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Finance and economics

金融商業

Banking for immigrants-Far-sighted

移民金融—未來福地

Catering to foreign-born customers is a growingniche in finance

迎合外來國民的金融需求，正逐漸成為金融中的利基市場

MOST banks wouldn't lend to Roberta. She arrived in New York from Mexico with papers but nocredit history. But Neighborhood Trust Federal Credit Union, which specialises in lending toimmigrants, gave her advice and a $2,000 loan. She started out selling Mexican food from acart. She now runs a food truck, employs five people and has plans to expand.

大多數銀行不愿意貸款給羅貝塔。她從墨西哥來到紐約的時候，雖然有身份證件，但是卻無信用記錄。只有專做移民貸款的社區信托聯邦信用合作社向她提供了咨詢，并貸款2000美元。她最初在推車上販賣墨西哥菜，如今，她有一輛快餐車，還雇了五名員工，并打算擴大她的生意。

Many immigrants, like Roberta, want to save or start a business. But they struggle to getfinance. In America 23% of households headed by a non-citizen, and 35% of households whereonly Spanish is spoken, have no bank accounts—compared with 8% for the population as awhole. There are multiple barriers: not just low incomes, which make it hard to meet minimum-balance requirements, but also trouble with language, identification and trust.

許許多多的移民希望能經營點生意，或者讓自己的生意不致破產，但是融資是擺在它們面前的一道難關，羅貝塔只是他們中的一個。在美國8%的家庭沒有銀行賬戶。其中，由非美籍公民支撐的家庭占比23%，只會說西班牙語的家庭占比35%。對于他們來說，生活的困難重重：不僅僅是入不敷出的微薄收入，還有語言、身份和信用上的問題。

Neighborhood Trust is trying to change that. More than half its members are Latino, largelyfrom the Dominican Republic, and many are undocumented. Most of the staff are themselvesimmigrants, and know their members well: they visit borrowers'businesses often and offerworkshops on financial literacy. The hands-on approach keeps default rates low.

社區信托正在嘗試改變這種現狀。他們的一半客戶都是拉丁美洲人，大部分來自多米尼加，很多人還沒有證件。社區信托內絕大多數員工本身就是移民，也對其客戶非常了解：員工們會經常走訪貸款人的生意，并提供金融素質的培訓課程。得益于這種手把手的方式，違約(還款)率一直很低。

Other financial firms, in both America and Europe, are also finding new ways to serveimmigrants. Some are like Neighborhood Trust—small and community-minded. Others arestartups hoping for big profits. Oportun is a good example: the American lender has madeloans of $1.9 billion since 2006, mostly to Latinos, using big data and clever algorithms to lendto those without a credit history.

美國和歐洲的其他金融公司也正在為移民探索新的業務方式。有的機構像社區信托一樣—規模小而專服務于社區，另外也有指望靠此發財的初創公司。Oportun就是一個好例子：2006年以來，這個美國的貸款公司已經出貸19億美元，主要客戶來自拉美。他們運用大數據和智能算法向沒有信用記錄的客戶借貸。

These firms have several tactics in common. The first is to make it easy to open an account—aprocess that is often unnecessarily slow and intimidating. Monese, a startup based in London,allows European migrants to open an account by phone with just a photo of a passport and aselfie.

這些公司所用策略有共通之處。第一是便捷開戶—通常來講，開戶過程過度拖沓，手續復雜。Monese是一家倫敦的初創公司，他們向歐洲移民提供電話開戶服務，只需要提供護照上的相片和一張自拍即可。

A second shared tactic is to make life easier for those, such as illegal immigrants, who maystruggle to prove their identity. Banks can be fussy: in one survey half of unbanked Mexicanimmigrants in New York said a lack of documentation prevented them opening an account. Butmany American banks will accept taxpayer identification numbers and consular ID cards, whichcan be obtained irrespective of immigration status. In New York 12 financial firms, includingNeighborhood Trust, accept a new card launched by the city government to help undocumentedmigrants access services—though no big banks do.

第二是給非法移民的生活提供便利，叫他們不必再費盡周折證明自己的身份。銀行有時很是小題大做：在某調查中，紐約半數的無賬戶墨西哥移民稱沒有身份證明讓他們無法在銀行開戶。但是很多美國銀行也接受納稅識別號碼和領事身份證。這兩項證明不管什么身份的移民都可獲得。在紐約包括社區信托在內的12家金融公司接受市政府頒發的新卡，這種卡幫助無證件移民獲得服務——不過大銀行不會接受它。

Third, instead of waiting for immigrants to come knocking, these firms seek them out. Oportun,for instance, has branches inside shops in Latino neighbourhoods. Mission Asset Fund, aCalifornian non-profit group, assists informal savings groups in immigrant communities. Asmembers make small, regular payments into a common pot from which they take turns toborrow, they are also able to develop a formal credit history.

第三，與其坐等移民上門，不如出門去找。比如Oportun，在拉美人社區中的商店里設分支機構。加利福尼亞的非營利組織Mission Asset Fund則在移民社區里協助非正式儲蓄小組。小組成員定期向共有的總賬戶存入小筆金額，他們再輪流向總賬戶借錢。通過這種方式，他們便有了正式的信貸記錄。

A final tactic is to tailor services to meet the particular needs of migrants. Extrabanca, inItaly, explicitly markets itself as a bank for immigrants. Many of its customers are from China,the Philippines and eastern Europe. It helps them deal with the red tape involved in renting ahouse or starting a business. Many American credit unions offer “citizenship loans” to cover thecosts of naturalisation. Some offer illegal immigrants loans to pay the fees for amnestyschemes.

最后一點是為移民客戶量身打造所需業務。 意大利的Extrabanca公開以移民銀行的身份推銷自己。他們的很多客戶來自中國、菲律賓和東歐。Extrabanca幫助這些客戶處理租房和創業時要經歷的繁文縟節。不少美國信貸聯合機構還提供”公民貸款“，支付移民歸化過程中的花費。有的還借貸給非法移民使其免于牢獄之災。

Larger banks can be put off, at least in part, by regulation. Many have stopped offeringinternational transfers in response to tighter rules on money-laundering and terroristfinancing. In Britain, new laws bar banks from opening accounts for illegal immigrants. Butsome big banks are catching on. Scotiabank, in Canada, allows Chinese migrants to startopening an account before leaving home, through a partnership with three banks in China.Deutsche Bank woos Turkish customers in Germany with a service called Bankamiz (“OurBank”), which offers bilingual tellers, free withdrawals at ATMs in Turkey and five free transfersto Turkey each year.

大型銀行至少會在某種程度上受規則的局限。因對洗錢和恐怖分子集資的規定變嚴，許多(大型銀行)已經停止境外轉款業務。在英國，新頒布的法律禁止銀行為非法移民開戶。但是有的大銀行卻還在繼續。加拿大的Scotiabank銀行與中國的三家銀行建立合作關系，允許來自中國的移民在離國之前開戶。 Deutsche Bank則向在德國的土耳其客戶提供名為”我們的銀行(Bankamiz)“的服務，包括雙語出納、在土耳其的ATM上免費提款以及每年五筆免手續費的向土匯款。

Catering to immigrants can be profitable in the long run, suggests Sherief Meleis of Novantas,a consultancy. Banks can win customers who will be loyal for years to come. As Rafael Monge-Portaro, the boss of Neighborhood Trust, says of Roberta: “We trust her and she trusts us.”

長期來看，迎合移民的需求是有利可圖的，咨詢公司Novantas的Sherief Meleis如是說。這樣做，銀行可以贏得幾年內都保持忠誠的客戶。正如社區信托的老板Rafael Monge-Portaro所說：“我們與羅貝塔互相信任。

1.cater to 迎合;投合

例句:Serve the people, rely on business, vitalize anddevelop the economy, and cater to the wholecountry is the watchword of this company.

本公司的口號是：服務人民，依托商業，開拓搞活，面向全國。

2.lend to 借給

例句:Some reports lend themselves very well to this type of processing – for example simplegrouped list reports such as target reports for drill-through.

一些報表非常適合于這種處理–例如簡單的分組列表報表，比如進行穿透鉆取(Drill-through)的目標報表。

3.plan to 計劃

例句:The military operation was the first step in a plan to crush the uprising.

軍事行動是鎮壓暴動計劃的第一步。

4.compare with 與...相比

例句:How does it compare with a similar workload?

與類似工作負載相比較如何呢?