Yiren Digital Ltd.

and thank you for standing by. And welcome to the Year in Digital First Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, to Ms. Olivia Yu. Thank you. Please go ahead.

Thank you. And welcome to Year in Digital's First Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call. Today's call features a presentation by the founder, chairman, and CEO of Credit East, and our CEO, Mr. Ning Tong, our SVP, Ms. Mei Zhao, and our CFO, Ms. Nan Mei. Mr. Ning Tong, our director, will join the presenters in a Q&A session. Before we begin, we would like to remind you of the payments made under the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995. Such statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and factors that can cause actual results to differ materially from those containing any such statements. Further information regarding potential risks, uncertainties, or factors is included in the company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company does not undertake any obligations to update any forward-looking statements as required under applicable law. During the call, we will be referring to several non-GAAP financial measures and supplemental measures to review and assess our operating performance. These non-GAAP financial measures are not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for financial information prepared and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. For information about these non-GAAP measures and reconciliation to the GAAP measures, please refer to our earnings press release. I'll now pass on to for opening remarks.

Thank you all for joining us today. With the completion of our business restructuring and spin-off of our legacy business, we have completed our transition to become a leading user-centric digital personal financial management platform. We delivered a solid quarter to start the year, resuming high-quality growth and returning to our normal profitability margin level. As we continue to focus on our strategic transition and business growth, we are constantly building and strengthening our key competitive edges along the way. Firstly, we have accumulated a considerable user base with over 5.3 million borrowers and 2.4 million investors whom we are reactivating. At the same time, We are also continuing to acquire new customers in our served segments through our established networks and partner channels. Secondly, we have been making efforts in technology innovation and building up our data and tech-driven IT systems, coupled with AI, blockchain, and cloud computing to better serve our users and enhance our operation efficiency. Thirdly, We are enriching and broadening our product portfolio in both credit and wealth management to forge a full spectrum of financial products and services. So, through all these moves, we are aiming to fully address our customers' financial needs in every stage of their lives, serving them through both online and offline channels. with products and services ranging from credit to investment and insurance to help them better spend, better invest, and be better protected. This is how we are differentiated, and we believe we are on the right track to continue to expand our business map. Now, I will provide the business update on our wealth management side. And then I'll pass it over to May to give an update on our credit business. Our wealth management business continues to see stable growth. Client assets for investment products reached RMB 10.7 billion as of March 31st, 2021, representing an increase of 25% quarter over quarter. Total number of active investors stood at 307K as of March 31st, 2021, representing an increase of 32% from last quarter. Meanwhile, the number of newly registered users coming from Yirenwao's referral program in the first quarter this year grew by 22% from last quarter. indicating increasing trust and loyalty from existing investors in our brand and reputation. In addition, we are making meaningful achievements in increasing our investors' LTV, In the first quarter of 2021, the number of investors who held more than two asset classes on Yiren Wealth grew by 630% from prior year and the average client asset per investor increased by 65% quarter over quarter to RMB 85K. Next onto our insurance business, He Xiang Insurance Brokers. the growth momentum remains strong. We expected our product portfolio into life insurance this quarter to fully tap into our customers' insurance needs, as well as the rollout of a new strategic platform initiative in which leveraging on our insurance tech capabilities We partner with traffic channels to provide scenario-based data-driven product design, digitize the policy administration, and the distribution services. Using our partnership with the ski and snowboard platform as an example, their platform helps users plan their next ski trip, book lessons, purchase equipment, and now sees a DAU of around We worked with our insurance partner to tailor a personal accident insurance plan specifically for sport-related incidents and digitized their entire process from customer onboarding to underwriting and claims management, helping them realize an entirely new revenue stream. We will continue to open our platform to an increasing number of channel partners. to serve different consumption scenarios. Last but not least, our digital stock brokerage platform is set for launch in the second quarter, which will offer offshore stock brokerage and financial services to retail investors, bringing additional synergies to our wealth management business. We note an ongoing trend of household assets in China increasingly being shifted from deposits to money market funds and equity assets, including stocks and futures, giving their more attractive use. In addition, global capital markets are experiencing a sizable structural shift as trading volumes are hitting new highs in 2021 with increasingly strong participation from retail investors. This retail investing phenomena has taken off and accelerating, and our new initiative will allow us to see the benefits from this market trend. Leveraging client resources and partnerships with CreditEase ecosystem, as well as our strong professional investment capabilities, The platform will target both mass output and high-net-worth customer segments and offer value-added services, including exclusive one-on-one consulting and financial information services. Now, I will turn the call over to Mei, who will highlight key updates for our credit business this quarter.

Thanks, Ning. And hello, everyone. I will now provide an update on our credit business. We continue to see solid business growth in the first quarter of 2021, following the three consecutive quarters of growth in the low volume, helping us to start a year strong. At the end of the first quarter, year-end credit register users reached 95.8 million, increasing 8% year-on-year. Total number of borrowers served in the first quarter reached close to 350,000 and increased up to 83% quarter-over-quarter. In the first quarter, Eon Credit Platform facilitated RMB $4.9 billion in loans under the loan facilitation model, an increase of 17% quarter-over-quarter and 565% year-on-year. We are now focused on the two key strategic initiatives, which echo what Ning mentioned earlier on our positioning to be a leading user-centric digital personal financial management platform to meet our customers' diverse financial needs through offering the comprehensive suite of the financial services. Firstly, we have been diversifying and enriching our products by consistently broadening our channel partners, and now we are covering a growing number of consumption scenarios, including traveling, shopping, social networking, entertainment and education, which makes the products offering from the secure and unsecured loans with the various ticket sizes and tenors. offering through both online and offline channels, we have established a full credit process matrix to meet our customers' various credit needs. Also, apart from 2C channels, we have also established a partnership with 2B companies, such as third-party payment SaaS platforms and tax and financial management platforms, which help us further drive up our scale. So far, we are working with more than 30 China partners and we are continuing to expand more external cooperation. Secondly, we started to work with our Hexiang insurance brokers last year to offer life and property insurance products and services to our borrowers to better protect them and their families. through both our online platform and the offline national network of the more than 200 stores. And insurance has now become a new driver of our credit business. Average premium per policy saw visible growth by 270% from August 2020 to April 2029, driven by increasing profit and upside strategies. So you can see that by integrating different business lines, we have built a sophisticated and complementary ecosystem of financial services. On the operational front, we continue to achieve the cost efficiency and improve our product unit economics. For example, we see further decline in the customer acquisition cost as we broaden our products and services offering. thereby increasing the percentage of the loan volume generated by repeat borrowers by 54% from prior quarters. Lastly, on risk of performance, we have been stable in improving credit performance. As of March 31, 2021, the delinquency rates for loans that are past due for 15 to 29 days, 30 to 59 days, and 60 to 89 days were 0.5% or 0.8% and 0.6% respectively. Recovery in line to our historical lower levels. In terms of the risk of management, we have improved collection rates through more refined access management policy, enabling us to stabilize our delinquency rates at the healthy level. As a result, we expect our strong credit performance to continue throughout the year. With that, we will now pass it to our CFO, Na, who will provide a financial update.

Thank you, May. Hello, everyone. For financial update, I will focus on key items of business operation and the financial performance only. You can refer to the detailed financial results in our early release and IR desk that has been posted on our website. First, our operating highlights. For our wealth management business, as of March 31, 2021, we have served more than 2.4 billion investors and the total number of active investors Activity investors in our investment products grew to 307,107, increased 32% quarter over quarter. Climate assets in our investment products increased 25% quarter over quarter to RMB 10.7 billion as of March 31, 2021. On the credit side, loan origination for the quarter was RMB 4.9 billion. representing an increase of 17% quarter over quarter. Quarter one is our historical slowest quarter due to China holiday, and we expand volume to further ride out in the following quarters. Onto our financial, in the first quarter, total revenue increased 7% year on year to RMB 1.1 billion, of which 24% came from our wealth management business. Due to the rapid write-up in our insurance business, revenue generated from He Xiang Insurance Broker is now show-end insurance broker service in our P&L. We have also added a new financial service revenue line item, which represents revenue from our autumn financial lease. Total expense decreased by 7% year-on-year to $0.8 billion. Selling and marketing expense decreased to 34%. from prior year to RMB 405.2 million, mainly joined by increased operational efficiency. Our original and service expense increased 7% from prior year to RMB 174.5 billion, mainly due to an increase in commission expense paid to sales channel as a result of the expense insurance premiums. Allowance for counter assets, receivables, and others was only 141.2 billion this quarter, equivalent to 2.9% of loan volume, as compared to 0.8% last quarter. Last quarter, we adjust down the allowance rate based on change in actual collection rate, which results in an allowance to ride back. As equivalent to ride back, the allowance rate of last quarter was 3.3%. The rate in Q1 2021 was better compared to last quarter. Net income for the quarter increased 843% from prior year to RMB 181.2 million. On the balance sheet side, our cash position remains strong with RMB 2.6 billion of cash and shelter investment as of March 31, 2021. Our strong balance sheet positions us well in the current operating environment and allows us to continue to employ new initiatives and tap into new opportunities. Finally, on Business Outlook, for the full year 2021, our forecast remains at the range of RMB 20 to 30 million for the total investment products and RMB 20 to 25 billion for the total loan facility. This forecast reflects our current and preliminary review of the marketing and operating conditions, which are subject to change. This concludes our closing remarks. Operator, we are waiting for client A. Thank you.

We will now begin the question and answer session. If you wish to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press the pound and hash key. Once again, it is star 1. Thank you. Once again, if you wish to ask a question, it is star 1. Once again, it is star 1. There's no more further questions at this time. I'd like to hand the call back to today's presenters for closing remarks. Please go ahead.

Thank you everyone for joining the call today. This concludes our call for this quarter. Thank you.

Thank you. You may all disconnect. Have a great day and goodbye.