科技掛帥 互聯網金融吹響顛覆小企業貸款市場號角

Square, a brainchild of Twitter TWTR 0.48% co-founder Jack Dorsey, recently announced it would start making cash advances to small businesses. The move seems like a natural next step, considering that the mobile payment platform started helping small businesses process credit card payments. What’s worth highlighting, though, is that Square Capital is the latest example of technology driving a new market for small business loans.

Twitter聯合創始人傑克·多西靈感的產物、移動支付技術公司Square最近宣佈向小企業提供現金墊款。考慮到它的移動支付平臺已開始幫助小企業處理信用卡支付，這一步看起來自然而然。但值得強調的是，Square Capital是科技推進新型小企業貸款市場的最新代表。

Innovators believe disruption is a good thing. And many will tell you there’s no market more overdue for disruption than the banking industry. In fact, it was 20 years ago that Bill Gates quipped that “Retail banks are dinosaurs.” Yet, today we still apply for loans at traditional banks in the same way we did in 1994 when the former Microsoft MSFT -0.17% CEO made that comment.

創新者們相信，顛覆是件好事情。而且，很多人將告訴你，沒有比銀行業更需要顛覆的行業了。實際上，早在20年前，比爾o蓋茨就曾不無譏諷地說過，“零售銀行業是堪稱恐龍的老古董。”但是，如今我們還是像1994年這位微軟（Microsoft）前CEO做出上述評論時一樣，從傳統銀行申請貸款。

Don’t get me wrong, traditional banks have helped create a small business economy that has allowed millions to pursue their version of the American Dream. But over the years what has persisted is a loan process built around inefficiencies that drive high costs due to two realities: 1) It is difficult for willing lenders and borrowers to find each other. 2) Small business credit risk is hard to assess.

不要誤解我的意思，傳統銀行幫助營造了小企業經濟，讓數百萬人可以追求自己的美國夢。但多年來一成不變的是，貸款流程效率低下，推動產生高成本。現實原因有兩個：1)有意願借款和有意願放貸的雙方很難找到對；。2)小企業的信用風險很難評估。

Since 2007, technology has spawned new markets for lending, potentially transforming this industry in the same way it has travel, retail and others. The use of these new platforms has been on the rise since the Great Recession, due to either the ongoing feeling that banks remain unwilling to lend or that these new lenders are providing capital with greater efficiency. Or both.

自從2007年，科技爲借貸打開了新市場，有可能像改變旅遊、零售和其他行業一樣改變這個市場。自從經濟大衰退之後，對這些新型平臺的利用一直不斷增加，原因是始終感覺銀行仍不願進行放貸，或者，這些新放貸機構有更高的效率提供資本。抑或兩者兼而有之。

There are the online balance sheet lenders – like OnDeck Capital and Kabbage – that typically offer short-term loans of less than nine months. The capital they provide is similar to a cash advance, with a fixed amount or percent of sales deduction each day from the borrower’s bank account.

市場上有像OnDeck Capital和Kabbage這樣的網上資產負債表貸款機構，它們通常提供9個月以下的短期貸款。它們提供的資本類似於現金墊付，同時收取固定金額或每天從借款人賬戶的銷售額中抽取固定的比例。

Companies like Lending Club, Prosper, Funding Circle and Fundation are using a peer-to-peer model. Backed by individual investors, these companies make loan decisions based on proprietary credit models, typically offering loans of up to $250,000 for longer terms at between 8% to 24%. These loans are collateralized through personal guarantees or business assets.

Lending Club、Prosper、Funding Circle和Fundation這類公司則使用對等模式。在個人投資者的支持下，這些公司基於私有信用模式做出貸款決定，通常提供期限更長一點，至多25萬美元的貸款，利率在8%至24%。這些貸款通過個人擔保或企業資產抵押。

Perhaps the most interesting model is one in which companies like Lendio and Fundera are simply creating their own marketplaces where small businesses can shop and compare loan products from online lenders and conventional banks. In doing so, they’re mitigating one of the biggest problems borrowers and lenders face – search costs.

或許最有意思的一種模式是，像Lendio和Fundera這樣的公司建立起它們自己的市場。小企業可以在這裏實現購買，同時將網上貸款機構與傳統銀行提供的貸款產品進行對比。通過這種做法，它們降低了借款人和貸款機構面臨的最大難題——搜尋成本。

It’s important to note that these lenders still only account for a small portion of the market – less than $10 billion in a more than $600 billion small business lending market. But they are driving fundamental change, making the typical small business loan – one of less than $250,000 – more profitable for lenders by leveraging technology to drive efficiency.

值得指出的重要一點是，這些貸款機構僅佔市場的很小的一部分——在超過6,000億美元的小企業貸款市場中還不到100億美元。但它們正在推動根本性的變革，藉助科技提升效率，使得貸款機構從那些通常低於25萬美元的小企業貸款中也可以賺到利潤。

We are also seeing small business owners willing to get capital through these new platforms, even though it’s often more expensive, because they value the convenience. Many of these new platforms are making approvals online and via mobile applications in as fast as 24 hours for some lower dollar loans, compared to a traditional process that takes several weeks and requires stacks of paperwork.

我們也看到小企業主願意通過這些新平臺獲得資本，儘管這麼做通常價格更貴，因爲它們把易操作性也計入了價值。其中很多新平臺通過網絡或移動應用進行審批，對於一些低額貸款，最快可以在24小時內就迅速完成審批。相比之下，傳統流程需要幾周的時間，同時還要求提供大量文件。

To be sure, there are legitimate questions about this emerging market. We don’t want small business lending to run amuck, and regulators and policy makers should be asking how to prevent fraud and economic risk. But that doesn’t mean this isn’t a breakthrough.

誠然，這個新興市場存在合法化問題。我們不希望小企業貸款市場瘋狂發展，而且監管機構和決策層也應當考慮如何防止腐敗和經濟風險。但這並不意味着它就不是突破。

Small businesses create two-thirds of the net new jobs in the United States. Yet a 2013 Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey noted that most small business owners say access to capital is their top growth concern. As a result, they probably aren’t investing like they could, which means they aren’t creating new jobs at the rate our economy needs if we want the job market to return to normal.

小企業創造了美國三分之二的新增工作機會。而紐約聯邦儲備銀行（Federal Reserve Bank of New York）2013年的一項調查顯示，大多數小企業主表示，獲得資本是他們實現增長的首要難題。因此，他們很可能沒盡其所能投資。這意味着，如果我們想讓我們的就業市場走上正軌的話，他們沒有按照我們經濟所需要的速度創造出新的工作機會。

This emerging market is adding momentum to the economic recovery in exactly the area where it’s most needed. And some will say the best thing about it is that the market is driving it, not government.

這個新興市場在真正最需要的領域注入了經濟復甦的活力。而且有些人表示，最最重要的是，它是市場、而不是政府推動產生的。