Emerging Growth Company Status

In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), for complying with new or revised accounting standards. As a result, an emerging growth company can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We elected to opt out of such extended transition period and acknowledge such election is irrevocable pursuant to Section 107 of the JOBS Act.

Corporate Structure

China Commercial Credit, Inc. is a holding company that was incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware on December 19, 2011. The Company, through its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, Wujiang Luxiang Information Technology Consulting Co. Ltd. (“WFOE”), a limited liability company formed under the laws of the PRC on September 26, 2012, controls Wujiang Luxiang, a company established under the laws of the PRC on October 21, 2008, through a series of contractual arrangements.  CCC International Investment Ltd. (“CCC BVI”), a company incorporated under the laws of the British Virgin Islands (“BVI”) on August 21, 2012, is wholly owned by the Company.  CCC BVI wholly owns CCC International Investment Holding Ltd. (“CCC HK”), a company incorporated under the laws of the Hong Kong S.A.R. of the PRC on September 4, 2012.  WFOE is wholly owned by CCC HK.  On September 5, 2013, CCC HK incorporated PFL a wholly owned subsidiary, to start our financial leasing business. 

On April 11, 2015, WFOE delivered a notice of termination to Pride Information Technology Co. Ltd. (“Pride Online”), a domestic entity established on February 19, 2014 WFOEand 100% owned by Mr. Qin to terminate the VIE agreements by and among the parties. The Company entered into certain contractual arrangementsthe VIE agreements with Pride Online pursuantin order to whichprovide WFOE now controlsabsolute control over the economic interest in Pride Online.

There are no PRC state, provincial or local laws, rules and regulations prohibiting or restricting direct foreign equity ownership in companies engaged in rural microcredit business. However, the provincial authorities regulate microcredit companies through strict licensing requirements and approval procedures.  Direct controlling foreign ownership in a for-profit microcredit company has never been approved by competent Jiangsu government authorities. Based on the current position taken by the competent Jiangsu government authorities, direct foreign controlling ownership of a for-profit rural microcredit company will not be approved in the foreseeable future.

As such, neither we nor our subsidiaries own any equity interest in Wujiang Luxiang.  Instead, we control and receive the economic benefits of Wujiang Luxiang’s business operation through a series of contractual arrangements.  WFOE, Wujiang Luxiang and its shareholders entered into a series of contractual arrangements, also known as VIE Agreements, on September 26, 2012.   The VIE agreements are designed to provide WFOE with the power, rights and obligations equivalent in all material respects to those it would possess as the sole equity holder of Wujiang Luxiang, including absolute control rights and the rights to the assets, property and revenue of Wujiang Luxiang.  Based on a legal opinion issued by Dacheng Law Offices to WFOE, the VIE agreements constitute valid and binding obligations of the parties to such agreements, and are enforceable and valid in accordance with the laws of the PRC. 

Each of the VIE Agreements is described in detail below:

Under the Share Pledge Agreement between the Wujiang Shareholders and WFOE, the 12 Wujiang Shareholders pledged all of their equity interests in Wujiang Luxiang to WFOE to guarantee the performance of Wujiang Luxiang’s obligations under the Exclusive Business Cooperation Agreement.  Under the terms of the agreement, in the event that Wujiang Luxiang or its shareholders breach their respective contractual obligations under the Exclusive Business Cooperation Agreement, WFOE, as pledgee, will be entitled to certain rights, including, but not limited to, the right to collect dividends generated by the pledged equity interests.  The Wujiang Shareholders also agreed that upon occurrence of any event of default, as set forth in the Share Pledge Agreement, WFOE is entitled to dispose of the pledged equity interest in accordance with applicable PRC laws.  The Wujiang Shareholders further agree not to dispose of the pledged equity interests or take any actions that would prejudice WFOE’s interest.

The Share Pledge Agreement shall be effective until all payments due under the Exclusive Business Cooperation Agreement have been paid by Wujiang Luxiang.  WFOE shall cancel or terminate the Share Pledge Agreement upon Wujiang Luxiang’s full payment of fees payable under the Exclusive Business Cooperation Agreement.

Under the Exclusive Option Agreement, the Wujiang Shareholders irrevocably granted WFOE (or its designee) an exclusive option to purchase, to the extent permitted under PRC law, once or at multiple times, at any time, part or all of their equity interests in Wujiang Luxiang.  The option price is equal to the capital paid in by the Wujiang Shareholders subject to any appraisal or restrictions required by applicable PRC laws and regulations. As of the date of this report, if WFOE exercised such option, the total option price that would be paid to all of the Wujiang Shareholders would be $44,063,863, which is the aggregate registered capital of Wujiang Luxiang.   The option purchase price shall increase in case the Wujiang Shareholders make additional capital contributions to Wujiang Luxiang, including when the registered capital is increased upon Wujiang Luxiang receiving the proceeds from our initial public offering.

Under the Power of Attorney, the Wujiang Shareholders authorize WFOE to act on their behalf as their exclusive agent and attorney with respect to all rights as shareholders, including but not limited to:  (a) attending shareholders' meetings; (b) exercising all the shareholder's rights, including voting, that shareholders are entitled to under the laws of China and the Articles of Association, including but not limited to the sale or transfer or pledge or disposition of shares in part or in whole; and (c) designating and appointing on behalf of shareholders the legal representative, the executive director, supervisor, the chief executive officer and other senior management members of Wujiang Luxiang.

Although it is not explicitly stipulated in the Power of Attorney, the term of the Power of Attorney shall be the same as the term of that of the Exclusive Option Agreement.

This Power of Attorney is coupled with an interest and shall be irrevocable and continuously valid from the date of execution of this Power of Attorney, so long as the Wujiang Shareholder is a shareholder of Company.

To ensure Wujiang Luxiang promptly provides all of the information that WFOE and the Company need to file various reports with the SEC, a Timely Reporting Agreement was entered between Wujiang Luxiang and the Company.

Under the Timely Reporting Agreement, Wujiang Luxiang agrees that it is obligated to make its officers and directors available to the Company and promptly provide all information required by the Company so that the Company can file all necessary SEC and other regulatory reports as required.

Although it is not explicitly stipulated in the Timely Reporting Agreement, the parties agreed its term shall be the same as that of the Exclusive Business Cooperation Agreement.

Our Business

For our lending and guarantee services, we generally provide direct loans and guarantee services, to borrowers located within City of Wujiang, Jiangsu Province of China. In our direct loan business, we provide short-term loans to the borrowers and generate interest income.  In our guarantee business, we act as a guarantor to borrowers applying for short-term direct loans with other lenders and generate fee income.  Our clients in both the direct loan and guarantee businesses are primarily SMEs, farmers and individuals who generally use the proceeds of the loans for business related purposes.

We fund our lending and guarantee operations by using our registered capital, drawing down from the line of credit we have with state-owned or commercial banks, and using cash generated from our operations.  We currently have only one line of credit agreement with Agricultural Bank of China, the amount we are allowed to finance through debt financing is limited at 50% of our net capital. As of December 31, 2013,2014, we have borrowed approximately $16.36$11.3 million (RMB 10070 million) from Agricultural Bank of China and there is still another $8.2$ 4.7 million (RMB 50 million)30 million available under the line of credit. This line of credit was granted to Wujiang Luxiang since its inception in 2008 as a provincial government's measure to support rural microcredit company's operations. The total line of credit decreased from RMB 150 million to RMB 100 million during 2014 due to PBOC’s tightened monetary policy.  Interest rates under this line of credit vary, but have been no more than 110% of the PBOC benchmark interest rate (the "PBOC Rate"). 

On September 5, 2013, we formed PFL to start our financial leasing business. PFL is licensed by SAIC to provide leasing services in all of the Chinese provinces. PFL plans to offeroffers financial leases on machinery and equipment, public transportation vehicles, and medical devices to municipal government agencies, public transportation agencies, hospitals and SMEs in Jiangsu Province and other provinces.  As of the dateDecember 31, 2014, PFL incurred two finance lease transactions with total lease receivables of this report, PFL has no significant operation other than initial organizational activities.

Direct Loans

We provide direct loans to borrowers with terms not exceeding one year. During 20132014 and 20122013 the average principal loan amount we provided was approximately $429,000$336,000 and $365,000$429,000, respectively. The interest rate we charge on a specific direct loan depends on a number of factors, including the type of borrower and whether the loan is secured or unsecured. We also take into account the quality of the collateral or guarantee given and the term of the loan.

Interest on our loans is usually payable monthly and averaged 14.50%14.19% and 15.22%14.50%  for our direct loan portfolio for the twelve months ended December 31, 20132014 and 20122013 respectively. Under certain Jiangsu banking regulations, since August 2012, we are allowed to charge an interest rate within the range of 0.9 times and 3 times PBOC Rate. As of December 31, 2013,2014, the PBOC Rate was set at 6% per annum for one-year term loans and 5.6% for six-month term loans. During the fiscal year ended 2013,2014, the average interest rate we charged to SMEs was 2.5was 2.3 times the PBOC Rate or 14.19% for one-year term loans and 15.26%12.5% for six-month term loans. The interest on loans to farmers is subsidized by the Jiangsu government and usually results in farmers paying a rate lower than that of loans to SME’s. A portion of the difference between the lower rate charged to farmers and the rate charged to SME’s is remitted to us annually by the government as a government incentive. It is within the provincial government's discretion as to the amount of incentive to be remitted to us. The revenue we generated from such government incentive has always been less than 5% of our gross revenue since Wujiang Luxiang's inception.

We offer both secured and unsecured direct loans. As of December 31, 2013,2014, there were 217190 direct loans outstanding, with a total aggregate outstanding balance of approximately $90.2$86.5 million and interest rates ranging from 9.6% to 18%17.2% and original terms of the loans ranging from 1 month to 12 months, none of which were unsecured loans.  The following table sets forth a summary of our direct loan portfolio as of December 31, 20132014 and 2012:

In the case of guarantee-backed loans, the third party guarantor and the borrower are jointly and severablyseverally liable for the repayment of the loan.  The third party guarantor, whether being an individual or legal entity, must be creditworthy.  We do not require any asset from the borrower as collateral for such guarantee-backed loans.

In the case of collateral-backed loans, the borrowers provide land use rights or building ownership as collateral for the loan.

For loans secured by land use rights, the principal amount we grant is no more than 50-70% of the value of the land use rights. The percentage varies depending on the liquidity of the land use rights. For loans secured by building ownership, the principal amount we grant can be up to 100% of the value of the building. We engage independent appraisal firms to determine the value of the land use rights or the building.

Prior to funding a direct loan secured by land use rights or building ownership, we register our security interest in the collateral with the appropriate government authority.  In the event the borrower defaults, we take legal actions including legal proceedings against the default borrower and enforcement action resulting in the court’s sale of the asset through an auction.

In the case of pledge-backed loans, the borrowers pledge negotiable instruments as collateral for the loan.  The maximum principal amount of pledge-backed loans we extend is generally within 90% of the value of the pledged negotiable instrument.

We will take physical possession of the negotiable instrument at the time the loan is made and do not need to register such security interest with any government authority.  If the borrower defaults, we can acquire ownership of the negotiable instrument upon the borrower’s consent.  If the borrower refuses to settle the outstanding balance amicably by rendering ownership to the pledged instrument to us, we will then initiate legal proceedings in which the court will be required to enforce transfer of the ownership.

We require the business owners or individual shareholders of business borrowers to be jointly and severally liable for the repayment of the loan.  In addition, we also require either a guarantee from a third party or certain assets as collateral.

Guarantee Services

For a fee, we also provide guarantees to third party lenders on behalf of borrowers applying for loans with such other lenders. Our guarantee is a commitment by us to repay the loan to the lender if the borrower defaults.  We, as the third party guarantor, are jointly and severally liable with the borrower for the repayment of the full amount of the loan.  We have cooperation agreements with six state-owned and commercial banks pursuant to which we are accepted as a guarantor.

In order for us to agree to act as a guarantor, a borrower must provide a counter-guarantor to us or acceptable collateral to the third party lender such as land use rights, building ownership, or a negotiable instrument. In addition, the borrower must deposit cash with us in an amount equal to the amount we are required to deposit with the third party lender which is usually 10% to 20% of the principal amount of the loan. If the borrower defaults and we pay the lender on the borrower’s behalf, we will first recover from the cash deposit the borrower provided us and then demand the counter-guarantor make payment to us or recover the payment from the sale proceeds of the collateral asset.

In exchange for our guarantee, the borrowers pay us guarantee fees. We charge a per annum guarantee fee ranging from 1.56% to 1.80% of the principal amount of the underlying loan. The guarantee fees are payable in full when the guarantee is made. The criteria in determining the guarantee fee paid by the borrower are summarized in the following table:

In addition to the fee income, we earn interest on the refundable cash deposits provided to us by the borrowers.  Such cash deposits are required to be made to our bank account when we approve the guarantee application. After the expiration of the guarantee term, such cash deposits, without interest, will be refunded to the borrower once we receive a notice from the third party lender confirming termination of our guarantee obligation.

As of December 31, 2013,2014, we have provided guarantees for a total of $59.7million$21.9 million underlying loans to approximately 7723 borrowers.

Due to start a new formsubstantial increase in the amount of default loans in the loan guarantee business, the amount of underlying loans we guaranteed has been reduced by 63.1% as of December 31, 2014 compared to as of December 31, 2013. As the rate of fees and commissions generated from the guarantee business has been decreasing, the Company has decided that the revenue does not justify the default risks involved, and therefore expects to further reduce the traditional guarantee business and hold off on pursuing the guarantee business to be provided via the Kaixindai Financing Services Jiangsu Co. Ltd (“Kaixindai”) platform as previously planned. Management may actively resume the guarantee business in March 2014. As we were rated AAA by the Finance Office of Jiangsu Province in October 2013, we are permitted to provide guarantee services to borrowers on an internet portal sponsored by Finance Office of Jiangsu Province and State Development Bank.

Financial Leasing Services

On September 5, 2013, we formed PFL, a wholly owned subsidiary, to start our financial leasing business. PFL is licensed by SAIC to provide leasing services in all of the Chinese provinces. PFL plans to offer financial leases on machinery and equipment, public transportation vehicles, and medical devices to municipal government agencies, public transportation agencies, hospitals and SMEs in Jiangsu Province and other provinces. As of the date of this annual report, PFL has no significant operations other than incorporation activities. It has not entered into any agreement with its potential customers nor any intellectual property related agreements.  There aretwo financial leasing agreements for an aggregate of $5.61 million in loan receivables. We do not currently 2 part-time employees, Mr. Qin and Mr. Long, and 6 full-time employees.

We had used substantially all necessary governmental approval to conduct its business as planned. We plan to useof the net proceeds from the Secondary Offeringfollow-on public offering closed in May 2014 to increase the registered capital of PFL and corresponding financing leasing capacity. Currently, PFL is approved to have a registered capital of $50 million. We were required to contribute 15% of the $50 million by December 4, 2013. Our failureIn 2014, we orally obtained an extension from the relevant government authority to contributedelay the initial 15%contribution without any monetary penalty. In October 2014, approximately $5.7 million (RMB 30.7 million) of the registered capital on time may result in monetary penalty. There is uncertainty under the current PRC laws as to whether PFL will be required to contribute the remainder of the registered capital within two years of its incorporation, or at all. In the event we are required to do so, we plan to contribute the remainder of the required registered capital of PFL from cash generated by PFL’s operations andnet proceeds raised from futurein our follow-on public and/or private offerings of CCC.

Due to the short history of China’s financial leasing industry, there are certain gaps in relevant PRC law. There is no nation-wide uniform equipment title registration process and system in China and each municipality adopts different procedures.  As such, our ownership interest on the leased property may be threatened.  In addition, there is no guidance on the reserve requirement for financial leasing companies. We plan to followhave followed the same “Five-Tier Principal” in our measurement of reserve for the financial leasing business except at different reserve rates. We will have reserve rates of 1.5%, 3%, 30%, 60% and 100% for the leases categorized as “pass”, “special-mention”, “substantial”, “doubtful” and “loss”, respectively. We believe such reserve should be sufficient to cover potential loan loss in the first few years of PFL’s operations. We may adjust these rates as we roll out our operations.

We have a standard process with regard to how a loan or guarantee application is reviewed, processed and approved.  The same process applies to both applications for direct loans and for guarantees.

The application process starts with an inquiry from potential borrowers to our Loan Officer. The Loan Officer has the discretion whether to accept the inquirer as an applicant. If accepted, the Loan Officer assists in the preparation of an application package and implements a field visit of the applicant.

The application package usually includes the following items in order for it to be considered:

The flow chart below summarizes the loan/guarantee application, review and approval process.

The reviews during steps 1, 2, 3 and 4 are deemed Level One review. The Loan Review Committee’s review is deemed Level Two review. The General Manager, Mr. Qin’sManager’s final review is the Level Three review. Typically it takes one to two weeks to complete our review.

In our direct loan business, if a borrower has difficulty repaying the principal amount and/or accrued interest in full at the maturity date due to a temporary situation, the borrower may choose to either apply for an extension of the term or a renewal of the loan.  The extension or renewal applications are reviewed in accordance with the same loan application, review and approval process outlined above.  In our guarantee business, we generally do not extend the guarantee period.

We will generally approve loan extensions for borrowers who have made timely interest payments, are capable of paying the balance and have loans secured by sufficient collateral or guaranteed by an acceptable guarantor. The term of the loan extensions we grant is generally no longer than the term of the original loan and we only agree to extend a loan one time. If the loan extension application is not approved prior to the original maturity date of the loan, it will be transferred to the collection department and labeled as a default loan. As of December 31, 20132014 and 2012,2013, extended loans constituted 0.18%5.36% and 0.58%0.18% of our total outstanding direct loan balance, respectively.

Loan Renewal

Many of our borrowers repay their loans and re-borrow at a later date, being referred to as a “loan renewal”. We consider a renewed loan a new loan, not a loan extension, despite our previous relationship with the borrower. Prior to the maturity date of the loan, the borrower may choose to apply to renew the loan. In order for the loan renewal application to be approved, the borrower must agree to repay the existing loan’s principal amount and accrued interest in full before the renewal application is approved.  Although we do not have a specific clean-up period policy, we do require that the period of time between repayment of the existing loan and the funding of the new loan to be 2-10 days. As of December 31, 20132014 and 20122013 renewed loans constituted 68.70%86.9% and 73.26%68.70% of our total outstanding direct loan balance, respectively.

We have standard collection procedures in our direct loan business. We call every borrower approximately 15 days prior to the maturity date to remind them that if we do not receive the repayment in full on the maturity date, we will send a written collection notice within 7 days after the maturity date.  The Loan Officer will frequently call and make on-site visits to a borrower upon a loan going into default.  Within 90 days after the default, our legal counsel will send warning letters to the default borrower.  If the outstanding amount cannot be collected within 180 days after the maturity date and the parties could not reach an agreement on a specific repayment plan, we will initiate legal proceedings in the court.

We apply the same collection procedure in our guarantee business.  The only difference is that we will collect from both the borrowers (including recovery from the cash deposit the borrowers deposit with us) and the counter-guarantor or pursue recovery from the collateral.

We will apply the same collection procedure in our financial leasing business.

PFL plans to serve a diverse base of customers, including textile and other manufacturing companies, railroads, port facilities, local bus and rail companies and municipal governments. Customers will include existing clients of the Company in addition to new clients. PFL plans to initially offer leases to four primary customer categories, first in Jiangsu Province and then in other provinces in China:

(1) Municipal Governments - Municipal governments throughout China have begun to realize the benefits of leasing equipment utilized to manage and run China’s large newly developed infrastructure. PFL believes this is an opportunity for substantial growth of its leasing business, especially as a result of the Company’s strong and long-term relationship with Wujiang and other Jiangsu municipal government agencies.

(3) Hospitals - The Company has existing relationships with several local hospitals that are potential customers to lease medical devices, such as x-ray equipment. Since healthcare and medical technologies are constantly improving, frequently making existing medical technology and equipment obsolete, hospitals and other healthcare facilities are increasingly interested in leasing versus purchasing more modern equipment. The switch from one-time cash purchases to leasing will allow hospitals to preserve more of their working capital for other purposes, such as building upgrades, education and training programs and/or the leasing of additional equipment and devices.

(4) SMEs - PFL plans to lease a variety of industrial equipment and machinery to local SMEs in Jiangsu Province and beyond. Potential customers include local manufacturing businesses, mining companies, farmers and individuals.  PFL will initially targettargeted the Company’s existing SME lending clients since it has a relationship with these customers and understands their operational and credit history and financing needs.

As PFL’s business develops further, we expect to provide leases to customers in other sectors as opportunities arise. PFL, althoughalthough not required by government mandate, will only lease to businesses that are within the sectors encouraged by the Chinese national industry development and planning policy and environmentally friendly businesses.

PFL plans to provide leases on both new and used manufacturing equipment, medical devices, transportation vehicles and industrial equipment, purchased both domestically and from foreign suppliers to meet its customer’s needs. PFL may attempt to import technologically advanced transportation vehicles, engines, other vehicular components, industrial equipment and machinery identified by its lessees. PFL anticipates its potential customers will have strong demand for imported technologically advanced equipment and machinery and expects to lease these to its customers at a significant premium due to the real and perceived technical and superior performance and durability characteristics of these imported products.

PFL will underwriteunderwrites the leases via a 3 step3-step process:

(1) A potential customer applies to PFL for a lease on certain equipment that the customer has already identified from a seller;

(2) PFL performs a detailed legal and credit analysis to determine the potential customer’s creditworthiness and ability to make the lease payments; and

(3) If the application is approved, PFL will purchase the asset from the seller, take ownership of such asset, and then lease it to the customer/lessee. Sometimes PFL will require a third party guarantor, who must be pre-approved by PFL, who will guaranty the monthly payment obligations of the lessee.

The underwriting process will taketakes approximately 2 weeks.

The terms and conditions of the lease will generally include following:

(1) A lease term ranging between 3 and 10 years.

(2) The lessee will be required to pay 30% of the purchase price to the seller and PFL will pay 70% of the purchase price (which will be the lease value) to the seller.

(3) The lessee will pay a deposit equal to 10% of the lease value to PFL and PFL will finance the remaining 90% 

(4) The lessee will pay a one-time servicing fee equal to 1% of the total lease value multiplied by the number of years of the lease (for example, a four-year lease requires a 4% service fee.

(5) The lessee will make amortized lease payments consisting of principal and interest (generally at the interest rate of 12%), which will be due monthly or quarterly.

(6) Lessees must (i) operate the leased equipment and perform minimum maintenance in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions during the entire term of the lease; (ii) insure the equipment against property and casualty loss; and (iii) make all scheduled lease and interest payment regardless of the performance of the equipment.

(7) At the end of the lease term, the lessee will have the option to purchase the leased asset for its residual value. We expect to enter into our boiler plate lease contracts with lessees. Pursuant to the terms of these lease agreements, lessee shall either pay RMB 1,000 (approximately $160) to acquire or automatically acquire the title of the leased assets at the end of the lease term. The buy-back purchase price of RMB 1,000 shall be paid along with the last installment of the rent.

Some of PFL’s initial target customers will beare our direct loan customers. We are very familiar with these businesses and individuals and their growth prospects, credit worthiness, management teams, and profitability. We will take advantage of this knowledge and lease to creditworthy customers only, thereby potentially reducing defaults and bad debt expense. When evaluating potential customers with which we do not have a pre-existing relationship, we will utilize our prior experience in the risk assessment of lending clients to timely evaluate a new customer’s creditworthiness.

PFL may require a third party guarantor to reduce financial exposure in the event of a default. PFL may choose to work with a third party to assist with the repossession, storage and sale of the leased equipment in the event of lease defaults.

Risk Management

As a microcredit lender, credit risk is the most significant risk for our business. In our direct loan business, we suffer financial loss when a borrower defaults onand full collection cannot be achieved. In our guarantee business, in the event the borrower defaults in its payment obligation and we pay the lender on behalf of the borrower, we suffer financial loss when we cannot recover the full amount of the payment we paid to the lender (after collection from the cash deposit provided by the borrower) from the counter guarantor or the sale proceeds of the collateral.

We apply the same risk assessment approach and procedures for direct lending, guarantee as well as financial leasing activities. We have a dedicated Risk Department which assesses and evaluates the credit risks through in-house research and analysis.  We follow the methodology and procedure outlined in our risk assessment guidelines.  According to our risk assessment guidelines, the basic principle is that the bench mark ratio multiplied by the financial risk quotient and non-financial risk quotient and the result is the comprehensive risk ratio. The financial risk quotient takes into consideration 16 factors in three categories, i.e. leverage, profitability and growth.  The non-financial risk quotient takes into consideration 12 factors in four categories, i.e. industry risk, enterprise risk, management risk and other risks.  In summary, our Risk Department assesses the credit risks based on the payment ability of the underlying obligors, transaction structure as well as the industry of borrower and the general economic condition of the market in which we operate.

In our direct lending business, we assess, monitor and control the credit risks both before and after the loan is extended.

As discussed above, we assess the risks through the loan application, review and approval process.  Our Risk Department quantifies the risks related to a loan application in a risk assessment report by classifying the loan into one of three categories.  A loan with a score  of less than 0.35 points is deemed to be a low-risk loan. A loan with a score of between 0.35 and 0.5 points is considered a medium-risk loan. A loan with a score higher than 0.5 points will be classified as a high-risk loan.  We have higher requirements for the collateral and require the guarantor to be of higher payment capacity for loans labeled as higher risk.

After the loan or guarantee application is approved, we continue to monitor the credit risk. Our Loan Officers collect the borrower’s financial statements at the end of each quarter and conduct periodic field trips to the borrower’s facilities to observe its operation, sales, ability to make timely repayments, etc.  Based on the Loan Officer’s report, the comprehensive risk ratio of each loan is reviewed on a quarterly basis and adjustments are made to the ratio as necessary, according to the borrower’s operational and financial position and other factors outlined above. We label each outstanding loan as “Good”, “Maintenance” or “Contraction”.  For “Good” loans, we may extend further credit. For “Maintenance” loans, we will maintain the current credit level. For “Contraction” loans, we may reduce credit to the borrower.

We will apply the same risk control procedure for the financial leasing business.

Allowance for Loan Loss

In our direct loan business, we apply three loan loss reserve measurements:

Specific reserves are funds set aside based on the anticipated level of loss of each loan after categorizing the loan according to the risks. Such specific reserves are to be used to cover specific losses. According to the “Five-Tier Principle” set forth in the Provision Guidance, the loans are categorized as “pass”, “special-mention”, “substantial”, “doubtful” or “loss”. The definition and provision rate for each category is set forth below.

General reserves are funds set aside based on certain percentage of the total outstanding balance and to be used to cover unidentified probable loan loss. The General Reserve is required to be no less than 1% of total outstanding balance. We use 1% of total outstanding balance in our calculation for the General Reserve.

Special reserves are funds set aside covering losses due to risks related to a particular country, region, industry or type of loans. The reserve rate could be decided based on management estimates of loan collectability.

We had no Special Reserves for 2010, 2011, 2012 or 2013 due to the short-term and microcredit nature of our loans and our low loss rate.

In February and March 2015, the Company revisited the classification of its loan portfolios within its rating system to test the adequacy of the allowances calculated thereby. As a result of such testing, the Company decided to reclassify certain loans into different categories. The Company reviewed the profile, financial condition and other relevant information and documents of each customer in the lending businesses. For customers with several loans with different due dates, if one loan was past due, the Company decided to reclassify all of this customer's loans as past due (even the other loans that were not mature yet). For extended loans, the Company re-evaluated the customer's repayment ability in a more cautions manner and reclassified the loans of customers without very strong financial condition into the past due category. These reclassifications affected numerous customer accounts.

As of December 31, 20132014 and 20122013 the total outstanding direct loan balance was $90,203,413$82,079,129 and $85,781,293$90,203,413 and the loan loss reserve $ 24,490,721 and $1,375,948, and $857,813, respectively.

Reserve for the Guarantee Services.

We follow the same “Five-Tier Principal” in our measurement of reserve for the guarantee business. For the fiscal yearsyear ended December 31, 2013, and 2012 our reserve measurements indicate the aggregate amount calculated based on Five-Tier Principal is lower than the amount calculated based on the statutory requirement of 1% of the total outstanding guarantee portfolio.  Asportfolio, as such, the reservesreserve we made for the guarantee business was 1% of the total outstanding guarantee portfolio. For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014, our reserve measurements indicate the aggregate amount calculated based on Five-Tier Principal is higher than the amount calculated based on the statutory requirement of 1% of the total outstanding guarantee portfolio, in those periods.as such, the reserve we made for the guarantee business was the aggregate amount calculated based on Five-Tier Principal. We review the loss reserve on a quarterly basis.

In February and March 2015, the Company revisited the classification of its guarantee portfolios within its rating system to test the adequacy of the allowances calculated thereby. As a result of such testing, the Company decided to reclassify certain guarantees into different categories. The Company reviewed the profile, financial condition and other relevant information and documents of each customer in the guarantee businesses. For customers with several guarantees with different due dates, if one guaranteed loan was past due, the Company decided to reclassify all of this customer's guaranteed loans as past due (even the other loans that were not mature yet). These reclassifications affected numerous customer accounts.

As of December 31, 20132014 and 2012,2013, the total outstanding balance we guaranteed was $56,692,091$21,794,663 and $86,360,524$56,692,091 and the accrual for financial guarantee services was  $5,546,128 and $588,740 and $880,725, respectively.

We plan to follow the same “Five-Tier Principal” in our measurement of reserve for the financial leasing business except at different reserve rates. We will have reserve rates of 1.5%, 3%, 30%, 60% and 100% for the leases categorized as “pass”, “special-mention”, “substantial”, “doubtful” and “loss”, respectively.

Business Strategy

As we anticipate the economic condition will remain challenging in the next 12 months, the Company plans to aggressively collect the default loans and guarantees with all available legal remedies. The Company also plans to closely monitor the trend in the microfinance industry and may explore microfinance products and services other than lending, guarantee and financial leasing to SMEs.

When the economic condition substantially improves in the future, we intend to implement three primary strategies to expand and grow the size of our Company: (i) increase our lending capacity through the cash generated from operations and through increases in our registered capital by additional equity and/or debt financing, (ii) implementation of our financial leasing and peer to peer lending business plansplan in Jiangsu province and other Chinese provinces, and (iii) potential acquisitions of similar microcredit companies in Jiangsu Province, China. 

Organic growth will occur through expansion of our direct loan and guarantee services directed at SMEs and farmers. Our existing direct loan and guarantee services could also be expanded by increasing our registered capital base with proceeds of our initial public offering or future financings.  The lending capacity of Wujiang Luxiang is limited to the aggregate of its registered capital, any proceeds from borrowings and profits generated from operation, subject to certain statutory reserve deductions required under the PRC laws and regulation. According to a policy named “Opinions Regarding Further Pushing Forward the Reform of Rural Microcredit Companies,” Su Zheng Ban Fa (2011) No. 8 (“Jiangsu Document No. 8”), the maximum obligation Wujiang Luxiang is allowed to provide guarantees for is three times its net capital. As of December 31, 2013,2014, the registered capital of Wujiang Luxiang was $44,063,863.approximately $53 million. Under PRC laws, the registered capital refers to the total amount of equity investment made by the shareholders. Once the registered capital is established, it cannot be used for purposes beyond the approved business scope of that entity. Because our target market has been historically underserved by the state-owned and commercial banks in China, we believe there will be a continued high demand for our services and we will be able to attract a steady flow of borrowers.

Also, we believe that we may have the opportunity to acquire other microcredit companies of similar size and scope in Jiangsu province, China.  As a result of such acquisitions, we may expand our geographic coverage by obtaining requisite licenses to conduct business in other cities in Jiangsu province. We intend to actively pursue acquisition opportunities as they arise, although we currently do not have any written or oral binding agreements, arrangements or understandings with any acquisition target and there can be no assurance that we will be able to locate any target or negotiate definitive agreements with them.

Competition for Our Lending and Guarantee Business

The number of microcredit companies in China is increasing rapidly.  According to data compiled by PBOC and released on its website, as of December 2013,2014, there were approximately 7,8398,791 microcredit companies in China. The total loan balance from microcredit companies stood at $135.1$ 149.5 billion (RMB 819.1942.0 billion), and new loans issued to microcredit companies in the year of 20132014 hit $37.4$19.4 billion (RMB 226.8122.8 billion).  In Jiangsu province, there are about 573631 microcredit companies with total paid-in capital of $14.76$14.74 billion (RMB 89.4892.91 Billion) and a total outstanding balance of $18.84$18.19 billion (RMB 114.2114.6 billion) as of December 31, 2013,2014, according to PBOC.

 According to the data from Central Bank of China, our major competitors in the city of Wujiang as of the end of December 31, 20132014 are listed below (in million Dollars).

Competitive Strengths for Our Lending and Guarantee Business

We believe there are several key factors that will continue to differentiate us from other microcredit companies in the city of Wujiang.

Competition for Our Financial Leasing Business

As one of the few leasing companies in Jiangsu Province, PFL enjoys little competition in Jiangsu province at this time. In fact, very few companies have received a leasing business license, and the companies that have licenses are mostly selling to a smaller and narrower customer base. However, in China, we compete with a number of international, national, regional and local banks and finance companies, financial leasing companies and equipment manufacturers that lease or finance the sale of their own products.

Due to the Company’s strong relationships with local business owners and government agencies and its expertise in evaluating the financial health of local businesses, PFL believes it is in a strong position to grow its leasing business in Jiangsu Province.

Competitive Strengths for Our Financial Leasing Business

We believe we could thrive in the financial leasing business even with future competition in Jiangsu province due to following competitive advantages:

Applicable Government Regulations

Our operations are subject to extensive and complex state, provincial and local laws, rules and regulations including but not limited:

Wujiang Luxiang was established on October 21, 2008 pursuant to Circular No. 23, Jiangsu Document No. 142 and Jiangsu Document No. 132 which allowed for the establishment of a new type of financial vehicle that is permitted to lend to small-to-medium sized business, farmers and individuals.  PFL was established on September 5, 2013 and is permitted to provide financial leasing services in China.

Pursuant to the Circular 23, the main sources of funds are capital contributions paid by its shareholders, donated funds, and debt financings from no more than two banking financial institutions.  Pursuant to Jiangsu Document No. 132, we believe the amount of debt financings we are allowed to obtain may be up to 100% of our net capital.  Pursuant to the Foreign Investment in Leasing Industry Regulations, PFL is permitted to leverage up to 10 times its registered capital to finance its leases.

Pursuant to Jiangsu Document No. 8, the maximum amount of our actual liabilities (including bank loans) is limited to 100% of our net capital. Pursuant to Jiangsu Document No. 142 and Circular 23, the aggregate loan balance amount to one borrower cannot exceed 10% of our registered capital and must be less than 5% of our net assets. Pursuant to Jiangsu Document No. 132, the aggregate microcredit loan balances as a percentage of our total outstanding loan balances, must be not less than 70%.  The aggregate balances of operational loans of with terms longer than three months, as a percentage of total outstanding loan balances, must exceed 70%. The aggregate balances of loans made to agricultural or rural borrowers or farmers, as a percentage of our total outstanding loan balance must be no less than 70%. A loan equal or under the amount of $725,000 (RMB 4,500,000) is deemed a microcredit loan according to Implementation Rules on Supervision and Regulation of Rural Microcredit Companies (Su Fu Ban [2010] 288).

Prior to August 7, 2012, the maximum interest rate a microcredit lender was allowed to charge on microcredit loans was four times of the PBOC’s Benchmark Rate according to PBOC’s Notice on Cracking Down on the Underground Lenders and Lending at Excessive High Interest Rate promulgated by the PBOC and Several Opinion Regarding the Trial of Cases promulgated by the Supreme Court of PRC. On August 7, 2012, the Finance Office of Jiangsu Province implemented the Jiangsu Document No. 53. Microcredit companies are assessed and ranked according to Jiangsu Document No.53 and the microcredit companies in the highest ranking will, among other things, enjoy preferential treatments and government subsidies. As such, we have chosen to comply with the lower maximum interest rate requirement set forth in the Jiangsu Document No. 53.  In a document issued by Finance Office of Jiangsu Province on October 25, 2013 (the “Jiangsu Document No. 83”), we were rated as “AAA” and thus eligible for government subsidies and certain preferential treatment including be permitted to operate the online guarantee business as disclosed above, partly due to the fact that the maximum interest rate we charged in 2012 is no more than 3 times the Bench Mark Rate. We expect that we will continue to receive the highest ranking as we continue to adhere with our maximum interest rate protocol and other lending practices. In the event we receive less than BBB ranking, we will not be permitted to operate the online guarantee business, among other things.

In accordance with the Provision Guidance and Jiang Su Financial Practice, we are required to set aside a loan loss reserve according to the following three measurements:

Specific reserves are funds set aside based on the anticipated level of loss of each loan after categorizing the loan according to the risks. Such specific reserves are to be used to cover specific losses. According to the “Five-Tier Principle” set forth in the Provision Guidance, the loans are categorized as “pass”, “special-mention”, “substantial”, “doubtful” or “loss”. The definition and provision rate for each category is set forth below.

General reserves are funds set aside based on certain percentage of the total outstanding balance and to be used to cover unidentified probable loan loss. The General Reserve is required to be no less than 1% of total outstanding balance.

We believe we are required to make our loan loss reserve based on the higher of the amounts calculated based on the General Reserve and the Specific Reserve.

Special reserves are funds set aside covering losses due to risks related to a particular country, region, industry or type of loans. The reserve rate could be decided based on management estimates of loan collectability.

Pursuant to Jiangsu Document No. 8, the aggregate amount of liabilities we are allowed to be exposed to in our guarantee business shall not exceed 300% of our net capital.  Pursuant to the Interim Measures for the Administration of Financing Guarantee, guarantees we are allowed to provide to a single borrower shall not exceed 10% of our net assets, and not exceed 15% of our net assets if the guarantee is provided to a single borrower and the person’s affiliated parties.  We are prohibited to provide guarantees to our subsidiaries and/or parent company.

For our guarantee business, pursuant to Interim Measures for the Administration of Financing Guarantee, we are required to set aside reserves not less than 1% of the aggregate outstanding balance of loans we guaranteed at end of fiscal year and 50% of the income generated by our guarantee business during the fiscal year.

Pursuant to the Foreign Investment in Leasing Industry Regulations, PFL is permitted to leverage up to 10 times its registered capital to finance its leases.

We believe there is no clear guidance on the reserve requirement for financial leasing companies.

Below are summaries of the material terms of Circular 23, Jiangsu Document No. 8, Jiangsu Document No. 132 and Jiangsu Document No. 142, which are essential to our business.

Circular 23

Circular 23 divides “microcredit companies” into two categories:  a “company with limited liability” or a “company limited by shares” that consists of equity interests held by private parties, including individuals, corporate entities and other organizations.  The shareholders of a microcredit company shall meet the minimum requirement set by applicable laws. A company with limited liability shall be established with capital contributions from no more than fifty (50) shareholders; while a company limited by shares shall have 2-200 promoters, more than 50% of whom shall domicile in the PRC.  The promoters are the shareholders after the incorporation of the company. The source of registered capital of a microcredit company shall be true and legal. All the registered capital shall be fully paid in cash by the capital contributors or the promoters. The registered capital of a company with limited liability shall be no less than RMB 5,000,000 and the registered capital of a company limited by shares shall be no less than RMB 10,000,000. Any single individual, corporate entity or social organization (and their respective affiliates) shall not contribute more than 10% of the registered capital of a microcredit company.  Circular 23 also provides that the sources of funds of a microcredit company shall be limited to the capital contributions paid by its shareholders, profit from operations, monetary donations, and loans provided by no more than two (2) banking financial institutions.  Pursuant to applicable laws, administrative rules and regulations, the outstanding loans owed by a microcredit company to banking financial institutions shall not exceed 50% of its net registered capital. The interest rate and the terms for such loans shall be determined based on arms lengtharms-length negotiations between the company and the financial institutions and such interest rate shall be determined using the “Shanghai inter-bank borrowing interest rate” for the same period as prime rate plus basis points.  Circular 23 also states that a provincial government who is able to clearly specify an authority-in-charge (finance office or relevant government organs) to be in charge of the supervision and administration of microcredit companies and is willing to assume the liabilities for the risk management of microcredit companies, such provincial government may, within its own province, roll out the trial run for the establishment of microcredit companies. A microcredit company shall abide by all applicable laws and shall not conduct any illegal fund-raising in any form. In the event an illegal fund-raising activity is conducted within the provincial territory, it shall be handled by the local government at the provincial level. Other activities in violation of the laws or the administrative rules and regulations will be fined by local authorities or prosecuted in the event a criminal offense has been committed.

Wujiang Luxiang is a microcredit company limited by shares.  There are currently 12 shareholders all of whom are domiciled in PRC. Except one entity shareholder, none of the shareholders owns more than 10% of Wujiang Luxiang’s registered capital. Pursuant to Administrative Measures of Microcredit Companies issued by Jiangsu provincial government on November 30, 2011, major promoters are permitted to hold more than 10% of the registered capital of a microcredit company. We believe the requirement that none of the shareholders shall own more than 10% of the registered capital of a microcredit company set forth in Circular No. 23, which is a pilot program giving guidance to the provincial government, has been superseded by the later Jiangsu provincial regulations. In addition, the current equity structure of Wujiang Luxiang has been approved by the Finance Office of Jiangsu, which is the governing authority of Wujiang Luxiang. We believe such approval is evidence of the Jiangsu government authority’s acknowledgement of such equity structure..structure. Wujiang Luxiang’s current operations are in line with the other requirements set forth in Circular 23.

Jiangsu Document No. 8

Jiangsu Document 8 stresses the importance of encouraging the development of rural microcredit companies. The business scope of these companies approved by local authorities generally includes the following: providing loans to companies or individuals in agriculture industry located in rural areas, providing financial guarantees, and serving as agents for financial institutions. The aggregate outstanding balance of bank loans a rural microcredit company is allowed to obtain is up to 100% of the net capital of such company.

The business scope of Wujiang Luxiang is to provide small loans, guarantees, and other business approved by the provincial authority for agriculture related industry, which is in line with the Jiangsu Document No.8. As of December 31, 2013,2014, Wujiang Luxiang’s net capital was $44,063,863approximately $53 million and its outstanding balance of bank loans was $90.2$86.5 million, which is line with the requirement set forth in the Jiangsu Document No. 8.

Jiangsu Document No. 132

Jiangsu Document No. 132 reflects the current developing status of rural microcredit companies. It empowers various local authorities to promote development of rural microcredit companies by facilitating access to capital markets and promoting good morals. The Document encourages establishment of rural microcredit companies in Jiangsu province. In each of the counties with economic importance, a local officer has been charged with responsibility to manage and oversee the establishment of the microcredit companies, including establishing pilot programs in certain territories. The number of pilot rural microcredit companies may be increased. Local governments at county level meeting certain criteria should, at the beginning of each year, provide a plan which sets forth an estimate of the number of newly established rural microcredit companies to be approved to do business during that year. Such plan will need to be reviewed first by the financial office at the municipal level and approved by the respective finance bureaus at the provincial level.  A rural microcredit company that has been operating for more than one year, in good standing, with good financial conditions and risk management systems may be allowed to establish branch offices in various towns where there is no such rural microcredit company located in the same town as such company.  Rural microcredit companies in southern Jiangsu region with capital of more than RMB 50 million can set up one additional branch for each additional RMB 30 million in excess of RMB 50 million; rural microcredit companies in central Jiangsu region with capital of more than RMB 30 million can set up one additional branch for each additional RMB 25 million exceeding RMB 30 million; rural microcredit companies in northern Jiangsu region with capital of more than RMB 20 million can set up one additional branch for each additional RMB 15 million exceeding RMB 20 million. The amount of debt financings a rural microcredit company serving the agriculture industry, with effective operations, good risk control and reasonable interest levels is allowed to obtain may be up to 100% of its registered capital. Sources of the funds for these companies may include: 1) loans or financing funding from commercial banks; 2) approved large-amount direct loans (mainly shareholders’ loans); 3) approved transfers and lending of funds between rural microcredit companies; and 4) explore the feasibility of loans from the government funds, the PBOC re-lending loans supporting agriculture, insurance funds and other funds which desire to play a role in servicing “agriculture, farmers and rural areas” through rural microcredit companies.

As of December 31, 2013,2014, Wujiang Luxiang’s registered capital was $44,063,863approximately $53 million and its total debt financing was $16,360,721,approximately $11 million, less than50%than 50% of its registered capital. In line with the requirement set forth in Jiangsu Document No. 132, Wujiang Luxiang’s major source of financing has been loans from commercial banks.

Jiangsu Document No. 142

Jiangsu Document No. 142 provides for general rules with respect to the establishment of microcredit companies. It includes the following material terms:

1. Shareholder: In general, the shareholders of a rural microcredit organization shall be three to five individuals (excluding members or employees of the Communist Party, governmental organizations, financial organizations as well as state-owned public institutions) or enterprise legal persons. The number of shareholders shall not exceed ten. Shareholders shall comply with laws, with good credibility and have no civil or criminal record indicating violation of laws and serious discredit.  The capital contributed by shareholders for equity interest shall be legitimate self-owned capital.

Wujiang Luxiang currently has 12 shareholders, which is more than the 10 shareholders requirement set forth in Jiangsu Document No. 42. However, Circular 23 permits up to 200 shareholders in a microcredit company limited by shares. We believe we will not be subject to any penalty by the Finance Office of Jiangsu Province, which is the governing authority of Wujiang Luxiang and the government body implementing the Jiangsu Document No. 42, since it approved the establishment of Wujiang Luxiang and its current shareholder structure.

2. Capital: The paid-up registered capital of a rural microcredit organization shall be no less than RMB 50 million for southern Jiangsu area, RMB 30 million for central Jiangsu area, and RMB 20 million for northern Jiangsu area. The registered capital shall be paid in cash.

As of December 31, 2013,2014, Wujiang Luxiang’s registered capital was $44,063,863,RMB 333 million which is more than the RMB 50 million required for Wujiang Luxiang as a microcredit company in the Southern Jiangsu area.

3. Offices: A rural microcredit organization shall have fixed operating premises which comply with the safety standards required by the public security department and other departments and is situated below township levels (including township).

4. Employees: A rural microcredit organization shall have no fewer than five main employees, who shall comply with laws, with good credibility and have no civil or criminal record. Among them, the chief person in charge shall be less than 65 years old with at least Technical Secondary School and have been engaged in financial industry for more than 4 years or economic industry for more than 8 years (with at least 2 years working experience in the financial area); the person in charge of credit shall have been engaged in financial industry for more than 3 years or economic industry (with a focus on agriculture) for more than 5 years; each accounting staff shall hold an Accounting Certificate and have been engaged in accounting and financial industry for more than 3 years; other personnel shall have been engaged in other related economic industry for more than 3 years. All key employees shall participate in a professional training program held by the Provincial Financial Office. Qualified trainees will be issued a qualification certificate which is required for their employment.

5. Articles of Association: Rural microcredit organizations shall adopt Articles of Association of the organizations in accordance with the Company Law of the People’s Republic of China and the provisions of these provisions in the Jiangsu Document No. 142, and carry out business and operating activities according to their Articles of Association.

Wujiang Luxiang has carried out its business and operations according to its Articles of Associations, as amended.

6. Markit Exit:  When a rural microcredit organization has any of the following activities, in addition to investigation and fine by law enforcement authorities, the provincial Rural Microcredit Organization Pilot Program Management Group may terminate its pilot program, report it to the local AIC to revoke its business license, or impose other punitive measures:

We believe we were not involved in any of the prohibited activities set forth in the sections above.

Employees

We currently have 2621 full time employees as of the date of this report. We have employment contracts with all of our employees in accordance with PRC Labor Law and Labor Contract Law.  The contracts comply with the PRC laws. There are no collective bargaining contracts covering any of our employees. We believe our relationship with our employees is satisfactory.

We have made employee benefit contributions in accordance with relevant Chinese regulations, including retirement insurance, unemployment insurance, medical insurance, housing fund, work injury insurance and birth insurance. The Company recorded the contribution in the general administration expenses when incurred.

Intellectual Property

We do not own or have any significant intellectual property rights.

RISK FACTORS

Risks Relating to Our Lending and Guarantee Business

As a matter of fact, for the year ended December 31, 2014, we had a loss of $23 million and a net loss of $27 million compared to net revenue of $12.5 million and net income of $7.7 million in 2013, a decrease of 284% and 450%, respectively.  If we are unable to address any or all of the foregoing risks, our business may be materially and adversely affected.