日本銀行擬推出“J幣”對抗支付寶

Japanese banks’ plans to introduce a new digital currency ready for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as they respond to the threat from China’s Alibaba, which recently launched its mobile-phone payments service in the country.

日本幾家銀行計劃在2020年東京奧運會(2020 Tokyo Olympics)之前推出一種新型數(shù)字貨幣，以應對中國的阿里巴巴(Alibaba)構成的威脅。阿里巴巴近來在日本推出了其移動手機支付服務。

A consortium of banks, led by Mizuho Financial Group and Japan Post Bank, has won support from the country’s central bank and financial regulator to launch the J Coin, an electronic currency to pay for goods and transfer money using smartphones.

一個由瑞穗金融集團(Mizuho Financial Group)和日本郵政銀行(Japan Post Bank)牽頭的銀行財團，已獲得日本央行(BoJ)和金融監(jiān)管機構的支持，將推出電子貨幣“J幣”(J Coin)，以便用智能手機為商品付款和轉賬。

The J Coin would be convertible into yen on a one-to-one basis, operating via a smartphone app and using QR codes to be scanned in stores. In return for providing the service for free, the banks would benefit by collecting more data on consumer spending patterns.

“J幣”可等價兌換為日元，通過智能手機應用在店內掃描二維碼使用。這項服務免費，作為回報，銀行將可收集更多有關消費者支出模式的數(shù)據并從中受益。

“I think this electronic money is quite ahead of [credit and debit] cards, because when you use the cards the shops pay a certain fee,” Yasuhiro Sato, president and chief executive officer of Mizuho Financial Group, told the Financial Times.

瑞穗金融集團總裁兼首席執(zhí)行官佐藤康博(Yasuhiro Sato)告訴英國《金融時報》：“我認為這種電子貨幣明顯優(yōu)于(信用及借記)卡，因為你使用卡時店家要支付一定費用。”

Meanwhile, MUFG has been developing a blockchain-based alternative called the MUFG coin. However, there have been recent discussions between the top banks about the possibility of MUFG joining the J Coin initiative.

與此同時，三菱日聯(lián)金融集團(MUFG)正在開發(fā)一種基于區(qū)塊鏈的貨幣“MUFG幣”。不過，最近日本大銀行之間討論了三菱日聯(lián)金融集團加入“J幣”計劃的可能性。

Several big Japanese banks have been lobbying their government and regulators about the danger of Alibaba’s Alipay service being launched recently in several cities including Tokyo, which they argue will allow data on Japanese consumers to be sent to China, according to a presentation seen by the FT.

根據英國《金融時報》看到的一份報告，幾家日本大銀行一直在就阿里巴巴近來在東京等日本多個城市推出支付寶(Alipay)服務構成的威脅游說日本政府和監(jiān)管機構。它們辯稱，該服務將致使有關日本消費者的數(shù)據被發(fā)送到中國。

The J Coin is designed to wean the Japanese off their heavy dependency on cash, which accounts for 70 per cent of all transactions by value. That is higher than any developed country, which have on average reduced cash utilisation to only 30 per cent.

“J幣”旨在讓日本人擺脫對現(xiàn)金的嚴重依賴，以交易額計，日本70%的交易用現(xiàn)金完成。這一比例高于其他任何一個發(fā)達國家，發(fā)達國家的現(xiàn)金使用率已平均降至30%。

“We like cash, because Japan is a very safety-conscious country,” said Mr Sato. “But cash is not so productive so we have to change the structure from cash to electronic money.”

“我們喜歡現(xiàn)金，因為日本非常重視安全，”佐藤康博表示，“但用現(xiàn)金效率不高，因此我們必須改變這種結構，從現(xiàn)金轉向電子貨幣。”

The banks have privately estimated that the new system could add an extra ¥10bn to Japan’s economy by reducing the costs of handling cash and cutting settlement fees for retailers and consumers. They plan to unveil their J Coin plan in the next few days.

這些銀行私下估計，這一新系統(tǒng)可能會通過降低處理現(xiàn)金的成本和零售商與消費者的結算費用，令日本經濟產出增加100億日元。它們計劃在未來幾天公布“J幣”計劃。