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A big part of the problem in America is that, rather than route purchases through competing payment pipes, the fintechs still often have little choice but to rely on America’s credit-card networks to connect merchants, banks and consumers. The credit-card firms continue to demand a high rent of roughly 2%. Funds can take days to travel. That reflects the power and entrenched position of Visa and Mastercard. They process 86% of card payments through huge networks linking most shops and firms, which have to sign up to detailed terms and conditions.
美國的問題很大一部分在于，各大金融科技公司無法在購買行為中引入競爭性的支付渠道，他們通常別無選擇，只能依靠美國的信用卡網絡連接商戶、銀行和消費者。信用卡公司繼續要求收取大約2%的高額費用。資金到賬可能需要幾天的時間。這反映了Visa和萬事達卡的實力和根深蒂固的地位。這兩家公司通過連接大多數商店和公司的龐大網絡處理86%的信用卡支付業務，而合作商店和公司必須簽署詳細的條款和條件。
You might think that the answer is antitrust action against the credit-card firms. America’s competition watchdogs are growling. Last November the Department of Justice sued to block Visa’s $5.3bn purchase of Plaid after Visa’s boss described it as an “insurance policy” to neutralise a “threat to our important US debit business”. The two firms abandoned the deal. On March 19th the Wall Street Journal reported that the justice department had started a new probe over whether Visa is inhibiting merchants from switching to cheaper services. But do not get your hopes up. The courts, which decide most antitrust cases in America, take ages to act and tend to be too lenient. A big antitrust case against American Express in 2017 flopped.
你可能會認為解決辦法是針對信用卡公司展開反壟斷行動。美國的競爭監管機構正在怒號。去年11月，美國司法部提起訴訟，阻止Visa斥資53億美元收購Plaid，此前Visa的老板稱此舉是一項“保險單”，旨在消除“對我們重要的美國借記業務的威脅”。這兩家公司最終放棄了這筆交易。3月19日《華爾街日報》報道說，司法部開始就Visa是否禁止商家與更便宜的服務商合作展開一項新的調查。但是不要抱太大的希望。美國裁決大多數反壟斷案件的法院需要很長時間才能采取行動，而且處理方式往往過于寬大。2017年針對美國運通的一樁反壟斷大案最終告吹。
Instead, the key to making payments more competitive in America is to create a new network of financial plumbing: a “real-time” interbank-payment system allowing for near-instant and cheap transfers. Swathes of Europe and Asia have already done this. Once this exists, banks and fintechs can build products, standards and services on top of it. In Singapore and the Netherlands, for example, those efficient payment pipes are open to digital wallets, which can process payments in a few clicks, taps or by scanning a QR code.
相反，讓數字支付在美國更具競爭力的關鍵是建立一個新的金融管道網絡：即“實時”跨行支付系統，支持近乎即時和廉價的轉賬業務。歐洲和亞洲的大部分地區已經這樣采取了這樣的系統。一旦該系統存在，銀行和金融科技公司就可以在此基礎上構建產品、標準和服務。例如，在新加坡和荷蘭，這些高效的支付管道向數字錢包開放，只需點擊幾下、輕敲幾下或掃描二維碼即可用數字錢包處理支付。
America’s own effort at instant payments, backed by the Federal Reserve and known as FedNow, is to launch in 2023. The big banks and credit-card firms are keen to delay a system that could disrupt the status quo. The government and the Fed should not just ignore their grumbles but bring forward the timetable. The pandemic has shown that online transactions have come of age. It has also shown that the public sector can act quickly and effectively when it has to. Cheap and swift digital payments are a prize that should be viewed as a priority.
在美聯儲的支持下，美國自己的即時支付計劃FedNow將于2023年啟動。大銀行和信用卡公司渴望推遲一個可能破壞現狀的系統。政府和美聯儲不僅應該無視他們的抱怨，還應提上日程。此次新冠疫情表明，網上交易已經成熟。它還表明，公共部門可以在必要時迅速有效地采取行動。美國應當將廉價快捷的數字支付視為著重考慮的優先事項。
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