Yirendai CEO Yihan Fang explains why her company just listed on the NYSE

China’s P2P lending marketplace is a flurry of competition, with numerous players having raised major rounds over the past year. But as of today, only one Chinese P2P lender can lay claim to having listed in the United States: Yirendai. As planned, Yirendai listed on the NYSE today under the tag YRD, raising US$75 million in an offering of American Depository Shares priced at US$10 each.

As of this writing, the stock is down to US$8.85 per share.

Tech in Asia spoke with Yirendai CEO Yihan Fang, who said that everyone at the company is “feeling very excited” about the stock having gone live on the NYSE. “We think it was a great accomplishment,” she said of the company achieving its yearlong goal of listing in the US.

Yirendai is still majority-owned by CreditEase, a Chinese financial services company, and the company has been profitable for over a year, so Fang said this IPO actually isn’t about raising money.

This IPO actually isn’t about raising money

“Actually [the IPO] was a strategic decision for us,” Fang said. “Getting the money was not our main goal.” Instead, Fang said, the IPO is more about showing prudence and building confidence with consumers at home in a market that’s pretty chaotic. “By disclosing all of our information and business details [to the SEC], we think it will help shape the industry in China.”

“We really want to set a good example,” she added.

In that sense, Yirendai’s IPO couldn’t have come at a more opportune moment. Just as the company is listing on the NYSE, demonstrating that it passes muster with stringent SEC regulations, its largest competitor Ezubao has become embroiled in a scandal at home, with police investigators reportedly having detained employees over questions about illegal business practices. If Yirendai wanted to use its IPO to demonstrate that it is different, Ezubao has certainly helped it to create a strong contrast.

“The [Chinese P2P lending] industry is chaotic without regulation,” Fang said. “Without the right regulations and a good way of doing business, it’s really hurting market sentiment and the consumer.” The Yirendai IPO, then, is about trying to turn that ship around.

Yirendai CEO Yihan Fang

Because of that, Fang said she wasn’t concerned “at all” that the stock had dropped significantly since opening. “I haven’t watched closely,” she said, “but [recently] the market has been weak, and also it’s the year end […] But for us, it’s a really a long-term goal. We believe our value is much higher, and we expect our stock price will match the value of our business in the future.”

Fang says she hopes American investors will recognize the pioneering nature of Yirendai’s business just as she hopes Chinese consumers will recognize the the company’s IPO means it’s committed to playing by the rules. But the expansion into an overseas capital market does not foreshadow an expansion into overseas consumer markets, according to Fang. “We are totally focused on China,” Fang told me.

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