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In several countries—Britain, say, or Sweden—bank transfers are more or less instant.
在一些國家—如英國或瑞典—銀行間轉帳或多或少是即時的。
The moment your wages leave your employer's bank account, they arrive in your own,
你的工資一離開雇主的銀行賬戶，就會進入你的賬戶
giving you the wherewithal to pay the bills and feed the family. But America is far behind.
讓你有錢支付賬單，養家糊口。但美國遠遠落后了。
Transfers can take days to clear, landing many Americans—chiefly those who can least afford additional expense—
轉賬需要好幾天才到賬，許多美國人—主要是那些負擔不起額外費用的人—
with hefty overdraft fees or pushing them towards payday lenders charging high interest rates.
因此背負了巨額透支費用，或者被迫向發薪日貸款方支付高額利息。
In an age when millennials can split a drinks tab on their smartphones before leaving the bar, this almost beggars belief.
在這個千禧一代可以在離開酒吧前用智能手機分攤飲料賬單的時代，這幾乎令人難以置信。
The Federal Reserve wants to speed things up.
聯邦儲備局想要提速。
On August 5th it said that it would build a faster-payments system, as central banks have in other countries.
8月5日，其表示將建立更快的支付系統，就像其他國家的中央銀行那樣。
But not, alas, instantly. FedNow, its proposed service, will not start before 2023.
但不是馬上。其擬議服務FedNow在2023年之前不會啟動。
Covering all of America's 10,000 banks and other depository institutions will take even longer.
覆蓋美國所有一萬家銀行和其他存款機構甚至需要更長的時間。
In fact, America already has a real-time payments system.
事實上，美國已經有了一個實時支付系統。
The Clearing House (TCH), which is owned by 25 big banks, has been running one since 2017.
歸25家銀行所有的清算所（TCH）自2017年起就在運營一個支付系統。
Between them, says Steve Ledford of TCH,
TCH的史蒂夫·萊德福特表示，在它們之間
the 16 banks that have so far joined the system hold just over half of the accounts from which payments can be made.
16家已經加入該系統的銀行所持有的賬戶僅略多于支付賬戶的一半。
TCH is pushing for near ubiquity next year.
TCH正在推動其明年的全面普及。
So why does the Fed want its own? First, it is not convinced that TCH's system will ever connect to all the country's tiny banks.
所以Fed為什么想要建立一個自己的系統呢？首先，它不相信TCH的系統會連接到全國所有的小銀行。
Mr Ledford says that TCH's plan is to reach smaller banks through the technology companies that provide their computing systems.
萊德福特先生表示TCH的計劃是通過科技公司自己的電腦系統，與規模更小的銀行建立聯系。
Second, it fears that without competition prices will be too high, quality too low and innovation too slow.
第二，它擔心沒有了競爭，價格會過高，質量會過低且創新會過慢。
(The TCH has promised not to discriminate against small banks. It charges sending banks a flat 4.5 cents and receiving ones nothing.)
（TCH已經承諾不會區別對待小銀行。它向撥款銀行收取4.5美分的手續費，向收款銀行不收費。）
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