2020年经济学人 拜拜美国(1)（在线收听）

Retail banks

零售银行

Bye bye America

拜拜美国

The sale of BBVA's American unit to PNC may set off a wave of mergers

将BBVA的美国分部出售给PNC可能会掀起一股并购浪潮

In May PNC, America's seventh-largest retail bank by assets, sold a stake in BlackRock, an asset manager, for $17bn. Bill Demchak, PNC's boss, said at the time that worries about the economy had prompted it to divest, in order to "bullet-proof" its balance-sheet. On November 16th he broke cover. PNC said it would buy the American arm of BBVA, Spain's second-largest bank, for $11.6bn. The deal could set off a scramble for scale on both sides of the Atlantic. Indeed, BBVA in turn said on the same day that it was in merger talks with Sabadell, another Spanish lender.

今年5月，按资产计算为美国第七大零售银行的PNC以170亿美元的价格出售了资产管理公司贝莱德的股份。PNC的老板比尔·德姆查克当时表示，对经济的担忧促使PNC撤资，以“防弹”其资产负债表。11月16日，他站了出来。PNC表示将以116亿美元收购西班牙第二大银行西班牙对外银行(BBVA)的美国业务。这笔交易可能会在大西洋两岸掀起一场规模争夺战。实际上，BBVA在同一天也表示，它正在与另一家西班牙银行萨瓦德尔进行合并谈判。

Scale has become increasingly important for retail banking in America. It is dominated by four giants—JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup—that have amassed branches while lavishing spending on marketing and technology. The investment in digital banking has paid off during the pandemic, as flashy apps have attracted a growing share of deposits. At the same time, the Federal Reserve's low interest rates are squeezing lending margins. That hurts regional banks most: they rely more on interest income from loans than their Wall Street rivals, which also earn fees on trading and investment-banking activities.

对于美国的零售银行业务来说，规模已经变得越来越重要。四大巨头——摩根大通、美国银行、富国银行和花旗集团占据着这个市场的主导地位。这四大巨头在积累分支机构的同时，也在市场营销和技术方面投入巨资。新冠期间，对数字银行的投资收到了回报，花哨的应用吸引了越来越多的存款。与此同时，美联储的低利率正在挤压贷款利润率，这对地区性银行的伤害最大：它们比华尔街的竞争对手更依赖于贷款的利息收入，后者也从交易和投资银行活动中赚取利润。

PNC's acquisition of BBVA USA Bancshares is the largest banking deal in America since BB&T bought SunTrust for $28bn last year. It will create the country's fifthlargest retail bank. The combined entity will be a coast-to-coast franchise operating in 29 of the country's 30 largest markets: half of BBVA's branches are in Texas, and the rest span southern states, where PNC's presence is limited. Still, PNC may seek to expand further. It has excess capital to deploy, in part because regulators have capped dividends and banned share buybacks. And America's field of mid-size banks remains crowded. At least 30 lenders have assets of around $50bn-250bn.

PNC对BBVA USA Bancshares的收购，是自BB&T去年以280亿美元收购SunTrust以来，美国最大的银行交易。它将创建该国第五大零售银行。合并后的实体将在全美30个最大的市场里的29个拥有从东海岸到西海岸的特许经营业务：BBVA的半数分支机构在德克萨斯州，其余的分支机构则分布在PNC业务有限的南部各州。不过，PNC可能会寻求进一步扩张。它有多余的资本可以配置，部分原因是监管机构限制了股息并禁止股票回购。美国的中型银行领域仍然拥挤不堪，其中至少有30家银行拥有约500亿至2500亿美元的资产。