金融专业英语Lesson5 中央银行

Lesson 5 Part I: The Central Bank "Central banks" are not "banks" in the same sense as commercial banks. They are governmental institutions that are not concerned with maximizing their profits, but with achieving certain goals such as the prevention of commercial bank failures, or of high unemployment, and so on. Central banks, even if in a formal sense owned by private stockholders, carry out governmental functions, and are therefore part of the government. "Central banks" were not originally called central banks, they were generally known as banks of issue or as national banks. After such banks of issue acquired other functions, duties and powers, the term "central bank" came to be generally used and to have a more or less standardized meaning. There are three basic functions for the central bank. Firstly, the responsibility of a central bank is the formulation and execution of monetary policy, with the twin goals of promotion of price stability at home and stimulation of genuine growth of economy. These goals are still the core of central bank policies. Another important responsibility of the central bank is the supervision of participation in supervision, to a certain degree, of the member banks and financial institutions. A sound banking and financial structure is crucial to an effective monetary policy. Confidence in the health and soundness of the banking and financial system will facilitate the mobilization of social savings which, in turn, will be used in productive investment, thus promoting economic growth. The third major function of the central bank is the supervision of the clearing mechanism. A reliable clearing mechanism which can settle inter-bank transaction with high efficiency is crucial to a well-operated financial system. Generally speaking, the greater the independence of the central bank, the less likely it will become the target of short-term political pressure. The central bank under direct regular government control seems inevitable to carry out a relaxed credit policy, especially at a time of approaching election. What is even worse, it directly provides capital to cover the government's deficit. Although these policies may be a remedy to the critical situation of some short-term problems, they will in the end produce an upward swing of. inflation and lead to an inevitable tightening of credit in the future. Independence is also conducive to the central bank in its execution of the supervisory responsibility and makes it possible for the central bank to resist the pressure for relaxing or tightening regulation standard, depending on in which direction the political wind blows. America's Federal Reserve Board and the Bank of Japan (BOJ) are the most two important central banks in the world, steering the monetary policies of a pair of economies which together account for more than half of the industrial world's GNP. Which is better equipped to do the job? And which, in fact, is doing it better? The answer to both questions should be the Fed. Political meddling is a notorious enemy of sound money, and the Fed, in theory, is freer from that than is the BOJ. The Fed is one of the world's most independent central banks. Among the Group of Seven, it is usually ranked second only to the Bundesbank. It is run by a board of seven governors, appointed by the American president. Their chairman, also picked by the president, has a four-year renewable term. The other six have 14-year terms, one of them retiring every two years. If a governor retires early, his successor takes over what is left of his term. So a new occupant of the White House cannot instantly stack the Fed board with his own men. The board sets the Fed's discount rate. But the Fed's real policy-making body is the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). Through open-market operations, it fixes the federal-funds rate (the rate at which banks lend to one another) and decides monetary-growth targets. The FOMC consists of the seven board members, each with one vote, plus the 12 presidents of the district Federal Reserve banks, only five of whom can vote at any one time. The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has a permanent vote, the remaining four votes are shared among the other presidents in rotation, for one-year terms. These 12 are not chosen by the president, but by private citizens on the boards of their banks, subject to the approval of the Fed governors. In appearance, the Bank of Japan is less free. It operates under the BOJ Law of 1942, which placed it firmly under government control and gave the minister of finance the right to overrule BOJ policy. A 1949 amendment, however, set up a Policy Board as the top decision-making body. It has seven members. Five have voting rights: the governor (appointed by the cabinet for a five-year term) and one representative apiece of Japan's "city" banks, regional banks, industry and agriculture (all appointed for four-year terms). The two non-votes come from the Ministry of Finance and the Economic Planning Agency. The board sets the discount rate. But open-market operations to steer money-market rate are decided by an Executive Committee, equivalent to the FOMC. This consists of the governor, the deputy governor and seven BOJ executive directors, appointed by the minister of finance. Thus, on the face of the law, it is unclear who really holds the monetary reins. Supposedly, the Policy Board takes the decisions. But the finance minister can overrule it. The relationship between the bank and the ministry is therefore often uneasy. The Fed, it thus seems, has all the advantages. It has no government officials on its board, and members of that board have, at least in theory, much longer terms of office. Not all the members of its key policy-making body, the FOMC, are even appointed by politicians. It is not obliged to consult the administration when it changes rates. Part II: The Bank of England(自学) Among all the central banks, Bank of England was the first bank of issue to have the functions of a central bank and to develop what are now generally recognized as the fundamentals of central banking. Founded in 1694, the Bank of England is the Central Bank of UK. It was a joint stock company when it was originally formed for the sole purpose of financing the war against France. By virtue of the Bank Charter Act 1844, which gave it sole power to issue banknotes, the Bank of England was split into two parts: the Banking Department and the Issuing Department. The Banking Department handles the banking operations which may influence government policies, the operations of the commercial banks and the money market. The Issuing Department is responsible for the issuance of banknotes. The Bank of England Act 1946 allowed the State's acquisition of the Bank-a transformation of the Bank from private to public ownership. The Act, which empowers the Treasury (in consultation with the Governor of the Bank of England) to give the Bank such directives as it considered necessary in the public interest, also provides for recommendations to other banking institutions who have to comply with certain rules and regulations. If they do not comply, the Bank may issue certain directives to them. The Banking Act 1979 gave the Bank of England even more power to control the operations of the deposit-taking institutions. In addition, the Act also extended authority to oversee matters concerning the protection of depositors and commercial advertising in connection with institutional deposit. Functions of the Bank of England: ●Central Bank: responsible for the issue of banknotes in England and ~/Vales, raising finance for the government, implementing monetary policies of the government. ●Bankers' Bank: handles the daily settlements of clearing, operates as a discount house, and serves a limited number of private customers. ●Lender of last resort: provides liquidity assistance to banks in difficulties when there is a massive bank run. ●Market intervention: operates in the markets, especially the discount market, to influence interest rates and foreign exchange rates and to implement other governmental monetary policies. ●International role: participates in the international activities of organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development or the World Bank. ●Domestic supervisory responsibilities: ensures the registration of deposit-taking institutions, performs a broad supervisory role for the conduct of the domestic deposit-taking institutions and maintains open channels for communication between the Bank and other financial institutions. Exercises: I. Translations: 1.制定与实施货币政策 2.刺激经济的实际增长 3.促进国内物价稳定 4.生产性投资 5.宽松的信贷政策 6.赤字预算 7.美国联邦储备委员会 8.贴现率 9.银行间拆借率10.银行挤兑11.市场干预12.银行营业部13.股份公司14.规章制度15.贴现行 II. E TO C: Compared with the central banks of some other countries, the Federal Reserve System of the United States, which has a history of only about 80 years, is relatively young. The “Federal Reserve Act" passed by Am erican congress in 1913 aims at providing a relatively secure and flexible banking and monetary system. Today, the Federal Reserve System is an institution with regional dispersion. In terms of ownership and control, there are representatives of government interests as well as private interests. This is a recognition of a long-standing conviction: the participation of private sector is essential to the creditability and management of the Central Bank. Currently, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System consists of seven members, appointed by the President, subject to Senate approval. Each member must come from a different geographical region. In order to maintain a balance between central supervision in Washington and participation of various regions as well as private sector, Congress established 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks, each providing service for a geographical region. As an independent institutional entity, the regional bank, with a board of directors and member banks as shareholders, is an important aspect of the Federal Reserve Act. Of the 9 members of the board of directors of each regional bank, 6 are selected by member banks and 3 appointed by the Board of Governors. There of the directors represent the bank, six the government, with special consideration given to the interests of agriculture, commerce, industry, service industry, labor and consumers. The presidents of the regional Federal Reserve Banks are appointed by the directors, subject to the approval of the Board of Governors. III. E TO C: 联邦贮备系统跟踪三种货币的供应量并每周公布一次。这三种供应量标记为M1,M2,M3 。Ml是狭义的货币供应量,含主要用于交易或作为交换手段的纸币、硬币、商业银行的活期存款等。M2货币供应量的定义范围较宽。除Ml中的各项以外,M2还包括储蓄和小额定期存款,货币市场存款账户,货币市场共同基金和其它短期货币市场资金。M2是衡量货币供应量的。M3是更为广义的货币供应量。含M1,M2中的各项加上一些金融资产和金融票据,通常为大额存款单。