2015年经济学人 新兴银行 扰乱时机正当时

New banks

Ripe for disruption

A rush of new entrants hope to shake up banking¹

“I PROMISE to open a bank account for a British citizen in just two minutes”, says Nazzim Ishaque brightly. With a background in IT, banking and asset management, he is submitting plans to the regulators to start a new bank called Lintel; the two-minute pledge is one of his selling points. Mr Ishaque reckons that he can do better than the existing banks, and is putting plenty of his own money where his mouth is, as part of the ￡5m ($7.5m) start-up cost. He hopes to start doing business early next year.

Since April 2013 three new British banks have appeared and three outfits² have taken over old licences. Martin Stewart, who doles³ out banking licences at the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), part of the Bank of England, says people are now applying to open banks in “unprecedented numbers”. Four applicants⁴ are likely to start operating this year, he says, with a further four or so probably coming to market next year. At least as far as the consumer is concerned, banking could be on the verge⁵ of quite a shake-up.

Since March 2013 the process to apply for a license⁶ has been streamlined. The PRA claims that a new bank can be up and running just six months after final authorisation. The capital requirements for the start-ups are lower than they used to be. And many of the new entrants are acting⁷ like classic entrepreneurs. They work out how the existing banks are failing customers, then look for niches⁹, whether in products, customers or technology. All are encouraged by the growing willingness of consumers to switch from one bank to another (see chart), stimulated¹⁰ in part by regulations designed to make this easier.

Mr Ishaque's niche⁸ will be immigrants, both students on short-stay visas and longer-term economic migrants. They are treated “extremely badly” by existing banks, he claims. He will offer a full range of products, in many languages, digitally and also at a few branches, to be located at the most convenient places for his target customers—such as the railway stations in London that serve Heathrow and Gatwick airports.

Atom Bank's niche, by contrast, is technological¹¹. It will be the first British bank to be digital-only, with all transactions done through smartphones and tablets, via an app. This ought to lower the bank's overheads. Set up by Mark Mullen, a former head of branchless bank First Direct, and Anthony Thomson, co-founder of another of the new wave of “challenger” banks, Metro¹², Atom Bank should start operating in the second half of this year. (Metro Bank itself, which started in 2010, is following a quite different road: it is opening new branches almost as quickly as traditional banks like Lloyds, RBS, Barclays and HSBC are closing them.)

The banking sector¹³ is currently the subject of a review by the Competition and Markets Authority, an official watchdog. Most of the new entrants would agree with the authority's criticism that some features of the current banking market “prevent, restrict or distort competition”, in relation to both personal customers and small businesses. The entrepreneurs also claim that their innovative¹⁴ new products and technologies will help to address some of those criticisms. Mr Mullen, for instance, attacks what he calls the opaque¹⁵ pricing of many current accounts: a selling point of Atom Bank, he claims, is that all its pricing will be utterly¹⁶ transparent¹⁷. “We will drive change,” he says.

1 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。

2 outfits   

n.全套装备( outfit的名词复数 )；一套服装；集体；组织v.装备，配置设备，供给服装( outfit的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He jobbed out the contract to a number of small outfits. 他把承包工程分包给许多小单位。 来自辞典例句
• Some cyclists carry repair outfits because they may have a puncture. 有些骑自行车的人带修理工具，因为他们车胎可能小孔。 来自辞典例句

3 doles   

救济物( dole的名词复数 )； 失业救济金

参考例句：

• They have accepted doles. 他们已经接受了救济物品。
• Some people able and willing to work were forced to accept doles. 一些有能力也愿意工作的人被迫接受赈济品。

4 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。

5 verge   

n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• She was on the verge of bursting into tears.她快要哭出来了。

6 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

7 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

8 niche   

n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等)

参考例句：

• Madeleine placed it carefully in the rocky niche. 玛德琳小心翼翼地把它放在岩石壁龛里。
• The really talented among women would always make their own niche.妇女中真正有才能的人总是各得其所。

9 niches   

壁龛( niche的名词复数 )； 合适的位置[工作等]； （产品的）商机； 生态位（一个生物所占据的生境的最小单位）

参考例句：

• Some larvae extend the galleries to form niches. 许多幼虫将坑道延伸扩大成壁龛。
• In his view differences in adaptation are insufficient to create niches commensurate in number and kind. 按照他的观点，适应的差异不足以在数量上和种类上形成同量的小生境。

10 stimulated   

a.刺激的

参考例句：

• The exhibition has stimulated interest in her work. 展览增进了人们对她作品的兴趣。
• The award has stimulated her into working still harder. 奖金促使她更加努力地工作。

11 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

12 metro   

n.地铁；adj.大都市的；(METRO)麦德隆(财富500强公司之一总部所在地德国，主要经营零售)

参考例句：

• Can you reach the park by metro?你可以乘地铁到达那个公园吗？
• The metro flood gate system is a disaster prevention equipment.地铁防淹门系统是一种防灾设备。

13 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

14 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。

15 opaque   

adj.不透光的；不反光的，不传导的；晦涩的

参考例句：

• The windows are of opaque glass.这些窗户装着不透明玻璃。
• Their intentions remained opaque.他们的意图仍然令人费解。

16 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

17 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。