人人貸:網絡借貸安全否?
The rich farming soil in central China is an unlikely field for financial innovation but that is exactly what it has become.
中國華中地區肥沃的土壤，原本不大可能成爲金融創新的“試驗田”，但如今，這恰恰成爲了事實。
When Shang Meigong faced a cash crunch in her vegetable seed business in Xiangyang, Hubei province, she was turned away by local banks and decided to look to the internet for funds. CreditEase, the biggest of a fast-growing pack of peer-to-peer lending websites, paired her up with wealthy people across the country who lent the Rmb50,000 ($7,900) that she needed.
當湖北襄陽的尚美功經營的蔬菜種子生意麪臨資金短缺時，她在當地銀行吃了閉門羹，於是決定上網尋找資金來源。在如雨後春筍般涌現的大量人人貸網站中，規模最大的宜信(CreditEase)經過一番牽線搭橋，爲她找到了異鄉的有錢人，後者借給了她所需的5萬元人民幣（合7900美元）。
"It took just a few days to get it. The interest rate was lower than from loan sharks and higher than from banks, but the banks wouldn't lend me anything," Ms Shang says.
“幾天後我就拿到了錢。利率比高利貸要低、但比銀行高，可問題是銀行一分錢也不肯借給我，”尚美功說道。
Peer-to-peer, or P2P, lending websites are at the leading edge of a microcredit boom in China. For a service fee, they connect people wanting to invest money with those looking to borrow small amounts, whether to attend school, buy a computer or start a business.
在中國小額信貸的蓬勃發展中，處於前沿的正是人人貸(P2P)網站。通過收取一定的服務費，它們將具有投資意願的人與尋找小額貸款的人聯繫起來，不管借款者是爲了上學、買電腦還是創業。
In so doing, they are providing a platform for loans to entrepreneurs who have founded some of the most productive businesses and yet have been neglected by banks, seen as too risky or simply too small.
通過這種形式，它們爲創業者提供了一個獲得貸款的平臺。創業者們建立了一些最富創造性的企業，但在銀行看來，它們要麼風險過高，要麼規模太小，因而往往被無視。
The P2P boom has not been trouble-free. The bankruptcy last year of one lender, Hahadai, exposed the risks and prompted regulators to tighten their supervision, with the China Banking Regulatory Commission warning that some P2P companies "were unable to ensure the safety of the loaned funds".
人人貸的繁榮發展並非一帆風順。去年，貸款交易平臺“哈哈貸”(Hahadai)的倒閉，在暴露出該領域風險的同時，也促使監管機構加大了監管力度。中國銀監會(China Banking Regulatory Commission)警告稱，部分人人貸公司“無法確保貸款資金的安全”。
But advocates say the lending sites are beginning to reshape the face of Chinese finance and make China a focal point for the fledgling P2P industry worldwide.
但人人貸的擁護者們指出，貸款網站正開始重塑中國金融格局，它將使中國成爲人人貸這一新興行業的全球中心。
"China has much more P2P potential than the US. You can understand the lack of credit penetration simply by being on the ground here," says Roger Ying, who launched , a P2P website, last year. "It is filling an important void in the financial system."
霍中皓(Roger Ying)去年創建了人人貸網站盼貸()，他談到，“中國在人人貸領域的潛力遠遠超過美國。只要踏上中國的土地，你就能深切體會到信貸渠道是何等匱乏。”他表示，“人人貸填補了金融系統中的一個重大空白。”
The government has prodded banks to lend more to small businesses but banks still favour larger enterprises, which can offer property as collateral or have state backing. That gap in lending has opened the door to a new breed of lenders: microcredit companies.
政府曾敦促銀行加大對小型企業的信貸支持，但銀行仍青睞向大型企業發放貸款，因爲它們要麼有房產作爲擔保，要麼得到了國家的支持。貸款領域的這種缺口，爲一種新型貸款機構提供了機會：小額信貸公司。There are 4,144 microcredit companies in China, a sevenfold rise over four years, and their total lending increased 87 per cent last year to Rmb369bn, according to government data. While many are bricks-and-mortar institutions, from pawn shops to trust companies, Taobao, the Chinese rival to Ebay, has demonstrated in the retail industry that online businesses can flourish because the internet reaches vast areas still untouched by big brands.
根據政府公佈的數據，中國目前有4144家小額信貸公司，這一數字在4年間增加了7倍，其貸款總額去年增長87%，達到3690億元人民幣。儘管許多都是線下實體店（從典當公司，到信託公司），但Ebay的中國對手——淘寶(Taobao)在零售業的表現證明，依託於網絡的企業是可以取得長足發展的，因爲互聯網能夠觸及大品牌尚未觸及的廣闊天地。
The first P2P lending website was launched five years ago and Mr Ying estimates that there are at least 100 now. CreditEase says it alone has about 100,000 borrowers and that its loan book has been increasing 50-100 per cent year-on-year.
第一家人人貸網站創建於5年前，而霍中皓估計，如今至少有100家這樣的網站。宜信表示，單是它一家公司就擁有約10萬名借款人，其貸款賬目同比增長了50%-100%。
"It's because people really need help and are not covered by the traditional banking system," says Tang Ning, chief executive of CreditEase.
宜信首席執行官唐寧談到，“這是因爲人們真的需要幫助，而他們又無法從傳統的銀行業體系獲得幫助。”
P2P lending has also grown rapidly in the US and Europe since its start in 2005 — especially since the global financial crisis when battered banks cut their lending to small borrowers.
自2005年出現人人貸以來，這種貸款模式在美國和歐洲同樣經歷了迅速發展——尤其是全球金融危機之後，飽受打擊的銀行紛紛減少了對小型借款人的放貸。
The potential in China is far bigger. "There are about 60m micro-entrepreneurs in cities and 200m rural poor, so it is a huge market opportunity," Mr Tang says.
中國的潛力要大得多。“中國約有6000萬小型創業者，還有2億農村貧困人口，因此，這是一個巨大的商機，”唐寧說。
P2P lenders in China have an image problem, however. They have been damaged by association with China's "underground banks" — illegal lenders that charge annualised rates as high as 60 per cent. Established lending sites such as CreditEase and PaiPaiDai say their average rates for borrowers are much lower, at about 20 per cent.
然而在中國，人人貸中的貸款方存在着某種形象問題。由於被人們與中國的“地下錢莊”——非法貸款組織，年利率高達60%——相提並論，它們的形象顯得不甚光彩。具有一定口碑的貸款網站，如宜信和拍拍貸(PaiPaiDai)表示，其借款人所需支付的平均利率要低得多，大約在20%左右。
There have been concerns too about the P2P business model. Borrowers typically must provide personal information, including their all-important ID number, which is released to lenders if borrowers default. Yet it is still unsecured lending, with no collateral posted.
人人貸的商業模式也引發了一些人的擔憂。通常來說，借款人必須提供個人信息，包括極其重要的身份證號，如果借款者違約，貸款者將獲知對方的身份證號。儘管如此，由於缺乏擔保，它仍是一種不安全的貸款行爲。
Nevertheless, regulators appear to be gradually warming to the sector, which Mr Tang says is seen as a way to make "underground lending" more transparent.
不過，監管部門似乎正漸漸認可這一行業，按唐寧的話說，這被視爲增加“地下錢莊”透明度的一種方式。
The P2P companies have also become more upfront about confronting risks. At Pandai, Mr Ying has created a protection fund to partially backstop the lenders if borrowers default.
在防範風險的問題上，人人貸公司也變得更加未雨綢繆。就盼貸而言，霍中皓建立了一隻防範基金，目的就是當出現借款人違約的情況時，能夠爲貸款人提供一定程度的保護。
"It is still too early to pick winners from losers in microcredit," says Victor Wang, a banking analyst with Macquarie Securities. "But if these operations are doing genuine business and not becoming loan sharks, then they are at least helping small corporations to have better credit access."
“現在要判斷出小額信貸領域中哪些是輸家，哪些是贏家，還爲時過早。”麥格理證券(Macquarie Securities)的銀行業分析師王瑤平(Victor Wang)表示，“但如果這些公司能作到誠信經營、不演變成高利貸，那它們至少是在幫助小型企業獲得更好的融資渠道。”
譯者:何黎
