英国新闻听力 利率变动（在线收听）

当前，银行和房屋互助协会如要变动利率，他们就需要做大量工作，将利率变动一事告知客户。他们几乎都要遵照《银行守则》去行事。《银行守则》承诺说银行和房屋互助协会将……

注释：

1.fulfill vt. 履行，实现

2.branch n. 分部，分支

3.potential adj. 潜在的，可能的

4.swiftly adv. 很快地，即刻

5.credit vt. 相信，信任，把……归给

6.notification n. 通知，布告

7.beforehand adv. 预先

8.adhere v. 坚持

9.straightforward adj. 易懂的，直接了当的

10.efficient adj. 有效率的

11.commercial adj. 商业的，贸易的

12.alternative n. 二中择一，可供选择的办法

13.obligation n. 义务，职责

14.consultation n. 请教，咨询，磋商

15.scope n. 机会，余地

Interest Rate Changes

Now when banks and building societies change interest rates, they're meant to do a number of things to tell their customers about it. The Banking Code, to which almost all belong, gives assurances that they'll …

STATEMENT: Keep you informed about changes to the interest rates on your accounts and we will tell you about the ways we will do this.

LEWIS: The Code also says ...

STATEMENT: The requirement to keep you informed of changes to interest rates on your accounts will be fulfilled by either telling customers personally within 30 days of the change or within 3 working days of the change, putting notices in branches and newspapers.

LEWIS: And the Code also allows your bank to tell you personally about the change (usually by letter) but up to 30 days after the change happens, delaying the opportunity to switch to a better account by a month. Money Box listener John had an e-saver account with Nationwide. Earlier this year Nationwide cuts its interest rate from 4.75% to 4.55% with just one day's notice.

JOHN: If I'd known that the rate change was coming up, I'd have planned for it and I would have transferred my money to a better paying account. As it was, I discovered several weeks after the event that I'd actually lost out on the potential income I could have received in terms of interest. I think the regulations should be tightened up. We're living in the Internet age now. The information could be transferred so much more swiftly.

LEWIS: Well Nationwide isn't the only one. Halifax's Direct ISA was advertised at a headline grabbing 5% just before the end of the financial year, but it swiftly dropped that rate from 6th April to 4?% as Money Box listener Pat found out.

PAT: I went online to see what interest had been credited to the account and I just happened to notice that the interest rate had dropped and I hadn't had notification of it. But I was horrified because I didn't know when it had changed and I wrote to the Halifax. They did say that the Banking Code required them to notify people within 30 days, but they go right to the wire and do it 30 days after the event rather than before the event.

LEWIS: Well Nationwide and Halifax both insisted to Money Box they didn't break the Banking Code, so is it time the Code was tightened up? Adrian Coles is Director General of the Building Societies Association and a member of the Banking Code Standards Board. I put it to him that customers could miss out on better interest rates for a month.

COLES: Well they're not losing an entire month's interest of course. I mean interest rates don't change hugely these days. What they may possibly have lost is a ?% or a ?% possibly for a month, but it is consistent with what the Banking Code requires. And you've got to give institutions some time to prepare the letters, to get them out, to get them distributed to customers.

LEWIS: But if they can put an advert in the newspaper beforehand and a notice up in the branch beforehand, surely they can write to their customers sooner than a month?

COLES: Many institutions do do it quicker than 30 days. The Banking Code is a minimum set of standards that everybody has to adhere to. If customers feel it's very important to get that information quicker than 30 days, then that's something they should ask the institution about when they open their account.

LEWIS: Do you think the Banking Code should be tightened up in this respect? Do you think there should be a shorter limit than 30 days?

COLES: Don't forget someone like Nationwide Building Society has got 11 million members. If bank base rates change by a significant amount, say ?%, to organise the distribution of letters and notifications to 11 million people is not a simple and straightforward task. So I think to say that you've got to do it within a week, I think we'd probably so overwhelm the Post Office that no other post would get delivered.

LEWIS: You don't think that nowadays with a lot of these customers being online customers, they could just be e-mailed? That would be very quick and very efficient.

COLES: Yes, there is the option to do that and a number of institutions do e-mail, but of course not everybody opens their e-mails that come from commercial organisations.

LEWIS: No, but it would be an alternative, wouldn't it? Where customers are online, they're not going into the branch, they may not read the right newspaper - just send them an e-mail, fulfil your obligations, and you could do that overnight.

COLES: Yes, the Banking Code does say that the personal notifications can include e-mail, but again there is still the 30 day requirement to do that.

LEWIS: And how do you respond to our listeners who say this is almost like sharp practice - you change the rate and then at the very, very last moment, you tell us about it?

COLES: I think 30 days is an appropriate period of time.

LEWIS: And you're a member of the Banking Code Standard Board representing building societies. Is this something you'll be raising when the review comes around next year?

COLES: Anyone can respond to the consultation on what should be in the Banking Code.

LEWIS: I was really asking if next year you will raise this on behalf of building societies rather than wait for someone else to raise it.

COLES: We will certainly look at it and see if there's scope for improving the speed of notification to customers, yes.

LEWIS: Building Societies Association boss Adrian Coles. And you can have your say on the way banks and building societies tell us about interest rate changes on our website.

利 率 变 动

当前，银行和房屋互助协会如要变动利率，他们就需要做大量工作，将利率变动一事告知客户。他们几乎都要遵照《银行守则》去行事。《银行守则》承诺说银行和房屋互助协会将……

声明：随时通知您有关您账户利率变动的情况，并告诉您我们将采用的通知方式。

刘易斯：《守则》中还说……

声明：银行将通过以下方式随时通知您有关您账户利率变动的情况：在利率有所变更的30天内，亲自通知客户；或者在利率发生变动的3个工作日内，在各分行和报纸上发布公告。

刘易斯：《银行守则》还允许你的开户银行最晚在利率变动的30天内亲自通知客户（通常是通过信函），延误了客户一个月的时间来选择一个更为经济的账户。约翰是"财富箱"栏目的一位听众。他在全英房屋抵押贷款协会（Nationwide）有一个电子账户。今年年初，全英房屋抵押贷款协会（Nationwide）将利率由4.75%降到了4.55%，仅发布了一天的利率变更公告。

约翰：如果早知道利率要发生变动的话，我就会有所规划，把钱转到另一个利率高的账户上去。可实际上，等我发现了这件事情已经是几周以后了，那时我已经损失了一些我本应得到的利息收入。我认为银行的条例应再严格些。如今，我们已处于网络时代了，信息的传递应该更加地快捷。

刘易斯：利率下跌的不止全英房屋抵押贷款协会（Nationwide）一家。哈利法克斯的直接个人存款账户在新闻头条上大肆宣扬其利率在财政年度结束前将达到5％。但实际上，正如"财富箱"听众帕特发现的那样：自4月6日起，哈利法克斯的利率很快跌至4.75％。

帕特：我上网去查他们往我的帐户上打了多少利息，才碰巧注意到利率已经下跌，可我之前并未收到相关通知。我觉得很惊讶，因为我并不知道利率是何时发生的变动。于是我就给哈利法克斯写了封信。他们说《银行守则》规定他们在30天内通知客户，但他们误解了守则的意思，在事后，而非事前30天给了客户通知。

刘易斯：全英房屋抵押贷款协会（Nationwide）和哈利法克斯都对"财富箱"强调，他们没有违反《银行守则》，那么《银行守则》现在是否应该更严格些？艾德里安·科尔斯是英国房屋互助联合会总理事，同时他还是银行守则标准制定委员会的成员之一。我们请他谈谈对"顾客可能损失一个月利息"这一问题的看法。

科尔斯：当然，客户们并没有完全损失掉一整个月的利息。我的意思是说利率在这些天内并不会有大幅度的起伏。一个月，客户们可能损失大约 2.5‰或5‰的利息，不过这仍然与《银行守则》的要求相符。你必须给这些机构一些时间去准备信件，把信寄出，况且信分发到顾客手中也要一定的时间。

刘易斯：但是既然那些机构事先能在报纸上刊登公告或在分支机构发布公告，那他们肯定就能够在一个月之内通知客户，不是吗？

科尔斯：许多机构确实在30天之内就完成了工作。《银行守则》是为所有的机构设定的必须遵守的最低标准。如果客户觉得非常有必要在少于30天之内就获取信息，那么他们在开户时就应该问清楚相关事宜。

刘易斯：您认为《银行守则》在这方面的规定是否应该再严格些？您认为通知客户的期限是否应该少于30天呢？

科尔斯：但不要忽略了这样的事实：类似全英房屋抵押贷款协会这样的机构，有一千一百万名客户。如果银行将利率大幅度变动，比方说，0.5%，那么发信函通知一千一百万名客户并不是一件简单易行的小事。因此我认为：如果你要求必须一周内完成通知工作的话，这一"浩大工程"不仅会使邮局手足无措不堪重负，还会妨碍其他邮件的投递。

刘易斯：现在很多人都是网上客户，不是可以通过e-mail来通知他们么？这种方式将会更加快捷高效。

科尔斯：是的，e-mail 也不失为一种好的通知方式，而且许多机构也采用了这种方式。但并不是每个人都会去查看发自商业组织的邮件。

刘易斯：是的，不过这也是一种选择，不是么？在能够上网的地方，人们一般不打算去分行，也不一定会看到刊登利率变动消息的那份报纸。给这些人发个e-mail就可以履行你们的义务，而且这个工作当晚就能完成。

科尔斯：是，《银行守则》也指出亲自通知顾客的方式包括e-mail，但还是要求在30天之内来完成这项工作。

刘易斯：我们有些听众指出：这是近乎于欺骗的手段--先改变利率，然后在最迟的时间告知大家。对此您又将做何回应呢？

科尔斯：我认为30天是个比较合适的时间限度。

刘易斯：您作为《银行守则》标准指定会的成员之一，代表全英房屋抵押贷款协会（Nationwide）。明年工作评议时，您会把这一问题提出来吗？

科尔斯：任何人都可以就《银行守则》的增改的问题向咨询机构提出意见。

刘易斯：我想问的是明年您是否会代表全英房屋抵押贷款协会（Nationwide）提出这个问题，而不是等着其他人来提？

科尔斯：我们当然会去处理这个问题，考虑是否还有余地提高通知客户利率变更的速度。

刘易斯：英国房屋互助联合会总理事科尔斯。您可以在我们的网站上就"银行和房屋互助协会可以采用的告知大众利率变动的方式"这一问题发表您的见解。