2021年经济学人 美国终于向数字支付下手了(1)

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Fintech comes to America at last

美国终于迎来金融科技

A digital-payments system that favours consumers,not banks and credit-card firms, is long overdue¹.

一个利于消费者而非银行和信用卡公司的数字支付系统早就应该出现了

America is home to both Silicon² Valley and Wall Street, yet it has long seemed in the dark ages on digital payments. Until 2018 card purchases required hand signatures, 15 years after Europe switched to chip-and-pin. A cosy³ credit-card duopoly, consisting of Visa and Mastercard, works with the banks to issue cards, with the result that there has been too little competition and sky-high profit margins⁴. Asia has leapt ahead, with pervasive⁵, fast and dirt-cheap payments services, and a new generation of dynamic fintech firms that have rapidly reached scale. Having outdated⁶ and expensive digital financial plumbing⁷ is no mere⁸ technicality: as online shopping becomes a bigger part of everyday spending, it threatens to become a heavy tax on innovation. And it means too few people, especially in poorer households, have access to cheap and simple financial tools.

美国是硅谷和华尔街的故乡，但它似乎长期处于数字支付的黑暗时代。在2018年之前，在美国刷卡消费仍然需要手写签名，而欧洲在15年前就开始使用芯片卡付款系统了。作为信用卡领域的两强垄断集团，Visa和万事达与银行合作发行信用卡，他们的游刃有余却造成市场缺乏竞争，利润率成了天价。亚洲在数字支付已遥遥领先，实现了普遍、快速且廉价的支付方式，新一代充满活力的金融科技公司已经迅速达到规模。过时且昂贵的数字金融体系不仅会带来技术上的问题：随着网购在日常开支中所占比重逐渐加大，它还有可能会给创新带来重负。这意味着极少数人才能够获得廉价、简单的金融工具，尤其是对贫困家庭而言。

The good news is that the picture in America is changing for the better. Thanks to the pandemic, there has been a surge in payments online and experimentation⁹ by consumers with new services provided by digital-payments firms. In the past quarter the volume of transactions on PayPal was 36% higher than a year earlier. The number of people using Square’s digital Cash App rose by 50% to 36m during 2020. Investors¹⁰ are now betting that these two firms, together with Stripe and Adyen (which is Dutch), form a quartet that can take on America’s stodgy¹¹ financial establishment. (The chairman of The Economist’s parent group is a director of Square.) PayPal is worth $275bn, nearing Bank of America, the country’s second-biggest lender.

好消息是，美国的情况正在好转。多亏了新冠疫情，在线支付以及消费者尝试数字支付公司提供的新服务的次数均在激增。过去一个季度，PayPal的交易量比去年同期增长了36%。2020年，使用Square数字现金应用程序的人数增加了50%，达到3600万。投资者们估计，这两家公司连同Stripe和Adyen（荷兰公司）打算四家联手与美国古板的金融机构展开较量。（《经济学人》母公司的董事长是Square的董事之一。）PayPal市值2750亿美元，接近美国第二大银行美国银行的市值。

Yet there is a catch. Despite the rise of innovative¹² firms, fees for American consumers have yet to fall by much. Square charges 2.6% on the average transaction; Stripe’s fee nears 3%. By contrast, China’s big fintech firms charge below 0.5%. Fees have been kept low by a fierce price war.

但有一个陷阱。尽管创新型公司不断崛起，但美国消费者的手续费仍没有大幅下降。Square在平均每笔交易中收取2.6%的手续费；Stripe的收费接近3%。相比之下，中国大型金融科技公司的收费低于0.5%。由于激烈的价格战，中国收取的手续费一直很低。

1 overdue   

adj.过期的，到期未付的；早该有的，迟到的

参考例句：

• The plane is overdue and has been delayed by the bad weather.飞机晚点了，被坏天气耽搁了。
• The landlady is angry because the rent is overdue.女房东生气了，因为房租过期未付。

2 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

3 cosy   

adj.温暖而舒适的，安逸的

参考例句：

• We spent a cosy evening chatting by the fire.我们在炉火旁聊天度过了一个舒适的晚上。
• It was so warm and cosy in bed that Simon didn't want to get out.床上温暖而又舒适，西蒙简直不想下床了。

4 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

5 pervasive   

adj.普遍的；遍布的，(到处)弥漫的；渗透性的

参考例句：

• It is the most pervasive compound on earth.它是地球上最普遍的化合物。
• The adverse health effects of car exhaust are pervasive and difficult to measure.汽车尾气对人类健康所构成的有害影响是普遍的，并且难以估算。

6 outdated   

adj.旧式的，落伍的，过时的；v.使过时

参考例句：

• That list of addresses is outdated,many have changed.那个通讯录已经没用了，许多地址已经改了。
• Many of us conform to the outdated customs laid down by our forebears.我们许多人都遵循祖先立下的过时习俗。

7 plumbing   

n.水管装置；水暖工的工作；管道工程v.用铅锤测量（plumb的现在分词）；探究

参考例句：

• She spent her life plumbing the mysteries of the human psyche. 她毕生探索人类心灵的奥秘。
• They're going to have to put in new plumbing. 他们将需要安装新的水管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

9 experimentation   

n.实验，试验，实验法

参考例句：

• Many people object to experimentation on animals.许多人反对用动物做实验。
• Study and analysis are likely to be far cheaper than experimentation.研究和分析的费用可能要比实验少得多。

10 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

11 stodgy   

adj.易饱的；笨重的；滞涩的；古板的

参考例句：

• It wasn't easy to lose puppy fat when Mum fed her on stodgy home cooking.母亲给她吃易饱的家常菜，她想减掉婴儿肥可是很难。
• The gateman was a stodgy fellow of 60.看门人是个六十岁的矮胖子。

12 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。