Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the LexinFintech fourth quarter 2025 earnings conference call. At this time all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one and one on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. Please be advised today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Will Tan. Please go ahead.
Thank you, operator. Hi everyone, welcome to our fourth quarter 2025 earnings conference call. Our results were released earlier today and are currently available on our IR website. Today, you will hear from our Chairman and CEO, Mr. Jay Wenjie Xiao, who will provide an update on our overall performance and strategies of our business. Our COO, Mr. Arvin Zhanwen Qiao, will then provide more details on our risk management initiatives and updates.
Lastly, our CFO, Mr. James Xigui Zheng will discuss our financial performance. Before we continue, I would like to refer you to our safe harbor statement in our earnings press release, which also applies to this call. As we will be making forward-looking statements. Last, please note that all figures are presented in RMB terms, and all comparisons are made on quarter-over-quarter basis unless otherwise stated. Please kindly note Jay Wenjie Xiao and Arvin Zhanwen Qiao will give their whole remarks in Chinese first. Then the English version will be delivered by Jay Wenjie Xiao's and Arvin Zhanwen Qiao's AI-based voices. With that, I'm now pleased to turn over the call to Mr. Jay Wenjie Xiao, Chairman and CEO of LexinFintech. Please.
大家好，很高兴和各位分享我们2025年第四季的业绩。四季度，我们在新规框架下调整业务结构，完成了大规模向风险的过渡，季度内公司独特的生态业务布局在行业调整期展现出差异化的优势，活跃用户明显回升。在长期主义的驱动下，公司多业务协同的发展韧性持续显现，抵御周期波动的能力进一步增强。四季度公司实现交易额500亿元，营收30亿元，活跃用户数453万，新增活跃用户数88.4万。2025年全年公司交易额实现2,053亿元，净利润17亿元，同比增加52.4%。接下来我跟大家介绍一下四季度以来重点的一些工作进展。 第一，积极响应新规要求，以高标准严要求合规经营。四季度伴随行业新规正式落地，公司在前期已经完成的业务调整与系统部署基础上，坚持以用户为中心，持续优化产品矩阵与个性化服务体验。我们严格在合规框架内稳健开展业务，在有效提升公司可持续经营与抗风险能力的同时，通过个人信贷、分期零售、普惠金融等多元业务，精准高效链接金融服务与市场需求，助力实体经济发展，促进消费健康增长。 第二，全面强化风险管控，各行业务稳健发展。四季度以来，行业风险呈上行态势。季度内公司优化风险策略，严控新增资产质量，加强优质客户识别。通过更多的实时数据维度，提升风险识别的前瞻性与精准度，实现新增资产风险指标逐月改善。在存量资产端，我们聚焦优质资产的精细化运营，通过优化授信额度与构建差异化定价体系，提升产品竞争性与客户体验，保障存量资产风险持续稳定。季度内，公司稳住了整体风险大盘，资产质量保持稳定，总体风险指标正在逐月改善。今年一到二月以来，多个风险指标呈现向好趋势，陆催率相比十月高点下降超过10%。 第三，独特的生态业务在行业变革期优势增强。四季度分期零售业务紧扣生活消费场景，持续完善供应链，丰富吃穿用等商品供给。在双十一、双十二电商大促活动中，持续加强营销和运营，通过免息优惠等措施带来用户活跃度和交易表现稳步提升，巩固了分期零售的差异化优势。季度内，我们持续加强获客能力的建设和投入，有效带动季度内新增授信用户数增长。同时，我们聚焦优质老客经营，通过差异化的定价、金额策略，推动用户活跃度正在持续上升。季度内，普惠、数科、海外业务都实现稳健的增长，进一步彰显出公司的经营韧性。 第四，深度运用AI技术，提升用户服务体验。四季度，公司继续深耕大模型应用技术，客户服务智能体成功应用于授信、交易和还款等核心场景，回复信息准确率均在90%以上，平均响应时间在三秒以内，其中授信场景转人工率仅3.4%，大幅提升了服务效率和体验。未来将持续推进夜间无人服务时段落地应用，实现7×24小时的不间断服务。季度内，我们进一步将大模型落地应用在风控的核心环节，如合规字典、大模型辅助系统逐步替代传统的规则四字点，准确率提升至89%。在风控策略环节，大模型辅助策略生成智能体，深度建模客户数据，实现差异化策略的自动生成与全流程评估，决策准确性与响应效率持续提升。用户运营环节，集合智能体在智能对话中精准识别用户需求，引导用户自助操作，降低人工服务成本的同时，提升用户的办理体验。公司始终坚持以用户为中心的服务理念，将消费者权益保护视为核心竞争优势。四季度内持续推进服务流程的标准化与智能调度能力优化，整体服务效率与响应速度都有所改善。我们进一步深化用户分群服务的精细化运营，通过持续优化用户自助服务平台功能，提升用户满意度。 季度内政策层面相继出台一系列鼓励消费、发展县域经济的举措，为行业发展锚定了方向。我们始终紧紧围绕国家的政策要求，充分发挥自身优势，加大在消费场景、小微产品服务的投入力度，通过免息、低息等补贴手段，以丰富的产品供给，更完善的全服务，切实助力了消费提振，为小微的发展注入金融活水。 展望2026年，我们相信市场会有更多的机会，公司将抓住机遇，坚守合规底线，坚持以用户为中心，深耕多元生态业务，持续提升公司经营韧性及对冲周期的能力。2026年，我们还将加大在小微企业和优质消费人群方面的投入，不断提升优质客户占比，构建客群结构更优、盈利来源更稳的业务基础，助力高质量增长，为股东创造长期可持续的回报。
Hi everyone, thanks for joining us today for our fourth quarter 2025 earnings call. In the fourth quarter, we optimized our business operations within the new regulatory framework, successfully achieving our objectives of stabilizing scale and mitigating risk. During this period of industry adjustment, our unique business ecosystem demonstrated its differentiated advantages, leading to a significant rebound in active users. Guided by our long term oriented philosophy, we are seeing the resilience of our multi business synergy become increasingly evident, further strengthening our ability to navigate business cycles. In the fourth quarter, our loan volume reached RMB 50 billion and revenue reached RMB 3 billion. Number of active users stood at 4.53 million, with 884 thousand new active users. For the full year of 2025, total loan volume was RMB 205.3 billion , net profit was RMB 1.7 billion, representing a year-over-year increase of 52.4%.
Next, I will walk you through the key initiatives we have undertaken since the fourth quarter. First, we proactively aligned our operations with the new regulatory requirements, adhering to a high standard of compliance. Following the official implementation of the new regulations in Q4 and building on the earlier completion of business adjustments and system deployment, we remained focused on our customer-centric strategy to further optimize our product matrix and personalized service experience. By operating prudently within the regulatory framework, we have not only enhanced our long-term sustainability and risk resilience, but also effectively connected financial services with market demand. Through our diversified business lines, including online consumer finance, installment e-commerce, and offline inclusive finance, we continue to support the real economy and foster healthy growth in consumer spending.
Second, we have comprehensively strengthened our risk management to ensure steady business development. Since the fourth quarter, the industry has faced an upward trend in credit risk. In response, we optimized our risk strategies and maintained stringent standards for new loan quality. By incorporating more real time data dimensions, we have enhanced the proactiveness and precision of our risk identification, leading to a month-over-month improvement in risk indicators for new loans. Regarding our existing portfolio, we focused on refined operations for high quality assets. By optimizing credit line allocations and implementing a differentiated pricing framework, we enhanced both product competitiveness and the customer experience, ensuring the continued stability of our existing assets. Overall, we successfully stabilized our risk profile during the quarter, with asset quality remaining steady and key risk indicators improving monthly.
Since the beginning of 2026, several key risk indicators have shown a positive trajectory in January and February. Specifically, day one delinquency ratio of our total assets decreased by over 10% from its peak in October last year. Third, our unique business ecosystem has demonstrated greater strengths during this period of industry transition. Our installment e-commerce business remained deeply integrated with daily consumption scenarios. In the fourth quarter, we continued to optimize our supply chain, expanding our offerings across essential categories such as food, apparel and household goods. During major e-commerce events like Double 11 and Double 12, we ramped up our marketing efforts. Through initiatives such as interest free promotions, we drove steady growth in both user engagement and transaction volume, further reinforcing our differentiated advantages in installment e-commerce.
During the quarter, we continued to invest in our customer acquisition capabilities, which effectively fueled growth in new users with credit line. At the same time, we focused on deepening engagement with high quality existing customers, utilizing differentiated pricing and credit line strategies to drive a sustained rise in user activity. Furthermore, our offline inclusive finance, tech empowerment, and overseas businesses all achieved steady growth, further underscoring the overall resilience of our diversified ecosystem. Fourth, we deeply integrated AI technology to elevate the user service experience. During the fourth quarter, we continued to advance our applications of large models. Our customer service AI agents are now successfully deployed in core scenarios including credit approvals, transactions and repayments. These agents maintain a response accuracy of over 90%, with an average response time of under 3 seconds.
Notably, in the credit approval stage, the human intervention rate was only 3.4%, significantly boosting both efficiency and user satisfaction. Looking ahead, we will expand these automated services to nighttime hours to achieve seamless 24/7 coverage. During the quarter, we further implemented large models in key risk management processes. For example, in compliance quality assurance, our AI-assisted system is gradually replacing traditional rule-based monitoring, raising our QA accuracy to 89%. In risk strategy, our strategy generation AI agents perform deep modeling of customer data to automate the creation and full process evaluation of differentiated risk strategies, consistently improving decision-making precision and response efficiency. In user operations, our credit line adjustment AI agents accurately identify user needs during their dialogues with customers and provide self-service guidance. This not only reduces manual service costs but also enhances the user experience.
The company has always adhered to a user-centric service philosophy, positioning consumer rights protection as a core competitive advantage. In the fourth quarter, we continued to standardize our service processes and optimize intelligent routing, leading to a measurable improvement in overall efficiency and response times. We also refined our tiered customer service model, enhancing our self-service platform to drive higher user satisfaction. During the quarter, a series of macro policies supporting consumption and the county-level economy were rolled out, anchoring the direction for industry development. We have always closely aligned with national policy requirements, fully leveraged our own advantages and increased investment in consumption scenarios and products tailored for micro and small business owners.
Through measures such as interest-free and low interest promotions, complemented by an enriched product supply and comprehensive services, we are delivering tangible support for the consumption rebound and injecting financial vitality into the growth of micro and small businesses. As we enter 2026, we are optimistic about the market's development potential. We are well positioned to seize growth opportunities while upholding a high standard of compliance and a customer-centric philosophy. By deepening our diversified business ecosystem, we will continue to strengthen our operational resilience and our ability to navigate market cycles. Next, I'll hand over the floor to our CRO, Arvin. Thanks.
谢谢建建。下面我将汇报一下四季度风险管理方面的工作情况和进展。2025年四季度，助贷新规正式落地实施，流动性收紧对行业规模和风险持续造成比较大的影响和冲击。针对行业风险周期，四季度我们持续加强风险管控，提升优质资产占比，优化资产结构，保障风险可控。具体风险表现来看，环比三季度全量资产入催率上升了约百七左右，全量资产90+不良率上升了百三左右。但季度内分月来看，在十月风险达到高点后，十一月、十二月连续两个月小幅下降，风险开始企稳回落，呈下降趋势。十二月入催率较十月下降百八左右。2026年上半年，我们仍将继续加强管控，保持风险下降趋势，逐步控制到风险偏好内。下面我向大家介绍一下我们在四季度采取的重点风险管理措施。 第一，在四季度继续加强高风险客户的识别和管控。在模型方面加快风险模型迭代，通过模型自动化更新，按周将最新发生的坏样本数据纳入模型训练，从而能够更快地学习因当前市场环境变化而引发的逾期客户的特征。策略方面，引入更丰富的实时多头信息、逾期信息、负债信息、收入信息和工作稳定性信息，对短期内高频借贷、高共债、收入负债高的客户实施更加严格的交易拦截与授信敞口控制。另一方面，加强全量资产入催管理，重点提升高入催人群的识别，优化还款提醒频率，加强贷后能力和链路升级。 第二，在四季度继续完善优质资产的经营能力，提升优质资产占比，优化资产结构。从数据模型层面持续优化优质客户识别能力，对优质客群开发专项额度、价格、还款方式策略，全面提升offer竞争力。另外，深化优质客群的一对一专享服务，通过管户服务、交付式补件、大额专项人审等，根据客户的需求提供个性化定制化的re-offer，提升客户的满意度和留存率。 第三，在电商方面，四季度加大了对客户的消费支持力度，通过专项策略支持电商Double 11和Double 12大促活动。在活动期间，我们针对三C数码等大额优质消费进行了专项零额支持。此外，针对头部优质客户，我们通过十二期、二十四期免息分期活动，促进优质规模增长。 展望2026年一季度，我们将继续加强存量在贷以及新增放款的风险管控，同时加大高风险客群的处置力度，保持风险持续下降趋势。下面有请CFO介绍公司四季度的财务表现情况。
Thanks, Jay. Next, I will provide a review of our key initiatives and achievements in risk management for the fourth quarter. The fourth quarter of 2025 marked the full implementation of the new loan facilitation regulations. The resulting liquidity tightening across the sector created significant headwinds for both industry scale and risk performance. In response to the cyclical volatility, we maintained a disciplined approach to risk management throughout the quarter, increasing our mix of prime assets and optimizing our portfolio structure to ensure overall stability. Specifically, in the fourth quarter, day 1 delinquency ratio of total assets increased by 7% and 90 days plus delinquency ratio edged up by 3% quarter-over-quarter. On a month-over-month basis, our risk indicators saw a marginal decline in November and December after peaking in October, signaling that asset risk performance has begun to stabilize.
In December, Day one delinquency ratio declined by 8% compared to October. We will sustain our rigorous risk controls through the first half of 2026 to reinforce this downward trajectory and gradually bring our asset risks back within our target risk appetite. Next, I would like to walk you through the key risk management initiatives we have implemented during the fourth quarter. First, we continue to intensify the identification and management of high-risk customers. From a modeling perspective, we accelerated the iteration of our risk models by implementing automated weekly updates. By incorporating the most recent default samples into our training sets every week, we were able to more rapidly capture and learn the shifting characteristics of delinquent borrowers in the current market environment.
On the strategy front, we integrated a broader range of real-time data dimensions, including cross-platform borrowing, delinquency history, leverage ratios, personal income, and employment stability. This allowed us to apply more stringent transaction interception and credit exposure controls to customers exhibiting frequent borrowing, excessive cross-platform debt, or high debt to income ratios. Furthermore, we reinforced our Day one delinquency management across the entire portfolio. We placed a particular emphasis on improving the identification of high-risk cohorts at the earliest stage of delinquency while optimizing the frequency of repayment reminders and strengthening our auto deduction efficiency and payment clearing infrastructure. Second, we continued to refine our operational capabilities for high-quality assets, consistently increasing the mix of prime assets and optimizing our portfolio structure. At the data and modeling level, we continuously optimized our prime customer identification capabilities.
We developed dedicated strategies, including credit line allocation, pricing and repayment, tailored to prime segments, comprehensively enhancing our offering competitiveness. In addition, we deepened our one-on-one exclusive services for prime customers through account management services via instant messaging, interactive supplementary document submission, and dedicated manual reviews for large ticket loans. We provided customized re-offer based on customer needs, thereby boosting customer satisfaction and retention. Third, regarding our installment e-commerce business, we significantly intensified consumer support during the fourth quarter through initiatives tailored for the Double 11 and Double 12 shopping festivals. During these events, we provided dedicated temporary credit lines to support large ticket purchases, particularly in the 3C and consumer electronics categories. Additionally, for our top-tier prime customers, we launched 12- and 24-month interest-free installment campaigns to further accelerate high-quality volume growth.
Looking ahead to the first quarter of 2026, we will continue to strengthen risk controls over existing and new loans while intensifying our efforts in managing and phasing out high-risk segments to ensure a sustained downward trend in risk levels. Next, I will hand over to our CFO, James, to provide a review of the company's financial performance for the fourth quarter.
Hi, everyone. Thanks, Arvin. I will now provide a detailed overview of our fourth quarter financial results. Please note that all figures are presented in Renminbi terms and all comparisons are made on a quarter-over-quarter basis unless otherwise stated. The fourth quarter marked a pivotal transition for the industry as the new regulatory framework officially came into force. We have strictly followed these regulatory requirements, ensuring that the comprehensive interest rate for all new loans is capped at or below 24%. Following the implementation of these new regulations, we observed elevated volatility in industry-wide credit risk. This complex market environment created challenges for our performance. In the fourth quarter, our net income reported RMB 214 million.
This sequential decrease was primarily driven by the pricing adjustment to strictly comply with the 24% cap, coupled with a contraction in loan volume resulting from our prudent strategy to proactively manage risk exposure. Furthermore, heightened market volatility led to increased credit costs and more conservative provisioning. Lastly, operating expense did not decline proportionately with the revenue due to the fixed cost and expense recognition seasonality. Now let's take a holistic review of our fourth quarter financial results. First, net revenue of the credit business, which is derived by adding up credit facilitation service income and tech-empowerment service income, net of credit costs, including provisions and fair value changes, and the funding cost was RMB 1.4 billion, representing a RMB 586 million decrease quarter-over-quarter.
The overall decline was primarily driven by a RMB 132 million drop in credit facilitation service income, stemming from contracting the loan volume in our online consumer finance business and a decreased overall pricing. During the fourth quarter, weighted average APR of new loans originated was 21.7%, a 140 basis points decline quarter-over-quarter. This was compounded by approximately RMB 185 million increase in credit cost, reflecting elevated risk volatility and our prudent provisioning. Additionally, our tech-empowerment service income decreased by RMB 286 million, mainly due to the wind down of the ICP business, although this was partially offset by revenue growth in our value-added services. Second, net revenue of the e-commerce business, defined by e-commerce revenue, net of cost of inventory sold, increased by RMB 56 million to RMB 167 million.
The total net revenue summing the credit and the e-commerce business added up to RMB 1.5 billion, a 26% or RMB 530 million decrease quarter-over-quarter. On the expense side, operating expenses, including the sales and marketing, research and development, general and administrative expenses, processing and servicing cost, decreased by 11% or RMB 147 million to RMB 1.2 billion. As I mentioned earlier, because this 11% reduction in operating expenses was outpaced by the 26% decline in net revenue, the difference weighed on our net profit for the quarter. Tax and others decreased by RMB 76 million to RMB 86 million. Consequently, total expenses added up to RMB 1.3 billion, a decrease of RMB 223 million.
By deducting total expenses of RMB 1.3 billion from the total revenue of RMB 1.5 billion, we arrive at a net income of RMB 214 million, a decrease of RMB 307 million quarter-over-quarter. Although the complex environment posed challenges to our performance, we demonstrated our operational resilience. Next, I will elaborate on three key business highlights that underscore our strength during this transitional period. The resilience of our business ecosystem, our prudent provision coverage, and further reductions in funding costs. The resilience of our business ecosystem. Amidst the cycle of adjustment, while our online consumer finance business was significantly impacted, other business lines actually provide critical stability, specifically regarding our e-commerce business. Although the GMV declined slightly as a result of our prudent operational strategy, gross profit continued to achieve steady growth, recording RMB 167 million during the fourth quarter.
Notably, the e-commerce gross margin, calculated as the gross profit divided by GMV, reached 7.8%, representing a quarter-over-quarter increase of 295 basis points. In parallel, our Tech empowerment business continued to expand, acting as a vital counterbalance to the volume decline in the online consumer finance business. Under this model, where we work together with the internet super platforms like ByteDance and the banking partners, we assist our banking partners with customer risk assessment while assuming the corresponding credit risk. Given the better quality of this consumer base, these loans carry lower pricing. It is worth highlighting that since this model recognizes revenue over the loan tenor rather than upfront, and it carries lower take rate consistent with its lower risk nature, it creates a temporary time lag between the revenue recognition and the loan volume.
However, this mix shift is accretive to our long-term asset quality and steady financial performance. Furthermore, our offline inclusive finance business progressed steadily, maintaining stable risk performance and acting as a stabilizer for our overall portfolio. Resilience of our business ecosystem demonstrates that we have built a comprehensive product matrix that serves a broader spectrum of the market. Our business lines now cover a wide range of interest tiers, from competitive rates for prime users to standard rates for the mass market. This allows us to effectively match users with the right products, maximizing our reach and retention amidst the evolving regulatory environment. Second, prudent provision coverage.
In the fourth quarter, impacted by heightened volatility in industry risk, our total credit cost, including the three provision line items and the fair value changes of financial guarantee derivatives in the income statement, rose by RMB 185 million to RMB 1.3 billion. While we observed early signs of improvement in December following our credit tightening measures, overall risk indicators remain at elevated level, and we expect that the industry will need time to fully digest the risks. Consequently, we adopted more prudent approach to provisioning for new loans facilitated during this period. To better illustrate our provisioning strength, I'd encourage you to focus on the gross provision, which excludes the impact of the net accounting policies in the item changing fair value of financial guarantee derivatives and loan values in the income statement.
Specifically, the gross provision ratio of new loans calculated as the gross provisions divided by the capital-heavy new loan volume increased by 27 basis points from the third quarter to 7.24%. Please note that for an apple-to-apple comparison, this volume metric excludes loans from tech-empowerment services. This level stands well above our historical peak vintage charge-off rate of around 6.1%. We view this elevated provision ratio not just as a reflection of the current volatility, but also as a buffer to future-proof our performance against potential macro uncertainties. Third, the optimization of funding costs. With the implementation of the new policy, institutional funding that was previously allocated to segments priced above 24% was released in the fourth quarter, resulting in ample funding supply.
Consequently, our funding cost declined substantially from 4.4% in third quarter to 3.8%. Looking ahead to 2026, as the industry landscape shifts to a new normal stage and a new regulatory framework, we anticipate a structural flight to quality. Funding will increasingly congregate towards platforms that are fully compliant and possess strong risk management capabilities. Currently, we have successfully secured our place on the whitelist of our key funding partners, laying a solid foundation for our steady development in the future. To summarize, the above three highlights mainly impacted the net revenue side of the income statement. On the cost and expense side, total operating expenses reduced by 11% or RMB 147 million to RMB 1.2 billion, mainly due to the decrease of sales marketing expenses, reflecting our disciplined approach to user acquisitions during this industry transition.
However, our total operating expense reduction was slower than the decline in the net revenue. This was primarily due to fixed costs and the seasonal impacts. For balance sheet items, as of December 31st, our cash position, which includes cash equivalents, and restricted cash, was approximately RMB 4.0 billion. Shareholders' equity remained solid at about RMB 12 billion. To conclude, I'd like to reaffirm our commitment to enhancing shareholder value. As of March 2026, we have repurchased $39 million worth of ADSs alongside the CEO's personal purchase of over $10 million worth of ADSs. On the dividend front, our board of directors has approved a dividend of $0.188 per ADS, bringing our total dividend for 2025 to $0.2382 per ADS.
This represents a more than 100% increase compared to $0.182 in 2024. On the foundations of our current shareholder return policy, we're continuing to evaluate opportunities and explore different ways to ensure we deliver optimal value to our shareholders. Looking ahead, while our asset quality continues to show positive momentum, we maintain a prudent approach given the ongoing macroeconomic uncertainties. We expect the total loan origination to remain relatively stable in the first quarter of 2026. That's all our prepared remarks for today. Operator, we're now ready to take questions.
Thank you. To ask a question, you will need to press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced, and to withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. As a reminder, please do translate your questions into English, and please remember to mute yourself after asking your question. Thank you. We will now take our first question. Please stand by. First question is from Alex Ye from UBS. Please go ahead.
Good evening.
变化，有哪些主要的考量。然后，第二个问题想请管理层给我们展望一下，2026年公司的一些主要核心指标的一些经营表现。 I have two questions. The first one is, given the new regulatory environment, so how LexinFintech's development strategy are going to change going forward? And then the second question is, could management share with us some of the key operating performance of outlook for this year. Thank you.
好的，这两个问题我来回答一下。第一个问题呢，就是我们觉得说随着助贷新规的全面落地，行业已经进入到一个高质量严合规的整个的一个新的阶段，行业的资源也会进一步向整个的合规的平台集中。在这样的一个环境下面呢，我们将会坚持以用户为中心的全域经营来保持业务的整个的一个韧性。我们有多元的生态业务，它赋予了我们能够服务更多用户的整个的一个能力，也能够帮助我们承接不同风险的一个客群，从而在波动的市场中可以更加稳健地发展。具体而言，我们还是积极响应监管的导向，始终坚持高标准合规的经营。在现有的几个监管的要求的基础上，公司正在主动地下调综合贷款利率。继我们四季度新增平均借款利率下降到21.7%以后，我们在2026年也会进一步压降。此外，我们也会持续深耕普惠的这个市场，精准服务小微的消费群体，并依托自己的整个的一个分期零售的平台，丰富场景商品的供给，深度挖掘用户在衣食住行等刚需多元的消费场景下的一些消费潜力。与此同时，我们也会随着科技的输出与海外业务的稳步扩张，公司的收入结构将会变得更加多元化，从而在新的监管框架下持续夯实长期的经营韧性。公司始终还是坚持以用户为中心的这样的一个理念，我们将消费者权益保护视为提升公司经营韧性的主要的一部分内容。未来我们也会继续通过流程的整个标准化来智能调度与精细化的一个运营，不断提升对客户的服务体验，加强消费者的一个保护。
This is the translation for Jay's answer. With the full implementation of the new regulation, the industry has entered a new phase centering on quality and compliance. Industry resources will increasingly concentrate on platforms that demonstrate both quality and compliance. Under such new regulatory environment, the key to LexinFintech's business resilience lies in our user-centric approach and our ability to serve customers across different segments. Our unique business ecosystem enable us to engage and serve users with varying risk profiles and achieve stable growth amid market fluctuations. Specifically, we actively respond to regulatory guidance by adhering to a high standard of compliance. Building on the current regulatory requirements. We further lower the overall loan rates. In the fourth quarter, the average loan rate on our new loans was 21.7%, which will be further lowered in 2026.
Furthermore, we remain deeply committed to the offline inclusive finance market and serve the micro and small business owner segment. Leveraging our installment e-commerce platform, we enrich the supply of products on our platform across diverse and essential life service categories to tap into the consumption potential of our users. Meanwhile, with the steady expansion of our tech-empowerment and overseas business, the revenue structure is becoming more diversified, strengthening our long-term operational resilience under the new regulatory framework. Last but not least, we adhere to a user-centric service philosophy, viewing consumer protection as a key part of enhancing our operational resilience. Moving forward, we will continue to improve efficiency and experience of our customer service through process standardization, intelligent task routing and refined operation, further strengthening consumer rights protection.
第二个问题就是公司2026年的整个的一些经营的情况。展望2026年，在风险逐渐趋稳的这个前提下，我们将会采取积极的一个获客策略，我们会提升客户的体验和产品竞争力，聚焦优质的客群，推动业务稳步回归常态化的增长轨道。具体到核心的几个经营指标，产品及客群方面，我们还是会聚焦优质客群，持续通过优化授信额度，构建差异化的定价体系来提升用户的整个的一个体验，夯实以用户为中心的全域经营的能力，积极拓展优势的客群。在资产质量方面，由于我们可以获得更多的优质客群来改善资产结构，目前我们已经观察到资产的质量已经企稳，即看到有不少的边际改善。如没有新的一些宏观的冲击，预计行业将会逐步消化现有风险，整体的风险指标也会稳步回落到我们风险天花区间，从而积极为获客及业务的复苏奠定一个比较好的基础。
在放款规模方面，我们会继续加强获客能力的建设和投入，所以我们今年的整个的规模将会在目前企稳的基础上，逐步恢复至一个常态化的整个的增长区间吧。
Regarding the second question about the outlook of our business operation in the year of 2026. With risk level stabilizing, we will adopt a more proactive user acquisition strategy. By enhancing the customer experience and product competitiveness, we will focus on high-quality segments to bring our business back onto a path of steady, normalized growth. More specifically on our key operational initiative. In terms of products and customer segments, we will focus on the refined management of high-quality assets. By optimizing credit allocation and building a differentiated pricing system, we aim to strengthen both product competitiveness and customer experience. This will reinforce our user-centric operational capabilities to serve different segments of customers and enable us to expand and better serve prime segments.
In terms of asset quality, we will improve our customer mix and enhance asset quality by ramping up on acquisition of more high quality customers. So far, we have already observed early signs of risk stabilization and improvement in asset quality. Barring any new macroeconomic shocks, we expect the industry to gradually digest the existing risk, bringing overall risk matrix back within our risk appetite. This will lay a solid foundation for proactive customer acquisition and business recovery. In terms of loan origination, we will continue to invest in and strengthen our customer acquisition capabilities. Driven by our improved product competitiveness and proactive customer acquisition strategy, we expect our loan volume to gradually return to a normalized growth range following a period of bottoming out and stabilization.
Thank you. We will now take the next question. Next question is from Judy Zhang from Citi. Please go ahead.
谢谢给我提问的机会，我这边有两个问题，第一个问题是关于风险这边，可否请管理层跟我们分享一下公司最新的这个风险表现以及未来的一个展望。第二个问题呢，就想问一下，刚才分享一些这个经营指标，那可否展望一下2026年全年的一个财务表现。那let me translate the two questions. The first question is regarding on the risk outlook. Can management share with us the company's latest risk performance and the future outlook? The second question is, what is the outlook for the company's full year financial performance for this year? Thank you.
好的，风险这个问题由我来回答一下。四季度是助贷新规落地的首个季度，对整个行业来说，在风险和规模方面的影响和冲击都还是比较大的，也是我们应对整个风险波动的一个关键时期。目前来看，行业整体风险已经开始呈现一个高位企稳下降的迹象，但整体风险要回落到二五年上半年相对比较低的水平，可能还需要一定的时间出清。针对整个行业风险周期，我们从四季度起，继续在加强整个风险的管控，同时优化和提升优质资产的占比，优化我们整个资产结构，从分子分母两个方面来保证我们整体的风险的上升幅度和冲击是处在一个可控的范围之内。落到具体的风险表现上来说，虽然四季度相比于三季度，我们整体的风险有一定的上扬，但是在十月份风险达到高点以后，从十一月份起，截止到目前，已经连续多个月我们的风险呈现一个小幅下降的趋势。展望未来，我们觉得整个风险仍将能够保持一个下降的趋势。当前虽然风险有所改善，但是仍然处于一个高位，需要时间进一步下降，逐步管控到我们整个风险偏好之内。展望二六年，我们继续加强整个资产的风险管控，加大高风险客户的处置力度，力争保持风险持续下降到我们的风险偏好之内。
This is the translation for Arvin's answer. The fourth quarter was the first quarter after the implementation of the new regulation and was a critical period for the entire industry to digest the impact of the new regulation. While the industry-wide risk has begun to show signs of stabilizing, it will take some time for this risk to be fully clear and return to the levels before the first half of 2025. In response to this round of risk cycle, we continue to strengthen our risk management in Q4 by increasing the proportion of high-quality assets and optimizing our asset structure, ensuring risks remain under control.
Regarding the specific performance, although the overall risk indicator in Q4 was higher than that in Q3, on a month-over-month basis, starting from the month of November, we have started to see risk trend down for multiple months consecutively, signaling a downward trend, and we expect this downward trend to continue. Despite this improvement, it's important to note that risk levels remain elevated in the fourth quarter. Looking ahead to the first quarter of 2026, we will continue to strengthen risk control over loans while intensifying our efforts in managing and phasing out high-risk segments to ensure a sustained downward trend in risk levels and gradually bringing the loan risk back within our target risk appetite in the second half of 2026.
Okay, I will take on the second question regarding the financial guidance. The fourth quarter of 2025 was indeed one of the most challenging periods, absorbing the concentrated impact of several factors. This include revenue compression from pricing adjustments and the deliberate scale down of loan volume in our consumer finance business, a shift in the pace of revenue recognition driven by changes in our business mix due to the tech empowerment business volume growth, short-term uptick in our credit risk, and the seasonal impact on our operational expenses. For the first quarter of this year, as I stated earlier, we expect the loan volume origination of our originations to be at a similar level as our fourth quarter.
Given the ongoing macroeconomic uncertainties and the lower visibility, we are not providing a full-year financial guidance for 2026 at this point. However, I would like to share a few variables that may impact our financial performance. Looking ahead, our full-year financial performance will be primarily influenced by the following dynamics. On the revenue side, number one, volume. While our overall loan volume will remain stable or even grow a little bit, the short-term revenue contribution from tech-empowerment business, Shuke Ye, will be relatively modest. This is due to its lower credit cost, lower pricing profile, and a relatively slower revenue recognition accounting schedule. Second is the pricing. The proactive downward adjustment to our overall pricing will also continue to weigh on our top line. On the cost and expense side, number one, funding cost.
In the near term, frequent regulatory window guidance directed at funding partners has led to a somewhat tightened funding supply in the first quarter. Moving forward, our funding cost will be influenced by a combination of the broader regulatory environment, the quality of our customer cohorts, and the overall funding liquidity. Second, the credit cost. As risk progressively stabilize and we pivot towards a higher quality customer cohorts, we anticipate a gradual optimization of our credit cost while maintaining an ample provision. Third point is the operating expenses. We'll persistently drive cost reduction and efficiency initiatives to optimize our operational leverage and steadily lower our operating expenses. In summary, in view of the macro uncertainties, we will maintain prudent in our overall business strategy in the executing.
At the same time, optimize the profit and the shareholder value and strive to build a long-term healthy and a sustainable business.
Thank you. We will now take our next question. Please stand by. Next question is from Zhuhan Wang from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
[Foreign language] I'll quick translate that question. What's the company's future plan for enhancing shareholder returns in terms of both share buyback and cash dividend? Thank you.
[Foreign language]
First, starting from the second half of 2025, our dividend payout ratio was raised to 30% of our semi-annual net profit. This actually puts us at the forefront of the industry. On top of cash dividends, as of today, we have repurchased $39 million worth of ADS, completing 80% of our current repurchase program. I have also fully executed my personal $10 million share repurchase plan. This action reflects the management's firm confidence in the company's outlook and its long-term intrinsic value. Following this earnings release, we will continue to execute the remaining portion of our share repurchase program, delivering our commitment to enhance shareholder returns.
Looking ahead, we will closely monitor market dynamics and, based on our actual operational needs, actively explore diverse initiatives, including further repurchases to create sustainable value for our shareholders.
Thank you. I will now hand the conference back to Will Tan for closing comments.
Thank you. This conference is now concluded. Thank you for joining us on today's call. If you have any more questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. Thanks again.
Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.