经济学人财经 | 财富管理

Wealth management

财富管理

For the money, not the few

为了金钱，而不是少数人

Hold your nose. The world’s snootiest money managers are being forced to serve the unwashed masses

不管喜欢与否，全球最傲慢的基金经理不得不开始服务普通大众

Linda, a 54-year-old event consultant in Los Angeles, is neither disorganised nor innumerate. Ask about her finances, however, and you lose her for two hours. She opens her current (checking) account on a mobile app, then cites a rainy-day fund at another bank. She has 14 credit cards, five mortgages, six insurance policies and several pensions with ex-employers.

54岁的琳达是洛杉矶的一名活动管理顾问，她既不缺乏条理，也不是不懂数学。然而，当你询问她的财务状况，大概需要等她两个小时。她会打开一个手机app去查看活期存款账户，然后又提到在另一家银行的应急资金。她名下有14张信用卡，5个抵押贷款，6份保险和几份前雇主的养老金计划。

注:

the unwashed masses : 寓指下层的人民群众

Ranks of pinstriped advisers have long helped the very rich to invest, minimise tax and pass money down the generations. Everyone else has had to work it out on their own. “People’s relationship with money is broken,” says Martin Gronemann of red Associates, which uses anthropology to advise businesses. It reckons that personal finances are a bigger source of stress than worries about crime or health.

大批西装革履的顾问们一直在帮助非常富有的人投资，将税负降至最低，并将其财富代代相传。而其他人则不得不通过自己的努力来解决这些问题。Red Associate（ReD）利用人类学为企业提供建议，该公司的马丁·高尔曼（Martin Gronemann）提到，“人们和金钱的关系已经破裂”。据统计，相比于对犯罪和健康的担忧，人们的焦虑更多来自于个人财务状况。

注：

1. pinstriped adj. 细条纹的 

2. Red Associate：一家策略咨询机构，运用社会科学为人们的商业决策做指导和建议；ReD Associates uses human science to put people back at the center of business decision-making.

Now, however, financial firms are competing to democratise wealth management. On December 8th Goldman Sachs, which used to shun clients with less than $25m, said its robo-adviser could soon serve clients with as little as $5,000 to invest. And on December 14th Vanguard, an asset manager with nearly $6trn under management, teamed up with Alipay, a Chinese tech giant, to counsel customers with at least 800 yuan ($114).

然而，现在金融公司正竞相实现财富管理平民化。连曾经低于2500万美元资产客户不予受理的高盛也在12月8日发布称，他们的智能投顾将很快为资产低至5000美元的客户提供投资服务。12月14日，先锋集团（Vanguard），一家管理资产接近6万亿的资产管理公司，已与中国科技巨头支付宝签订合作，将为资产仅高于800元（合114美元）的顾客提供资产管理咨询服务。

注：robo-adviser：智能投顾，机器人顾问

The wealth-management sector is fragmented and ripe for disruption. ubs, the global leader, has a 3% market share and is the only firm in the top four in each of Europe, Asia and America. The industry remains technophobic, says Charlotte Ransom, a Goldman Sachs veteran now at Netwealth, a challenger. Advisers spend half their time on tasks that could be automated. According to ey, a consultancy, only 56% of clients fully understand the fees they pay.

资产管理行业已经碎片化，到了不破不立的阶段。全球领导者瑞银集团(UBS)，市场份额达3%，是唯一一家在欧洲、亚洲、美洲均位于前四的资产管理公司。挑战者夏洛特·罗索（Charlotte Ransom），前高盛资深员工，现就职于Netwealth, 她表示该行业仍对技术抱有恐惧感。顾问将一半的时间都花费在本可以自动化完成的任务上。咨询公司安永（EY）数据表明，只有56%的客户完全了解他们所支付的服务费的用途。

注： technophobic：科技恐惧症，技术恐惧症

The industry stratifies customers in a manner rather similar to airlines. “Affluent” clients, with between $300,000 and $1m in assets, get premium-economy treatment. They may talk to advisers by phone, but banks will do all they can to keep them out of branches. Investment options are limited to ready-made funds. “High-net-worth” clients, with up to $15m, fly business class, picking stocks and chatting in person with named advisers. Flying private are the ultra-high-net-worth” individuals, who have access to venture capital and currency hedges, with exclusive dinners, golf outings and so on as cherries on top.

这个行业（指财富管理）对客户进行分层的方式与航空公司相当类似。资产在30万至100万美元之间的“富裕”客户将获得豪华经济舱式的待遇。他们可通过电话与财富顾问交谈，但银行尽可能不让客户亲自登门。投资选择仅限于在售基金。资产在100万至1500万美元之间的“高净值”客户享受商务舱待遇，可挑选股票投资并与指定的顾问面对面交流。“超高净值”客户享受私人飞行待遇，他们可以选择风险投资和货币对冲，并可享有独家晚餐、高尔夫郊游等诸如此类的增值服务。

注：

1. Affluent：富裕的

2. Premium-economy: 航班或列车上的豪华经济舱、特选经济舱、优质经济舱、高级经济舱。

3. cherry on top：指锦上添花的意思。To put a cherry on top：锦上添花，加强效果的意思。

Whereas high-net-worth individuals typically pay no more than 1% of assets in fees each year, the mass affluent often pay over 2%—the average yield of s&p 500 stocks—for inferior service. Cattle class gets no service at all. Saving for retirement is the second-biggest financial commitment most adults ever make (after buying a home), says James McManus of Nutmeg, a British fintech. Yet most do it with no help.

高净值客户一般每年支付的费用不超过资产的1％，而大众富裕阶层通常为享受着相对较低端的服务却需支付超过2％的费用（标准普尔500股票的年平均收益大约为2%）。一般客户（经济舱客户）根本得不到任何服务。英国金融科技公司Nutmeg的詹姆斯·麦克马纳斯（James McManus）说，为退休储蓄（养老计划）是大多数成年人的第二大财务安排，第一大是购房。然而大多数人只能自力更生（得不到银行或金融公司的财富管理服务）。

注：

1. Mass affluent：大众富裕阶层，可投资资产低于高净值人士。

2. Cattle class:   a jocular name for the economy-class section of an airliner, in which passengers have little space to move 对航空航班的经济舱的一种玩笑般的称谓 [非正式]，喻指高净值客户和富裕人群以外的资产较低的一般客户。

That leaves a lot of money on the table. According to Oliver Wyman, a banking consultancy, the affluent, with $21trn in assets, and those below them, with $51trn, have as much to invest between them as high-net-worth individuals. The problem is that advisers, branches and time are costly. Most private banks deem portfolios below $2m barely profitable.

那样留下了巨大的市场空间。银行业咨询公司奥纬咨询（Oliver Wyman）称，资产达21万亿美富裕阶层，以及资产达51万亿美元的富裕阶层以下人士，这两部分（因个人财富管理而产生的投资规模或投资需求）与高净值群体一样多。问题在于，顾问的服务成本，银行分支机构的运营成本和时间成本都很高。大多数私人银行认为200万美元以下的投资组合几乎无法盈利。

注:

1. Leave money on the table: missing the opportunity to get money; not taking money that is available

2. Oliver Wyman: 奥纬咨询是全球领先的管理咨询公司，成立于1984年，总部在纽约。

3. Deem：认为、视作、相信

Yet three factors are conspiring to bring that figure down. The first is technology. In 2001 Credit Suisse tried to go budget with a pan-European online network. But the cost quintupled to €500m ($447m), in part because it relied on huge servers. Today data are in the cloud, and firms can bolt on apps instead of coding everything.

然而，三个因素的存在拉低了这一数字。首先是技术。2001年，瑞士信贷（Credit Suisse）试图通过泛欧在线网络进行预算。但是成本增加了五倍，达到5亿欧元（4.47亿美元），部分原因是它依赖于大型服务器。如今，数据都存储在云中，企业可以通过应用程序获取，而无需编写所有代码。

注：

1. conspire：共谋、协力~ against sb/sth | ~ to do sth (of events 事件) 似乎共同导致（不良后果） to seem to work together to make sth bad happen

2．Pan-European: 泛欧洲，或“泛欧”。这个词的出现实际上与欧洲一体化进程是分不开的。欧洲长久以来为政治、经济的统一不断地进行尝试和努力，致力于建立一个团结、统一的欧洲。而European Union也就是欧盟的缔结就是一项重要成果。如今很多的欧洲事务不是以哪个孤立的国家来提出或者解决，而是以“泛欧”这个概念出现，它作为一个整体，用来指代整个欧洲经济、政治事务，当然目前来讲通常指的是欧盟国家。总之，pan强调的是不分国界，适用于整个欧洲（欧盟）的。在谈到有关欧洲一体化、或政治经济统一问题时尤为常见。

3. Quintuple：五倍量，使成五倍。

4. bolt on：连接在……上。

Second, the top of the pyramid is getting crowded. Banks love wealth management, with its high returns and low need for capital. As they have all tried to expand their high-net-worth offerings, competition has squeezed margins. The market value of a panel of 100-odd wealth managers has dropped by 15% in the last year, using Bloomberg data.

第二点是竞争愈发激烈。 银行热衷财富管理，因为该业务能获得高回报率的同时，对资本的需求也低。而当众多银行都试图抢占高净值客户市场时，竞争便会压缩利润。彭博社数据显示，由100多名财富经理组成的小组总市值在去年下降了15％。

Third, negative interest rates are eroding the money held by the masses, about half of which is in cash deposits. So clients are crying for help.

第三点是负利率正在侵蚀大众的财富，其中大约一半是现金存款。因此大众客户渴求帮助。

That has sparked a race between banks, fintechs and investment firms. Wealth managers need several strengths to succeed, says Matthias Memminger of Bain, a consultancy: technology, trusted brands, marketing dollars and a human touch. Private banks have the last three, but score poorly on IT. They also fear cannibalising their high-net-worth business. ubs shut its robo-adviser in 2018, a year after launch. Investec, a bank, folded its own in May.

这引发了银行、金融科技公司以及投资公司之间的竞争。来自咨询公司贝恩（Bain）的马蒂亚斯·梅明格（Matthias Memminger）表示，财富管理机构需要几项优势才能成功，即技术、值得信赖的品牌、营销资金以及人性化服务。私人银行拥有后三点，但在IT方面得分都不高。（同时）他们也担心（对相对低净值业务的关注）会影响到高净值业务。仅推出智能投顾一年，瑞银就于2018年终止了此服务；天达银行（Investec）则于今年（2019年）5月也停止了类似服务。

Startups have the opposite profile. Their robo-advisers generate recommendations by asking simple questions, keeping fees down. They allow customers to buy fractions of shares, and net out orders to reduce trading costs. But their brands are weaker, so acquiring customers costs more. And clients entrust them with only smallish sums. Launched in 2011, Nutmeg manages just £1.9bn ($2.5bn), and Wealthfront, a decade-old American firm, $22bn.

初创企业的情况恰恰相反。他们的智能投顾通过询问一些简单的问题就能推荐产品，降低费用。 他们会允许客户购买少量股份，（通过客户间股份转移）减少净交易以减少交易成本。但是初创企业的品牌效应较弱，因此获客成本更高。而且客户也只把小额资金交给他们管理。创立于2011年的英国数字财富管理创企Nutmeg旗下管理资产仅19亿英镑（约合25亿美元）；而成立已十年的美国公司财富前线（Wealthfront）则为220亿美元。

Brokers and asset managers also have good technology, which they use to compile data and execute trades. They pile clients’ money into cheap exchange-traded funds and have cut fees to rock-bottom, hoping to cross-sell premium products. Charles Schwab’s robo-adviser manages $41bn; Vanguard’s, $140bn. But their expertise lies in manufacturing investment products, not distributing them. They help people pursue single investment goals, not plan their financial life.

经纪商和资产管理公司也有很好的技术用来编译数据，执行交易。客户的资金被他们投入便宜的交易所交易基金中，将其费用降至最低，从而借此捆绑销售其他的优质产品。嘉信理财(Charles Schwab)的智能投顾掌管着410亿美元的资产，先锋理财则掌管着1400亿美元的资产。但是他们的专长是设计投资产品，而不是产品分销。帮助客户满足单一的投资目标，他们可以，而规划财务生活，却并非他们所长。

To tick all the boxes, contenders are combining forces. In May Goldman Sachs paid $750m for United Capital, a tech-savvy manager. It has also invested in Nutmeg. BlackRock has backed Scalable Capital, a digital service whose robo-adviser is used by banks including and Santander. Insurers are jumping in, too. Nucoro, a fintech, recently said that it would power Swiss Risk & Care. Allianz has tied up with Moneyfarm, a British robo-adviser.

为了抢占客户，各路竞争者并驱争先。五月，高盛以7.5亿美元收购联合资本——一家精通技术的资管公司。高盛还投资了Nutmeg。而黑岩则投资数字服务公司Scalable Capital，包括Santander在内的各家银行都在使用智能投顾技术。保险公司也加入了进来。金融科技公司Nucoro最近表示，它将为瑞士的Risk & Care助力。安联（Allianz）已经与英国智能投顾公司Moneyfarm合作。

The logical endpoint is financial platforms—perhaps super-apps that sit on smartphones—which would let customers stitch their patchwork of financial products back together. But the model has not yet been tested by rough economic weather. Volatility makes financial clients prize human contact, says Christian Edelmann of Oliver Wyman. The consultancy reckons the average cost-to-income ratio for the biggest wealth managers would jump from 77% to 91% in a recession. It remains to be seen how well mass-market wealth managers will perform in a downturn.

顺势而下，金融科技发展下去的终点或将是一个金融平台，也许智能手机上的超级APP，将所有拼凑而成的金融产品都囊括其中。但是这套模式还未经历风雨打击。奥纬咨询的克里斯坦·埃德尔曼（Christian Edelmann）表示，在面对市场波动时，金融客户们还是更倾向和人对话。该咨询公司估算，在经济衰退期间，资管巨头们的平均成本收入比将由77%上升至91%。大众理财市场的资管公司在市场低迷时期的表现如何，还有待观察。

翻译组：

Jerry,  融专业研究生，经济学人铁粉

Martina，女，爱电影爱生活，爱金融经济

Vivifang，女，外币债券交易员，经济学人粉丝

Ashley，女，金融硕士，爱宠物 爱英语，爱旅游，经济学人粉丝

校对组：

Emily，食物链底端金融民工，经济学人粉丝

Summer，女，QE在职，梦想能仗翻译/音乐 /健康走天涯