The British Financial System* k% a7 r7 h W
英国金融制度# Z# F! A" L- U6 X/ K! P6 @( ]5 p
Situation 8
4 j5 ]# F0 f; a2 M7 Z9 C 情景 8' o1 i( @! |5 H+ Q' U4 c S3 ^
Tatsuo Horita ,a banker from Japan ,is visiting with an officer ofthe Bank of England ./ ` ^4 h1 d) E. L5 k. B
来自日本的银行家堀田达夫正在与英格兰银行的一位高级职员闲谈,8 D L2 z# x" P6 j3 c) x
They are talking about the British monetary and financial system .1 p8 S: `9 l5 n; d
他们正谈论着英国的货币和金融制度。4 d3 J+ w$ J8 m- i* z* R
Horita:I understand that Bank of England notes have been legal tender in Britain since the earlypart of the 19th century .
7 u. E$ L2 d6 c; G- I5 {5 z 堀 田:据我所知,从19世纪初叶,英格兰银行发行的纸币就已经成为英国的法币了。
4 n; B! C7 t$ ?' ~. s Officer:Yes,actually from 1883,long before the Bank of England was the official central bank forBritain., s$ Q8 Z' h/ i( [0 D
职 员:是的,实际上从1833年开始,英格兰银行早已成为英国的官方中央银行了," ^' [( d- f$ D0 ?& _- }
And special restrictions put on note issurance by other banks in 1844 caused most banks todiscontinue issuing notes.
* Q3 [$ C- o. T9 F5 O1 C 而且在1844年,还对其他银行的货币发行实行期一些特别的限制,这就使得大多数的银行不再继续发行纸币。
0 t) t# t; T( w* e. h7 n H:Weren’t Bank of England notes backed by specie?
) N9 d" n- f5 w. G4 g: o- ^0 l 堀 田:英格兰银行发行的纸币不是以金银铸币作为依据吗?
$ |0 y6 A3 ^- }& x O:Specie or government bonds until 1931.Since then ,of course,the Bank of England like othercentral banks has not held specie reserves equal to our note issue.
5 ?' _. N7 H q% o9 `& O4 G 职 员:直到1931年,还是以铸币或政府的债券为依据的。当然,从那以后,象其它的中央银行一样,英格兰银行并不持有与我们发行的纸币等量的金银铸币储备。
1 h% r1 Y- [) b4 |- q H:When did the Bank of England become the official central bank of the United Kingdom?
8 l+ J1 D& I' [& t9 w- R' h 堀 田:英格兰银行什么时候成为联合王国的官方中央银行的呢?
2 P! }5 T P5 J$ p8 D3 m" I O:That’s difficult to say .Actually ,the bank was nationalized by the government in 1946.
6 h ]$ P4 s6 K y: c 职员:这很难说,实际上,在1946年政府已将其收归国有。( E% |# W3 `$ U8 ?9 P6 ~' S3 l
Before that ,however ,the bank had been the central banking instituion for over a century .
$ S1 F2 I1 e; {, b, f 然而,在这之前,英格兰银行就已经成为中央银行有100多年了。
& N5 N* o4 e8 G$ x( } While we were privately owned ,successive governments felt that we operated in the public interestand gradually enacted laws,
- N3 R _: z1 E. h5 e 当时,虽然我们是私立银行,但历届政府都认为我们的业务经营活动有利于公众利益,并逐步地有所立法,0 f4 C5 f% d# [: a+ _/ d
which gave us various supervisory functions over other banks .
. l# V6 J: q/ L! u; |0 h 这一切赋予了我们对其他银行的各种监督职能。2 p) k) d0 {4 p, J
H:So the bank now makes fiscal and monetary policies for the country ?7 y1 j6 q3 j# u4 p I% M$ L
堀田:因此,目前该银行就是为国家制定财政和金融政策的。+ e4 L" I H& k
O:In coperation with the Cabinet we do .Our functions are not as independent as those of theFederal Reserve in the United States.& y% O7 E* w4 w# ~9 f& a
职员:我们在与内阁合作中行使我们的职能,但我们的职能不象美国联邦储备那样具有独立性。 |