Money collecting

Ø 1) Do you know any collectors of interesting or valuable objects such as works of art, stamps, clothes, or other things, books, banknotes or coins and so on? Are you a collector yourself? Why do you think people are going in for collecting things?

Ø 2) Read the heading, look through the text and say what the article is about.

Numismatics is the scientific study of currency and different payment media used to resolve debts and the exchange of goods. So, numismatists are students or collectors of coins.

Exonumia is the study of coin-like objects such as tokens, coins and medals, and other items used in place of legal currency or for commemoration. This includes elongated coins, encased coins, souvenir medallions, tags, badges, wooden nickels, credit cards, and other similar items. Many coin collectors are also exonumists.

Notaphily is the study of paper money or banknotes. It is believed that people have been collecting paper money for as long as it has been in use. However, people only started collecting paper money systematically in Germany in the 1920s, particularly the colourful “Serienscheine Notgeld” (Series Notes). The turning point occurred in the 1970s, when notaphily was established as a separate area by collectors. At the same time, some developed countries such as the USA, Germany and France began publishing their respective national catalogues of paper money.

Scripophily is the study and collection of stocks and bonds. It is an interesting area of collecting due to both the inherent beauty of some historical documents as well as an interesting historical context of each document. Some stock certificates are excellent examples of engraving. Occasionally, an old stock document can still have value as a stock in a successor company.

Ø 3) Say if these questions are covered in the text:

a) the study and collection of stocks and bonds,

b) a collection of baseball caps,

c) the collection of currency of different countries,

d) the collection of paper money of Russia,

e) the collection of coin-like objects,

f) the collection of adventure books.

COUNTERFEITING OF MONEY

Ø 1) Read the text and say what the most adequate summary of the text is:

a) The text is about counterfeiting, the skill of making illegal copies of banknotes, products and tickets to trick people, and the ways of punishing for it.

b) The text deals with counterfeiting, which is making illegal copies of money, both paper and metal, and how this crime was punished in Europe and the USA. It is mentioned that counterfeiting should not be mixed with money art.

c) The text is about illegal making of banknotes, called counterfeiting, and the way of punishing this crime, which is very strict. All counterfeits are burned alive.

Counterfeiting is probably as old as money itself. Before the introduction of paper money, the main way of doing it was to mix base metals in what was supposed to be pure gold or silver. Also, individuals would “shave” the edges of a coin so that it weighed less than it was supposed to, a process known as clipping. This is not counterfeiting but the exponents could use the precious metal clippings to make counterfeits. A fourrée is an ancient type of counterfeit coin, in which a base metal core has been plated with a precious metal to look like its solid metal counter part.

Kings often dealt very harshly with the perpetrators of such deeds. In 1162, Emperor Gaozong of Song had promulgated a decree to punish the counterfeiter of Huizi to death and to reward the informant. The English couple Thomas Rogers and Anne Rogers were convicted on 15 October 1690 for “clipping 40 pieces of silver” (in other words, clipping the edges off silver coins). Thomas Rogers was hanged, drawn and quartered and Anne Rogers was burnt alive. The gruesome forms of punishment were due to the two acts being construed as “treason,” rather than simple crime.

In America, counterfeiting also used to be punishable by death; for example, paper currency printed by Benjamin Franklin often bore the phrase “to counterfeit is death.” The theory behind such harsh punishments was that one who had the skills to counterfeit currency was considered a threat to the safety of the state, and had to be eliminated. Far more fortunate was an earlier practitioner of the same art, active in the time of the Emperor Justinian, who got the nickname Alexander the Barber. Rather than being executed, when he was caught the Emperor decided to employ his financial talents in the government’s own service.

A subject related to that of counterfeiting is that of money art, which is the art incorporating currency designs or themes. Some of these works of art are similar enough to actual bills that their legality is in question. While a counterfeit is made with deceptive intent, money art is not – however, the law may or may not differentiate between the two. JSG Boggs, the American artist, is best known for his hand-drawn, one-sided copies of US banknotes which he spends for the face value of the note.

Ø 2) Answer the questions:

a) Could you give examples of punishment for counterfeiting?

b) How old is counterfeiting?

c) What process is known as clipping?

d) What type of counterfeit is called “a fourree”?

e) Was Alexander the Barber punished for counterfeiting?

f) What is JSG Boggs?

6.10 QUIZ “ARE YOU A SPENDER OR A SAVER?”

This simple quiz activity will let you know whether you are a spender or a saver by nature, or somewhere in between. Go through the quiz and mark the choice that you feel best describes how you spend and handle money.

1) When you go grocery shopping, do you write a shopping list?
a) never,	b) sometimes,	c) mostly always,	d) always
2) How often do you go socializing?
a) 3-4 times a week,	b) 1-2 times a week,	c) once a month,	d) hardly ever
3) If you have any spare money do you like to spend it:
a) on yourself,	b) on your home,	c) on children,	d) save it for the future?
4) If you have lots of change, how do you get rid of it?
a) You spend it,	b) You give it to someone as a tip,	c) You give it to your children,	d) You save it in a piggy bank to let it build up.
5) Which of the following best describes your feelings about money?
a) If you’ve got it you spend it.	b) Your outgoings are always more expensive than your income.	c) You try to save a little money each week but usually end up having to spend this money on unexpected bills.	d) You save a little each week or month regularly.
6) If your cooker breaks down, what will you do?
a) Go without – I don’t have money to buy a new one.	b) Buy one on credit.	c) Get help from social security.	d) Buy one – you always have money for emergencies.
7) You inherit $1000. What do you do with this money?
a) Treat yourself.	b) Buy presents for your friends and family.	c) Save it.	d) Pay off your debts.
8) How many of the following do you owe: a pension, investments, shares, credit cards, a savings account, a cheque account, household insurance?
a) You have 0-2,	b) You have 3-4,	c) You have 5-6,	d) You have 7.

KEYS TO THE QUIZ “ARE YOU A SPENDER OR A SAVER?”

Mostly a’s. If you fall into this group you find money tends to disappear as quickly as it appears. You like to treat yourself and think that life is for living, so whilst you can afford it or have no commitments you will enjoy yourself. However, be careful that too much living for the moment doesn’t mean getting into debt.

Mostly b’s. People in this group like to spend some money on themselves and family but sometimes the money just won’t go round. It might be worth thinking about how you could reduce your outgoings and perhaps be a little less generous to others and save this money instead.

Mostly c’s. You are normally OK with money and have got quite a good balance between saving and spending, although at times you can be caught out. However, you do think about saving and have at times got some money you can fall back on when you need to.

Mostly d’s. You are very good with money. You may not have thousands of pounds stashed away in the bank but you do try to put some money aside for middle and long term plans. However, you sometimes may feel as if you are saving for the future and not enjoying the here and now. Sometimes a little enjoyment does us all good and perhaps balancing this out a little more may make saving feel much more worth it in the end.

TIPS ON SAVING MONEY

Ø 1) Look at the heading of the text and the words: saving money, a savings account, an interest rate, a credit card, a debit card, an investment fund. What is this text about?

Ø 2) Agree or disagree with the given statements and explain your attitude:

a) It’s good to save money.

b) It’ bad to save money.

c) It’s impossible to save money.

d) It takes a lot of time and efforts to save money.

Consider yourself first when it comes to saving money. Get yourself turned on to the idea that your financial future will be prosperous as a result of your efforts.

Set aside 10% of your income, just for you. Set them aside on a savings account with higher interest rate than your normal account. What is important is that the money is out of reach. If you save it on an account where you have easy access, you will more easily spend it. Get them out of your life! Not in your pocket!

You can also be well off saving in funds. Pick safe funds, do not go for high risk investment funds or you might end up resenting your saving plan.

Be also careful with credit cards, as a consumer you are better off with no credit on your account. This does not mean that you should not use plastic cards. You can easily use a debit card that does not allow you to withdraw more than you have on your account.

Let the planning of saving and budgeting be fun. Be creative with it. Do not look at it as something you have to do, then it becomes very heavy and you might end up feeling poor since you have to deprive yourself from all “the good things in life.”

Now, watch out for this one. The “I deserve it” mentality lets you spend money like crazy without thinking of the consequences.

You might think that you have done well for a while, so now its time to spend money again. If you follow that impulse you will have great difficulties in saving anything. You need to be consistent with your financial planning and not go in fits and starts about it.

Remember this: all the good things in life are not necessarily expensive. If you plan ahead and prepare yourself a nice lunch box instead of going to the restaurant you can actually save a lot of money.

Stopping yourself from buying things on impulse also gives you a lot of power and personal financial freedom, because you have money left over for the things that are really needed. Plan your shopping ahead and stick to the list. Next time you come home from shopping try and recall what you actually went out to get. Most probably you will see that you have ended up buying something that you did not plan. Plug these leaks and you will prosper! Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.

Ø 3) Correct the outline of the text:

a) Correct your spending mentality.

b) Plan your shopping.

c) Plan and budget your income.

d) Save by means of a savings account, a credit card, a debit card or in funds.

e) Be careful in your spendings.

f) Think of the future – save 10% of your income.

STEPS TO UNLIMITED WEALTH

Ø 1) To what category of people do you refer yourself – poor, you just make ends meet, well-off, well-to-do? Would you like to change your financial situation?

Ø 2) Read the heading and say what the article is about.

Ø 3) Skim the text. Here are the subheadings for the parts of the text. Distribute the subheadings in the proper order.

a) CHOOSE ONE MOST SUITABLE STRATEGY FOR YOURSELF AND ACT.

b) BE THANKFUL FOR EVERYTHING YOU HAVE.

c) START AND CONTINUE SAVING MONEY NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS.

d) MAKE A DECISION TO BECOME WEALTHY.

e) LEARN DIFFERENT STRATEGIES OF MAKING MONEY.

f) PRIORITIZE EVERYTHING.

g) ALWAYS MOVE FORWARD.

h) VISUALIZE THAT YOU HAVE ALREADY BECOME RICH.

i) STAY AWAY FROM NEGATIVE PEOPLE.

Step 1: You must decide exactly what you want. Many people fail in life because they don’t really know what they want to do, have or be with their life. You can hear them saying “I want to make a lot of money.... I would love to travel the world.... I would love to have a beautiful house.... I want this or that.... etc, etc, etc.” The truth is that they don’t really know what they want!

So our first big step now will be to take a pen and paper and write everything you really desire out of life. Dream Big, what would you do, have and be if time, money and health were no object? What would you do right now if your annual income became your monthly income? I can hear you asking.... “Is that really needed...?” “Why...?” It is very simple... If you don’t know where you are going, how do you know when you have arrived? How do you strive for something if you don’t know for what...?

That’s why you will take a 3x5 card and put it in your pocket or purse or any other place that will be easy to reach. For a whole week, every time you think of something that you would like to have or do, write it down on the card. Let me give you some ideas of things you might want: a new home.... a second home.... a new and better car.... amount of money you want to earn monthly or yearly.... where to go for your dream holiday.... how much you want to save.... what you want to do... etc, etc. Once you do this, you will have taken a big step toward your Financial Wealth!

Prioritise everything in order you feel what is most important for you. Choose the one most important goal you want that scares you thinking about achieving it. Write out in present tense EXACTLY how it looks, sounds and feels having achieved it. Always start with “I am so grateful that I now...”

Visualize (pretend) morning and night with emotion having already reached your goal. Take action on your new idea. If you understand how the mind works you will understand that this is the most powerful process you can undertake.

Have TOTAL Faith in God (or whatever you call the Great Creative Power)!!! Be thankful for everything you have!!! No matter what!!! And don’t forget to thank him for the wealth and abundance that is coming your way!!!

Step 2: Learn about the different strategies to make money. There are proven ways that you get your FINANCIAL GOAL.

1) The first one everybody thinks of is A JOB. 95% of all people use this strategy yet they accumulate only 3% of the wealth. The reality is that just a handful of individuals may claim that they got FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE through a job. It really does not make sense to repeat the same mistakes other people have already encountered: facing retirement depending on their income from the social security system ONLY.

2) Invest your money... putting your money to work for you. All wealthy people own shares and most own property. Do you?... If not, why not? If you don’t want the results that the masses have then don’t do what they do. Do what the rich people do.

What if you don’t know what to do? Well, I didn’t know the stock market even existed 20 years ago; but once I knew I had to invest in it I found someone that was really successful in trading and investing in shares and I learned from them. I am now one of the most successful stock market investors in the world.

A word of warning: do not allow other people to invest your money for you! A recent survey shows that only 2 out of 124 financial planners surveyed were found to offer very good advice. Here’s what I learnt if you want to become rich: become self educated in investing and do it yourself!

3) Multiple sources of income; leverage your time and money through other people. Only 5% of the population uses this strategy effectively yet they make over 95% of the total income!!!

Once you learn to leverage your money effectively this is the most profitable strategy. You must understand legal structures and business. Yet contrary to what most people think, it is easy to do and takes the least amount of personal effort. Multiple sources of income should make you money with minimal or nil personal exertion.

Step 3: Stay away from negative people. Take this suggestion very seriously! Please...., Please... stay away from those people who only talk, think or act in a negative way... Negative people will take you down with them... Don’t let anyone steal your dream!!! Find new friends if you must... Life is too short to let it be jeopardized by negative influences. Surround yourself with people who know what they are doing... learn from them... Apply what they have done to get to where they are now.

Step 4: Take Action!!! If you decide to do something.... you know you want it with all your heart.... but don’t take action, nothing will happen!!! You MUST research, you MUST think, but by all means you MUST take action!! Not making a decision is a decision itself.
You have to ask yourself... How can you get where you want to be if you don’t start any movement, if you don’t take the first step? Act today, DO NOT leave for tomorrow what you can do today!!! By reading these steps to unlimited wealth you are already taking action, continue with it and persevere. Action Creates Action.

Step 5: All Excuses are Equal. No matter which excuse you can give, or which excuse you choose to give, there is not a good reason to be a failure! Look back five years, can you see yourself at that time? What happened during those five years? Did you get what you wanted? If not, what Is Your Excuse?

It’s hard to face reality... It can hurt to face reality... I can understand that... I’ve been there many times... But I can also tell you... “Don’t look back to recriminate yourself... Now is the time to move forward... now is the time to make a decision... now is the time to make the necessary change to have a fantastic future!!!”

Step 6: Start Saving..!!! Save... Save... As much as you can..!!! You can make all the money you want, but if you don’t have a plan to save it you will never get to your golden mountain. Unless you save you cannot use “Money Making Strategy Number 2.” Start with a little... then increase that amount step by step... You MUST save..., save..., save... and remember... all excuses are equal!!!

Following these steps to unlimited wealth, you will achieve what you really want out of life... I can promise for sure that you will be successful. These steps to unlimited wealth worked for me... they worked for others who, like me, were willing to pay the price... why not for you?

Ø 4) Skim the text again and say whether these questions are covered in it.

a) Most people fail in life because they don’t know what they really want to do.

b) Every day repeat this positive affirmation “I am very wealthy” many times.

c) Visualize that you have already become wealthy.

d) It isn’t useful to repeat the mistakes other people have done.

e) Follow the example of the successful investment given in the text.

f) Borrow your time and money from other people.

g) “Save money” should be your motto.

Ø 5) Support or decline the author’s points of view.

Ø 6) Where and how can you use this information?

Money and humour

Ø 1) Do you know any anecdotes about money? Share one or two with the group.

Ø 2) Read the anecdotes and talk about the peculiarities of foreign humor.

· A woman proudly told her friend, “I’m responsible for making my husband a millionaire.” “Well what was he before he married you?” the friend asked. “A billionaire.”

· The parents of a Northwestern student who just headed back from holiday received this letter: Dear Mom and Dad: Univer$ity life i$ $o wonderful! Cla$$e$ and $e$$ion$ are intere$ting, my cla$$mate$ are the be$t! But after $pending all my ca$h on Chri$tma$ pre$ent$, I am in a little need for $ome $pending money for book$ and $uch. But I don’t want to $end the wrong $ignal$ home. Love, Your $on

· You know you’re rich when during a cold winter night you can’t find any more firewood so you hack the leg off your Steinway grand piano and use it to keep the fire going until your butler shows back up with something more flammable, and your children play monopoly with real money.

· A successful man is the one who makes more money than his wife can spend. A successful woman is the one who can find such a man.

· At 18 years old, Rockefeller had no money. He found an apple in the street. The fruit was dirty, he cleaned it and resold it for 50 cents to a man walking in the street... with his 50 cents he bought 2 apples 25 cents each, and resold them for 1$ to another man walking in the street... with his 1 dollar he bought 4 apples, and resold them of course for 2$.... at 19 years he inherited from his grandmother...

· A one dollar bill met a twenty dollar bill and said, “Hey, where’ve you been? I haven’t seen you around here much.” The twenty answered, “I’ve been hanging out at the casinos, went on a cruise and did the rounds of the ship, back to the United States for a while, went to a couple of baseball games, to the mall, that kind of stuff. How about you?” The one dollar bill said, “You know, same old stuff... church, church, church.”

· A lawyer’s dog, running around town unleashed, heads for a butcher shop and steals a roast. The butcher goes to the lawyer’s office and asks, “If a dog running unleashed steals a piece of meat from my store, do I have a right to demand payment for the meat from the dog’s owner?” The lawyer answers, “Absolutely.” “Then you owe me $8.50. Your dog was loose and stole a roast from me today.” The lawyer, without a word, writes the butcher a check for $8.50. The butcher, having a feeling of satisfaction, leaves. Three days later, the butcher finds a bill from the lawyer: “$100 due for a consultation.”

BANKS

Ø 1) Do you use the services of a bank? What services do you get from the bank? What bank do you deal with? Is it a bank or a branch of a bank? Why do you use the services of this particular bank (it the nearest to your home, the stuff is very friendly, the services are various)?

Ø 2) Read and translate the text into Russian.

The word “bank” comes from an Italian word “banco,” meaning “a bench,” since Italian merchants in the medieval times talked about borrowing and lending money beside a bank and money was placed on that bank.

A bank is a place where money can be saved or loaned out from. Someone’ money can be placed in the bank for safe keeping. Or the bank can give out loans to people for an agreement to pay the bank back at a later time, usually with interest. The people who run a bank are called bankers.

Banks can also use the money they have from deposits to invest in businesses in order to make more money.

In most of the modern world a bank settled by the government but independent of the state administrators controls how much money appears at a time. Such a kind of bank is called a national bank. A national bank ordinarily issues bills and/or coins. In some countries issuing money is the task of the government.

Banks’ activities can be divided into:

· retail banking which deals directly with individuals and small businesses;

· business banking which provides services to mid-market business;

· corporate banking which is directed at large business entities;

· private banking which provides wealth management services to High Net Worth Individuals and families, and

· investment banking which relates to activities on the financial markets.

Most banks are profit-making, private enterprises. However, some are owned by government, or are non-profits.

Ø 3) Find the English equivalents in the text for the following Russian words and word combinations: копить деньги, врать в долг, процент, руководить банком, вклад, вложить (инвестировать), выпускать банкноты и монеты, розничные банковские операции, коммерческие банковские операции, акционерные банковские операции, частные банковские операции, инвестиционные банковские операции.

6.15 WHAT ARE BANKS FOR?

Ø 1) Read the heading, the key words from the text and say what it is about: keep cash, banknotes and coins, a bank account, be in transit in a payment system, make loans, pay low/high interest, deposit, banking crisis, competition, be based on trust, the central bank.

Ø 2) Look through the text and say what two large parts it consists of. Identify them and give them subheadings. What information from the text doesn’t fit either of the two parts?

In developed economies, nearly everyone has a bank account, because keeping cash under a mattress is neither safe nor convenient. Banks are an essential feature of national life, like buses, post offices and hospitals. Any money that is not floating around as cash, in the form of notes or coins, is either sitting in a bank account, or is in transit in a payment system between banks.

Banks operate by taking deposits from private people, on which they pay low interest or none at all, and using the money to make longer-term loans to other customers, charging them higher interest rates. Banking is based on trust, but banks sometimes misuse depositors’ money or make losses on their loans, and depositors do not usually have the time, the inclination or the capacity to monitor their banks. They are happy to leave that task to governments.

Governments seem to feel that banking systems are too important to be left to themselves. Different countries have different views on the use of the banking system as an instrument of government policy, and the lengths to which regulators should go to ensure the strength of their banking system.

Over the past twenty years, the role of governments in banking systems has tended to diminish, leaving room for doubt over whether banks might be allowed to fail.

But over the same period, some banks have gone so complex, and so active globally, that their failure would inflict severe damage on one or more national economies. These global banks are deemed to have become “too big to fail.”

Governments also help banks cope with temporary cash shortages by providing access to the “discount window” so they can borrow money from the central bank. The bank deposits are often insured in a pool arrangement or by the government itself, in case the bank goes bust.

Banks are also needed to make payments, sending money from one bank account to another, whether in the same bank or in any other one the world over. Even a payment by credit or debit card, or a mobile-phone billing account, ends up as part of a transaction with a bank.

These days most banks do a lot more besides offering a wide range of financial services. For example, they give financial advice, exchange foreign currency, deal in securities and derivatives, and manage investments on behalf of clients. Regulators have an interest in making sure that these businesses are run properly; but their chief concern remains that banks are sound, that those deposits are safe and that the payment system runs smoothly.

Regulating banking systems is an uncertain business. Banks have to be discouraged from forming protectionist cartels and encouraged to compete with each other, but not so fiercely that they cut each other’s throats. It is a delicate balance for regulates to strike.

The Bank of England has estimated that a full-blown banking crisis costs the country concerned an average of 16% of GDP. Plenty of countries have experienced such crises, including Sweden, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Argentina, South Korea, Indonesia and Japan. Most of them would probably agree that this is something worth avoiding, even at the cost of banks being over-regulated and over-protected at a time when most other sectors are being opened up to global competition. Sovereignty over a banking system, even when the national currency has gone, appears to be one of the last things a country wants to give up.

Some other countries have taken quite a different route, curbing competition among their own banks and limiting foreign access or ownership. India, for instance, nationalized its banks between 1969 and 1991, but has slowly liberalized since, creating nine private banks to compete with the publicly or mutually owed ones. Yet foreign ownership has been severely restricted and looks likely to remain so. The Reserve Bank of India (the central bank) says that those restrictions saved India from contagion in the banking crisis that swept Asia in 1997 – 98. Others argue that the restrictions have in fact put India at a disadvantage. Indonesia, which despite a banking crisis in 1997, is now growing slightly faster than India.

India’s banking system was developed in the 1970s and 1980s as an instrument of government policy to finance public spending and investment by big companies. Only recently did the government recognize that this system is entirely un-suited to the millions of small informal businesses that make up the bulk of the Indian economy. The transition to a banking system more closely aligned with the country’s needs has proved painfully slow, and hasn’t been helped by the Resave Bank’s abiding risk-aversion.

But Italy’s not the only European banking system to resist foreign buyers. Most German banks are still publicly or mutually owned and therefore cannot be sold. The same goes for half of the French banking system, and those in the know say that the big French banks that are listed on the stock exchange are simply not for sale to foreigners. A foreign purchase of one of the dominant clearing banks would probably be self-defeating: foreign-owned companies cannot be part of the French top 100 enterprises index, so investors would either oppose the bid or dump the shares after a deal.

The banks themselves want to ensure that their subsidiaries in other countries get consistent treatment. Whether this happens will depend on the competence of supervisors just as much as on the rules themselves.

Banks usually compete with each other, but on mutually accepted terms. Bank regulators are becoming more concerned to ensure transparency in the way that banks operate and compete, and have realized that the real engines of an economy are the users of banking services, be they savers, consumers or businesses.

Ø 3) Is the text information up-to-date or out-of-date? Prove your point of view.

Ø 4) Write the annotation of the text.

BANK ROLE

Ø 1) What is the role of a bank in a country?

Ø 2) Scan the text and name the paragraphs which give the answers to the questions:

a) What bank is this text about?

b) What kind of stuff does this bank have?

c) What does “middle banking” mean?

d) What stuff skills does this bank need?

e) What is the policy of the bank concerning deposits and withdrawals?

f) What possibility for the further development of the bank does its chief executive point out?

g) What is the advantage of this bank as compared with foreign banks operating in Ireland?

h) When does the strength of Anglo Irish, as a niche bank, come to the fore?

(1) Anglo Irish Bank has come a fair distance over the past 10 years or so. It is hard to believe that back in 1986 Anglo Irish had net worth of just £2m. Today, its net worth is £2bn and it employs 425 people.

(2) Last Friday, when chief executive Sean FitzPatrick launched the bank’s new corporate logo, it marked the bank’s development from an unproven minnow attracting a lot of suspicion, to an established business bank that has been one of the star performers on the market over the last year.

(3) Populated with experienced bankers, it is easy to say that the bank was always going to get the recognition it has today. But it was not always that straightforward – a point that FitzPatrick concedes. “We’ve made a lot of mistakes along the way. We didn’t articulate what the bank was about. We didn’t tell our story well enough,” he said, adding: “We’re taken very seriously now. We’ve been a long time banging on the door.”

(4) FitzPatrick describes Anglo Irish’s business as “middle banking” – unit loans of between £0.5 m to £1.5 m aimed at a professional buying a practice or property for their business and proprietorial directors with similar needs.

(5) If it sounds focused that is because it is focused. Around 80% of the public will never come into contact with the bank because it does not do consumer lending or home loans.

(6) Servicing the needs of the middle business market requires particular skills, according to FitzPatrick. “I remember going home on a train and meeting a guy I knew who worked in a bank. By knowing my salary, he was able to give me a home loan by the end of the journey. That is anonymous lending. We need to have a lot more knowledge about our customers. It is their main business venture and they will always have another bank. Every customer of ours will have two banks,” he said.

(7) This need to know customers has placed a self-imposed limit on Anglo’s lending markets of Ireland and Britain. “We know the markets very well. They have similar legal and cultural structures”.

(8) For acquisitions, the same criteria apply: “We only buy loan books which we would do ourselves and in areas we know.”

(9) However, on deposits the bank has no such restrictions. It owns a private bank in Austria and has an operation in the Isle of Man. Anglo Irish is looking at the private banking industry in Germany, France and Italy with a view to expansion, FitzPatrick says, adding, “We are more likely to make an acquisition in Europe over the next six to nine months than Britain or Ireland.”

(10) Over the next five years, the aspiration is to repeat the performance of the last five by growing earnings per share by15% per annum, in the process doubling the size of the bank.

(11) A major acquisition would quicken that process and Anglo Irish is known to be one of the many banks with designs on Irish Central Bank if/when Finance Minister puts it on the market.

(12) “We haven’t been asked to bid, but my belief is it will be sold over the next year. We will look at it very closely. Irish Central is a very good bank with a very strong management team and is complimentary to the business we are in.”

(13) Foreign banks have actually been moving out of Irish middle banking in recent years because of their lack of local knowledge, according to FitzPatrick. “Because Anglo Irish is an Irish bank, its decisions are made in Dublin, not Frankfurt, London or New York. It gives us a strong advantage,” he said. FitzPatrick believes retail banks will have more success coming into the Irish market because customer efficiency rather than customer service are more important in selling such products.

(14) That said he is not so naïve as to fully discount the possibility of Anglo Irish being taken over by a European predator. “We are not encouraging it or feel we need it. But the shareholder is the final arbitrator. It is a possibility; I don’t think it’s a probability. “There is a lot of growth left in Anglo Irish as an independent bank,” he said. FitzPatrick believes Anglo Irish Bank will be well equipped to cope when the current economic boom inevitably comes to an end. “Decisions we make today have to count in three years time. We have to be very careful. Our criteria for lending haven’t changed in the past two years despite the demand,” he said.

(15) “The strength of Anglo Irish as a niche bank will come to the fore in difficult times. It will accentuate the differences. We have our greatest growth in difficult times.” There had been suggestions that FitzPatrick would move into a new role of chairman to fill the vacancy. “I enjoy Anglo Irish Bank. I am part of a team here that has done particularly well over the past five years. I have the interest, energy and enthusiasm to continue,” he says.

Ø 3) What other heading would you choose for this text instead of “BANK ROLE” out of the following:

a) ANGLO IRISH BANK

b) A NICHE BANK FOR SPECIFIC CUSTOMERS

c) THE MIDDLE BUSINESS MARKET BANK

d) UP THE LADDER TO SUCCESS

e) Suggest your own variant.

4) Find professionally relevant terms in the text and translate them into Russian, for example: net worth – собственный капитал, стоимость имущества за вычетом обязательств.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-24