A cash machine

Jan 31st 2008 | TOKYO
From The Economist print edition

A tempting share offer is available at 7-Eleven stores in Japan

STOCKMARKETS are slumping and banking is troubled, but a Japanese firm hopes to buck both trends. Seven Bank, a subsidiary of Seven & i Holdings, plans to list shares on JASDAQ, Japan's small-companies exchange, on February 29th. It runs automated teller machines (ATMs) at its parent's 7-Eleven stores. It sounds mundane, but it is a licence to print money.

Curiously, in a high work-ethic country like Japan, cash machines have an easy life. More than half are shut through the night; those that are not charge more for nocturnal transactions—much as taxis do.

But Seven Bank operates around the clock (40% of its ATM transactions occur overnight). Since it started in 2001, it has installed 13,000 ATMs and generally charges the same rate for withdrawals as the banks' own ATMs. Last year it earned ¥12.7 billion ($105m) on ¥75.4 billion of revenue, almost all from ATM fees.

Part of the success is cultural. The Japanese love convenience stores. Unlike many Japanese firms, the bank also outsources much of its work—which enables it to operate with just 300 full-time staff.

Technology is a third advantage. Whereas most ATMs in Japan cannot handle foreign cards, Seven Bank's latest machines can. They can also take deposits, be used to pay bills and transact with insurance and securities firms. Last year, transactions per machine grew by around 10%.

Despite its high-tech wizardry, Japan is the consummate cash society: though e-cash is catching on, people still carry around wads of notes. Provided the stockmarket obliges, Seven Bank's shares may tempt the Japanese to part with some.

日本银行业

自动柜员机

Jan 31st 2008 | TOKYO
From The Economist print edition

日本7-Eleven便利店里的诱人牛股

在股票市场的震荡、银行业的不景气的大背景下，日本一家公司却将这种颓势转化成一种机遇.Seven & i Holdings旗下的Seven银行计划在2月29号于JASDAQ(类似纳斯达克的日本小企业证券交易市场)发行自己的股票.该银行在母公司7-Eleven便利店中安置了自动柜员机(ATMs),尽管听起来很平淡无奇,但是事实上,Seven却在通过这种模式创造"印钞"奇迹.

让人感到吃惊的事,在日本这样的以勤奋工作为道德准则的国家,大部分的提款机都过这养尊处优的生活.那些提供服务的，则会收取额外的夜间交易费用，正如出租车的夜间起步价较高一样。

但是Seven银行却提供全天24小时服务(其40%的自动柜员机交易发生在夜间）.自2001年开业以来，已有13000台的ATMs被安置在便利店中并且有着与设置在银行内的ATMs有着相同取款服务率.去年该银行750亿人民币中127亿（1.05亿美元）的收益来自于ATM服务费。

这种模式的成功一部分归功于文化因素.日本人都由衷喜爱便利商店.不像大多数的日本企业，Seven银行将自己的一部分业务向外分流，这保证了300家的服务网点就足以满足市场需要。

技术则是第三优势，Seven银行与其他银行最大不同在于其他银行无法提供对非本国银行卡的支持，但是Seven银行ATMs不但支持外国银行卡，还支持账单支付、保险支付、安保支付等服务。截至去年，单台自动提款机交易率上升了10%左右。

抛开先进科技带来的影响，日本这样高度发展的金钱社会虽然电子钱币流通度很大，人们仍然需要携带一定数量的纸币。因此，相信银行发行的股票从一定程度上会受到人们的追捧。

修改了2处错误

1。1、2楼朋友提出的断句不当造成的错误

2。Last year it earned ¥12.7 billion ($105m) on ¥75.4 billion of revenue的翻译已经被修正

【本文翻译仅为外语学习及阅读目的，原文作者个人观点与译者及译言网无关】