Sentence:  Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms....<WSD>Banks</WSD> and credit-card firms are kept out of the picture. Talk to enough people in the field and someone is bound to mention the “democratisation of finance”. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  An institution where one can place and borrow money and take care of financial affairs.