P2P投资新宠:短期小企业贷款(中\英)

2023-05-10 14:56:27

在这期“投资人看借贷市场调查”博文中,我想向大家介绍一类快速发展并吸引越来越多投资者关注的市场借贷新产品——短期小企业贷款。这种贷款模式强调’短期’(少于一年),并且要求小企业每天或每周进行还款。对这种新型贷款来讲,如果想获得投资,现金流是重中之重,而银行或贷款平台看重的信贷记录及净资产等传统信息标准则不作为重点。

In this fifth instalment of a six part survey of market lending from the investor?s perspective, I would like to draw the reader?s attention to a fast growing new area of market lending that is providing attractive and stable returns to increasing numbers investors on the other side of the pond. This new area is a variation on lending to small businesses that emphasizes short term loans (less than one year) to established businesses while requiring daily or weekly repayment schedules. For this new type of market lending available cash flow is the central criteria considered in order to be granted the loan, rather than traditional measures such as credit record and net assets commonly used by banks and platforms loaning to small businesses.


众所周知,英国和美国银行正在缩减向小企业贷款的业务,而早在2007-2008年的金融危机之前,这一决策就已初见端倪。美国联邦储备银行的数据明确表明,自1995年以来,美国银行业小企业贷款业务一直收缩,且并无扭转态势。发起小企业贷款需要银行具有特别的承保能力,这显然与为有更多盈利的大企业客户提供贷款有所不同。此外,也许也是最重要的一点,,比起为大企业贷款,银行在为小企业办理贷款时要分配更多的银行自有资本作为抵消。尽管小企业的利率要高于大企业,但’瑜不掩瑕’:银行仍不愿意提供小企业贷款。实际上,如果银行将款项借给最大的全国性企业,也就是说,,资本储备法规并不要求抵消银行自己的资本,这对银行来说相当于没有任何风险。简而言之,现行的法规更加鼓励银行为政府和大型企业提供贷款,而非小企业。

The problem is well known, both the U.K and the U.S. banks have been pulling back from making loans to small businesses not only since the financial crisis of 2007-2008 as commonly reported, but in fact long before. Data from the Federal Reserve Bank in the United States clearly shows that small business lending has been a shrinking share of all bank lending in the U.S. in a continued downtrend since 1995, with no sign of a change of tendency. Originating small business loans requires a particular set of underwriting skills that are different from those which banks apply to their more profitable large business customers. Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, banking regulatory requirements mandate a higher allocation of the bank?s own capital reserves to underwrite a small business loan than a large business loan. Even though the small business will be charged a higher interest rate, this does not sufficiently offset the disadvantages of small business lending for banks. In fact, when a bank loans money to the biggest national business of all, that is, buys sovereign bonds of their own home country, the capital reserve regulations require no offset against their own capital, as these loans are considered free of risk. In short, the existing regulatory framework mandates that banks are motivated to lend to governments and large businesses to a much greater degree than to small businesses.


贷款对小企业来说至关重要,极少数企业主能在商业年度周期中一直持有充足资金来应对一般资金需求(如新的库存或设备),更不用说应对计划以外的资金需求了。幸运的是,即使传统银行已经不再为小型企业提供贷款,其他一些非银行的融资平台逐渐开始美欧兴起,以填补这一缺口。这其中,一个新加入的平台引起了我的注意,我相信它将成为未来几个月甚至几年小企业贷款平台的典范。

Credit is the lifeblood of a small business, with very few business owners having sufficient capital at all times throughout their annual business cycle to be able to fund all the normal demands on capital (such as new inventory or machinery), let alone unexpected demands that might emerge from time to time. Fortunately, even as traditional banks have stepped away from funding small businesses, a wide range of non-bank platforms have emerged on both sides of the Atlantic to help fill the breach. I would like to highlight one particular new entrant that has caught my attention, that I believe will serve as a model for other platforms in the coming months and years.


最近我有幸与Direct Lending Investments的创始人和CEO Brendon Ross交流。其公司总部设在洛杉矶,Brendon Ross同时还兼任Direct Lending收益基金的负责人。公司成立于2012,已在全美国范围内为成千上万的小企业提供总价值超过7千万美元的贷款。公司对改变小企业的贷款模式有清醒的认识。用Ross先生的话来说,”要说有哪些企业完全无法获得传统意义上的贷款的话,那应该说的就是小本生意了,比如邻居家准备新开个杂货铺子。”


I recently had the opportunity to speak with Brendon Ross, the founder and CEO of Los Angeles based Direct Lending Investments, in turn manager of the Direct Lending Income Fund. Founded in 2012, Direct Lend has at this time over $70 million short term loans outstanding to thousands of small businesses throughout the United States, and has a clear mission to change how small business lending is carried out. In the words of Mr. Ross, “If there is a group in this country that is totally unable to access traditional credit, it is neighbourhood businesses”.


这一创新模式同时吸引了投资人和借款人,因为它将重点放在了长期企业的现金流上,而并未将净资产或正式的信贷评级作为主要考察标准。Direct Lending每笔贷款额平均为4.1万美元,平均贷款周期不到一年,借款人平均经商12年。贷款有固定的分期偿还日程表,每日或每周以直接付款的方式从借款人的银行帐户划出。偿还日程表中包括每日或每周支付的本金及利息。就是说,贷款偿每天或每周从日常的现金流业务中小量扣除,而不是攒着每月一起扣除。Direct Lending的模型在借款人和投资人中反响都非常好,所以我相信这个模型在未来会得到更多小企业贷款和消费者贷款平台的效仿。

The innovation that has made this new model so attractive to both investors and borrowers is the focus on cash flow of long established businesses, rather than net assets or formal credit ratings as the key driver to qualify for a loan. Direct Lending?s average loan size is $41,000, the average loan period is less than one year, and the average borrower has been in business for over 12 years. However, loans are repaid on a daily or weekly basis by direct debit from the borrower’s bank account according to a fixed amortization schedule that includes principal and interest in each daily or weekly payment. Effectively, the loans are repaid from daily cash flows of the established business as small daily or weekly expenses, rather than as a large monthly expense. The consequences for borrowers as well as for investors who fund these loans are so surprisingly positive that I expect that this model will become more widely implemented by platforms in both small business and consumer loans in the future.


从借款人的角度来说,每天或每周的偿还模式不但将还款一点点拆分成更容易负担得起的小量额度,更对于总贷款的融资成本有非常有益的影响。未偿还的本金在连续逐步减少,需要支付的利息就会相应地比一般的每月偿还要低得多。实际上,小型企业贷款年利率一般是15%-20%,但由于使用了偿还日程表帮助快速分期偿还贷款,借款人的贷款利率会低得多。(通常仅为年利率的一半)借款人在第一天就可以获得全部贷款,而更高频率的还款意味着小企业在偿还利息的时候,只有在第一天或者第一周才需要偿还以全部本金为基础计算的利息,在以后的日子里,基数会越来越小,而几个月之后就可以偿还很大一部分本金了。

From the borrower?s side, daily or weekly repayment charges not only reduce the repayment of the loan into a more manageable series of individual charges, but also has a dramatic and very beneficial impact on total financing costs for the loan. As the outstanding principal is reduced on a continuous basis from the very start of the loan, the total interest paid is much less than that of a typical loan with monthly payments. In fact, while the interest rate charged for these kinds of small business loans is typically 15%-20% on an annualized basis, total interest costs paid by the borrower are normally much less (approximately one half of the contracted interest rate) due to the rapid amortization of the loan if all payments are met according to the schedule. While the borrower has the full amount of the loan available to use as required from day one, the higher frequency payments to repay the loan mean that the small business is not paying interest on this full outstanding balance for more than the first day or week, and in a matter of just a few months will have repaid a substantial percentage of the principal of a one year loan.


对于投资者而言,如果投资了快速偿还型的小企业,则会有很多优势。例如,如果小型企业每天或每周通过主银行账号直接在平台上进行转款,那么贷款人就可以迅速掌握公司运营状况,如查看公司是否出现了问题,或需要重新协商贷款等。借款人在平台上的代理人可以作为债权人的发言人,代表债权人与企业协商贷款事宜;而那些选择每月偿还或者每季度偿还的贷款人在这时还都不知道出现还款问题了呢。另外,虽然还款频率增加了,甚至将违约和其他费用排除在外以后,贷款人的未偿资本仍能获得可观的利率收益。(通常每月1%)

For investors in funds composed of these kinds of accelerated repayment small business loans, the advantages are numerous. For example, as the repayments are daily or weekly and made directly to the platform by direct transfer from the main bank account of the small business, it is possible to have very immediate information as to how the loan is performing at all times, and know immediately if a problem has occurred or if the loan must be renegotiated. The borrower?s representative at the platform can be at the head of the queue of creditors, and able to negotiate better terms on behalf of the investors than those who are repaid on a monthly or quarterly basis who are not yet even aware that a repayment issue has occurred. At the same time, though the loans are repaid on an accelerated basis, the outstanding capital of investors is earning a very attractive interest rate even after defaults and expenses are taken into account, typically one percent per month.


最后,也是最重要的,小企业是创造就业的源泉,如果在有需求的时候小企业能够获得可以负担得起的贷款,而不必须依赖于传统的银行贷款的话,整体经济便会因此获益。我相信,每天或每周还款的快速小企业贷款还款模式不仅可以方便借款人,投资者也能够获得足够诱人的收益,并且比类似收益的产品风险更低。基于以上这些原因,我相信这个还款模型可以成为未来几个月或几年市场贷款的典范。

Finally, and most importantly, the economy as a whole benefits enormously if small businesses, the motor of job creation, are able to acquire credit when they need it, at reasonable rates, despite the abandonment of this market by traditional banks. I believe that the accelerated daily or weekly repayment model of small business lending facilitates this end while providing attractive returns for investors at a lower level of risk than other investments providing similar returns. For these reasons it would not be surprising to see this model become a consolidated part of the market lending landscape in the coming months and years.

作者:James Levy

译者:徐佳琦

原文:altfi.com

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