From March 31, 2023, domestic enterprises that have submitted valid applications for overseas offerings and listings but have not obtained the approval from overseas regulatory authorities or overseas stock exchanges shall complete the filing procedures with the CSRC prior to their overseas offerings and listings.
Considering the above, as advised by our PRC legal counsel, King & Wood Mallesons, as we are a company that had been listed overseas before the effective date of the Measures for Cybersecurity Review (2021) and the New Administrative Rules Regarding Overseas Listings, we are currently not required to obtain permission or approval from the CSRC or the CAC to continue our listing on an U.S. exchange. However, King & Wood Mallesons has also advised us that there are substantial uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of current or future PRC laws, rules 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 legal counsel, King & Wood Mallesons, in the future. If we inadvertently conclude any permission or approval is not required and the CSRC, the CAC or other relevant PRC regulatory agencies subsequently determine that permission or approval is required to continue our listing on an U.S. exchange, or to maintain the listing status of our ADSs, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to obtain such permission or approval in a timely manner, or at all, or to maintain such permission or approval once we receive it. The CSRC, the CAC or other PRC regulatory agencies also may take actions requiring us, or making it advisable for us, not to continue our listing on an U.S. exchange or maintain the listing status of our ADSs. However, if we seek any future offerings on Nasdaq Stock Market or seek issuance and listing on other overseas markets or if any major events occur, as stipulated in the New Administrative Rules Regarding Overseas Listings, we will be required to complete the filing procedure or obtain the required approval under the New Administrative Rules Regarding Overseas Listings. There is no assurance that we will be able to get the clearance of filing or report procedures under the New Administrative Rules Regarding Overseas Listings on a timely basis, or at all. Any failure of us to fully comply with new regulatory requirements may significantly limit or completely hinder our ability to offer or continue to offer our ordinary shares, cause significant disruption to our and our VIE Group’s business operations, and severely damage our and our VIE Group’s reputation, which would materially and adversely affect our and our VIE Group’s financial condition and results of operations and cause our ordinary shares to significantly decline in value or become worthless. See “Risk Factors— Risks Relating to Doing Business in China” on page 46 of this prospectus. Further, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council jointly issued the “Opinions on Severely Cracking Down on Illegal Securities Activities According to Law,” or the Opinions, which was made available to the public on July 6, 2021. The Opinions emphasized the need to strengthen the administration over illegal securities activities, and the need to strengthen the supervision over overseas listings by Chinese companies. Effective measures, such as promoting the construction of relevant regulatory systems will be taken to deal with the risks and incidents of China-concept overseas listed companies, and cybersecurity and data privacy protection requirements and similar matters. The Opinions and any related implementing rules to be enacted may subject us to compliance requirement in the future. On February 24, 2023, the CSRC promulgated the Provisions on Strengthening Confidentiality and Archives Administration of Overseas Securities Offering and Listing by Domestic Companies (the “Confidentiality and Archives Administration Provisions”), which has also become effective on March 31, 2023. The Confidentiality and Archives Administration Provisions set out rules, requirements and procedures relating to provision of documents, materials and accounting archives for securities companies, securities service providers, overseas regulators and other entities and individuals in connection with oversea offering and listing, including without limitation to, domestic companies that carry out overseas offering and listing (either in direct or indirect means) and the securities companies and securities service providers (either incorporated domestically or overseas) that undertake relevant businesses shall not leak any state secret and working secret of government agencies, or harm national security and public interest, and a domestic company shall first obtain approval from competent authorities according to law, and file with the secrecy administrative department at the same level, if it plans to, either directly or through its overseas listed entity, publicly disclose or provide any documents and materials that contain state secrets or working secrets of government agencies. Given the current regulatory environment in the PRC, we are still subject to the uncertainty of interpretation and enforcement of the rules and regulations in the PRC, which can change quickly with little advance notice, and any future actions of the PRC authorities. In addition, we cannot assure you that relevant PRC government agencies would reach the same conclusion as we do. If we are wrong with regards to our interpretation of the PRC laws and regulations, or if the CSRC, the CAC or other regulatory PRC agencies later promulgate new rules requiring that we obtain their approvals to offer our ordinary shares to foreign investors, we may be unable to obtain a waiver of such approval requirements, if and when procedures are established to obtain such a waiver. Any uncertainties and/or negative publicity regarding such an approval requirement could have a material adverse effect on the trading price of our securities. As a result, our and our VIE Group’s operations could be adversely affected, directly or indirectly, by existing or future laws and regulations relating to our and our VIE Group’s business or industry. See “ Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Doing Business in China.”
Under PRC law, we may provide funding to our PRC subsidiaries only through capital contributions or loans, and to the consolidated VIE only through loans, subject to the satisfaction of applicable government registration and approval requirements. We rely on dividends and other distributions from our PRC subsidiaries to satisfy part of our liquidity requirement. Under the contractual arrangements among Shanghai Kunjia, the consolidated VIE, and the shareholders of the consolidated VIE, Shanghai Kunjia is entitled to substantially all of the economic benefits of the VIE Group in the form of service fees. For a condensed consolidating schedule depicting the financial position, cash flow and results of operations for Jiayin Group, the consolidated VIE, and any eliminating adjustments separately, see “Item 3. Key Information—Condensed Consolidation Schedule” in our annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2023, which is incorporated by reference in this prospectus. Please also see “Item 8. Financial Information” in our annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2023, which is incorporated by reference in this prospectus.
Relevant PRC laws and regulations permit the PRC companies, such as our PRC operating entities, to pay dividends only out of their retained earnings, if any, as determined in accordance with PRC accounting standards and regulations. Each of our PRC operating entities that is in retained earnings position as of the end of each year is required to set aside at least 10% of its after-tax profits each year, if any, to fund certain statutory reserve funds until such reserve funds reach 50% of its registered capital. The aforementioned registered capital refers to the total amount of share capital subscribed by all shareholders or the amount of capital contribution made by all shareholders, as registered with the registration authority. Furthermore, each of our PRC operating entities may allocate a portion of its after-tax profits based on PRC accounting standards to a discretionary surplus fund at their discretion. The statutory reserve funds and the discretionary surplus funds are not distributable as cash dividends. After our PRC operating entities have generated retained earnings and met the requirements for appropriation to the statutory reserves and until such reserves reach 50% of its registered capital, respectively, our PRC operating entities can distribute dividends upon approval of the shareholders. As a result of these and other restrictions under the PRC laws and regulations, our PRC operating entities are restricted to transfer a portion of their net assets to us either in the form of dividends, loans or advances. Even though we currently do not require any such dividends, loans or advances from our PRC operating entities for working capital and other funding purposes, we may in the future require additional cash resources from our PRC operating entities due to changes in business conditions, to fund future acquisitions and developments, or merely declare and pay dividends to or distributions to our shareholders.
Our corporate structure is subject to risks relating to our contractual arrangements with Jiayin Technology and its shareholders. For the years ended December 31, 2021, 2022 and 2023, the consolidated VIE was in an accumulated deficit position. The consolidated VIE had accumulated deficits of RMB1,130 million, RMB965 million and RMB636 million (US$89.6 million) as of December 31, 2021, 2022 and 2023, respectively. In light of that, Shanghai Kunjia did not charge the consolidated VIE for any service fees, and consequently, the consolidated VIE had not paid any service fees to Shanghai Kunjia as of December 31, 2023. Shanghai Kunjia intends to charge the consolidated VIE for service fees after the pre-tax profit under U.S. GAAP of the consolidated VIE exceeds its accumulated losses under U.S. GAAP, pursuant to the Contractual Arrangements. For the years ended December 31, 2021, 2022 and 2023, Jiayin Group received the cash dividends from its PRC subsidiaries of nil, nil and RMB157.7 million (US$22.2 million). The VIE contractual arrangements have not been tested in a court of law. If the PRC government finds these contractual arrangements non-compliant with the restrictions on direct foreign investment in the relevant industries, or if the relevant PRC laws, regulations, and rules or the interpretation thereof change in the future, we could be subject to severe penalties or be forced to relinquish our beneficial interest in the consolidated VIE or forfeit our rights under the contractual arrangements. Jiayin Group, the VIE Group and investors of our company face uncertainty about potential future actions by the PRC government, which could affect the enforceability of our contractual arrangements with Jiayin Technology and, consequently, significantly affect the financial condition and results of operations of Jiayin Group. If we are unable to claim our right to control the assets of the consolidated VIE, the ADSs may decline in value or become worthless. In addition, changes in China’s economic, political or social conditions, or government policies may cause our and the consolidated VIE’s underlying operations in China to become prohibitive, which could materially and adversely affect our and the consolidated VIE’s business, financial condition, and results of operations. See “Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Our Corporate Structure” and “Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Doing Business in China.” As of the date of this prospectus, our issued and outstanding share capital consists of Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares. Holders of Class A ordinary shares and Class B ordinary shares have the same rights except for voting and conversion right. In respect of matters requiring a shareholder vote, each registered holder of Class A ordinary shares is, on a poll, entitled to one vote per share, and each registered holder of Class B ordinary shares is, on a poll, entitled to ten votes per share. Each Class B ordinary share is convertible into one Class A ordinary share at any time at the option of the holder thereof. See “Description of Share Capital.”
Investors in the ADSs are not purchasing equity securities of our operating subsidiaries but instead are purchasing equity securities of a Cayman Islands holding company. We face various legal and operational risks and uncertainties associated with being based in or having a portion of our operations in China and the complex and evolving PRC laws and regulations. For example, we face risks associated with regulatory approvals on offerings conducted overseas and foreign investment in China-based issuers, anti-monopoly regulatory actions, regulatory actions for virtual currency-related business activities and mining activities and oversight on cybersecurity and data privacy, which may negatively impact our ability to conduct certain businesses, access foreign investments, or list on foreign stock exchange. These risks could result in a material adverse change in our operations and the value of our ADSs, significantly limit or completely hinder our ability to offer or continue to offer securities to investors, or cause the value of such securities to significantly decline or become worthless. For a detailed description of risks relating to doing business in China, see “Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Doing Business in China.”
Our auditor, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Certified Public Accountants LLP is independent registered public accounting firms that issue the audit report included elsewhere in this prospectus. Our auditor is located in mainland China. Our securities will be prohibited from trading on a national securities exchange or in the over-the-counter trading market in the United States under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, or the HFCAA, if the Securities and Exchange Commission determines that we have filed audit reports issued by a registered public accounting firm that has not been subject to inspections by the PCAOB for two consecutive years. On December 16, 2021, the PCAOB issued a report to notify the SEC of its determination that the PCAOB was unable to inspect or investigate completely registered public accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong and our auditors were subject to this determination. On December 15, 2022, the PCAOB announced that it was able to secure complete access to inspect and investigate PCAOB-registered public accounting firms headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong in 2022. Each year, the PCAOB will determine whether it can inspect and investigate completely audit firms in mainland China and Hong Kong, among other jurisdictions. If the PCAOB determines in the future that it no longer has full access to inspect and investigate completely accounting firms in mainland China and Hong Kong and we use an accounting firm headquartered in one of these jurisdictions to issue an audit report on its financial statements filed with the SEC, we would be identified as a Commission-Identified Issuer following the filing of the annual report on Form 20-F for the relevant fiscal year. In accordance with the HFCAA, our securities would be prohibited from being traded on a national securities exchange or in the over-the-counter trading market in the United States if it is identified as a Commission- Identified Issuer for two consecutive years in the future. If our securities are prohibited from trading in the United States, there is no certainty that we will be able to list on a non-U.S. exchange or that a market for our securities will develop outside of the United States. In the event of such prohibition, the Nasdaq may determine to delist our securities. The delisting of our securities, or the threat of their being delisted, may materially and adversely affect the value of your investment. See “Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Doing Business in China—Trading in our securities may be prohibited under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act or the Accelerating Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, if it is later determined that the PCAOB is unable to inspect or investigate completely our auditor, and as a result, U.S. national securities exchanges, such as Nasdaq, may determine to delist our securities.”
Investing in our securities involves risks. See the “Risk Factors” section contained in the applicable prospectus supplement, any related free writing prospectus and the documents we incorporate by reference in this prospectus to read about factors you should consider before investing in our securities.
This prospectus may not be used to offer or sell any securities unless accompanied by a prospectus supplement.
Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of the disclosures in this prospectus, including any prospectus supplement and documents incorporated by reference. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
The date of this prospectus is , 2024