The favorable conditions for online lending platforms have completely vanished. On March 18, Qifu Technology (formerly 360 DigiTech) released its unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and the full year. The report indicates that the company's annual revenue reached 19.21 billion yuan, an increase of 11.88% year-over-year. However, net profit declined by 4.38% to 5.99 billion yuan, highlighting a situation where revenue growth did not translate into profit growth.
Notably, the fourth quarter saw a rare simultaneous decline in both revenue and net profit, with net profit dropping by 46.8% year-over-year, nearly halving. Over the past two years, Qifu Technology had consistently maintained double-digit growth in both revenue and net profit. This raises the question: has online lending, once seen as a lucrative internet business, stopped being profitable?
Following the disappointing earnings report, Qifu Technology's stock price plummeted. On March 19, its Hong Kong shares fell over 10%, closing at HK$52.85. Over the past year, the stock has declined sharply from its peak of HK$198.301, a drop exceeding 73%, resulting in a market capitalization loss of over HK$41 billion.
The primary catalyst was the formal implementation of new regulations for loan facilitation in October 2025. The core requirement mandates that all micro-lending companies are prohibited from issuing new loans with a comprehensive annualized financing cost exceeding 24%. This directly impacted certain non-mainstream institutions that disguised high interest charges through methods like front-end fees and monthly financing guarantees, significantly compressing the profit margins of loan facilitation platforms.
Under the new regulations, Qifu Technology's facilitated loan volume in Q4 decreased substantially. In the fourth quarter of 2025, the platform facilitated loans totaling 70.3 billion yuan, a sequential decrease of 15.6% and a year-over-year decline of 21.8%. The outstanding loan balance as of December 31, 2025, was 126.01 billion yuan, down 8.8% from the previous quarter and 8% lower year-over-year.
Furthermore, the new regulations explicitly banned chaotic fee practices, making it difficult for platforms to covertly charge membership or guarantee fees. Aggressive debt collection was also strictly prohibited, increasing repayment pressure for some platforms. Since the implementation of the rules, Qifu Technology's operational costs have risen significantly. Its Q4 2025 costs and expenses reached 3.225 billion yuan, a 24% increase from 2.59 billion yuan in the same period the previous year.
This further squeezed operating and net profit margins. The operating profit for Q4 2025 was 867 million yuan, with the operating profit margin falling to 21%. In contrast, the margins for Q1 through Q3 2025 were 42.1%, 41.0%, and 32.7%, respectively. The net profit margin also decreased from over 40% in the same period of 2024 to 24.8%.
Consequently, Qifu Technology's fourth-quarter performance declined sharply. The financial report shows that Q4 2025 revenue was 4.09 billion yuan, down 8.7% year-over-year, while net profit was 1.016 billion yuan, a decrease of 46.8%. In fact, pressure on net profit growth had already emerged in Q3 2025, before the formal implementation of the new rules. In that quarter, revenue was 5.206 billion yuan, up 19.1% year-over-year, but net profit was only 1.433 billion yuan, a reduction of 20.3%. The halving of net profit in Q4, dragging down the full-year performance, was therefore expected.
In the earnings report, Qifu Technology's CEO Wu Hai stated that macroeconomic uncertainties in Q4 led to tighter industry liquidity and increased risks. Facing growth pressure, the company disposed of a 7.4 billion yuan non-performing asset package at a discount at the end of 2025. On December 31, two licensed entities under the company—Fuzhou Qifu Financing Guarantee Co., Ltd. and Fuzhou Qifu Network Micro-Loan Co., Ltd.—transferred a personal consumption non-performing asset package with a book value of 7.429 billion yuan to a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Renaissance for 308 million yuan. The ultra-low discount rate of 4.15% highlights significant concerns about the company's asset quality.
It is noteworthy that Qifu Technology recently issued its "2025 Consumer Rights Protection Report," claiming it always prioritizes protecting user rights and maintaining financial market order. The report mentioned issuing 123,000 AI-driven anti-fraud alerts, preventing 14,800 potential victims from being defrauded, and saving users 130 million yuan in losses. It also emphasized efforts to combat financial black and gray industries through technology, cooperating with police to arrest 253 members of related gangs.
While promoting AI anti-fraud and fighting illegal activities to protect consumers, the company faces ongoing complaints about "out-of-control" debt collection practices, including privacy breaches and malicious harassment, creating a stark contrast. According to Hei Mao Complaints, as of now, there have been 49,263 cumulative complaints related to 360 Jietiao, with 596 complaints in the last 30 days, of which only 55 are marked as resolved. Complaints primarily focus on aggressive collection tactics, contact list exposure, harassment, privacy leakage, hidden charges, and excessively high comprehensive annualized loan rates.
Regarding aggressive collection, numerous complaints allege that collectors directly expose borrowers' contact lists, leak personal information, and send harassing messages to colleagues, supervisors, and friends even when the borrower is reachable.
Furthermore, after the new regulations took effect last year, there continued to be complaints about hidden fees and annualized rates exceeding 24% for 360 Jietiao. One user reported borrowing 20,000 yuan in February 2025, repaying it over 12 installments totaling 23,906.57 yuan, resulting in a comprehensive rate over 40%, with 1,212 yuan in unreasonable fees. Other complaints from August and June 2024 also cited rates as high as 40%, significantly exceeding the regulatory cap.
According to regulations, loan facilitation platforms must use the IRR method for installment loans, including all fees (interest, credit enhancement fees, guarantee fees, membership fees, service charges, etc.) in the comprehensive cost. Calculating this way, the user's annualized rate reached 40.8%, far above the 36% threshold defining usury.
Despite strengthened supervision, aggressive collection practices persist. Just before World Consumer Rights Day on March 15, Qifu Technology and four other leading loan facilitation companies were summoned by the National Financial Regulatory Administration, addressing issues such as false advertising, excessive interest rates, and aggressive debt collection.
Additionally, on the evening of March 15, the regulator disclosed the "Regulations on Disclosing Comprehensive Financing Costs for Personal Loan Business," further emphasizing that all personal loan products, whether from licensed financial institutions or facilitated through platforms, must display the annualized comprehensive cost via a 'Comprehensive Financing Cost Disclosure Table.' This reflects a regulatory shift from focusing solely on licensed institutions to also scrutinizing internet platforms that facilitate loans for them.
This意味着意味着 Qifu Technology and similar companies will face increased regulatory scrutiny. The era of easy profits is firmly in the past.
Qifu Technology is the former 360 DigiTech. One of its founders is the well-known "Red Coat Commander," Zhou Hongyi. In 2015, 360 Group incubated the fintech business "360 JinFu," establishing 360 Financial Group the following year and launching its core product, "360 Jietiao." The platform initially grew rapidly by leveraging the 360 brand's traffic, was spun off for independent operation in 2018, and listed on Nasdaq. It completed a full separation from the group and conducted a secondary listing on the Hong Kong Exchange in 2022.
However, in recent years, Zhou Hongyi and 360 Group have been progressively distancing themselves from Qifu Technology. In August 2024, Zhou resigned from Qifu Technology, and the facilitated lending platform 360 Jietiao was renamed Qifu Jietiao. In an April 2024 live stream in Chongqing's Rongchang district, when a netizen asked if money owed to "your 360 Jietiao" could be left unpaid, Zhou Hongyi responded, "That's not my company."
But is that truly the case? According to Qifu Technology's 2024 annual report, its largest shareholder, Aerovane Company Limited, holding 16% of shares, is wholly owned by Zhou Hongyi's children. Due to the immediate family relationship, Zhou also has the right to jointly exercise voting and disposal rights over these shares with his children.
Furthermore, although Zhou Hongyi formally complies with the principle of corporate independence, he can still exert substantial influence over Qifu Technology's operational decisions through multi-layered holding structures, such as Tianjin Qixin Fukong and other companies.
In other words, despite the urgent distancing, Zhou Hongyi remains connected to Qifu Technology.
Amid tightening regulation and weak performance, Qifu Technology's stock price has continued its sharp decline. Since April of last year, the stock has fallen steadily from its peak of HK$198.301 to the current HK$52.85, a drop of over 73% in one year, erasing more than HK$41 billion in market capitalization.
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