XYF
Less growth, more guardrails
X Financial spent Q1 2026 doing the corporate version of taking your foot off the gas in a rainstorm. It facilitated RMB 14.63 billion in loans, down 58.4% from a year ago and 35.8% from last quarter, because management would rather protect the balance sheet than chase volume like a caffeinated day trader.
The numbers got the memo
Revenue came in at RMB 1.18 billion, down 39.3% year over year, while net income sank to RMB 37.9 million from RMB 458.1 million a year ago. That’s not exactly a victory lap, but it does show the cost of playing defense: fewer loans, less revenue, and a lot more pressure from credit provisions.
Why investors should keep one eyebrow raised
The company says it tightened underwriting, strengthened compliance, and kept shifting origination toward internally operated channels. Translation: less dependence on pricey third-party traffic, more control, and hopefully fewer nasty surprises later. Delinquency metrics were still manageable — 31-60 day delinquency was 2.61% and 91-180 day delinquency was 9.95% — but the macro/regulatory backdrop in China is still the wildcard in the room.
Big picture
This wasn’t a “growth at all costs” quarter. It was a “let’s survive the weather and keep the roof on” quarter. If X Financial can stabilize credit quality without permanently kneecapping originations, investors may forgive the bruised P&L. If not, well, cautious turns into stagnant pretty fast.