经济学人精读|疫情对银行贷款带来的影响，银行老板们有话说

If doctors and nurses are on the frontline of the health crisis caused by the pandemic, then bankers are on the frontline of the economic response. Investors dumping stocks have stuffed the money into bank deposits. Cash-strapped businesses are drawing down credit lines. Laid-off workers are delaying mortgage payments. And governments are stepping in to dole out cash to firms in need, using the banks as their delivery system.

on the frontline：在前线【词组积累】

banker：银行家

economic response：经济反应

dump stocks：抛售股票，dump：倾销，抛售to get rid of goods by selling them at a very low price, often in another country【词汇积累】

stuff A into B：把A塞进B里，例如stuff foods into my mouth把食物塞进嘴里，文中是把钱存入银行存款stuff the money into bank deposits，用塞这个动词是因为把钱全部放进银行，体现了全部和钱的数目多【词组积累】

bank deposits：银行存款

cash-strapped：资金短缺的，strapped意为缺钱的，手头紧的【词汇积累】

drawing down credit lines：降低信贷额度，credit lines意为信贷额度【词汇积累】

Laid-off：下岗的【词汇积累】

mortgage payments：按揭付款

dole out cash to firms in need：向需要的公司发放现金，dole out意为发放，但是量通常不是很多，例如除了money外，还有dole out supplies of food and medicine发放食物和药物【词组积累】

如果医生和护士是新冠流感引起的健康危机的前线，那么银行家则是经济反应的前线。抛售股票的投资者把钱塞进了银行存款。资金短缺的企业正在降低信贷额度。下岗工人推迟了抵押付款。政府正在介入，以银行为交付系统，向需要的公司发放现金。

So when American lenders reported their first-quarter earnings on April 14th and 15th, the results revealed how customers are coping with the pandemic. JPMorgan Chase, the country’s largest bank, said that credit-card transaction volumes at supermarkets in March were twice those in March 2019. Bank of America reported that a sixth of its small-business customers have deferred loan payments.

lender：贷款方，贷款机构，其动词原形是lend借出，文中指的是美国银行【词汇积累】

first-quarter earnings：第一季度收益

cope with：应对

credit-card transaction volumes：信用卡交易量，transaction意为一笔交易，买卖【词汇积累】

a sixth of：1/6

defer loan payments：推迟了贷款支付，defer意为推延、延迟【词汇积累】

因此，当美国银行在4月14日和15日公布第一季度盈利时，结果显示了客户是如何应对这一流行病的。美国最大银行摩根大通（JPMorgan Chase）表示，3月份超市的信用卡交易量是2019年3月的两倍。美国银行（Bank of America）报告称，该行六分之一的小企业客户推迟了贷款支付。

Banks’ balance-sheets have swollen as they have issued loans to firms, creating new deposits. Loans outstanding at JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo grew from $3.8trn to $4.0trn between the end of last year and March 31st. A torrent of trading in financial markets pushed transaction volumes to new highs. As a result, trading revenues were up by 32% at JPMorgan and 28% at Goldman Sachs,compared with the same period in 2019.

balance-sheets：资产负债表

issue loans to firms：发放贷款给公司，issue有发行的意思，to produce new stamps, coins, shares, etc. for sale to the public，另外issue还有发布，发表的意思，如issue a statement发表声明【熟词僻义】

Loans outstanding：未偿贷款，outstanding有未支付的；未完成的；未解决的的意思not yet paid, done, solved,【熟词僻义】

grew from $3.8trn to $4.0trn between the end of last year and March 31st：grow from 数字1 to 数字2 between 时间1 and时间2，意为某物的数量在时间1—时间2之间由数字1增长到了数字2【句式】

A torrent of：一股洪流，大量的【词组积累】

pushed sth to new highs：把某事推至新高【词组积累】

compared with the same period in 2019：与2019年同期相比【词组积累】

银行的资产负债表已经膨胀，因为它们已经向企业发放贷款，创造了新的存款。从去年年底到3月31日，摩根大通、美国银行、花旗集团、高盛和富国银行的未偿贷款从3.8万亿美元增加到4.0万亿美元。金融市场的交易洪流将交易量推至新高。因此，与2019年同期相比，摩根大通和高盛的交易收入分别增长了32%和28%。

But the worst is yet to come. The frenetic pace of trading activity is unlikely to last. Lower interest rates will eat into interest margins. And banks are bracing for loan losses. America’s four large lenders booked $24.1bn in provisions for credit losses, an increase of $18.7bn compared with the first quarter of 2019. That dragged down profits: the same banks reported a total of $10.1bn in net earnings in the first quarter, down from $27.1bn in the same period a year ago.

is yet to come：还没有来，yet表示还没有的意思

frenetic pace of：疯狂的……速度，frenetic [frə'netɪk]表示发狂的，狂热的，pace有步伐的意思，也有速度的意思【搭配】

trading activity：交易活动，商业活动

eat into interest margins：eat into 表示损耗，消耗，interest margin意为息差【词组积累】

brace for：为……做好准备、防备，下文的in provision for也是相同的意思，provision是provide的名词形式【词组积累】

drag down：向下拖，拖累，文中是drag down profits表示拖累了利润，利润下降【词组积累】

但最糟糕的时刻还没有到来。疯狂的交易速度不太可能持续下去。较低的利率将侵蚀息差。银行也在为贷款损失做好准备。美国四大银行的信贷损失准备金为241亿美元，较2019年第一季度增加187亿美元。这拖累了利润：同一家银行公布的第一季度净利润总额为101亿美元，低于去年同期的271亿美元。

The question is how much more the banks need to set aside. Provisions in the first quarter amounted to around 0.6% of their loan portfolios. In their calls with investors bank executives across Wall Street were asked whether provisions would have to climb further in the second quarter. Most point to the 2007-09 global financial crisis, or the scenarios they must model under the Federal Reserve’s annual stress tests, as possible worst cases. These would mean JPMorgan, which booked an extra $6.9bn in credit provisions in the first quarter, could end up bearing loan losses of up to $45bn.

set aside：搁置、留出、预留【词组积累】

amount to：合计，共计

portfolio：[pɔrt'foʊlioʊ] 投资组合

bank executive：银行高管

climb further：进一步攀升【词组积累】

the scenarios they must model：他们应该仿效的情景，must这里的意思是“应该、得”，used to recommend that sb does sth because you think it is a good idea，model则表示仿效【词汇积累】

end up doing sth：最终以……告终【词组积累】

问题是银行还需要留出多少资金。第一季度的准备金约占其贷款组合的0.6%。在与投资者的通话中，华尔街各地的银行高管被问及，第二季度的准备金是否必须进一步攀升。多数人指出，2007-09年的全球金融危机或他们在美联储年度压力测试下应该仿效的情景，可能是最坏的情况。这将意味着在第一季度预订了69亿美元信贷的摩根大通（JPMorgan），可能最终承担高达450亿美元的贷款损失。

Bank bosses suggested that the bill for loan losses would grow, but they also admitted they did not know by how much. “There are no models that havedealt with GDP down 40% and unemployment growing this rapidly,” notedJamie Dimon, JPMorgan’s boss. Nor have banks had to deal with the type and scale of government intervention being undertaken. As with health care, the pandemic has dropped lenders into uncharted territory.

deal with：处理，应对

note：指出

As with……：正如……情况一样【词组积累】

drop sb into：把……扔到，放到

uncharted territory：未知的领域，uncharted意为无人涉足的，陌生的，记忆：chart意为图表，因为没人去过，是陌生的，所以画不出地图【词汇积累】

银行老板们表示，贷款损失的账单会增加，但他们也承认，他们不知道具体数额。摩根大通（JPMorgan）总裁杰米•戴蒙（Jamie Dimon）指出：“目前还没有一个模型能够处理GDP下降40%和失业率快速增长的问题。”。也没有银行不得不面对政府这种规模和类型的干预。与医疗保健一样，这一流行病已使贷款机构陷入未知领域。

总结