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Santander is to be the first global bank to offer cloud data storage services to corporate clients as it fights back against the competitive challenge posed to its business by some of the world’s biggest technology groups.
西班牙桑坦德银行(Santander)将成为首家向企业客户提供云数据存储服务的全球性银行。该行正力图反击某些大型科技集团给其业务带来的竞争性挑战。
The move highlights how banks are trying to turn their vast investment in IT and the close regulatory scrutiny of their computer systems to their advantage in their battle against the new wave of financial services disrupters.
此举凸显出，在对抗金融服务业新一批搅局者的斗争中，银行正试图将它们在IT领域的大量投资、以及监管层对银行电脑系统的密切审查转变为它们的竞争优势。
“As I think how am I going to compete with all these new technology players, I can offer the same services as some of these big guys,” Ana Botín, chairman of Spain’s Santander, told the Financial Times.
桑坦德银行董事长阿纳•博廷(Ana Botín)告诉英国《金融时报》：“当我思考如何与所有这些新型高科技公司竞争时，我认为我能够提供与部分高科技巨头同样的服务。”
Santander has invested £230m in building a vast data centre in Leicester, in the English Midlands — dubbed project fox — which is designed primarily to store its own data. But Ms Botín thinks the bank can make extra cash by leasing out storage to clients.
桑坦德银行曾在一个代号“狐狸(Fox)”的项目上投资2.3亿英镑，在英国中部的莱斯特兴建了一个巨大的数据中心。该数据中心主要用来存储该行自己的数据。不过博廷认为，该行可以通过将存储空间出租给客户增加收入。
Some companies question whether they can entrust their data to tech groups that sceptics argue have been tarnished in the wake of the Edward Snowden leaks about US government surveillance. But they may be just as reluctant to trust banks, given the problems some have had with their IT systems. Data belonging to 76m US households were “compromised” in a cyber attack on JPMorgan Chase last year.
部分企业怀疑它们能否放心把数据交给高科技企业。持怀疑态度的人们声称，在爱德华•斯诺登(Edward Snowden)披露美国政府的监控计划之后，这些高科技企业已声名狼藉。不过，考虑到部分银行的IT系统也存在问题，这些企业或许也同样不愿信任银行。去年摩根大通(JPMorgan Chase)曾遭到一次网络攻击，导致7600万个美国家庭的数据被“损害”。
Either way, Ms Botín’s proposal underscores how seriously banks are taking the competitive threat from new technologies — from peer-to-peer lending to digital wallets and currencies.
不管怎么说，博廷的提议突出表明，银行非常重视p2p贷款、数字化钱包和数字化货币等新技术给它们带来的竞争性威胁。
Richard Lumb, head of financial services at Accenture, estimates banks could lose a fifth of retail banking revenues to digital rivals. “The scale and speed of disruption is a real threat,” he says.
据埃森哲(Accenture)金融服务部门主管理查德•卢姆(Richard Lumb)估计，银行或因数字化对手而丧失五分之一的零售银行业务营收。他说：“它们造成破坏的规模和速度构成了真正的威胁。”
Some rivals were sceptical. “Why would I want to move into data storage, which is already a very competitive market, when I have enough on my plate with my day job,” asked one senior executive. Others said the move made sense, as banks look to exploit the potential of their IT systems and the vast amounts of client data they hold.
一些银行业同行对桑坦德此举持怀疑态度。一名高管问道：“我们的本职工作就够多了，为什么还要进入数据存储这个竞争已十分激烈的市场？”还有人则认为，在银行试图从自身IT系统及海量客户数据中挖掘潜能之际，这么做是有意义的。
