????筆者第一次寫到“人人貸”（Peer to Peer lending）是在2007年，當時它就像其他很多社交網(wǎng)絡一樣，只是一個實驗性的新興模式。當時，Prosper、Lending Club這樣的公司開始跳過傳統(tǒng)銀行這個中介，邀請個人在類似于Facebook的平臺上提供、獲取小額貸款。

????五年后，人人貸的時代來了。這一新興行業(yè)度過了2008年的金融危機，跨越了無數(shù)監(jiān)管難題，如今已成為個人和機構投資者值得信賴的選擇。人們既可以藉此獲得不錯的資金收益，也可以為信用評分高的借款人提供價格較低的融資。本周，隨著著名經(jīng)濟學家、哈佛大學（Harvard University）名譽校長勞倫斯?薩默斯加盟美國最大的人人貸公司Lending Club的董事會，總部位于舊金山的這家公司聲譽得到進一步提升。“我們推出了一系列針對大機構的金融創(chuàng)新，”他告訴我。“我認為，關注創(chuàng)新，滿足消費者的需求也很重要。”

????除薩默斯外，Lending Club的董事會中還有著名風投公司凱鵬華盈（Kleiner Perkins）的瑪麗?米克和前摩根士丹利（Morgan Stanley）CEO約翰?麥克。但如今的Lending Club已經(jīng)不再需要借助名人來贏得關注。這家公司每個月平均發(fā)放貸款8,200萬美元，迄今累計發(fā)放貸款總額已超過10億美元。公司共同創(chuàng)始人兼CEO羅納德?拉普朗什早年做過證券律師，后來轉型成為科技創(chuàng)業(yè)家。最近，他表示，公司計劃在未來18個月內進行IPO。

????該公司的主要競爭對手是位于舊金山的Prosper.com，后者累計發(fā)放貸款為4.3億美元。Prosper是第一個吃螃蟹的人，但在2009年，由于美國證券交易委員會（SEC）對其貸款產(chǎn)品是否應被歸為證券展開了調查，導致公司不得不暫停營業(yè)6個月；這件事影響了Prosper的發(fā)展勢頭，但并沒有讓這家公司從此一蹶不振。如今該平臺由Drugstore.com前CEO唐恩?萊伯雷掌管，每月平均發(fā)放貸款1,450萬美元，迄今已經(jīng)累計發(fā)放貸款4.35億美元。

????兩個平臺上的大多數(shù)借款人都擁有高信用評分（平均分為710-715），希望將信用卡借款、汽車貸款和其他類似的貸款進行整合。他們可以申請3年或5年貸款，貸款利率比信用卡利率低得多。Lending Club上約有10%的借款申請會被接受。

????貸方由個人和機構投資者組成，它們可以在被接受的貸款申請中選擇投資；大多數(shù)投資者會將投資資金分散到幾十筆貸款中，降低違約風險。（約有5%的借款人違約，具體取決于貸方承擔的風險高低。）由于兩個平臺都擁有活躍的二級交易市場，貸方隨時可以將投資變現(xiàn)。

????Prosper號稱過去三年投資者的平均回報率為10%，而拉普朗什告訴我，目前Lending Club的投資者平均回報率為9%。有一個缺點是：人人貸并沒有覆蓋美國所有的州，因為各個州都有自己的投資和證券法律以及不同的投資規(guī)定。目前，投資者可以在美國28個州使用這些平臺。

????人人貸平臺最初是始于個人投資者，希望藉此實現(xiàn)人與人之間的互助。如今Lending Club上近一半的投資都是由養(yǎng)老基金、投資經(jīng)理和其他機構投資者運作的。拉普朗什預計，隨著公司進一步發(fā)展，這一比例將升至70%。

????The first time I wrote about peer-to-peer lending was back in 2007, when, like most other forms of social networking, it seemed like a novel experiment. Companies like Prosper and Lending Club were attempting to disintermediate the traditional banks by inviting individuals to request and make small loans on Facebook-like platforms.

????Five years later, peer-to-peer lending has come of age. The nascent industry weathered the 2008 financial meltdown and myriad regulatory issues to become a credible alternative for retail and institutional investors alike looking to make decent returns off their investments as well as a cheaper option for borrowers with high credit scores. And this week, the largest of these companies, San Francisco-based Lending Club saw its credibility rise when the preeminent economist Lawrence Summers, President Emeritus of Harvard University, joined the board. "We've had a wave of financial innovation directed at large institutions," he told me. "I think it's important also to focus on innovation that meets the needs of consumers."

????Summers joins Kleiner Perkins' Mary Meeker and former Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack. But Lending Club doesn't need big names to gain attention at this point. The company issues an average $82 million in loans monthly, and it has now issued more than $1 billion in total loans. Cofounder and CEO Renaud Laplanche, a securities lawyer-turned-tech entrepreneur, recently said he plans an initial public offering within the next 18 months.

????The company's major competitor is San Francisco-based Prosper.com, a similar platform that has issued $430 million in loans so far. Prosper was first to market, but had to close up shop for 6 months in 2009 while the SEC looked into whether its loans should be classified as securities; the pause hurt Prosper's momentum, but it didn't take the business down. Now run by former Drugstore.com CEO Dawn Lepore, the platform issues an average $14.5 million monthly in loans and has issued $435 million in total loans.

????Most of the borrowers on both platforms are people with high credit scores -- the average is 710-715 -- who plan to consolidate debt from credit cards, car loans and the like. They can request three or five-year loans with more moderate interest rates than they are likely to find on credit cards. About 10% of the loan requests on Lending Club are accepted.

????The lenders are a mix of retail and institutional investors who can choose from among the accepted loan requests to invest; most spread their investments out over dozens of loans to protect themselves against default. (Around 5% of borrowers default, depending upon the amount of risk lenders sign up for.) Because each platform has an active secondary trading market, lenders can trade their investments to liquidate their stakes at any point.

????Prosper boasts that investors have seen an average 10% return over the past three years while Laplanche tells me Lending Club investors currently see an average 9% return. One drawback: Peer-to-peer lending is not yet available in every state as each has its own laws about investments and securities as well as its rules about investing. Right now, investors can use these platforms in 28 states.

????Though peer-to-peer lending began as an exercise for retail investors, in which one person could literally help out another, about half of Lending Club's investments are made by pension funds, money managers and other institutional investors these days. Laplanche estimates the figure will rise to 70% as the company grows.