ljf1110 - 2007-10-27 8:56:00
Social lenders seek to take advantage of bank turmoil
社会性贷款可借此次银行信贷危机进行发展
IF THE banks won't lend you money, might a stranger? Probably not, to judge by recent data from Prosper, an American peer-to-peer lending marketplace (a place where people can lend their own money to other people).
如果银行不给你发放贷款，你觉得一个陌生人会借钱给你么？根据美国Prosper公司（Prosper公司推出了全美首个“P2P借贷市场”-实现用户之间的资金借入或借出，整个过程无需银行的介入）的调查数据显示，也许会哦。
The website, which lets lenders bid against each other on the interest rates they are prepared to offer to specific borrowers, has seen an increase in demand from subprime borrowers as access to credit has tightened. But lenders have responded in turn. Chris Larsen, Prosper's boss, reports a sharp drop in the number of subprime borrowers who are getting funded, from just under a quarter of borrowers in September 2006 to a mere 8% last month. Homeownership, which used to weigh positively on a borrower's creditworthiness, no longer casts such a magic spell.
出借者可以在“P2P借贷市场”通过利率“竞价”来实现向特定贷款者发放借款。鉴于近期信贷市场紧缩，放贷者减少，故而次级贷市场的借款需求相对增加。根据Prosper公司的Chris Larsen所作的调查报告显示，次级贷市场获得贷款的借款者比例急剧降低-在9月份仅为8%，而去年同期这个数字是近25%。住房所有权，这个曾经可以作为借款者有利的重量级信用指标，现在已失去原有魅力。
So far, so like the outside world. But the credit crunch is also reinforcing areas of difference between social-lending firms and the mainstream market. Without the costly paraphernalia of a normal bank (branches, staff and regulatory costs), social-lending marketplaces have always claimed to offer borrowers cheaper credit than they could get elsewhere. That price gap has widened recently as mainstream lenders have hiked their rates and social lenders have largely failed to follow suit. Asheesh Advani, founder of a social-lending business that relaunched under the Virgin Money brand this month, says that its loan volumes have grown rapidly over the past year largely because they are seen as more affordable as credit terms elsewhere have become tougher.
迄今为止，的确是这样。但信贷紧缩再次加强了社会性贷款公司与传统贷款市场的不同。没有传统银行贷款所需的额外成本（部门、职员及管制成本），社会性贷款市场对借款者的信用要求要低于其他借贷市场，即二者间存在着贷款成本差额。而随着近几年传统贷款利率增加，而社会性贷款未能同步，这个差额已经越来越大。维珍金融（Virgin Money）在10月重新推出的其社会性贷款业务，其创建者Asheesh Advani表示，公司社会性贷款数量与去年相比有大幅增长，部分原因是他们（的贷款条件）更容易被人所接收，而其他信贷公司的贷款条款则是日渐严格苛刻。
Why aren't social lenders raising their rates? One reason is that, unlike banks, they are not facing higher funding costs caused by the seizure in money markets. Another clue lies in that word “social”. Mr Advani, whose business is designed to facilitate loans by family and friends, points out that parents tend not to foreclose on mortgages but to restructure them. Even when strangers are involved, lenders are usually not seeking solely to maximise returns. Let's not get too misty-eyed, though. The relative immaturity of the market may also play its part, says Giles Andrews of Zopa, a British peer-to-peer lending site.
那么为什么社会性贷款者不提高利率呢？其中一个原因是他们并非银行，故而无需付出银行在金融市场获取资金时那么高的融资成本。另一个原因则存在于其“社会性”。Mr Advani的生意是对家庭及其亲朋进行放贷。他指出，一个家庭并不希望取消抵押品赎回权而希望可以重新调整贷款结构。即便其中有陌生者参与，放贷者一般也不会独自寻求自身收益最大化。我们也不要太悲观。英国P2P借贷网站Zopa公司的GilesAndrews认为，借贷市场也会存在相对不成熟版块。
Most intriguing of all is the possibility that social-lending sites do a better job than their mainstream counterparts of assessing risk. Zopa, which takes a stringent approach to credit assessment and will let only prime borrowers onto the site, boasts a default rate of just 0.1%. Prosper, which is more laissez-faire and has a default rate of 3%, provides measures of “social capital”, such as endorsements by friends, that help lenders to judge the risk of a specific borrower.
人们最想知道的是相比那些传统贷款竞争对手，社会性贷款网站如何更好得进行风险评估。Zopa拥有严格的信用评估系统，并只允许信用最佳的借款者在网站借款，自称违约率仅为0.1%。相对来说，Prosper则较为放任，它的贷款违约率为3%。Prosper可以为“社会性资本”提供度量，包括借款者朋友签字背书等，通过这些来帮助出借者判断借款风险。
That sounds promising. The volumes of loans being processed by peer-to-peer marketplaces remain tiny, however. And default rates will rise as portfolios age. But at least the credit crisis has given social lending a friendly pat on the back.
这看起来似乎很不错，但P2P借贷市场的贷款数量仍较小，而且违约率也会随着贷款逐渐成熟而上升。但至少信贷危机为社会性贷款提供了这样一个良机。
哈哈.同学们看一下,希对你们阅读有提高.
西伯利亚 - 2007-11-6 16:45:00
a sharp drop in 急剧地下降
jyk9192631770 - 2008-4-6 17:27:00
原来interest还有第二意思 即是利息 利率的意思[em03]