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It has been a chilly Spring in the US, but one bird is chirping. American Express and Walmart said on Tuesday that their Bluebird venture for financial services now has federal deposit insurance. The two teamed up last October to offer prepaid debit cards and cheque services targeting low-income households that are frustrated with the fees on traditional bank accounts or not using them at all.
今年美国的春天有点冷，但有一只鸟在啼鸣。美国运通公司(Amex)和沃尔玛(Walmart)周二表示，他们共同推出的蓝鸟(Bluebird)金融服务，如今已有联邦存款保险。两家企业于去年10月联手推出预付借记卡和支票服务，针对那些对传统银行账户的收费不满、甚至根本不用此类服务的低收入家庭。
The FDIC insurance opens up areas of growth for the fledgling service - people who were uneasy or limited without the federal backing. Many of Walmart’s shoppers are military personnel, veterans and Social Security recipients. Direct deposit of government cheques can only be done with FDIC insured accounts. The insurance also puts Bluebird on equal footing with traditional banks as well as Netspend and Green Dot which offer FDIC-insurance on Visa and MasterCard-branded pre-paid cards. By the end of January, Bluebird had more than 575,000 accounts with $275m of funds.
美国联邦存款保险公司(FDIC)的保险为这项方兴未艾的服务开启了成长空间——没有联邦保险的支持，人们会感到不安或受限。在沃尔玛的顾客群中，许多是军人、退伍军人和领取社会保障人士。直接入账的政府付款只能打入有FDIC保险的账户。这一保险也让蓝鸟卡与其他传统银行、以及Netspend和Green Dot这样的公司有了平等竞争的地位，这些公司提供有FDIC保险的Visa和万事达(MasterCard)品牌预付借记卡。截止1月底，蓝鸟卡已拥有超过57.5万个账户，资金总额达2.75亿美元。
Walmart unsuccessfully tried to become a bank several years ago. For Bluebird, Amex issues the cards and Walmart distributes them. The FDIC insurance kicks in because Amex uses accounts at Wells Fargo, an FDIC member bank, for Bluebird’s registered customers. Revenue comes from merchant transaction fees (and perhaps Walmart can cut its own transaction costs – the financial terms with Amex were never disclosed), and a few other fees. Bluebird does not charge overdraft, monthly, activation or minimum amount fees.
沃尔玛几年前尝试银行业务没有成功。蓝鸟卡由运通发行，沃尔玛负责经销。得到FDIC保险是因为运通使用美国富国银行（Wells Fargo，FDIC的成员银行）的账户，为蓝鸟卡注册用户提供服务。营收来自商家交易收费（也许沃尔玛还能削减自身的交易成本——它与运通达成的财务条款从未公开），以及其他一些收费。蓝鸟卡不收取透支费、月费、激活费或账户最低存款额费用。
There is a market opportunity: a 2011 FDIC survey found that 20 per cent of the 120m US households were underbanked and 8.2 per cent were unbanked. Amex does not quite have the acceptance of Visa and MasterCard, but combined with Walmart’s reach - 140m US customers weekly - there is room for Bluebird to spread its wings.
市场机遇是存在的：FDIC在2011年的一项调查发现，美国1.2亿户家庭中，20%的家庭未充分使用银行业服务，还有8.2%的家庭完全未使用银行服务。接受美国运通的商家数量赶不上Visa和万事达卡，但借助沃尔玛的规模（美国每周1.4亿顾客），“蓝鸟”有展翅高飞的空间。
