The British Financial System

英国金融制度
Tatsuo Horita ,a banker from Japan ,is visiting with an officer of the Bank of England .
来自日本的银行家堀田达夫正在与英格兰银行的一位高级职员闲谈，
They are talking about the British monetary and financial system .
他们正谈论着英国的货币和金融制度。
Horita:I understand that Bank of England notes have been legal tender in Britain since the early part of the 19th century .
堀 田：据我所知，从19世纪初叶，英格兰银行发行的纸币就已经成为英国的法币了。
Officer:Yes,actually from 1883,long before the Bank of England was the official central bank for Britain.
职 员：是的，实际上从1833年开始，英格兰银行早已成为英国的官方中央银行了，
And special restrictions put on note issurance by other banks in 1844 caused most banks to discontinue issuing notes.
而且在1844年，还对其他银行的货币发行实行期一些特别的限制，这就使得大多数的银行不再继续发行纸币。
H:Weren't Bank of England notes backed by specie?
堀 田：英格兰银行发行的纸币不是以金银铸币作为依据吗?
O:Specie or government bonds until 1931.Since then ,of course,the Bank of England like other central banks has not held specie reserves equal to our note issue.
职 员：直到1931年，还是以铸币或政府的债券为依据的。当然，从那以后，象其它的中央银行一样，英格兰银行并不持有与我们发行的纸币等量的金银铸币储备。
H:When did the Bank of England become the official central bank of the United Kingdom?
堀 田：英格兰银行什么时候成为联合王国的官方中央银行的呢?
O:That's difficult to say .Actually ,the bank was nationalized by the government in 1946.
职员：这很难说，实际上，在1946年政府已将其收归国有。
Before that ,however ,the bank had been the central banking instituion for over a century .
然而，在这之前，英格兰银行就已经成为中央银行有100多年了。
While we were privately owned ,successive governments felt that we operated in the public interest and gradually enacted laws,
当时，虽然我们是私立银行，但历届政府都认为我们的业务经营活动有利于公众利益，并逐步地有所立法，
which gave us various supervisory functions over other banks .
这一切赋予了我们对其他银行的各种监督职能。
H:So the bank now makes fiscal and monetary policies for the country ?
堀田：因此，目前该银行就是为国家制定财政和金融政策的。
O:In coperation with the Cabinet we do .Our functions are not as independent as those of the Federal Reserve in the United States.
职员：我们在与内阁合作中行使我们的职能，但我们的职能不象美国联邦储备那样具有独立性。