2019年经济学人美联储拟建实时支付系统(1)（打印版）

In several countries—Britain, say, or Sweden—bank transfers are more or less instant.

在一些国家—如英国或瑞典—银行间转帐或多或少是即时的。

The moment your wages leave your employer's bank account, they arrive in your own,

你的工资一离开雇主的银行账户，就会进入你的账户

giving you the wherewithal to pay the bills and feed the family. But America is far behind.

让你有钱支付账单，养家糊口。但美国远远落后了。

Transfers can take days to clear, landing many Americans—chiefly those who can least afford additional expense—

转账需要好几天才到账，许多美国人—主要是那些负担不起额外费用的人—

with hefty overdraft fees or pushing them towards payday lenders charging high interest rates.

因此背负了巨额透支费用，或者被迫向发薪日贷款方支付高额利息。

In an age when millennials can split a drinks tab on their smartphones before leaving the bar, this almost beggars belief.

在这个千禧一代可以在离开酒吧前用智能手机分摊饮料账单的时代，这几乎令人难以置信。

The Federal Reserve wants to speed things up.

联邦储备局想要提速。

On August 5th it said that it would build a faster-payments system, as central banks have in other countries.

8月5日，其表示将建立更快的支付系统，就像其他国家的中央银行那样。

But not, alas, instantly. FedNow, its proposed service, will not start before 2023.

但不是马上。其拟议服务FedNow在2023年之前不会启动。

Covering all of America's 10,000 banks and other depository institutions will take even longer.

覆盖美国所有一万家银行和其他存款机构甚至需要更长的时间。

In fact, America already has a real-time payments system.

事实上，美国已经有了一个实时支付系统。

The Clearing House (TCH), which is owned by 25 big banks, has been running one since 2017.

归25家银行所有的清算所（TCH）自2017年起就在运营一个支付系统。

Between them, says Steve Ledford of TCH,

TCH的史蒂夫·莱德福特表示，在它们之间

the 16 banks that have so far joined the system hold just over half of the accounts from which payments can be made.

16家已经加入该系统的银行所持有的账户仅略多于支付账户的一半。

TCH is pushing for near ubiquity next year.

TCH正在推动其明年的全面普及。

So why does the Fed want its own? First, it is not convinced that TCH's system will ever connect to all the country's tiny banks.

所以Fed为什么想要建立一个自己的系统呢？首先，它不相信TCH的系统会连接到全国所有的小银行。

Mr Ledford says that TCH's plan is to reach smaller banks through the technology companies that provide their computing systems.

莱德福特先生表示TCH的计划是通过科技公司自己的电脑系统，与规模更小的银行建立联系。

Second, it fears that without competition prices will be too high, quality too low and innovation too slow.

第二，它担心没有了竞争，价格会过高，质量会过低且创新会过慢。

(The TCH has promised not to discriminate against small banks. It charges sending banks a flat 4.5 cents and receiving ones nothing.)

（TCH已经承诺不会区别对待小银行。它向拨款银行收取4.5美分的手续费，向收款银行不收费。）