????3月20日，個人貸款公司Lending Club宣布推出小企業(yè)貸款平臺。Lending Club初步計劃推出15,000美元至100,000美元的商業(yè)貸款，一年至五年貸款的起始固定利率為5.9%。商業(yè)貸款的對象初期僅限機構(gòu)投資人，但公司CEO雷諾?拉普朗什希望在第一年后開始向零售投資者提供商業(yè)貸款。本周早些時候，《財富》雜志（Fortune）就公司新產(chǎn)品采訪了拉普郎什。

????推出新產(chǎn)品最終要實現(xiàn)什么目的？

????我們有非常宏大的目標。我們希望將銀行系統(tǒng)轉(zhuǎn)變成一個更有競爭力、更便于消費者使用、更透明的市場。如果我們能擴大貸款的用途，同時擴大我們正在服務的人群，我們就能贏得更多客戶。未來，我們希望提供各種信貸產(chǎn)品，包括汽車貸款、助學貸款和住房抵押貸款。推出商業(yè)貸款是我們的第一次嘗試。

????首先，推出小企業(yè)貸款的原因是因為目前的市場需求沒能得到滿足。我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，自2008年以來，商業(yè)貸款規(guī)模一直在縮小。過去兩年，大型商業(yè)貸款市場有所復蘇。但小型商業(yè)貸款市場從2008年以來一直在持續(xù)萎縮。萎縮的原因并不是需求不足。許多公司老板都沒有足夠的資金去發(fā)展壯大自己的公司。

????這個領(lǐng)域的競爭是否激烈？

????我們考慮進入的這個細分市場競爭并不十分激烈。大家看看商家現(xiàn)金預支付業(yè)務就會發(fā)現(xiàn)，它的起始利率通常是20%，甚至會上漲到40%至60%。我們的起始利率僅有5.9%。事實上，我們更多時候是為不受銀行關(guān)注的小企業(yè)提供一個銀行貸款之外的替代性選擇。小公司得不到銀行的關(guān)注，并不是因為他們的信用不高。考慮到銀行的運營成本和結(jié)構(gòu)，銀行給小企業(yè)提供商業(yè)貸款很難做到。銀行承銷這樣一項服務的成本太高，往往得不償失。

????這項業(yè)務瞄準的Lending Club跟目前的投資者是不是同一批人？

????未來會這樣。我們第一年只會向我們現(xiàn)有基礎(chǔ)中的一部分投資者提供商業(yè)貸款。因為我們在最開始沒有業(yè)績記錄。我們希望在第一年將業(yè)績記錄建立起來，之后再向零售投資者提供商業(yè)貸款。

????在目前的Lending Club平臺上，你認為對貸款的需求和投資需求之間是否達到了良好的平衡？

????On March 20, Lending Club announced plans to launch a small business loan platform. Lending Club business loans will range from $15,000 to $100,000 initially, with fixed interest rates starting at 5.9% for one-to-five-year loans. Initially, these loans will only be available to institutional investors, but CEO Renaud Laplanche aims to open it to retail investors after the first year. Fortune caught up with Laplanche to discuss the company's first new product earlier this week.

????What are you trying to accomplish with your new product?

????We have pretty ambitious goals. We want to transform the banking system into a marketplace that is more competitive, more consumer-friendly, more transparent. We're only going to be more relevant to more people if we address more use cases and expand the population we are addressing. Over time we want to offer all types of credit products including auto loans, student loans and mortgages. This is our first foray into that.

????The reason we wanted small business loans to be our first new product is based on unsatisfied market needs. What we've seen is since 2008, commercial lending has been decreasing. Over the last couple years, the larger commercial loan market has picked up again. If you look at smaller commercial loans, that market has continued to shrink since 2008. It's not for lack of demand. There are a lot of business owners who don't have the capital to grow their businesses.

????Is there a lot of competition in this space?

????The segment we are thinking of addressing is not all that crowded. If you look at the merchant cash advance, very often their starting interest rates is 20% and it goes up from there into the 40s to the 60s…Our rates are going to start at 5.9%. Really, we will be more of an alternative to a banking loan for smaller businesses not getting attention from the banks. It's not that their credit is bad. It's really hard for the banks to make a small business commercial loan work, considering the bank's operating cost and structure. It's very expensive for a bank to underwrite a service, and it's not always worth it.

????Will you be targeting the same investors as Lending Club has so far?

????Over time, we will. For the first year, we will only make these loans available to a portion of our investor base. Initially we won't have a track record. We want to build up our track record for the first year before we make these loans available to retail investors.

????On the current Lending Club platform, are you seeing the right balance in demand for loans vs. demand to invest?