双语阅读｜美国现银行分支机构关闭潮
WINDSOR, a community of 6,200 people two hours outside Albany in New York state, offers many of the amenities commonly found in a small town, including a bakery, a car-repair outfit and several restaurants. There is just one thing missing: a bank. The town’s only financial institution, First Niagara Bank, shut its doors in October.
温莎（Windsor）是一个拥有6200位居民的社区，距离美国纽约州首府奥尔巴尼（Albany）约两小时车程。通常在普通小镇里有的设施，在温莎里都有，包括面包店，汽修厂和几家餐厅。镇上唯一缺少的是银行。该镇唯一的金融机构第一尼亚加拉银行（First Niagara Bank）分行在2016年10月关门。
Towns like Windsor are becoming ever more common in America. Since the financial crisis, banks have closed over 10,000 branches, an average of three a day. In the first half of 2017 alone, a net 869 brick-and-mortar entities shut their doors, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, a research firm. Some fret that branch closures risk turning poorer neighbourhoods into “banking deserts”, cut off from current accounts, loans and other basic services.
像温莎这样的小城镇出现的情况在美国越来越普遍。自2008年金融危机以来，各大银行关闭了10000多家分支机构，平均一天三家。标准普尔全球市场情报(S&P Global Market Intelligence)称，仅2017年上半年， 就有869个银行网点关门。一些人担心关闭分支机构会使较贫困的社区变成“金融沙漠”，切断了社区居民获得活期存款账户、贷款和其他基本服务的渠道。
Not long ago, the notion that Americans might lack sufficient access to bank tellers would have seemed absurd. In the years leading up to the crisis, bricks-and-mortar branches grew by about 200 each month. By 2009, according to the World Bank, America had 35 branches for every 100,000 adults, twice as many as Germany. Since then, however, ultra-low interest rates and thickets of new regulations have squeezed bank profits. They have responded by trimming branches from a peak of about 100,000 to roughly 90,000.
不久之前，还有人认为美国人缺少获得银行服务的渠道的看法是荒唐可笑的。在金融危机爆发前的几年中，银行网点每月增加约200个。根据世界银行的报告，截止2009年，美国每10万名成年人有35家银行分行，是德国的两倍。然而，此后，超低利率和复杂繁多的新规定压缩了银行的收益。对此，各大银行采取了关闭分支机构的措施，目前总数从鼎盛时期的10万家减少到9万家左右。
Bank bosses maintain that they are “optimising” their branch networks to fit changing customer habits. But the cuts have not been made evenly. Data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) show that the top fifth of all postal codes by household income lost around 3% of their branches between 2009 and 2016. During this period, the bottom fifth saw their branch numbers decline by 10%.
各家银行的总裁认为，他们正在“优化”他们的网点分布，以适应不断变化的客户习惯。不过，各地区削减的分支机构数量并不是平衡。联邦存款保险公司（Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation）的数据显示，按家庭收入将居民所住社区的邮政编码分类，自2009年至2016年，所有邮政编码前五分之一的地方减少了近3%银行网点。在此期间，而最底部五分之一的邮编地区的分支机构数量却减少了10％。
Community organisations worry that if branches continue to close in poor areas, many neighbourhoods could become reliant on payday lenders and cheque-cashing stores. In June the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis estimated that there are now more than 1,100 banking deserts—defined as census areas at least ten miles from a bank—in America. That figure could easily double if small community banks continue to close. In May the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, a non-profit group, published a report showing that the number of banking deserts in rural areas has increased by 86 since the crisis.
一些社区组织担心，如果贫困地区的银行分支机构还会持续减少，许多社区可能会依赖发薪日贷款机构和支票兑现店。 6月，圣路易斯联邦储备银行（Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis）估计，目前美国共有1100多个“银行业沙漠”，却距离银行至少十英里的人口普查区。如果小型社区银行持续关闭，那么，这个数字极有可能会翻倍。 5月，非营利组织美国社区再投资联盟(National Community Reinvestment Coalition)发布了一份报告显示，自金融危机以来，农村地区的“银行业沙漠”增加了86个。
The situation may be less dire than it seems. An analysis of FDIC data by The Economist shows that banking deserts, using the Fed’s definition, are home to just 1.7% of the population. For most of the country, banks are still within easy reach—typically just two miles away. Nine out of ten Americans live within five miles of a bank; half live within one mile.
不过，也许真实情况并没有看来的那么可怕。 《经济学人》对联邦存款保险公司数据的分析表明，根据美联储定义，生活在的银行业沙漠的人口只占全美总人口的1.7％。对于美国人而言，银行离家依旧很近—通常只有两英里远。90%的美国人的住在离银行五英里内的社区；50%的人住在距离银行一英里内。
Even if banks remain accessible to most, branch closures can take a heavy toll. “The loss of a bank has a significant impact on communities,” says James Chessen of the American Bankers Association. The cost is greatest for small businesses, which often lack audited financial statements and other information that can be analysed remotely. “At the local community level, so much of that business is driven by relationships,” says Chris Vanderpool of S&P Global Market Intelligence. “The farther out you are, the harder it is to manage those relationships.” A study in 2014 by Hoai-Luu Nguyen, now at the University of California, Berkeley, estimates that when branches close, new small-business lending falls by 13% in the surrounding area. In low-income neighbourhoods, such lending contracts by nearly 40%.
即使对大多数美国人来说，去银行依旧很方便，可是 ，银行网点的关闭情况仍可能会造成重大损失。美国银行家协会（American Bankers Association）的詹姆士•切森(James Chessen)说：“银行的损失对社区影响重大。”小型企业的代价最高，因为这些企业经常缺乏经过审计的财务报表和其他可远程分析的信息。“在当地社区层面，这些业务在很大程度上是由关系驱动的，“标准普尔全球市场情报公司的克里斯•范德尔普（Chris Vanderpool）说。“你们之间距离越远，管理这些关系就越困难。”加州大学伯克利分校的Hoai-Luu Nguyen于2014年进行的一项研究估计，银行网点关闭后，其周边地区新的小企业贷款下降了13 ％。在低收入社区，这类贷款下降了近40％。
Even if financial regulation loosens and interest rates rise, branches are likely to thin further. JLL, a property firm, reckons that by 2027 the number of bricks-and-mortar branches could have declined by another 20%. The risk of widespread banking deserts may be a mirage. But small-business lending could still suffer.
即使金融监管放宽，利率上升，银行网点的数量也可能进一步减少。物业公司仲量联行（Jones Lang LaSalle）认为，到2027年，银行实体网点的数量可能会再下降20％。虽然”银行业沙漠“普遍化的风险可能并不存在，小企业的贷款活动仍然可能受到打击。
编译：于清蕙
编辑：翻吧君
来源 ：经济学人