双语资讯当金融遇上互联网.docx

When the concept of “peer-to-peer” lending popped up a decade ago, libertarians and leftwing idealists alike cheered. For the idea of using the internet to match borrowers who needed cash with lenders seemed to epitomise the sharing economy.10年前“个人对个人”（peer-to-peer,简称P2P）贷款突然兴起时，自由主义者和左翼理想主义者都为之欢呼。这是因为，利用互联网为需要资金的借款者与贷款者牵线搭桥似乎带有“分享型经济”的特征。What made P2P sound doubly exciting — at least in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis — was that these platforms also appeared to thumb a nose at the banks. Or, to use the technical term, P2P threatened to “disintermediate” mainstream finance, in a democratic way.令P2P听起来更加激动人心的是——至少在2008年经济危机之后的一段时期里——这些平台似乎也对银行嗤之以鼻。或者，用专业术语来说，P2P以民主的方式威胁着将主流金融“去中介化”。But that utopian ideal is starting to be turned upside down. True, if you look at the profile of who is providing loans on America’s biggest P2P platforms today, such as Lending Club and Prosper Marketplace, you will still see wealthy “mom and pop” investors, attracted by the hope of good returns in a low interest rate world. Since 2009 loans on the big P2P platforms have generated yields of between 5 and 9 per cent.但是现在，这种不切实际的想法即将被颠覆。没错，如果看看美国各大P2P平台上——如Lending Club和Prosper Marketplace——贷款方的介绍，你还是会看到富有的“夫妻店”投资者——在当今的低利率时代，对高回报率的期待把他们吸引到互联网平台上。自2009年以来，大型P2P平台贷款产生的收益率在5%至9%之间。But those plucky individuals are in a minority — and a shrinking one. These days, four-fifths of the finance on P2P platforms [all of them? says just Lending Club in source i can find our story dated December 14.2014]comes from institutions, such as hedge funds, or arms of the established banks.但是，大胆的个人投资者毕竟是少数——而且越来越少。如今，P2P平台上五分之四的资金来自机构，如对冲基金，或者老牌银行的分支。Indeed, hedge funds and banks are now moving into this sector with such a vengeance that they are not only repackaging those P2P loans into new instruments, via securitisation; they are lending via these platforms too.的确，对冲基金和银行正在大张旗鼓地进入P2P领域——不仅通过证券化把P2P贷款重新包装为新的金融工具，还通过这些平台从事贷款业务。Earlier this year, for example, Citigroup agreed a $150m tie-up with Lending Club, t