JFU 9F Inc

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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

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FORM 20-F

(Mark One)

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For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020.

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Date of event requiring this shell company report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

For the transition period from                                 to

Commission file number: 001-39025

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9F Inc.

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(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

N/A

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(Translation of Registrant’s Name into English)

Cayman Islands

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(Jurisdiction of Incorporation or Organization)

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Room 1607, Building No. 5, 5 West Laiguangying Road

Chaoyang District, Beijing 100012

People’s Republic of China

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(Address of Principal Executive Offices)

Yanjun Lin, Chief Financial Officer

Room 1607, Building No. 5, 5 West Laiguangying Road

Chaoyang District, Beijing 100012

People’s Republic of China

Tel: +86 (10) 8527-6996

Email: linyanjun@9Fbank.com.cn

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(Name, Telephone, Email and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person)

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

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*Not for trading, but only in connection with the listing on The Nasdaq Global Market of American depositary shares.

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Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

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None

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(Title of Class)

Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act:

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None

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(Title of Class)

Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report:

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As of December 31, 2020, there were 203,510,681 ordinary shares outstanding, par value $0.00001 per share, being the sum of 142,348,281 Class A ordinary shares and 61,162,400 Class B ordinary shares.

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Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.  ◻  Yes   ⌧  No

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If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.  ◻  Yes   ⌧  No

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Note – Checking the box above will not relieve any registrant required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 from their obligations under those Sections.

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.  ⌧  Yes   ◻  No

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). ⌧  Yes   ◻  No

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

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If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards† provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ⌧

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†The term “new or revised financial accounting standard” refers to any update issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to its Accounting Standards Codification after April 5, 2012.

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐

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Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:

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If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow.  ◻  Item 17   ◻  Item 18

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If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).  ◻  Yes   ⌧  No

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(APPLICABLE ONLY TO ISSUERS INVOLVED IN BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS DURING THE PAST FIVE YEARS)

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed all documents and reports required to be filed by Sections 12, 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 subsequent to the distribution of securities under a plan confirmed by a court. ◻  Yes   ◻  No

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INTRODUCTION

Unless otherwise indicated and except where the context otherwise requires, references in this annual report to:

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FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This annual report contains forward-looking statements that relate to our current expectations and views of future events. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigations Reform Act of 1995.

You can identify some of these forward-looking statements by words or phrases such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “aim,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “is/are likely to,” “potential,” “continue” or other similar expressions. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. These forward-looking statements include statements relating to:

You should read this annual report and the documents that we refer to in this annual report and have filed as exhibits to this annual report completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect. Other sections of this annual report discuss factors which could adversely impact our business and financial performance. Moreover, we operate in an evolving environment. New risk factors emerge from time to time and it is not possible for our management to predict all risk factors, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. We qualify all of our forward-looking statements by these cautionary statements.

You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The forward-looking statements made in this annual report relate only to events or information as of the date on which the statements are made in this annual report. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

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You should read the selected consolidated financial information in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes and “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects” included elsewhere in this annual report. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of our results expected for future periods.

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Notes:

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The following table presents our selected consolidated balance sheet data as of the dates indicated.

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The following table presents our selected consolidated cash flow data for the periods indicated:

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We present our financial results in RMB. We make no representation that any RMB or U.S. dollar amounts could have been, or could be, converted into U.S. dollars or RMB, as the case may be, at any particular rate, or at all. The PRC government imposes control over its foreign currency reserves in part through direct regulation of the conversion of RMB into foreign exchange and through restrictions on foreign trade. Unless otherwise noted, all translations from Renminbi to U.S. dollars and from U.S. dollars to Renminbi in this annual report were made at a rate of RMB6.5250 to US$1.00, the noon buying rate as of December 31, 2020.

B.Capitalization and Indebtedness

Not applicable.

C.Reasons for the Offer and Use of Proceeds

Not applicable.

D.Risk Factors

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

We operate in emerging and evolving industries, and our operations and products have been and may need to be modified in answering to the latest market trends, which makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects.

The industries we are operating in are emerging and in general remain at relatively preliminary stages of development and may not continue to develop as rapidly as expected. The regulatory framework for the industries we operate in is also evolving and may remain uncertain for the foreseeable future. For example, we ceased the operation of our online lending information intermediary platform, Jiufu Puhui, partially because the developments in the overall online lending information intermediary industry. Furthermore, there are few established players with business models similar to ours in these industries. Potential users, financial institution partners and other partners we collaborate with may not be familiar with the industries we are operating in, and may not fully appreciate the value we add and may have difficulty distinguishing our products and services from those of our competitors.

Furthermore, our past growth rates may not be indicative of our future growth. For example, we ceased the operations of our online lending information intermediary business, and thus the historical growth we have achieved in such business may not be relied upon for evaluation of our future developments.

We are subject to risks in relation to our transition into an internet technology company that focuses on providing technology empowerment services to financing and consumption industries in China and overseas.

We are transitioning into an internet technology company that focuses on providing technology empowerment services to financing and consumption industries in China and overseas, which may consume huge resources of ours. The execution of our strategy for such transition may not be as smooth as we expect, and we may incur additional costs overcoming hurdles that may arise.

We may continue to introduce new products and services and make modifications to existing ones in response to or in anticipation of changes our industries’ landscape, user needs or regulatory scheme. We may lack experiences on operating the business relating to new products and services. We also face competition from existing market players, which could result in low price competition. In addition, each of these new products and services, or modifications to existing ones calls for significant time and resource devotion of our management, which may have an adverse impact on our financial condition, while we cannot assure you that our attempts to make such new products and services, or modifications to existing ones will be successful, profitable or widely accepted by customers. Furthermore, as new products and services, or modifications to existing ones may materially change the way we conduct our business, they may render the projection of our future operations obsolete, and therefore our future prospects may be difficult to evaluate.

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In addition, in connection with the introduction of new products and services or in response to general economic conditions, the performance of our existing business may be impacted by changes to the policies and qualifications made by us or our partners that are applicable to our existing products and services. It is therefore difficult to effectively assess our future prospects. You should consider our business and prospects in light of the risks and challenges we encounter or may encounter in this developing and rapidly evolving market. These risks and challenges include our ability to, among other things:

We are subject to all risks and challenges inherent in developing business enterprises in emerging and evolving industries. If the industries do not develop as we expect, if we fail to educate users and partners about the value of our products and services, or if we fail to address the needs of our users and partners, or other risks and challenges, our business and results of operations will be materially and adversely affected.

In addition, there may exist uncertainty on the regulatory requirements in relation to the industries we operate in or plan to operate in and we cannot assure you that all of our business offerings will continue to be deemed in compliance with applicable laws and regulations in a fast-changing regulatory environment. For example, we are providing technology empowerment services to our partners operating in highly-regulated industries, which may subject us to additional regulatory compliance requirements. If any of our business offerings is deemed to be in violation of relevant applicable laws and regulations, our business, financial condition and prospects would be materially and adversely affected.

We changed our business operations, which may not be successful ultimately.

We ceased publishing information relating to new offering of investment opportunities in fixed income products for investors on our online lending information intermediary platform, Jiufu Puhui. We have entered into collaboration arrangements with certain licensed asset management companies, pursuant to which the investors’ rights to existing loans will be transferred to those companies, with relevant repayment of the principals and investment income, as applicable, in relation to the fixed income products expected to be made by such asset management companies to the investors within 36 months in ways chosen by investors subject to terms and on the conditions set forth in the platform notice to the investors. After the change of business operations, Jiufu Puhui will no longer provide loan facilitation service, and licensed asset management companies and other third-party service providers will provide existing investors with services in relation to the return of their remaining investment in loans.

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In connection with such efforts, we may experience a loss of continuity, loss of accumulated knowledge or loss of efficiency during the transitional period. Additionally, it is uncertain whether these efforts will eventually bring us benefits as we anticipated. If we fail to achieve some or all of the expected benefits of this business transformation, our competitive position, business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Even if our business model transformation is implemented successfully as we planned, the actual costs incurred in this process may be substantially higher than we anticipated. There might also be other issues and negative consequences arising from our business transformation such as loss of user base, additional regulatory requirements, internal control issues, changes in employee structure as well as other unexpected consequences, any of which may have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, business, financial condition and results of operations.

We have incurred net losses and negative cash flow from operating activities, and may incur net losses and experience negative cash flow from operating activities in the future.

We incurred net losses of RMB2,153.6 million and RMB2,251.2 million (US$345.0 million) in 2019 and 2020, respectively, as compared to a net income of RMB1,975.2 million in 2018. The net cash used in operating activities was RMB429.0 million and RMB1,967.8 million (US$301.6 million) in 2019 and 2020, respectively, and the net cash provided by operating activities was RMB2,345.9 million in 2018.

Our future financial performance depends on, among other factors, our ability to continue to attract and retain users, our user acquisition cost, market competition, and our ability to provide technology empowerment services to better serve our partners. Accordingly, you should not rely on the revenues of any past interim period or annual period as an indication of our future performance. We may not be able to maintain the current fee rates due to more intense competition in the future. We also expect our costs to increase in future periods as we continue to develop new business, acquire new users and expand our business and operations. In addition, we will continue to incur substantial costs and expenses as a result of being a public company. If we are unable to generate adequate revenues and to manage our expenses, we may not be able to recover from net losses in the future.

In addition, we may not be able to achieve profitability or generate positive cash flow from operating activities and, even if we achieve positive operating cash flows, it may not be sufficient to satisfy our anticipated capital expenditures and other cash needs. Further, we may not be able to fund our operating expenses and expenditures and may be unable to fulfill our financial obligations as they become due, which may result in voluntary or involuntary dissolution or liquidation proceedings and a total loss of your investment.

We do not hold any license or permit for providing securities brokerage business in China. Although we do not believe we engage in securities brokerage business in China, there remain uncertainties to the interpretation and implementation of relevant PRC laws and regulations.

Pursuant to the relevant PRC laws and regulations, no entity or individual shall engage in securities business without the approval of the securities regulatory authority of the State Council. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Regulations—Regulations Related to the Engagement of Securities Business within the Territory of the PRC by Foreign-Invested Securities Companies.” We do not hold any license or permit in relation to providing securities brokerage business in China. A significant portion of our technology, research and development, management, supporting and other teams are based in China and a large number of our clients are PRC citizens. However, we do not believe the stock investment service offered by us is securities brokerage business in China. As of the date of this annual report, we have not received any inquiry relating to our stock investment services from regulatory authorities in China. However, there remain some uncertainties as to how the current and any future PRC laws and regulations will be interpreted or implemented in the context of operating securities related businesses in China. We cannot assure you that our current operations model will not be deemed as operating securities brokerage business in China, which may subject us to further inquiries or rectifications. If certain of our activities in China were deemed by relevant regulators as provision of securities brokerage services and investment consulting services in China, we will be required to obtain relevant licenses or permits from relevant regulatory bodies, including the China Securities Regulatory Commission, or the CSRC, and failure of obtaining such licenses or permits may subject us to regulatory actions and penalties, including fines, suspension of parts or all of our relevant offerings in the PRC. In such cases, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may be materially and adversely affected.

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PRC governmental control of currency conversion, cross-border remittance and offshore investment could have a direct impact on the trading volume achieved on our platform. If the government further tightens restrictions on converting Renminbi to foreign currencies, including Hong Kong dollars and U.S. dollars, and/or deems our practice as in violation of PRC laws and regulations, our business will be materially and adversely affected.

A significant portion of our clients are Chinese nationals. We do not provide cross-border currency conversion services related to Renminbi to our clients, and we require those who would like to trade securities listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange or any major stock exchanges in the United States or purchase any wealth management products through our platform to deposit funding into their respective offshore trading accounts.

In addition, the PRC government imposes controls on the convertibility of Renminbi into foreign currencies and, in certain cases, currency remittance out of the PRC. Since 2016, the PRC government has tightened its foreign exchange policies and stepped up its scrutiny of outbound capital movement. Under the current regulatory framework, Chinese nationals are limited to a foreign exchange quota of US$50,000 per year for approved uses only, such as tourism and education purposes, and Chinese nationals can only engage in offshore investments under capital items through provided methods such as Qualified Domestic Institutional Investors. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Regulations—Regulations on Offshore Stocks Investment.” If the government further tightens the amount of currency exchange allowed for Chinese nationals, increases the control over remittance of currency out of the PRC, and/or specifically prohibits any exchanges for securities-related investment, the trading activities of Chinese nationals on our platform could be restricted, which would significantly reduce the trading volume on our platform. As our revenues from brokerage commission income depends heavily on the total trading volume facilitated on our digital securities investment platform, the occurrence of any of the above regulatory changes may have a material and adverse impact on our brokerage and wealth management business.

In addition, under the existing regulations on offshore investment, approval from or registration with appropriate government authorities is required when Renminbi is to be converted into foreign currency for the purpose of offshore investment. As we do not provide cross-border currency conversion services related to Renminbi to our Chinese national clients, we do not require our clients to submit evidence of approval or registration from relevant authorities with respect to the foreign currency used for offshore investments. However, since the PRC authorities and the commercial banks designated by the SAFE to conduct foreign exchange services have significant amount of discretion in interpreting, implementing and enforcing the relevant foreign exchange rules and regulations, and for many other factors that are beyond our control and anticipation, we cannot assure you that our operations will not be deemed by relevant authorities as providing currency conversion service or otherwise violating relevant foreign exchange laws and regulations. In such cases, we may be asked to take additional and burdensome measures to monitor the source and use of the foreign currency funds in the accounts of our clients and verify evidence of approval obtained by our clients from relevant authorities, and we may also be subject to regular inspections from relevant authorities from time to time, warnings, correction orders, condemnation and fines, suspension or termination of certain of our operations. If such situations occur, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may be materially and adversely affected.

Any future change in the regulatory and legal regime for the securities brokerage and wealth management industries may have a significant impact on our business model.

Securities brokerage and wealth management industries have been subject to an increasingly regulated environment over recent years, and penalties and fines sought by regulatory authorities have also increased. This regulatory and enforcement environment has created uncertainties with respect to various types of products and services that historically had been offered by us and that were generally believed to be permissible and appropriate. Legislative changes in rules promulgated by government agencies and self-regulatory organizations in various jurisdictions that oversee our businesses and changes in the interpretation or enforcement of existing laws and rules, such as the potential imposition of transaction taxes, may directly affect our model of operation and profitability.

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We may from time to time be subject to claims, controversies, lawsuits and legal proceedings, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, cash flows and reputation.

We may from time to time become subject to or involved in various claims, controversies, lawsuits, and legal proceedings. However, claims, lawsuits, and litigations are subject to inherent uncertainties, and we are uncertain whether the foregoing claim would develop into a lawsuit. Lawsuits and litigation may cause us to incur litigation costs, utilize a significant portion of our resources and divert management’s attention from our day-to-day operations, any of which could harm our business. Any unfavorable settlements or judgments against us could have a material adverse impact on our results of operations, financial condition, liquidity and cash flows. In addition, negative publicity regarding claims or judgments made against us may damage our reputation and may result in a material adverse impact on us.

We and PICC Property and Casualty Company Limited Guangdong Branch (the “PICC”) are pursuing legal actions against each other. In May 2020, we commenced a legal proceeding against PICC by submitting a complaint with a local court in Beijing for contract non-performance under a cooperation agreement, as amended (the “Cooperation Agreement.”) We, together with our legal counsel of the case has determined that PICC has breached its contractual obligations under the Cooperation Agreement for not paying service fees that were due to us. We are seeking payments of approximately RMB2.3 billion from PICC to cover the outstanding service fees and related late payment losses. After our legal action was filed against PICC, PICC filed a civil lawsuit against us at a local court in Guangzhou claiming that the second amendment under the Cooperation Agreement is invalid, and therefore PICC is not obligated to pay any outstanding service fees and that a portion of the service fees paid to us under the Cooperation Agreement plus accrued interest should be returned back to PICC. We will vigorously assert our rights against PICC and defend ourselves against any claims brought against us by PICC in these legal proceedings. However, both actions remain at the preliminary stage, and it is not possible at this stage to ascertain the outcome of either of the lawsuits. If we do not prevail in either of the lawsuits completely or in part, or fail to reach a favorable settlement with PICC, our results of operations, financial condition, liquidity and prospects would be materially and adversely affected. See “—Loss of or failure to maintain relationship with our partners or implement our strategy to develop new relationships with other potential partners may materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.” for other negative impacts.

Our business, financial condition and results of operations have been and are likely to continue to be materially and adversely affected by the outbreak of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in, and may continue to result in, quarantines, travel restrictions, and the temporary closure of facilities in China and worldwide.

In connection with intensifying efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19, government authorities have taken a number of measures, which included quarantining individuals infected with or suspected of having COVID-19, restricting residents from travel, encouraging employees of enterprises to work remotely from home and cancelling public activities, among others. Consequently, our business, financial condition and results of operations have been and are likely to continue to be materially and adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, as a result of the slowdown in consumption activities, especially in leisure spending or outdoor entertainment, the demand for our services or services of our partners may in turn slowdown. The other effects include the temporary closure of our offices, quarantine of certain of our employees and restrictions on our employees’ ability to travel. All of these would negatively affect our business operation, financial condition and results of operations. We have taken, and may continue to take, measures in response to the pandemic, including the adoption of modified operating hours, restrictions on the number of on-site employees, remote working arrangements and more stringent workplace sanitation measures, which may also have negative impact on our business operations. Even though China has made significant achievements in control and prevention of the COVID-19 pandemic, we cannot assure you that there will not be an outbreak in China again, and there is significant uncertainty relating to the severity of the near-term or long-term impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on the demand of our products and services. The extent to which this pandemic impacts our business and financial performance will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information which may emerge concerning the duration and severity of this outbreak and the actions taken by authorities and other entities to contain this outbreak or treat its impact, among others, all of which are beyond our control. In addition, we have established, and are actively expanding our operation in Southeast Asian countries. COVID-19 has caused significant disruptions to the economic development in Southeast Asian countries, which may weaken the debt repayment ability of borrowers of our lending business in these countries. Although our business operations in these countries are relatively small, and we have been actively pursuing technology empowerment strategies to enable our business partners and financial institutions in Southeast Asia, the developments surrounding COVID-19 could still negatively affect our future development in this region.

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If we are not able to respond to changes in user preferences for our products and services and provide a satisfactory user experience, or our existing and new products and services do not maintain or achieve sufficient market acceptance, we will not be able to maintain and expand our user base and increase user activities, and our financial results and competitive position will be harmed.

We believe that our user base and partners network are the cornerstone of our business. Attracting new users and partners is critical to the continued success of our business. We strategically focus on serving the young generation and seek to cultivate user loyalty. Our ability to attract and retain users and partners largely depends on whether we can effectively address their needs. Moreover, we depend on our existing user base to cultivate user loyalty, grow with our users and offer them better products and services. Our ability to maintain and expand our user base depends on a number of factors, including our ability to develop other products and services, and our ability to provide relevant and timely products and services to meet changing user needs. We have devoted significant resources to, and will continue to emphasize on, upgrading and marketing our products and services. We also incur expenses and expend resources upfront to develop, acquire and market new products and services that incorporate additional features, improve functionality or otherwise make our products more desirable to our users and partners. New products must achieve high levels of market acceptance in order for us to recoup our investment in developing, acquiring and bringing them to market. If we fail to retain our existing users by offering products and services that cater to their evolving consumption needs, we may not be able to capture their long-term growth potential, and our business and results of operations may be adversely affected.

Furthermore, prior to the discontinuation of our online lending information intermediary business, our fixed income products constituted a significant portion of the online wealth management products we offered. Although we have been developing other online wealth management products and services, we cannot guarantee that they will, and will continuously, maintain and attract new investors. If the market acceptance of the online wealth management products offered by us, or such products in general, declines, and we fail to retain our investors by developing and promoting our other wealth management products as alternative investment portfolio options for investors, we may suffer a loss of our investor base, and our business, operating results and financial status will be adversely impacted.

Loss of or failure to maintain relationships with our partners or implement our strategy to develop new relationships with other potential partners may materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We anticipate that we will continue to leverage relationships with existing partners to grow our business while pursuing new relationships with additional partners. For example, the success of our transition into an internet technology company depends on our ability to provide our partners with desirable and competitive technology empowerment services that captures both the core demand of our partners and the development directions of the industries they operate in. If we fail to cater to our partners’ evolving needs, or fail to offer competitive services in a timely manner in answer to competition, we may not be able to retain our partners, and as a result our results of operations will be negatively and materially impacted.

Pursuing, establishing and maintaining relationships with partners require significant time and resources. Our current agreements with partners generally do not prohibit them from working with our competitors or from offering competing services. Our competitors may be more effective in providing incentives to our partners to favor their products or services, which may in turn make our products and services less attractive to our partners. In addition, certain partners may suspend or terminate its cooperation with us. Furthermore, certain types of partners may build their in-house solutions and devote more resources to support their own competing businesses. In addition, these partners may not perform as expected under our agreements with them, and we may have disagreements or disputes with them, which could adversely affect our brand and reputation. If we cannot successfully enter into and maintain effective relationships with partners, our business will be harmed.

In addition, if any of our partners decides to suspend or terminate its cooperation with us, or fails to perform properly, we cannot assure you that we will be able to find an alternative in a timely and cost-efficient manner or at all. Any of these occurrences could result in our diminished ability to operate our business, potential liability to our users and partners, inability to attract users and partners, reputational damage, regulatory intervention and financial harm, which could negatively impact our business, financial condition and results of operations and could negatively affect the value of your investment.

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We may not be able to ensure the accuracy of the third-party product information and the authenticity of third-party wealth management products on our platform, and we have limited control over performance of investment products we market.

We offer other onshore and offshore investment products such as stock investments, insurance, bank wealth management products and fund investment products. Certain underlying wealth management products are offered by third-parties. The acceptance and popularity of our platform is partially premised on the reliability of the relevant underlying wealth management products and information on our platform. We rely on the relevant third-party providers of the relevant wealth management products for the authenticity of their underlying products and the comprehensiveness, accuracy and timeliness of the related financial information. While the products and information from these third-party providers have been generally reliable, there can be no assurance that the reliability can be maintained in the future. If these third-party providers or their agents provide inauthentic financial products or incomplete, misleading, inaccurate or fraudulent information, we may lose the trust of existing and prospective investors. In addition, if our investors purchase the underlying wealth management products that they find on our platform and they suffer losses, they may blame us and attempt to hold us responsible for their losses, even though we have made risk disclosures before they invest. Our reputation could be harmed and we could experience reduced user traffic to our platform, which would adversely affect our business and financial performance.

Furthermore, as investors access the underlying wealth management products through our platform, they may have the impression that we are at least partially responsible for the quality of these products. Although we have established standards to screen products providers before selling their products on our platform, we have limited control over performance of the investment products we distribute. In the event that an investor is dissatisfied with underlying products or the services of a product’s provider, we do not have any means to directly make improvements in response to user complaints. If investors become dissatisfied with the underlying wealth management products available on our platform, our business, reputation, financial performance and prospects could be materially and adversely affected.

Fraudulent or illegal activities associated with our users and business partners could negatively impact our brand and reputation and cause the loss of users. As a result, our business may be materially and adversely affected.

We remain subject to the risk of fraudulent or illegal activities associated with our users and business partners. Our resources, technologies and fraud detection tools may be insufficient to accurately detect and prevent fraudulent or illegal activities. Significant increases in fraudulent or illegal activities could negatively impact our brand and reputation and therefore harm our operating and financial results. Any misbehavior of or violation by our users of applicable laws and regulations could lead to regulatory inquiries and investigations that involve us, which may affect our business operations and prospects. We might also incur higher costs than expected in order to take additional steps to reduce risks related to fraudulent and illegal activities. High-profile fraudulent or illegal activities could also lead to regulatory intervention, and may divert our management’s attention and cause us to incur additional regulatory and litigation expenses and costs. Although we have not experienced any material business or reputational harm as a result of fraudulent or illegal activities in the past, we cannot rule out the possibility that any of the foregoing may occur causing harm to our business or reputation in the future. If any of the foregoing were to occur, our results of operations and financial conditions could be materially and adversely affected.

We face risks related to our “know-your-client” procedures when our clients provide outdated, inaccurate, false or misleading information.

We collect personal information during the account opening and registration process for our investment business. Although we require our clients to submit documents for proof of their identity and address for completing the account registration and to update such information from time to time, we face the risks that as the information provided by our clients may be outdated, inaccurate, false or misleading. Although we have appropriate ongoing monitoring procedures in place to keep customer information up to date pursuant to applicable regulatory requirements, we cannot fully verify the accuracy, currency and completeness of such information beyond reasonable effort. For example, a large number of our clients are holders of the PRC identity cards. As the PRC identity cards are usually effective for more than ten years or some may have no expiration term, some clients may have changed their domicile or citizenship during the terms of their PRC identity cards and therefore be subject to applicable laws and regulations of jurisdictions other than the PRC. In this situation, our provision of products and services to such clients could be in violation of the applicable laws and regulations in the jurisdictions where those clients reside, of which we may have no awareness until we are warned by the relevant supervising authorities. We could still be subject to certain legal or regulatory sanctions, fines or penalties, financial loss, or damage to our reputation resulting from such violations.

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Misconduct, errors and failure to function by our employees and third-party service providers could harm our business and reputation.

We are exposed to many types of operational risks, including the risk of misconduct and errors by our employees and third-party service providers. Our business depends on our employees and third-party service providers to interact with our users and partners we collaborate with and process large numbers of transactions, both of which involve the use and disclosure of personal information. We could be materially adversely affected if transactions were redirected, misappropriated or otherwise improperly executed, if personal information was disclosed to unintended recipients or if an operational breakdown or failure in the processing of transactions occurred, whether as a result of human error, purposeful sabotage or fraudulent manipulation of our operations or systems. It is not always possible to identify and deter misconduct or errors by employees or third-party service providers, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses. If any of our employees or third-party service providers take, convert or misuse funds, documents or data or fail to follow protocol when interacting with users, we could be liable for damages and subject to regulatory actions and penalties. We could also be perceived to have facilitated or participated in the illegal misappropriation of funds, documents or data, or the failure to follow protocol, and therefore be subject to civil or criminal liability.

Any failure by our third-party service providers to comply with applicable anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing laws and regulations could damage our reputation.

Currently, we rely on our third-party service providers to have their own appropriate anti-money laundering policies and procedures. If any of our third-party service providers fails to comply with applicable anti-money laundering laws and regulations, our reputation could suffer and we could become subject to regulatory intervention, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, the Administrative Measures for Anti-money Laundering and Counter-terrorism Financing by Internet Finance Service Agencies (for Trial Implementation) promulgated by relevant government authorities have imposed on us the obligation of anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing, including the verification of customer identification, the reporting of suspicious transactions, and the preservation of customer identification information and transaction records. While we have formulated and adopted policies and procedures, including internal controls and “know-your-customer” procedures, aimed at preventing money laundering and terrorism financing, we cannot assure you that the anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing policies and procedures we have adopted will be effective in protecting our platform from being exploited for money laundering or terrorism financing purposes or will be deemed to be in compliance with applicable anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing laws and regulations.

Any negative publicity with respect to us, the industries we are operating in in general and our partners may materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Reputation of our brand is critical to our business and competitiveness. Factors that are vital to our reputation include but are not limited to our ability to:

Any malicious or negative allegation made by the media or other parties about the foregoing or other aspects of our company, including but not limited to our management, business, compliance with laws, financial condition or prospects, whether with merit or not, could severely compromise our reputation and harm our business and operating results.

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As the industries we are operating in are new and the regulatory framework for these industries is also evolving, negative publicity about these industries may arise from time to time. Negative publicity about the industries we are operating in in general may also have a negative impact on our reputation, regardless of whether we have engaged in any inappropriate activities. Any players in the industries we are operating in who are not in compliance with applicable regulations may adversely impact the reputation of the industries as a whole.

In addition, negative publicity about our partners, outsourced service providers or other counterparties, such as any failure by them to adequately protect the information of our users, to comply with applicable laws and regulations or to otherwise meet required quality and service standards could harm our reputation. If any of the foregoing takes place, our business and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Our failure to compete effectively could adversely affect our results of operations and market share.

The industries we are operating in are competitive and evolving.

Our competitors may operate with different business models, have different cost structures or participate selectively in different market segments. They may ultimately prove more successful or more adaptable to new regulatory, technological and other developments. Some of our current and potential competitors have significantly more financial, technical, marketing and other resources than we do and may be able to devote greater resources to the development, promotion, sale and support of their development. Our competitors may also have more extensive user bases, greater brand recognition and brand loyalty and broader partner relationships than us. Additionally, a current or potential competitor may acquire one or more of our existing competitors or form a strategic alliance with one or more of our competitors. Any of the foregoing could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and future growth. In addition, our competitors may be better at developing new products, responding faster to new technologies and undertaking more extensive marketing campaigns. When new competitors seek to enter our target market, or when existing market participants seek to increase their market share, they sometimes undercut the pricing and/or terms prevalent in that market, which could adversely affect our market share or ability to exploit new market opportunities. Our pricing and terms could deteriorate if we fail to act to meet these competitive challenges. Furthermore, to the extent that our competitors are able to offer more attractive terms to our partners, such partners may choose to terminate their relationships with us.

In addition, the industries we are operating in are subject to rapid and significant technological changes. In order to compete in our industries and pursue our technology empowerment strategies, we need to continue to make significant investments in developing technologies across all areas of our business, such as artificial intelligence, information privacy security, and other emerging new technologies. Incorporating new technologies into our products and services may require substantial expenditures and take considerable time, and ultimately may not be successful. If we are unable to compete effectively and meet the need for innovation in the industries we are operating in, the demand for our products and services could stagnate or substantially decline, we could experience reduced revenues or our platform could fail to achieve or maintain more widespread market acceptance, any of which could harm our business and results of operations.

If we fail to promote and maintain our brand in a cost-efficient way, we may lose market share and our revenue may decrease.

We believe that developing and maintaining the awareness of our brand is critical to achieving widespread acceptance of our products and services, gaining trust in our brand and attracting new users and partners. Successful promotion of our brand will depend largely on the effectiveness of our marketing efforts, the success of the channels we use to promote our platform, and the user experience we provide on our platform. Historically, our efforts to build our brand have incurred significant expense, and it is likely that our future marketing efforts will require us to incur significant additional marketing expenses. In 2018, 2019 and 2020, our sales and marketing expenses were RMB1,746.4 million, RMB2,278.3 million and RMB415.2 million (US$63.6 million), respectively. These brand promotion activities may not increase our revenues immediately or at all, and, even if they do, any revenue increases may not offset the expenses we incur to promote our brand. If we fail to successfully promote and maintain our brand, or if we incur substantial expenses in an unsuccessful attempt to promote and maintain our brand image, we may lose our existing users to our competitors or be unable to attract new users, which may cause our revenue to decrease and negatively impact our business and results of operations.

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If we fail to manage our growth effectively, our business may be materially and adversely affected.

Our growth has placed, and will continue to place, a significant strain on our management, personnel, systems and resources. Our success will depend in part on our ability to manage the growth we achieve effectively. To accommodate our growth, we will need to implement a variety of new and upgraded operational and financial systems, procedures and controls, including the improvement of our accounting and other internal management systems. To accommodate our growth, we also need to continue to hire, train and manage new employees as needed. If our new hires perform poorly, or if we are unsuccessful in hiring, training, managing and integrating these new employees, or if we are not successful in retaining our existing employees, our business may be harmed. The addition of new employees and the system development that we anticipate will be necessary to manage our growth will increase our cost base, which will make it more difficult for us to offset any future revenue shortfalls by reducing expenses in the short term. If we fail to successfully manage our growth, we will be unable to execute our business plan.

Our ability to protect the confidential information of our users and our ability to conduct our business may be adversely affected by cyber-attacks, computer viruses, physical or electronic break-ins or similar disruptions and we may be subject to liabilities imposed by the relevant government regulations.

Our platform collects, stores and processes certain personal and other sensitive data from our users and partners. There are numerous laws governing privacy and the storage, sharing, use, disclosure and protection of personally identifiable information and user data. Specifically, personally identifiable and other confidential information is increasingly subject to legislation and regulations in numerous domestic and international jurisdictions. The regulatory framework for privacy protection in China, Hong Kong and worldwide is currently evolving and is likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future. We could be adversely affected if legislation or regulations in China, Hong Kong and elsewhere in the world where we have business operations are expanded to require changes in business practices or privacy policies, or if the relevant governmental authorities in China, Hong Kong and elsewhere in the world where we have business operations interpret or implement their legislation or regulations in ways that negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. For example, in November 2016, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress released the Cyber Security Law, which took effect in June 2017. The Cyber Security Law requires network operators to perform certain functions related to internet security protection and the strengthening of network information management. For instance, under the Cyber Security Law, network operators of key information infrastructure, including network operators of key information infrastructures in the finance industry, generally shall, during their operations in the PRC, store the personal information and important data collected and produced within the territory of the PRC and their purchase of network products and services that may affect national securities shall be subject to national cybersecurity review. Furthermore, the PRC governmental authorities issued a series of administrative rules and regulations to enhance the security of information collected and used by mobile apps. For instance, such rules and regulations provide, among others, that (i) app operators should collect and use personal information in compliance with the Cyber Security Law and should not collect and use personal information in violation of laws, regulations or breach of user agreements, (ii) app operators should be responsible for the security of personal information obtained from users and take effective measures to strengthen the personal information protection, and (iii) app operators should not force their users to make authorization by means of bundling, suspending installation or in other default forms. The Civil Code promulgated in 2020 also provides specific provisions regarding the protection of personal information. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Regulations— Regulations Related to Information Security, Censorship and Privacy — Regulations related to privacy protection.” We are constantly in the process of evaluating the potential impact of the Cyber Security Law, the Civil Code, and other relevant laws and regulations on our current business practices. We plan to further strengthen our cyber-security measures with respect to information management and privacy protection of the user data stored in our system. We have not been subject to any material breaches of any of our cyber-security measures. However, we cannot assure you that the measures we have taken or will take are adequate under the Cyber Security Law, the Civil Code and other relevant laws and regulations. If further changes in our business practices are required under China’s evolving regulatory framework for privacy protection, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected. Furthermore, we use certain data collected from external data sources to verify the users’ information in compliance with industry practice. In the event that the data collection and provision by any of our external data sources is considered in violation of the Cyber Security Law, the Civil Code or other relevant laws and regulations, we may not be able to use relevant data for our credit assessment and our business may be materially and adversely affected.

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In addition to laws, regulations and other applicable rules regarding privacy and privacy advocacy, industry associations or other private parties may propose new and different privacy standards. Because the interpretation and application of privacy and data protection laws and privacy standards are still uncertain, it is possible that these laws or privacy standards may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent with our practices. Any inability to adequately address privacy concerns, even if unfounded, or to comply with applicable privacy or data protection laws, regulations and privacy standards, could result in additional cost and liability to us, damage our reputation, inhibit the use of our platform and harm our business.

The massive data that we have processed and stored makes us or the third-party service providers who host our servers a target and potentially vulnerable to cyber-attacks, computer viruses, physical or electronic break-ins, or similar disruptions. While we have taken steps to protect the confidential information that we have access to, our security measures could be breached. Because techniques used to sabotage or obtain unauthorized access to systems change frequently and generally are not recognized until they are launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures. Any accidental or willful security breaches or other unauthorized access to our platform could cause, among other things, confidential user information to be stolen and used for criminal purposes, and could even result in misappropriation of funds of our users. Security breaches or unauthorized access to confidential information could also expose us to liability related to the loss of the information and losses suffered by our users from the misappropriation of funds, time-consuming and expensive litigation and negative publicity. If security measures are breached because of any third-party action, employee error, malfeasance or otherwise, or if design flaws in our technology infrastructure are exposed and exploited, our relationships with users could be severely damaged, we could incur significant liability and our business and operations could be adversely affected.

In addition, we rely on the massive amount of data and user information that we have accumulated over time to conduct our business. If these data are lost due to cyber-attacks, computer viruses, physical or electronic break-ins, or similar disruptions, our business could be adversely affected.

Any significant disruption in our information technology systems, including events beyond our control, could prevent us from offering our products and services, thereby reducing the availability of our products and services and result in a loss of users.

In the event of a system outage and physical data loss, our ability to provide our products and services would be materially and adversely affected. The satisfactory performance, reliability and availability of our technology and our underlying network infrastructure are critical to our operations, user service, reputation and our ability to attract new and retain existing users. Our information technology systems infrastructure is currently deployed and our data is currently mainly maintained through third-party cloud computing services in China. Our operations depend on the service provider’s ability to protect its and our systems in its facilities against damage or interruption from natural disasters, power or telecommunications failures, air quality issues, environmental conditions, computer viruses or attempts to harm our systems, criminal acts and similar events. Although historically we have not experienced any system outages resulting in material interruption to our services, we cannot assure you that such incidents will not occur in the future. Moreover, if our arrangement with the service provider is terminated or if there is a lapse of service or damage to their facilities, we could experience interruptions in our service as well as delays and additional expense in arranging service to users.

Any interruptions or delays in our service, whether as a result of third-party error, our error, natural disasters or security breaches, whether accidental or willful, could harm our relationships with our users and our reputation. We also may not have sufficient capacity to recover all data and services in the event of an outage. These factors could prevent us from processing business operations, damage our brands and reputation, divert our employees’ attention, reduce our revenue, subject us to liability and cause users to abandon our products and services, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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The offering of our products and services depends on the effective use of mobile operating systems and the efficient distribution through mobile app stores, which we do not control.

Our products and services are mainly offered through mobile apps. It is difficult to predict the problems we may encounter in developing applications for newly released devices and platforms, and we may need to devote significant resources to the development, support and maintenance of such applications. We are dependent on the interoperability of providing our products and services on popular mobile operating systems that we do not control, such as Android and iOS, and any changes in such systems that degrade the accessibility of our products and services or give preferential treatment to competing products and services could adversely affect the usability of our products and services on mobile devices. In addition, we rely upon third-party mobile app stores for users to download our mobile apps. As such, the promotion, distribution and operation of our mobile apps are subject to app stores’ standard terms and policies for app developers.

Our future growth and results of operations could suffer if we experience difficulties in the future in offering our products and services through our apps in mobile devices or if problems arise with respect to our relationships with providers of mobile operating systems or mobile app stores, or if we have to incur increased costs to distribute or to have users access our apps on mobile devices. In the event that it is more difficult for our users to access and utilize our products and services on their mobile devices, or if our users choose not to access or use our products and services on their mobile devices or to use mobile operating systems that do not offer access to our products and services, our user growth could be harmed and our business and financial condition and operating results may be adversely affected.

Our operations depend on the performance of the internet infrastructure and telecommunications networks in China.

Almost all access to the internet in China is maintained through state-owned telecommunication operators under the administrative control and regulatory supervision of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, or the MIIT. Our system’s infrastructure is currently deployed and our data is currently mainly maintained on third-party cloud computing services platform. Our cloud computing service provider may rely on a limited number of telecommunication service providers to provide it with data communications capacity through local telecommunications lines and internet data centers to host its servers. Such service provider may have limited access to alternative networks or services in the event of disruptions, failures or other problems with China’s internet infrastructure or the fixed telecommunication networks provided by telecommunication service providers. With the expansion of our business, we may be required to upgrade our technology and infrastructure to keep up with increasing traffic. We cannot assure you that our cloud computing service provider and the underlying internet infrastructure and the fixed telecommunication networks in China will be able to support the demands associated with the continued growth in internet usage.

In addition, we have no control over the costs of the services provided by telecommunication service providers which in turn, may affect our costs of utilizing customized cloud computing services. If the prices we pay for third-party cloud computing services rise significantly, our results of operations may be adversely affected. Furthermore, if internet access fees or other charges to internet users increase, our user traffic may decline and our business may be harmed.

Our platform and internal systems rely on software that is highly technical, and if it contains undetected errors, our business could be adversely affected.

Our platform and internal systems rely on software that is highly technical and complex. In addition, our platform and internal systems depend on the ability of such software to store, retrieve, process and manage immense amounts of data. The software on which we rely has contained, and may now or in the future contain, undetected errors or bugs. Some errors may only be discovered after the code has been released for external or internal use. Errors or other design defects within the software on which we rely may result in a negative experience for users using our platform, delay introductions of new features or enhancements, result in errors or compromise our ability to protect user data or our intellectual property. Any errors, bugs or defects discovered in the software on which we rely could result in harm to our reputation, loss of users or liability for damages, any of which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

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Our products and services contain open-source software, which may pose particular risks to our proprietary software, products and services in a manner that negatively affect our business.

We use open-source software in our products and services and will use open-source software in the future. There is a risk that open-source software licenses could be construed in a manner that imposes unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to provide or distribute our products or services. Additionally, we may face claims from third parties claiming ownership of, or demanding release of, the open-source software or derivative works that we developed using such software. These claims could result in litigation and could require us to make our software source code freely available, purchase a costly license or cease offering our products or services unless and until we can re-engineer them to avoid infringement. This re-engineering process could require significant additional research and development resources, and we may not be able to complete it successfully.

Furthermore, because any software source code we contribute to open-source projects is publicly available, our ability to protect our intellectual property rights with respect to such software source code may be limited or lost entirely. As a result, we may be unable to prevent our competitors or others from using such software source code contributed by us.

We may not be able to prevent unauthorized use of our intellectual property and may be subject to intellectual property infringement claims, which could reduce demand for our services, adversely affect our revenues and harm our competitive position.

We rely primarily on a combination of copyright, trademark and trade secret laws and contractual rights to establish and protect our intellectual property rights in our services, credit risk management procedures and policies and other aspects of our business. The steps we have taken or will take in the future to protect our intellectual property from infringement, misappropriation or piracy may be insufficient. Implementation of intellectual property-related laws in China has historically been lacking, primarily due to ambiguity in the PRC laws and enforcement difficulties. Accordingly, intellectual property rights and confidentiality protection in China may not be as effective as in the United States or other countries. As of the date of this annual report, we have registered a series of trademarks material to our business under our name in the PRC, including “ “and “ .” In addition, we are in the process of applying for trademark registrations in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Current or potential competitors may use our intellectual property without our authorization in the development and marketing of services that are substantially equivalent or superior to ours, which could reduce demand for our services, adversely affect our revenues and harm our competitive position.

Even if we were to discover evidence of infringement or misappropriation, our recourse against such competitors may be limited or could require us to pursue litigation, which could involve substantial costs and diversion of management’s attention from the operation of our business.

We may be subject to intellectual property infringement claims, which may be expensive to defend and may disrupt our business and operations.

We cannot be certain that our operations or any aspects of our business do not or will not infringe upon or otherwise violate trademarks, patents, copyrights, know-how or other intellectual property rights held by third parties. We may be from time to time in the future subject to legal proceedings and claims relating to the intellectual property rights of others. In addition, there may be third-party trademarks, patents, copyrights, know-how or other intellectual property rights that are infringed by our products, services or other aspects of our business without our awareness. Holders of such intellectual property rights may seek to enforce such intellectual property rights against us in China, the United States or other jurisdictions. If any third-party infringement claims are brought against us, we may be forced to divert management’s time and other resources from our business and operations to defend against these claims, regardless of their merits.

Additionally, the application and interpretation of China’s intellectual property right laws and the procedures and standards for granting trademarks, patents, copyrights, know-how or other intellectual property rights in China are still evolving and are uncertain, and we cannot assure you that PRC courts or regulatory authorities would agree with our analysis. If we were found to have violated the intellectual property rights of others, we may be subject to liability for our infringement activities or may be prohibited from using such intellectual property, and we may incur licensing fees or be forced to develop alternatives of our own. As a result, our business and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

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We may be held liable for information or content displayed on, retrieved from or linked to our websites and mobile applications, which may materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.

The PRC government has adopted regulations governing the distribution of content over the internet. Under these regulations, internet content providers are prohibited from posting or displaying over the internet any content that, among other things, violates PRC laws and regulations, impairs the national dignity of China or the public interest, or is obscene, superstitious, frightening, gruesome, offensive, fraudulent or defamatory. In addition to our website, we also offer our products and services through our mobile applications, which are regulated by the Administrative Provisions on Mobile Internet Applications Information Services, or the APP Provisions, promulgated by the Cyberspace Administration of China, or the CAC, on June 28, 2016 and effective on August 1, 2016. According to the APP Provisions, the providers of mobile applications shall not create, copy, publish or distribute information and content that is prohibited by laws and regulations. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Regulations—Regulations Related to Value-added Telecommunication Services—Regulations related to mobile internet applications information services.” At the end of 2019, the CAC issued the Provisions on the Management of Network Information Content Ecology, or the CAC Order No.5, which became effective on March 1, 2020, to further strengthen the regulation and management of network information content. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Regulations—Regulations Related to Information Security, Censorship and Privacy—Regulations related to internet security.” “We have implemented internal control procedures screening the information and content on our websites and mobile applications to ensure their compliance with the APP Provisions and CAC Order No. 5. However, we cannot assure that all the information or content displayed on, retrieved from or linked to our websites and mobile applications complies with the requirements of the PRC laws and regulations at all times. If our websites or mobile applications were found to be violating the PRC laws and regulations, we may be subject to administrative penalties, including warning, service suspension or removal of our mobile applications from the relevant mobile application store, which may materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.

From time to time, we may evaluate and potentially consummate strategic investments or acquisitions, which could require significant management attention, disrupt our business and adversely affect our financial results.

We may evaluate and consider strategic investments, combinations, acquisitions or alliances to further increase the value of our platform and better serve our users. These transactions could be material to our financial condition and results of operations if consummated. If we are able to identify an appropriate business opportunity, we may not be able to successfully consummate the transaction and, even if we do consummate such a transaction, we may be unable to obtain the benefits or avoid the difficulties and risks of such transaction.

Strategic investments or acquisitions will involve risks commonly encountered in business relationships, including:

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We may not make any investments or acquisitions, or any future investments or acquisitions may not be successful, may not benefit our business strategy, may not generate sufficient revenues to offset the associated acquisition costs or may not otherwise result in the intended benefits. For example, in 2016, we acquired a majority of equity interest in Fuyuan Securities Limited (formerly known as 9F Primasia Securities Limited), a company incorporated in Hong Kong, to offer stock investment products. In 2019, we made prepayments to acquire the equity interest in Hubei Consumer Finance Company, and completed the acquisition of 24.47% equity interest in Hubei Consumer Finance Company in 2020. There is no assurance that these new investments or acquisitions will prove to be successful and we are subject to government rules and regulations which are evolving and subject to uncertainty. In addition, we cannot assure you that any future investment in or acquisition of new businesses or technology will lead to the successful development of new or enhanced products and services or that any new or enhanced products and services, if developed, will achieve market acceptance or prove to be profitable.

Our planned expansion into more overseas markets and our operations in the existing overseas markets could fail, reduce operating results and expose us to increased risks associated with different market dynamics and competition in the overseas markets.

We may face many new obstacles in our planned expansion into more overseas markets and our operations in the existing overseas markets. For example, we started to offer offshore stock investments and insurance brokerage services in Hong Kong in 2016. We have established, and are actively expanding our businesses overseas especially in Southeast Asian countries, and have obtained a few key financial services licenses in Southeast Asia. These markets are untested for our products and services, and we face risks in expanding our businesses overseas or operating in the existing overseas markets, which include economic, regulatory, legal and political risks inherent in doing businesses overseas, operations and sales in other jurisdictions, including challenges caused by distance and linguistic and cultural differences, the potential for longer collection periods and for difficulty in collecting accounts receivable and enforcing contractual obligations, fluctuations in currency exchange rates, unanticipated changes in laws or regulatory requirements, including tariffs or other barriers to trade, and the potential for political, legal and economic instability. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruptions to the economic development in Southeast Asian countries, which could negatively affect our business operation and future development in this region. See “—Our business, financial condition and results of operations have been and are likely to continue to be materially and adversely affected by the outbreak of COVID-19.” We may not be as successful as our competitors in generating revenues in overseas markets due to the lack of recognition of our products and services or other factors. Developing product recognition overseas is expensive and time-consuming and our international expansion efforts may be more costly and less profitable than we expect. If we are not successful in our existing or target overseas markets, our sales could decline, our margins could be negatively impacted and we could lose market share, any of which could materially harm our business, results of operations and profitability.

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For example, we started to offer offshore stock investments and insurance brokerage services in Hong Kong in 2016. We are licensed or registered with the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong, or the SFC, to carry out Type 1 (dealing in securities), Type 4 (advising on securities), Type 5 (advising on corporate finance) and Type 9 (asset management) regulated activities under the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571) of Hong Kong, or the SFO. There are already established players in these industries. These entities are in direct competition with us and include not only the multi-national financial institutions but also local firms. Our directors believe that competition in the industry rests on (i) the quality of services and advice provided to clients; (ii) the expertise and reputation of the licensed corporation; and (iii) business network and connections of the licensed corporation. There is no assurance that we will be able to uphold our competitive strengths. Any intensified competition may result in our loss of market share, and could materially harm our business, results of operations and profitability.

We are subject to potential exposure to allegations of professional misconduct liability with respect to our business operations in Hong Kong.

Our business operations in Hong Kong involves the provision of professional advice to clients on stock investments by professional staff. A client who suffers loss due to such client’s reliance on the advice given by our subsidiary, Fuyuan Securities Limited may have a legal cause of action against Fuyuan Securities Limited or us for damages, compensation and/or other relief.

Although we have adopted certain relevant internal control measures to minimize the risk of professional negligence and/or employee infidelity with respect to our operation in Hong Kong, there is no assurance that these risks can be completely eliminated with respect to our operation in Hong Kong. Furthermore, as we do not maintain any insurance for allegations relating to professional negligence or employee infidelity, we are exposed to potential liabilities resulting from these allegations.

If there is any allegation of professional negligence and/or employee infidelity brought against us, we may be exposed to legal and/or other proceedings in Hong Kong which may result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and management’s attention. It may also have an adverse impact on our profitability, financial position and reputation.

We are subject to extensive regulatory requirements with respect to our business operations in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia countries, non-compliance with which, or changes in these regulatory requirements, may affect our business operations and financial results.

The Hong Kong financial market in which we operate is highly regulated. There are changes in rules and regulations from time to time in relation to the regulatory regime for the financial service industry, including, but not limited to, the SFO, the Companies Ordinance (prior to its repeal and replacement on March 3, 2014 by the Companies Ordinance and the Companies (WUMP) Ordinance), the Securities and Futures (Financial Resources) Rules, the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities and The Hong Kong Codes on Takeovers and Mergers and Share Buy-backs issued by the SFC, all as amended, supplemented or otherwise modified from time to time. Any such changes in the relevant rules and regulations may result in an increase in our cost of compliance, or might restrict our business activities. If we fail to comply with these applicable rules and regulations from time to time, we may face fines or restrictions on our business activities or even suspension or revocation of some or all of our licenses for carrying on our business activities.

Furthermore, we are required to be licensed with the relevant regulatory authorities including without limitation, as licensed corporations under the SFO. In this respect, we have to ensure continuous compliance with all applicable laws, regulations and guidelines, and satisfy the SFC, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and/or other regulatory authorities that we remain fit and proper to be licensed. If there is any change or tightening of the relevant laws, regulations and guidelines, it may materially and adversely affect our business operations.

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We may be subject to regulatory inspection and investigations from time to time. With respect to SFC investigations, we may be subject to secrecy obligations under the SFO whereby we are not permitted to disclose certain information relating to the SFC investigations. In addition, unless we are specifically named as the party that is being investigated under the SFO investigation, we generally do not know whether we, any member of our staff, or any of our respective directors, our responsible officers, our licensed representatives or our staff is the subject of SFC investigations. If the results of the inspections or investigations reveal misconduct, the SFC may take disciplinary actions such as revocation or suspension of licenses, public or private reprimand or imposition of pecuniary penalties against us, our responsible officers or licensed representative and/or any of our staff. Any disciplinary actions taken against us or penalties imposed on us, our directors, responsible officers, licensed representatives or relevant staff could have an adverse impact on our business operations and financial results.

In addition, our operations in Southeast Asia countries are subject to licensing and other regulatory requirements as well, the compliance of which will incur additional costs. For example, we have obtained the P2P license in Indonesia approved by OJK, and our Indonesian joint venture company has had its Multi-Finance license conditionally approved by OJK pending completion of the joint venture shareholding structure change and operational readiness assessment; further, we have cooperated with our partners to hold a personal loan license (unsecured personal loan), Nano loan license (unsecured business owner loan) approved by Bank of Thailand and e-commerce license (e-commerce retail business) in Thailand. However, we cannot assure you that we can successfully maintain such licenses or continue to obtain licenses necessary to satisfy the needs of our business operations in those countries. If we fail to maintain our current licenses or continue to obtain new licenses as required, our business operations and developments in Southeast Asian countries may be negatively impacted, so does our results of operations and financial status.

We have granted share options, and may continue to grant share options and other types of awards under our equity incentive plans, which may result in increased share-based compensation expenses.

As of April 30, 2021, options to purchase a total of 33,626,808 Class A ordinary shares of our company were granted to our managements and employees and are outstanding. We recorded RMB508.2 million, RMB353.2 million and RMB290.6 million (US$44.5 million) in 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively, in share-based compensation expenses. We believe the grant of share options and other types of awards is of significant importance to our ability to attract and retain key personnel and employees, and we will continue to grant share options and other types of awards to employees in the future. As a result, our expenses associated with share-based compensation may increase, which may have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

We may not be able to obtain additional capital on favorable terms or at all.

We anticipate that our current cash, cash provided by operating activities and funds available through our bank loans and credit facilities, will be sufficient to meet our current and anticipated needs for general corporate purposes for at least the next 12 months. However, we need to make continued investments in facilities, hardware, software, technological systems and to retain talent to remain competitive. Due to the unpredictable nature of the capital markets and the industries we are operating in, we cannot assure you that we will be able to raise additional capital on terms favorable to us, or at all, if and when required, especially if we experience disappointing operating results. If adequate capital is not available to us as required, our ability to fund our operations, take advantage of unanticipated opportunities, develop or enhance our infrastructure or respond to competitive pressures could be significantly limited, which would adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. If we do raise additional funds through the issuance of equity or convertible debt securities, the ownership interests of our shareholders could be significantly diluted. These newly issued securities may have rights, preferences or privileges senior to those of existing shareholders.

Our quarterly results may fluctuate significantly and may not fully reflect the underlying performance of our business.

Our quarterly results of operations, including the levels of our net revenues, expenses, net (loss)/income and other key metrics, may vary significantly in the future due to a variety of factors, some of which are outside of our control, and period-to-period comparisons of our operating results may not be meaningful. Accordingly, the results for any one quarter are not necessarily an indication of future performance. Fluctuations in quarterly results may adversely affect the market price of our ADSs. Factors that may cause fluctuations in our quarterly financial results include but not limited to the following:

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In addition, we may experience seasonality in our business, reflecting seasonal fluctuations in internet usage and traditional personal consumption patterns. While our rapid growth has somewhat masked this seasonality, our results of operations could be affected by such seasonality in the future.

Our business depends on the continued efforts of our senior management. If one or more of our key executives were unable or unwilling to continue in their present positions, our business may be severely disrupted.

Our business operations depend on the continued services of our senior management, particularly the executive officers named in this annual report. While we have provided different incentives to our management, we cannot assure you that we can continue to retain their services. If one or more of our key executives were unable or unwilling to continue in their present positions, we may not be able to replace them easily or at all and we may incur additional expenses to recruit, train and retain qualified personnel, our future growth may be constrained, our business may be severely disrupted and our financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

Furthermore, we started to offer offshore stock investments and insurance brokerage services in Hong Kong in 2016. Under the licensing requirements of the SFO, our licensed corporation, Fuyuan Securities Limited, is required to maintain at least two responsible officers to supervise one or more regulated activities as required under the SFO for each type of regulated activities. As of March 31, 2021, we have six responsible officers to supervise Type 1 (dealing in securities) activities, five responsible officers for Type 4 (advising on securities) and Type 9 (asset Management) activities, and three responsible officers to supervise Type 5 (advising on futures contracts) activities under the SFO, and are in compliance with the relevant laws and regulations in Hong Kong. In the event that such responsible officers resign, become disqualified or otherwise ineligible to continue their role as responsible officers, and if there is no immediate and adequate replacement, this may result in a situation where one or more of the four regulated activities have fewer than two responsible officers. In this case, we will be in breach of the relevant licensing requirements which could adversely affect our licensed corporations’ status, and our business and financial performance will be negatively impacted.

In addition, there is no assurance that any member of our management team will not join our competitors or form a competing business. If any dispute arises between our current or former officers and us, we may have to incur substantial costs and expenses in order to enforce such agreements in China and Hong Kong or we may be unable to enforce them at all.

Competition for employees is intense, and we may not be able to attract and retain the qualified and skilled employees needed to support our business.

We believe our success depends on the efforts and talent of our employees, including software engineering, financial and marketing personnel. Our future success depends on our continued ability to attract, develop, motivate and retain qualified and skilled employees. Competition for highly skilled technical and financial personnel is extremely intense. We may not be able to hire and retain these personnel at compensation levels consistent with our existing compensation and salary structure. Some of the companies with which we compete for experienced employees have greater resources than we have and may be able to offer more attractive terms of employment.

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In addition, we invest significant time and expenses in training our employees, which increases their value to competitors who may seek to recruit them. If we fail to retain our employees, we could incur significant expenses in hiring and training new employees, and the quality of our services and our ability to serve users could diminish, resulting in a material adverse effect to our business.

Increases in labor costs in the PRC, Hong Kong and elsewhere in the world where we have operations may adversely affect our business and results of operations.

The economy in China has experienced increases in inflation and labor costs in recent years. As a result, average wages in the PRC are expected to continue to increase. In addition, we are required by PRC laws and regulations to pay various statutory employee benefits, including pension, housing fund, medical insurance, work-related injury insurance, unemployment insurance and maternity insurance to designated government agencies for the benefit of our employees. The requirement of employee benefit plans has not been implemented consistently by the local governments in the PRC given the different levels of economic development in different locations. We have not made adequate employee benefit payments for some of our employees, and we may be required to make up the contributions for these plans as well as to pay late fees and fines. If we are subject to late fees or fines in relation to the underpaid employee benefits, our financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected. We expect that our labor costs, including wages and employee benefits, will continue to increase. Unless we are able to control our labor costs or pass on these increased labor costs to our users by increasing the fees of our services, our financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected.

In addition, increases in labor costs in Hong Kong and elsewhere in the world where we have operations may also have a negative impact on our business and results of operations. For example, our licensed staff is essential to the Hong Kong business operations as we rely on their expertise to provide the relevant services. If competition for these licensed professionals intensifies, the costs to retain and recruit them may increase. Furthermore, our business expansion in Hong Kong, Southeast Asia and elsewhere in the world is also expected to increase our labor costs in the future, which may adversely affect our business and results of operations.

If we cannot maintain our corporate culture as we grow, our capabilities of innovation, collaboration and focus that contribute to our business may be compromised.

We believe that a critical component of our success is our corporate culture, which we believe fosters innovation, encourages teamwork and cultivates creativity. As we develop the infrastructure of a public company and grow, we may find it difficult to maintain these valuable aspects of our corporate culture. Any failure to preserve our culture could negatively impact our future success, including our ability to attract and retain employees, encourage innovation and teamwork and effectively focus on and pursue our corporate objectives.

We may not have enough business insurance coverage.

Insurance companies in China currently do not offer as extensive an array of insurance products as insurance companies in more developed economies. Currently, we do not have any business liability or disruption insurance to cover our operations. We have determined that the costs of insuring for these risks and the difficulties associated with acquiring such insurance on commercially reasonable terms make it impractical for us to have such insurance. Any uninsured business disruptions may result in our incurring substantial costs and the diversion of resources, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

Our use of some leased properties could be challenged by third parties or government authorities, which may cause interruptions to our business operations.

As of the date of this annual report, we leased properties for most of our offices and branch offices. The lessors of some leased properties have not been able to provide proper ownership certificates for the properties we lease or prove their rights to sublease the properties to us. If our lessors are not the owners of the properties and they have not obtained consents from the owners or their lessors or permits from the relevant government authorities, our leases could be invalidated. We may have to renegotiate the leases with the owners or the parties who have the right to lease the properties, and the terms of the new leases may be less favorable to us. In addition, our leasehold interests in leased properties have not been registered with relevant PRC government authorities as required by PRC law, which may expose us to potential fines of up to RMB10,000 per unit leasehold.

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As of the date of this annual report, we are not aware of any claims or actions being contemplated or initiated by government authorities, property owners or any other third parties with respect to our leasehold interests in or use of such properties. However, we cannot assure you that our use of such leased properties will not be challenged. In the event that our use of properties is successfully challenged, we may be subject to fines and forced to relocate the affected operations. In addition, we may become involved in disputes with the property owners or third parties who otherwise have rights to or interests in our leased properties. We can provide no assurance that we will be able to find suitable replacement sites on terms acceptable to us on a timely basis, or at all, or that we will not be subject to material liability resulting from third parties’ challenges on our use of such properties. As a result, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

If our preferential tax treatments are revoked, become unavailable or if the calculation of our tax liability is successfully challenged by the PRC tax authorities, we may be required to pay tax, interest and penalties in excess of our tax provisions, and our results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

The PRC government has provided various tax incentives to our subsidiaries, variable interest entities and their respective subsidiaries. These incentives include reduced enterprise income tax rates and exemptions from enterprise income tax. For example, under the relevant PRC tax laws, the statutory enterprise income tax rate is 25%. However, the income tax rate of an enterprise that has been determined to be a “high and new technology enterprise” can be reduced to a favorable rate of 15%. In addition, the income tax rate of enterprises of encouraged industries in certain regions or enterprises qualified as “small enterprises with low profits” can be reduced to a favorable rate of 20%. Several of our subsidiaries, variable interest entities and their respective subsidiaries are either subject to the favorable income tax rate of 15%, 20% or have been exempted from the enterprise income tax for a certain period. For details, please refer to “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—Taxation—China.”  Any increase in the enterprise income tax rate applicable to our subsidiaries, variable interest entities and their respective subsidiaries, or any discontinuation or retroactive or future reduction of any of the favorable tax treatments currently enjoyed by our subsidiaries, variable interest entities and their respective subsidiaries, could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, in the ordinary course of our business, we are subject to complex income tax and other tax regulations and significant judgment is required in the determination of a provision for income taxes. Furthermore, competent PRC tax authorities may conduct tax audits on our subsidiaries, variable interest entities and their respective subsidiaries, and may also challenge our calculation of tax liability. Although we believe our tax provisions are reasonable, if the PRC tax authorities successfully challenge our position and we are required to pay tax, interest and penalties in excess of our tax provisions, our financial condition and results of operations would be materially and adversely affected.

In connection with the audit of our consolidated financial statements included in this annual report, we and our independent registered public accounting firm identified three material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. If we fail to develop and maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may be unable to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud.

Our independent registered public accounting firm has not conducted an audit of our internal control over financial reporting. However, in connection with the audit of our consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2020 and for the year ended December 31, 2020, we and our independent registered public accounting firms identified three material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. As defined in the standards established by the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or PCAOB, a “material weakness” is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.

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One material weakness that has been identified related to the lack of sufficient financial reporting and accounting personnel with appropriate U.S. GAAP knowledge and SEC reporting requirements to properly address complex U.S. GAAP technical accounting issues and to prepare and review financial statements and related disclosures in accordance with U.S. GAAP and financial reporting requirements set forth by the SEC. The other two material weaknesses that have been identified related to the lack of timely and appropriate detailed account analysis and related account reconciliation in the Company’s close process, and the lack of documentation in support of the Company’s key process flows and related key internal control policies and procedures as well as documentation of the Company’s critical accounting estimates and the procedures it has completed to ensure compliance with U.S. GAAP. Either of these material weaknesses, if not timely remedied, may lead to significant misstatements in our consolidated financial statements in the future. Neither we nor our independent registered public accounting firm undertook a comprehensive assessment of our internal control under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for purpose of identifying and reporting any material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. Had we performed a formal assessment of our internal control over financial reporting or had our independent registered public accounting firm performed an audit of our internal control over financial reporting, additional deficiencies may have been identified.

Following the identification of the material weaknesses, we have taken measures and plan to continue to take measures to remedy these material weaknesses. See “Item 15. Controls and Procedures—Internal Control over Financial Reporting.” However, we cannot assure you that the implementation of these measures will be sufficient to eliminate such material weaknesses, or that material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting will not be identified in the future. Our failure to correct these material weaknesses or our failure to discover and address any other material weaknesses or significant deficiencies could result in inaccuracies in our financial statements and impair our ability to comply with applicable financial reporting requirements and related regulatory filings on a timely basis. Moreover, ineffective internal control over financial reporting could significantly hinder our ability to prevent fraud.

Furthermore, it is possible that, had our independent registered public accounting firm conducted an audit of our internal control over financial reporting, it may have identified additional material weaknesses and significant deficiencies. We are subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or Section 404, requires that we include a report from management on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting in our annual report on Form 20-F. In addition, once we cease to be an “emerging growth company” as such term is defined in the JOBS Act, our independent registered public accounting firm must attest to and report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Our management may conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is not effective. Moreover, even if our management concludes that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, our independent registered public accounting firm, after conducting its own independent testing, may issue a report that is qualified if it is not satisfied with our internal controls or the level at which our controls are documented, designed, operated or reviewed, or if it interprets the relevant requirements differently from us. In addition, as we are now a public company, our reporting obligations have required additional attention from our management, operational and financial resources and systems. We may be unable to timely complete our evaluation testing and any required remediation.

During the course of documenting and testing our internal control procedures, in order to satisfy the requirements of Section 404, we may identify other material weaknesses and significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting. In addition, if we fail to maintain the adequacy of our internal control over financial reporting, as these standards are modified, supplemented or amended from time to time, we may not be able to conclude on an ongoing basis that we have effective internal control over financial reporting in accordance with Section 404. If we fail to achieve and maintain an effective internal control environment, we could suffer material misstatements in our consolidated financial statements and fail to meet our reporting obligations, which would likely cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information. This could in turn limit our access to capital markets, harm our results of operations, and lead to a decline in the trading price of the ADSs. Additionally, ineffective internal control over financial reporting could expose us to increased risk of fraud or misuse of corporate assets and subject us to potential delisting from the stock exchange on which we list, regulatory investigations and civil or criminal sanctions. We may also be required to restate our consolidated financial statements for prior periods.

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We face risks related to natural disasters, health epidemics and other calamities, which could significantly disrupt our operations.

In addition to COVID-19, our business could be materially and adversely affected by natural disasters, other health epidemics or other calamities. Fire, floods, typhoons, earthquakes, power loss, telecommunications failures, break-ins, hacking, war, riots, terrorist attacks or similar events may give rise to server interruptions, breakdowns, system failures, technology platform failures or internet failures, which could cause the loss or corruption of data or malfunctions of software or hardware as well as adversely affect our ability to provide products and services on our platform.

Our business could also be adversely affected by the effects of epidemics. In recent years, there have been breakouts of epidemics in and outside China, such as the Ebola virus disease, H1N1 flu, avian flu and the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Our business operations could be disrupted if any of our employees is suspected of having such epidemic, since it could require our employees to be quarantined and/or our offices to be disinfected. In addition, our results of operations could be adversely affected to the extent that any of these epidemics harms the Chinese economy in general.

Our headquarters are located in Beijing, where most of our directors and management and a large majority of our employees currently reside. In addition, most of our system hardware and back-up systems are hosted in Beijing and Hangzhou. We also conduct our online wealth management products related business from our Beijing headquarters and Hong Kong branches. We conduct our stock investment businesses in Hong Kong with support provided by a research and development center in Shenzhen. Consequently, we are highly susceptible to factors adversely affecting Beijing, Hangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong. If any of the abovementioned natural disasters, health epidemics or other calamities were to occur in such cities or other cities where we may have material operations, our operations may experience material disruptions, such as temporary closure of our offices and suspension of services, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure

If the PRC government deems that the contractual arrangements in relation to our consolidated affiliated entities do not comply with PRC regulatory restrictions on foreign investment in the relevant industries, or if these regulations or the interpretation of existing regulations change in the future, we could be subject to severe penalties or be forced to relinquish our interests in those operations.

Foreign ownership of value-added telecommunication businesses, such as online data processing and transaction processing services and internet information services, is subject to restrictions under current PRC laws and regulations. For example, foreign investors are generally not allowed to own more than 50% of the equity interests in a value-added telecommunication service provider except for those engaged in e-commerce businesses, domestic multi-party communications services businesses, store-and-forward businesses and call center businesses, which may be 100% owned by foreign investors, and any such foreign investor must have experience in providing value-added telecommunications services overseas and maintain a good track record in accordance with the Special Administrative Measures for Entry of Foreign Investment (Negative List) (2020 Version), or the Negative List, which became effective on July 23, 2020 and replaced the previous negative list, and other applicable laws and regulations.

We are a Cayman Islands exempted company and our PRC subsidiaries are considered foreign invested enterprises. Our wholly foreign-owned PRC subsidiaries are currently not eligible to apply for the required licenses for providing value-added telecommunication services that foreign ownership and investment is restricted in China. The online services offered by us in China constitute a type of value-added telecommunication service that foreign ownership and investment is restricted and therefore we should provide these services through a variable interest entity to ensure compliance with the relevant PRC laws and regulations. We set up a series of contractual arrangements entered into among our certain PRC Subsidiaries, each of Jiufu Shuke, Beijing Puhui, Zhuhai Lianyin, Yi Qi Mai and Shenzhen Fuyuan (collectively, the “consolidated affiliated entities” or “VIEs”), and the shareholders of each consolidated affiliated entity to conduct our principal operations in China. For a detailed description of these contractual arrangements, see “Corporate History and Structure.” As a result of these contractual arrangements, we exert control over our consolidated affiliated entities and their subsidiaries and consolidate their operating results in our financial statements under U.S. GAAP.

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In the opinion of our PRC counsel, Han Kun Law Offices, our current ownership structure, the ownership structure of our consolidated affiliated entities and their subsidiaries, and the contractual arrangements among certain of our PRC Subsidiaries, our consolidated affiliated entities and the shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities are not in violation of any explicit provisions of the existing PRC laws, regulations and rules; and these contractual arrangements are valid, binding and enforceable in accordance with their terms and applicable PRC laws and regulations currently in effect. However, Han Kun Law Offices has also advised us that there are substantial uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of current or future PRC laws and regulations and there can be no assurance that the PRC government will ultimately take a view that is consistent with the opinion of our PRC counsel.

It is uncertain whether any new PRC laws, regulations or rules relating to the “variable interest entity” structure will be adopted and if adopted, what they would provide. In particular, on January 1, 2020, the PRC Foreign Investment Law and the Regulations for Implementation of the Foreign Investment Law of the People’s Republic of China, or the Implementation Regulations, came into effect. Although the PRC Foreign Investment Law and the Implementation Regulations do not explicitly classify contractual arrangements as a form of foreign investment, the definition of the “foreign investment” under the PRC Foreign Investment Law contains a catch-all provision providing that investments made by foreign investors through other methods specified in laws or administrative regulations or other methods prescribed by the State Council, which leaves leeway for future laws, administrative regulations or provisions promulgated by the Stale Council to provide for contractual arrangements as a method of foreign investment. On December 26, 2019, the Supreme People’s Court issued the Interpretations on Certain Issues Regarding the Applicable of Foreign Investment Law, or the FIL Interpretations, which came into effect on January 1, 2020. In accordance with the FIL Interpretations, where a party concerned claims an investment agreement to be invalid on the basis that it is for investment in prohibited or restricted industries under the negative list and violates the restrictions set out therein, the courts should support such claim. Therefore, there is no assurance that foreign investment via contractual arrangement would not be interpreted as a type of indirect foreign investment activities in the future. If the ownership structure, contractual arrangements and business of our company, our PRC subsidiaries or our consolidated affiliated entities are found to be in violation of any existing or future PRC laws or regulations, or we fail to obtain or maintain any of the required permits or approvals, the relevant governmental authorities would have broad discretion in dealing with such violation, including levying fines, confiscating our income or the income of our consolidated affiliated entities and their subsidiaries, revoking the business licenses or operating licenses of our consolidated affiliated entities and their subsidiaries, shutting down our servers, websites or apps, discontinuing or placing restrictions or onerous conditions on our operations, requiring us to undergo a costly and disruptive restructuring, restricting or prohibiting our use of proceeds from our offerings to finance our business and operations in China, and taking other regulatory or enforcement actions that could be harmful to our business. Any of these actions could cause significant disruption to our business operations and severely damage our reputation, which would in turn materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. If any of these occurrences results in our inability to direct the activities of our consolidated affiliated entities and their subsidiaries, and/or our failure to receive economic benefits from our consolidated affiliated entities and their subsidiaries, we may not be able to consolidate their results into our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

We rely on contractual arrangements with our consolidated affiliated entities and shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities for a significant portion of our business operations, which may not be as effective as direct ownership in providing operational control.

We have relied and expect to continue to rely on contractual arrangements with our consolidated affiliated entities and shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities, to operate our online business in PRC. These contractual arrangements may not be as effective as direct ownership in providing us with control over our consolidated affiliated entities and their subsidiaries. For example, our consolidated affiliated entities and shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities may fail to fulfill their contractual obligations with us, such as failure to operate our websites and apps effectively and use the domain names and trademarks in a manner as stipulated in the contractual arrangements, or taking other actions that are detrimental to our interests.

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If we had direct ownership of our consolidated affiliated entities, we would be able to exercise our rights as a shareholder to effect changes in the board of directors of our consolidated affiliated entities, which in turn could implement changes, subject to any applicable fiduciary obligations, at the management and operational level. However, under the current contractual arrangements, we rely on the performance by our consolidated affiliated entities and shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities of their obligations under the contractual arrangements to exercise control over our consolidated affiliated entities and their subsidiaries. The shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities may not act in the best interests of our company or may not perform their obligations under these contracts. Such risks exist throughout the period in which we operate our business through the contractual arrangements with our consolidated affiliated entities and shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities. Although we have the right to replace any shareholder of our consolidated affiliated entities under the contractual arrangements, if any of these shareholders is uncooperative or any dispute relating to these contracts remains unresolved, we will have to enforce our rights under these contracts through the operations of PRC laws and arbitration, litigation and other legal proceedings, the outcome of which will be subject to uncertainties. See “—Any failure by our consolidated affiliated entities or shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities to perform their obligations under our contractual arrangements with them would have a material adverse effect on our business.” Therefore, our contractual arrangements with our consolidated affiliated entities and shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities may not be as effective in ensuring our control over the relevant portion of our business operations as direct ownership would be.

Any failure by our consolidated affiliated entities or shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities to perform their obligations under our contractual arrangements would have a material adverse effect on our business.

If our consolidated affiliated entities or the shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities fail to perform their respective obligations under the contractual arrangements, we may incur substantial costs and expend additional resources to enforce such arrangements. We may also have to rely on legal remedies under PRC laws, including seeking specific performance or injunctive relief, and claiming damages, which we cannot assure you will be effective under PRC laws. For example, if the shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities were to refuse to transfer their equity interests in our consolidated affiliated entities to us or our designee when we exercise the purchase option pursuant to these contractual arrangements, or if they were otherwise to act in bad faith toward us, then we may have to take legal actions to compel them to perform their contractual obligations.

All the agreements under our contractual arrangements are governed by PRC laws and provide for the resolution of disputes through arbitration in China. Accordingly, these contracts would be interpreted in accordance with PRC laws and any disputes would be resolved in accordance with PRC legal procedures. These arbitration provisions relate to claims arising from the contractual relationship created by the VIE agreements, rather than claims under US federal securities laws, and they do not prevent our shareholders or ADS holders from pursuing claims under US federal securities laws in the United States. The legal system in the PRC is not as developed as in some other jurisdictions, such as the United States. As a result, uncertainties in the PRC legal system could limit our ability to enforce these contractual arrangements. Meanwhile, there are very few precedents and little formal guidance as to how contractual arrangements in the context of a variable interest entity should be interpreted or enforced under PRC laws. There remain significant uncertainties regarding the ultimate outcome of such arbitration should legal action become necessary. In addition, under PRC laws, rulings by arbitrators are final and parties cannot appeal arbitration results in court unless such rulings are revoked or determined unenforceable by a competent court. If the losing parties fail to carry out the arbitration awards within a prescribed time limit, the prevailing parties may only enforce the arbitration awards in PRC courts through arbitration award recognition proceedings, which would require additional expenses and delay. In the event that we are unable to enforce these contractual arrangements, or if we suffer significant delay or other obstacles in the process of enforcing these contractual arrangements, we may not be able to exert effective control over our consolidated affiliated entities and their subsidiaries, and our ability to conduct our business may be negatively affected. See “—Risks Related to Doing Business in China and Hong Kong—Uncertainties in the interpretation and enforcement of PRC laws and regulations could limit the legal protections available to us.”

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The shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities may have potential conflicts of interest with us, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and the value of your investment in our shares.

The equity interests of our consolidated affiliated entities are held by certain individual shareholders. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—C. Organizational Structure.” Their interests in our consolidated affiliated entities may differ from the interests of our company as a whole. These shareholders may breach, or cause our consolidated affiliated entities to breach, the existing contractual arrangements we have with them and our consolidated affiliated entities, which would have a material adverse effect on our ability to effectively control our consolidated affiliated entities and their subsidiaries and receive economic benefits from them. For example, the shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities may be able to cause our agreements with our consolidated affiliated entities to be performed in a manner adverse to us by, among other things, failing to remit payments due under the contractual arrangements to us on a timely basis. We cannot assure you that when conflicts of interest arise, any or all of these shareholders will act in the best interests of our company or such conflicts will be resolved in our favor.

Currently, we do not have any arrangements to address potential conflicts of interest between these shareholders and our company, except that we could exercise our purchase option under the exclusive option agreement with these shareholders to request them to transfer all of their equity interests in our consolidated affiliated entities to us or our designee, to the extent permitted by PRC laws. If we cannot resolve any conflict of interest or dispute between us and the shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities, we would have to rely on legal proceedings, which could result in the disruption of our business and subject us to substantial uncertainty as to the outcome of any such legal proceedings.

Contractual arrangements in relation to our consolidated affiliated entities may be subject to scrutiny by the PRC tax authorities and they may determine that we or our consolidated affiliated entities owe additional taxes, which could negatively affect our financial condition and the value of your investment.

Under applicable PRC laws and regulations, arrangements and transactions among related parties may be subject to audit or challenge by the PRC tax authorities. The PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law and other applicable laws and regulations require every enterprise in China to submit its annual enterprise income tax return together with a report on transactions with its related parties to the relevant tax authorities. The tax authorities may impose reasonable adjustments on taxation if they have identified any related party transactions that are inconsistent with arm’s length principles. We may face material and adverse tax consequences if the PRC tax authorities determine that the contractual arrangements among certain of our PRC Subsidiaries, each of our consolidated affiliated entities, and the shareholders of such consolidated affiliated entity were not entered into on an arm’s length basis in such a way as to result in an impermissible reduction in taxes under applicable PRC laws, regulations and rules, and adjust our consolidated affiliated entities income subject to tax in the form of a transfer pricing adjustment. A transfer pricing adjustment could, among other things, result in a reduction of expense deductions recorded by our consolidated affiliated entities for PRC tax purposes, which could in turn increase their tax liabilities. In addition, if we request the shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities to transfer their equity interests in our consolidated affiliated entities at nominal or no value pursuant to these contractual arrangements, such transfer could be viewed as a gift and subject our designees to PRC income tax; and the taxable income of a transferring shareholder may be adjusted by the PRC tax authorities to an amount higher than the transfer price set forth under these contractual arrangements and thus the transferring shareholder may be subject to PRC income tax. The tax incurred during the equity interest transfer may be undertaken by us. Furthermore, the PRC tax authorities may impose late payment fees and other penalties on our consolidated affiliated entities for the adjusted but unpaid taxes according to the applicable laws and regulations. Our financial position could be materially and adversely affected if our consolidated affiliated entities’ tax liabilities increase or if they are required to pay late payment fees and other penalties.

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We may lose the ability to use and enjoy assets and licenses held by our consolidated affiliated entities that are material to the operation of our business if such entities go bankrupt or become subject to a dissolution or liquidation proceedings.

Our consolidated affiliated entities hold certain assets and licenses that are material to the operation of our business, including, among others, intellectual properties and value-added telecommunication licenses. Under the contractual arrangements, our consolidated affiliated entities may not, and the shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities may not cause them to, in any manner, sell, transfer, mortgage or dispose of their assets or their legal or beneficial interests in the business without our prior consent. However, in the event our consolidated affiliated entities’ shareholders breach the these contractual arrangements and voluntarily liquidate our consolidated affiliated entities, or our consolidated affiliated entities declare bankruptcy and all or part of their assets become subject to liens or rights of third-party creditors, or are otherwise disposed of without our consent, we may be unable to continue some or all of our business activities, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. If our consolidated affiliated entities undergo a voluntary or involuntary liquidation proceeding, independent third-party creditors may claim rights to some or all of these assets, thereby hindering our ability to operate our business, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If the chops of our PRC subsidiaries, our consolidated affiliated entities and their subsidiaries, are not kept safely, are stolen or are used by unauthorized persons or for unauthorized purposes, the corporate governance of these entities could be severely and adversely compromised.

In China, a company chop or seal serves as the legal representation of the company towards third parties even when unaccompanied by a signature. Each legally registered company in China is required to maintain a company chop, which must be registered with the local Public Security Bureau. In addition to this mandatory company chop, companies may have several other chops which can be used for specific purposes. The chops of our PRC subsidiaries, our consolidated affiliated entities and their subsidiaries are generally held securely by personnel designated or approved by us in accordance with our internal control procedures. To the extent those chops are not kept safe, are stolen or are used by unauthorized persons or for unauthorized purposes, the corporate governance of these entities could be severely and adversely compromised and those corporate entities may be bound to abide by the terms of any documents so chopped, even if they were chopped by an individual who lacked the requisite power and authority to do so.

Risks Related to Doing Business in China and Hong Kong

Changes in China’s economic, political or social conditions or government policies could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial conditions and results of operations.

Our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations may be influenced to a significant degree by political, economic and social conditions in China generally and by continued economic growth in China as a whole.

The Chinese economy differs from the economies of most developed countries in many respects, including the amount of government involvement, level of development, growth rate, control of foreign exchange and allocation of resources. Although the Chinese government has implemented measures emphasizing the utilization of market forces for economic reform, the reduction of state ownership of productive assets and the establishment of improved corporate governance in business enterprises, a substantial portion of productive assets in China is still owned by the government. In addition, the Chinese government continues to play a significant role in regulating industry development by imposing industrial policies. The Chinese government also exercises significant control over China’s economic growth through allocating resources, controlling payment of foreign currency-denominated obligations, setting the monetary policy and providing preferential treatment to particular industries or companies.

While the Chinese economy has experienced significant growth over the past decades, growth has been uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy. The Chinese government has implemented various measures to encourage economic growth and guide the allocation of resources. Some of these measures may benefit the overall Chinese economy, but may have a negative effect on us. For example, our financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected by government control over capital investments, banking and shadow banking, or changes in tax regulations. The growth rate of the Chinese economy has gradually slowed since 2010, and the impact of COVID-19 on the Chinese economy in 2020 was severe. Any prolonged slowdown in the Chinese economy may reduce the demand for our products and services and materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

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A severe or prolonged downturn in the Chinese or global economy could materially and adversely affect our business and financial condition.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a severe and negative impact on the Chinese and the global economy in 2020. Whether this will lead to a prolonged downturn in the economy is still unknown. Even before the outbreak of COVID-19, the global macroeconomic environment was facing numerous challenges. The growth rate of the Chinese economy had already been slowing since 2010. There is considerable uncertainty over the long-term effects of the expansionary monetary and fiscal policies which had been adopted by the central banks and financial authorities of some of the world’s leading economies, including the United States and China, even before 2020. Unrest, terrorist threats and the potential for war in the Middle East and elsewhere may increase market volatility across the globe. There have also been concerns about the relationship between China and other countries, including the surrounding Asian countries, which may potentially have economic effects. In particular, there is significant uncertainty about the future relationship between the United States and China with respect to trade policies, treaties, government regulations and tariffs. Economic conditions in China are sensitive to global economic conditions, as well as changes in domestic economic and political policies and the expected or perceived overall economic growth rate in China. Any severe or prolonged slowdown in the global or Chinese economy may materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Volatility of the stock market in Hong Kong could materially and adversely affect our business and financial condition.

As we have stock business operations in Hong Kong, we are subject to the volatility of the stock market in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong stock market is directly affected by the local and international economic and socio-political environments. Any downturn in the stock market in Hong Kong will directly and adversely affect the number of active corporate finance projects in the market and therefore our performance. Historically, the local and international economic and socio-political environments fluctuated from time to time and the Hong Kong stock market was volatile due to the fluctuations. Severe fluctuations in market and economic sentiments may also result in a prolonged period of sluggish market activities which would in turn could have material adverse impact on our business and financial condition.

Uncertainties in the interpretation and enforcement of PRC laws and regulations could limit the legal protections available to us.

The PRC legal system is based on written statutes, and prior court decisions have limited value as precedents. Since these laws and regulations are relatively new and the PRC legal system continues to rapidly evolve, the interpretations of many laws, regulations and rules are not always uniform and enforcement of these laws, regulations and rules involves uncertainties.

In particular, PRC laws and regulations concerning our industries are developing and evolving. Although we have taken measures to comply with the laws and regulations that are applicable to our business operations and avoid conducting any non-compliant activities under the applicable laws and regulations. The PRC government authority may further promulgate new laws and regulations regulating our industries and other businesses we have already engaged in and may further expand in the future. We cannot assure you that our practice would not be deemed to violate any new PRC laws or regulations. Moreover, developments in the internet industry may lead to changes in PRC laws, regulations and policies or in the interpretation and application of existing laws, regulations and policies that may limit or restrict internet technology companies like us, which could materially and adversely affect our business and operations.

From time to time, we may have to resort to administrative and court proceedings to enforce our legal rights. However, since PRC administrative and court authorities have significant discretion in interpreting and implementing statutory and contractual terms, it may be more difficult to evaluate the outcome of administrative and court proceedings and the level of legal protection we enjoy than in more developed legal systems. Furthermore, the PRC legal system is based in part on government policies and internal rules (some of which are not published in a timely manner or at all) that may have retroactive effect. As a result, we may not be aware of our violation of these policies and rules until sometime after the violation. Such uncertainties, including uncertainty over the scope and effect of our contractual, property (including intellectual property) and procedural rights, could materially and adversely affect our business and impede our ability to continue our operations.

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Uncertainties exist with respect to the interpretation and implementation of the new PRC Foreign Investment Law and its Implementation Regulation and how it may impact the viability of our current corporate structure, corporate governance and business operations.

On January 1, 2020, the Foreign Investment Law and the Implementation Regulations came into effect and replace the trio of existing laws regulating foreign investment in China, namely, the Sino-foreign Equity Joint Venture Enterprise Law, the Sino-foreign Cooperative Joint Venture Enterprise Law and the Wholly Foreign-invested Enterprise Law, together with their implementation rules and ancillary regulations. The PRC Foreign Investment Law and the Implementation Regulation embody an expected PRC regulatory trend to rationalize its foreign investment regulatory regime in line with prevailing international practice and the legislative efforts to unify the corporate legal requirements for both foreign and domestic investments. However, since they are relatively new, uncertainties still exist in relation to their interpretation and implementation. For instance, under the PRC Foreign Investment Law, “foreign investment” refers to the investment activities directly or indirectly conducted by foreign individuals, enterprises or other entities in China. Although it does not explicitly classify contractual arrangements as a form of foreign investment, there is no assurance that foreign investment via contractual arrangement would not be interpreted as a type of indirect foreign investment activities in the future. In addition, the definition contains a catch-all provision providing that investments made by foreign investors through other methods specified in laws or administrative regulations or other methods prescribed by the State Council, which leaves leeway for future laws, administrative regulations or provisions promulgated by the Stale Council to provide for contractual arrangements as a method of foreign investment. Furthermore, in accordance with the FIL Interpretations which came into effect on January 1, 2020, where a party concerned claims an investment agreement to be invalid on the basis that it is for investment in prohibited or restricted industries under the negative list and violates the restrictions set out therein, the courts should support such claim. Given the foregoing, it is uncertain whether our contractual arrangements will be deemed to be in violation of the market entry clearance requirements for foreign investment under the PRC laws and regulations.

The “variable interest entity” structure, or VIE structure, has been adopted by many PRC-based companies, including us, to obtain necessary licenses and permits in the industries that are currently subject to foreign investment restrictions or prohibitions in China. See “—Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure” and “Corporate History and Structure.” There are uncertainties as to how the PRC Foreign Investment Law and its Implementation Regulations would be further interpreted and implemented. We cannot assure you that their interpretation and implementation made by the relevant governmental authorities in the future will not materially impact the viability of our current corporate structure, corporate governance and business operations in any aspect.

Furthermore, if future laws, administrative regulations or provisions prescribed by the State Council mandate further actions to be taken by companies with respect to existing VIE structure, we may face substantial uncertainties as to whether we can complete such actions in a timely manner, or at all. If we fail to take timely and appropriate measures to cope with any of these or similar regulatory compliance challenges, we would not be able to (i) continue our business in China through our contractual arrangements with our consolidated affiliated entities and shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities, (ii) exert control over our consolidated affiliated entities and their subsidiaries, (iii) receive the economic benefits of our consolidated affiliated entities and their subsidiaries under such contractual arrangements, or (iv) consolidate the financial results of our consolidated affiliated entities and their subsidiaries. Were this to occur, our results of operations and financial condition would be materially and adversely affected and the market price of our ADSs may decline.

We may be adversely affected by the complexity, uncertainties and changes in PRC regulation of internet-related or fintech-related businesses and companies, and any lack of requisite approvals, licenses, permits or filings applicable to our business may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

The PRC government extensively regulates the internet industry and fintech industry, including foreign ownership of, and the licensing and permit requirements pertaining to, companies in the internet industry and fintech industry. These internet-related or fintech-related laws and regulations are relatively new and evolving, and their interpretation and enforcement involve significant uncertainties. As a result, in certain circumstances it may be difficult to determine what actions or omissions may be deemed to be in violation of applicable laws and regulations.

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For example, PRC regulations impose sanctions for engaging in disseminating analysis, forecasting, advisory or other information related to securities and securities markets without having obtained the securities investment consultancy qualifications in China. See “Item 4. Information on the Company-B. Business Overview-Regulations-Regulations Related to Securities Investment Consulting Business.” We have not obtained the securities investment consultancy qualifications in China. Without the required qualifications, we should refrain from as well as explicitly prohibit our users from sharing information related to securities analysis, forecasting or advisory on our stock investment platform. However, we cannot assure you that our users will not post articles or share videos that contain analysis, forecasting or advisory content related to securities on our stock investment platform. If any of the information or content displayed on our stock investment platform is deemed as analysis, forecasting, advisory or other information related to securities or securities markets, or any of our business in the PRC is deemed to be a service providing such information, we may be subject to regulatory measures including warnings, public condemnation, suspension of relevant business and other measures in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. Any such penalties may disrupt our business operations or materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, we offer a suite of wealth management products to investors. In 2017, we expanded our product suite to include onshore and offshore investment options including stock, insurance, bank wealth management products and mutual funds. According to the Securities Investment Funds Law, any entity that engages in the fund services, including but not limited to sales, investment consulting, information technology system services, shall register or file with the securities regulatory authority of the State Council. See “Item 4. Information on the Company-B. Business Overview-Regulations-Regulations Related to Online Sales of Securities Investment Funds.” We do not hold any license or permit in the promotion of, sales of, purchase of or redemption of funds in China. We do not believe the wealth management business we are conducting now in China should be deemed as fund services in China. However, we cannot assure you that relevant regulatory authorities will take the same view as ours. If certain of our activities in China were deemed by relevant regulators as provision of fund services in China, we may be subject to penalties including imposition of fines and suspension of such fund sales business.

The interpretation and application of existing PRC laws, regulations and policies and possible new laws, regulations or policies relating to the internet industry and fintech-related have created substantial uncertainties regarding the legality of existing and future foreign investments in, and the businesses and activities of, internet and fintech businesses in China, including our business. We cannot assure you that we have obtained all the permits or licenses and completed all the record-filing procedures required for conducting our business in China or will be able to maintain our existing licenses or obtain new ones. If the PRC government considers that we were operating without the proper approvals, licenses, permits or filings or promulgates new laws and regulations that require additional approvals, licenses, permits or filings or imposes additional restrictions on the operation of any part of our business, it has the power, among other things, to levy fines, confiscate our income, revoke our business licenses, and require us to discontinue our relevant business or impose restrictions on the affected portion of our business. Any of these actions by the PRC government may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

We rely on dividends and other distributions on equity paid by our PRC subsidiaries to fund any cash and financing requirements we may have, and any limitation on the ability of our PRC subsidiaries to make payments to us could have a material adverse effect on our ability to conduct our business.

We are a holding company, and we rely on dividends and other distributions on equity paid by our PRC subsidiaries for our cash and financing requirements, including the funds necessary to pay dividends and other cash distributions to our shareholders and service any debt we may incur. If our PRC subsidiaries incur debt on their own behalf in the future, the instruments governing the debt may restrict their ability to pay dividends or make other distributions to us. In addition, the PRC tax authorities may require our PRC subsidiaries to adjust its taxable income under the contractual arrangements it currently has in place with our consolidated affiliated entities and their shareholders in a manner that would materially and adversely affect their ability to pay dividends and other distributions to us. See “—Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure—Contractual arrangements in relation to our consolidated affiliated entities may be subject to scrutiny by the PRC tax authorities and they may determine that we or our consolidated affiliated entities owe additional taxes, which could negatively affect our financial condition and the value of your investment.”

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Under PRC laws and regulations, our PRC subsidiaries, as wholly foreign-owned enterprises in China, may pay dividends only out of their respective accumulated after-tax profits as determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. In addition, a wholly foreign-owned enterprise is required to set aside at least 10% of its accumulated after-tax profits each year, if any, to fund certain statutory reserve funds, until the aggregate amount of such funds reaches 50% of its registered capital. At its discretion, a wholly foreign-owned enterprise may allocate a portion of its after-tax profits based on PRC accounting standards to discretional funds. These reserve funds and discretional funds are not distributable as cash dividends.

Under existing PRC foreign exchange regulations, payments of current account items, such as profit distributions and trade and service-related foreign exchange transactions, can be made in foreign currencies without prior approval from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or the SAFE, by complying with certain procedural requirements. Therefore, our PRC subsidiaries directly held by our non-PRC subsidiaries are able to pay dividends in foreign currencies to their non-PRC shareholders without prior approval from the SAFE, subject to the condition that the remittance of such dividends outside of the PRC complies with certain procedures under PRC foreign exchange regulation, such as the overseas investment registrations by the beneficial owners of our company who are PRC residents. However, approval from or registration with appropriate government authorities is required where RMB is to be converted into foreign currency and remitted out of China to pay capital expenses such as the repayment of loans denominated in foreign currencies.

In response to the persistent capital outflow and RMB’s depreciation against the U.S. dollar in the fourth quarter of 2016, the PBOC and the SAFE have implemented a series of capital control measures, including stricter vetting procedures for China-based companies to remit foreign currency for overseas acquisitions, dividend payments and shareholder loan repayments. The PRC government may continue to strengthen its capital controls and our PRC subsidiaries’ dividends and other distributions may be subjected to tighter scrutiny in the future. Any limitation on the ability of our PRC subsidiaries to pay dividends or make other distributions to us could materially and adversely limit our ability to grow, make investments or acquisitions that could be beneficial to our business, pay dividends, or otherwise fund and conduct our business. See also “—If we are classified as a PRC resident enterprise for PRC income tax purposes, such classification could result in unfavorable tax consequences to us and our non-PRC shareholders or ADS holders.”

PRC regulation of loans to and direct investment in PRC entities by offshore holding companies and governmental control of currency conversion may delay or prevent us from using the proceeds of our offerings to make loans to or make additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries, which could materially and adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business.

Any funds we transfer to our PRC subsidiaries, either as a shareholder loan or as an increase in registered capital, are subject to approval by or registration or filing with relevant governmental authorities in China. According to the relevant PRC regulations on foreign-invested enterprises in China, capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries are subject to registration with the State Administration for Market Regulation, or the SAMR or its local branches, the information reporting in the online enterprise registration system, and foreign exchange registration with qualified banks. In addition, (a) any foreign loan procured by our PRC subsidiaries, consolidated affiliated entities and their subsidiaries is required to be filed with SAFE through the online filing system of SAFE, and (b) each of our PRC subsidiaries, consolidated affiliated entities and their subsidiaries may not procure loans which exceed a statutory upper limit. Any loan to be provided by us to our PRC subsidiaries, consolidated affiliated entities and their subsidiaries with a term of more than one year must be recorded and registered by the NDRC or its local branches. We may not complete such approval, recording, filings or registrations on a timely basis, if at all, with respect to future capital contributions or foreign loans by us to our PRC subsidiaries, consolidated affiliated entities and their subsidiaries. If we fail to complete such approval, recording, filings or registrations, our ability to use the proceeds of our offerings and to capitalize our PRC operations may be negatively affected, which could adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business.

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On March 30, 2015, the SAFE promulgated the Circular on Reforming the Management Approach Regarding the Foreign Exchange Capital Settlement of Foreign-Invested Enterprises, or SAFE Circular 19, which took effect as of June 1, 2015. SAFE Circular 19 launched a nationwide reform of the administration of the settlement of the foreign exchange capitals of foreign-invested enterprises and allows foreign-invested enterprises to settle their foreign exchange capital at their discretion, but continues to prohibit foreign-invested enterprises from using the Renminbi fund converted from their foreign exchange capitals for expenditures beyond their business scopes. On June 9, 2016, the SAFE promulgated the Circular on Reforming and Standardizing the Administrative Provisions on Capital Account Foreign Exchange, or SAFE Circular 16. SAFE Circular 19 and SAFE Circular 16 continue to prohibit foreign-invested enterprises from, among other things, using RMB funds converted from its foreign exchange capital for expenditure beyond its business scope, securities investment or other financial investment except for guaranteed financial products issued by banks, providing loans to non-affiliated enterprises unless otherwise permitted under its business scope or constructing or purchasing real estate not for self-use. On October 23, 2019, the SAFE issued the Circular on Further Promoting Cross-border Trade and Investment Facilitation, or SAFE Circular 28, which expressly allows foreign-invested enterprises that do not have equity investments in their approved business scope to use their capital obtained from foreign exchange settlements to make domestic equity investments as long as the investments are real and in compliance with the foreign investment-related laws and regulations. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Regulations—Regulations on Foreign Exchange—General administration of foreign exchange.” The applicable foreign exchange circulars and rules may significantly limit our ability to transfer to and use in China the net proceeds from our offerings, which may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Fluctuations in exchange rates could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and the price of our ADSs.

The conversion of Renminbi into foreign currencies, including U.S. dollars, is based on rates set by the People’s Bank of China. The Renminbi has fluctuated against the U.S. dollar, at times significantly and unpredictably. The value of Renminbi against the U.S. dollar and other currencies is affected by changes in China’s political and economic conditions and by China’s foreign exchange policies, among other things. We cannot assure you that Renminbi will not appreciate or depreciate significantly in value against the U.S. dollar in the future. It is difficult to predict how market forces or PRC or U.S. government policy may impact the exchange rate between Renminbi and the U.S. dollar in the future.

Any significant appreciation or depreciation of the Renminbi may materially and adversely affect our revenues, earnings and financial position, and the value of, and any dividends payable on, our ADSs in U.S. dollars. For example, a significant depreciation of Renminbi against the U.S. dollar may significantly reduce the U.S. dollar equivalent of our earnings, which in turn could adversely affect the price of our ADSs.

Very limited hedging options are available in China to reduce our exposure to exchange rate fluctuations. To date, we have not entered into any hedging transactions in an effort to reduce our exposure to foreign currency exchange risk. While we may decide to enter into hedging transactions in the future, the availability and effectiveness of these hedges may be limited and we may not be able to adequately hedge our exposure or at all. In addition, our currency exchange losses may be magnified by PRC exchange control regulations that restrict our ability to convert Renminbi into foreign currency. As a result, fluctuations in exchange rates may have a material adverse effect on your investment.

Governmental control of currency conversion may limit our ability to utilize our net revenues effectively and affect the value of your investment.

The PRC government imposes controls on the convertibility of the RMB into foreign currencies and, in certain cases, the remittance of currency out of China. We receive substantially all of our net revenues in RMB. Under our current corporate structure, our company in the Cayman Islands relies on dividend payments from our PRC subsidiaries to fund any cash and financing requirements we may have. Under existing PRC foreign exchange regulations, payments of current account items, such as profit distributions and trade and service-related foreign exchange transactions, can be made in foreign currencies without prior approval from SAFE by complying with certain procedural requirements. Therefore, our PRC subsidiaries are able to pay dividends in foreign currencies to us without prior approval from SAFE, subject to the condition that the remittance of such dividends outside of the PRC complies with certain procedures under PRC foreign exchange regulation, such as the overseas investment registrations by the beneficial owners of our company who are PRC residents. But approval from, registration or filing with appropriate government authorities is required where RMB is to be converted into foreign currency and remitted out of China to pay capital expenses such as the repayment of loans denominated in foreign currencies.

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In light of the flood of capital outflows of China in 2016 due to the weakening RMB, the PRC government has imposed more restrictive foreign exchange policies and stepped up scrutiny of major outbound capital movement. More restrictions and substantial vetting process are put in place by SAFE to regulate cross-border transactions falling under the capital account. The PRC government may at its discretion further restrict access in the future to foreign currencies for current account transactions. If the foreign exchange control system prevents us from obtaining sufficient foreign currencies to satisfy our foreign currency demands, we may not be able to pay dividends in foreign currencies to our shareholders, including holders of our ADSs.

Failure to make adequate contributions to various employee benefit plans and withhold individual income tax on employees’ salaries as required by PRC regulations may subject us to penalties.

Companies operating in China are required to participate in various government sponsored employee benefit plans, including certain social insurance, housing funds and other welfare-oriented payment obligations, and contribute to the plans in amounts equal to certain percentages of salaries, including bonuses and allowances, of our employees up to a maximum amount specified by the local government from time to time at locations where we operate our businesses. The requirement of employee benefit plans has not been implemented consistently by the local governments in China given the different levels of economic development in different locations. Companies operating in China are also required to withhold individual income tax on employees’ salaries based on the actual salary of each employee upon payment. We have not made adequate employee benefit payments. Neither have we fully withheld the individual income tax in accordance with the relevant PRC laws and regulations.

With respect to the underpaid employee benefits, we may be required to make up the contributions for these plans as well as to pay late fees and fines; with respect to the underwithheld individual income tax, we may be required to make up sufficient withholding and pay late fees and fines. If we are subject to late fees or fines in relation to the underpaid employee benefits and underwithheld individual income tax, our financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected.

The M&A Rules and certain other PRC regulations establish complex procedures for some acquisitions of Chinese companies by foreign investors, which could make it more difficult for us to pursue growth through acquisitions in China.

The Regulations on Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Companies by Foreign Investors, or the M&A Rules, adopted by six PRC regulatory agencies in 2006 and amended in 2009, and some other regulations and rules concerning mergers and acquisitions established additional procedures and requirements that could make merger and acquisition activities by foreign investors more time consuming and complex, including requirements that the approval from MOFCOM be obtained in circumstances where overseas companies established or controlled by PRC enterprises or natural persons acquire an affiliated PRC domestic enterprise. After the PRC Foreign Investment Law and its Implementation Regulations became effective on January 1, 2020, the provisions of the M&A Rules remain effective to the extent they are not inconsistent with the PRC Foreign Investment Law and its Implementation Regulations. Moreover, the Anti-Monopoly Law requires that the State Administration for Market Regulation, or the SAMR, shall be notified in advance of any concentration of undertaking if certain thresholds are triggered. In the future, we may grow our business by acquiring complementary businesses. Complying with the requirements of the above-mentioned regulations and other relevant rules to complete such transactions could be time consuming, and any required approval processes, including obtaining approval from the MOFCOM, the SAMR or other PRC government authorities may delay or inhibit our ability to complete such transactions, which could affect our ability to expand our business or maintain our market share.

In addition, the security review rules issued by the PRC government authorities that became effective in September 2011 specify that mergers and acquisitions by foreign investors that raise “national defense and security” concerns and mergers and acquisitions through which foreign investors may acquire de facto control over domestic enterprises that raise “national security” concerns are subject to strict review by the PRC government authorities, and the rules prohibit any activities attempting to bypass a security review, including by structuring the transaction through a proxy or contractual control arrangement.

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In December 2020, the NDRC and MOFCOM jointly promulgated the Measures for the Security Review of Foreign Investment, which came into effect on January 18, 2021. The NDRC and MOFCOM will establish a working mechanism office in charge of the security review of foreign investment. Such measures define foreign investment as direct or indirect investment by foreign investors in the PRC, which includes (i) investment in new onshore projects or establishment of wholly foreign owned onshore companies or joint ventures with foreign investors; (ii) acquiring equity or asset of onshore companies by merger and acquisition; and (iii) onshore investment by and through any other means. Investment in certain key areas with bearing on national security, such as important cultural products and services, important information technology and internet services and products, key technologies and other important areas with bearing on national security which results in the acquisition of de facto control of investee companies, shall be filed with a specifically established office before such investment is carried out. What may constitute “onshore investment by and through any other means” or “de facto control” is not clearly defined under such measures, and could be broadly interpreted. It is likely that control through contractual arrangement be regarded as de facto control based on provisions applied to security review of foreign investment. Failure to make such filing may subject such foreign investor to rectification within prescribed period, and will be recorded as negative credit information of such foreign investor in the relevant national credit information system, which would then subject such investors to joint punishment as provided by relevant rules. If such investor fails to or refuses to undertake such rectification, it would be ordered to dispose of the equity or asset and to take any other necessary measures so as to return to the status quo and to erase the impact to national security. As these measures were recently promulgated, official guidance has not been issued by the designated office in charge of such security review yet. At this stage, the interpretation of those measures remains unclear in many aspects such as what would constitute “important information technology and internet services and products” and whether these measures may apply to foreign investment that is implemented or completed before the enactment of these new measures. As our business may be deemed to constitute the foregoing circumstances, we cannot assure you that our current business operations will remain fully compliant, or we can adapt our business operations to new regulatory requirements on a timely basis, or at all.

PRC regulations relating to offshore investment activities by PRC residents may limit our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to increase their registered capital or distribute profits to us or otherwise expose us or our PRC resident beneficial owners to liability and penalties under PRC law.

The SAFE promulgated the Circular on Relevant Issues Relating to PRC Resident’s Investment and Financing and Roundtrip Investment through Special Purpose Vehicles, or SAFE Circular 37, in July 2014, which replaced the previous Circular on Relevant Issues Concerning Foreign Exchange Administration for PRC Residents Engaging in Financing and Roundtrip Investments through Overseas Special Purpose Vehicles, or SAFE Circular 75. SAFE Circular 37 requires PRC residents, including PRC resident individuals and PRC entities, to register with SAFE or its local branch in connection with their establishment or control of an offshore entity established for the purpose of overseas investment or financing. In addition, such PRC resident individuals must update their SAFE registrations when the offshore special purpose vehicle that such PRC resident individuals directly own the equity interests in undergoes material events relating to any change of basic information (including change of such PRC residents or entities, name and operation term), increases or decreases in investment amount, transfers or exchanges of shares, or mergers or divisions. SAFE Circular 37 also requires a PRC entity to undergo the foreign exchange registration and updating procedure in accordance with the Provisions on Foreign Exchange Administration of the Outbound Direct Investment of Domestic Institutions, issued by the SAFE in July 2009 and other relevant regulations.

On February 28, 2015, SAFE promulgated a Notice on Further Simplifying and Improving Foreign Exchange Administration Policy on Direct Investment, or SAFE Notice 13, which became effective on June 1, 2015. In accordance with SAFE Notice 13, PRC residents are required to apply for foreign exchange registration of foreign direct investment and outbound direct investment, including those required under SAFE Circular 37, with qualified banks, instead of SAFE. The qualified banks, under the supervision of SAFE, directly examine the applications and conduct the registration.

In addition, pursuant to the Measures for the Administration of Outbound Investment promulgated by the MOFCOM in August 2014, and the Administrative Measures of Outbound Investment of Enterprises promulgated by NDRC in December 2017, both of which replaced previous rules regarding outbound direct investment by PRC entities, any outbound investment of PRC enterprises is required to be approved by or filed with MOFCOM, NDRC or their local branches. Certain state-owned enterprises may also be required to complete approval or filing procedures with state-owned assets supervision and administration authorities for some of their outbound direct investment.

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If our direct or indirect shareholders who are PRC residents do not complete their registration with the local SAFE branches or qualified banks, our PRC subsidiaries may be prohibited from distributing their profits and proceeds from any reduction in capital, share transfer or liquidation to us, and we may be restricted in our ability to contribute additional capital to our PRC subsidiaries. Moreover, failure to comply with the SAFE registration described above could result in liability under PRC laws for evasion of applicable foreign exchange restrictions.

Our founders and a number of our directors, officers and individual shareholders who indirectly hold shares in our Cayman Islands holding company and who are known to us as being PRC residents, including Yifan Ren, Lei Sun, Changxing Xiao, Dongcheng Zhang, Lei Liu, Lixing Chen, Jiachun Qu and Zhijun Li, have completed the foreign exchange registrations in accordance with SAFE Circular 37 or SAFE Circular 75 then in effect. In October 2018, Lei Sun established a trust, of which he and his family members are beneficiaries, and transferred all shares of our company he beneficially owned to this trust. Each of the four other directors and officers of our company established a trust, of which he and his family members are beneficiaries, and transferred all shares of our company he beneficially owned to such trust, respectively. See “Item 7. Major Shareholders and Related Party Transactions—A. Major Shareholders.” All beneficiaries of such trusts who are PRC residents are required to complete relevant registrations pursuant to SAFE Circular 37. We have notified the beneficiaries of the trusts who we know are PRC residents of their filing obligation, including the obligation to make initial registration or updates under SAFE Circular 37, and such beneficiaries have undertaken to complete relevant registrations as soon as such registration is practical with the local SAFE branches or qualified banks.

However, we may not be informed of the identities of all the PRC residents holding direct or indirect interest in our company, nor can we compel our beneficial owners to comply with the requirements of SAFE Circular 37 and other outbound investment related regulations. As a result, we cannot assure you that all of our shareholders or beneficial owners who are PRC residents have complied with, and will in the future make or obtain any applicable registrations or approvals required by, SAFE Circular 37 and other outbound investment related regulations. Failure by such shareholders or beneficial owners to comply with SAFE Circular 37 and other outbound investment related regulations, or failure by us to amend the foreign exchange registrations of our PRC subsidiaries, could subject us or our shareholders to fines or legal sanctions, restrict our overseas or cross-border investment activities, limit our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to make distributions or pay dividends to us or affect our ownership structure, which could adversely affect our business and prospects.

Any failure to comply with PRC regulations regarding the registration requirements for employee stock incentive plans may subject the PRC plan participants or us to fines and other legal or administrative sanctions.

Pursuant to SAFE Circular 37, PRC residents who participate in stock incentive plans in overseas non-publicly-listed companies may submit applications to SAFE or its local branches for the foreign exchange registration with respect to offshore special purpose vehicles. In the meantime, our directors, executive officers and other employees who are PRC residents and who have been granted stock options by us, may follow the Notices on Issues Concerning the Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Individuals Participating in Stock Incentive Plan of Overseas Publicly-Listed Company, promulgated by the SAFE in 2012, or 2012 SAFE Notices. Pursuant to the 2012 SAFE Notices, PRC citizens and non-PRC citizens who reside in China for a continuous period of not less than one year who participate in any stock incentive plan of an overseas publicly listed company are required to register with SAFE through a domestic qualified agent, which could be the PRC subsidiaries of such overseas listed company, and complete certain other procedures. In addition, an overseas entrusted institution must be retained to handle matters in connection with the exercise or sale of stock options and the purchase or sale of shares and interests. We and our directors, executive officers and other employees who are PRC citizens or who reside in the PRC for a continuous period of not less than one year and who have been granted stock options will be subject to these regulations. Failure to complete the SAFE registrations may subject them to fines and legal sanctions, and may also limit our ability to contribute additional capital into our PRC subsidiaries and limit our PRC subsidiaries’ ability to distribute dividends to us. We also face regulatory uncertainties that could restrict our ability to adopt additional incentive plans for our directors, executive officers and employees under PRC law. See “ Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Regulation—Regulations Related to Our Business Operation in China—Regulations Related to Employee Stock Incentive Plan.”

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The State Administration of Taxation, or SAT, has issued certain circulars concerning employee stock options and restricted shares. Under these circulars, our employees working in China who exercise stock options or are granted restricted shares will be subject to PRC individual income tax. Our PRC subsidiaries have obligations to file documents related to employee stock options or restricted shares with relevant tax authorities and to withhold individual income taxes of those employees who exercise their share options. If our employees fail to pay or we fail to withhold their income taxes according to relevant laws and regulations, we may face sanctions imposed by the tax authorities or other PRC governmental authorities. See “ Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Regulation—Regulations Related to Our Business Operation in China—Regulations Related to Employee Stock Incentive Plan.”

If we are classified as a PRC resident enterprise for PRC income tax purposes, such classification could result in unfavorable tax consequences to us and our non-PRC shareholders or ADS holders.

Under the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law and its implementation rules, an enterprise established outside of the PRC with a “de facto management body” within the PRC is considered a resident enterprise and will be subject to the enterprise income tax on its global income at the rate of 25%. The implementation rules define the term “de facto management body” as the body that exercises full and substantial control over and overall management of the business, productions, personnel, accounts and properties of an enterprise. Circular 82, issued by the SAT in April 2009 and amended in December 2017, provides certain specific criteria for determining whether the “de facto management body” of a PRC-controlled enterprise that is incorporated offshore is located in China. Although this circular only applies to offshore enterprises controlled by PRC enterprises or PRC enterprise groups, not those controlled by PRC individuals or foreigners like us, the criteria set forth in the circular may reflect the SAT’s general position on how the “de facto management body” test should be applied in determining the tax resident status of all offshore enterprises. According to Circular 82, an offshore incorporated enterprise controlled by a PRC enterprise or a PRC enterprise group will be regarded as a PRC tax resident by virtue of having its “de facto management body” in China and will be subject to PRC enterprise income tax on its global income only if all of the following conditions are met: (i) the primary location of the day-to-day operational management is in the PRC; (ii) decisions relating to the enterprise’s financial and human resource matters are made or are subject to approval by organizations or personnel in the PRC; (iii) the enterprise’s primary assets, accounting books and records, company seals, and board and shareholder resolutions, are located or maintained in the PRC; and (iv) at least 50% of voting board members or senior executives habitually reside in the PRC.

We believe none of our entities outside of China is a PRC resident enterprise for PRC tax purposes. See “Item. 10 Additional Information—Taxation—People’s Republic of China Taxation.” However, the tax resident status of an enterprise is subject to determination by the PRC tax authorities and uncertainties remain with respect to the interpretation of the term “de facto management body.” As substantially all of our management members are based in China, it remains unclear how the tax residency rule will apply to our case. If the PRC tax authorities determine that 9F Inc. or any of our subsidiaries outside of China is a PRC resident enterprise for PRC enterprise income tax purposes, then 9F Inc. or such subsidiary could be subject to PRC tax at a rate of 25% on its world-wide income, which could materially reduce our net income. In addition, we will also be subject to PRC enterprise income tax reporting obligations. Furthermore, if the PRC tax authorities determine that we are a PRC resident enterprise for enterprise income tax purposes, gains realized on the sale or other disposition of our ADSs or Class A ordinary shares may be subject to PRC tax, and dividends we pay may be subject to PRC withholding tax, at a rate of 10% in the case of non-PRC enterprises or 20% in the case of non-PRC individuals (in each case, subject to the provisions of any applicable tax treaty), if such gains or dividends are deemed to be from PRC sources. It is unclear whether non-PRC shareholders of our company would be able to claim the benefits of any tax treaties between their country of tax residence and the PRC in the event that we are treated as a PRC resident enterprise. Any such tax may reduce the returns on your investment in the ADSs or Class A ordinary shares.

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We may not be able to obtain certain benefits under the relevant tax treaty on dividends paid by our PRC subsidiaries to us through our Hong Kong subsidiary.

We are a holding company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands and as such rely on dividends and other distributions on equity from our PRC subsidiaries to satisfy part of our liquidity requirements. Pursuant to the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law, a withholding tax rate of 10% currently applies to dividends paid by a PRC “resident enterprise” to a foreign enterprise investor, unless any such foreign investor’s jurisdiction of incorporation has a tax treaty with China that provides for preferential tax treatment. Pursuant to the Arrangement between the Mainland China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and Tax Evasion on Income, or the Double Tax Avoidance Arrangement, and the Notice on Certain Issues with Respect to the Enforcement of Dividend Provisions in Tax Treaties, or the Circular 81, issued by the SAT, such withholding tax rate may be lowered to 5% if the PRC enterprise is at least 25% held by a Hong Kong enterprise for at least 12 consecutive months prior to distribution of the dividends and is determined by the relevant PRC tax authority to have satisfied other conditions and requirements under the Double Tax Avoidance Arrangement and other applicable PRC laws. However, based on the Circular 81, if the relevant PRC tax authority determines, in its discretion, that a company benefits from such reduced income tax rate due to a structure or arrangement that is primarily tax-driven, such PRC tax authority may adjust the preferential tax treatment. Furthermore, in October 2019, the SAT promulgated the Administrative Measures for Non-Resident Taxpayers to Enjoy Treaty Treatments, or Circular 35, which became effective on January 1, 2020 and superseded the Administrative Measures for Non-Resident Enterprises to Enjoy Treatments under Tax Treaties. The Circular 35 abolished the record-filing procedure for justifying the tax treaty eligibility of taxpayers, and stipulates that non-resident taxpayers can enjoy tax treaty benefits via the “self-assessment of eligibility, claiming treaty benefits, retaining documents for inspection” mechanism. Non-resident taxpayers can claim tax treaty benefits after self-assessment provided that relevant supporting documents shall be collected and retained for post-filing inspection by the tax authorities. In addition, based on the Notice on Issues concerning Beneficial Owner in Tax Treaties, or Circular 9, issued on February 3, 2018 by the SAT, which became effective from April 1, 2018, when determining the applicant’s status of the “beneficial owner” regarding tax treatments in connection with dividends, interests or royalties in the tax treaties, several factors, including without limitation, whether the applicant is obligated to pay more than 50% of the applicant’s income in twelve months to residents in third country or region, whether the business operated by the applicant constitutes the actual business activities, and whether the counterparty country or region to the tax treaties does not levy any tax or grant tax exemption on relevant incomes or levy tax at an extremely low rate, will be taken into account, and it will be analyzed according to the actual circumstances of the specific cases. There are also other conditions for enjoying the reduced withholding tax rate according to other relevant tax rules and regulations. See “Item 10. Additional Information—Taxation—People’s Republic of China Taxation.” We cannot assure you that our determination regarding our qualification to enjoy the preferential tax treatment will not be challenged by the relevant PRC tax authority or we will be able to complete the necessary filings with the relevant PRC tax authority and enjoy the preferential withholding tax rate of 5% under the Double Taxation Arrangement with respect to dividends to be paid by our PRC subsidiaries to 9F HK, our Hong Kong subsidiary.

We face uncertainty with respect to indirect transfers of equity interests in PRC resident enterprises by their non-PRC holding companies.

Pursuant to the Circular on Strengthening Administration of Enterprise Income Tax for Share Transfers by Non-PRC Resident Enterprises, or SAT Circular 698, issued by the SAT in 2009 with retroactive effect from January 1, 2008, where a non-resident enterprise transfers the equity interests of a PRC resident enterprise indirectly by disposition of the equity interests of an overseas holding company, or an Indirect Transfer, and such overseas holding company is located in a tax jurisdiction that: (a) has an effective tax rate less than 12.5% or (b) does not tax foreign income of its residents, the non-resident enterprise, being the transferor, shall report to the competent tax authority of the PRC resident enterprise this Indirect Transfer.

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On February 3, 2015, the SAT issued a Public Notice Regarding Certain Corporate Income Tax Matters on Indirect Transfer of Properties by Non-Resident Enterprises, or SAT Public Notice 7. SAT Public Notice 7 supersedes certain rules with respect to the Indirect Transfer under SAT Circular 698, but does not touch upon the other provisions of SAT Circular 698, which remain in force. SAT Public Notice 7 has introduced a new tax regime that is significantly different from the previous one under SAT Circular 698. SAT Public Notice 7 extends its tax jurisdiction to not only Indirect Transfers set forth under SAT Circular 698 but also transactions involving transfer of other taxable assets through offshore transfer of a foreign intermediate holding company. In addition, SAT Public Notice 7 provides clearer criteria than SAT Circular 698 for assessment of reasonable commercial purposes and has introduced safe harbors for internal group restructurings and the purchase and sale of equity through a public securities market. SAT Public Notice 7 also brings challenges to both foreign transferor and transferee (or other person who is obligated to pay for the transfer) of taxable assets. Where a non-resident enterprise transfers taxable assets indirectly by disposing of the equity interests of an overseas holding company, which is an Indirect Transfer, the non-resident enterprise as either transferor or transferee, or the PRC entity that directly owns the taxable assets, may report such Indirect Transfer to the relevant tax authority. Using a “substance over form” principle, the PRC tax authority may disregard the existence of the overseas holding company if it lacks a reasonable commercial purpose and was established for the purpose of reducing, avoiding or deferring PRC tax. As a result, gains derived from such Indirect Transfer may be subject to PRC enterprise income tax, and the transferor shall be subject to withholding of applicable taxes, currently at a rate of 10%. On October 17, 2017, SAT issued the Announcement of the State Administration of Taxation on Issues Concerning the Withholding of Non-resident Enterprise Income Tax at Source, or SAT Bulletin 37, which became effective on December 1, 2017 and abolished SAT Circular 698 as well as certain provisions in SAT Circular 7. The SAT Bulletin 37 further clarifies the practice and procedure of the withholding of non-resident enterprise income tax. Pursuant to SAT Bulletin 37, where the party responsible to withhold such income tax did not or was unable to withhold, and the non-resident enterprise receiving such income failed to declare and pay the taxes that should have been withheld to the relevant tax authority, both of such parties may be subject to penalties.

We face uncertainties as to the reporting and other implications of certain past and future transactions where PRC taxable assets are involved, such as offshore restructuring, sale of the shares in our offshore subsidiaries or investments. Our company may be subject to filing obligations or taxed or subject to withholding obligations in such transactions, under SAT Public Notice 7 and SAT Bulletin 37. For transfer of shares in our company by investors that are non-PRC resident enterprises, our PRC subsidiaries may be requested to assist in the filing under SAT Public Notice 7 and SAT Bulletin 37. As a result, we may be required to expend valuable resources to comply with SAT Public Notice 7 and SAT Bulletin 37 or to request the relevant transferors from whom we purchase taxable assets to comply with these circulars, or to establish that our company should not be taxed under these circulars, which may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Uncertainties exist with respect to the enforcement of Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for Internet Platforms and how it may impact our business operations.

In February 2021, the Anti-monopoly Commission of the State Council promulgated the Guidelines to Anti-Monopoly in the Field of Internet Platforms, or the Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for Internet Platforms. The Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for Internet Platforms is consistent with the Anti-Monopoly Law and prohibits monopoly agreements, abuse of a dominant position and concentration of undertakings that may have the effect to eliminate or restrict competition in the field of platform economy. More specifically, the Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for Internet Platforms outlines certain practices that may, if without justifiable reasons, constitute abuse of a dominant position, including without limitation, tailored pricing using big data and analytics, actions or arrangements deemed as exclusivity arrangements, using technological means to block competitors’ interface, using bundle services to sell services or products, and compulsory collection of user data. In addition, the Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for Internet Platforms expressly provides that concentrations involving VIEs will also be subject to antitrust filing requirements. The Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for Internet Platforms became effective on February 7, 2021, but uncertainties exist with respect to its enforcement. Although we believe we do not engage in any of the foregoing situations, we cannot assure you that the regulators will take the same view as ours. If certain of our activities in China were deemed by relevant regulators as violations of the Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for Internet Platforms, it may result in governmental investigations, fines and/or other sanctions against us.

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Our ADSs may be delisted under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act if the PCAOB is unable to inspect auditors who are located in China. The delisting of our ADSs, or the threat of their being delisted, may materially and adversely affect the value of your investment. Additionally, the inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections deprives our investors with the benefits of such inspections.

The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, or the HFCA Act, was enacted on December 18, 2020. The HFCA Act states if the SEC determines that we have filed audit reports issued by a registered public accounting firm that has not been subject to inspection by the PCAOB for three consecutive years beginning in 2021, the SEC shall prohibit our shares or ADSs from being traded on a national securities exchange or in the over the counter trading market in the U.S.

Our auditor, the independent registered public accounting firm that issues the audit report included elsewhere in this annual report, as an auditor of companies that are traded publicly in the United States and a firm registered with the PCAOB, is subject to laws in the United States pursuant to which the PCAOB conducts regular inspections to assess its compliance with the applicable professional standards. Our auditor is currently not inspected by the PCAOB.

On March 24, 2021, the SEC adopted interim final rules relating to the implementation of certain disclosure and documentation requirements of the HFCA Act. We will be required to comply with these rules if the SEC identifies us as having a “non-inspection” year under a process to be subsequently established by the SEC. The SEC is assessing how to implement other requirements of the HFCA Act, including the listing and trading prohibition requirements described above.

The SEC may propose additional rules or guidance that could impact us if our auditor is not subject to PCAOB inspection. For example, on August 6, 2020, the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, or the PWG, issued the Report on Protecting United States Investors from Significant Risks from Chinese Companies to the then President of the United States. This report recommended the SEC implement five recommendations to address companies from jurisdictions that do not provide the PCAOB with sufficient access to fulfil its statutory mandate. Some of the concepts of these recommendations were implemented with the enactment of the HFCA Act. However, some of the recommendations were more stringent than the HFCA Act. For example, if a company was not subject to PCAOB inspection, the report recommended that the transition period before a company would be delisted would end on January 1, 2022.

The SEC has announced that the SEC staff is preparing a consolidated proposal for the rules regarding the implementation of the HFCA Act and to address the recommendations in the PWG report. It is unclear when the SEC will complete its rulemaking and when such rules will become effective and what, if any, of the PWG recommendations will be adopted. The implications of this possible regulation in addition the requirements of the HFCA Act are uncertain. Such uncertainty could cause the market price of our ADSs to be materially and adversely affected, and our securities could be delisted or prohibited from being traded “over-the-counter” earlier than would be required by the HFCA Act. If our securities are unable to be listed on another securities exchange by then, such a delisting would substantially impair your ability to sell or purchase our ADSs when you wish to do so, and the risk and uncertainty associated with a potential delisting would have a negative impact on the price of our ADSs.

The PCAOB’s inability to conduct inspections in China prevents it from fully evaluating the audits and quality control procedures of our independent registered public accounting firm. As a result, we and investors in our ordinary shares are deprived of the benefits of such PCAOB inspections. The inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections of auditors in China makes it more difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of our independent registered public accounting firm’s audit procedures or quality control procedures as compared to auditors outside of China that are subject to the PCAOB inspections, which could cause investors and potential investors in our stock to lose confidence in our audit procedures and reported financial information and the quality of our financial statements.

In May 2013, the PCAOB announced that it had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding on Enforcement Cooperation with the CSRC and the PRC Ministry of Finance, which establishes a cooperative framework between the parties for the production and exchange of audit documents relevant to investigations undertaken by the PCAOB in the PRC or by the CSRC or the PRC Ministry of Finance in the United States. The PCAOB continues to be in discussions with the CSRC and the PRC Ministry of Finance to permit joint inspections in the PRC of audit firms that are registered with the PCAOB and audit Chinese companies that trade on U.S. exchanges.

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Risks Related to Our American Depositary Shares

The market price for our ADSs may be volatile.

The trading prices of our ADSs are likely to be volatile and could fluctuate widely due to factors beyond our control. This may happen because of broad market and industry factors, like the performance and fluctuation in the market prices or the underperformance or deteriorating financial results of other listed companies based in China that have listed their securities in the United States in recent years. The securities of some of these companies have experienced significant volatility since their initial public offerings, including, in some cases, substantial price declines in their trading prices. The trading performance of other Chinese companies’ securities after their offerings may affect the attitudes of investors toward Chinese companies listed in the United States, which consequently may impact the trading performance of our ADSs, regardless of our actual operating performance. In addition, any negative news or perceptions about inadequate corporate governance practices or fraudulent accounting, corporate structure or other matters of other Chinese companies may also negatively affect the attitudes of investors towards Chinese companies in general, including us, regardless of whether we have conducted any inappropriate activities. In addition, securities markets may from time to time experience significant price and volume fluctuations that are not related to our operating performance, such as the large decline in share prices in the United States, China and other jurisdictions in late 2008, early 2009 and the second half of 2011, which may have a material adverse effect on the market price of our ADSs.

In addition to the above factors, the price and trading volume of our ADSs may be highly volatile due to multiple factors, including the following:

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the market price for our ADSs and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our ADSs will depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. If research analysts do not establish and maintain adequate research coverage or if one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade our ADSs or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, the market price for our ADSs would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our company or fail to publish reports on us regularly, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which, in turn, could cause the market price or trading volume for our ADSs to decline.

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Because we do not expect to pay dividends in the foreseeable future, you must rely on price appreciation of our ADSs for return on your investment.

We currently intend to retain most, if not all, of our available funds and any future earnings to fund the development and growth of our business. As a result, we do not expect to pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Therefore, you should not rely on an investment in our ADSs as a source for any future dividend income.

Our board of directors has discretion as to whether to distribute dividends, subject to certain restrictions under the Cayman Islands law, namely that our company may only pay dividends out of profits or share premium, and provided always that in no circumstances may a dividend be paid if this would result in our company being unable to pay its debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business. In addition, our shareholders may by ordinary resolution declare a dividend, but no dividend may exceed the amount recommended by our board of directors. Even if our board of directors decides to declare and pay dividends, the timing, amount and form of future dividends, if any, will depend on, among other things, our future results of operations and cash flow, our capital requirements and surplus, the amount of distributions, if any, received by us from our subsidiary, our financial condition, contractual restrictions and other factors deemed relevant by our board of directors. Accordingly, the return on your investment in our ADSs will likely depend entirely upon any future price appreciation of our ADSs. There is no guarantee that our ADSs will appreciate in value or even maintain the price at which you purchased the ADSs. You may not realize a return on your investment in our ADSs and you may even lose your entire investment in our ADSs.

Our dual-class share structure with different voting rights and the restriction on transfer of Class B ordinary shares will limit your ability to influence corporate matters and could discourage others from pursuing any change of control transactions that holders of our Class A ordinary shares and ADSs may view as beneficial.

Our authorized share capital is divided into Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares (with certain shares remaining undesignated, with power for our directors to designate and issue such classes of shares as they think fit). In respect of matters requiring the votes of shareholders, holders of Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares vote together as a single class except as may otherwise be required by law, holders of Class A ordinary shares will be entitled to one vote per share, while holders of Class B ordinary shares will be entitled to five votes per share. Each Class B ordinary share is convertible into one Class A ordinary share at any time by the holder thereof, while Class A ordinary shares are not convertible into Class B ordinary shares under any circumstances. Upon any sale, transfer, assignment or disposition of any Class B ordinary share by a holder thereof to any non-affiliate to such holder, or upon a change of control of any Class B ordinary share to any person who is not an affiliate of the registered holder of such Class B ordinary share, each of such Class B ordinary shares will be automatically and immediately converted into one Class A ordinary share.

Mr. Lei Sun, the chairman of our board of directors, beneficially owns an aggregate of 64,433,465 ordinary shares, representing in aggregate 65.6% of our total voting power as of April 30, 2021. Consequently, Mr. Sun will be able to significantly influence matters requiring shareholders’ approval such as electing directors and approving material mergers, acquisitions or other business combination transactions. The dual-class share structure will also allow Mr. Sun to have significant influence on requisition of extraordinary general meeting of shareholders and quorum required for general meeting of shareholders. See “Item 10. Additional Information—Our Memorandum and Articles of Association—”Voting Rights” and “General Meetings of Shareholders and Shareholders Proposals” for details. Mr. Sun may take actions that are not in the best interest of us or our other shareholders. This concentration of voting power and the restriction on transfer of Class B ordinary share may also discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company, which could have the dual effect of depriving our other shareholders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their shares as part of a sale of our company and reducing the price of our ADSs. These actions may be taken even if they are opposed by our other shareholders. In addition, Mr. Sun could divert business opportunities away from us to himself or others. For more information regarding our principal shareholders and their affiliated entities, see “Item 6. Directors, Senior Management and Employees — E. Share Ownership.”

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The dual-class structure of our ordinary shares may adversely affect the trading market for the ADSs.

S&P Dow Jones and FTSE Russell have changed their eligibility criteria for inclusion of shares of public companies on certain indices, including the S&P 500, to exclude companies with multiple classes of shares and companies whose public shareholders hold no more than 5% of total voting power from being added to such indices. In addition, several shareholder advisory firms have announced their opposition to the use of multiple class structures. As a result, the dual-class structure of our ordinary shares may prevent the inclusion of the ADSs representing our Class A ordinary shares in such indices and may cause shareholder advisory firms to publish negative commentary about our corporate governance practices or otherwise seek to cause us to change our capital structure. Any such exclusion from indices could result in a less active trading market for the ADSs representing our Class A ordinary shares. Any actions or publications by shareholder advisory firms critical of our corporate governance practices or capital structure could also adversely affect the value of the ADSs.

Substantial future sales or perceived potential sales of our ADSs in the public market could cause the price of our ADSs to decline.

Sales of our ADSs in the public market after our initial public offering, or the perception that these sales could occur, could cause the market price of our ADSs to decline. All ADSs sold in the initial public offering are freely transferable without restriction or additional registration under the Securities Act. Our Class A Ordinary Shares outstanding are also available for sale subject to volume and other restrictions as applicable under Rules 144 and 701 under the Securities Act. To the extent these shares are sold into the market, the market price of our ADSs could decline.

Certain holders of our ordinary shares may cause us to register under the Securities Act the sale of their shares. Registration of these shares under the Securities Act would result in ADSs representing these shares becoming freely tradable without restriction under the Securities Act immediately upon the effectiveness of the registration. Sales of these registered shares in the form of ADSs in the public market could cause the price of our ADSs to decline.

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The voting rights of holders of ADSs are limited by the terms of the deposit agreement, and you may not be able to exercise your right to direct the voting of the underlying Class A ordinary shares which are represented by your ADSs.

As a holder of our ADSs, you will not have any direct right to attend general meetings of our shareholders or to cast any votes at such meetings. You will only be able to exercise the voting rights which attach to the underlying Class A ordinary shares which are represented by your ADSs indirectly by giving voting instructions to the depositary in accordance with the provisions of the deposit agreement. Under the deposit agreement, you may vote only by giving voting instructions to the depositary, as the holder of the underlying Class A ordinary shares which are represented by your ADSs. Upon receipt of your voting instructions, the depositary will endeavor to vote the Class A underlying Class A ordinary shares in accordance with your instructions in the event voting is by poll, and in accordance with instructions received from a majority of holders of ADSs who provide instructions in the event voting is by show of hands. The depositary will not join in demanding a vote by poll. You will not be able to directly exercise any right to vote with respect to the underlying Class A ordinary shares unless you withdraw the shares and become the registered holder of such shares prior to the record date for the general meeting. Under our sixth amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, the minimum notice period required to be given by our company to our registered shareholders for convening a general meeting is seven days. When a general meeting is convened, you may not receive sufficient advance notice to enable you to withdraw the underlying Class A ordinary shares which are represented by your ADSs and become the registered holder of such shares prior to the record date for the general meeting to allow you to attend the general meeting or to vote directly with respect to any specific matter or resolution which is to be considered and voted upon at the general meeting. In addition, under our sixth amended and restated memorandum and articles of association, for the purposes of determining those shareholders who are entitled to attend and vote at any general meeting, our directors may close our register of members and/or fix in advance a record date for such meeting, and such closure of our register of members or the setting of such a record date may prevent you from withdrawing the underlying Class A ordinary shares which are represented by your ADSs and becoming the registered holder of such shares prior to the record date, so that you would not be able to attend the general meeting or to vote directly. Where any matter is to be put to a vote at a general meeting, the depositary will, if we request, and subject to the terms of the deposit agreement, endeavor to notify you of the upcoming vote and to deliver our voting materials to you. We cannot assure you that you will receive the voting materials in time to ensure that you can instruct the depositary to vote the underlying shares which are represented by your ADSs. In addition, the depositary and its agents are not responsible for failing to carry out voting instructions or for their manner of carrying out your voting instructions. This means that you may not be able to exercise your right to direct the voting of the underlying Class A ordinary shares which are represented by your ADSs, and you may have no legal remedy if the underlying Class A ordinary shares are not voted as you requested.

Except in limited circumstances, the depositary for our ADSs will give us a discretionary proxy to vote our Class A ordinary shares underlying your ADSs if you do not instruct the depositary how to vote such shares, which could adversely affect your interests.

Under the deposit agreement for our ADSs, the depositary will give us (or our nominee) a discretionary proxy to vote our Class A ordinary shares represented by your ADSs at shareholders’ meetings if you do not give voting instructions to the depositary as to how to vote the Class A ordinary shares represented by your ADSs at any particular shareholders’ meeting, unless:

The effect of this discretionary proxy is that, if you fail to give voting instructions to the depositary as to how to vote the Class A ordinary shares represented by your ADSs at any particular shareholders’ meeting, you cannot prevent our Class A ordinary shares represented by your ADSs from being voted at that meeting, absent the situations described above, and it may make it more difficult for shareholders to influence our management. Holders of our ordinary shares are not subject to this discretionary proxy.

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Your rights to pursue claims against the depositary as a holder of ADSs are limited by the terms of the deposit agreement and the deposit agreement may be amended or terminated without your consent.

Under the deposit agreement, any action or proceeding against or involving the depositary, arising out of or based upon the deposit agreement or the transactions contemplated thereby or by virtue of owning the ADSs may only be instituted by you in a state or federal court in New York, New York, and you, as a holder of our ADSs, will have irrevocably waived any objection which you may have to the laying of venue of any such proceeding, and irrevocably submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of such courts in any such action or proceeding instituted by any person. Also, we may amend or terminate the deposit agreement without your consent. If you continue to hold your ADSs after an amendment to the deposit agreement, you agree to be bound by the deposit agreement as amended. See “Item 12. Description of Securities Other than Equity Securities—D. American Depositary Shares” for more information.

Your right to participate in any future rights offerings may be limited, which may cause dilution to your holdings.

We may from time to time distribute rights to our shareholders, including rights to acquire our securities. However, we cannot make such rights available to you in the United States unless we register both the rights and the securities to which the rights relate under the Securities Act or an exemption from the registration requirements is available. Under the deposit agreement, the depositary will not make rights available to you unless both the rights and the underlying securities to be distributed to ADS holders are either registered under the Securities Act or exempt from registration under the Securities Act. We are under no obligation to file a registration statement with respect to any such rights or securities or to endeavor to cause such a registration statement to be declared effective and we may not be able to establish a necessary exemption from registration under the Securities Act. Accordingly, you may be unable to participate in our rights offerings in the future and may experience dilution in your holdings.

You may not receive dividends or other distributions on our Class A ordinary shares and you may not receive any value for them, if it is illegal or impractical to make them available to you.

The depositary of our ADSs has agreed to pay to you the cash dividends or other distributions it or the custodian receives on our Class A ordinary shares or other deposited securities underlying our ADSs, after deducting its fees and expenses. You will receive these distributions in proportion to the number of Class A ordinary shares your ADSs represent. However, the depositary is not responsible if it decides that it is unlawful or impractical to make a distribution available to any holders of ADSs. For example, it would be unlawful to make a distribution to a holder of ADSs if it consists of securities that require registration under the Securities Act but that are not properly registered or distributed under an applicable exemption from registration. The depositary may also determine that it is not feasible to distribute certain property through the mail. Additionally, the value of certain distributions may be less than the cost of mailing them. In these cases, the depositary may determine not to distribute such property. We have no obligation to register under U.S. securities laws any ADSs, Class A ordinary shares, rights or other securities received through such distributions. We also have no obligation to take any other action to permit the distribution of ADSs, Class A ordinary shares, rights or anything else to holders of ADSs. This means that you may not receive distributions we make on our Class A ordinary shares or any value for them if it is illegal or impractical for us to make them available to you. These restrictions may cause a material decline in the value of our ADSs.

You may be subject to limitations on transfer of your ADSs.

Your ADSs are transferable on the books of the depositary. However, the depositary may close its transfer books at any time or from time to time when it deems expedient in connection with the performance of its duties. In addition, the depositary may refuse to deliver, transfer or register transfers of ADSs generally when our books or the books of the depositary are closed, or at any time if we or the depositary deems it advisable to do so because of any requirement of law or of any government or governmental body, or under any provision of the deposit agreement, or for any other reason.

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Certain judgments obtained against us by our shareholders may not be enforceable.

We are an exempted company limited by shares incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. We conduct substantially all of our operations in China and substantially all of our assets are located in China. In addition, a majority of our directors and executive officers reside within China, and most of the assets of these persons are located within China. As a result, it may be difficult or impossible for you to effect service of process within the United States upon these individuals, or to bring an action against us or against these individuals in the United States in the event that you believe your rights have been infringed under the U.S. federal securities laws or otherwise. Even if you are successful in bringing an action of this kind, the laws of the Cayman Islands and of the PRC may render you unable to enforce a judgment against our assets or the assets of our directors and officers.

It may be difficult for overseas regulators to conduct investigation or collect evidence within China.

Shareholder claims or regulatory investigation that are common in the United States generally are difficult to pursue as a matter of law or practicality in China. For example, in China, there are significant legal and other obstacles to providing information needed for regulatory investigations or litigation initiated outside China. Although the authorities in China may establish a regulatory cooperation mechanism with the securities regulatory authorities of another country or region to implement cross-border supervision and administration, such cooperation with the securities regulatory authorities in the Unities States may not be efficient in the absence of mutual and practical cooperation mechanism. Furthermore, according to Article 177 of the PRC Securities Law, or Article 177, which became effective in March 2020, no overseas securities regulator is allowed to directly conduct investigation or evidence collection activities within the territory of the PRC. While detailed interpretation of or implementation rules under Article 177 have yet to be promulgated, the inability for an overseas securities regulator to directly conduct investigation or evidence collection activities within China may further increase difficulties faced by you in protecting your interests. See also “ —You may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through U.S. courts may be limited, because we are incorporated under the Cayman Islands law” for risks associated with investing in us as a Cayman Islands company.

ADSs holders may not be entitled to a jury trial with respect to claims arising under the deposit agreement, which could result in less favorable outcomes to the plaintiff(s) in any such action.

The deposit agreement governing the ADSs representing our Class A ordinary shares provides that, to the fullest extent permitted by law, ADS holders waive the right to a jury trial of any claim they may have against us or the depositary arising out of or relating to our shares, the ADSs or the deposit agreement, including any claim under the U.S. federal securities laws.

If we or the depositary opposed a jury trial demand based on the waiver, the court would determine whether the waiver was enforceable based on the facts and circumstances of that case in accordance with the applicable state and federal laws. To our knowledge, the enforceability of a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver in connection with claims arising under the federal securities laws has not been finally adjudicated by the United States Supreme Court. However, we believe that a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver provision is generally enforceable, including under the laws of the State of New York, which govern the deposit agreement, by a federal or state court in the City of New York, which has non-exclusive jurisdiction over matters arising under the deposit agreement. In determining whether to enforce a contractual pre-dispute jury trial waiver provision, courts will generally consider whether a party knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily waived the right to a jury trial. We believe that this is the case with respect to the deposit agreement and the ADSs. It is advisable that you consult legal counsel regarding the jury waiver provision before entering into the deposit agreement.

If you or any other holders or beneficial owners of ADSs bring a claim against us or the depositary in connection with matters arising under the deposit agreement or the ADSs, including claims under federal securities laws, you or such other holder or beneficial owner may not be entitled to a jury trial with respect to such claims, which may have the effect of limiting and discouraging lawsuits against us or the depositary. If a lawsuit is brought against us or the depositary under the deposit agreement, it may be heard only by a judge or justice of the applicable trial court, which would be conducted according to different civil procedures and may result in different outcomes than a trial by jury would have had, including results that could be less favorable to the plaintiff(s) in any such action.

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Nevertheless, if this jury trial waiver provision is not permitted by applicable law, an action could proceed under the terms of the deposit agreement with a jury trial. No condition, stipulation or provision of the deposit agreement or ADSs serves as a waiver by any holder or beneficial owner of ADSs or by us or the depositary of compliance with any substantive provision of the U.S. federal securities laws and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.

You may face difficulties in protecting your interests, and your ability to protect your rights through U.S. courts may be limited, because we are incorporated under the Cayman Islands law.

We are an exempted company limited by shares incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands. Our corporate affairs are governed by our memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Act (2021 Revision) of the Cayman Islands and the common law of the Cayman Islands. The rights of shareholders to take action against the directors, actions by minority shareholders and the fiduciary duties of our directors to us under Cayman Islands law are to a large extent governed by the common law of the Cayman Islands. The common law of the Cayman Islands is derived in part from comparatively limited judicial precedent in the Cayman Islands as well as from the common law of England, the decisions of whose courts are of persuasive authority, but are not binding, on a court in the Cayman Islands. The rights of our shareholders and the fiduciary duties of our directors under Cayman Islands law are not as clearly established as they would be under statutes or judicial precedent in some jurisdictions in the United States. In particular, the Cayman Islands has a less developed body of securities laws than the United States. Some U.S. states, such as Delaware, have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law than the Cayman Islands. In addition, Cayman Islands companies may not have standing to initiate a shareholder derivative action in a federal court of the United States.

Shareholders of Cayman Islands exempted companies like us have no general rights under Cayman Islands law to inspect corporate records (other than copies of the memorandum and articles of association, the register of mortgages and charges, and any special resolutions passed by the shareholders) or to obtain copies of lists of shareholders of these companies. Under Cayman Islands law, the names of our current directors can be obtained from a search conducted at the Registrar of Companies. Our directors will have discretion under the memorandum and articles of association to determine whether or not, and under what conditions, our corporate records may be inspected by our shareholders, but are not obliged to make them available to our shareholders. This may make it more difficult for you to obtain the information needed to establish any facts necessary for a shareholder resolution or to solicit proxies from other shareholders in connection with a proxy contest.

As a result of all of the above, our public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by management, members of the board of directors or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a company incorporated in the United States.

Our memorandum and articles of association contains anti-takeover provisions that could discourage a third party from acquiring us and adversely affect the rights of holders of our Class A ordinary shares and ADSs.

Our memorandum and articles of association contain certain provisions that could limit the ability of others to acquire control of our company, including a provision that grants authority to our board of directors to establish and issue from time to time one or more series of preferred shares without action by our shareholders and to determine, with respect to any series of preferred shares, the terms and rights of that series. These provisions could have the effect of depriving our shareholders and ADS holders of the opportunity to sell their shares or ADSs at a premium over the prevailing market price by discouraging third parties from seeking to obtain control of our company in a tender offer or similar transactions.

Our directors and officers have substantial influence over our company and their interests may not be aligned with the interests of our other shareholders.

Our directors and officers collectively own an aggregate of 83.3% of our total voting power as of April 30, 2021. See “Item 6. Directors, Senior Management and Employees — E. Share Ownership.” As a result, they have substantial influence over our business, including significant corporate actions such as mergers, consolidations, election of directors and other significant corporate actions.

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They may take actions that are not in the best interest of us or our other shareholders. This concentration of voting power may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company, which could deprive our shareholders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their shares as part of a sale of our company and may reduce the price of the ADSs. These actions may be taken even if they are opposed by our other shareholders. In addition, the significant concentration of share ownership may adversely affect the trading price of the ADSs due to investors’ perception that conflicts of interest may exist or arise.

We are an emerging growth company and may take advantage of certain reduced reporting requirements.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various requirements applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, most significantly, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 for so long as we are an emerging growth company. As a result, if we elect not to comply with such auditor attestation requirements, our investors may not have access to certain information they may deem important.

The JOBS Act also provides that an emerging growth company does not need to comply with any new or revised financial accounting standards until such date that a private company is otherwise required to comply with such new or revised accounting standards. However, we have elected to “opt out” of this provision and, as a result, we will comply with new or revised financial accounting standards as required when they are adopted for public companies. This decision to opt out of the extended transition period under the JOBS Act is irrevocable.

We are a foreign private issuer within the meaning of the rules under the Exchange Act, and as such we are exempt from certain provisions applicable to U.S. domestic public companies.

Because we qualify as a foreign private issuer under the Exchange Act, we are exempt from certain provisions of the securities rules and regulations in the United States that are applicable to U.S. domestic issuers, including:

We are required to file an annual report on Form 20-F within four months of the end of each fiscal year. In addition, we intend to publish our results on a quarterly basis as press releases, distributed pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Nasdaq Stock Market. Press releases relating to financial results and material events will also be furnished to the SEC on Form 6-K. However, the information we are required to file with or furnish to the SEC will be less extensive and less timely compared to that required to be filed with the SEC by U.S. domestic issuers. As a result, you may not be afforded the same protections or information that would be made available to you were you investing in a U.S. domestic issuer.

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As an exempted company incorporated in the Cayman Islands, we have adopted certain home country practices in relation to corporate governance matters that differ significantly from the Nasdaq’s corporate governance requirements; these practices may afford less protection to shareholders than they would enjoy if we complied fully with the Nasdaq’s corporate governance requirements.

As a Cayman Islands exempted company listed on the Nasdaq Global Market, we are subject to the Nasdaq listing standards. Section 5605(b)(1), Section 5605(c)(2) and Section 5635(c) of the Nasdaq Listing Rules requires listed companies to have, among other things, a majority of its board members to be independent, an audit committee of at least three members and shareholders’ approval on adoption of equity incentive awards plans. However, the Nasdaq Stock Market Rules permit a foreign private issuer like us to follow the corporate governance practices of its home country. We follow home country practices with respect to the requirements for the majority of the board being independent and maintaining an audit committee of at least three members. We have also adopted a new share incentive awards plan without shareholders’ approval.

Our shareholders may be afforded less protection than they would otherwise enjoy under the Nasdaq listing standards applicable to U.S. domestic issuers given our reliance on the home country practice exception.

We are a “controlled company” within the meaning of the Nasdaq Stock Market Rules and, as a result, can rely on exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements that provide protection to shareholders of other companies.

We are a “controlled company” within the meaning of the Nasdaq Stock Market Rules because Mr. Lei Sun, the chairman of our board of directors, owns more than 50% of our total voting power as of April 30, 2021. For so long as we remain a controlled company under that definition, we are permitted to elect to rely, and may rely, on certain exemptions from corporate governance rules. As a result, you may not have the same protection afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to these corporate governance requirements.

We believe that we were a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, for U.S. federal income tax purposes for our taxable year ended December 31, 2020, which could result in adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences to U.S. holders of our ADSs or ordinary shares.

Based on the market price of our ADSs and composition of our assets (in particular the retention of a substantial amount of cash), we believe that we were a “passive foreign investment company,” or “PFIC,” for U.S. federal income tax purposes for our taxable year ended December 31, 2020, and we will likely be a PFIC for our current taxable year ending December 31, 2021 unless the market price of our ADSs increases and/or we invest a substantial amount of cash and other passive assets we hold in assets that produce or are held for the production of non-passive income. A non-U.S. corporation will be considered a PFIC for any taxable year if either (1) 75% or more of its gross income for such year consists of certain types of “passive” income or (2) 50% or more of the value of its assets (as generally determined on the basis of a quarterly average) during such year is attributable to assets that produce or are held for the production of passive income.

If we were to be classified as a PFIC in any taxable year, a U.S. Holder (as defined in Item 10. Additional Information—E. —Taxation—United States Federal Income Taxation) may incur significantly increased United States income tax on gain recognized on the sale or other disposition of the ADSs or ordinary shares and on the receipt of distributions on the ADSs or ordinary shares to the extent such gain or distribution is treated as an “excess distribution” under the U.S. federal income tax rules. Furthermore, a U.S. Holder will generally be treated as holding an equity interest in a PFIC in the first taxable year of the U.S. Holder’s holding period in which we become a PFIC and subsequent taxable years even if, we, in fact, cease to be a PFIC in subsequent taxable years. Accordingly, a U.S. Holder of our ADSs or ordinary shares is urged to consult its tax advisor concerning the U.S. federal income tax consequences of an investment in our ADSs or ordinary shares, including the possibility of making a “mark-to-market” election. For more information, see “Item 10. Additional Information — E. Taxation — United States Federal Income Taxation.

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We will incur increased costs as a result of being a public company, particularly after we cease to qualify as an “emerging growth company.”

We are a public company and expect to incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as well as rules subsequently implemented by the SEC and the Nasdaq Stock Market, impose various requirements on the corporate governance practices of public companies. As a company with less than US$1.07 billion in net revenues for our last fiscal year, we qualify as an “emerging growth company” pursuant to the JOBS Act. An emerging growth company may take advantage of specified reduced reporting and other requirements that are otherwise applicable generally to public companies. These provisions include exemption from the auditor attestation requirement under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 in the assessment of the emerging growth company’s internal control over financial reporting and permission to delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. However, we have elected to “opt out” of the provision that allow us to delay adopting new or revised financial accounting standards and, as a result, we will comply with new or revised financial accounting standards as required when they are adopted for public companies. This decision to opt out of the extended transition period under the JOBS Act is irrevocable.

We expect these rules and regulations to increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to make some corporate activities more time-consuming and costly. After we are no longer an “emerging growth company,” we expect to incur significant expenses and devote substantial management effort toward ensuring compliance with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the other rules and regulations of the SEC. For example, as a result of becoming a public company, we will need to increase the number of independent directors and adopt policies regarding internal controls and disclosure controls and procedures. We also expect that operating as a public company will make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. In addition, we will incur additional costs associated with our public company reporting requirements. It may also be more difficult for us to find qualified persons to serve on our board of directors or as executive officers. We are currently evaluating and monitoring developments with respect to these rules and regulations, and we cannot predict or estimate with any degree of certainty the amount of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs.

In the past, shareholders of a public company often brought securities class action suits against the company following periods of instability in the market price of that company’s securities. If we were involved in a class action suit, it could divert a significant amount of our management’s attention and other resources from our business and operations, which could harm our results of operations and require us to incur significant expenses to defend the suit. Any such class action suit, whether or not successful, could harm our reputation and restrict our ability to raise capital in the future. In addition, if a claim is successfully made against us, we may be required to pay significant damages, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

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In August 2014, Shuzhi Lianyin obtained effective control over Jiufu Shuke and Beijing Puhui through a series of contractual arrangements. In July 2015, August 2015, June 2019, May 2020 and August 2020, we amended and restated some of the abovementioned contracts with then existing shareholders of Jiufu Shuke and Beijing Puhui. In April 2020, Zhuhai Xiaojin Hulian Technology Co., Ltd. (“Xiaojin Hulian”) and Zhuhai Wukong Youpin Technology Co., Ltd. (“Wukong Youpin”), each a wholly-owned subsidiary of us in China, obtained effective control over Zhuhai Lianyin and Yi Qi Mai respectively through a series of new contractual arrangements (as amended). We terminated contractual agreements with respect to Beijing Jiufu Meihao Technology Co., Ltd. (currently known as Beijing Jinniu Zhixuan Technology Co., Ltd., or “Jinniu Zhixuan”) in September 2020 when acquiring 100% equity interest in it. In March 2021, Qianhai Fuyuan Network Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (“Qianhai Fuyuan,” together with Shuzhi Lianyin, Xiaojin Hulian and Wukong Youpin, the “WFOEs”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of us in China, obtained effective control over Shenzhen Fuyuan through a series of new contractual arrangements. As a result of our direct ownership in our WFOEs and the contractual arrangements with Beijing Puhui, Jiufu Shuke, Zhuhai Lianyin, Yi Qi Mai and Shenzhen Fuyuan, which are our VIEs, we will be regarded as the primary beneficiary of our VIEs, and may treat them as our consolidated affiliated entities under U.S. GAAP. Accordingly, we will be able to consolidate the financial results of our VIEs in our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

We currently conduct substantially all of our operations through our PRC and Hong Kong subsidiaries and our consolidated affiliated entities and their subsidiaries. We established three new VIEs, Yi Qi Mai, Zhuhai Lianyin and Shenzhen Fuyuan. The online lending platform business, which was a major part of our business, was mainly conducted by Beijing Jiufu, a wholly owned subsidiary of Jiufu Shuke. The loan products related business was mainly conducted by Xinjiang Teyi Shuke Information Technology Co., Ltd. (“Xinjiang Shuke,” formerly known as Xinjiang Jiufu Onecard Information Technology Co., Ltd.), a wholly owned subsidiary of Yi Qi Mai through Beijing Lirongxing Commercial Trading Co., Ltd., (“Beijing Lirongxing”), and Zhuhai Onecard Xiaojin Technology Co., Ltd. (“Zhuhai Xiaojin,” formerly known as Zhuhai Jiufu Xiaojin Technology Co., Ltd.), a wholly owned subsidiary of Zhuhai Lianyin. Shuzhi Lianyin provides technical support to our operations.

We started to offer offshore stock investment products to provide investors with access to stock trading opportunities in Hong Kong and the U.S. through Fuyuan Securities Limited, after we acquired the majority of its equity interest in August 2016. In 2018, we started to engage in the stock distribution business and provide investors with access to stock subscription opportunities in Hong Kong through Fuyuan Securities Limited. We provide insurance brokerage business in Hong Kong through Fuyuan Wealth Management Limited (formerly known as 9F Wealth Management Limited), a company we acquired in July 2017.

On August 15, 2019, our ADSs commenced trading on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “JFU.” We raised from our initial public offering approximately US$57.7 million in net proceeds after deducting underwriting commissions and discounts and the offering expenses payable by us.

In December 2020, we ceased publishing information relating to new offering of investment opportunities in fixed income products for investors on our online lending information intermediary platform, Jiufu Puhui. Pursuant to certain collaboration arrangements entered into by the Company and certain licensed asset management companies, the rights of investors in existing loans underlying our fixed income products will be transferred to such companies, with relevant repayment of the principals and investment income, as applicable, in relation to the fixed income products expected to be made by such asset management companies to the investors within 36 months in ways chosen by investors subject to terms and on the conditions set forth in the platform notice to the investors. After the change of business operations, Jiufu Puhui will no longer provide loan facilitation service, and licensed asset management companies and other third-party service providers will provide existing investors with services in relation to the return of their remaining investment in loans.

Our principal executive offices are located at Room 1607, Building No. 5, 5 West Laiguangying Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100012, People’s Republic of China. Our telephone number at this address is +86 +86 (10) 8527-6996. Our registered office in the Cayman Islands is located at Maples Corporate Services Limited, P.O. Box 309, Ugland House Grand Cayman, KY1-1104, Cayman Islands. Our agent for service of process in the United States is Cogency Global Inc., located at 122 East 42nd Street, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10168.

The SEC maintains an Internet website that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding us that filed electronically with the SEC, which can be accessed at http://www.sec.gov. Our annual reports, quarterly results, press release and other SEC filings can also be accessed via our investor relationship website at http://ir.9fgroup.com/.

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B.Business Overview

We once operated a leading digital financial account platform integrating and personalizing financial services and provided a comprehensive range of financial products and services across loan products, online wealth management products, and payment facilitation. After ceasing operation of our online lending information intermediary business, we are dedicated to a transformation into an internet technology company that focuses on fintech services, online wealth management technology services serving mid- and high-net-worth clients, online stock investment services in Hong Kong and consumer financing technology services in Southeast Asian countries.

Our Previous Products and Services

Digital Financial Account

We offered a single digital financial account for each user on our digital financial account platform, providing a comprehensive range of financial products and services. Our digital financial account provided a one-stop digital solution for users to address many of their financial needs including online lending, online wealth management and payment facilitation.

Loan Products

We offered loan products to borrowers. The loan products we offered to borrowers were funded by investors and institutional funding partners. Our loan products were generally unsecured. For revolving loan products and non-revolving loan products, our credit decisions were typically made within three minutes for first-time applicants and in real-time for repeat borrower drawdowns within the approved credit limits. Loan disbursements generally occurred on the business day after the loan application was approved. For our revolving loan products, borrowers could take out multiple loans within their approved credit limits. These features were essential to meet the borrowers’ time-sensitive and recurring financial needs.

Revolving Loan Products

We offered a revolving loan product through One Card. In approving a One Card user, we made the credit decision regarding whether to extend credit, how much credit to extend (the credit limit) and the borrowing cost based on our review of the user’s credit profile. We conducted credit re-assessment for each drawdown of the revolving loan products and charged a service fee for each drawdown.

Our One Card users drew upon approved credit limits to make online and offline transactions with our merchant partners. The approved credit limits could also be drawn to meet the users’ other financial needs.

The approved credit limits of our revolving loan products did not exceed RMB200,000. The applicable terms of our revolving loan products were 1 to 48 months.

We set user borrowing costs for our revolving loan products based on a proprietary, tiered credit pricing model. Key factors included the borrowers’ credit history, transactional behaviors and other underwriting factors.

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Non-revolving loan products

We offered fixed-term loan products that covered key consumption verticals such as home improvement, education, elective medical care services and consumer electronics. These loan products were often offered by us in collaboration with leading consumption-based lending platforms, including home improvement, education and elective medical care services.

The terms of our non-revolving loan products did not exceed 48 months. The applicable terms of our non-revolving loan for products were 1 to 48 months.

We priced our non-revolving products under our online lending information intermediary services similarly to how we priced our revolving loan products. In addition, the repayment of loan principal and interests, and the payment of prepayment fees and penalty fees, if applicable, were similar to the same under our revolving loan products.

Direct lending program

Loan products funded by institutional funding partners counted towards loan products under our direct lending program.

Online Wealth Management Products

We offered a suite of online wealth management products to investors across our online platforms, including Wukong Licai, 9F Wallet (formerly known as Jiufu Jinrong) and 9F Puhui. Our original online wealth management product was a fixed income product representing the loans we facilitated. In 2017, we expanded our product suite to include onshore and offshore investment options including stock, insurance, bank wealth management products and mutual funds.

Fixed income products

Our fixed income products represented investments in the loans we facilitated primarily through One Card. An investor could individually invest in the loans through our self-directed investing tool, or they could invest by leveraging our automated investing tool. We charge investors service fees. The minimum investment amount of our fixed income products is RMB100.0.

Investing Tools—Automated

Our investors could leverage our automated investing tools to invest in fixed income products. With our automated investing tools, an investor agreed to invest a specified amount of money (investment balance) to borrowers through our platform for a specified period of time (investment commitment period) with an expected rate of return. Once an investor committed funds using the tool, his or her funds were automatically allocated among approved borrowers. As an underlying loan was repaid within the investment commitment period, the realized funds would be automatically reinvested according to the investors’ preset investing criteria. If an investment commitment period ended during the term of an underlying loan, we would facilitate the investor’s exit on the investor’s behalf by transferring his or her rights with respect to the underlying loans. Our automated investors tools would then arrange such loans to be funded by new investors making investments in our fixed income products, whom we matched to the underlying borrower. There was no guarantee that the transfer of the underlying loans at the end of the investment commitment period would be arranged successfully.

We offered fixed-income products with investment commitment periods mainly ranging from three months to four years with expected rates of return ranging from 6.0% to 12.0% per annum and a minimum commitment amount of RMB100. An investor would be repaid the principal and interest at the end of the investment commitment period which was non-extendable. However, an investor may elect to reinvest his or her funds in the form of subscription for a new fixed-income product before or upon the end of the current investment commitment period.

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If a cash-out request was made by an investor within the investment commitment period, we had discretion to handle the transfer request on a case-by-case basis. Before October 2019, if the transfer was arranged successfully, the investor would receive the principal and the accrued interest as determined by the actual investment period, and we would charge an investor service fee for early termination. Since October 2019, if a cash-out request made by an investor within the investment commitment period met our pre-set conditions, such as human or system failure, and the loan transfer was arranged successfully, the investor would only receive the principal, while we would not charge service fees for early termination. There was no guarantee that the reinvestment and the transfer request of a loan made within the investment commitment period would be arranged successfully.

Investing Tools—Self-directed

Our investors could also leverage our self-directed investing tool to invest in fixed income products. Our self-directed investing tool enabled investors to manually select investment opportunities among approved borrowers posted on our platform. After selecting a desired loan, the investor then agreed to commit a certain amount of funds to a specific borrower through our platform until the maturity of the loan. Funds were transferred through the custodian bank from an investor’s account to a borrower’s account once the loan was fully subscribed. Any investor who wanted to withdraw committed funds prior to the maturity of the loan may transfer his or her rights in the loan on his or her own initiative. There was no guarantee that the transfer requests made prior to the maturity of the loans would be arranged successfully.

Payment facilitation and other products and services

We helped our One Card users pay credit card bills and household bills such as utilities bills using approved credit limits under One Card. In addition, we provided other value-added services including credit history search, debt consolidation and user referral services.

Our Business and Services

Digital Securities Service

We currently hold SFO Type 1, Type 4, Type 5 and Type 9 Licenses in Hong Kong through our subsidiary, Fuyuan Securities Limited. Benefiting from our technology capability, we aim to establish a new type of internet-based securities investment platform that offers convenient and effective global asset allocation services, especially offshore securities investment services, to individual investors so as to connect them with Hong Kong and U.S. stock market. Fuyuan Securities Limited is a licensed entity that provides through its “Fuyuan Global” App and PC software securities investment and related services such as:

We aim to provide a richer investment portfolio to investors through applications for more licenses and expansion of service offerings, and more effective and powerful “one account, global investment” one-stop service offerings.

In addition, we hold a Hong Kong insurance brokerage license through our subsidiary Fuyuan Wealth Management Co., Ltd. (formerly known as Jiufu Wealth Management Co., Ltd.), an insurance brokerage license through our subsidiary Jiuxing Insurance Brokers Co., Ltd., and a fund sales license through CSJ Golden Bull (Beijing) Investment Consulting Co., Ltd. Relying on existing licenses, we cooperate with fund managers, asset management companies, trust companies, securities companies, insurance companies, commercial banks, policy banks and other financial institutions and service institutions to provide Chinese high-net-worth individuals, family and institutional investors global wealth management and investment advisory services.

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Technology Empowerment Services

By deploying our accumulated financial technologies, especially the advanced artificial intelligence algorithms such as machine learning, community discovery, NLP voice recognition, and enhanced ML automation model training etc., we provide our partners with technology empowerment services with respect to user acquisition, risk management, consumption scenario perception and comprehension and data modeling. With such technologies rendered to our partners, we expect to help them improve their ability for user acquisition, user filtering, user operation management and risk management, and reduce their user acquisition costs, promote their user conversion and enhance their profitability.

In 2019, we officially launched our proprietary platform that integrates our core artificial intelligence, cloud and blockchain technologies. Such platform provides our financial institution partners and merchant partners with highly customized modularized service packages. We have also launched a SaaS version of this platform to drive our expansion into Southeast Asia and other international markets. We have also been working closely with licensed financial institutions, such as Hubei Consumption Financial Company, by providing them with user acquisition and credit assessment assistance, as well as consultation services. Benefiting from our well-developed risk management and data analysis technology, we are in a superior position to help financial institutions to acquire potential borrowers that may fit their client profile, and our deep insight on the financial industry as a long-standing provider of digital finance solutions enable us to provide high quality consultation and integrated technology solutions to financial institutions. Since our inception, we have served over 70 commercial banks with relevant services purchased by nearly ten thousand of their local branches, and are actively seeking opportunities to collaborate with well-known banks overseas. In addition, the risk management system developed by us has been widely used in banking, automobile, securities investment and insurance industries.

We have carried out compliance efforts that affords wide coverage in Southeast Asia. For example, we have obtained the P2P license in Indonesia approved by OJK, and our Indonesian joint venture company has had its Multi-Finance license conditionally approved by OJK pending completion of the joint venture shareholding structure change and operational readiness assessment; further, we have cooperated with our partners to hold a personal loan license (unsecured personal loan), Nano loan license (unsecured business owner loan) approved by Bank of Thailand and e-commerce license (e-commerce retail business) in Thailand. We also cooperate with well-known local financial institutions in Southeast Asia to provide technical and operational-related services for the consumer finance and e-commerce industries.

We have been actively involved in development of our technologies such as blockchain technologies, through in-house research & development and investment in other emerging technology companies.

Information Technology and Data Protection

Our success is, in part, dependent upon our strong, secure and scalable technology capabilities across data science, artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Principal components of our advanced information technology include:

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In addition to the foregoing technologies we employ to support our highly automated platform, we have taken various measures to ensure uninterrupted operation of our platform. For example, we adopt self-healing technology enabling our system to perceive malfunctions and make necessary adjustments to restore normal operational capacity without human intervention. Also, our system integrates with systems of the multiple data providers who serve as backups for each other. If services provided by one data provider are suspended, our system will shift to the backup sources automatically to ensure no interruption to our operation.

We have invested in the commercialization and application of emerging new technologies such as blockchain technology, including payment processing and infrastructure provision.

Sales and Marketing

We benefit from a large user base and strong brand recognition in China, helping to drive word-of-mouth marketing. As a supplement to word-of-mouth marketing, we also employ advertising campaigns through online marketing channels, including:

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Internationalization

We have established operations in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia and established deeper cooperation with local financial institutions where we see meaningful opportunities relating to the export of our advanced and robust technology capabilities. We are expanding our footprint overseas and have acquired businesses and established operations in countries in Southeast Asia covering Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore. In particular, starting from 2019, driven by our strategy focusing on technology empowerment, we have enhanced our business development in Indonesia and Thailand, which allow us to cross sell more products and services and monetize our advanced and robust technology capabilities. Furthermore, in 2019, we established cooperation with the Thailand branch of Commerce International Merchant Bank, a major bank in Southeast Asia with headquarter in Kuala Lumpur, to provide our proprietary risk management technologies in tiered pricing and anti-fraud modeling. We have obtained a few key financial service licenses in Hong Kong, Indonesia and Thailand, and we plan to apply for additional licenses that are critical for executing our business strategies. We established a research and development center in Shenzhen during the third quarter of 2019 to build an artificial intelligence and risk management team that is dedicated to streamlining our support for overseas markets, strengthening our risk management capabilities, and developing new and innovative modules and applications for our overall business development.

Competition

The industries we are operating in are competitive and evolving. For example, with respect to online wealth management products, we compete with market players such as internet ecosystem owners providing cash management and quasi fixed income products, online third-party financial brokers and information providers, and marketplace lending platforms. Some of our larger competitors have significantly more financial, technical, marketing and other resources than we do and may be able to devote greater resources to the development, promotion, sale and support of their development. Our competitors may also have more extensive user bases, greater brand recognition and brand loyalty and broader partner relationships than us. We believe that our ability to compete effectively for users and other partners depend on many factors, including the variety of our products and services, user experience on our platform, our technological capabilities, the risk-adjusted returns offered to investors, our partnership with third parties, our marketing and selling efforts and the strength and reputation of our brand.

Furthermore, as our business grows, we face significant competition for highly skilled personnel, including management, engineers, product managers and risk management personnel. The success of our growth strategies depends in part on our ability to retain existing personnel and add additional highly skilled employees.

Intellectual Property

We rely on a combination of copyright, trademark and trade secret laws and restrictions on disclosure to protect our intellectual property rights. As of December 31, 2020, we have registered 551 trademarks with the Trademark Office of the PRC National Intellectual Property Administration, or the Trademark Office, 386 software copyrights with the PRC National Copyright Administration, and 168 domain names. Furthermore, we are in the process of applying for trademark registrations in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Despite our efforts to protect our proprietary rights, unauthorized parties may attempt to copy or otherwise obtain and use our technology.

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In addition, third parties may initiate litigation against us alleging infringement of their proprietary rights or declaring their non-infringement of our intellectual property rights. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business and Industry— We may not be able to prevent unauthorized use of our intellectual property and may be subject to intellectual property infringement claims, which could reduce demand for our services, adversely affect our revenues and harm our competitive position.” and “ Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business and Industry—We may be subject to intellectual property infringement claims, which may be expensive to defend and may disrupt our business and operations.”

Seasonality

We may experience seasonality in our business, reflecting seasonal fluctuations in internet usage and traditional personal consumption patterns. While our rapid growth has somewhat masked this seasonality, our results of operations could be affected by such seasonality in the future.

Regulation

This section sets forth a summary of the most significant rules and regulations that affect our business activities in China or our shareholders’ rights to receive dividends and other distributions from us.

Regulations Related to Our Business Operation in China

Regulations Related to Foreign Investment

On January 1, 2020, the PRC Foreign Investment Law and the Regulations for Implementation of the PRC Foreign Investment Law, or the Implementation Regulations, came into effect and became the principal laws and regulations governing foreign investment in the PRC, replacing the trio of prior laws regulating foreign investment in China, namely, the Sino-foreign Equity Joint Venture Enterprise Law, the Sino-foreign Cooperative Joint Venture Enterprise Law and the Wholly Foreign-invested Enterprise Law, together with their implementation rules and ancillary regulations.

According to the PRC Foreign Investment Law, “foreign investment” refers to the investment activities conducted directly or indirectly by foreign individuals, enterprises or other entities in the PRC, including the following circumstances: (i) the establishment of foreign-invested enterprises in the PRC by foreign investors solely or jointly with other investors, (ii) a foreign investors’ acquisition of shares, equity interests, property portions or other similar rights and interests of enterprises in the PRC, (iii) investment in new projects in the PRC by foreign investors solely or jointly with other investors, and (iv) investments made by foreign investors through means stipulated in laws or administrative regulations or other methods prescribed by the State Council. Pursuant to the PRC Foreign Investment Law, China has adopted a system of national treatment which includes a negative list with respect to foreign investment administration. The negative list will be issued by, amended or released upon approval by the State Council, from time to time. The negative list will consist of a list of industries in which foreign investments are prohibited and a list of industries in which foreign investments are restricted. Foreign investment in prohibited industries is not allowed, while foreign investment in restricted industries must satisfy certain conditions stipulated in the negative list. Foreign investments and domestic investments in industries outside the scope of the prohibited industries and restricted industries stipulated in the negative list will be treated equally. The most recent version of the negative list was issued in July 2020.

PRC Foreign Investment Law and the Implementation Regulations allow foreign-invested enterprises established prior to January 1, 2020 and having corporate structure and governance inconsistent with the PRC Company Law or the PRC Partnership Enterprise Law, as applicable, to maintain their corporate structure and governance within a five-year transition period, but require adjustment for compliance with the PRC Company Law or the PRC Partnership Enterprise Law, as applicable, shall be completed prior to the expiration of such transition period.

Foreign investors and foreign investment enterprise are also required to submit information reporting in accordance with the PRC Foreign Investment Law and the Implementation Regulations and will be imposed legal liabilities for failure to comply with such requirements.

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The NDRC and MOFCOM jointly promulgated the Measures for the Security Review of Foreign Investment on December 19, 2020, which became effective on since January 18, 2021. Pursuant to the Measures for the Security Review of Foreign Investment, the NDRC and MOFCOM will establish a working mechanism office in charge of the security review of foreign investment, and any foreign investment which has or could have an impact on national security shall be subject to security review by such working mechanism office. The Measures for the Security Review of Foreign Investment further requires that a foreign investor or its domestic affiliate shall apply for clearance of national security review with the working mechanism office before they conduct any investment into any of the following fields: (i) investment in the military industry or military-related industry, and investment in areas in proximity of defense facilities or military establishment; and (ii) investment in any important agricultural product, important energy and resources, critical equipment manufacturing, important infrastructure, important transportation services, important cultural products and services, important information technologies and internet products and services, important financial services, critical technologies and other important fields which concern the national security where actual control over the invested enterprise is obtained.

Regulations Related to Insurance Brokerage and Internet Insurance

The primary regulation governing the insurance intermediaries is the Insurance Law of the PRC, or the Insurance Law, as amended on April 24, 2015. According to the Insurance Law, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, or the CIRC (currently known as the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, or CBIRC), is the regulatory authority responsible for the supervision and administration of the PRC insurance companies and the intermediaries in the insurance sector, including insurance agencies and brokers.

On February 1, 2018, the CIRC promulgated the Provisions on the Regulation of Insurance Brokers, which became effective on May 1, 2018 and replaced the Provisions on the Supervision and Administration of Insurance Brokerages promulgated by the CIRC in September 2009 and amended in October 2015. “Insurance brokers,” as defined by the Provision on the Regulation of Insurance Brokers, cover such institutions (including insurance brokerage companies and their branches) that tender intermediary services to insurance policyholders in consideration of commissions in the process of insurance contract formation with insurance companies. Pursuant to the Provisions on the Regulation of Insurance Brokers, the establishment and operation of an insurance broker must meet the qualification requirements specified by the CIRC, obtain approval from the CIRC and be licensed by the CIRC. Specifically, the paid-in registered capital of a cross-province insurance brokerage company at least must be RMB50 million and that for an intra-province insurance brokerage company (the one only operates within the province in which it is registered) at least must be RMB10 million.

In addition, as an operation requirement, an insurance broker has to register the practice of its insurance brokerage practitioners as required. An “insurance brokerage practitioner” is defined by the Provisions on the Regulation of Insurance Brokers as such person within an insurance broker (i) who is to draft insurance plans for policyholders or the insured, to handle the insurance procedures and to assist in the claims for compensation, or (ii) who is to provide the clients with consultation services regarding disaster and loss prevention, risk assessment and risk management, and to engage in reinsurance brokerage and other business.

According to the administrative guidelines published by the CIRC on its official website and other relevant PRC regulations, a foreign investor must satisfy the following requirements before it can invest in the insurance brokerage industry: (i) it should be a foreign insurance broker with more than thirty years of experience in operation of commercial institutions within the territories of World Trade Organization members; and (ii)  its total assets shall be no less than US$200 million as of the end of the year prior to its application.

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On December 14, 2020, the CBIRC promulgated the Regulatory Measures for Online Insurance Business, or the Regulatory Measures, which became effective on February 1, 2021 and supersedes the Interim Regulatory Measures for Internet Insurance Business promulgated by the CIRC on July 22, 2015. The Regulatory Measures stipulates that only insurance companies and professional insurance intermediaries established upon approval by insurance regulatory authorities and registered could provide internet insurance services, such as providing insurance products consultation services, assisting policyholders with selecting insurance products, calculating insurance premiums, drafting insurance plans for policyholders and processing insurance application formalities. It also provides that insurance intermediaries are required to manage their marketing activities and retain records of online insurance transactions. In addition, it sets a higher standard for insurance intermediaries that conduct online insurance business to improve IT infrastructure and cybersecurity protection. The Regulatory Measures sets out a ramp-up process allowing the insurance institutions to achieve full compliance in phases until February 1, 2022. Pursuant to the Regulatory Measures, the insurance institutions shall (i) complete the rectification of the issues on internal protocols, marketing activities, sales management and information disclosure within three months from the effective date of the Regulatory Measure; (ii) complete the rectification of other issues on business and operation within six months from the effective date thereof; and (iii) complete the authentication of classified cybersecurity protection of its self-operated online platform within twelve months from the effective date of the Regulatory Measure.

On June 22, 2020, the CBIRC published the Notice on Regulating the Backtracking Management of Online Insurance Sales Behavior, or Online Insurance Sales Notice, with effect from October 1, 2020. The Online Insurance Sales Notice sets out requirements on various aspects of online sales by insurance institutions, including sales practices, record-keeping for backtracking sales, and disclosure requirements. For example, the Online Insurance Sales Notice requires that online sales pages should be displayed only on insurance institutions’ self-operated online platforms and should be separated from non-sales pages. Insurance institutions should keep records for five years after the expiry of the policy for policies with a term of one year or less and for ten years for policies with a term longer than one year for purposes of backtracking sales. It also requires that important insurance clauses should be presented on a separate page and be confirmed by policyholders or the insured.

Jiuxing Insurance Brokerage Co., Ltd. (formerly known as Ruifeng Insurance Brokerage Co., Ltd.), or Jiuxing Insurance, which is a subsidiary of one of our variable interest entities, holds a license to conduct insurance brokerage business. Jiuxing Insurance started to sell onshore insurance products in the fourth quarter of 2019 and suspended the sales due to our business adjustment in 2020.

Regulations Related to Online Sales of Securities Investment Funds

The Securities Investment Fund Law of the PRC, or Securities Investment Fund Law, which was promulgated by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on December 28, 2012 and amended with immediate effect on April 24, 2015, provides the legal framework for regulating securities investment funds. The Securities Investment Fund Law sets out the eligibility requirements and responsibilities of publicly-offered funds’ managers and of their directors, supervisors and senior management. It also regulates various aspects of publicly-offered funds’ operations and organization, including offering process, trading of fund units, subscription and redemption. For example, the Securities Investment Fund Law requires that any agencies that engages in the fund services, including but not limited to sales, investment consulting, information technology system services, shall be registered or filed with the provisions of the securities regulatory authority of the State Council.

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On December 17, 2015, CSRC and PBOC promulgated the Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Money Market Funds, or the Money Market Funds Measures, which became effective on February 1, 2016. Pursuant to the Money Market Funds Measures, money market fund, or MMF, refers to a fund invested in money market instruments and authorized to subscribe for and redeem fund shares on each trading day. Pursuant to the Money Market Funds Measures provides as a general rule that no person may engage in the fund sales promotion, share offering, subscription, redemption or other related activities without relevant fund sales business qualifications granted by CSRC. In addition, several disclosure rules must be observed during the fund sales business. When fund managers, fund sales agencies and internet companies cooperate to conduct online sales of MMFs, certain information (e.g., the providers of fund sale services, potential investment risks and the names of MMFs being sold) shall be disclosed in a conspicuous way to the investors. And for fund managers, fund sales agencies, fund sales payment institutions and internet companies which provide to investors quick redemption or other value-added services, they must fully disclose the rules of such services such as those regarding the expenses and restrictions, and shall not exaggerate the convenience of such services, Further, the fund managers, fund sales agencies and internet companies shall explicitly agree on certain terms, which include the scope of cooperation, the legal relationships, information security, client information protection, legal compliance, emergency response mechanisms, prevention of illegal securities activities, post-termination operation schemes, delinquency liabilities and the protection of investors’ rights and interests. The Measures for Supervision and Administration of Sales Agencies for Publicly-offered Securities Investment Funds, which was promulgated by the CSRC on August 28, 2020 and became effective on October 1, 2020, further regulates that securities companies and other institutions, subject to satisfaction of the relevant requirements, may apply for business qualification for sales of funds from the local branches of the CSRC.

We have taken and will continue to take proper measures to ensure compliance with applicable laws rules and regulations, including those on disclosure and information filing. We cannot assure you that our current operation model will not be deemed as operating fund sales business in China, which may subject us to further inquiries or rectifications. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business and Industry—We may be adversely affected by the complexity, uncertainties and changes in PRC regulation of internet-related or fintech-related businesses and companies, and any lack of requisite approvals, licenses, permits or filings applicable to our business may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Regulations Related to the Engagement of Securities Business within the Territory of the PRC by Foreign-Invested Securities Companies

On December 29, 1998, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, or the SCNPC, promulgated the Securities Law of the PRC, or the Securities Law, and most recently amended on December 28, 2019 and became effective on March 1, 2020, governs all the issuance or trading of shares, corporate bonds or any other securities approved by the State Council within China. No entities or individuals shall engage in securities business in the name of a securities company without the approval by the securities regulatory authority of the State Council.

The State Council promulgated the Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Securities Companies on April 23, 2008 and most recently amended on July 29, 2014, which clarifies that the operation of securities businesses or establishment of representative agencies in China by foreign-invested securities companies shall be subject to the approval of the securities regulatory authority of the State Council.

We redirect our users and clients to open accounts and make transactions outside China, which may be considered as “engaging in securities business within the territory of the People’s Republic of China” and an approval from State Council securities regulatory authority may be required. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business and Industry—We do not hold any license or permit for providing securities brokerage business in China. Although we do not believe we engage in securities brokerage business in China, there remain uncertainties to the interpretation and implementation of relevant PRC laws and regulations.”

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Regulations Related to Securities Investment Consulting Business

On December 25, 1997, the CSRC issued the Interim Measures for the Administration of Securities or Futures Investment Consulting, or the Interim Measures for Securities Investment Consulting, which became effective on April 1, 1998. According to the Interim Measures for Securities Investment Consulting, the securities investment consulting service means any analysis, prediction, recommendations or other directly or indirectly charged consulting services provided by securities investment consulting institutions and their investment consultants to securities investors or clients, including: (i) to accept any entrustment from any investor or client to provide securities or futures investment consulting services; (ii) to hold any consulting seminar, lecture or analysis related to securities or futures investment; (iii) to write any article, commentary or report on securities or futures investment consultancy in any newspaper or periodical, or to provide securities or futures investment consulting services through media such as radio or television; (iv) to provide securities or futures investment consulting services through telecommunications facilities such as telephone, fax, computer network; and (v) other forms recognized by the CSRC. In addition, all institutions shall obtain the operation permits issued by the CSRC and all person must obtain professional qualification as a securities investment consultant and joining a qualified securities investment consulting institution before engaged in securities investment consulting service.

On October 11, 2001, the CSRC promulgated the Notice with Respect to Certain Issues on Regulating the Securities Investment Consulting Services Provided for the Public, which became effective on the same day and was amended on October 30, 2020, stipulates that media which disseminate securities-related information shall not publish or broadcast any analysis, prediction or recommendation in respect of the trends of securities markets and securities products, as well as the feasibility of the securities investment made by any institution which does not obtain the operation permits for securities investment consulting services from CSRC or any individual who is not employed by a qualified securities investment consulting services institution and who does not satisfy the relevant professional requirements. Any media in violation of the foregoing stipulation will be subject to reprimand or exposure by the CSRC, or be transferred to competent department or judicial organ for further handling.

On December 5, 2012, the CSRC published the Interim Provisions on Strengthening the Regulation over Securities Investment Consulting Services by Using “Stock Recommendation Software” Products, or the Interim Provisions, which came into effect on January 1, 2013 and was amended on October 30, 2020. Pursuant to the Interim Provisions, “stock recommendation software” are defined as any software products, software tools or terminal devices with one or more of the following securities investment consulting services: (i) providing investment analysis on specific securities investment products or predicting the price trends of specific securities investment products; (ii) recommending the selection of specific securities investments products; (iii) recommending the timing for trading specific securities investments products; and/or (iv) providing other securities investment analysis, prediction or recommendations. Therefore, selling or providing “stock recommendation software” products to investors and directly or indirectly obtain economic benefits therefrom shall be considered as engaging in securities investment consulting business and the operation permits for securities investment consulting services from CSRC shall be obtained.

We cannot assure that any information or content provided on our website and mobile application in China will not be considered as engaging in investment consulting business for providing the public with securities analysis, forecast or recommendations through the forum or broadcasting of pre-recorded videos. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business and Industry—We may be adversely affected by the complexity, uncertainties and changes in PRC regulation of internet-related or fintech-related businesses and companies, and any lack of requisite approvals, licenses, permits or filings applicable to our business may have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.”

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Regulations Related to Anti-money Laundering

The PRC Anti-money Laundering Law, or the AML Law, promulgated by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on October 31, 2006 and effective since January 1, 2007, sets forth the principal anti-money laundering requirements applicable to financial institutions as well as non-financial institutions with anti-money laundering obligations, including the adoption of precautionary and supervisory measures, establishment of various systems for client identification, retention of clients’ identification information and transactions records, and reports on large transactions and suspicious transactions. Pursuant to the PRC Anti-money Laundering Law, financial institutions subject to the PRC Anti-money Laundering Law include banks, credit unions, trust investment companies, stock brokerage companies, futures brokerage companies, insurance companies and other financial institutions specified by the State Council, while the list of the non-financial institutions with anti-money laundering obligations will be published by the State Council. The PBOC and other governmental authorities issued a series of administrative rules and regulations to specify the anti-money laundering obligations of financial institutions and certain non-financial institutions, such as insurance brokerage companies, insurance agencies and payment institutions. However, the State Council has not promulgated a list of the non-financial institutions subject to anti-money laundering obligations.

CIRC promulgated the Administrative Measures for the Anti-money Laundering Work in the Insurance Industry, or the Insurance AML Measures, on September 13, 2011, to set forth anti-money laundering requirements applicable to insurance companies, insurance assets management companies, insurance agencies and insurance brokerage companies. Insurance brokerage companies are required to provide insurance companies with customer identification information, and if necessary, copies of identification cards or other identification documents of customers, establish an internal control system for anti-money laundering, conduct anti-money laundering training, properly deal with major money-laundering cases involving them, cooperate during anti-money laundering supervision, inspections, administrative investigations, and criminal investigations, and keep confidential information related to anti-money laundering investigations. The senior management officers of insurance brokerage companies are also required to be familiar with anti-money laundering laws and regulations.

On October 10, 2018, the PBOC, the CIRC and the CSRC jointly promulgated the Administrative Measures for Anti-money Laundering and Counter-terrorism Financing by Internet Finance Service Agencies (for Trial Implementation), effective as of January 1, 2019, which specify the anti-money laundering obligations of internet finance service agencies and regulate that the internet finance service agencies shall (i) adopt continuous customer identification measures; (ii) implement the system for reporting large-value or suspicious transactions; (iii) conduct real-time monitoring of the lists of terrorist organizations and terrorists; and (iv) properly keep the information, data and materials such as customer identification and transaction reports etc.

We have formulated and adopted certain policies and procedures, including internal controls and “know-your-customer” procedures, aimed at preventing money laundering and terrorism financing. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business and Industry—Any failure by our third-party service providers to comply with applicable anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing laws and regulations could damage our reputation.”

Regulations Related to Value-added Telecommunication Services

General administration of value-added telecommunication services

On September 25, 2000, the State Council promulgated the Telecommunication Regulation of the People’s Republic of China, or the Telecom Regulation, which was amended on July 29, 2014 and February 6, 2016 respectively. The Telecom Regulation is the primary PRC regulation governing telecommunication services and sets out the general regulatory framework for telecommunication services provided by PRC companies. The Telecom Regulation requires telecommunication service providers to obtain from the MIIT or its provincial level counterparts an operating license prior to the commencement of their operations. The Telecom Regulation categorizes telecommunication services into basic telecommunication services and value-added telecommunication services. Pursuant to the Telecom Regulation, value-added telecommunication services are defined as telecommunication and information services provided through public networks.

The Catalogue of Telecommunication Business, or the Telecom Catalogue, which was issued as an attachment to the Telecom Regulation and updated in February 21, 2003, December 28, 2015 and June 6, 2019, respectively, further categorizes value-added telecommunication services into Class 1 value-added telecommunication services and Class 2 value-added telecommunication services.

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On July 3, 2017, MIIT issued the Administration Measures for the Licensing of Telecommunication Business, or the Telecom License Measures, which became effective on September 1, 2017 and replaced and repealed the administrative measures for telecommunication business operating permit promulgated on March 1, 2009. Pursuant to the Telecom License Measures, a commercial operator of value-added telecommunication services must first obtain an operating license for value-added telecommunication business, or the VATS License. The Telecom License Measures also provides that an operator providing value-added services in multiple provinces is required to obtain an inter-regional VATS License, whereas an operator providing value-added services in one province is required to obtain an intra-provincial VATS License. The Telecom License Measures further sets forth the qualifications and procedures for obtaining VATS License. Pursuant to the Telecom License Measures, any telecommunication services operator must conduct telecommunication business pursuant to the type and within the scope of business as specified in its VATS License.

Regulations related to internet information services and online data processing and transaction processing services

Pursuant to the Telecom Catalogue, both online data processing and transaction processing services and internet information services fall within Class 2 value-added telecommunication services.

The “online data processing and transaction processing services” mean the online data processing and transaction/affair processing services provided for users through public communication networks or the internet, using various kinds of data and affair/transaction processing application platforms connected to various kinds of public communication networks or the internet. Online data processing and transaction processing services include transaction processing services, electronic data interchange services and network/electronic equipment data processing services. A telecommunication services operator engaged in online data processing and transaction processing services shall obtain a VATS License for “online data processing and transaction processing services,” or the EDI License.

The “information services” refer to the information services provided for users via the public communication network or the internet and by the information collection, development, processing and construction of information platforms. By technical service methods of information organization, transmission, etc., the “information services” are classified into information release platforms and transmission services, information retrieval and inquiry services, information community platform services, instant information interaction services as well as information protection and processing services. The Administrative Measures on Internet Information Services, or the Internet Content Measures, which was promulgated by the State Council on September 25, 2000 and amended on January 8, 2011, sets out guidelines on the provision of internet information services. The Internet Content Measures classifies internet information services into commercial internet information services and non-commercial internet information services. Pursuant to the Internet Content Measures, commercial internet information services refer to the service activities of compensated provision to online subscribers through the internet of information or website production; non-commercial internet information services refer to the service activities of non-compensated provision to online subscribers through the internet of information that is in the public domain and openly accessible. The Internet Content Measures requires that a provider of commercial internet information services shall obtain a VATS License for internet information services, or the ICP License. The Internet Content Measures further requires that a provider of non-commercial internet information services shall carry out record-filing procedures with the provincial level counterparts of the MIIT. Moreover, pursuant to the Internet Content Measures, internet information service providers shall post their ICP License numbers or record-filing numbers in a prominent place on the homepage of their websites. In addition, the Internet Content Measures specifies a list of prohibited content. Internet information service providers are prohibited from producing, copying, publishing or distributing information that is humiliating or defamatory to others or that infringes the legal rights of others. Internet information service providers must monitor and control the information posted on their websites. If any prohibited content is found by an internet information service provider, it must immediately stop the transmission thereof, save the relevant records and make a report thereon to the relevant authority of the State. Pursuant to the Internet Content Measures, internet information service providers that violate such prohibition may face criminal charges or administrative sanctions.

A subsidiary of our variable interest entities, Jiufu Puhui, which previously operated our online lending information intermediary services platform, Jiufu Puhui, has obtained an ICP License which will remain effective until January 10, 2022. Jiufu Shuke, one of our variable interest entities, has also obtained an ICP License which will remain effective until March 9, 2022. Beijing Jiufu Meihao Technology Co., Ltd. and Shenzhen Premium Quality Mall Technology & Trade Co., Ltd., two subsidiaries of our variable interest entities, have obtained the EDI License.

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Regulations related to E-commerce

On January 26, 2014, SAIC adopted the Administrative Measures for Online Trading, or the Online Trading Measures, which took effective on March 15, 2014. Under the Online Trading Measures, enterprises or other operators which engage in online commodities trading and other services and have been registered with SAIC must make available to the public the information stated in their business licenses directly or through a hyper-link on their websites which link to their business licenses online. The online commodities operators must adopt measures to ensure safe online transactions and shall fully and accurately disclose information of the business operator and the commodities, including contact information, quantity and quality of commodities and services, price and payment, return and replacement of commodities, and safety precautions. At any time within seven days from the date after receipt of the commodities purchased online, a consumer is entitled to refund at will the commodities except for those that by nature are not suitable for return, which include customized commodities, fresh and perishable commodities; computer software, audiovisual products downloaded online or the ones purchased offline but already unpackaged by consumers and other digital commodities; and newspapers and journals that have been delivered. The online commodity business operator shall, within seven days upon receipt of the returned commodities, refund the price paid by consumers. In addition, an online commodities business operator shall not, by virtue of contract terms, technical measures or other means, force consumers to enter into transactions with them, or during transactions set out provisions that are not fair to consumers, such as those to exclude or limit consumers’ rights, to relieve or exempt the operators from responsibilities, and to increase the consumers’ responsibilities. Moreover, online shopping platform operators are required to examine and verify the identifications of the online commodities operators and set up and keep relevant records for at least two years. Any online shopping platform operator that simultaneously engages in online trading for products and services should clearly distinguish itself from other online commodities operators on the shopping platform. In addition, on March 15, 2021, the SAMR promulgated the Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Online Transactions, or Online Transactions Measures, which will take effect from May 1, 2021, simultaneously repealed the Online Trading Measures, providing more detailed requirements for the operators and platforms, such as clarifying the specific acts infringing consumers’ personal information in online transactions and the prohibited contents contained in the standard terms used by the operators, and elaborating the measures shall be applicable to the operating activities of selling goods or providing services through social network and network live-streaming. In particular, the Online Transaction Measures require that online transaction operators shall not force customers, whether or not in a disguised manner, to consent to the collection and use of information not directly related to their business activities by means of one-off general authorization, default authorization, bundling with other authorizations, or the suspension of installation and use. Otherwise, such online transaction operator may be subject to fines and consequences under related laws and regulations, including without limitation, suspension of business for rectification and revocation of permits and licenses.

In addition, the National People’s Congress promulgated the E-commerce Law of the People’s Republic of China, or the E-commerce Law on August 31, 2018, which took effect on January 1, 2019. The E-commerce Law clarifies some obligations for the E-commerce operators. For example, among other things, an E-commerce operator shall (i) disclose its business license and other administrative licenses related to its business or a link to the above information at a prominent place on the homepage of the platform; (ii) fully and accurately disclose information related to commodities and services offered on its platform in a timely manner; (iii) inform the users in a clear, comprehensive and explicit manner of the steps to conclude a contract, cautions, how to download the contract, etc., and ensure that users are able to read and download them conveniently; (iv) enable the users to make any corrections before orders are submitted; (v) disclose the methods and procedures for inquiring, correcting and deleting users’ information and deregistering users’ accounts, and not set unreasonable for such inquiry, correction, deletion and de-registration; and (vi) provide relevant e-commerce data to competent authorities as required by such authorities pursuant to laws and administrative regulations. The E-Commerce Law also specifically provides certain obligations for operators of e-commerce platform like us. Pursuant to the E-Commerce Law, e-commerce platform operators are required to (i) take necessary actions or report to relevant competent government authorities when such operators notice any illegal production or services provided by merchants on the e-commerce platforms; (ii) verify the identity of the business operators on the platforms; (iii) provide identity and tax related information of merchants to local branches of State Administration of Market Regulation and tax bureaus; or (iv) record and preserve goods and service information and transaction information on the e-commerce platform. If we fail to perform above obligations as the operator of e-commerce platform from time to time, we may be required to make corrections within the certain time limits and face fines or even restrictions on our business activities. In addition, for goods and services provided via e-commerce platforms that are pertinent to the life and health of consumers, e-commerce platform operators shall bear relevant responsibilities, which may give rise to civil or criminal liabilities if the consumers suffered damages due to the e-commerce platform operators’ failure to duly verify the qualifications or the licenses of the business operators on the platforms or to duly perform their safety protection obligations as required by the E-Commerce Law.

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Regulation related to mobile internet applications information services

In addition to the Telecom Regulation and other regulations above, mobile applications are also regulated by the APP Provisions, which was promulgated by the CAC on June 28, 2016 and became effective on August 1, 2016. Pursuant to the APP Provisions, CAC and local offices of cyberspace administration shall be responsible for the supervision and administration of mobile application information services.

Under the APP Provisions, mobile application information service providers are required to obtain relevant qualifications prescribed by laws and regulations and shall be responsible for the supervision and administration of mobile application information required by laws and regulations and implement the information security management responsibilities strictly, including but not limited to (i) to authenticate the identity information of the registered users; (ii) to protect user information, and to obtain the consent of users while collecting and using users’ personal information in a lawful and proper manner; (iii) to establish information content audit and management mechanism, and to take against any information content in violation of laws or regulations depending on circumstances; (iv) to safeguard users’ right to know and to make choices when users are installing or using such applications, and shall neither start any function irrelevant to the services, nor forcefully install any other irrelevant application without the users’ consent; (v) to respect and protect the intellectual properties and shall neither produce nor release any application that infringes others’ intellectual properties; and (vi) to record users’ login information and keep the same for sixty days.

In addition, in December 2016, MIIT promulgated the Interim Measures on the Administration of Pre-Installation and Distribution of Applications for Mobile Smart Terminals, which came into effect on July 1, 2017. This interim measure aims to enhance the administration of mobile applications, and require, among others, that mobile phone manufacturers and internet information service providers must ensure that a mobile app, as well as its ancillary resource files, configuration files and user data can be uninstalled by a user on a convenient basis, unless it is a basic function software, which refers to a software that supports the normal functioning of the hardware and operating system of a mobile smart device.

We have implemented internal control procedures screening the information and content on our websites and mobile applications to ensure compliance with the APP Provisions. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business and Industry—We may be held liable for information or content displayed on, retrieved from or linked to our websites and mobile applications, which may materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.”

Regulations related to foreign direct investment in value-added telecommunication enterprises

On January 1, 2020, the PRC Foreign Investment Law and the Implementation Regulations, came into effect and replaced the trio of existing laws regulating foreign investment in China. The PRC Foreign Investment Law and its Implementation Regulations are formulated to further expand the opening-up policy, vigorously promote foreign investment and protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors. The PRC Foreign Investment Law does not specify the detailed regulatory regime for VIE structures, please refer to “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors— Uncertainties exist with respect to the interpretation and implementation of the new PRC Foreign Investment Law and its Implementation Regulation and how it may impact the viability of our current corporate structure, corporate governance and business operations.”

Pursuant to the Provisions on Administration of Foreign Invested Telecommunications Enterprises, or the FITE Regulation, promulgated by the State Council on December 11, 2001 and amended on September 10, 2008 and February 6, 2016, and the Negative List, the ultimate foreign equity ownership in a value-added telecommunications services provider shall not exceed 50%, except for e-commerce business, domestic multi-party communications services business, store-and-forward business and call center business which may be 100% owned by foreign investors. In order to acquire any equity interest in a value-added telecommunication business in China, a foreign investor must satisfy a number of stringent performance and operational experience requirements, including demonstrating a good track record and experience in operating a value-added telecommunication business overseas. Foreign investors that meet these requirements must obtain approvals from MIIT and the MOFCOM or its authorized local counterparts, which retain considerable discretion in granting approvals. Pursuant to publicly available information, the PRC government has issued telecommunication business operating licenses to only a limited number of foreign-invested companies.

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A Notice on Intensifying the Administration of Foreign Investment in Value-Added Telecommunications Services, issued by MIIT in July 2006, prohibits domestic telecommunication service providers from leasing, transferring or selling VATS Licenses to any foreign investor in any form, or providing any resources, sites or facilities to any foreign investor for their illegal operation of telecommunication businesses in China. Pursuant to this notice, either the holder of a VATS License or its shareholders must directly own the domain names and trademarks used by such license holder in its provision of value-added telecommunications services. The notice further requires each license holder to have the necessary facilities, including servers, for its approved business operations and to maintain the facilities in the regions covered by its license. If a license holder fails to comply with the requirements in the notice or cure any non-compliance, MIIT or its local counterparts have the discretion to take measures against the license holder, including revoking its VATS License.

In view of these restrictions on foreign direct investment in value-added telecommunication services under which our business falls into, we have established various variable interest entities and their subsidiaries to engage in value-added telecommunication services, including operation of our websites and mobile applications. We have contractual relationships with these variable interest entities but we do not have actual ownership interests in. See “ Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure—If the PRC government deems that the contractual arrangements in relation to our consolidated affiliated entities do not comply with PRC regulatory restrictions on foreign investment in the relevant industries, or if these regulations or the interpretation of existing regulations change in the future, we could be subject to severe penalties or be forced to relinquish our interests in those operations.”

Regulations Related to Information Security, Censorship and Privacy

We are in the process of evaluating the potential impact of the Cyber Security Law on our current business practices. We plan to further strengthen our information management and privacy protection systems to better secure the user data stored in our system. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business and Industry—Our ability to protect the confidential information of our users and funding sources and our ability to conduct our business may be adversely affected by cyber-attacks, computer viruses, physical or electronic break-ins or similar disruptions and we may be subject to liabilities imposed by the relevant government regulations.”

Regulations related to internet security

The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s national legislative body, enacted the Decisions on the Maintenance of Internet Security on December 28, 2000 and further amended on August 27, 2009, which may subject persons to criminal liabilities in China for any attempt to use the internet to (i) gain improper entry to a computer or system of strategic importance; (ii) disseminate politically disruptive information; (iii) leak state secrets; (iv) spread false commercial information; or (v) infringe upon intellectual property rights. In 1997, the Ministry of Public Security issued the Administration Measures on the Security Protection of Computer Information Network with International Connections which prohibits using the internet to leak state secrets or to spread socially destabilizing materials. If an ICP License holder violates these measures, the PRC government may revoke its ICP License and shut down its websites.

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The Cyber Security Law of the PRC, or the Cyber Security Law, which was promulgated on November 7, 2016 by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and came into effect on June 1, 2017, provides that network operators shall perform their cyber security obligations and shall take technical measures and other necessary measures to protect the safety and stability of their networks. Under the Cyber Security Law, network operators are subject to various security protection-related obligations, including, among others, (i) network operators shall comply with certain obligations regarding maintenance of the security of internet systems; (ii) network operators shall verify users’ identities before signing agreements or providing certain services such as information publishing or real-time communication services; (iii) when collecting or using personal information, network operators shall clearly indicate the purposes, methods and scope of the information collection, the use of information collection, and obtain the consent of those from whom the information is collected; (iv) network operators shall strictly preserve the privacy of user information they collect, and establish and maintain systems to protect user privacy; (v) network operators shall strengthen management of information published by users, and when they discover information prohibited by laws and regulations from publication or dissemination, they shall immediately stop dissemination of that information, including taking measures such as deleting the information, preventing the information from spreading, saving relevant records, and reporting to the relevant governmental agencies. In addition, on July 22, 2020, the Ministry of Public Security issued the Guiding Opinions on Implementing the Cyber Security Protection System and Critical Information Infrastructure Security Protection System to further improve the national cyber security prevention and control system.

At the end of 2019, the Cyberspace Administration of China, or the CAC, issued the Provisions on the Management of Network Information Content Ecology, or the CAC Order No.5, which became effective on March 1, 2020, to further strengthen the regulation and management of network information content. Pursuant to the CAC Order No.5, each network information content service platform is required, among others, (i) not to disseminate any information prohibited by laws and regulations, such as information jeopardizing national security; (ii) to strengthen the examination of advertisements published on such network information content service platform; (iii) to promulgate management rules and platform convention and improve user agreement, such that such network information content service platform could clarify users’ rights and obligations and perform management responsibilities required by laws, regulations, rules and convention; (iv) to establish convenient means for complaints and reports; and (v) to prepare annual work report regarding its management of network information content ecology. In addition, a network information content service platform must not, among others, (i) utilize new technologies such as deep-learning and virtual reality to engage in activities prohibited by laws and regulations; (ii) engage in online traffic fraud, malicious traffic rerouting and other activities related to fraudulent account, illegal transaction account or maneuver of users’ account; and (iii) infringe a third party’s legitimate rights or seek illegal interests by way of interfering with information display.

Regulations related to privacy protection

The PRC Constitution states that PRC law protects the freedom and privacy of communications of citizens and prohibits infringement of these rights. In recent years, PRC government authorities have enacted legislation on internet use to protect personal information from any unauthorized disclosure. On May 28, 2020, the National People’s Congress adopted the Civil Code, which came into effect on January 1, 2021. The Civil Code provides in a stand-alone chapter of right of personality and reiterates that the personal information of a natural person shall be protected by the law. Any organization or individual shall legitimately obtain such personal information of others in due course on a need-to-know basis and ensure the safety and privacy of such information, and refrain from excessively handling or using such information. In the event that any personal information is or may be leaked, falsified or lost, the information processor shall take immediate remedial measures, inform the natural person concerned and escalate such situation to the competent department as required.

On December 7, 2011, MIIT issued the Several Provisions on Regulating the Market Order of Internet Information Services, pursuant to which an internet information service provider may not collect any user personal information or provide any such information to third parties without the consent of a user. In addition, an internet information service provider must expressly inform the users of the method, content and purpose of the collection and processing of such user personal information and may only collect such information necessary for the provision of its services. An internet information service provider is also required to properly maintain the user personal information, and in case of any leak or likely leak of the user personal information, online lending service providers must take immediate remedial measures and, in severe circumstances, make an immediate report to the telecommunications regulatory authority.

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In addition, pursuant to the Decision on Strengthening the Protection of Online Information issued by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on December 28, 2012 and the Order for the Protection of Telecommunication and Internet User Personal Information issued by MIIT on July 16, 2013, any collection and use of users’ personal information must be subject to the consent of the users, abide by the principles of legality, rationality and necessity and be within the specified purposes, methods and scopes.

With respect to the security of information collected and used by mobile apps, pursuant to the Announcement of Conducting Special Supervision against the Illegal Collection and Use of Personal Information by Apps, which was issued on January 23, 2019, app operators should collect and use personal information in compliance with the Cyber Security Law and should be responsible for the security of personal information obtained from users and take effective measures to strengthen the personal information protection. Furthermore, app operators should not force their users to make authorization by means of bundling, suspending installation or in other default forms and should not collect personal information in violation of laws, regulations or breach of user agreements. Such regulatory requirements were emphasized by the Notice on the Special Rectification of Apps Infringing upon User’s Personal Rights and Interests, which was issued by MIIT on October 31, 2019. On November 28, 2019, the CAC, the MIIT, the Ministry of Public Security and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued the Methods of Identifying Illegal Acts of Apps to Collect and Use Personal Information. This regulation further illustrates certain commonly-seen illegal behaviors of apps operators in terms of collection and use of personal information, including “failure to publicize rules for collecting and using personal information,” “failure to expressly state the purpose, manner and scope of collecting and using personal information,” “collection and use of personal information without consent of users of such App,” “collecting personal information irrelevant to the services provided by such app in violation of the principle of necessity,” “providing users’ personal information to others without users’ consent,” “failure to provide the function of deleting or correcting personal information as required by laws” and “failure to publish information such as methods for complaints and reporting.” Among others, any of the following acts of an app operator will constitute “collection and use of personal information without consent of users”: (i) collecting an user’s personal information or activating the permission for collecting any user’s personal information without obtaining such user’s consent; (ii) collecting personal information or activating the permission for collecting personal information of any user who explicitly refuses such collection, or repeatedly seeking for user’s consent such that the user’s normal use of such app is disturbed; (iii) any user’s personal information which has been actually collected by the app operator or the permission for collecting any user’s personal information activated by the app operator is beyond the scope of personal information which such user authorizes the app operator to collect; (iv) seeking for any user’s consent in a non-explicit manner; (v) modifying any user’s settings for activating the permission for collecting any personal information without such user’s consent; (vi) using users’ personal information and any algorithms to directionally push any information, without providing the option of non-directed pushing such information; (vii) misleading users to permit collecting their personal information or activating the permission for collecting such users’ personal information by improper methods such as fraud and deception; (viii) failing to provide users with the means and methods to withdraw their permission of collecting personal information; and (ix) collecting and using personal information in violation of the rules for collecting and using personal information promulgated by such app operator.

Furthermore, in order to improve the protection of personal information, the National Information Security Standardization Technical Committee also issued the Guide to Self-evaluation of Collection and Use of Personal Information by Mobile Internet Applications (Apps) on July 22, 2020 regarding the security of information collected and used by operators of mobile apps. In addition, pursuant to the Notice on Promulgation of the Rules on the Scope of Necessary Personal Information for Common Types of Mobile Internet Applications jointly promulgated by the CAC, the MIIT and certain other government authorities on March 12, 2021, and which took effect on May 1, 2021, “necessary personal information” refers to the personal information necessary for ensuring the normal operation of a mobile app’s basic function services, without which the mobile app cannot achieve its function services. For online lending mobile apps, the basic function services are “personal loan application services through the Internet platform for consumption, daily production and operation turnover, etc.,” and the necessary personal information includes (i) mobile phone numbers of registered users, and (ii) name, the type, number and validity period of the ID documentation, and bank card number of the borrower. For investment and financial management mobile apps, the basic function services are “stocks, futures, funds, securities or other related investment and financial services,” and the necessary personal information includes (i) mobile phone numbers of registered users, (ii) name, the type, number and validly period of the ID documentation, and bank account number or payment account number of users, and (iii) capital account, bank account number or payment account number of users.

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Pursuant to the Ninth Amendment to the Criminal Law issued by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on August 29, 2015 and becoming effective on November 1, 2015, any ICP License holder that fails to fulfill the obligations related to internet information security administration as required by applicable laws and refuses to rectify upon orders, will be subject to criminal liability for (i) any dissemination of illegal information in large scale; (ii) any severe effect due to the leakage of the client’s information; (iii) any serious loss of evidence of criminal activities; or (iv) other severe situations. In addition, any individual or entity that (i) sells or provides personal information to others unlawfully, or (ii) steals or illegally obtains any personal information, will be subject to criminal liability in severe situations.

On May 8, 2017, the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate released the Interpretations of the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Handling of Criminal Cases Involving Infringement of Citizens’ Personal Information, or the Personal Information Interpretations, which became effective on June 1, 2017. The Personal Information Interpretations provides more practical conviction and sentencing criteria for the infringement of citizens’ personal information and mark a milestone for the criminal protection of citizens’ personal information. Moreover, on October 21, 2019, the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate of the PRC jointly issued the Interpretations on Certain Issues Regarding the Applicable of Law in the Handling of Criminal Case Involving Illegal Use of Information Networks and Assisting Committing Internet Crimes, which came into effect on November 1, 2019, and further clarifies the meaning of Internet service operators and the severe situations of the relevant crimes.

On October 21, 2020, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress issued a Draft Personal Information Protection Law, or the Draft Personal Information Protection Law, which integrates the scattered rules with respect to personal information rights and privacy protection. The Draft Personal Information Protection Law aims at protecting the personal information rights and interests, regulating the processing of personal information, ensuring the orderly and free flow of personal information in accordance with the law and promoting the reasonable use of personal information. Personal information, as defined in the Draft Personal Information Protection Law, refers to information related to identified or identifiable natural persons and is recorded by electronic or other means but excluding the anonymized information. The Draft Persona Information Protection Law provides the circumstances under which a personal information processor could process personal information, which include but not limited to, where the consent of the individual concerned is obtained and where it is necessary for the conclusion or performance of a contract to which the individual is a contractual party. It also stipulates certain specific rules with respect to the obligations of a personal information processor, such as to inform the purpose and method of processing to the individuals, and the obligation of the third party who has access to the personal information by way of co-processing or delegation etc. Furthermore, the Draft Personal Information Protection Law also provides for the rights of natural persons whose personal information is processed, and takes special care of the personal information of children under 14 and sensitive personal information.

Regulations Related to Intellectual Property Rights

Regulations related to copyrights

The Copyright Law of the PRC (Revised in 2010), the Copyright Law, which was further amended in November 2020 and will take effect in June 2021, provides that Chinese citizens, legal persons, or other organizations shall, whether published or not, own copyright in their copyrightable works, which include, among others, works of literature, art, natural science, social science, engineering technology and computer software. Copyright owners enjoy certain legal rights, including right of publication, right of authorship and right of reproduction.

The Computer Software Copyright Registration Measures, or the Software Copyright Measures, regulates registrations of software copyright, exclusive licensing contracts for software copyright and assignment agreements. The National Copyright Administration of China administers software copyright registration and China Copyright Protection Center, or the CPCC, is designated as the software registration authority. The CPCC shall grant registration certificates to the computer software copyrights applicants which meet the requirements of both the Software Copyright Measures and the Computer Software Protection Regulations (Revised in 2013).

As of December 31, 2020, we had registered 386 software copyrights in the PRC.

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Regulations related to trademarks

Trademarks are protected by the Trademark Law of the PRC (Revised in 2019) which was adopted in 1982 and subsequently amended in 1993, 2001, 2013 and 2019 respectively as well as by the Implementation Regulations of the PRC Trademark Law adopted by the State Council in 2002 and as most recently amended on April 29, 2014. The Trademark Office handles trademark registrations. The Trademark Office grants a ten-year term to registered trademarks and the term may be renewed for another ten-year period upon request by the trademark owner. A trademark registrant may license its registered trademarks to another party by entering into trademark license agreements, which must be filed with the Trademark Office for its record. As with trademarks, the Trademark Law has adopted a first-to-file principle with respect to trademark registration. If a trademark applied for is identical or similar to another trademark which has already been registered or subject to a preliminary examination and approval for use on the same or similar kinds of products or services, such trademark application may be rejected. Any person applying for the registration of a trademark may not injure existing trademark rights first obtained by others, nor may any person register in advance a trademark that has already been used by another party and has already gained a sufficient degree of reputation through such party’s use.

As of December 31, 2020, we have registered 551 trademarks in the PRC.

Regulations related to domain names

MIIT promulgated the Measures on Administration of Internet Domain Names, or the Domain Name Measures, on August 24, 2017, which became effective on November 1, 2017 and replaced the Administrative Measures on China Internet Domain Name promulgated by MII on November 5, 2004. Pursuant to the Domain Name Measures, MIIT is in charge of the administration of PRC internet domain names. China Internet Network Information Center, or CNNIC, under the supervision of MIIT, is responsible for the daily administration of domain names and Chinese domain names. The domain name registration follows a first-to-file principle. Applicants for registration of domain names shall provide the true, accurate and complete information of their identifications to domain name registration service institutions. The applicants will become the holder of such domain names upon the completion of the registration procedure.

As of December 31, 2020, we have registered 168 domain names in the PRC (.cn country and regional code top-level domain names and Chinese domain names).

Regulations Related to Foreign Exchange

General administration of foreign exchange

Under the PRC Foreign Currency Administration Rules promulgated on January 29, 1996 and most recently amended on August 5, 2008 and various regulations issued by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or SAFE and other relevant PRC government authorities, RMB is convertible into other currencies for current account items, such as trade-related receipts and payments and payment of interest and dividends. The conversion of RMB into other currencies and remittance of the converted foreign currency outside the PRC for of capital account items, such as direct equity investments, loans and repatriation of investment, requires the prior approval from SAFE or its local office. Payments for transactions that take place within the PRC must be made in RMB.

The Circular of SAFE on Further Improving and Adjusting Foreign Exchange Administration Policies for Direct Investment, or the SAFE Circular 59 promulgated by SAFE on November 19, 2012, which became effective on December 17, 2012 and was further amended on May 4, 2015 and October 10, 2018, respectively, amends and simplifies the foreign exchange procedures related to direct investment. Pursuant to the SAFE Circular 59, the opening of various special purpose foreign exchange accounts, the reinvestment of RMB proceeds by foreign investors in the PRC and remittance of foreign exchange profits and dividends by a foreign-invested enterprise to its foreign shareholders no longer require the approval or verification of SAFE. In addition, domestic companies are allowed to provide cross-border loans not only to their offshore subsidiaries, but also to their offshore parents.

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In May 2013, SAFE also promulgated the Circular on Printing and Distributing the Provisions on Foreign Exchange Administration over Domestic Direct Investment by Foreign Investors and the Supporting Document, as amended on October 10, 2018, which specifies that the administration by SAFE or its local branches over direct investment by foreign investors in the PRC shall be conducted by way of registration and banks shall process foreign exchange business relating to the direct investment in the PRC based on the registration information provided by SAFE and its branches. In February 2015, SAFE promulgated the Notice on Further Simplifying and Improving the Foreign Exchange Management Policies for Direct Investment, or the SAFE Circular 13, which took effect on June 1, 2015. SAFE Circular 13 delegates the power to enforce the foreign exchange registration in connection with inbound and outbound direct investments under relevant SAFE rules from local branches of SAFE to banks, thereby further simplifying the foreign exchange registration procedures for inbound and outbound direct investments.

On March 30, 2015, SAFE promulgated the Notice of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Reforming the Administration of Foreign Exchange Settlement of Capital of Foreign invested Enterprises, or SAFE Circular 19, which took effective on June 1, 2015. On June 9, 2016, SAFE further promulgated the Notice of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Reforming and Standardizing the Foreign Exchange Settlement Management Policy of Capital Account, or SAFE Circular 16, which, among other things, amends certain provisions of SAFE Circular 19. Pursuant to SAFE Circular 19 and SAFE Circular 16, the flow and use of the Renminbi capital converted from foreign currency denominated registered capital of a foreign-invested company is regulated such that Renminbi capital may not be used for business beyond its business scope or to provide loans to persons other than affiliates unless otherwise permitted under its business scope.

On January 26, 2017, SAFE issued the Notice on Improving the Check of Authenticity and Compliance to Further Promote Foreign Exchange Control, or SAFE Circular 3, which stipulates several capital control measures with respect to the outbound remittance of profit from domestic entities to offshore entities, including (i) under the principle of genuine transaction, banks shall check board resolutions regarding profit distribution, the original version of tax filing records and audited financial statements; and (ii) domestic entities shall hold income to account for previous years’ losses before remitting the profits. Moreover, pursuant to SAFE Circular 3, domestic entities shall make detailed explanations of the sources of capital and utilization arrangements, and provide board resolutions, contracts and other proof when completing the registration procedures in connection with an outbound investment.

On October 23, 2019, the SAFE issued the Circular on Further Promoting Cross-border Trade and Investment Facilitation, or SAFE Circular 28, which expressly allows foreign-invested enterprises that do not have equity investments in their approved business scope to use their capital obtained from foreign exchange settlement to make domestic equity investments as long as the investments are real and in compliance with the foreign investment-related laws and regulations. In addition, SAFE Circular 28 stipulates that qualified enterprises in certain pilot areas may use their capital income from registered capital, foreign debt and overseas listing, for the purpose of domestic payments without providing authenticity certifications to the relevant banks in advance for those domestic payments.

On April 10, 2020, the SAFE issued the Circular of SAFE on Optimizing Foreign Exchange Administration to Support the Development of Foreign-related Business or the SAFE Circular 8, pursuant to which the reform of facilitating the payments of incomes under the capital accounts shall be promoted nationwide. Under the prerequisite of ensuring true and compliant use of funds and complying with the prevailing administrative provisions on use of income from capital projects, enterprises which satisfy the criteria are allowed to use income under the capital account, such as capital funds, foreign debt and overseas listing, etc., for domestic payment, without the need to provide proof materials for veracity to the bank beforehand for each transaction.

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Regulations related to foreign exchange registration of offshore investment by PRC residents

SAFE promulgated the Circular on Relevant Issues Relating to Domestic Resident’s Investment and Financing and Roundtrip Investment through Special Purpose Vehicles, or SAFE Circular 37, in July 2014 that requires PRC residents, including PRC resident natural persons or PRC entities, to register with SAFE or its local branch in connection with their establishment or control of an offshore entity established for the purpose of overseas investment or financing. The term “control” under SAFE Circular 37 is broadly defined as the operation rights, beneficiary rights or decision-making rights acquired by the PRC residents in the offshore special purpose vehicles by such means as acquisition, trust, proxy, voting rights, repurchase, convertible bonds or other arrangements. In addition, such PRC residents must update their SAFE registrations when the offshore special purpose vehicle undergoes material events relating to any change of basic information (including change of such PRC citizens or residents, name and operation term), increases or decreases in investment amount, transfers or exchanges of shares, or mergers or divisions. SAFE further enacted SAFE Circular 13, which allows PRC residents to register with qualified banks in connection with their establishment or control of an offshore entity established for the purpose of overseas investment or financing. However, remedial registration applications made by PRC residents that previously failed to comply with the SAFE Circular 37 continue to fall under the jurisdiction of the relevant local branch of SAFE.

In the event that a PRC resident holding interests in a special purpose vehicle fails to fulfill the required SAFE registration, the PRC subsidiaries of that special purpose vehicle may be prohibited from distributing profits to the offshore parent and from carrying out subsequent cross-border foreign exchange activities, and the special purpose vehicle may be restricted in its ability to contribute additional capital into its PRC subsidiary. Moreover, failure to comply with the various SAFE registration requirements described above could result in liability under PRC law for evasion of foreign exchange controls.

Regulations related to Offshore Stocks Investment

On January 29, 1996, the State Council promulgated the Foreign Exchange Administration Regulations of the PRC, which was last amended and such amendment became effective on August 5, 2008. Pursuant to the Foreign Exchange Administration Regulations of the PRC, Chinese nationals shall register with the foreign exchange administration department of the State Council for any foreign direct investment or engagement in any issuance or transaction of offshore valuable securities or derivative products. On December 25, 2006, the People’s Bank of China promulgated the Administrative Measures for Personal Foreign Exchange, which further clarifies that any offshore equity, fixed-income or other approved financial investments by Chinese nationals, shall be conducted through a qualified domestic financial institution. On January 5, 2007, the SAFE published the Implementation of the Administrative Measures for Personal Foreign Exchange and last amended on May 29, 2016, under which Chinese nationals are limited to a foreign exchange quota of US$50,000 per year for approved uses only.

In addition, pursuant to the SAFE Officials Interview on Improving the Management of Declarations of Individual Foreign Exchange Information on December 31, 2016, Chinese nationals can only engage in offshore investments under capital items only provided methods such as Qualified Domestic Institutional Investors, otherwise Chinese nationals can only purchase foreign currency for the purpose of external payments within the scope of current items, including private travel, overseas study, business trips, family visits, overseas medical treatment, trade in goods, purchase of non-investment insurance and consulting services. Furthermore, in 2016, CSRC published a response letter to investors on its website to remind domestic investors that any offshore investments conducted by ways which are not explicitly specified under applicable PRC Laws, may not be adequately protected by the PRC Laws.

We do not convert Renminbi into Hong Kong dollars or U.S. dollars for our clients, and require those who would like to trade securities listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange or any major stock exchange in the United States through our platform to inject funding into their respective trading accounts in Hong Kong in either Hong Kong dollars or U.S. dollars. See “Risk Factors-Risks Related to Our Business and Industry-PRC governmental control of currency conversion, cross-border remittance and offshore investment could have a direct impact on the trading volume achieved on our platform. If the government further tightens restrictions on converting Renminbi to foreign currencies, including Hong Kong dollars and U.S. dollars, and/or deems our practice as in violation of PRC laws and regulations, our business will be materially and adversely affected.” If the government further tightens restrictions on converting Renminbi to foreign currencies, including Hong Kong dollars and U.S. dollars, and/or deems our practice as in violation of PRC laws and regulations, our business will be materially and adversely affected.”

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Regulations Related to Dividend Distributions

Under the current regulatory regime in the PRC, foreign-invested enterprises in the PRC may pay dividends only out of their retained earnings, if any, determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. A PRC company is required to set aside as statutory reserve funds of at least 10% of its after-tax profit, until the cumulative amount of such reserve funds reaches 50% of its registered capital unless laws regarding foreign investment provide otherwise. A PRC company may, at its discretion, allocate a portion of its after-tax profits based on PRC accounting standards to other reserve funds. These reserves are not distributable as cash dividends. A PRC company shall not distribute any profits until any losses from prior fiscal years have been offset. Profits retained from prior fiscal years may be distributed together with distributable profits from the current fiscal year.

Regulations Related to Taxation

Regulations related to enterprise income tax

On March 16, 2007, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress promulgated the Law of the PRC on Enterprise Income Tax which was amended on February 24, 2017 and December 29, 2018, respectively, and on December 6, 2007, the State Council enacted the Regulations for the Implementation of the Law on Enterprise Income Tax which was amended on April 23, 2019. Under these laws and regulations, or the EIT Law, both resident enterprises and non-resident enterprises are subject to enterprise income tax in the PRC. Resident enterprises are defined as enterprises that are established in China in accordance with PRC laws, or that are established in accordance with the laws of foreign countries but are actually or in effect controlled from within the PRC. Non-resident enterprises are defined as enterprises that are organized under the laws of foreign countries and whose actual management is conducted outside the PRC, but have established institutions or premises in the PRC, or have no such established institutions or premises but have income generated from inside the PRC. Under the EIT Law and relevant implementing regulations, a uniform corporate income tax rate of 25% is applied, unless they qualify for certain exceptions. Pursuant to the EIT Law and its implementation rules, the income tax rate of an enterprise that has been determined to be a high and new technology enterprise may be reduced to 15% with the approval of relevant tax authorities. If non-resident enterprises have not formed permanent establishments or premises in the PRC, or if they have formed permanent establishment or premises in the PRC but there is no actual relationship between the relevant income derived in the PRC and the established institutions or premises set up by them, enterprise income tax is set at the rate of 10% with respect to their income sourced from inside the PRC.

Under the EIT Law and its implementation rules, an enterprise established outside of the PRC with “de facto management body” within the PRC is considered a resident enterprise and will be subject to the EIT at the rate of 25% on its worldwide income. The term “de facto management body” refers to “the establishment that exercises substantial and overall management and control over the production, business, personnel, accounts and properties of an enterprise.” Pursuant to SAT Circular 82 issued by the SAT in April 2009 and amended in December 2017, an overseas registered enterprise controlled by a PRC company or a PRC company group will be classified as a “resident enterprise” with its “de facto management body” located within China if the following requirements are satisfied: (i) the senior management and core management departments in charge of its daily operations are mainly located in the PRC; (ii) its financial and human resources decisions are subject to determination or approval by persons or bodies located in the PRC; (iii) its major assets, accounting books, company seals, and minutes and files of its board and shareholders’ meetings are located or kept in the PRC; and (iv) no less than half of the enterprise’s directors or senior management with voting rights reside in the PRC. SAT issued additional rules to provide more guidance on the implementation of SAT Circular 82 in July 2011, and issued an amendment to SAT Circular 82 delegating the authority to its provincial branches to determine whether a Chinese-controlled overseas-incorporated enterprise should be considered a PRC resident enterprise, in January 2014. Although the SAT Circular 82, the additional guidance and its amendment only apply to overseas registered enterprises controlled by PRC enterprises and not those controlled by PRC individuals or foreigners, the determining criteria set forth in the circular may reflect SAT’s general position on how the “de facto management body” test should be applied in determining the tax resident status of offshore enterprises, regardless of whether they are controlled by PRC enterprises, individuals or foreigners. If our offshore entities are deemed PRC resident enterprises, these entities may be subject to the EIT at the rate of 25% on their global incomes, except that the dividends distributed by our PRC subsidiaries may be exempt from the EIT to the extent such dividends are deemed “dividends among qualified resident enterprises.”

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Regulations related to value-added tax and business tax

The Provisional Regulations of the PRC on Value-added Tax were promulgated by the State Council on December 13, 1993 and came into effect on January 1, 1994, which was subsequently amended in 2008, 2016 and 2017. The Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Provisional Regulations of the PRC on Value-added Tax (Revised in 2011) was promulgated by the Ministry of Finance, or the MOF, on December 25, 1993, which was subsequently amended in 2008 and 2011. Pursuant to these regulations, or the VAT Law, all enterprises and individuals selling goods, services, intangible assets or real properties, providing processing, repair and replacement services, and importing goods in or to the PRC must pay value-added tax, or VAT, and entities or individuals providing services are subject to the VAT at a rate of 6% unless otherwise provided under relevant laws and regulations.

Pursuant to the Provisional Regulations of the PRC on Business Tax, which became effective on January 1, 1994, or the Business Tax Regulation, and its implementation rules, all enterprises and individuals providing taxable services, transferring intangible assets or selling real estate within the PRC must pay business tax. In November 2011, the MOF and the SAT jointly issued two circulars setting forth the details of the pilot VAT reform program, which change the charge of sales tax from business tax to VAT for certain pilot industries. The VAT reform program initially applied only to pilot industries in Shanghai, and was expanded to eight additional regions, including, among others, Beijing and Guangdong province, in 2012. In August 2013, the program was further expanded nationwide. In May 2016, the pilot program was extended to cover additional industry sectors such as construction, real estate, finance and consumer services. On November 19, 2017, the Business Tax Regulation was abolished. On March 20, 2019, the MOF, the SAT and the General Administration of Customs jointly issued the Notice of Strengthening Reform of VAT Policies, which provides certain VAT reduction arrangements.

As of the date of this annual report, all our PRC subsidiaries and variable interest entities are subject to the VAT at rates ranging from 3% to 13%.

Regulations related to dividend withholding tax

The EIT Law provides that since January 1, 2008, an income tax rate of 10% will normally be applicable to dividends declared to non-PRC resident investors which do not have an establishment or place of business in the PRC, or which have such establishment or place of business but the relevant income is not effectively connected with the establishment or place of business, to the extent such dividends are derived from sources within the PRC.

Pursuant to an Arrangement Between the Mainland of China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Incomes, or the Double Tax Avoidance Arrangement, and other applicable PRC laws, if a Hong Kong resident enterprise is determined by the competent PRC tax authority to have satisfied the relevant conditions and requirements under such Double Tax Avoidance Arrangement and other applicable laws, the 10% withholding tax on the dividends the Hong Kong resident enterprise receives from a PRC resident enterprise may be reduced to 5%. However, based on the Circular on Certain Issues with Respect to the Enforcement of Dividend Provisions in Tax Treaties, or SAT Circular 81, issued on February 20, 2009 by SAT, if the relevant PRC tax authorities determine, in their discretion, that a company benefits from such reduced income tax rate due to a structure or arrangement that is primarily tax-driven, such PRC tax authorities may adjust the preferential tax treatment. Furthermore, in October 2019, the SAT promulgated the Administrative Measures for Non-Resident Taxpayers to Enjoy Treaty Treatments, or Circular 35, which became effective on January 1, 2020 and superseded the Administrative Measures for Non-Resident Enterprises to Enjoy Treatments under Tax Treaties. The Circular 35 abolished the record-filing procedure for justifying the tax treaty eligibility of taxpayers, and stipulates that non-resident taxpayers can enjoy tax treaty benefits via the “self-assessment of eligibility, claiming treaty benefits, retaining documents for inspection” mechanism. Non-resident taxpayers can claim tax treaty benefits after self-assessment provided that relevant supporting documents shall be collected and retained for post-filing inspection by the tax authorities. Moreover, pursuant to a SAT Circular 9 issued by the State Administration of Taxation in February 2018, which became effective on April 1, 2018, a resident of a contracting state will not qualify for the benefits under the tax treaties or arrangements, if it is not the “beneficial owner” of the dividend, interest and royalty income. Pursuant to SAT Circular 9, a “beneficial owner” is required to have ownership and the right to dispose of the income or the rights and properties giving rise to the income, and generally engage in substantive business activities. An agent or conduit company will not be regarded as a “beneficial owner” and, therefore, will not qualify for treaty benefits. A conduit company normally refers to a company that is set up primarily for the purpose of evading or reducing taxes or transferring or accumulating profits.

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Regulations related to income tax for share transfer

On February 3, 2015, SAT issued SAT Notice 7, which partially replaced and supplemented previous rules under SAT Circular 698. On October 17, 2017, SAT issued SAT Bulletin 37, which came into effect on December 1, 2017 and concurrently abolished SAT Circular 698. The SAT Bulletin 37 further clarifies the practice and procedure of the withholding of non-resident enterprise income tax. By promulgating and implementing these circulars, the PRC tax authorities have enhanced their scrutiny over the direct or indirect transfer of equity interests or other taxable assets in a PRC resident enterprise by a non-resident enterprise. Under SAT Notice 7 and SAT Bulletin 37, where a non-resident enterprise transfers the equity interests or other taxable assets of a PRC “resident enterprise” indirectly by disposition of the equity interests of an overseas holding company, the non-resident enterprise, being the transferor, or the transferee, or the PRC entity which directly owned the taxable assets may report to the relevant tax authority this “indirect transfer.” Using a “substance over form” principle, the PRC tax authority may re-characterize such indirect transfer as a direct transfer of the equity interests in the PRC tax resident enterprise and other properties in China. As a result, gains derived from such indirect transfer may be subject to PRC tax at a rate of up to 10%. We face uncertainties on the reporting and consequences on private equity financing transactions, share transfers or other transactions involving the transfer of shares in our company by investors that are non-PRC resident enterprises, or sale or purchase of shares in other non-PRC resident companies or other taxable assets by us. We and our non-resident investors, may be at risk of being required to file a return and being taxed under SAT Notice 7 and SAT Bulletin 37, and we may be required to expend valuable resources to comply with SAT Notice 7 and SAT Bulletin 37 or to establish that we should not be taxed under these circulars.

Regulations Related to Employee Stock Incentive Plans

Pursuant to the Notice of Issues Related to the Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Individuals Participating in Stock Incentive Plan of Overseas Listed Company, or Circular 7, which was issued by SAFE on February 15, 2012, employees, directors, supervisors, and other senior management who participate in any stock incentive plan of an publicly-listed overseas company and who are PRC citizens or non-PRC citizens residing in China for a continuous period of no less than one year, subject to a few exceptions, are required to register with SAFE through a qualified domestic agent, which may be a PRC subsidiary of such overseas listed company, and complete certain other procedures. In addition, SAFE Circular 37 provides that PRC residents who participate in a share incentive plan of an overseas private special purpose company may register with SAFE or its local branches before exercising rights.

In addition, SAT has issued certain circulars concerning employee stock options and restricted shares. Under these circulars, employees working in the PRC who exercise stock options or are granted restricted shares will be subject to PRC individual income tax. The PRC subsidiaries of an overseas listed company are required to file documents related to employee stock options and restricted shares with relevant tax authorities and to withhold individual income taxes of employees who exercise their stock option or purchase restricted shares. If the employees fail to pay or the PRC subsidiaries fail to withhold income tax in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, the PRC subsidiaries may face sanctions imposed by the tax authorities or other PRC governmental authorities.

Regulations Related to Employment and Social Welfare

Regulations related to labor contract

The Labor Contract Law of the PRC, the Labor Contract Law, which was promulgated on January 1, 2008 and amended on December 28, 2012, is primarily aimed at regulating rights and obligations of employer and employee relationships, including the establishment, performance and termination of labor contracts. Pursuant to the Labor Contract Law, labor contracts shall be concluded in writing if labor relationships are to be or have been established between employers and the employees. Employers are prohibited from forcing employees to work over certain time limit and employers shall pay employees for overtime work in accordance with national regulations. In addition, employee wages shall be no lower than local standards on minimum wages and shall be paid to employees timely.

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Regulations related to social insurance and housing fund

Enterprises in China are required by the Social Insurance Law of the PRC promulgated by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress in October 2010 which became effective in July 2011 and was amended in December 2018, or the Social Insurance Law, the Regulations on Management of Housing Provident Fund released by the State Council in March 2002 which was amended in March 2019, and other related rules and regulations, to participate in certain employee benefit plans, including social insurance funds, namely a pension plan, a medical insurance plan, an unemployment insurance plan, an occupational injury insurance plan and a maternity insurance plan, and a housing provident fund, and contribute to the plans or funds in amounts equal to certain percentages of salaries, including bonuses and allowances, of the employees as specified by the local government. Failure to make adequate contributions to various employee benefit plans may be subject to fines and other administrative sanctions. Pursuant to the Social Insurance Law, an employer that fails to make social insurance contributions may be ordered to rectify the non-compliance and pay the required contributions within a stipulated deadline and be subject to a late fee of 0.05% per day, as the case may be. If the employer still fails to rectify the failure to make social insurance contributions within the deadline, it may be subject to a fine ranging from one to three times the amount overdue. Pursuant to the Regulations on Management of Housing Fund, an enterprise that fails to make housing fund contributions may be ordered to rectify the noncompliance and pay the required contributions within a stipulated deadline.

Regulations Related to M&A Rules and Overseas Listing

On August 8, 2006, six PRC governmental and regulatory agencies, including MOFCOM and CSRC, promulgated the Rules on Mergers and Acquisition of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors, or the M&A Rules, effective as of September 8, 2006 and later revised on June 22, 2009, which governs the mergers and acquisitions of domestic enterprises by foreign investors. The M&A Rules, among other things, requires that if an overseas company established or controlled by PRC companies or individuals intends to acquire equity interests or assets of any other PRC domestic company affiliated with such PRC companies or individuals, such acquisition must be submitted to MOFCOM for approval. The M&A Rules also requires that an offshore special purpose vehicle formed for overseas listing purposes and controlled directly or indirectly by the PRC individuals or companies shall obtain the approval of the CSRC prior to overseas listing and trading of such special purpose vehicle’s securities on an overseas stock exchange. After the PRC Foreign Investment Law and its Implementation Regulations became effective on January 1, 2020, the provisions of the M&A Rules remain effective to the extent they are not inconsistent with the PRC Foreign Investment Law and its Implementation Regulations.

Regulations Related to our Business Operation in Hong Kong

Regulations related to the Stock Business

The SFC authorizes corporations and individuals through licenses to act as financial intermediaries. Under the SFO, a corporation which is not an authorized financial institution but carries out the following activities must be licensed by the SFC: (i) carrying on a business in a regulated activity (or holding itself out as carrying on a business in a regulated activity) in Hong Kong; or (ii) actively marketing, whether in Hong Kong or from a place outside Hong Kong, to the public any services it provides, which would constitute a regulated activity if provided in Hong Kong.

According to the SFO, a licensed corporation must maintain a minimum level of paid-up share capital and liquid capital not less than the amounts specified under the Securities and Futures (Financial Resources) Rules. If the licensed corporation applies for more than one type of regulated activity, the minimum paid-up share capital and liquid capital shall be the higher or the highest amount individually required amongst those regulated activities.

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In addition, each licensed corporation should appoint at least two responsible officers to directly supervise the conduct of each regulated activity for which the licensed corporation operates and at least one of the proposed responsible officers must be an executive director of the licensed corporation as defined under the SFO. As defined by the SFO, an “executive director” refers to a director of the corporation who actively participates in or is responsible for directly supervising the business of the regulated activity. All executive directors must seek SFC’s prior approval as responsible officers accredited to the licensed corporation. Further, for each regulated activity, the licensed corporation should have at least one responsible officer available at all times to supervise the business. The same individual may be appointed to be a responsible officer for more than one regulated activity, as long as he/she is fit and proper to be so appointed and there is no conflict in the roles assumed. A person who intends to apply to be a responsible officer must demonstrate that he/she fulfills the criteria of competence relating to academic/ industry qualification, relevant industry experience, management experience, and local regulatory framework paper, and have sufficient authority to supervise the business of regulated activity within the licensed corporation.

As of December 31, 2020, through Fuyuan Securities Limited, we have registered and maintained the following licenses from SFC: (i) SFO Type 1 License, effective since December 17, 2010, for conducting regulated activities related to dealing in securities; (ii) SFO Type 4 License, effective since April 1, 2003, for conducting regulated activities related to advising on securities; (iii) SFO Type 5 License, effective since April 1, 2003, for conducting regulated activities related to advising on futures contracts; and (iv) SFO Type 9 License, effective since April 1, 2003, for conducting regulated activities related to asset management.

Also, we have eight representatives licensed with the SFC and eligible to carry out different types of regulated activities for our Hong Kong business under the supervision of our responsible officers.

Ongoing obligations for compliance by licensed corporations and intermediaries

In April 2017, the SFC issued the Licensing Handbook, which provides the ongoing obligations for compliance of a licensed corporation. In general, licensed corporations and licensed representatives must remain fit and proper at all times and must comply with all applicable provisions of the SFO and its subsidiary legislation as well as the codes and guidelines issued by the SFC. There must also be at least one responsible officer available at all times to supervise the licensed corporation’s business of carrying on a regulated activity.

Also, a licensed corporation is required by the Securities and Futures (Licensing and Registration) (Information) Rules to notify the SFC of certain changes and events, which include, among others, changes in the basic information of the licensed corporation, its controlling persons and responsible officers, or subsidiaries that carry on a business in a regulated activity; changes in the capital and shareholding structure of the licensed corporation; and significant changes in business plan.

Furthermore, according to SFO, the related licenses in related to all or certain regulated activity of such corporation may be suspended or revoked by the SFC if the licensed corporation does not carry on all or some of the regulated activity for which it is licensed.

Regulations related to the Hong Kong Insurance Brokerage Business

The Insurance Companies Ordinance, as amended and supplemented from time to time, or the ICO, supports a self-regulatory regime for insurance intermediaries, i.e., insurance agents and brokers. The ICO defines the distinct roles of insurance brokers and require them to be appointed or authorized respectively in accordance with the relevant provisions of the ICO.

Types of insurance business

The ICO requirements vary depending on the type of insurance business being undertaken by an insurer. The ICO defines two main types of business as follows: (i) general business, which covers all business other than long-term business, including but not limited to accident and sickness, fire, property, motor vehicle, general liability, financial loss and legal expenses insurance; and (ii) long-term business, which covers those types of insurance business in which policies are typically in place for long periods and includes but not limited to, life and annuity, linked long-term, permanent health and retirement scheme management policies.

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An insurer that undertakes both long-term and general business is referred to by the Insurance Authority, or the IA, as a composite insurer. In addition to these main types of business, the IA imposes further requirements on insurers conducting insurance business (not being reinsurance business) relating to liabilities or risks in respect of which persons are required by any Ordinance to be insured, including employees’ compensation insurance, third-party insurance in respect of motor vehicles and local vessels, and building owners’ corporation third-party risks insurance.

Insurance broker appointment

Under ICO, a person is prohibited from holding himself out as an insurance broker unless he is properly appointed or authorized. A person is also prohibited from holding himself out as an appointed insurance agent and an authorized insurance broker at the same time. It is an offense under the ICO for an insurer to effect a contract of insurance through, or accept insurance business referred to it by, an insurance intermediary who has not been properly appointed or authorized.

A person intending to act as an insurance broker shall either seek authorization from the public officer appointed as the IA, pursuant to the ICO, or apply to become a member of a body of insurance brokers approved by the IA. In either way the insurance broker is subject to the same statutory requirements. For an insurance broker who is a member of an approved body of insurance brokers, he is also subject to the membership regulation of his own professional body which is approved by the IA.

The IA is required to maintain a register of authorized insurance brokers as well as a register of approved bodies of insurance brokers. The registers are open for public inspection. An approved body of insurance brokers is required to maintain a register of its members which contains the information required by the IA in respect of each member for public inspection.

We, through 9F Wealth Management Limited, is approved as an insurance broker by Professional Insurance Brokers Association, or the PIBA, which is in turn approved by the IA as a body of insurance brokers, to carry out both long-term (include linked long-term) and general business. Its chief executive is registered to carry out the relevant lines of business.

Acting as mandatory provident fund intermediary

We also through 9F Wealth Management Limited carry on business as an intermediary for Mandatory Provident Fund, or the MPF. MPF is regulated by the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority, or the MPFA. Conducting business as an MPF intermediary also requires licenses. According to Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance, the MPFA relies on the existing regulatory regimes including the IA (including the self-regulated organizations such as PIBA) to license and supervise MPF intermediaries.

To meet basic registration requirements, an applicant must be supervised by one or more of the three financial regulatory regimes, namely, the MPFA, the IA and/or the SFC. An individual applicant must pass an MPF intermediaries examination recognized by the MPFA. In addition, the applicant must satisfy the MPFA that he/she is fit and proper to be registered as an MPF intermediary.

A register bearing particulars of registered MPF intermediaries is available for inspection at the office of the MPFA.

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C.Organizational Structure

The following diagram illustrates our corporate structure, including our subsidiaries and our VIEs as of the date of this annual report:

Note:

1. Each of our VIEs has entered into an Exclusive Option Agreement, as amended, if applicable, with 9F Inc as a part of VIE agreements.

2. Jinniu Zhixuan is indirectly wholly-owned by Jiufu Shuke through Zhuhai Jiuxin Asset Management Co., Ltd.

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Contractual Arrangements with our VIEs and Their Shareholder

The registered shareholders of Jiufu Shuke include Yifan Ren, Zhuhai Hengqin Zhilue Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership), Zhuhai Hengqin Saixing Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) and Lijun Zhang, who holds 48%, 33.2%, 10% and 8.8% equity interests in Jiufu Shuke, respectively. The registered shareholders of Beijing Puhui include Lei Sun, Changxing Xiao, Lixing Chen, Lei Liu and Dongcheng Zhang, who holds 23.17%, 20.83%, 27.67%, 27.50% and 0.83% equity interests in Beijing Puhui, respectively. The registered shareholders of Zhuhai Lianyin include Yu Han and Cen Chen, who holds 90% and 10% equity interests in Zhuhai Lianyin, respectively. The registered shareholders of Yi Qi Mai include Tianjin Yuying Enterprise Management Consulting Partnership (Limited Partnership) and Zhuhai Hengqin Yunchuang Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership), who holds 55% and 45% equity interests in Yi Qi Mai, respectively. The registered shareholders of Shenzhen Fuyuan include Haigen Zhou and Jianbo Cai, who holds 60% and 40% equity interests in Shenzhen Fuyuan, respectively.

The following is a summary of the currently effective contractual arrangements among 9F Inc., Shuzhi Lianyin, Jiufu Shuke and Jiufu Shuke’ shareholders. The contractual arrangements among 9F Inc., our WFOEs, and other consolidated affiliated entities, including Beijing Puhui, Zhuhai Lianyin, Yi Qi Mai and Shenzhen Fuyuan, and the shareholders of such consolidated affiliated entities are substantially the same. As a result of these contractual arrangements, we have the power to direct activities of our consolidated affiliated entities that most significantly impact the economic performance of these consolidated affiliated entities. We are also entitled to receive substantially all of the economic benefits as primary beneficiary and we bear the obligation to absorb any and all economic losses incurred by our consolidated affiliated entities. In addition, we have an exclusive option to purchase all or part of the equity interests in each of our consolidated affiliated entities when and to the extent permitted by the PRC law. Therefore, we are able to consolidate the financial results of our consolidated affiliated entities into our financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

Master Exclusive Service Agreement

Under the master exclusive service agreement between Jiufu Shuke and Shuzhi Lianyin, Shuzhi Lianyin has the exclusive right to provide, among other things, technical support and consulting services to Jiufu Shuke and Jiufu Shuke agrees to accept all the consultation and services provided by Shuzhi Lianyin. Without Shuzhi Lianyin’s prior written consent, Jiufu Shuke agrees not to accept the same or any similar services provided by any third party. In addition, Jiufu Shuke irrevocably grants Shuzhi Lianyin an exclusive and irrevocable option to purchase any or all of the assets and business of Jiufu Shuke at the lowest price permitted under PRC law. Shuzhi Lianyin exclusively owns all intellectual property rights arising out of or created during the performance of this agreement. Jiufu Shuke agrees to pay Shuzhi Lianyin a monthly service fee, which percentage may be determined and adjusted at the sole discretion of Shuzhi Lianyin after taking into account factors including the complexity and difficulty of the services provided, the time consumed, the seniority of the Shuzhi Lianyin employees providing services to Jiufu Shuke, the value of services provided, the market price of comparable services and the operating conditions of Jiufu Shuke. Furthermore, to the extent permitted under the PRC law, Shuzhi Lianyin agrees to provide financial support to Jiufu Shuke if Jiufu Shuke has any operating loss or suffered any critical operation adversity. The agreement will remain effective unless Shuzhi Lianyin terminates the agreement in writing or a relevant governmental authority rejects the renewal applications by either Jiufu Shuke or Shuzhi Lianyin to renew their respective operation term provided in the business licenses upon expiration.

Proxy Agreements and Powers of Attorney, including Amended and Restated Proxy Agreements and Powers of Attorney

Under the proxy agreement and power of attorney, or amended and restated proxy agreement and power of attorney if applicable, by and among Shuzhi Lianyin, Jiufu Shuke and each shareholder of Jiufu Shuke, each of Jiufu Shuke’ shareholders irrevocably nominates, appoints and constitutes Shuzhi Lianyin and its successors as its attorney-in-fact to exercise any and all of his rights as a shareholder of Jiufu Shuke, including but not limited to the right to call, attend and vote at shareholders’ meetings and the right to appoint and remove directors and senior management. Each shareholder of Jiufu Shuke further covenants that, without the prior written consent of Shuzhi Lianyin, such shareholder shall not exercise any shareholder’s right, and if the shareholder receives any dividends, interest, any other forms of capital distributions, residual assets upon liquidation, or proceeds or consideration from the transfer of equity interest as a result of, or in connection with, such shareholder’s equity interests in Jiufu Shuke, the shareholder shall, to the extent permitted by applicable laws, pass them all on to Shuzhi Lianyin or its designee at no consideration. The proxy agreements and powers of attorney will remain effective as long as Jiufu Shuke exists. The shareholders of Jiufu Shuke do not have the right to terminate this agreement or revoke the appointment of the attorney-in-fact without the prior written consent of Shuzhi Lianyin.

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Exclusive Option Agreements, including Amended and Restated Exclusive Option Agreements

Under the exclusive option agreements, or amended and restated exclusive option agreements if applicable, by and among 9F Inc., Shuzhi Lianyin, Jiufu Shuke and each of the shareholders of Jiufu Shuke, each shareholder of Jiufu Shuke irrevocably grants 9F Inc. or its designated person(s) an exclusive option to purchase, at any time and to the extent permitted under PRC law, all or part of his equity interests in Jiufu Shuke at a price equal to the actual capital contribution paid in the registered capital of Jiufu Shuke by such shareholder. If the above price is lower than the lowest price permitted by the PRC law, the lowest price permitted under the PRC law will apply. As agreed in the loan agreements between Shuzhi Lianyin and such shareholder, if 9F Inc. designates Shuzhi Lianyin as its designated person to exercise the option to purchase the equity interests in Jiufu Shuke, Shuzhi Lianyin may elect to pay for the purchase by canceling the outstanding amount of loans owed by such shareholder to Shuzhi Lianyin. Without 9F Inc.’s prior written consent, Jiufu Shuke and its shareholders will not sell, transfer, mortgage or otherwise dispose of Jiufu Shuke’s legal or beneficial interests in its assets, business or revenues, or allow the creation of any encumbrance on such interests. To the extent permitted under applicable PRC laws, the shareholders of Jiufu Shuke also agree to timely donate to 9F Inc. or its designee any profits, interests, dividends or proceeds of liquidation received from Jiufu Shuke or proceeds received from the transfer of equity interests in Jiufu Shuke. These agreements will remain effective until all equity interests held in Jiufu Shuke by its shareholders are transferred or assigned to 9F Inc. or its designated person(s).

Loan Agreements

Pursuant to the loan agreements between Shuzhi Lianyin and each of the shareholders of Jiufu Shuke, Shuzhi Lianyin extended loans to the shareholders of Jiufu Shuke, who had contributed the loan principal to Jiufu Shuke as registered capital. The shareholders of Jiufu Shuke may repay the loans only by transferring their respective equity interests in Jiufu Shuke to 9F Inc. or its designated person(s) pursuant to the exclusive option agreements. Each loan shall be interest-free unless, in the event of a transfer of equity interests by a shareholder of Jiufu Shuke to 9F Inc. or its designated person(s) pursuant to the exclusive option agreement, the transfer price exceeds the loan principal. The excess over the loan principal shall be deemed the interest of the loan to the extent permitted under PRC law. These loan agreements will remain effective until the date of full performance by the parties of their respective obligations thereunder.

Equity Interest Pledge Agreements, including Amended and Restated Equity Interest Pledge Agreements

Under the equity interest pledge agreements, or amended and restated equity interest pledge agreements if applicable, among Shuzhi Lianyin, Jiufu Shuke and each of the shareholders of Jiufu Shuke, the shareholders of Jiufu Shuke pledge all of their equity interests in Jiufu Shuke, including any equity interest subsequently acquired, to Shuzhi Lianyin to secure the performance by Jiufu Shuke and its shareholders of their respective obligations under the contractual arrangements, including the payments due to Shuzhi Lianyin for services provided. If Jiufu Shuke or the pledger breach their obligations under these contractual arrangements, Shuzhi Lianyin, as the pledgee, will be entitled to certain rights and remedies including priority in receiving the proceeds from the auction or disposal of the pledged equity interests in Jiufu Shuke. Shuzhi Lianyin has the right to receive dividends distributed on the pledged equity interests during the term of the pledge. The pledge becomes effective on the date when the pledge of equity interests contemplated under the agreement has been registered with the relevant local administration for industry and commerce (currently known as the administration for market regulation) and will remain valid until the master exclusive service agreement and the relevant exclusive option agreements and proxy agreement and power of attorney, expire or terminate. We have registered the equity interest pledge with the Chaoyang Branch of Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce in Beijing.

Spousal Consent Letters

Pursuant to spousal consent letters, the spouse of each of the shareholders, if applicable, of Jiufu Shuke acknowledges that the equity interests in Jiufu Shuke held by and registered in the name of his spouse will be disposed of pursuant to the equity interest pledge agreement, the exclusive option agreement, the proxy agreement and power of attorney, and the loan agreement by and among 9F Inc., Shuzhi Lianyin, Jiufu Shuke, the shareholders of Jiufu Shuke and his spouse. The spouses undertake not to make any assertions in connection with the equity interests in Jiufu Shuke, and agree to be bound by the afore-mentioned agreements if they receive any equity interests in Jiufu Shuke.

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In the opinion of Han Kun Law Offices, our PRC legal counsel:

However, we have been further advised by our PRC legal counsel that there are substantial uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of current and future PRC laws, rules and regulations. Accordingly, the PRC regulatory authorities may in the future take a view that is contrary to the above opinion of our PRC legal counsel. We have been further advised by our PRC counsel that if the PRC government finds that the agreements that establish the structure for operating our business do not comply with PRC government restrictions on foreign investment in telecommunications businesses, we could be subject to severe penalties including being prohibited from continuing operations. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Corporate Structure.”

D.Property, Plant and Equipment

As of December 31, 2020, our principal executive offices are located on leased premises comprising approximately 22,547 square meters in Beijing, China. Our principal executive offices serve as our management headquarters and center of research and development, human resources and administrative activities. In addition to our headquarters in Beijing, we also have material branches in Shenzhen and Hong Kong for online wealth management, risk management operations, stock investment and research and development, respectively. All those material branches are based on leased properties and these leases together comprise approximately 25,151 square meters in China, and 864 square meters in Hong Kong and 1,089 square meters in Thailand and Indonesia. All our branch offices are leased from independent third parties, and we plan to renew these leases from time to time as needed. We own a building of approximately 2,486 square meters in Xinjiang, China, to operate our fintech empowerment services and a building of approximately 1,707 square meters in Beijing, China as our principal office premises.

Our servers are mainly hosted in leased internet data centers in different geographic regions in China. The majority of these data centers are owned and maintained by internet data center providers. We typically enter into leasing and hosting service agreements that are renewed periodically with these internet data center providers. We believe that our existing facilities are sufficient for our current needs and we will obtain additional facilities, principally through leasing, to accommodate our future expansion plans.

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Unfavorable changes in any of these general industry conditions could negatively affect demand for our services and our results of operations. Our business operations in 2019 and 2020 were negatively impacted by the tightened regulatory framework in China and the COVID-19 outbreak.

Specific Factors Affecting Our Results of Operations

Ability to Maintain and Expand our User Base in a Cost-Effective Manner

Our revenues, to a large extent, are dependent on the growth of our user base. We are constantly seeking to improve and optimize user experience to achieve a high level of user satisfaction, which in turn helps us retain existing users and attract new users through word-of-mouth referrals. Our results of operations will depend, in part, on the effectiveness of our sales and marketing efforts in user acquisition. We intend to continue to dedicate significant resources to our sales and marketing efforts and continually seek to improve the effectiveness of these efforts, in particular with regards to new user acquisition.

Ability to Advance our Technologies on a Continuing Basis

Our success to date is largely attributable to our ability to seamlessly integrate the use of technologies into provision of financial services. We have been focusing on leveraging our advanced technology capabilities such as data collection and artificial intelligence capabilities to increase the automation level of our platform and optimize our operational efficiency. Our highly advanced technology infrastructure enables us to facilitate a large number of transactions simultaneously. We also plan to invest in emerging new technologies such as blockchain technology. As our business grows, and backed by our strategy focusing on technology empowerment, we will continue to invest in strengthening our technology infrastructure, which may increase our expenses in the short term.

Ability to Broaden our Product Offerings

Our growth to date has depended on, and our future success will in part depend on, successfully meeting user demand for new products and services. With our footprint expanding overseas, we have made and will continue to make substantial investments to develop and offer new products, both domestically and internationally to our users. For example. we aim to offer a more diversified array of investment products and to leverage our securities and insurance licenses to seek additional cross-selling opportunities in our online wealth management product lines including insurance brokerage services and overseas stock investment products. Failure to continue to successfully broaden our product offerings could adversely affect our operating results and we may not be able to recoup the costs of developing and launching new products.

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Key Line Items and Specific Factors Affecting Our Results of Operations

Net revenues

In the reporting period, we generated revenue from the provision of financial services. The following table sets forth the breakdown of our net revenues, both in absolute amount and as a percentage of our total net revenues, for the periods indicated.

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Revenue from loan facilitation services.  For each loan facilitated on our platform for our online lending information intermediary services, we charge a service fee to the borrower and the investor each at certain percentage of the loan principal and allocate such fee between loan facilitation services and post-origination services that we provide. The rate of such service fees varies depending on the type, pricing and term of underlying loans. Loan facilitation services fees for our online lending information intermediary services were the portion of service fees we charge to borrowers and investors in relation to the work we perform through our platform by matching them with each other and facilitating the origination of loan transactions. We ceased offering online lending information intermediary services by the end of 2020.

For each loan referred by us to our institutional funding partners under our direct lending program, we charged a service fee to either the borrower with whom we have stopped directly charging service fees since April 2019 or the financial institution partner each at certain percentage of the loan principal and allocated such fee between loan facilitation services and post-origination services that we provide. Loan facilitation services fees were the portion of service fees we charged to borrowers with whom we had stopped directly charging service fees since April 2019 or financial institution partners in relation to the services we provided such as traffic referral services and credit assessment.

Revenue from post-origination services. For our online lending information intermediary services, post-origination services fees were the portion of service fees charged to borrowers and investors in relation to services we provided after loan origination, such as repayment facilitation and loan collection. We ceased offering online lending information intermediary services by the end of 2020. Under our direct lending program, post-origination service fees were the portion of service fees charged to either the borrowers with whom we had stopped directly charging service fees since April 2019 or the financial institution partners in relation to services we provided after loan origination, such as repayment facilitation and loan collection.

Others.   Other revenues mainly included product sales revenues from online sales of goods and penalty fees we charged to borrowers for late payment for our online lending information intermediary services prior to 2020. Starting from early 2018, penalty fees under our online lending information intermediary services have been paid to the depository account and were no longer included in our revenues thereafter. In 2020, our other revenues mainly included penalty fee charged to borrowers for late payment, product sales revenues from online sales of goods, and other service revenues. Other revenues also include revenue of services such as insurance agency, securities brokerage, consulting and user referral.

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Sales and marketing.   Sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of various marketing expenses, including those related to borrower and investor acquisition and retention and general brand and awareness building.

Origination and servicing.   Origination and servicing expenses consist primarily of variable expenses and vendor costs, including costs related to credit assessment, customer and system support, payment processing services and collection associated with facilitating and servicing loans.

General and administrative.  General and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries, share-based compensation and other benefits granted primarily to our management, research and development personnel and finance and administrative personnel, rental, professional service fees and other expenses.

Reversal of (provision for) doubtful contract assets and receivables. Reversal of (provision for) doubtful contract assets and receivables consist primarily of allowance for account receivable, loan receivables, other receivables and contract assets.

Taxation

Cayman Islands

We are an exempted company incorporated in the Cayman Islands. The Cayman Islands currently levy no taxes on individuals or corporations based upon profits, income, gains or appreciations and there is no taxation in the nature of inheritance tax or estate duty. There are no other taxes likely to be material to our company levied by the government of the Cayman Islands save certain stamp duties which may be applicable, from time to time, on certain instruments executed in or brought within the jurisdiction of the Cayman Islands. The Cayman Islands are not party to any double tax treaties that are applicable to any payments made by or to our company. There are no exchange control regulations or currency restrictions in the Cayman Islands. In addition, the Cayman Islands does not impose withholding tax on dividend payments.

Hong Kong

According to the Hong Kong regulations, our subsidiaries incorporated in Hong Kong are subject to a two-tiered profits tax rate for assessable profits earned in Hong Kong with effect from April 1, 2018. The first HK$2 million of assessable profits will be taxed at 8.25%, and any part of assessable profits over HK$2 million will be taxed at 16.5%. In addition, to avoid abuse of the two-tiered tax regime, each group of connected entities can nominate only one entity to benefit from the two-tiered tax rate.

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China

Generally, our PRC subsidiaries, variable interest entities and their respective subsidiaries, which are considered PRC resident enterprises under PRC tax law, are subject to enterprise income tax on their worldwide taxable income as determined under PRC tax laws and accounting standards at a rate of 25%. A “high and new technology enterprise” is entitled to a favorable income tax rate of 15% and such qualification is reassessed by relevant governmental authorities every three years. For details of our subsidiaries, variable interest entities and their respective subsidiaries qualified as “high and new technology enterprises,” please refer to Note 12 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this annual report. In addition, enterprises of encouraged industries are subject to preferential tax treatment or tax exemption for certain period in certain areas of China. For details of our subsidiaries, variable interest entities and their respective subsidiaries that are subject to such preferential tax treatment or exemptions, please refer to Note 12 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this annual report.

We are subject to value added tax, or VAT, at a rate of 17% prior to May 1, 2018, 16% from May 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019 and 13% thereafter on the sales of products, at a rate of 6% on the services rendered by us, less any deductible VAT we have already paid or borne, except for entities qualified as small-scale taxpayers at a VAT rate of 3% without any deduction. Since April 1, 2019, we have been subject to an additional 10% deductible VAT. We are also subject to surcharges on VAT payments in accordance with PRC law. During the periods presented, we were not subject to business tax on the services we provide.

Dividends paid by our wholly foreign-owned subsidiaries in China to our intermediary holding company in Hong Kong will be subject to a withholding tax rate of 10%, unless they qualify for a special exemption. If our Hong Kong subsidiaries satisfy all the requirements under the Arrangement between the Mainland China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and Tax Evasion on Income and receives approval from the relevant tax authority, then dividends paid by our wholly foreign-owned subsidiary in China will be subject to a withholding tax rate of 5% instead. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Doing Business in China and Hong Kong—We may not be able to obtain certain benefits under relevant tax treaty on dividends paid by our PRC subsidiaries to us through our Hong Kong subsidiary.”

If our holding company in the Cayman Islands or any of our subsidiaries outside of China were deemed to be a “resident enterprise” under the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law, it would be subject to enterprise income tax on its worldwide income at a rate of 25%. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Doing Business in China and Hong Kong—If we are classified as a PRC resident enterprise for PRC income tax purposes, such classification could result in unfavorable tax consequences to us and our non-PRC shareholders or ADS holders.”

Critical Accounting Policies

Revenue recognition

We have early adopted the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606) and all subsequent ASUs that modified Topic 606 on January 1, 2017.

The core principle of the guidance is that an entity should recognize revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services.

Online lending information intermediary services revenue

Through our online platform, we provided intermediary services on personal financing product, One Card, under which the holders of One Card could apply for loans on a revolving basis (“revolving loan products”). We also provided one-time loan facilitation services to meet various consumption needs (“non-revolving loan products”). For revolving loan products, and non-revolving loan products, our services provided consisted of:

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We have determined that we were not the legal lender or borrower in the loan origination and repayment process, but acting as an intermediary to bring the lender and the borrower together. Therefore, we do not record the loans receivable or payable arising from the loans facilitated between the investors and borrowers on our platform.

We consider our customers to be both the investors and borrowers. We consider the loan facilitation services and post origination services as two separate services, which represent two separate performance obligations under Topic 606, as these two deliverables are distinct in that customers can benefit from each service on its own and our promises to deliver the services are separately identifiable from each other in the contract.

We determine the total transaction price to be the service fees chargeable from the borrowers and investors. The transaction price is allocated to the loan facilitation services and post origination services using their relative standalone selling prices consistent with the guidance in Topic 606. We do not have observable standalone selling price information for the loan facilitation services or post origination services because we did not provide loan facilitation services or post origination services on a standalone basis. There is no direct observable standalone selling price for similar services in the market that is reasonably available to us. As a result, we use an expected cost plus margin approach to estimate the standalone selling prices of loan facilitation services and post origination services as the basis of revenue allocation, which involves significant judgements. In estimating its standalone selling price for the loan facilitation services and post origination services, we consider the cost incurred to deliver such services, profit margin for similar arrangements, customer demand, effect of competitors on our services, and other market factors.

For each type of service, we recognized revenue when (or as) the entity satisfies the service/performance obligation by transferring a promised good or service (that is, an asset) to a customer. Revenues from loan facilitation are recognized at the time a loan is originated between the investor and the borrower and the principal loan balance is transferred to the borrower, at which time the loan facilitation service is considered completed. Revenues from post origination services are recognized on a straight-line basis over the term of the underlying loans as the services are provided ratably on a monthly basis. A majority of the service fee is charged to the borrowers, which is collected upfront upon loan inception or collected over the loan term. Investors pay service fees to us either at the beginning and at the end of the investment commitment period (in terms of automated investing tools) or over the terms of the loan (in terms of self-directing investing tools). In 2018, 2019 and 2020, service fees charged at the beginning or at the end of the investment commitment period or over the terms of the loans in the periods presented were calculated to be equal to an annualized interest rate ranging from 0.5% to 1.5% based on the investment amount and the investment term. Service fees charged to borrowers and investors, including the service fees charged to investors collected at the end of the investment commitment period or over the terms of the loans in the periods presented, were combined as the contract price to be allocated to the two performance obligations relating to loan facilitation services and post-origination services, and recognized as revenue when the relevant services are delivered. Revenue recognized related to service fees not yet received from investors that will be collected at the end of the investment commitment period and over the commitment period are recorded as accounts receivable. All service fees are fixed and not refundable. Revenue recognized is recorded net of value added tax (“VAT”). Remaining performance obligations represent the amount of the transaction price for which service has not been performed under post-origination services.

In December 2020, we ceased publishing information relating to new offering of investment opportunities in fixed income products for investors on our online lending information intermediary platform. Pursuant to certain collaboration arrangements entered into by us and a licensed asset management company, the rights of investors in existing loans underlying the fixed income products will be transferred to the asset management company. After such transfer, the outstanding balance of loans facilitated shall become nil, and the asset management company will provide existing investors with services in relation to the return of their remaining investment in loans.

Direct lending program revenue

Through our direct lending program, we provided traffic referral services to financial institution partners, allowing the financial institution partners to gain access to borrowers who passed our risk assessment. Our services provided consist of:

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Consistent with the revenue recognition policy under the online lending information intermediary services model, we have determined that we were not the legal lender or borrower in the loan origination and repayment process, but acting as an intermediary to bring the lender and the borrower together. Therefore, we did not record the loans receivable or payable arising from the loans facilitated between the financial institution partners and borrowers. We consider our customers to be both the financial institution partners and borrowers.

We consider the loan facilitation services and post origination services as two separate performance obligations. We determine the total transaction price to be the service fees chargeable to the borrowers or the financial institution partners, which is the contracted price adjusted for variable consideration such as potential loan prepayment by the borrows that could reduce the total transaction price, which is estimated using the expected value approach based on historical data and current trends of prepayments of the borrowers. Then the transaction price is allocated to the loan facilitation services and post origination services using their relative standalone selling prices consistent with the guidance in Topic 606, similar to online lending information intermediary services revenue.

For each type of service, we recognized revenue when (or as) satisfy the service/performance obligation(s) by transferring the promised service to our customers. Revenues from loan facilitation services are recognized at the time a loan is originated between the financial institution partners and the borrowers and the principal loan balance is transferred to the borrowers, at which time the facilitation service is considered completed. Revenues from post origination services are recognized on a straight-line basis over the term of the underlying loans as the services are provided ratably on a monthly basis.

Since April 2019, we had stopped charging service fees directly to the borrowers under our direct lending program. Instead, we started to charge service fees either directly to the institutional funding partners, or indirectly through third-party guarantee companies who provide guarantee services, or insurance companies who provided credit insurance to the institutional funding partners on their loans to the borrowers. We concluded this change did not alter the substance of the services we provided to borrowers and financial institution partners under the direct lending program, and therefore would not impact how revenue was recognized. In 2019, under a cooperation agreement, as amended (the “Cooperation Agreement”), we predominantly partnered with PICC Property and Casualty Company Limited Guangdong Branch (“PICC”) who provided the credit insurance service to institutional funding partners on the loan origination, PICC collected all of the loan facilitation service fees and remitted the our portion of our service fees to us. We recorded an account receivable for the service fees confirmed and to be remitted by PICC. We suspended our cooperation with PICC on new loans under our direct lending program since December 2019 and commenced a legal proceeding against PICC in May 2020. See “Item 8. Financial Information—A. Consolidated Statements and Other Financial Information—Legal Proceedings.”

Other revenues

Other revenues mainly include product sales revenues from online sales of goods, penalty fee for late payments, and other service revenues.

We generate product sales revenues primarily through selling of merchandise via our online shopping platform, 9F One Mall (“online agent model”), and through selling of upscale products via third party platforms (“online direct sales model”). Under the online agent model, customers can buy merchandise provided by third-party merchandise suppliers on the 9F One Mall. We do not control the merchandise, but rather acting as an agent for the suppliers. Revenue was recognized for the net amount of consideration we are entitled to retain in exchange for the agent service. We commenced the operations of the online direct sales model in the first quarter of 2019 and terminated the operations in the third quarter of 2019. Under the online direct sales model, revenue was recognized on a gross basis as we control the merchandise before it is transferred to the customers, which is indicated by (i) we are primarily responsible for fulfilling the promise to provide the specified upscale products to the customers; (ii) we bear inventory risk; and (iii) we have discretion in establishing price.

Other revenues also include revenue of services such as insurance agency, securities brokerage, and customer referral.

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Share-Based Compensation

Share-based payment transactions with employees and managements, such as share options, are measured based on the grant date fair value of the equity instrument. We have elected to recognize compensation expenses using the straight-line method for all employee equity awards granted with graded vesting provided that the amount of compensation cost recognized at any date is at least equal to the portion of the grant-date value of the options that are vested at that date, over the requisite service period of the award, which is generally the vesting period of the award. Compensation expenses for awards with performance conditions is recognized when it is probable that the performance condition will be achieved. We elect to recognize forfeitures when they occur.

The following table sets forth our share-based compensation expenses in 2018, 2019 and 2020:

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The following table sets forth certain information regarding the share options granted to our employees at different dates in 2018, 2019 and 2020, taking into the consideration of our 1 to 100 share split immediately before our initial public offering in 2019:

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