1971 after a dispute between Hyatt and his venture-capital partners over sharing his rights to that invention.
但公司在1971年解散了，因為提供Hyatt風(fēng)險資本基金的合伙人，欲分享他在該發(fā)明所擁有的權(quán)利，而大家鬧翻了。
Are Banks Obsolete?
銀行過時了嗎？
1.What would happen to the U.S. economy if all its commercial banks suddenly closed their doors?
假如美國所有的商業(yè)銀行突然一起關(guān)門，對美國經(jīng)濟造成什么影響？
Throughout most of American history,the answer would have been
放眼美國大部分的歷史，這個答案將是：
a disaster of epic proportions,akin to the Depression wrought by the chain-reaction bank failures in the early 1930s.
超大規(guī)模的金融災(zāi)難，就有如1930年代早期，銀行像骨牌效應(yīng)般連鎖倒閉所造成的“大蕭條”。
But in 1993 the startling answer is that a shutdown by banks might be far from cataclysmic.
但是時至1993年，令人吃驚的答案是：銀行倒閉可能無關(guān)痛癢。
2.Consider this:though the economic recovery is now 27 months old,
想想這件事實：經(jīng)濟復(fù)蘇已經(jīng)持續(xù)27個月，
not a single net new dollar has been lent to business by banks in all that time.
但在此期間銀行對企業(yè)新增貸款的凈額是零。
Last week the Federal Reserve reported
上周聯(lián)邦儲備委員會報道，
that the amount of loans the nation's largest banks have made to businesses fell an additional $2.4 billion in the week ending June 9,to $274.8 billion.
全國大銀行對企業(yè)貸款在6月9日的前一個星期之內(nèi)又減少了24億美元成為2748億美元。
Fearful that the scarcity of bank credit might sabotage the fragile economy,
在害怕銀行信用不足對脆弱的經(jīng)濟造成破壞的情況下，
the White House and federal agencies are working feverishly
白宮與聯(lián)邦機構(gòu)極力促成
to encourage banks to open their lending windows.In the past two weeks,government regulators have introduced steps to make it easier for banks to lend.
銀行開啟它們的貸款窗口。過去兩周來，政府當(dāng)局引用一些新措施，讓銀行更容易貸款。
For instance,less paperwork will be needed to process loans,
例如簡化貸款的紙上作業(yè)，
and formal appraisals are no longer required for every real estate loan.
而且所有房地產(chǎn)貸款不再需要正式的估價程序。
3.Is the government's concern fully justified?
政府的擔(dān)心有道理嗎？
Who really needs banks these days?
現(xiàn)在誰要靠銀行？
Hardly anyone,it turns out.
幾乎沒有。
While banks once dominated business lending,today nearly 80% of all such loans come from nonbank lenders
銀行曾經(jīng)獨霸企業(yè)貸款，但是現(xiàn)在80%的企業(yè)貸款都由非銀行機構(gòu)接管。
like life insurers,brokerage firms and finance companies.
例如壽險公司、經(jīng)紀(jì)行及融資公司。
Banks used to be the only source of money in town.
銀行曾是唯一的現(xiàn)款來源，
Now businesses and individuals can write checks on their insurance companies,
但現(xiàn)在企業(yè)與個人可以其保險公司名義開立支票，
get a loan from a pension fund,and deposit paychecks in a money-market account with a brokerage firm.
向退休基金貸款，并把薪水支票存在經(jīng)紀(jì)行的貨幣市場賬戶里。
"It is possbile for banks to die and still have a vibrant economy,"says Edward Furash,a Washington bank consultant.
華盛頓的銀行顧問Edward Furashr指出：“即使銀行死光光，我們還是可能擁有蓬勃的經(jīng)濟。”
4.The irony is that the acclerating slide into irrelevance comes just as the banks racked up record profits of $43 billion over the past 15 months,creating the impression that the industry is staging a comeback.
具有諷刺意義的是，正在銀行加速落入敗部的當(dāng)兒，它們卻在過去15個月以來累積了創(chuàng)紀(jì)錄的430億美元利潤，制造出銀行業(yè)卷土重來的印象。
But that income was not the result of smart lending decisions.
但這些收入并非來自明智的貸款決策。
Instead of earning money by financing America's recovery,the banks mainly invested their funds-on which they were paying a bargain-basement 2% or so-in risk-free Treasury bonds that yielded 7%.
銀行沒有因貸款給經(jīng)濟復(fù)蘇的美國而獲利，卻將它們的基金投資在無風(fēng)險且提供7%高利率的政府債券。而這些基金卻只提供貢獻存款存戶2%的微薄利息。
That left bank officers with little to do except put their feet on their desks and watch the interest roll in.
這種投資策略讓銀行職員無事可做，只須把腳蹺在桌上等待利息滾滾涌入。
5.Those profits may have come at a price.
這些利潤可能是有代價的。
Not only did bankers lose many loyal customers by withholding credit,
銀行不只因為緊縮信用而失去許多忠實顧客，
they also inadvertently opened the door to a herd of nonbank competitors,who stampeded into the lending market.
而且不經(jīng)意地敞開大門，讓一大批非銀行機構(gòu)蜂擁進入貸款市場。
"The banking industry didn't see this threat,"says Furash.
Furash說：“銀行業(yè)還沒意識到威脅。
"They are being fat,dumb and happy.They didn't realize that banking is essential to a modern economy,but banks are not."
它們癡肥又沾沾自喜，而且并不了解：現(xiàn)代經(jīng)濟的確需要貸款業(yè)，但并不一定需要銀行。”
6.The soft economy has often been used by banks as an excuse for the slowdown in extending credit.
銀行常以孱弱的經(jīng)濟為貸款下降的理由。
Yet evidence abounds that banks are still gun-shy about lending to business.
但是諸多證據(jù)顯示銀行對企業(yè)貸款仍是小心翼翼。
And no wonder.
這并不奇怪。
More than $125 billion in failed loans to real estate buyers,developing countries,farmers and the energy industry have had to be written off in the past five years.
過去5年，銀行必須想辦法沖銷1250億美元的呆賬，這些呆賬來自對不動產(chǎn)購買者、發(fā)展中國家、農(nóng)民與能源工業(yè)的貸款。
7.The invasion of other financial companies eager to make loans has caused deep damage to the banking industry.
熱衷貸款的其他金融機構(gòu)大舉入侵，對銀行造成深切的傷害。
"The banks are clearly losing the franchise of lending to business,"says David Wyss,senior financial economist for DRI/McGraw-Hill,a large economic consulting firm.
戴維•威斯是大型經(jīng)濟顧問社DRI/McGraw-Hill的資深金融學(xué)家。他指出：“銀行明顯地失去企業(yè)貸款的特權(quán)。
"That should be scaring them because this is where their real profits are."
它們應(yīng)該感到恐懼，因為這才是它們真正的利潤所在。”
8.Though banks lost most of their blue-chip corporate clients years ago to Wall Street's capital markets,
雖然銀行在多年以前就將大型績優(yōu)公司拱手讓給華爾街的資金市場，
they still retained another profitable part of banking:the small and mid-size business borrower.
但是它們?nèi)耘f保留住另一塊沃土：中小企業(yè)。
But that has changed in the past few years.
這種情況在過去數(shù)年亦起變化。
The spread of computer technology and sophisticated new loan strategies slashed both the risk and cost of lending to small business owners.
電腦科技的普及與先進的新貸款策略大幅降低對中小企業(yè)貸款的風(fēng)險與成本。
Soon financial giants such as Merrill Lynch and John Hancock,as well as smaller finance companies like Access Capital,
很快的，金融巨人如默林•林奇與約翰•漢考克與小型融資公司
went after the banks' last domain of business borrowers.
如Access Capital，都來搶奪銀行最后的一群企業(yè)顧客。
9.The new competitors have succeeded in part because banks have alienated so many of their traditional customers.
新的競爭者能成功，部分是因為銀行疏遠了它們傳統(tǒng)的顧客。
"My experience with banks has been horrible,"
“我與銀行來往的經(jīng)驗非?？膳?，”
says Barry Weinstein,president of Fulton Computer Products in Rockville Centre,New York.
Barry Weinstein是位于紐約州Rockville Centre的Fulton電腦公司的總經(jīng)理，他說：
"Even if you bank with someone for 25 years,that still doesn't amount to a hill of beans."
“即使你跟銀行來往個25年，你們的交情還不如一個屁。”
Sales at Weinstein's company jumped from $900,000 in 1988 to $18.5 million last year.Yet when Weinstein applied for a loan with 12 banks over a period of 24 months,
Weinstein的公司營業(yè)額自1988年的90萬美元跳升到去年的1850萬美元，但他花了24個月向12家銀行申請貸款。
all turned him down,even though he was never late in repaying his previous debts.
雖然他從來沒有拖欠債款的紀(jì)錄，但是所有的銀行都拒絕借我。
He eventually borrowed $1 million from Access Capital,a fast-growing finance company based in New York.
他最后向紐約的Access Capital，一家快速成長的融資公司，借了100萬美元。
10.Joseph Ricci,who runs a private school in Maine for children with behavioral problems,
Joseph Ricci在緬因州開一所教導(dǎo)行為偏差兒童的私立學(xué)校，
spent more than two years trying to borrow $700,000 from as many as five banks.
他花了超過兩年的時間，向五家銀行申貸一筆70萬元的款子。
But even with $17 million in assets and an unblemished credit history,Ricci walked away empty-handed.
即使他有1700萬美元的資產(chǎn)以及毫無瑕疵的信用紀(jì)錄，Ricci仍然兩手空空走出銀行。
"We demonstrated to all of them how we could carry the loan.But the banks were just not lending money to business,"he says.
他說：“我們跟所有銀行說爛了嘴證明我們有能力背負(fù)這筆貸款，但是它們就是不貸款給企業(yè)。”
Ricci went to a finance company and within six weeks got a loan.
Ricci轉(zhuǎn)而找尋融資公司，六周內(nèi)就借到了錢。
11.That's the way the credit crunch has brought rapid growth to many nonbank lenders.
這就是緊縮信用社讓非銀行機構(gòu)大發(fā)利市的現(xiàn)象。
"There is plenty of demand for financing from small companies,"says Access Capital president Miles Stuchin."It's just that the banks are turning them down."
Access Capital公司總經(jīng)理Miles Stuchin說：“小企業(yè)對貸款的需求很高，只是銀行卻讓它們失望了。”
Stuchin set up a finance company in 1986 that Inc.magazine last year placed in the top 20% of the 500 fastest-growing companies in the U.S.
Stuchin在1986年設(shè)立Access Capital，在去年被《Inc.雜志》列在美國500家成長最快企業(yè)的前20%區(qū)間之中。
12.Perhaps the greatest threat to commercial banks has come from life insurers and pension funds.
商業(yè)銀行的最大威脅也許是來自壽險公司與退休基金。
The two have combined assets of $4.5 trillion,exceeding that of the entire banking industry.
這兩種產(chǎn)業(yè)結(jié)合起來的資產(chǎn)有4.5兆美元，比整個銀行業(yè)都大。
They are the largest source of financing for U.S.industry.
它們是美國產(chǎn)業(yè)界最大的金主。
While bank lending was dropping during the past two years,loans by life insurers jumped $50 billion.
過去兩年銀行貸款下跌，而壽險公司的貸款卻跳升了500億美元。
13.One such loan went to IDB Communications Group,a telecommunications service company based in Culver City,California,whose $78 million line of credit was canceled by a group of banks.
其中一筆貸款是調(diào)進位在加州City的IDB通訊集團，因為銀行取消了其7800萬美元信用額度。
"I spent every waking hour for half a year on this issue,"says IDB's chief financial officer,Ed Cheramy.
IDB的財務(wù)總經(jīng)理Ed Cheramy說：“半年來我無時無刻不在想法子擺平這件事，
"It was the worst experience of my life."
此乃我一生中最恐怖的經(jīng)驗。”
14.Coming to the rescue with a $20 million loan was Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association,the nation's third largest insurance company.
帶著2000萬美元來救命的是美國第三大保險公司Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association。
In the past year,TIAA has lent a record $3.5 billion to business.
去年TIAA貸出空前的35億美元。
Some $225 billion in loans to business are now held by the life-insurance industry,up 11% from two years ago.
目前壽險業(yè)的對企業(yè)貸款達2250億美元，比兩年前增長11%。
15.Wall Street firms have also cherry-picked some of the banks' best business.
華爾街經(jīng)紀(jì)行也挑了幾樣銀行最賺錢的營業(yè)項目來經(jīng)營。
Merrill Lynch,for example,has been targeting smaller companies since the mid-1980s.
例如Merrill Lynch公司自1980年代中期起便將目標(biāo)對準(zhǔn)小企業(yè)。
Last year its business financial-services division had about 3,000 clients and $800 million in loan commitments.
去年它的企業(yè)金融服務(wù)部門擁有約3000家顧客，并承諾借出8億美元。
16.With their loan portfolios under five,banks are in danger of losing their depositors as well.
不只貸款業(yè)務(wù)遭到夾攻，銀行還有存款流失的危機。
Americans have withdrawn more than $500 billion from low-yielding bank accounts over the past three years in favor of higher-paying investments like mutual funds.
過去三年，美國人自低收益的銀行戶頭提出超過5000億的現(xiàn)款，投入較高收益的投資如共同基金。
Even the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's $100,000 guarantee is no longer exclusively available to banks and S&Ls.
連聯(lián)邦存款保險公司的每人10萬元存款保險也不再限于僅給與銀行和信用合作社。
Brokerage firms like Prudential Securities now offer "insured income accounts" with checking privileges and government insurance.
像Prudential Securities這樣的經(jīng)紀(jì)行所提供的“保障收入賬戶”都有核對優(yōu)先權(quán)與政府保險。
17.A few banks are vigorously working to recapture their share of business lending.
幾家銀行已經(jīng)大張旗鼓地要奪回企業(yè)貸款市場。
This spring Chemical Bank,the nation's third largest,kicked off the biggest marketing blitz in its history to attract small and medium-size business borrowers.
今年春天美國第三大的Chemical銀行以該行空前的大手筆展開一項促銷攻勢，企圖吸引中小企業(yè)上門。
An army of 1,800 lending officers,including bank president Walter Shipley and chairman John McGillicuddy,
1800名貸款人員，包括總經(jīng)理Walter Shipley與董事長John McGillicuddy，
went knocking door to door at 5,000 companies across five states.
在五個州逐一拜訪5000家企業(yè)。
"Am I concerned about Wall Street firms and investment bankers coming into the market?Absolutely,"says Frank Lourenso,who heads Chemical's midmarket lending division.
Chemical的中級市場貸款部主管Frank Lourenso說：“我擔(dān)心華爾街企業(yè)和投資銀行來搶市場嗎？當(dāng)然！
"They are real players,and I take them very seriously.But we're going to be very aggressive in looking for new business"
它們是真正的玩家，而我很嚴(yán)肅地看待它們。但是我們將非常主動地爭取新的企業(yè)主顧。”
18.That drive was underscored last month when the Federal Reserve gave 確度 the green light to sell and underwrite corporate bonds.
這樣的雄心在上個月得到政府的肯定。聯(lián)邦儲備委員會批準(zhǔn)Chemical銀行銷售及承銷公司債券。
Normally banks are barred from such investment-banking activity under the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933.
通常，根據(jù)1933年的Glass-Steagall法案，商業(yè)銀行是不準(zhǔn)從事此類投資銀行業(yè)務(wù)的。
But the Fed cited a loophole,
但是聯(lián)邦儲備理事會引用該法案的漏洞，
and its decision allows certain banks to take on Wall Street directly in wooing business borrowers.
而它的決定讓某些銀行可以直接向華爾街挑戰(zhàn)，來爭取企業(yè)主顧。
19.Unshackling the banking sector entirely from such Depression-era regulatory chains may be the only way to reverse the 20 year structural decline of the banks.
讓銀行自此種大蕭條時期訂下的枷鎖中完全解放出來，也許是讓銀行業(yè)20年來結(jié)構(gòu)性衰退起死回生的唯一方法。
But that is something the Congress has steadfastly refused to do.
但是國會一直堅決反對這樣作。
Nor do such comprehensive reforms appear on President Clinton's agenda.
這樣廣泛的改革也未出現(xiàn)在克林頓總統(tǒng)的議事日程中。
Yet until such changes are made,banks,once a fixture on the U.S.financial landscape,will continue their slow fade.
但是如果不作這些改革，一度在美國金融地圖上最顯眼的銀行業(yè)，恐將持續(xù)地失去可見度。
