British Vision Issue 72, 银行借贷危机

Now the Chancellor¹ has accused banks of lending money too freely, and has told them to take a more cautious approach. Commenting on the on-going global credit crisis, Alistair Darling told the Daily Telegraph, in crude terms they need to know who they're lending to, how much they're lending and what the risk is. Now, that's elementary banking², one might think, but there are times when going back to good old-fashioned banking may not be a bad idea.

Well, I am joined now by our economics correspondent Faisal Islam. Some people would say after 10 years in power, it's a bit rich for a Labour Chancellor to be blaming the banks for giving out easy money. What's he driving at?

There are two things going on here. Firstly, there seems to be the Chancellor by definition the government laying the blame as a current crisis in the financial markets, the credit crisis firmly at all of one set of institutions, the banks. And the implication here, the timing³ is highly significant because it comes just a day after the Governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King came out with a lengthy⁴ defense⁵ of his stoic⁶ position on all of this, that the bank's job is to intervene very forensically⁸ and selectively to keep the wheels of the financial system turning as they have done this morning by confirming a 4.4 billion pounds of money on offer to the markets. But not to kind of go about doing a more general bailout, not to sow the seeds of future financial crisis by letting, by bailing⁹ out those people that made stupid risky¹⁰ investment decisions, for example, on dodgy American mortgage debts. What this is is the Chancellor backing that view.

Ok. And what exactly did he mean when he talked about going back to good old-fashioned banking?

Well, I don't think he's suggesting that we perhaps go back to the days of a gentlemanly bank manager who knows the name, everything about you including the name of your pets. That's, those are gone. Yeah, we are living in a banking system just all about how you transfer risk around the financial system between borrowers and lenders and across the world and they repackage these debts they sell them on and guess what, it's the British banking system that has made billions of pounds out of that very act and will continue to. I don't think we are gonna see the end of that. But he is clearly saying that it may have gone too far.

And what does this all mean for us consumers then.

We are already seeing the effects of this banking crisis with the interest rate rises coming without the Bank of England raising its interest rates. This is gonna be a fixed¹¹ role over the next few months. The banks say that shows that credit is being more sensibly given out, they say it's the lenders who are borrowing too much not the banks who are lending too much as they told me earlier.

We are quite interested in the Chancellor's comments because of course the banks have been reviewing the way they lend money (um...) particularly unsecured credit for a number of years now. And in fact about 1 in 2 of every credit card applications are declined. I think there's a message for consumers that are looking to take on credit where they have been declined. And that is to think very carefully before going elsewhere for credit.

So what we see is the Chancellor and the Bank of England ganging up, saying that this position is right, the banks are gonna have to accept that they are gonna make losses.

Faisal. Thank you.

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1.stoic: adj. If you say that someone behaves in a stoic way, you approve of them because they do not complain or show they are upset in bad situations. (FORMAL)

2.forensical: adj. Forensic⁷ means relating to the legal profession.

1 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

2 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

3 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

4 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

5 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

6 stoic   

n.坚忍克己之人，禁欲主义者

参考例句：

• A stoic person responds to hardship with imperturbation.坚忍克己之人经受苦难仍能泰然自若。
• On Rajiv's death a stoic journey began for Mrs Gandhi,supported by her husband's friends.拉吉夫死后，索尼亚在丈夫友人的支持下开始了一段坚忍的历程。

7 forensic   

adj.法庭的，雄辩的

参考例句：

• The report included his interpretation of the forensic evidence.该报告包括他对法庭证据的诠释。
• The judge concluded the proceeding on 10:30 Am after one hour of forensic debate.经过近一个小时的法庭辩论后，法官于10时30分宣布休庭。

8 forensically   

adv.forensic（法庭的，法庭用的；法医的；公开辩论的，论争的）的变形

参考例句：

• 'Now, I'll put you in a corner,' forensically shaking a forefinger at him. “我不会给你退路的。”他像在法庭上一样向他晃着一根指头。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

9 bailing   

（凿井时用吊桶）排水

参考例句：

• Both fountains were going furiously and both pumps bailing with might and main. 两个人的口水只管喷泉似地朝外涌，两个抽水机全力以赴往外抽水。
• The mechanical sand-bailing technology makes sand-washing operation more efficient. 介绍了机械捞砂的结构装置及工作原理，提出了现场操作注意事项。

10 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

11 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。