According to Financial Tiger News on February 24, after yesterday’s sharp increase of more than 237, today, 51 Credit Card’s stock price fell sharply by 54 on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and its market value fell from HK$4 billion at yesterday’s closing price to HK$1.9 billion. , was "cut in half" again. Behind the sudden rise and fall, 51 Credit Card, which has been involved in violent collection doubts, struggled to liquidate P2P, and suffered from sluggish growth, recently announced a major personnel change that has become the main driver of its stock price roller coaster. Previously, 51 Credit Card’s stock price had been below HK$1 for a long time. . On the evening of February 19, 51 Credit Card announced that founder and CEO Sun Haitao had officially resigned as CEO, retaining the positions of chairman of the board of directors and executive director; Zheng Haiguo became executive director and CEO, and Yu Jin was appointed as a non-executive director.
Zheng Haiguo’s three-year agreement to take over as CEO: deep banking background
Sun Haitao (data map)
The 51 Credit Card board of directors believes that the above arrangement can enable the company to introduce more Multi-professional talents, and refined division of labor and management, laying a more solid foundation for long-term business development. At the same time, by distinguishing the roles of chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer, the company not only complies with the requirements of the corporate governance code set out in Appendix 14 of the Listing Rules, but also effectively improves the company's corporate governance level. Sun Haitao has confirmed to the board of directors that he has no differences of opinion with the board of directors. The board of directors expresses its gratitude for his contribution to the company during his tenure as CEO, and welcomes Zheng Haiguo and Yu Jin to take up their new posts.
According to reports, 48-year-old Zheng Haiguo has been engaged in banking information technology and Internet financial services for a long time, and has a long experience as a bank president. He has a deep understanding of the integration of finance and Internet and other information technology technologies. understanding and rich practical experience. At the same time, he is the vice president of Zhongcai Netcom Holdings Co., Ltd. (listed on GEM of the Stock Exchange: 8071), a subsidiary of 51 Credit Card.
Judging from his resume, from August 1994 to January 2021, Zheng Haiguo held multiple positions in Agricultural Bank of China Co., Ltd. Since August 1994, he has served as the deputy section chief, section chief, and deputy general manager of the Software Section of the Science and Technology Information Department of the Business Department of Zhejiang Branch of the Agricultural Bank of China, as well as the deputy general manager of the Science and Technology Information Department and Electronic Banking Department, and the deputy general manager of the Electronic Banking Department and Information Technology Management Department. Manager, general manager, etc.; since March 2011, he has served as the party branch secretary and president of the Hangzhou Baochu Branch of the Agricultural Bank of China; and from June 2015 to January 2021, he has served as the electronic banking department of the Zhejiang Branch of the Agricultural Bank of China. Deputy general manager, general manager and general manager of the Internet Finance Department, etc.
Zheng Haiguo (data map)
Zheng Haiguo received a bachelor's degree in applied electronic technology from Zhejiang University of Technology, China, in July 1994, and completed a master's degree in economics from Zhejiang University, China, in July 2001 course. He also holds a senior economist qualification.
According to disclosures, Zheng Haiguo has entered into a three-year service agreement with 51 Credit Card, which can be terminated by either party giving no less than one month’s written notice in advance. According to the service agreement, he is entitled to an annual director's fee of RMB1.1 million for his role as executive director and chief executive officer.
Yu Jin, 60, held various positions from April 2000 to September 2018, including deputy general manager of the Human Resources Department of the Agricultural Bank of China, general manager of the electronic banking department, director of the Technology and Product Management Bureau, and Chairman of ABC-CA Fund Management Co., Ltd. Yu Jin has served as a director of Beijing Runbo Internet Digital Technology Co., Ltd. since March 2019. He obtained a bachelor's degree in engineering from Renmin University of China in July 1983 and a master's degree in finance from Nanjing Agricultural University in China in July 1999. He also holds a senior economist qualification.
Currently, there are 8 members on the board of directors of 51 Credit Card, including chairman of the board Sun Haitao, new CEO Zheng Haiguo and CFO Zhao Ke as executive directors, Zou Yunli and Yu Jin as non-executive directors, and Wang Di, Ye Xiang and Xu Xuchu as Independent non-executive director.
After the surge, the market value was cut in half: once investigated for collecting huge profits
According to Financial Tiger, affected by yesterday’s surge, the stock price of 51 Credit Card on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has increased by nearly 198 since the beginning of this year. . In 2018, 2019 and 2020, the annual declines in 51 Credit Card’s stock prices were 28.88, 66.2 and 67.81 respectively. Looking back at the beginning, on July 13, 2018, 51 Credit Card was listed on the Hong Kong Main Board and had great success. On the first day of listing, its issue price increased by 3.65% from the issue price of HK$8.50, and its market value reached HK$10.458 billion. At that time, Sun Haitao lamented in his speech: "The stock code we got is 2051. I hope I can work hard for this company until 2051, when I will be 71 years old."
Times have changed, and the market value has dropped from tens of billions to less than 20% of what it was when it was listed. After more than two years, Sun Haitao, the founder, finally stepped down from the heavy responsibility of CEO. It is also worth mentioning that at the end of July last year, 51 Credit Card co-founder Yang Yuzhi also resigned as executive director and all other positions held by the company. During this period, the sluggish growth of 51 Credit Card was also closely related to the vigorous rectification of the P2P and consumer credit industries to which it belonged.
Public information shows that 51 Credit Card was established in August 2012. It is China’s first and largest online credit card management platform and is affiliated with Hangzhou Enniu Network Technology Co., Ltd. Started from the credit card friends forum, it specializes in credit card bill management software "51 Credit Card Manager". This service greatly meets the needs of users, especially multi-card users, to manage their own debts. Since then, it has launched products such as "51 Renpin", "51 Renpin Loan" and "Give You Flowers". Its business covers personal credit management services, credit card technology services, online credit matching and investment services. Since its development, 51 Credit Card has provided users with one-stop personal financial services covering personal credit management services, credit card technology services, online loan matching and investment services. It has multiple apps such as "51 Credit Card Manager" and has more than 100 million active users. .
However, in October 2019, 51 Credit Card was pushed to the forefront due to investigations and was also questioned. According to a report from the Hangzhou police at the time, on October 21 of the same year, an investigation was launched into the suspected criminal conduct of an outsourced collection company commissioned by 51 Credit Card Co., Ltd., such as provoking quarrels and provoking trouble. A preliminary investigation found that "51 Credit Card" commissioned an outsourced collection company to pretend to be a state agency and used soft violence such as intimidation and harassment to collect debts, and was suspected of crimes such as provoking quarrels and provoking trouble.
At that time, Sun Haitao, the founder of 51 Credit Card, spoke out about the investigation of 51 Credit Card on his personal Weibo, and apologized for the company's cooperation with the investigation, imperfect management, and the concerns of employees and family members. He also said that due to imperfect management, especially insufficient training and supervision of cooperative companies, some excessive behaviors occurred during the communication process with borrowers, which caused harm to individual borrowers, and he was very sorry for this. We will strictly follow the operating procedures of listed companies, further implement various risk control measures, eliminate all irregular third-party cooperation, and ensure healthy communication and collaboration with various partners. At the same time, priority is given to ensuring that each lender is paid as scheduled according to the contract.
On August 31 last year, in response to the 1021 incident, 51 Credit Card pointed out in its semi-annual report that the management was not aware of any illegal activities related to debt collection that were deliberately or intentionally carried out or directed by the group. Therefore, Management believes it is unlikely that the group will be prosecuted for this particular offence.
However, as of the date of the announcement, it is still uncertain whether the investigation related to the 1021 incident has been completed; whether the group or any employees (including senior managers) will be convicted and held responsible for any legitimate legal consequences arising from the investigation of the 1021 incident; and whether the relevant departments Further investigation will be carried out. 51 Credit Card will continue to follow the developments related to the 1021 incident.
Claims to have completed P2P liquidation: There are still lenders complaining about "interest-free" payment
After encountering the violent debt collection investigation storm and the impact of regulatory efforts to crack down on P2P, 51 Credit Card immediately 2020 ushered in the comprehensive withdrawal of its P2P business. On March 30, 2020, 51 Credit Card announced that as of December 31, 2019, the balance of P2P online lending business had dropped from approximately RMB 13.24 billion on December 31, 2018 to approximately RMB 5.63 billion, and in 2020 On February 29, 2018, it further dropped to approximately RMB 3.5 billion. 51 Credit Card also emphasized at the time that it was actively exploring ways to apply for an Internet small loan license as described in the "Guiding Opinions on the Pilot Program of Transforming Online Lending Information Intermediaries into Small Loan Companies" to fully complete the transformation and liquidation of the P2P business. 51 Credit Card hopes to provide support for the long-term sustainable development of its credit matching business through the new opportunities brought by the Internet small loan license and cooperation with other financial institutions after the transformation.
In September last year, 51 Credit Card announced again that as of August 31 last year, it had completed the liquidation of the P2P business. 51 Credit Card once pointed out that before June 30, 2020, the group had settled the remaining outstanding loans of all individual investors by paying approximately RMB 625 million in cash to individual investors or transferring them to third-party institutions.
However, when 51 Credit Card unilaterally announced the completion of the liquidation process of P2P, its relatively "tough" forced liquidation method of 51 Renpindai was once questioned and complained by lenders. Financial Tiger once pointed out that in May 2020, on the Zhejiang Government Service Complaint and Reporting Platform, many lenders alleged: "51 Renpindai transformed and exited, and the platform induced lenders to discount and low-price debt swaps to exit." The West Lake District Commerce Bureau has made it clear in its previous reply: "The relevant departments have not received the "51 Credit Card" cancellation plan. The matters raised in the petition are independent business operations of the enterprise. For relevant issues, please consult the platform for consultation."
On February 3 this year, in response to the issue of creditor's rights transfer, 51Pinpin official Weibo said in reply to a netizen complaining about Black Cat: "Generally, third-party agency acquisitions will look at discounts on the original investment principal, discounts on total assets, The order expiration time and other factors are used to confirm whether to accept the transfer. The specific transfer discount needs to be voluntarily operated by the user."
It is also worth mentioning that on February 19 this year, a user said on Black Cat Complaint: "In November 2018, I invested 40,000 yuan in Safe Investment, and on April 24, 2020, 51 characters I unilaterally defaulted and deducted the interest I had earned, and only recovered the principal of 40,000 until maturity. I did not pay any interest for two years, and asked the company to pay me 9,200 in interest.” 51Personality stated in its reply: "Currently, the industry is one-size-fits-all caused by uncontrollable factors such as national policies, which is in line with the contract's terms of early termination of service under unforeseen factors. The company has protected your investment through subsidies from its own funds. Funds cleared."
New boss takes office: Facing two major challenges: business compliance and performance revitalization
It is understood that since the second half of 2019, the growth of various indicators of 51 Credit Card performance has fallen into a downturn. The 2020 interim report shows that 51 Credit Card achieved revenue of 165 million yuan, a decrease of 88.2% from the same period last year, and an adjusted net loss of approximately 752 million yuan, while the adjusted net profit for the same period in 2019 was approximately 309 million yuan. The withdrawal of the P2P business is also an important reason for the decline in the performance of 51 Credit Card.
As of June 30, 2020, the number of registered users of the 51 Credit Card Manager application increased by approximately 3.0 to approximately 85.9 million due to approximately 83.4 million on June 30, 2019. At the same time, the cumulative number of credit cards managed also increased due to The number of approximately 139 million tickets on June 30, 2019 increased by approximately 4.0% to approximately 144 million tickets.
51 Credit Card has previously stated that in order to concentrate resources to ensure the smooth completion of P2P liquidation, it has significantly reduced various expenses including marketing expenses and general administrative expenses. Coupled with the impact of the new coronavirus pneumonia epidemic, the growth rate of new users slowed down in the first half of 2020, and the scale of various businesses such as credit matching services, credit card technology services and introduction services was maintained at a low level. At the same time, we strive to maintain the activity of existing users in order to resume business growth after the P2P decommissioning is completed and the COVID-19 epidemic stabilizes. In addition, in addition to the impact of P2P withdrawal and the COVID-19 epidemic, supervision of the Internet financial industry has become increasingly strict, and its credit matching services and introduction service businesses have also been affected.
51 Credit Card also pointed out that although the group has completed the P2P liquidation, the new crown epidemic and the uncertainty of the credit market will still affect the group's development. To this end, the Group needs to adopt more effective policies and maintain the liquidity of its existing business operations and cash flows to cope with economic uncertainty and market conditions. At the same time, the group’s development of innovative businesses also requires further strengthening of technological development.
Industry analysts believe that Sun Haitao's resignation as CEO and Zheng Haiguo's replacement is closely related to his imminent strategic transformation. Business compliance and performance revitalization will be the two major challenges he faces after taking office.
In terms of performance revitalization, Zheng Haiguo has a profound background as a traditional banking executive, which may help 51 Credit Card gain a deeper and systematic understanding of the bank’s business needs, expand resources within the banking industry, and may revitalize its performance. Injecting new vitality into Zhenzhen has obvious advantages in its transformation into financial technology output services.
However, under the current trend of strong supervision in the consumer finance credit industry, business compliance is the top priority faced by 51 Credit Card. On February 20, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the "Notice on Further Regulating the Internet Loan Business of Commercial Banks", requiring commercial banks to independently carry out Internet loan risk management and strictly prohibiting the outsourcing of risk management in key aspects before, during, and after the loan. This notice further strengthens the responsibilities and obligations of financial technology companies in issuing joint loans and increases their capital occupation for credit business. As the regulatory boundaries for financial technology and Internet finance continue to become clearer, licensing and compliance will undoubtedly be important legal codes for the further development of enterprises.
In addition, Black Cat complaint data shows that since the beginning of this year, there have been a lot of user complaints about 51 Credit Card and 51 Renpin Loan. Issues such as high interest rates, violent collections, disguised charges, and high service fees still exist. is the main content of the complaint. Currently, the investigation results of the 1021 incident have not yet been released. For 51 Credit Card, how to further strengthen and improve user services and avoid "violations" will still be a long-term test.