UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
(Mark One)
ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 | |||||
For the fiscal year ended June 30 , 2021
OR
TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 | |||||
For the transition period from __________ to __________
Commission file number 001-39888
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) | (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) | ||||||||||
(Address of principal executive offices) | (Zip Code) | ||||||||||
(415 ) 984-0490
(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
| Title of Each Class | Trading Symbol(s) | Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered | ||||||||||||
Securities registered pursuant to section 12(g) of the Act: None
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐ No ☒
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports); and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
| Large accelerated filer | ☐ | Accelerated filer | ☐ | ||||||||
☒ | Smaller reporting company | ||||||||||
Emerging growth company | |||||||||||
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act ((§15 U.S.C 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒
As of December 31, 2020, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, the registrant’s equity was no t listed on any domestic exchange or over-the-counter market. The registrant’s Class A common stock began trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on January 13, 2021.
As of September 10, 2021, the number of shares of the registrant's Class A common stock outstanding was 193,967,983 and the number of shares of the registrant's Class B common stock outstanding was 77,906,841 .
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Annual Report on Form 10-K ("Form 10-K"), as well as information included in oral statements or other written statements made or to be made by us, contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this report, including statements regarding our future results of operations and financial condition, business strategy, and plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "design," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "potentially," "predict," "project," "should," "will," “would,” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the following:
•our expectations regarding our future revenue, expenses, and other operating results and key operating metrics;
•our ability to attract additional merchants and retain and grow our relationships with our existing merchant partners;
•our ability to compete successfully in a highly competitive industry;
•our ability to attract new consumers and retain and grow our relationships with our existing consumers;
•our expectations regarding product launches;
•our ability to successfully engage new originating bank partners;
•the availability of funding sources to support our business model;
•our ability to effectively price and score credit risk using our proprietary risk model;
•the performance of loans facilitated through our platform;
•the future growth rate of our revenue and related key operating metrics;
•our ability to achieve or sustain profitability in the future;
•our ability to remain in compliance with laws and regulations that currently apply or become applicable to our business;
•our ability to protect our confidential, proprietary, or sensitive information;
•past and future acquisitions, investments, and other strategic investments;
•our ability to maintain, protect, and enhance our brand and intellectual property;
•litigation, investigations, regulatory inquiries, and proceedings;
•the impact of macroeconomic conditions on our business, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; and
•the size and growth rates of the markets in which we compete.
Forward-looking statements are based on our management’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including risks described in the section titled "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in this Form 10-K. Other sections of this Form 10-K may include additional factors that could harm our business and financial performance. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risk factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for our management to predict all risk factors nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ from those contained in, or implied by, any forward-looking statements.
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You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance, achievements, events, or circumstances. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason after the date of this report or to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations. You should read this Form 10-K and the documents that we have filed as exhibits to this report with the understanding that our actual future results, levels of activity, performance, and achievements may be materially different from what we expect. We qualify all of our forward-looking statements by these cautionary statements.
In addition, statements such as “we believe” and similar statements reflect our beliefs and opinions on the relevant subject. These statements are based upon information available to us as of the date of this report, and while we believe such information forms a reasonable basis for such statements, such information may be limited or incomplete, and our statements should not be read to indicate that we have conducted an exhaustive inquiry into, or review of, all potentially available relevant information. These statements are inherently uncertain and you are cautioned not to unduly rely upon these statements.
Investors and others should note that we may announce material business and financial information to our investors using our investor relations website (investors.affirm.com), our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, webcasts, press releases, and conference calls. We use these mediums, including our website, to communicate with investors and the general public about our company, our products, and other issues. It is possible that the information that we make available on our website may be deemed to be material information. We therefore encourage investors and others interested in our company to review the information that we make available on our website. The contents of our website are not incorporated into this filing. We have included our investor relations website address only as an inactive textual reference and do not intend it to be an active link to our website.
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PART I
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Company Overview
Affirm was founded in 2012 with a mission to deliver honest financial products that improve lives. We are building the next generation platform for digital and mobile-first commerce. We believe that by using modern technology, strong engineering talent, and a mission-driven approach, we can reinvent payments and commerce. Our solutions, which are built on trust and transparency, are designed to make it easier for consumers to spend responsibly and with confidence, easier for merchants to convert sales and grow, and easier for commerce to thrive.
Our Business
Legacy payment options, archaic systems, and traditional risk and credit underwriting models can be harmful, deceptive, and restrictive to both consumers and merchants. We believe that they are not well-suited for increasingly digital and mobile-first commerce, and are built on legacy infrastructure that does not support the innovation required for modern commerce to evolve and flourish. Our platform is designed to address these problems.
We believe our innovative approach, based on trust and steadfast commitment to our core values, uniquely positions us to define the future of commerce and payments. Our company is predicated on the principles of simplicity, transparency, and putting people first. Since our founding, we have charged $0 in late fees for missed payments, we never profit from consumers’ mistakes, and we are transparent in our product offerings. By adhering to these principles, we have built enduring, trust-based relationships with consumers and merchants that we believe will set us up for long-term, sustainable success.
We believe that technology, underwriting, and risk management are collectively our key competitive advantage. We believe our proprietary technology platform and data give us a unique advantage in understanding customers and merchants, as well as pricing risk — which we can almost always accomplish within seconds at checkout. Our approach to risk management is core to our business model, and has been proven to lead to low fraud rates, higher approval rates compared to traditional credit underwriting models, and low credit losses. Our models have been built on more than one billion data points, including data from over 30 million loans and over seven years of repayments. Furthermore, our risk management models are designed to continuously improve over time, becoming more precise and efficient with each transaction powered by our platform.
What this means for consumers is increased purchasing power and more control and flexibility. As of June 30, 2021, over 10 million consumers have trusted Affirm to pay over time. By utilizing our unique risk model predicated on sophisticated machine learning algorithms, proprietary data, and product-level underwriting, we can serve consumers across the credit spectrum and price risk across transaction types. Consumers on our platform represent a broad cross-section of society, with sizable geographic representation across the United States (“U.S.”) and Canada.
For merchants, Affirm's commerce solutions help drive growth by enhancing demand generation and customer acquisition. Our platform is explicitly designed and engineered to integrate with a wide range of merchants. This is a point of differentiation for Affirm, and we can accommodate and partner with merchants regardless of industry, size, average order value (“AOV”), or customer profile. As of June 30, 2021, we had approximately 29,000 merchants integrated on our platform, including several thousand integrated through our partnership with Shopify Inc. (“Shopify”), ranging from small businesses to large enterprises, direct-to-consumer brands, brick-and-mortar stores, and companies with omni-channel presences. Our merchants span a diverse range of industries, including sporting goods and outdoors, furniture and homewares, travel, apparel, accessories, consumer electronics, and jewelry.
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Our business model is designed to align with the interests of both consumers and merchants — we win when they win.
From merchants, we typically earn a fee when we help them convert a sale and power a payment. Merchant fees depend on the individual arrangement between us and each merchant and vary based on the terms of the product offering; we generally earn larger merchant fees on 0% annual percentage rate (“APR”) financing products. For both the fiscal years ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, 0% APR financing represented 43% of total Gross Merchandise Volume (“GMV”) facilitated through our platform. This structure incentivizes us to help our merchants convert sales and increase AOV through the commerce and technology solutions offered by our platform.
From consumers, we earn interest income on the simple interest loans that we purchase from our originating bank partners. Interest rates charged to our consumers vary depending on the transaction risk, creditworthiness of the consumer, the repayment term selected by the consumer, the amount of the loan, and the individual arrangement with a merchant. Because consumers are never charged deferred or compounding interest, late fees, or penalties on the loans, we are not incentivized to profit from our consumers’ mistakes or misfortunes.
In order to accelerate our ubiquity, we facilitate the issuance of virtual cards directly to consumers through our app, allowing them to shop with merchants that may not yet be fully integrated with Affirm. When these virtual cards are used over established card networks, we earn a portion of the interchange fee from the transaction.
We have already achieved significant scale, facilitating consumer purchases of $8.3 billion in GMV in fiscal year 2021, and we are just getting started.
Our Platform
Our platform comprises three core elements: a point-of-sale payment solution for consumers, merchant commerce solutions, and a consumer-focused app.
•Consumer Point-Of Sale Solutions. Our point-of-sale solutions allow consumers to pay for purchases over time in fixed amounts without deferred interest, hidden fees, or penalties. With our 0% APR payment options, consumers pay zero interest and zero additional costs. On the interest bearing loans we facilitate, we charge simple interest, which means consumers pay fixed amounts of interest that they agree to up front, and the interest never compounds. We believe in treating people fairly, which is why consumers never pay more than what was agreed to at checkout, even if they miss a payment.
•Merchant Commerce Solutions. We offer merchants commerce solutions that help them drive growth. Our solutions empower merchants to enhance demand generation, more efficiently promote and sell their products, optimize their customer acquisition strategies, and drive incremental sales. Our flexible payment solutions allow merchants to solve affordability for their customers, providing a revenue accelerator while avoiding discounting and other expensive marketing and promotional channels. With Returnly Technologies, Inc. (“Returnly”), Affirm addresses the full shopping journey by enabling seamless return experiences that drive loyalty and satisfaction. We also provide valuable product-level data and insights — information that merchants cannot easily get elsewhere — to better inform their strategies.
•Consumer Offerings. Our consumer-focused app unlocks the full suite of Affirm products for a complete end-to-end consumer experience. Consumers can use our app to manage payments, open a high-yield savings account, and access a personalized marketplace. Our marketplace serves as a discovery platform that allows consumers to find products and make purchases from partner merchants. In addition, our app allows merchants to provide tailored offers based on consumers’ spending patterns, shopping habits, and purchase intent. We are also beginning to roll out Affirm Debit+, the first U.S. debit card to have direct access to pay-over-time functionality. Affirm Debit+ will allow consumers to pay upfront, from their bank
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account, or pay later, by using a unique post-purchase feature to instantly convert any eligible transaction into one that is pay-over-time.
Our Solutions
We are transforming the way consumers buy and merchants do business by creating a powerful platform built upon honest financial products. We started our business with our core pay-over-time solution at checkout, and have since continued to innovate and expand our product suite by building and acquiring solutions that address the needs of both consumers and merchants. We plan to further add to our solutions over time so that we may offer more benefits to our consumers and merchants — this is just the beginning.
Our products benefit consumers in numerous ways:
•Simple, transparent, and fair. When using our solution, consumers never pay more than what they agreed to at checkout, even if they miss or are late on a payment.
•Delightful user experience. Our solution provides a fast and straightforward experience through our easy-to-use app. We also never sell the servicing rights to outstanding consumer balances, which allows us to manage the full consumer experience even in delinquency.
•Flexibility and control. Instead of a “one-size-fits-all” approach, our solutions empower consumers to select how they wish to pay, including varying term options (e.g., biweekly, 3, 6, or 12 months) that best fit their needs, on a per-transaction basis.
•Accurate credit pricing. Our risk model has consistently outperformed traditional credit models, enabling us to better help eligible consumers finance their purchases and power more transactions on our platform.
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•Consumer confidence. We monitor merchants’ creditworthiness, consumer complaints and dispute rates, changes in consumer repayment, and other anomalies to give consumers the confidence that merchants integrated with Affirm are committed to delivering honest and delightful experiences.
Consumer features
•Checkout. When purchasing from one of our partner merchants, consumers can choose Affirm as a payment method, giving them the option to pay over time with terms ranging from three to 60 months. Our frictionless solution makes it easy for consumers to apply for a loan and be approved on the spot. Consumers receive either 0% APR, where they pay no interest, or simple interest loans, where they pay fixed amounts of interest that never compound.
•Virtual card. Consumers can apply at affirm.com or via the Affirm app and, upon approval, receive a single-use virtual card to use digitally online or in-store at merchants that accept Visa cards. This allows our consumers to use our pay-over-time solutions at merchants that are not yet fully integrated with Affirm.
•Affirm app and marketplace. Our app provides tailored and exclusive offers from merchants based on consumers’ spending and shopping habits. Consumers can also use the app to exercise control over their repayments, for example, by setting repayment dates that align with their monthly financial budgets. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021, 30% of our transactions occurred on the Affirm marketplace.
•High-yield savings account. Through the Affirm app and in partnership with Cross River Bank, we offer an FDIC-insured, interest-bearing savings account, with no minimum deposit requirements or fees.
Our solutions benefit merchants in several ways:
•More customers and better conversion. Our merchants report increased customer conversion when they offer Affirm. Our dollar-based merchant retention has consistently exceeded 100% for each cohort of merchants that joined our platform since 2016.
•Increased AOV. By solving affordability for consumers, we are able to help merchants increase demand for higher net AOV items. We calculate AOV as our GMV divided by the number of transactions conducted on our platform.
•Increased repeat purchase rate. We believe that the frictionless consumer experience and enhanced buying power facilitated by our platform often lead to improved repeat purchase rates for our merchants as they enjoy more satisfied customers.
•Better data to inform personalized promotional strategies. We provide merchants with valuable data they can use to inform more tailored promotions and offers to consumers.
•Broader target market. We enable merchants to achieve incremental sales and expand their target market by including customers who might not want to or be able to pay for an item up front, but can do so responsibly over time.
•Ease of integration. Our direct application programming interface (“API”), designed for use by developers, allows for site integration with minimal merchant investment. Merchants can easily incorporate our platform into payment and product pages, and we provide a dedicated integration team to ensure that any issues are resolved.
•Compliant. Once a merchant has integrated our API, we handle the regulatory aspect of the loans facilitated through our platform, irrespective of state, province, or jurisdiction.
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Merchant features
•Flexible marketing capabilities. Merchants can offer either one or a combination of 0% APR and interest-bearing pay-over-time offerings. Offering 0% APR financing to their customers is a compelling revenue accelerator for merchants, who are able to solve affordability for their customers without resorting to discounts. For interest-bearing financing, merchants have the ability to subsidize and determine the range of interest rates to be paid by their customers.
•Brand-sponsored promotions. For large, diversified merchants, we have the ability to work with their suppliers on brand-specific promotional financing offers. These promotions are funded by the supplier and then made available through our merchants. The suppliers cover the costs of the lowered APR for their products, with no added costs to our merchants. This gives our merchants a powerful alternative to markdowns as they can increase sales with no impact to their margins. At the same time, suppliers can sell through additional volume.
•Merchant dashboard. Our merchant dashboard provides a robust user interface through which each merchant can view transaction data, manage charges, access API keys, and manage and configure the merchant’s Affirm account.
•Analytics. We provide merchants with insightful analytics that help them understand how their various products are performing and other key insights into their customers’ shopping habits to help merchants optimize customer conversion and customer acquisition costs.
•Client success support. Our high-touch client success team partners with our merchants to analyze and interpret the insights delivered through our merchant dashboard. Our team conducts in-depth user experience analyses of our merchants’ online storefronts and provides custom recommendations for the ideal mix and display of Affirm product offerings to present to customers in order to optimize AOVs and conversion rates.
•Affirm app. Merchants also have access to Affirm's consumer base via our app, which allows them to provide personalized offers based on consumers’ spending patterns, shopping habits, and purchase intent. Consumer shopping activity on the Affirm app provides further insight into spending habits and other marketing optimization data points for merchants to leverage.
•Affirm website and developer documentation. Our website contains extensive and engaging developer documentation designed to make it easy for any developer to integrate via our direct API or other integrations, and to maximize the benefit of all that Affirm offers to both merchants and consumers.
•Affirm prequalification. By giving consumers the ability to prequalify, Affirm’s offering can be integrated earlier in the consumer’s journey. We believe this results in fewer abandoned carts and higher conversion rates. Prequalification also personalizes the shopping experience for consumers, since once prequalified they may receive customized offers based on their approval amount.
•Returns management. Affirm completed its acquisition of Returnly in May 2021. Returnly helps merchants make product returns and exchanges seamless. With Returnly, eligible consumers receive an instant merchant credit upon initiating a product return, allowing them to order a new or replacement item immediately versus waiting until their return is fully processed. Returnly assumes the product return risk from the merchant and settles orders in real time. Returnly's offerings are designed to help merchants drive higher repurchase rates, increased revenue from returns and higher customer satisfaction.
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Our Competitive Advantages
We believe we have a number of competitive advantages that will continue to contribute to our success.
Strong network effects
We benefit from self-reinforcing network effects, which are advantages that compound with each additional consumer and merchant that joins our network:
•As consumers learn about the key benefits of our solution, we believe more and more will choose to use our platform, and our consumer base will continue to grow.
•The larger our consumer ecosystem, the more valuable it is to merchants, and the more compelling it is for merchants to offer Affirm as an option.
•The more merchants integrated into our network, the more reasons consumers have to shop with Affirm.
•Our costs decrease as a percentage of GMV as our consumer ecosystem expands. For example, the additional data we have on repeat consumers enables us to make better underwriting decisions and therefore generally results in proportionately lower provision for credit losses expense.
•Improved direct expense efficiency enables us to create even more compelling offers for consumers and merchants, in turn attracting more consumers and merchants to our network.
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The net result is that we are building a consumer and merchant ecosystem on our platform that we expect to continue to grow and monetize over time.
Engineering and technology infrastructure
Technology is at the core of everything we do. Our solutions use machine learning, artificial intelligence, cloud-based technologies, and other modern tools to create differentiated and scalable products. We prioritize building our own technology and investing in engineering talent, as we believe these are enduring competitive advantages that are difficult to replicate.
Our direct API also allows merchant partners to easily integrate Affirm. From the smallest direct-to-consumer online brand to the largest merchants running on mainframe computers, the technical aspects of integrating with Affirm are quick and painless. Full integration can be completed very quickly, often within days after signing our merchant agreement.
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Data advantages that compound over time
Our expertise in sourcing, aggregating, protecting, and analyzing data has been what we believe to be a core competitive advantage of our platform since our founding. We use data to inform our analysis and decision-making, including risk assessment, in a way that empowers consumers and generates value for our merchants and funding sources.
Our technology is built to handle the immense scale of our data-driven operations — we are capable of processing thousands of checkouts per minute. Our machine learning-based risk models are currently calibrated and validated on more than one billion individual data points, based on a complex set of variables, and are custom built to effectively detect fraud, price risk, and provide customized recommendations. We consider data beyond traditional credit scores, such as transaction history and credit usage, to predict repayment ability, and leverage this with real-time response data. We are also able to access and leverage SKU-level data, which we believe gives us a proprietary data advantage.
Better outcomes generated by our proprietary risk models
We believe our risk model informs our ability to assess risk better than our competitors. Unlike legacy payment and credit systems, we can assess risk at a transaction level, rather than relying solely on a static consumer credit score. In other words, our integration with our merchant partners allows us to consider the product that the consumer is purchasing when we assess a credit application. We believe our proprietary risk model has translated this advantage into the ability to increase approval rates without deterring consumers with higher APRs or increasing our rate of expected credit losses, enabling us to facilitate a greater volume of transactions from a wider and more diverse segment of consumers. The greater accuracy of our risk model also generally benefits our provision for credit losses on loans we retain.
Our continuously-learning risk model benefits from increasing scale. As data from new transactions are incorporated into our risk algorithms, we are able to more effectively assess a given credit profile.
Our ability to quickly and accurately assess, price, and manage risk enables us to generate high quality assets that attract funding sources and generate predictable servicing and interest income as consumers repay over time. Our risk model is designed to comply with our originating bank partners’ credit policies and underwriting procedures and has been proven to lead to low fraud rates and higher approval rates compared to traditional credit underwriting models. Taken together, the strong demand for our assets from capital partners increases our gain (loss) on sales of loans and our servicing income, and decreases our funding costs.
For more information on how our risk model automates the underwriting process for our originating bank partners, see “— Regulatory Environment — State licensing requirements and regulation.”
Deep capital markets expertise
We believe our capital management strategy is a key competitive differentiator, enabling us to effectively scale our network, support GMV growth across our ecosystem, and efficiently recycle equity capital. Our durable funding model consists of three primary channels - warehouse facilities, programmatic issuance of term and revolving securitization transactions, and forward flow commitments. Within each channel, we endeavor to maximize our financial flexibility by partnering with a broad spectrum of counterparty profiles including depository institutions, investment banks, strategic investment funds, pension funds, asset managers, and insurance companies. By maintaining access to a diversified array of long-term funding sources and leveraging our proprietary underwriting process at the point-of-sale, we are able to monetize high-quality financial assets at scale.
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Our Competition
Our primary competition consists of: legacy payment methods, such as credit and debit cards, including those provided by card issuing banks such as Synchrony, J.P. Morgan Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, Capital One, and American Express; technology solutions provided by payment companies such as Visa and MasterCard; mobile wallets such as PayPal; and other pay-over-time solutions offered by companies such as Afterpay, which has entered into an agreement to be acquired by Square, and Klarna as well as new pay-over-time offerings by legacy financial and payments companies, including those mentioned above.
Our technology-driven platform also faces competition from a variety of players, including those who enable transactions and commerce via digital payments. Technology-enabled companies like ours are increasingly gaining market share from legacy financial institutions.
We believe that we compete favorably based on our competitive advantages and are well-positioned to succeed in the market. However, many of our competitors are substantially larger than we are, which may give those competitors advantages we do not have at present, such as a more diversified product offering, a larger consumer and merchant base, the ability to reach more consumers and potential consumers, operational efficiencies, the ability to cross-subsidize their offerings through their other business lines, more versatile technology platforms, broad-based local distribution capabilities, and lower-cost funding. Our potential competitors may also have longer operating histories, more extensive and broader consumer and merchant relationships, and greater brand recognition and brand loyalty than we have. In addition, other established companies that possess large, existing consumer and merchant bases, substantial financial resources, or established distribution channels could also enter the market.
Our Growth Strategy
Our multi-pronged growth strategy is designed to continue to build upon the momentum we have generated so far in order to create opportunities to create even greater value for consumers and merchants.
Expand Solutions for Merchants and Consumers
•Innovate on new consumer product solutions. We are still at the beginning of our product roadmap, and plan to continue to innovate and bring new honest financial products to market for consumers. For example, we introduced a high-yield savings feature in our app and see further opportunities to offer shopping services and rewards. We have also announced plans to launch Affirm Debit+, the first U.S. debit card to have direct access to pay-over-time functionality.
•Increase merchant feature functionality. As we continue to help merchants increase conversion rates, AOVs, and customer satisfaction, we plan to build new tools to help them optimize their customer acquisition strategies and achieve even greater results. For example, Returnly, which we acquired in May 2021, helps direct-to-consumer brands offer their shoppers an instant and seamless returns experience, which can help increase customer satisfaction and conversion rates.
Expand To More Higher Frequency Purchases
We have successfully demonstrated how our solutions can enable and accelerate commerce for larger, more considered purchases. A key principle for our next phase of growth is expanding into higher frequency purchases, which we believe will position us to increase engagement with consumers and merchants. We believe this will lead to increased transaction volume on our platform, as well as the expansion of our consumer and merchant network.
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Expand Consumer Reach
•Add more consumers to our network. We will continue to expand our marketing efforts across new and existing channels to increase brand awareness with consumers and highlight the value of our platform. We believe this will attract new consumers to try Affirm as a payment option. As we add more consumers to our network, our models become more efficient and robust, allowing us to provide our platform (and the loans it facilitates) to a growing spectrum of consumers. The more consumers that we serve, the better our systems understand how to identify responsible consumers, and the more consumers we can acquire and approve.
•Drive repeat use. We aim to continue driving further repeat use of our platform as we serve consumers beyond their initial purchase via our tailored series of consumer-centric tools, personalized offerings, and the increased diversity of merchants on our network.
Expand Merchant Reach
•Deepen penetration with existing merchants. Today, Affirm transactions represent a small percentage of the total transaction volume for our merchants. As more consumers become aware of the ease and transparency of using Affirm, and as we proactively build relationships with merchants through our dedicated sales and customer success teams, we believe we can significantly increase our share of existing merchants’ overall transaction volumes.
•Increase the number of our merchant partnerships. We believe we have the opportunity to significantly increase the number of integrated merchants on our network through both our dedicated sales team and business-to-business marketing efforts. Additionally, simple, direct API integration means bringing on new merchants is a seamless process. As we continue to generate results for merchants, we believe more will join our platform in order to offer Affirm as an option to their customers.
Expand to New Markets
We will continue to evaluate expanding our platform to new markets. Merchants and consumers anywhere can benefit from a more transparent, fair, and honest way to engage in commerce, and we see an opportunity to generate value in many new markets around the world through our platform.
Our Technology
Our products are built on a cloud-first platform engineered for temporally agnostic data aggregation, schematization, management, and decisioning, which enables our products to leverage years of deep behavioral, financial, shopping, and payment data across all facets of our platform, from fraud and pricing, to personalization and repayment. Our vertically integrated technology powers a rich data landscape across products, which drives increased efficiency that unlocks greater scale. Increasing scale powers a flywheel that further drives incremental data capture and improves the efficiency of each transaction, and that efficiency allows us to more finely price transactions, measure risk, deliver value to our customers, and personalize consumer experiences.
We invest in technology to create this flywheel effect as we believe it builds an increasing and durable competitive advantage as we operate with higher confidence in our model decisions, lower costs of each transaction, and improve our ability to price transactions with a lower margin of error. The increasing scale is leveraged by our technology as increasing value delivered to participants in our network of merchants, consumers, and capital partners.
•Fraud detection capabilities. To assess transaction fraud risk, we first seek to establish the consumer’s identity using basic information. The consumer is then evaluated by our fraud model, and we will then
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either move forward in the approval flow, or request additional data from the consumer. Our sophisticated fraud models then utilize SKU-level data, where the item is being shipped, and approximately 40-80 other data points in order to make a near-instantaneous decision on whether to block a transaction. There are also secondary rules that, when triggered, are designed to ensure a transaction is sent to fraud investigators.
•Credit check capabilities. Our risk model takes five top-of-mind data inputs and turns them into a total of over 200 data points in order to assess the credit risk of new consumers. Our algorithms model out the repayment probability on a month-to-month basis, and combine these probabilities with the term length, purchase size, merchant, and item being purchased, in order to price and score risk. In the vast majority of cases, we can complete these checks and calculations in a matter of seconds, automating the underwriting process pursuant to our and our originating bank partners’ underwriting policies. We use application and transaction data to train our model, including data from more than 30.1 million loans and over seven years of repayments.
•Modeling improvements. Our high cadence for modeling, retraining, and recalibration translates into rapid improvements to our models over time. New data is regularly used to retrain each model, meaning they continue to improve as the numbers of consumers, merchants, transactions, and repayments we power on our platform grows. We also perform periodic larger scale updates to our core model and algorithms. We regularly introduce new data signals to be captured by our risk analysis system and make them available to be incorporated into new model development, training, and validation. Additionally, we explore opportunities to capture data outside of our model approvals, in order to make a breadth of data available to future models. During these updates, new signals are captured, and older data interrogated and re-tested to help our models continue to evolve. We have automated the process of constructing, training, calibrating, validating, and updating our models, which allow our scientists and engineers to focus on research, flexibility, and speed. Our models are designed to enable us to adjust our models quickly and efficiently in response to changes in the environment.
•Designed for constant innovation and flexibility. Our deep technological talent and capabilities have enabled us to strategically build core systems (including our own ledger) and infrastructure in-house, allowing us to gain what we believe is a significant competitive advantage as we continue to innovate and iterate, and develop new capabilities across multiple disciplines. The flexibility of our custom-built technological infrastructure means we can incorporate new merchants, platforms, data sources, models, capital partnerships, and other elements without adding significant overhead.
•Data privacy and security. We store and process data while maintaining robust physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards designed to protect that data. We maintain physical security measures designed to guard against unauthorized access to systems and use safeguards such as firewalls and data encryption. We also have deployed physical access controls to our buildings, and our policies authorize access to personal information only for those employees or agents who require it to fulfill the responsibilities of their jobs.
Sales and Marketing
We have a strong brand and continue to raise awareness by fostering further adoption of our platform through strategic partnerships and multi-channel marketing campaigns. Our marketing strategy includes brand marketing, communications, and co-marketing campaigns that we collaborate on with merchants and partners. Brand marketing increases awareness among consumers and merchants, helping them understand the benefits of our platform. We have historically relied on the strength of our merchant relationships and positive user experience to develop our brand and grow the ubiquity of our network. We have achieved significant merchant and consumer adoption without investing heavily in sales and marketing relative to our competitors. In the near to medium term, we plan to increase our marketing efforts in order to drive further brand awareness and preference among both consumers and merchants as we aim to capture a greater share of our expanding market opportunities. We are focused on the effectiveness of sales and marketing spending and will continue to be strategic in maintaining
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efficient consumer and merchant acquisition. We also utilize dedicated sales teams to grow our merchant base in the United States and Canada, and leverage strategic partnerships with other platforms to expand our merchant and consumer base.
Seasonality
We experience seasonal fluctuations in our revenue as a result of consumer spending patterns. Historically, our revenue has been strongest during the second quarter of our fiscal year due to increases in retail commerce during the holiday season. Additionally, revenue associated with the purchase of home fitness equipment historically has been strongest in the third quarter of our fiscal year. Adverse events that occur during these months could have a disproportionate effect on our financial results for the fiscal year.
Human Capital Resources
Our Employees
As of June 30, 2021, we had a total of 1,641 employees, primarily located in the United States. None of our employees are represented by a labor union or covered by a collective bargaining agreement. We have not experienced any work stoppages, and we consider our relations with our employees to be good.
Distinctive culture that sets us apart
We believe our culture gives us a long-term, sustainable competitive advantage. Affirm is purpose-built from the ground up, and our employees, who have named themselves “Affirmers,” are deeply committed to delivering honest financial products that improve lives. Five core values permeate every part of Affirm — which includes our people, products, and business:
•People come first. We consider our impact on people’s lives before we think about our own interests. This means that we do not and will not take advantage of our consumers. Unlike much of the industry, we do not capitalize on consumer misfortunes through practices such as late fees and deferred or compounding interest. Our success is aligned with our consumers’ success. In fact, we depend on it.
•No fine print. We are transparent and honest — with our consumers and with each other. That is why there are no hidden fees or tricks associated with the loans facilitated through our platform. What you see is what you get.
•It’s on us. We take full accountability for our actions, never shirking responsibility or passing the buck. Affirmers own problems and solutions, and we hold each other accountable.
•Simpler is better. We make complex things simple and clear. Financial products and payments have traditionally been fraught with complexity. We found a better way, a way that brings consumers the simplicity they need and merchants the results they want.
•Push the envelope. We never stop innovating, taking smart risks, and raising the bar. Talented people are attracted to Affirm because we empower them to innovate, create robust systems, and take smart risks. This momentum keeps our consumer and merchant network growing and thriving.
These values have helped us to attract, inspire, and harness the collective talent of exceptional technologists and business people.
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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
We believe that diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) are important as we scale and build our high-performing team. Our strategy involves embedding DEI into our processes, programs, and structures at Affirm across the employee life cycle — how we hire, develop, advance, and retain Affirmers, and in how we do business.
In 2020, we created our Diversity and Inclusion Steering Committee (“DISC”), an internal committee made up of senior leaders from across Affirm. DISC provides oversight, support, and guidance to departments and teams on initiatives that may impact the ability to support diverse populations of key constituencies: employees, consumers and merchants. DISC is also responsible for reviewing that internal and external initiatives reflect our high bar for DEI, and the members help to amplify high-impact DEI efforts happening within their own departments.
Additionally, in 2020, we made the decision to begin operating as a remote-first company throughout the United States and most of Canada for the majority of our teams. We expect this transition will enable us to hire Affirmers from a broad range of geographies and allow for a more diverse talent pool.
We annually publish our DEI Report outlining our DEI goals, our progress toward them, our areas for improvement, and where we expect to focus our efforts. The 2020 report is available at: www.affirm.com/diversity-inclusion. This website has been provided for convenience only, and the contents of the report and information found on, or accessible through, our website are not a part of, and are not incorporated into, this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Our Board of Directors’ Role in Human Capital Resource Management
Our board of directors believes that human capital management is an important component of our continued growth and success, and is critical to our ability to attract, retain, and develop talented and skilled employees. We pride ourselves on a culture that respects co-workers and values concern for others. Management regularly reports to our board of directors on human capital management topics, including corporate culture, safety, diversity and inclusion, employee development, and compensation and benefits. Our board of directors provides input on important decisions, including with respect to safety, talent retention and development.
Employee Incentives and Benefits
We provide equity incentives to our employees through the grant of stock options and restricted stock units (“RSUs”) under our equity incentive plan to align their interests with stockholders as “owners” of our business. We believe this incentive program allows us to be competitive with comparable companies in our industry by giving us the resources to attract, motivate and retain talented individuals.
In addition, we provide health, welfare, and retirement benefits, including medical, dental, vision, life insurance, paid time off, various voluntary insurance programs and our 401(k) retirement plan, which allow us to enhance employee productivity and loyalty through the provision of competitive benefits. Furthermore, our employee assistance program offers employees information, referrals, and short-term counseling for personal issues affecting their work or personal life in order to help protect the physical, emotional and financial well-being of our employees.
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Regulatory Environment
We operate in a rapidly evolving regulatory environment and are subject to extensive regulation, both directly and indirectly, by way of our partnership with our originating bank partners, under U.S. federal and Canadian laws and the laws of the states in which we operate. These laws cover all aspects of our business and include privacy laws, consumer protection laws, and contractual obligations. We could become subject to additional legal or regulatory requirements if laws or regulations change in the jurisdictions in which we operate. These could include the need to obtain new and different types of licenses in order to conduct our business, such as for lending, brokering, servicing, collections, or money transmission.
Our lending programs are relatively novel and must comply with regulatory regimes applicable to consumer credit transactions. In addition, the regulatory framework for online lending platforms is evolving and uncertain as federal and state governments consider the application of existing laws and adoption of new laws to regulate these structures. New laws and regulations, as well as continued uncertainty regarding potential new laws or regulations, may negatively affect our business. Certain state laws may, if applicable, regulate interest rates and other charges and require certain disclosures, and may also require licensing for certain activities. In addition, other state laws, public policy, and general principles of equity relating to the protection of consumers, unfair and deceptive practices and debt collection practices may apply to the origination, servicing, and collection of the consumer loans. Certain banking laws and regulations also apply to our originating bank partners.
State and provincial licensing requirements and regulation
Our operations must satisfy the laws and standards of each individual U.S. state and Canadian province in which we operate. This means that when individual states differ in how they allow financing to be provided and used, we must operate consistently in accordance with the most comprehensive requirements.
Our policies and practices approach these requirements with the goal of managing the long-term viability and flexibility of our business model. As such, we have established a business model pursuant to which we may originate loans directly through our platform under our lending, servicing, and brokering licenses across various jurisdictions in the United States and in Canada. and we may also purchase loans originated by our originating bank partners. A substantial majority of the loans facilitated through our platform are originated through our originating bank partners: Cross River Bank, an FDIC-insured New Jersey state-chartered bank, and Celtic Bank, an FDIC-insured Utah state-chartered industrial bank.
We are subject to state licensing and other requirements with respect to loans that we originate directly via our platform, and we have obtained or are in the process of obtaining necessary licenses to originate loans directly in the jurisdictions in which we do so. The licensing statutes vary from state to state and prescribe different requirements, including but not limited to: restrictions on loan origination and servicing practices (including limits on the type, amount, and manner of our fees), interest rate limits, disclosure requirements, periodic examination requirements, surety bond and minimum specified net worth requirements, periodic financial reporting requirements, notification requirements for changes in principal officers, stock ownership or corporate control, restrictions on advertising, and requirements that loan forms be submitted for review. We are also subject to supervision and examination by applicable state regulatory authorities in the jurisdictions in which we may service loans or originate loans directly. The application of state licensing requirements to our business model is not always clear, and while we believe we are in compliance as of June 30, 2021 with applicable licensing requirements, state regulators may request or require that we obtain additional licenses or other authorizations in the future, which may subject our business to additional restrictions or requirements.
Through our partnerships with our originating bank partners, our risk model automates the underwriting process in accordance with our originating bank partners’ underwriting policy, which only our originating bank partners may change and which we must follow in reviewing, approving, and administering loans facilitated by our platform. When originating loans through our platform, our originating bank partners contract to charge interest
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based on federal law (Section 27 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act). Section 27 allows an FDIC-insured bank such as our originating bank partners to charge interest to consumers on a nationwide basis based on the rates allowed by the state where the bank is located. We rely on our originating bank partners’ authority under federal law to establish interest rates and charge interest on the loans our originating bank partners originate through our platform. The interest rates that are charged to consumers and that form the basis of payments on the loans facilitated through our platform are based upon legal principles detailed in the FDIC’s final rule relating to Federal Interest Rate Authority, published in the Federal Register on July 22, 2020. Cross River Bank and Celtic Bank generally allow a state-chartered bank and a consumer loan borrower to agree to any rate of interest up to 30% annually, calculated in accordance with the FDIC Federal Interest Rate Authority rule and other applicable law.
Certain states have no statutory interest rate limitations on personal consumer loans, while other jurisdictions impose a maximum rate on such loans. In some jurisdictions, the maximum rate may be less than the rates applicable to the loans facilitated through our platform. If the laws of such jurisdictions were found to govern any of the loans facilitated through our platform with rates higher than that jurisdiction’s maximum rate, those loans could be in violation of such laws. This could result in such loans being unenforceable or reduce or extinguish the principal and/or interest (paid or to be paid) on such loans, or result in fees, damages, and penalties to us or our originating bank partners. Out of an abundance of caution, however, we have sought to voluntarily cap the maximum interest rate we will propose for a loan to borrowers in certain states so that it is below the maximum interest rate that our originating bank partners would otherwise be permitted to charge under applicable law.
For further discussion of how the true lender determination is relevant to our business, see the risk factor entitled “Risk Factors — Risks Related to Our Regulatory Environment — If our originating bank partner model is successfully challenged or deemed impermissible, we could be found to be in violation of licensing, interest rate limit, lending, or brokering laws and face penalties, fines, litigation, or regulatory enforcement.”
U.S. federal consumer protection requirements
We must comply with various federal consumer protection regimes, both as a service provider to our originating bank partners and as a loan originator with respect to loans we may originate directly, including those set forth in the risk factor entitled “Risk Factors — Risks Related to Our Regulatory Environment — We are subject to various federal and state consumer protection laws.”
We are also subject to regulation by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB") under the Dodd-Frank Act and other acts described herein, and we are subject to the CFPB’s enforcement authority with respect to our compliance with these requirements. The CFPB has enforcement authority with respect to the conduct of third-parties that provide services to financial institutions. The CFPB has made it clear that it expects non-bank entities to maintain an effective process for managing risks associated with vendor relationships, including compliance-related risks. In connection with this vendor risk management process, we are expected to perform due diligence reviews of potential vendors, review their policies and procedures and internal training materials to confirm compliance-related focus, include enforceable consequences in contracts with vendors regarding failure to comply with consumer protection requirements, and take prompt action, including terminating the relationship, in the event that vendors fail to meet our expectations. The CFPB may request reports concerning our organization, business conduct, markets, and activities, and also conduct on-site examinations of our business on a periodic basis.
The CFPB is also authorized to collect fines and provide consumer restitution in the event of violations, engage in consumer financial education, track consumer complaints, request data and promote the availability of financial services to underserved consumers and communities. The CFPB, through its enforcement authority, could increase our compliance costs, potentially hinder our ability to respond to marketplace changes, impose requirements to alter products and services that would make them less attractive to consumers and impair our ability to offer products and services profitably. The CFPB is authorized to pursue administrative proceedings or litigation for violations of federal consumer financial laws. In these proceedings, the CFPB can obtain cease and desist orders (which can include orders for restitution or rescission of contracts, as well as other kinds of affirmative relief) and
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monetary penalties ranging from $5,953 per day for minor violations of federal consumer financial laws (including the CFPB’s own rules) to $29,764 per day for reckless violations and $1,190,546 per day for knowing violations. Also, where a company has violated Title X of the Dodd-Frank Act or CFPB regulations under Title X, the Dodd-Frank Act empowers state attorneys general and state regulators to bring civil actions for the kind of cease and desist orders available to the CFPB (but not for civil penalties). If the CFPB or one or more state officials find that we have violated the foregoing laws, they could exercise their enforcement powers in ways that would have a material adverse effect on our business.
The federal regulatory framework applicable to online marketplaces such as our platform is evolving and uncertain, and additional requirements may apply to our business in the future. While we have developed policies and procedures designed to assist in compliance with these laws and regulations, no assurance is given that our compliance policies and procedures will be effective or will be adequate as laws change or are applied in a new manner.
Other requirements
In addition to the requirements described above, we are subject to and seek to comply with other state and federal laws and regulations applicable to consumer lending, including additional requirements relating to loan disclosure, credit discrimination, credit reporting, debt collection, and unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices. These laws and regulations may be enforced by state consumer credit regulatory agencies, state attorneys general, the CFPB, and private litigants, among others. Given our novel business model and the subjective nature of some of these laws and regulations, particularly laws regulating unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices, we may become subject to regulatory scrutiny or legal challenge with respect to our compliance with these requirements.
We have policies and procedures designed to prevent the financing of illegal products. As part of our diligence process when vetting new partners, these policies and procedures instruct that we screen for products that violate the law or are on our prohibited business list in an effort to prevent risk to our business or harm to our consumers, merchants, and the payment system.
Due to our partnership with our originating bank partners, we are subject to pass-through compliance obligations related to U.S. anti-money laundering (“AML”) laws and regulations. We have developed and currently operate an AML program designed to prevent our network from being used to facilitate money laundering, terrorist financing, and other financial crimes. Our AML program is also designed to prevent our products from being used to facilitate business in certain countries or territories, or with certain individuals or entities, including those on designated lists promulgated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls and other U.S. and non-U.S. sanctions authorities. Our AML and sanctions compliance programs include policies, procedures, reporting protocols, and internal controls, including the designation of an AML compliance officer to oversee the programs. Our programs are designed to address these legal and regulatory requirements and to assist in managing risk associated with money laundering and terrorist financing.
We collect, store, use, disclose, transfer, and otherwise process a wide variety of information, including personally identifiable information, for various purposes in our business, including to help provide for the integrity of our services and to provide features and functionality to our consumers and merchants. This aspect of our business, including the collection, storage, use, disclosure, transfer, processing, and protection of the information, including personally identifiable information, we acquire in connection with our consumers’ and merchants’ use of our services, is subject to numerous privacy, cybersecurity, and other laws and regulations in the United States and foreign jurisdictions. Accordingly, we publish our privacy policies and terms of service, which describe our practices concerning the collection, storage, use, disclosure, transmission, processing, and protection of information.
Various regulatory agencies in the United States and in foreign jurisdictions continue to examine a wide variety of issues that are applicable to us and may impact our business. These issues include account management guidelines, anti-discrimination, consumer protection, identity theft, privacy, disclosure rules, electronic transfers,
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cybersecurity, and marketing. As our business continues to develop and expand, we continue to monitor the additional rules and regulations that may become relevant in order to maintain compliance with applicable law.
The legal and regulatory framework for privacy and security issues worldwide is rapidly evolving, and, although we endeavor to comply with these laws and regulations and our published policies and documentation, we may at times fail to do so or be alleged to have failed to do so. Any actual or perceived failure to comply with legal and regulatory requirements applicable to us, including those relating to privacy or security, or any failure to protect the information that we collect from our consumers and merchants, including personally identifiable information, from cyber-attacks, or any such actual or perceived failure by our originating bank partners, may result in, among other things, revocation of required licenses or registrations, loss of approved status, private litigation, regulatory or governmental investigations, administrative enforcement actions, sanctions, civil and criminal liability, and constraints on our ability to continue to operate. For an additional discussion on governmental regulation affecting our business, please see the risk factors related to regulation of our business and regulation in the areas of privacy and data use under the section titled “Risk Factors — Risks Related to Our Regulatory Environment.”
Our originating bank partners also operate in a highly regulated environment, and many laws and regulations that apply directly to our originating bank partners are indirectly applicable to us as a service provider to our originating bank partners.
Intellectual Property
Intellectual property and proprietary rights are important to the success of our business. We rely on a combination of patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secret laws in the United States and other jurisdictions, as well as license agreements, confidentiality procedures, non-disclosure agreements, and other contractual protections, to establish and protect our intellectual property and proprietary rights, including our proprietary technology, software, know-how, and brand. However, these laws, agreements, and procedures provide only limited protection. As of June 30, 2021, we owned ten registered trademarks and 24 trademark applications in the United States, seven registered trademarks and nine trademark applications in various foreign jurisdictions, and three issued patent and 18 pending patent applications in the United States.
Although we take steps to protect our intellectual property and proprietary rights, we cannot be certain that the steps we have taken will be sufficient or effective to prevent the unauthorized access, use, copying, or the reverse engineering of our technology and other proprietary information, including by third-parties who may use our technology or other proprietary information to develop services that compete with ours.
See the section titled “Risk Factors” for a more comprehensive description of risks related to our intellectual property and proprietary rights.
Available Information
Our website address is www.affirm.com. Information found on, or accessible through, our website is not a part of, and is not incorporated into, this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Copies of our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to these reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), are available, free of charge, on our website as soon as reasonably practicable after we file such material electronically with, or furnish it to, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). The SEC also maintains a website that contains our SEC filings. The address of the site is www.sec.gov.
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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Investing in our Class A common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should consider carefully the material factors, risks and uncertainties described below that make an investment in our Company speculative or risky that make an investment in our Company speculative or risky, together with all of the other information in this Form 10-K, including the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes included elsewhere in this Form 10-K, before deciding whether to invest in shares of our Class A common stock. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties that we are unaware of or that we deem immaterial may also become important factors that adversely affect our business. If any of the following risks actually occur, our business, financial condition, operating results, and future prospects could be materially and adversely affected. In that event, the market price of our Class A common stock could decline, and you could lose part or all of your investment.
Risk Factor Summary
The risks and uncertainties to which our business is subject, include, but are not limited to, the following:
•If we are unable to attract additional merchant partners, retain our existing merchant partners, and grow and develop our relationships with new and existing merchant partners, our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects would be materially and adversely affected.
•If we are unable to attract new consumers and retain and grow our relationships with our existing consumers, our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects would be materially and adversely affected.
•We operate in a highly competitive industry, and our inability to compete successfully would materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
•A large percentage of our revenue is concentrated with a single merchant partner, and the loss of this merchant partner or any other significant merchant relationships would materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
•Our agreement with one of our originating bank partners, Cross River Bank, which has originated the substantial majority of loans facilitated through our platform to date, is non-exclusive, short-term in duration and subject to termination by Cross River Bank upon the occurrence of certain events, including our failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements. If that agreement is terminated, and we are unable to replace the commitments of Cross River Bank, our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects would be materially and adversely affected.
•We rely on a variety of funding sources to support our business model. If our existing funding arrangements are not renewed or replaced or our existing funding sources are unwilling or unable to provide funding to us on terms acceptable to us, or at all, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, cash flows, and future prospects.
•The success of our business depends on our ability to work with an originating bank partner to enable effective underwriting of loans facilitated through our platform and accurately price credit risk.
•If loans facilitated through our platform do not perform, or significantly underperform, we may incur financial losses on the loans we purchase and we hold on our balance sheet, or lose the confidence of our funding sources.
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•We may not be able to sustain our revenue growth rate, or our growth rate of related key operating metrics, in the future.
•The loss of the services of our Founder and Chief Executive Officer could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
•Our long term mission to deliver simple, transparent, and fair financial products may conflict with the short term interests of our stockholders.
•We have a history of operating losses and may not achieve or sustain profitability in the future.
•Our quarterly results may fluctuate significantly and may not fully reflect the underlying performance of our business.
•Any significant disruption in, or errors in, service on our platform or relating to vendors, including events beyond our control, could prevent us from processing transactions on our platform or posting payments and have a material and adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
•Litigation, regulatory actions and compliance issues could subject us to fines, penalties, judgments, remediation costs, and requirements resulting in increased expenses.
•Changes in market interest rates could have an adverse effect on our business.
•Our revenue is impacted, to a significant extent, by the general economy and the financial performance of our merchants.
•If our collection efforts on delinquent loans are ineffective or unsuccessful, the performance of the loans would be adversely affected.
•Our ability to protect our confidential, proprietary or sensitive information, including the confidential information of consumers on our platform, may be adversely affected by cyber-attacks, employee or other internal misconduct, computer viruses, physical or electronic break-ins or similar disruptions.
•Our business is subject to extensive regulation, examination, and oversight in a variety of areas, all of which are subject to change and uncertain interpretation. Changing federal, state and local laws, as well as changing regulatory enforcement policies and priorities, including changes that may result from changes in the political landscape, may negatively impact our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
•If our originating bank partner model is successfully challenged or deemed impermissible, we could be found to be in violation of licensing, interest rate limit, lending, or brokering laws and face penalties, fines, litigation, or regulatory enforcement.
•The dual class structure of our common stock has the effect of concentrating voting control with those stockholders who hold shares of our Class B common stock, including our executive officers, employees and directors and their affiliates.
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For a more complete discussion of the material risks facing our business, see below.
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
If we are unable to attract additional merchant partners, retain our existing merchant partners, and grow and develop our relationships with new and existing merchant partners, our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects would be materially and adversely affected.
Our continued success is dependent on our ability to expand our merchant base and to grow our merchants’ revenue on our platform. We derive a significant portion of our revenue from merchant network fees earned from our merchant partners. The network fees are generally charged as a percentage of the transaction volume on our platform. In addition, as more merchants are integrated into our network, there are more reasons for consumers to shop with us.
If we are not able to attract additional merchants and to expand revenue and volume of transactions from existing merchants, we will not be able to continue to attract consumers or grow our business. Our ability to retain and grow our relationships with our merchant partners depends on the willingness of merchants to partner with us. The attractiveness of our platform to merchants depends upon, among other things: the size of our consumer base; our brand and reputation; the amount of merchant fees that we charge; our ability to sustain our value proposition to merchants for customer acquisition by demonstrating higher conversion at checkout and increased AOV; the attractiveness to merchants of our technology and data-driven platform; services and products offered by competitors; and our ability to perform under, and maintain, our merchant agreements. Furthermore, having a diversified mix of merchant partners is important to mitigate risk associated with changing consumer spending behavior, economic conditions and other factors that may affect a particular type of merchant or industry. For example, following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, our revenue from merchant partners in the travel, hospitality, and entertainment industries declined, but we saw a significant increase in revenue from merchant partners offering home fitness equipment, home office products, and home furnishings. We have begun to see these trends reverse as access to COVID-19 vaccinations has increased, but it is difficult to predict the impact that the continuing spread of the Delta variant and potential additional waves of the pandemic will have on our merchant partners and our business.
Our continued success also is dependent on our ability to successfully grow and develop relationships with our merchant partners, particularly early-stage relationships with large e-commerce retailers such as Amazon.com, Inc. Some of our agreements with our merchant partners, including our agreement with Amazon, are non-exclusive and lack any transaction volume commitments. The pace of development, integration and rollout of these early-stage relationships is often unpredictable and is generally not within our control. In addition, these merchant partners, including Amazon, may have, or may enter into in the future, similar agreements with our competitors, which could adversely affect our ability to drive the level of transaction volume and revenue growth that we seek to achieve or to otherwise satisfy the high expectations of our investors and financial analysts relating to those relationships. In addition, our agreements with our merchant partners generally have terms that range from approximately 12 months to 36 months, and our merchants can generally terminate these agreements without cause upon 30 to 90 days’ prior written notice. We may, therefore, be compelled to renegotiate our agreements with merchant partners from time to time, possibly upon terms significantly less favorable to us than the terms included in our existing agreements with those merchant partners.
If we fail to retain any of our larger merchant partners or a substantial number of our smaller merchant partners, if we do not acquire new merchant partners, if we do not successfully grow and develop our relationships with our larger merchant partners, if we do not continually expand revenue and volume from the merchants on our platform, or if we do not attract and retain a diverse mix of merchant partners, our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects would be materially and adversely affected.
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If we are unable to attract new consumers and retain and grow our relationships with our existing consumers, our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects would be materially and adversely affected.
Our success depends on our ability to generate repeat use and increased transaction volume from existing consumers and to attract new consumers to our platform. We generate revenue when consumers pay with Affirm at checkout. If we are not able to continue to grow our base of consumers, we will not be able to continue to grow our merchant network or our business. Our ability to retain and grow our relationships with consumers depends on the willingness of consumers to use our platform and products. The attractiveness of our platform to consumers depends upon, among other things: the number and variety of merchants and the mix of products available through our platform; our brand and reputation; consumer experience and satisfaction; consumer trust and perception of our solutions; technological innovation; and services and products offered by competitors. If we fail to retain our relationship with existing consumers, if we do not attract new consumers to our platform and products, or if we do not continually expand usage and volume from consumers on our platform, our business, results of operations, financial condition, and prospects would be materially and adversely affected.
We operate in a highly competitive industry, and our inability to compete successfully would materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
We operate in a highly competitive and dynamic industry. Our technology platform faces competition from a variety of players, including those who enable transactions and commerce via digital payments. Our primary competition consists of: legacy payment methods, such as credit and debit cards, including those provided by card issuing banks such as Synchrony, J.P. Morgan Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, Capital One, and American Express; technology solutions provided by payment companies such as Visa and MasterCard; mobile wallets such as PayPal; and other pay-over-time solutions offered by companies such as Afterpay and Klarna, as well as new pay-over-time offerings by legacy financial and payments companies, including those mentioned above. We expect competition to intensify in the future, both as emerging technologies continue to enter the marketplace and as large financial incumbents increasingly seek to innovate the services that they offer to compete with our platform. Technological advances and the continued growth of e-commerce activities have increased consumers’ accessibility to products and services and led to the expansion of competition in digital payment options such as pay-over-time solutions. We face competition in areas such as: flexibility on payment options; duration, simplicity, and transparency of payment terms; reliability and speed in processing applications; underwriting effectiveness; compliance and security; promotional offerings; fees; approval rates; ease-of-use; marketing expertise; service levels; products and services; technological capabilities and integration; customer service; brand and reputation; and consumer and merchant satisfaction.
Some of our competitors, particularly the credit issuing banks set forth above, are substantially larger than we are, which gives those competitors advantages we do not have, such as a more diversified products, a broader consumer and merchant base, the ability to reach more consumers, the ability to cross sell their products, operational efficiencies, the ability to cross-subsidize their offerings through their other business lines, more versatile technology platforms, broad-based local distribution capabilities, and lower-cost funding. In addition, because many of our competitors are large financial institutions that fund themselves through low-cost insured deposits and continue to own the loans that they originate, they have certain revenue and funding opportunities not available to us. Our potential competitors may also have longer operating histories, more extensive and broader consumer and merchant relationships, and greater brand recognition and brand loyalty than we have. For example, more established companies that possess large, existing consumer and merchant bases, substantial financial resources, and established distribution channels could enter the market.
Increased competition could result in the need for us to alter the pricing we offer to merchants or consumers. If we are unable to successfully compete, the demand for our platform and products could stagnate or substantially decline, and we could fail to retain or grow the number of consumers or merchants using our platform, which would reduce the attractiveness of our platform to other consumers and merchants, and which would materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
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If we fail to maintain a consistently high level of consumer satisfaction and trust in our brand, our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects would be materially and adversely affected.
Offering a better way for consumers to pay is critical to our success. If consumers do not trust our brand or have a positive experience, they will not use our platform. If consumers do not use our platform, we cannot attract or retain merchants. As a result, we have invested heavily in both technology and our support team. If we are unable to maintain a consistently high level of positive consumer experience, we will lose existing consumers and merchants. In addition, our ability to attract new consumers and merchants is highly dependent on our reputation and on positive recommendations from our existing consumers and merchants. For example, our reputation and brand may be negatively affected by any actions of merchants that are deemed to be hostile, offensive, inappropriate or unlawful. The policies we have adopted regarding illegal or offensive use of our platform may not prevent merchants or their customers from engaging in these activities. The safeguards we have in place may not be sufficient to avoid harm to our reputation and brand, which could adversely affect our ability to expand our merchant subscription base, attract new consumers, and retain and grow our relationships with our existing consumers. In addition, any failure to maintain a consistently high level of customer service, or a market perception that we do not maintain high-quality customer service, would adversely affect our reputation and the number of positive consumer and merchant referrals that we receive. As a result, our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects would be materially and adversely affected.
A large percentage of our revenue is concentrated with a single merchant partner, and the loss of this merchant partner or any other significant merchant relationships would materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
Our top merchant partner, Peloton Interactive, Inc. ("Peloton"), represented approximately 20%, 28%, and 20% of our total revenue for the years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively. Our top ten merchants in the aggregate represented approximately 25%, 35%, and 30% of our total revenue for the years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively. The concentration of a significant portion of our business and transaction volume with a limited number of merchants, or type of merchant or industry, exposes us disproportionately to any of those merchants choosing to no longer partner with us or choosing to partner with a competitor, to the economic performance of those merchants or industry or to any events, circumstances, or risks affecting such merchants or industry. For example, the significance of Peloton in our portfolio increased during calendar year 2020 as a result of consumer spending trends on home fitness equipment, and there can be no assurance that such trends will continue or that the levels of total revenue and merchant network revenue that we generate from Peloton will continue. The loss of Peloton as a merchant partner, or the loss of any other significant merchant relationships, would materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
Similarly, merchant product recalls, such as the Peloton Tread and Tread+ treadmill product recalls announced on May 5, 2021, or other events or circumstances resulting in an increase in the volume of consumer product returns experienced by our merchants and/or requiring that our merchants suspend sales of products to address actual or alleged product defects also may reduce our loan volume and associated fee income. This risk is particularly acute with respect to our largest merchants, such as Peloton.
In addition, a material modification in the financial operations of any significant merchant partner could affect the results of our operations, financial condition, and future prospects. For example, the timing of our revenue recognition is tied to when a merchant confirms a transaction financed through our platform, which we refer to as the merchant capture date. If a merchant recognizes the payment collection and confirms the transaction later in their transaction process, we expect that this change would delay the merchant capture date, which would delay our recognition of GMV and revenue related to that merchant’s transactions by a corresponding amount. Such a delay would adversely affect the GMV and revenue that we recognize from such merchant’s transactions in the quarterly period of such change, as the merchant capture date for a portion of such transactions would shift to a subsequent quarterly period. The implementation of such a change began with respect to Peloton in December 2020. This change has delayed the merchant capture dates of certain Peloton transactions, which has correspondingly delayed the GMV and revenue related to these transactions.
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We may not be able to sustain our revenue growth rate, or our growth rate of related key operating metrics, in the future.
There can be no assurances that our revenue will continue to grow as it has in recent periods, and we expect our revenue growth rate to decline in future periods. In addition, we have grown our GMV by approximately 79% period-over-period compared to the year ended June 30, 2020 and 77% period-over-period compared to the year ended June 30, 2019, and there can be no assurance that we will maintain our GMV growth rate in future periods. Many factors may contribute to declines in our revenue and GMV growth rates, including increased competition, slowing demand for our products from existing and new consumers, transaction volume and mix (particularly with our significant merchant partners), lower sales by our merchants (particularly those with whom we have significant relationships), general economic conditions, a failure by us to continue capitalizing on growth opportunities, changes in the regulatory environment and the maturation of our business, among others. The revenue or key operating metrics for any prior quarterly or annual period should not be relied on as an indication of our future performance. If our revenue growth rate declines, our business, financial condition, and results of operations would be adversely affected.
The success and growth of our business depends upon our ability to continuously innovate and develop new products and technologies.
Our solution is a technology-driven platform that relies on innovation to remain competitive. The process of developing new technologies and products, such as Affirm Debit+ with pay-over-time functionality, is complex, and we build our own technology, using the latest in artificial intelligence and machine learning (“AI/ML”), cloud-based technologies, and other tools to differentiate our products and technologies. In addition, our dedication to incorporating technological advancements into our platform requires significant financial and personnel resources and talent. Our development efforts with respect to these initiatives could distract management from current operations and could divert capital and other resources from other growth initiatives important to our business. We operate in an industry experiencing rapid technological change and frequent product introductions. We may not be able to make technological improvements as quickly as demanded by our consumers and merchants, which could harm our ability to attract consumers and merchants. In addition, we may not be able to effectively implement new technology-driven products and services, including Affirm Debit+, as quickly as competitors or be successful in marketing these products and services to consumers and merchants. If we are unable to successfully and timely innovate and continue to deliver a superior merchant and consumer experience, the demand for our products and technologies may decrease and our growth, business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects could be materially and adversely affected.
Further, we use AI/ML in many aspects of our business, including fraud, credit risk analysis, and product personalization. The AI/ML models that we use are trained using various data sets. If the AI/ML models are incorrectly designed, the data we use to train them is incomplete, inadequate, or biased in some way, or we do not have sufficient rights to use the data on which our AI/ML models rely, the performance of our products, services, and business, as well as our reputation, could suffer or we could incur liability through the violation of laws, third-party privacy, or other rights, or contracts to which we are a party. For instance, discrepancies between the data signals used in the AI/ML model training data set and our online decisioning environment for our risk model may lead to incorrect decisions and errors in certain scenarios. Steps taken to prevent errors in the future may not be sufficient to prevent other discrepancies from arising in the future.
Our failure to accurately predict the demand or growth of our new products and technologies also could have a material and adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects. New products and technologies are inherently risky, due to, among other things, risks associated with: the product or technology not working, or not working as expected; consumer and merchant acceptance; technological outages or failures; increased regulatory scrutiny; and the failure to meet consumer and merchant expectations. As a result of these risks, we could experience increased claims, reputational damage, or other adverse effects, which could be material. The profile of potential consumers using our new products and technologies also may not be as attractive as the profile of the consumers that we currently serve, which may lead to higher levels of delinquencies or defaults than we have historically experienced. Additionally, we can provide no assurance that we will be able to develop,
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commercially market, and achieve acceptance of our new products and technologies. In addition, our investment of resources to develop new products and technologies and make changes or updates to our platform may either be insufficient or result in expenses that exceed the revenue actually generated from these new products. Failure to accurately predict demand or growth with respect to our new products and technologies could have a material and adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
Our agreement with one of our originating bank partners, Cross River Bank, which has originated the substantial majority of loans facilitated through our platform to date, is non-exclusive, short-term in duration and subject to termination by Cross River Bank upon the occurrence of certain events, including our failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements. If that agreement is terminated, and we are unable to replace the commitments of Cross River Bank, our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects would be materially and adversely affected.
We rely on Cross River Bank to originate a substantial majority of the loans facilitated through our platform and to comply with various federal, state, and other laws. Cross River Bank handles a variety of consumer and commercial financing programs. The Cross River Bank loan program agreements have initial three-year terms ending in November 2023, which automatically renew twice for successive one-year terms unless either party provides notice of non-renewal to the other party at least 90 days prior to the end of any such term. In addition, upon the occurrence of certain early termination events, either we or Cross River Bank may terminate the loan program agreements immediately upon written notice to the other party. Our Cross River Bank loan program agreements do not prohibit Cross River Bank from working with our competitors or from offering competing services, and Cross River Bank currently offers loan programs through other competing platforms. Cross River Bank could decide not to work with us for any reason, could make working with us cost-prohibitive, or could decide to enter into an exclusive or more favorable relationship with one or more of our competitors. In addition, Cross River Bank may not perform as expected under our loan program agreements. We could in the future have disagreements or disputes with Cross River Bank, which could negatively impact or threaten our relationship with other originating banks with whom we may seek to partner.
Cross River Bank is subject to oversight by the FDIC and the State of New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance and must comply with applicable rules and regulations and examination requirements, including requirements to maintain a certain amount of regulatory capital relative to its outstanding loans. Cross River Bank has been subject to adverse regulatory orders. While such orders were unrelated to, and had no impact on, the loans Cross River Bank originates through our platform, any future adverse orders or regulatory enforcement actions, even if unrelated to our platform, could impose restrictions on Cross River Bank’s ability to continue to originate consumer loans through our platform. We are a service provider to Cross River Bank, and as such, we are subject to audit by Cross River Bank in accordance with FDIC guidance related to management of vendors. We are also subject to the examination and enforcement authority of the FDIC under the Bank Service Company Act.
If Cross River Bank were to suspend, limit, or cease its operations, or if our relationship with Cross River Bank were to otherwise terminate for any reason (including, but not limited to, its failure to comply with regulatory actions), we would need to implement a substantially similar arrangement with another bank, obtain additional state licenses, or curtail our operations. If we need to enter into alternative arrangements with a different bank to replace our existing arrangements, we may not be able to negotiate a comparable alternative arrangement in a timely manner or at all. While we have an origination program agreement in place with Celtic Bank, a Utah state-chartered industrial bank whose deposits are insured by the FDIC, we do not expect that Celtic Bank would be able to increase its loan origination capacity to meet our needs under those circumstances. In addition, transitioning loan originations to a new bank is untested and may result in delays in the issuance of loans or, if our platform becomes inoperable, may result in the inability to facilitate loans through our platform. If we are unable to enter into an alternative arrangement with different banks to fully replace or supplement our relationship with Cross River Bank, we would potentially need to obtain additional state licenses to enable us to originate loans directly, as well as comply with other state and federal laws, which would be costly and time consuming, and there can be no assurances that any such licenses could be obtained in a timely manner or at all. In the event that our relationship with Cross River Bank were terminated, our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects would be materially
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and adversely affected, especially if we were not able to replace Cross River Bank with another originating bank in a timely manner, on comparable or more favorable terms, or at all.
We rely on a variety of funding sources to support our business model. If our existing funding arrangements are not renewed or replaced or our existing funding sources are unwilling or unable to provide funding to us on terms acceptable to us, or at all, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, cash flows, and future prospects.
Our high-velocity, capital efficient funding model is integral to the success of our commerce platform. To support this model and the growth of our business, we must maintain a variety of funding arrangements, including warehouse facilities, securities repurchase agreements, securitization trusts, and forward flow arrangements with a diverse set of funding sources. If we are unable to maintain access to, or to expand, our network and diversity of funding arrangements, our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects could be materially and adversely affected.
We cannot guarantee that these funding arrangements will continue to be available on favorable terms or at all, and our funding strategy may change over time and depends on the availability of such funding arrangements. For example, disruptions in the credit markets or other factors, such as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, could adversely affect the availability, diversity, cost, and terms of our funding arrangements. The broad impact of COVID-19 on the financial markets has created uncertainty and volatility in many funding markets and with many funding sources. In addition, our funding sources may reassess their exposure to our industry and either curtail access to uncommitted financing capacity, fail to renew or extend facilities, or impose higher costs to access our funding.
In addition, there can be no assurances that we would be able to extend or replace our existing funding arrangements at maturity, on reasonable terms or at all. Our debt financing and loan sale forward flow facilities are generally short-term in nature, with term lengths ranging between one to three years, during which we have access to committed capital pursuant to such facilities. If our existing funding arrangements are not renewed or replaced or our existing funding sources are unwilling or unable to provide funding to us on terms acceptable to us, or at all, we would need to secure additional sources of funding or reduce our operations significantly. Further, as the volume of loans facilitated through our platform increases, we may require the expansion of our funding capacity under our existing funding arrangements or the addition of new sources of capital. The availability and diversity of our funding arrangements depends on various factors and are subject to numerous risks, many of which are outside of our control.
The agreements governing our funding arrangements require us to comply with certain covenants. A breach of such covenants or other events of default under our funding agreements could result in the reduction or termination of our access to such funding, could increase our cost of such funding or, in some cases, could give our lenders the right to require repayment of the loans prior to their scheduled maturity. Certain of these covenants are tied to our consumer default rates, which may be significantly affected by factors, such as economic downturns or general economic conditions, that are beyond our control and beyond the control of individual consumers. In particular, loss rates on consumer loans may increase due to factors such as prevailing interest rates, the rate of unemployment, the level of consumer and business confidence, commercial real estate values, the value of the U.S. dollar, energy prices, changes in consumer and business spending, the number of personal bankruptcies, disruptions in the credit markets, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors. In addition, our revolving credit facility contains certain covenants and restrictions that limit our and our subsidiaries’ ability to, among other things: incur additional debt; create liens on certain assets; pay dividends on or make distributions in respect of their capital stock or make other restricted payments; consolidate, merge, sell, or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of their assets; and enter into certain transactions with their affiliates. The revolving credit facility also contains certain financial maintenance covenants that require us and our subsidiaries to not exceed a specified leverage ratio as of the last day of each fiscal quarter, to maintain a minimum tangible net worth as of the last day of each fiscal quarter, and to maintain a minimum level of unrestricted cash while any borrowings under the revolving credit facility are outstanding.
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In the event of a sudden or unexpected shortage of funds in the financial system, we may not be able to maintain necessary levels of funding without incurring high funding costs, a reduction in the term or size of funding instruments, and/or the liquidation of certain assets. In such a case, if we are unable to arrange new or alternative methods of financing on favorable terms, we would have to reduce our transaction volume, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, cash flows, and future prospects.
In the future, we may seek to further access the capital markets to obtain capital to finance growth. However, our future access to the capital markets could be restricted due to a variety of factors, including a deterioration of our earnings, cash flows, balance sheet quality, or overall business or industry prospects, adverse regulatory changes, a disruption to or volatility or deterioration in the state of the capital markets, or a negative bias toward our industry by market participants. Due to the negative bias toward our industry, certain financial institutions have restricted access to available financing by participants in our industry, and we may have more limited access to institutional capital than other businesses. Future prevailing capital market conditions and potential disruptions in the capital markets may adversely affect our efforts to arrange additional financing on terms that are satisfactory to us, if at all. If adequate funds are not available, or are not available on acceptable terms, we may not have sufficient liquidity to fund our operations, make future investments, take advantage of acquisitions or other opportunities, or respond to competitive challenges and this, in turn, could adversely affect our ability to advance our strategic plans. In addition, if the capital and credit markets experience volatility, and the availability of funds is limited, third-parties with whom we do business may incur increased costs or business disruption and this could adversely affect our business relationships with such third-parties, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, cash flows, and future prospects.
The success of our business depends on our ability to work with an originating bank partner to enable effective underwriting of loans facilitated through our platform and accurately price credit risk.
We believe that one of our core competitive advantages, and a core tenet of our platform, is our ability to work with an originating bank partner to use our data-driven risk model to enable the effective underwriting of loans facilitated through our platform and to accurately and effectively price credit risk. Any deterioration in the performance of the loans facilitated through our platform, or unexpected losses on such loans, would materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations. Loan repayment underperformance would impact our interest-related and gain-on-sale income generated from loans we purchase from our originating bank partners, which are underwritten in accordance with the bank’s credit policy. Additionally, incremental charge-offs may affect future credit decisioning, growth of transaction volume, and the amount of provisions for underperforming loans we will need to take.
Traditional lenders rely on credit bureau scores and require large amounts of information to approve a loan. We believe that one of our competitive advantages is the ability of our risk model, deployed in accordance with our originating bank partners’ credit model and its underwriting guidelines when loans are made, to efficiently score and price credit risk within seconds at point-of-sale based on five top-of-mind data inputs. However, these inputs may be inaccurate or may not accurately reflect a consumer’s creditworthiness or credit risk. In addition, our ability to enable the effective underwriting of the loans we originate directly or purchase from our originating bank partners and accurately price credit risk (and, as a result, the performance of such loans) is significantly dependent on the ability of our proprietary, learning-based scoring system, and the underlying data, to quickly and accurately evaluate a customer’s credit profile and risk of default. The information we use in developing the risk model and price risk may be inaccurate or incomplete as a result of error or fraud, both of which may be difficult to detect and avoid.
Numerous factors, many of which can be unexpected or beyond our control, can adversely affect a customer’s credit risk and our risks. There may be risks that exist, or that develop in the future, including market risks, economic risks, and other external events, that we have not appropriately anticipated, identified, or mitigated, such as risks from inadequate or failed processes, people or systems, natural disasters, and compliance, reputational, or legal matters, both as they relate directly to us as well as that relate to third-parties with whom we contract or otherwise do business. Any changes to our risk model may be ineffective and the performance of our risk model may decline. Further, our proprietary risk model was built prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and consequently was not designed to take into account the longer-term impacts of social, economic, and financial disruptions caused by
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the pandemic. If our risk model does not effectively and accurately model the credit risk of potential loans facilitated through our platform, greater than expected losses may result on such loans and, as a result, our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects could be materially and adversely affected.
In addition, if the risk model we use contains errors or is otherwise ineffective, our reputation and relationships with consumers, our funding sources, our originating bank partners, and our merchants could be harmed, we may be subject to liability, and our ability to access our funding sources may be inhibited. Our ability to attract consumers to our platform and to build trust in our platform and products is significantly dependent on our ability to effectively evaluate consumer credit profiles and likelihoods of default. If any of the credit risk or fraud models we use contain programming or other errors or is ineffective or the data provided by consumers or third-parties is incorrect or stale, or if we are unable to obtain accurate data from consumers or third-parties (such as credit reporting agencies), the loan pricing and approval process through our platform could be negatively affected, resulting in mispriced or misclassified loans or incorrect approvals or denials of loans. This could damage our reputation and relationships with consumers, our funding sources, our originating bank partners, and our merchants, which could have a material and adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
Additionally, if we make errors in the development, validation, or implementation of any of the models or tools used in connection with the loans facilitated through our platform, and those that we purchase and securitize or sell to investors, those investors may experience higher delinquencies and losses. We may also be subject to liability to those investors if we misrepresented the characteristics of the loans sold because of those errors. Moreover, future performance of the loans facilitated through our platform could differ from past experience because of macroeconomic factors, policy actions by regulators, lending by other institutions, or reliability of data used in the underwriting process. To the extent that past experience has influenced the development of our risk model and proves to be inconsistent with future events, delinquency rates and losses on loans could increase. Errors in our models or tools and an inability to effectively forecast loss rates could also inhibit our ability to sell loans to investors or draw down on our funding arrangements, which could limit our ability to purchase (or directly originate) new loans and could have a material and adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
If loans facilitated through our platform do not perform, or significantly underperform, we may incur financial losses on the loans we purchase and we hold on our balance sheet, or lose the confidence of our funding sources.
For certain loans facilitated through our platform that we purchase from our originating bank partners, we hold the loan receivables for investment on our balance sheet. We bear the entire credit risk in the event that these consumers default with respect to these loan receivables. In addition, non-performance, or even significant underperformance, of the loan receivables that we own could have an adverse effect on our business.
Additionally, our funding model relies on a variety of funding arrangements, including warehouse facilities, securitization trusts, and forward flow arrangements with a variety of funding sources. Any significant underperformance of the loans facilitated through our platform may adversely impact our relationship with such funding sources and result in their loss of confidence in us, which could lead to the termination of our existing funding arrangements, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
To the extent that we seek to grow through future acquisitions, or other strategic investments or alliances, including the acquisitions of PayBright and Returnly, we may not be able to do so effectively.
We have in the past and may in the future seek to grow our business through acquisitions or other strategic investments or alliances. We may not be successful in identifying businesses or opportunities that meet our acquisition or expansion criteria. In addition, even if a potential acquisition target or other strategic investment is identified, we may not be successful in completing such acquisition or integrating such new business or other investment. We may face significant competition for acquisition and other strategic investment opportunities from other well-capitalized companies, many of which have greater financial resources and greater access to debt and
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equity capital to secure and complete acquisitions or other strategic investments, than we do. As a result of such competition, we may be unable to acquire certain assets or businesses, or take advantage of other strategic investment opportunities that we deem attractive; the purchase price for a given strategic opportunity may be significantly elevated; or certain other terms or circumstances may be substantially more onerous.
For example, we may not be successful in completing the integration of the PayBright business or the Returnly business with our business. We expect that completing the integration process for each acquisition will require significant additional time and resources, and we may not be able to manage the process successfully. It is possible that we will experience disruption of our, PayBright's or Returnly's ongoing businesses. We may also incur higher than expected costs as a result of these acquisitions or experience overall post-completion processes that take longer than originally anticipated. In addition, at times the attention of certain members of our management and resources may be focused on the integration of these acquired businesses and diverted from day-to-day business operations, which may disrupt our ongoing business. Additionally, potential difficulties we may encounter as we proceed further through the integration process for both acquisitions include (i) the challenge of integrating complex systems, operating procedures, regulatory compliance programs, technology, networks and other assets of the acquired companies in a seamless manner that minimizes any adverse impact on our employees, consumers, merchants, and other business partners; and (ii) potential unknown liabilities, liabilities that are significantly larger than we currently anticipate and unforeseen increased expenses or delays associated with the acquisition, including integration costs that may exceed the costs that we currently anticipate. Moreover, the Returnly business conducts operations in Spain while Affirm has historically conducted operations only within the United States and Canada, which may increase the integration risks associated with that acquisition. Accordingly, the contemplated benefits of the PayBright and Returnly acquisitions may not be realized fully, or at all, or may take longer to realize than expected.
Any delay or failure on our part to identify, negotiate, finance on favorable terms, consummate, and integrate any acquisition or other strategic investment opportunity could impede our growth.
There is no assurance that we will be able to manage our expanding operations effectively or that we will be able to continue to grow, and any failure to do so could adversely affect our ability to generate revenue and control our expenses. Furthermore, we may be responsible for any legacy liabilities of businesses we acquire or be subject to additional liability in connection with other strategic investments. The existence or amount of these liabilities may not be known at the time of acquisition, or other strategic investment, and may have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
Further expansion of our operations internationally will subject us to new challenges and risks.
We currently operate in the United States and Canada, and we recently acquired Returnly, which has operations in Spain. We also plan to seek to further expand our business internationally. Managing our new operations in Spain as well as further international expansion of our operations requires us to comply with new regulatory frameworks and additional resources and controls. International expansion subjects our business to risks associated with international operations, including:
•adjusting the proprietary risk algorithms that we use to account for the differences in information available in different jurisdictions on consumers;
•conformity of our platform with applicable business customs, including translation into foreign languages and associated expenses;
•potential changes to our established business model;
•the need to support and integrate with local vendors and service providers;
•competition with vendors and service providers that have greater experience in the local markets than we do or that have pre-existing relationships with potential consumers and investors in those markets;
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•difficulties in staffing and managing foreign operations in an environment of diverse culture, laws, and consumers and merchants, and the increased travel, infrastructure, and legal and compliance costs associated with international operations;
•compliance with multiple, potentially conflicting, and changing governmental laws and regulations, including banking, anti-money laundering, securities, employment, tax, privacy, and data protection laws and regulations, such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation;
•compliance with U.S. and foreign anti-bribery laws, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the U.K. Anti-Bribery Act;
•difficulties in collecting payments in multiple foreign currencies and associated foreign currency exposure;
•potential restrictions on repatriation of earnings;
•expanded compliance with potentially conflicting and changing laws of taxing jurisdictions where we conduct business and applicable U.S. tax laws as they relate to international operations, the complexity and adverse consequences of such tax laws, and potentially adverse tax consequences due to changes in such tax laws; and
•regional economic and political conditions.
As a result of these risks, we may not be successful in managing our new operations in Spain, and our future international expansion efforts also may not be successful.
The loss of the services of our Founder and Chief Executive Officer could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
Max Levchin, our Founder and Chief Executive Officer, is a valuable asset to us. Mr. Levchin has significant experience in the financial technology industry and would be difficult to replace. Competition for senior executives in our industry is intense, and we may not be able to attract and retain qualified personnel to replace or succeed Mr. Levchin. Failure to retain Mr. Levchin would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
Our business depends on our ability to attract and retain highly skilled employees.
Our future success depends on our ability to identify, hire, develop, motivate, and retain highly qualified personnel for all areas of our organization, in particular, a highly experienced sales force, data scientists, and engineers. Competition for these types of highly skilled employees is extremely intense, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area. Trained and experienced personnel are in high demand and may be in short supply. Many of the companies with which we compete for experienced employees have greater resources than we do and may be able to offer more attractive terms of employment. In addition, we invest significant time and expense in training our employees, which increases their value to competitors that may seek to recruit them. We may not be able to attract, develop, and maintain the skilled workforce necessary to operate our business, and labor expenses may increase as a result of a shortage in the supply of qualified personnel. If we are unable to maintain and build our highly experienced sales force, or are unable to continue to attract experienced engineering and technology personnel, our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects could be materially and adversely affected.
In addition, in March 2020, we transitioned our entire staff to a remote working environment. Over time such remote operations may decrease the cohesiveness of our teams and our ability to maintain our culture, both of which are critical to our success. Additionally, a remote working environment may impede our ability to undertake new business projects, to foster a creative environment, to hire new team members, and to retain existing team
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members. Such effects may adversely affect the productivity of our team members and overall operations, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
If we fail to promote, protect, and maintain our brand in a cost-effective manner, we may lose market share and our revenue may decrease.
We believe that developing, protecting, and maintaining awareness of our brand in a cost-effective manner is critical to attracting new and retaining existing merchants and consumers to our platform. Successful promotion of our brand will depend largely on the effectiveness of our marketing efforts and the experience of merchants and consumers. Our efforts to build our brand have involved significant expense, and we expect to increase our marketing spend in the near term. These brand promotion activities may not result in increased revenue and, even if they do, any increases may not offset the expenses incurred. Additionally, the successful protection and maintenance of our brand will depend on our ability to obtain, maintain, protect, and enforce trademark and other intellectual property protection for our brand. If we fail to successfully promote, protect, and maintain our brand or if we incur substantial expenses in an unsuccessful attempt to promote, protect, and maintain our brand, we may lose our existing merchants and consumers to our competitors or be unable to attract new merchants and consumers. Any such loss of existing merchants or consumers, or inability to attract new merchants or consumers, would have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
We have a history of operating losses and may not achieve or sustain profitability in the future.
We incurred net losses of approximately $430.9 million, $112.6 million and $120.5 million for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019 respectively. As of June 30, 2021 and June 30, 2020, our accumulated deficit was approximately $447.2 million and $888.4 million, respectively. We anticipate that our operating expenses will increase in the foreseeable future as we seek to continue to grow our business, attract consumers, merchants, funding sources, and additional originating bank partners, and further enhance and develop our products and platform. As we expand our offerings to additional markets, our offerings in these markets may be less profitable than the markets in which we currently operate. Additionally, we may not realize the operating efficiencies we expect to achieve as a result of our acquisitions, including our acquisition of PayBright. These efforts may prove more expensive than we currently anticipate, and we may not succeed in increasing our revenue sufficiently to offset these higher expenses. We expect to incur additional net losses in the future and may not achieve or maintain profitability on a quarterly or annual basis.
Our quarterly results may fluctuate significantly and may not fully reflect the underlying performance of our business.
Our quarterly results, including revenue, expenses, GMV, consumer metrics, and other key metrics, have fluctuated significantly in the past and are likely to do so in the future. Accordingly, the results for any one quarter are not necessarily an indication of future performance. Our quarterly results are likely to fluctuate due to a variety of factors, some of which are outside of our control, and as a result, may not fully reflect the underlying performance of our business. Fluctuations in quarterly results may adversely affect the price of our Class A common stock. In addition, many of the factors that affect our quarterly results are difficult for us to predict. If our revenue, expenses, or key metrics in future quarters fall short of the expectations of our investors and financial analysts, the price of our Class A common stock will be adversely affected.
The mix of products that our merchants offer and our consumers purchase in any period affects our operating results. The mix over any period of time impacts GMV, and margin profile of our results for that
period. Differences in product mix relate to different durations, APR mix, and varying proportion of 0% APR versus interest-bearing financings. For example, 0% APR loans that are facilitated through our platform are typically associated with higher merchant network revenue, but do not result in any interest income revenue. These mix shifts are primarily driven by merchant-side activity relating to the marketing of their products, whether the merchant is fully integrated within our network, and general economic conditions affecting consumers’ demand. To the extent that our loan product mix changes to include fewer 0% APR loans that are characterized by higher merchant
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network revenue, or more shorter-duration, low AOV loans (for example, through our Split Pay offering), our operating results will be impacted. Other factors that may cause fluctuations in our quarterly results include:
•our ability to retain and attract new merchants, consumers, and funding sources and maintain existing relationships;
•transaction volume, merchandise volume, and mix;
•rates of repeat transaction and fluctuations in usage of our platform, including seasonality;
•loan volume and mix;
•changes to the merchant discount rates that we charge to our merchant partners;
•the amount and timing of our expenses related to acquiring merchants, consumers, and funding sources and the maintenance and expansion of our business, operations, and infrastructure;
•changes to our relationships with our merchant partners;
•changes in interest rates;
•general economic, industry, and market conditions, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic;
•actual or anticipated changes in loan performance and provision for credit losses;
•losses on loan purchase commitments;
•our emphasis on merchant and consumer experience instead of near-term growth;
•the availability, cost, and other terms of funding sources, including funding commitments;
•competitive dynamics in the industry in which we operate;
•the amount and timing of stock-based compensation expenses;
•network outages, cyber-attacks, or other actual or perceived security breaches or data privacy violations;
•changes in laws and regulations that impact our business, including state interest rate limits;
•the cost of and potential outcomes of potential claims or litigation; and
•the timing of expenses related to the development or acquisition of technologies or businesses and potential future charges for impairment of goodwill from acquired technologies or businesses.
We have experienced in the past, and expect to continue to experience, seasonal fluctuations in our revenues.
We experience seasonality as a result of consumer spending patterns. Historically, our revenues have been strongest during the second quarter of our fiscal year as a result of higher commerce trends during the holiday retail season. Additionally, revenues associated with the purchase of home fitness equipment historically have been strongest in the third quarter of our fiscal year. Adverse events that occur during these months could have a disproportionate effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
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Negative publicity about us or our industry could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
Negative publicity about us or our industry, including the transparency, fairness, user experience, quality, and reliability of our platform or point-of-sale lending platforms in general, effectiveness of our risk model, our ability to effectively manage and resolve complaints, our privacy and security practices, litigation, regulatory activity, misconduct by our employees, funding sources, originating bank partners, service providers, or others in our industry, the experience of consumers and investors with our platform or services or point-of-sale lending platforms in general, or use of loan proceeds by consumers that have obtained loans facilitated through our platform or other point-of-sale lending platforms for illegal purposes, even if inaccurate, could adversely affect our reputation and the confidence in, and the use of, our platform, which could harm our reputation and cause disruptions to our platform. Any such reputational harm could further affect the behavior of consumers, including their willingness to obtain loans facilitated through our platform or to make payments on their loans. As a result, our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects would be materially and adversely affected.
Litigation, regulatory actions, and compliance issues could subject us to fines, penalties, judgments, remediation costs, and requirements resulting in increased expenses.
Our business is subject to increased risks of litigation and regulatory actions as a result of a number of factors and from various sources, including as a result of the highly regulated nature of the financial services industry and the focus of state and federal enforcement agencies on the financial services industry in general and consumer financial services in particular.
In the ordinary course of business, we have been named as a defendant in various legal actions, including arbitrations and other litigation. From time to time, we may also be involved in, or the subject of, reviews, requests for information, investigations, and proceedings (both formal and informal) by state and federal governmental agencies, including banking regulators, the FTC, and the CFPB, regarding our business activities and our qualifications to conduct our business in certain jurisdictions, which could subject us to fines, penalties, obligations to change our business practices, and other requirements resulting in increased expenses and diminished earnings. Our involvement in any such matter also could cause harm to our reputation and divert management attention from the operation of our business, even if the matters are ultimately determined in our favor. Moreover, any settlement, or any consent order or adverse judgment, in connection with any formal or informal proceeding or investigation by a government agency, may prompt litigation or additional investigations or proceedings as other litigants or other government agencies begin independent reviews of the same or similar activities.
In addition, a number of participants in the consumer finance industry have been the subject of putative class action lawsuits; state attorney general actions and other state regulatory actions; federal regulatory enforcement actions, including actions relating to alleged unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices; violations of state licensing and lending laws, including state interest rate limits; actions alleging discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, or other prohibited bases; and allegations of noncompliance with various state and federal laws and regulations relating to originating and servicing consumer finance loans. The current regulatory environment, increased regulatory compliance efforts, and enhanced regulatory enforcement have resulted in significant operational and compliance costs and may prevent us from providing certain products and services. There is no assurance that these regulatory matters or other factors will not, in the future, affect how we conduct our business and, in turn, have an adverse effect on our business. In particular, legal proceedings brought under state consumer protection statutes or under several of the various federal consumer financial services statutes subject to the jurisdiction of the CFPB and FTC may result in a separate fine for each violation of the statute, which, particularly in the case of class action lawsuits, could result in damages in excess of the amounts we earned from the underlying activities.
See “— Risks Related to Our Regulatory Environment.”
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We have experienced rapid growth, which may be difficult to sustain and which may place significant demands on our operational, administrative, and financial resources.
Since we launched our platform in 2014 we have experienced significant transaction volume growth. We have grown our GMV by approximately 79% period-over-period compared to the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020 and 77% period-over-period compared to the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019. We have a relatively limited operating history at our current scale, and our growth in recent periods exposes us to increased risks, uncertainties, expenses, and difficulties. If we are unable to maintain at least our current level of operations using cash flow, our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects would be materially and adversely affected.
As a result of our growth, we face significant challenges in:
•increasing the number of consumers with, and the volume of, loans facilitated through our platform;
•maintaining and developing relationships with existing merchants and additional merchants;
•securing commitments from our existing and new originating bank partners to provide loans to customers of our merchants;
•securing funding to maintain our operations and future growth;
•maintaining adequate financial, business, and risk controls;
•implementing new or updated information and financial and risk controls and procedures;
•navigating complex and evolving regulatory and competitive environments;
•attracting, integrating and retaining an appropriate number and technological skill level of qualified employees;
•particularly in the post-COVID-19 environment, training, managing, and appropriately sizing our workforce and other components of our business on a timely and cost-effective basis;
•expanding within existing markets;
•entering into new markets and introducing new solutions;
•continuing to revise our proprietary risk model;
•continuing to develop, maintain, protect, and scale our platform;
•effectively using limited personnel and technology resources; and
•maintaining the security of our platform and the confidentiality of the information (including personally identifiable information) provided and utilized across our platform.
We may not be able to manage our expanding operations effectively, and any failure to do so could adversely affect our ability to generate revenue and control our expenses, and would materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
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Real or perceived inaccuracies in our key operating metrics may harm our reputation and negatively affect our business.
We track certain key operating metrics such as GMV, active consumers and transactions per active consumers with internal systems and tools that are not independently verified by any third-party. While the metrics presented in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are based on what we believe to be reasonable assumptions and estimates, our internal systems and tools have a number of limitations, and our methodologies for tracking these metrics may change over time. In addition, limitations or errors with respect to how we measure data or with respect to the data that we measure may affect our understanding of certain details of our business, which could affect our long-term strategies. If the internal systems and tools we use to track these metrics understate or overstate performance or contain algorithmic or other technical errors, the key operating metrics we report may not be accurate. If investors do not perceive our operating metrics to be accurate, or if we discover material inaccuracies with respect to these figures, our reputation may be significantly harmed, and our results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.
Determining our allowance for credit losses requires many assumptions and complex analyses. If our estimates prove incorrect, we may incur net charge-offs in excess of our reserves, or we may be required to increase our provision for credit losses, either of which would adversely affect our results of operations.
Our ability to measure and report our financial position and results of operations is influenced by the need to estimate the impact or outcome of future events on the basis of information available at the time of the issuance of the financial statements. An accounting estimate is considered critical if it requires that management make assumptions about matters that were highly uncertain at the time the accounting estimate was made. If actual results differ from our judgments and assumptions, then it may have an adverse impact on the results of operations and cash flows. Management has processes in place to monitor these judgments and assumptions, including review by our credit committee and our asset-liability committee but these processes may not ensure that our judgments and assumptions are correct.
We maintain an allowance for credit losses at a level sufficient to estimate expected credit losses based on evaluating known and inherent risks in our loan portfolio. This estimate is highly dependent upon the reasonableness of our assumptions and the predictability of the relationships that drive the results of our valuation methodologies. The method for calculating the best estimate of expected credit losses takes into account our historical experience, adjusted for current conditions, and our judgment concerning the probable effects of relevant observable data, trends, and market factors. Changes in such estimates can significantly affect the allowance and provision for losses. It is possible that we will experience credit losses that are different from our current estimates. If our estimates and assumptions prove incorrect and our allowance for credit losses is insufficient, we may incur net charge-offs in excess of our reserves, or we could be required to increase our provision for credit losses, either of which would adversely affect our results of operations.
Changes in market interest rates could have an adverse effect on our business.
Increased interest rates may adversely impact the spending levels of consumers and their ability and willingness to borrow money. Higher interest rates often lead to higher payment obligations, which may reduce the ability of consumers to remain current on their obligations and, therefore, lead to increased delinquencies, defaults, consumer bankruptcies and charge-offs, and decreasing recoveries, all of which could have an adverse effect on our business. Certain of our funding arrangements bear a variable interest rate. Given the fixed interest rates charged on the loans originated on our platform, in the event that variable interest rates rise across the market, our interest margin earned in these funding arrangements would be reduced. Dramatic increases in interest rates may make these forms of funding nonviable. In addition, certain of our loan sale agreements are repriced on a recurring basis using a mechanism tied to interest rates. To reduce our exposure to broad changes in prevailing interest rates, we maintain an interest rate hedging program which eliminates some, but not all, of the interest rate risk.
Borrowings under certain of our funding arrangements bear an interest rate based on certain tenors of the London interbank offered rate (“LIBOR”) plus a credit spread. In July 2017, the United Kingdom’s Financial
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Conduct Authority, which regulates LIBOR, announced that, after 2021, it will stop compelling banks to submit rates for the calculation of LIBOR. Some of our funding arrangements contemplate a mechanism for replacing LIBOR with a new benchmark rate (to be agreed upon by us and each applicable financial counterparty) for debt drawn under the arrangements. This mechanism is triggered in the event that LIBOR is no longer published or otherwise available as a benchmark for establishing interest rates for loans. Since the conditions for the implementation of this mechanism have not yet been triggered, we cannot determine with certainty what such replacement rate would be. As a result, we cannot reasonably predict the potential effect of a discontinuation or replacement of LIBOR, other reforms or the establishment of alternative reference rates on our business. The discontinuation, reform, or replacement of LIBOR could result in interest rate increases on our funding arrangements, which could adversely affect our cash flows and operating results.
In connection with our securitizations, warehouse credit facilities, and forward flow agreements, we make representations and warranties concerning the loans financed pursuant to such agreements. If those representations and warranties are not correct, we could be required to repurchase certain of such loans. Any significant required repurchases would have an adverse effect on our ability to operate and fund our business.
In our asset-backed securitizations, warehouse credit facilities, and forward flow agreements, we make numerous representations and warranties concerning the characteristics of the loans we transfer and/or sell (depending on the type of facility), including representations and warranties that the loans meet certain eligibility requirements of those facilities and investors. If those representations and warranties are incorrect, we may be required to repurchase certain of the financed loans. Failure to repurchase so-called “ineligible loans” when required could constitute an event of default under our financing agreements and lead to the potential termination of the applicable facility. We can provide no assurance, however, that we would have adequate cash or other qualifying assets available to make such repurchases. Such repurchases could be limited in scope, relating to small pools of loans, or larger in scope, across multiple pools of loans. If we were required to make such repurchases and if we do not have adequate liquidity to fund such repurchases, it would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
Our revenue is impacted, to a significant extent, by the general economy and the financial performance of our merchants.
Our business, the consumer financial services industry, and our merchants’ businesses are sensitive to macroeconomic conditions. Economic factors such as interest rates, changes in monetary and related policies, market volatility, consumer confidence, and unemployment rates are among the most significant factors that impact consumer spending behavior. Weak economic conditions or a significant deterioration in economic conditions reduce the amount of disposable income consumers have, which in turn reduces consumer spending and the willingness of qualified consumers to take out loans. Such conditions are also likely to affect the ability and willingness of consumers to pay amounts owed under the loans facilitated through our platform, each of which would have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has had, and continues to have, a significant impact on the national economy and the communities in which we operate. While the pandemic’s effect on the macroeconomic environment has yet to be fully determined and could continue for months or years, any prolonged economic downturn with sustained high unemployment rates would lead to decreased retail consumption and may materially decrease our transaction volume or increase defaults and delinquencies. Such effects, if they continue for a prolonged period, would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
The generation of new loans facilitated through our platform, and the transaction fees and other fee income due to us associated with such loans, depends upon sales of products and services by our merchants. Our merchants’ sales may decrease or fail to increase as a result of factors outside of their control, such as the macroeconomic conditions referenced above, or business conditions affecting a particular merchant, industry vertical, or region. Weak economic conditions also could extend the length of our merchants’ sales cycle and cause consumers to delay making (or not make) purchases of our merchants’ products and services. Some of our merchants have experienced a
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decrease in sales, supply chain disruptions, inventory shortages, and other adverse effects as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the future impact of the COVID-19 pandemic remains uncertain. The decline of sales by our merchants for any reason will generally result in lower credit sales and, therefore, lower loan volume and associated fee income for us. Similarly, merchant product recalls, such as the Peloton Tread and Tread+ treadmill product recalls announced on May 5, 2021, or other events or circumstances resulting in an increase in the volume of consumer product returns experienced by our merchants and/or requiring that our merchants suspend sales of products to address actual or alleged product defects also may reduce our loan volume and associated fee income. This risk is particularly acute with respect to our largest merchants, such as Peloton.
In addition, if a merchant closes some or all of its locations, ceases its e-commerce operations, or becomes subject to a voluntary or involuntary bankruptcy proceeding (or if there is a perception that it may become subject to a bankruptcy proceeding), consumers may have less incentive to pay their outstanding balances on loans facilitated through our platform, which could result in higher charge-off rates than anticipated. Moreover, if the financial condition of a merchant deteriorates significantly or a merchant becomes subject to a bankruptcy proceeding, we may not be able to recover amounts due to us from the merchant.
Our business is heavily concentrated in U.S. consumer credit, and therefore our results are more susceptible to fluctuations in that market than a more diversified company.
Our business is heavily concentrated in U.S. consumer credit. As a result, we are more susceptible to fluctuations and risks particular to U.S. consumer credit than a more diversified company. For example, our business is particularly sensitive to macroeconomic conditions that affect the U.S. economy and consumer spending and consumer credit. We are also more susceptible to the risks of increased regulations and legal and other regulatory actions that are targeted at consumer credit or the specific consumer credit products that we offer (including promotional financing). Our business concentration could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
Our business is subject to the risks of earthquakes, fires, floods, and other natural catastrophic events and to interruption by man-made issues such as strikes.
Our systems and operations are vulnerable to damage or interruption from earthquakes, fires, floods, power losses, telecommunications failures, strikes, health pandemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and similar events. For example, a significant natural disaster in the San Francisco Bay Area or any other location in which we have offices or facilities or employees working remotely, such as an earthquake, fire, or flood, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects, and our insurance coverage may be insufficient to compensate us for losses that may occur. In addition, strikes, wars, terrorism, and other geopolitical unrest could cause disruptions in our business and lead to interruptions, delays, or loss of critical data. If a natural disaster, power outage, connectivity issue, or other event occurs that impacts our employees' ability to work remotely, our business and results of operations could be adversely affected. We may not have sufficient protection or recovery plans in certain circumstances, such as a significant natural disaster, and our business interruption insurance may be insufficient to compensate us for losses that may occur.
Borrowers may not view or treat their loans as having the same significance as other obligations, and the loans facilitated through our platform are not secured, guaranteed, or insured and involve a high degree of financial risk.
Borrowers may not view the loans facilitated through our platform as having the same significance as other credit obligations arising under more traditional circumstances. If a consumer neglects his or her payment obligations on a loan facilitated through our platform or chooses not to repay his or her loan entirely, it will have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, future prospects, and cash flows.
Personal loans facilitated through our platform are not secured by any collateral, not guaranteed or insured by any third-party, and not backed by any governmental authority in any way. Therefore, if we purchase the loans from our originating bank partners after they are originated, we are limited in our ability to collect on these loans if a
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consumer is unwilling or unable to repay them. A consumer’s ability to repay their loans can be negatively impacted by increases in their payment obligations to other lenders under mortgage, credit card, and other loans resulting from increases in base lending rates or structured increases in payment obligations. If a consumer defaults on a loan, we may be unsuccessful in our efforts to collect the amount of the loan. As such, our originating bank partners could decide to originate fewer loans through our platform. An increase in defaults precipitated by these risks and uncertainties could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
If our collection efforts on delinquent loans are ineffective or unsuccessful, the performance of the loans would be adversely affected.
Our ability to collect on loans is dependent on the consumer’s continuing financial stability, and consequently, collections can be adversely affected by a number of factors, including job loss, divorce, death, illness, or personal bankruptcy. Furthermore, the application of various federal and state laws, including federal and state bankruptcy and debtor relief laws, may limit the amount that can be recovered on the loans. It is possible that a higher percentage of consumers will seek protection under bankruptcy or debtor relief laws as a result of financial and economic disruptions related to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic than is reflected in our historical experience. In addition, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, federal and state regulatory agencies issued guidance encouraging leniency with respect to credit obligations and a few states took action to restrict collections activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Federal, state, or other restrictions could impair our ability to collect amounts owed and due on the loans facilitated through our platform, reduce income received from the loans facilitated through our platform, or negatively affect our ability to comply with our current financing arrangements or obtain financing with respect to the loans facilitated through our platform.
In the event that initial attempts to contact a consumer are unsuccessful, certain delinquent loans may be referred to a collection agent that will service the loans using its own servicing platform. Further, if collection action must be taken in respect of a loan, the collection agent may charge additional amounts, which may reduce the amounts of collections that we receive.
In addition, because our servicing fees in connection with the services we provide depend on the collectability of the loans facilitated through our platform, if there is an unexpected significant increase in the number of consumers who fail to repay their loans or an increase in the principal amount of the loans that are not repaid, we will be unable to collect our entire servicing fee for the loans facilitated through our platform for which we act as servicer, and our business, results of operations, financial condition, future prospects, and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted our working environment and diverted personnel resources and any prolonged effects of the pandemic may adversely impact our operations and employees.
We have had to expend, and expect to continue to expend, personnel resources to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, including to develop and implement internal policies and procedures and track changes in laws. Any prolonged diversion of personnel resources may have an adverse effect on our operations. In addition, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, in March 2020, we transitioned our entire staff to a remote working environment. Over time such remote operations may decrease the cohesiveness of our teams and our ability to maintain our culture, both of which are critical to our success. Additionally, a remote working environment may impede our ability to undertake new business projects, to foster a creative environment, to hire new team members, and to retain existing team members. Such effects may adversely affect the productivity of our team members and overall operations, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
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While we take precautions to prevent consumer identity fraud, it is possible that identity fraud may still occur or has occurred, which may adversely affect the performance of the loans facilitated through our platform.
There is risk of fraudulent activity associated with our platform, originating bank partners, consumers, and third-parties handling consumer information. Our resources, technologies, and fraud prevention tools may be insufficient to accurately detect and prevent fraud. We are obligated to repurchase the loans facilitated through our platform in certain cases of confirmed identity theft. The level of fraud related charge-offs on the loans facilitated through our platform could be adversely affected if fraudulent activity were to significantly increase.
We bear the risk of consumer fraud in a transaction involving us, a consumer, and a merchant, and we generally have no recourse to the merchant to collect the amount owed by the consumer. Significant amounts of fraudulent cancellations or chargebacks could adversely affect our business or financial condition. High profile fraudulent activity or significant increases in fraudulent activity could also lead to regulatory intervention, negative publicity, and the erosion of trust from our consumers and merchants, and could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, future prospects, and cash flows.
We identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting in connection with the audit of our financial statements for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, and we may identify additional material weaknesses in the future that may cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations or result in material misstatements of our financial statements. If we fail to remediate any additional material weaknesses or if we otherwise fail to establish and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, our ability to accurately and timely report our financial results could be adversely affected.
Pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the "Sarbanes-Oxley Act," or "Section 404"), we will be required to conduct an assessment of, and to furnish a report by our management on, the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting beginning with fiscal year 2022. In addition, our independent registered public accounting firm will be required to attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 beginning with fiscal year 2022. We are engaged in a process to assess and document the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, improve the design and operation of our internal controls, and validate through testing that our internal controls are effective. If our internal control over financial reporting is not effective, our independent registered public accounting firm may issue an adverse report.
In connection with the audit of our financial statements for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, we identified certain control deficiencies in the design and implementation of our internal control over financial reporting that in aggregate constituted a material weakness. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. The material weakness related to our general information technology controls, including the design and implementation of access and change management controls. This material weakness meant that it was possible that our business process controls that depend on the affected information technology systems, or that depend on data or financial reports generated from the affected information technology systems, could be adversely affected. In light of the control deficiencies and the resulting material weakness that was identified, we believe that it is possible that, had we and our independent registered public accounting firm performed an assessment or audit, respectively, of our internal control over financial reporting in accordance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, additional material weaknesses may have been identified.
During fiscal year 2021, we implemented measures designed to remediate the control deficiencies contributing to the material weakness, and we believe that the material weakness was remediated as of June 30, 2021. However, there is no assurance that those measures will be sufficient to prevent future material weaknesses from occurring. Similarly, there is no assurance that there are no other material weaknesses. If any additional material weaknesses are identified and not remediated within the necessary in time to meet the applicable deadline for compliance with the requirements of Section 404, if we are unable to conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is effective when required, or if our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to express an opinion as to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, investors may lose
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confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports and the market price of our Class A common stock could be negatively affected. We also could become subject to investigations by the stock exchange on which our securities are listed, the SEC or other regulatory authorities, which could require additional financial and management resources.
If we fail to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting or disclosure controls and procedures, we may be unable to report our financial results on a timely and accurate basis, and our business, operating results and market price of our Class A common stock may be adversely affected.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we maintain effective internal control over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures. The process of designing and implementing effective internal controls and disclosure controls is a continuous effort that requires us to anticipate and react to changes in our business and the economic and regulatory environment and to expend significant resources to maintain a system of internal controls that is adequate to satisfy our reporting obligations as a public company. In addition, testing and maintaining internal controls may divert our management’s attention from other matters that are important to our business. If we are unable to establish and maintain appropriate internal control over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures, it could cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations on a timely basis, result in material misstatements in our consolidated financial statements and harm our operating results. Any failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting or disclosure controls and procedures could have an adverse effect on our business and operating results, and cause a decline in the price of our Class A common stock.
Increased scrutiny from investors and others regarding our environmental, social, governance, or sustainability responsibilities could result in additional costs or risks and adversely impact our reputation, employee retention, and willingness of consumers and merchants to do business with us.
Investor advocacy groups, certain institutional investors, investment funds, other market participants, stockholders, and customers have focused increasingly on the environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) or “sustainability” practices of companies. These parties have placed increased importance on the implications of the social cost of their investments. If our ESG practices do not meet (or are viewed as not meeting) investor or other industry stakeholder expectations and standards, which continue to evolve, our brand, reputation and employee retention may be negatively impacted, including based on an assessment of our ESG practices. Any sustainability report that we publish (such as our DEI Report) or sustainability disclosure we make may include our policies and practices on a variety of social and ethical matters, including corporate governance, environmental compliance, employee health and safety practices, human capital management, and workforce inclusion and diversity. It is possible that stakeholders may not be satisfied with our ESG practices or the speed of their adoption. We could also incur additional costs and require additional resources to monitor, report, and comply with various ESG practices. Also, our failure, or perceived failure, to meet the standards included in any sustainability disclosure could negatively impact our reputation, employee retention, and the willingness of our consumers and merchants to do business with us.
Risks Related to Our Reliance on Third Parties
Our results depend on more prominent presentation, integration, and support of our platform by our merchants.
We depend on our merchants, which generally accept most major credit cards and other forms of payment (which may include pay-over-time solutions offered by our competitors), to present our platform as a payment option and to integrate our platform into their website or in their store, such as by prominently featuring our platform on their websites or in their stores and not just as an option at website checkout. We may not have any recourse against merchants if they do not prominently present our platform as a payment option or if they more prominently present solutions offered by our competitors. In addition, as we add new merchants, it could take a significant amount of time for these merchants, particularly larger e-commerce retailers such as Amazon, to fully integrate our platform and for these merchants’ customers to accept our pay-over-time solution. The failure by our merchants to effectively present, integrate, and support our platform would have a material and adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
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If our merchants fail to fulfill their obligations to consumers or comply with applicable law, we may incur remediation costs.
Although our merchants are obligated to fulfill their contractual commitments to consumers and to comply with applicable law, including in marketing our products, from time to time, they might not, or a consumer might allege that they did not. This, in turn, can result in claims or defenses against our originating bank partners and us, or a loan purchaser, or in loans being uncollectible due to the Federal Trade Commission’s Holder in Due Course Rule (“Holder Rule”), or equivalent state laws. The Holder Rule requires the inclusion of a specific notice in consumer credit contracts evidencing debts arising from purchase money loan transactions. The notice provides that the holder of the consumer credit contract is subject to all claims and defenses which the debtor could assert against the seller of goods or services obtained with the proceeds of the consumer credit contract. In those cases, we may decide that it is beneficial to remediate the situation, either through assisting the consumers to get a refund, working with our originating bank partners to modify the terms of the loan or reducing the amount due, making a payment to the consumer, or otherwise. Historically, the cost of remediation has not been material to our business, but we make no assurance that it will not be in the future.
Our vendor relationships subject us to a variety of risks, and the failure of third-parties to comply with legal or regulatory requirements or to provide various services that are important to our operations could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
We have significant vendors that, among other things, provide us with financial, technology, and other services to support our products and other activities, including, for example, credit ratings and reporting, cloud-based data storage and other IT solutions, and payment processing. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) has issued guidance stating that institutions under its supervision may be held responsible for the actions of the companies with which they contract. Accordingly, we could be adversely impacted to the extent our vendors fail to comply with the legal requirements applicable to the particular products or services being offered.
In some cases, vendors are the sole source, or one of a limited number of sources, of the services they provide to us. For example, we are solely reliant on our agreement with our cloud computing web services provider for the provision of cloud infrastructure services to support our platform. Most of our vendor agreements are terminable by the vendor on little or no notice, and if our current vendors were to terminate their agreements with us or otherwise stop providing services to us on acceptable terms, we may be unable to procure alternatives from other vendors in a timely and efficient manner and on acceptable terms (or at all). If any vendor fails to provide the services we require, fails to meet contractual requirements (including compliance with applicable laws and regulations), fails to maintain adequate data privacy controls and electronic security systems, or suffers a cyber-attack or other security breach, we could be subject to CFPB, Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and other regulatory enforcement actions, claims from third-parties, including our consumers, and suffer economic and reputational harm that could have an adverse effect on our business. Further, we may incur significant costs to resolve any such disruptions in service, which could adversely affect our business.
For example, certain installment loans are originated by our originating bank partners and then disbursed to merchants via single-use virtual cards facilitated through our partnership with an issuer processor. This issuer processor issues single-use virtual cards through its issuing bank partner which allow loans facilitated through our platform to be processed over the card network. Such loans facilitated through our platform can be used at merchants where we are not integrated at checkout, allowing consumers to complete purchases with virtual cards just as they would with a standard credit or debit card. In the event that our issuer processor becomes unable or unwilling to facilitate the disbursements to merchants and we are unable to reach an agreement with another vendor, such loans would no longer be able to be facilitated through our platform.
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We partially rely on card issuers or payment processors. If we fail to comply with the applicable requirements of Visa or other payment processors, those payment processors could seek to fine us, suspend us or terminate our registrations, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
We partially rely on card issuers or payment processors, and must pay a fee for this service. From time to time, payment processors such as Visa may increase the interchange fees that they charge for each transaction using one of their cards. The payment processors routinely update and modify their requirements. Changes in the requirements, including changes to risk management and collateral requirements, may impact our ongoing cost of doing business and we may not, in every circumstance, be able to pass through such costs to our merchants or associated participants. Furthermore, if we do not comply with the payment processors’ requirements (e.g., their rules, bylaws, and charter documentation), the payment processors could seek to fine us, suspend us or terminate our registrations that allow us to process transactions on their networks. The termination of our registration due to failure to comply with the applicable requirements of Visa or other payment processors, or any changes in the payment processors’ rules that would impair our registration, could require us to stop providing payment services to Visa or other payment processors, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
Our business could be adversely affected by any unsoundness of our financial institution counterparties.
Financial services institutions are interrelated with our business as a result of trading, clearing, counterparty or other relationships. We routinely execute transactions with counterparties in the financial services industry, including commercial banks, brokers and dealers, investment banks and other institutions. Many of these transactions expose us to credit risk in the event of a default by a counterparty. In addition, our credit risk may be exacerbated when collateral cannot be foreclosed upon or is liquidated at prices not sufficient to recover the full amount of the credit or derivative exposure due. Any such losses could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Misconduct and errors by our employees, vendors, and service providers could harm our business and reputation.
We are exposed to many types of operational risk, including the risk of misconduct and errors by our employees, vendors, and other service providers. Our business depends on our employees, vendors, and service providers to process a large number of increasingly complex transactions, including transactions that involve significant dollar amounts and loan transactions that involve the use and disclosure of personal and business information. We could be adversely affected if transactions were redirected, misappropriated, or otherwise improperly executed, personal and business information was disclosed to unintended recipients, or an operational breakdown or failure in the processing of other transactions occurred, whether as a result of human error, a purposeful sabotage or a fraudulent manipulation of our operations or systems. In addition, the manner in which we store and use certain personal information and interact with consumers and merchants through our platform is governed by various federal and state laws. If any of our employees, vendors, or service providers take, convert, or misuse funds, documents, or data, or fail to follow protocol when interacting with consumers and merchants, we could be liable for damages and subject to regulatory actions and penalties. We could also be perceived to have facilitated or participated in the illegal misappropriation of funds, documents, or data, or the failure to follow protocol, and therefore be subject to civil or criminal liability. It is not always possible to identify and deter misconduct or errors by employees, vendors, or service providers, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective in controlling unknown or unmanaged risks or losses. Any of these occurrences could result in our diminished ability to operate our business, potential liability to consumers and merchants, inability to attract future consumers and merchants, reputational damage, regulatory intervention, and financial harm, which could negatively impact our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
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Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property and Platform Development
Real or perceived software errors, failures, bugs, defects, or outages could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
Our platform and our internal systems rely on software that is highly technical and complex. In addition, our platform and our internal systems depend on the ability of such software to store, retrieve, process, and manage immense amounts of data. As a result, undetected errors, failures, bugs, or defects may be present in such software or occur in the future in such software, including open source software and other software we license in from third-parties, especially when updates or new products or services are released. For instance, discrepancies between the data signals used in the AI/ML training data set and our online decisioning environment for our risk model may lead to incorrect decisions and errors in certain specific scenarios. While this discrepancy was remedied, and we are continuously taking steps to prevent any errors in the future, errors may arise in the future.
Any real or perceived errors, failures, bugs, or defects in the software may not be found until our consumers use our platform and could result in outages or degraded quality of service on our platform that could adversely impact our business (including through causing us not to meet contractually required service levels), as well as negative publicity, loss of or delay in market acceptance of our products and services, and harm to our brand or weakening of our competitive position. In such an event, we may be required, or may choose, to expend significant additional resources in order to correct the problem. Any real or perceived errors, failures, bugs, or defects in the software we rely on could also subject us to liability claims, impair our ability to attract new consumers, retain existing consumers, or expand their use of our products and services, which would adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
Any significant disruption in, or errors in, service on our platform or relating to vendors, including events beyond our control, could prevent us from processing transactions on our platform or posting payments and have a material and adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
We use vendors, such as our cloud computing web services provider, virtual card processing companies, and third-party software providers, in the operation of our platform. The satisfactory performance, reliability, and availability of our technology and our underlying network and infrastructure are critical to our operations and reputation and the ability of our platform to attract new and retain existing merchants and consumers. We rely on these vendors to protect their systems and facilities against damage or service interruptions from natural disasters, power or telecommunications failures, air quality issues, environmental conditions, computer viruses or attempts to harm these systems, criminal acts, and similar events. If our arrangement with a vendor is terminated or if there is a lapse of service or damage to its systems or facilities, we could experience interruptions in our ability to operate our platform. We also may experience increased costs and difficulties in replacing that vendor and replacement services may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, on a timely basis, or at all. Any interruptions or delays in our platform availability, whether as a result of a failure to perform on the part of a vendor, any damage to one of our vendor’s systems or facilities, the termination of any of our third-party vendor agreement, software failures, our or our vendor’s error, natural disasters, terrorism, other man-made problems, security breaches, whether accidental or willful, or other factors, could harm our relationships with our merchants and consumers and also harm our reputation.
In addition, we source certain information from third-parties. For example, our risk scoring model is based on algorithms that evaluate a number of factors and currently depend on sourcing certain information from third-parties, including consumer reporting agencies. In the event that any third-party from which we source information experiences a service disruption, whether as a result of maintenance, natural disasters, terrorism, or security breaches, whether accidental or willful, or other factors, the ability to score and decision loan applications through our platform may be adversely impacted. Additionally, there may be errors contained in the information provided by third-parties. This may result in the inability to approve otherwise qualified applicants through our platform, which may adversely impact our business by negatively impacting our reputation and reducing our transaction volume.
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To the extent we use or are dependent on any particular third-party data, technology, or software, we may also be harmed if such data, technology, or software becomes non-compliant with existing regulations or industry standards, becomes subject to third-party claims of intellectual property infringement, misappropriation, or other violation, or malfunctions or functions in a way we did not anticipate. Any loss of the right to use any of this data, technology, or software could result in delays in the provisioning of our products and services until equivalent or replacement data, technology, or software is either developed by us, or, if available, is identified, obtained, and integrated, and there is no guarantee that we would be successful in developing, identifying, obtaining, or integrating equivalent or similar data, technology, or software, which could result in the loss or limiting of our products, services, or features available in our products or services.
In addition, in the event of damage or interruption, our insurance policies may not adequately compensate us for any losses that it may incur. Our disaster recovery plan has not been tested under actual disaster conditions, and we may not have sufficient capacity to recover all data and services in the event of an outage. These factors could prevent us from processing transactions or posting payments on our platform, damage our brand and reputation, divert the attention of our employees, reduce our revenue, subject us to liability, and cause consumers or merchants to abandon our platform, any of which could have a material and adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
Our ability to protect our confidential, proprietary, or sensitive information, including the confidential information of consumers on our platform, may be adversely affected by cyber-attacks, employee or other internal misconduct, computer viruses, physical or electronic break-ins, or similar disruptions.
Our business involves the collection, storage, use, disclosure, processing, transfer, and other handling (collectively, “processing”) of a wide variety of information, including personally identifiable information, for various purposes in our business, including to help support the integrity of our services and to provide features and functionality to our consumers and merchants. The processing of the information we acquire in connection with our consumers’ and merchants’ use of our services, particularly on our internet applications for consumers, is subject to numerous privacy, data protection, cybersecurity, and other laws and regulations in the United States and foreign jurisdictions. The automated nature of our business and our reliance on digital technologies may make us an attractive target for, and potentially vulnerable to, cyber-attacks, computer malware, computer viruses, social engineering (including phishing and ransomware attacks), general hacking, physical or electronic break-ins, or similar disruptions. In addition, our remote working environment may exacerbate these risks. While we and our vendors have taken steps to protect the confidential, proprietary, and sensitive information to which we have access and to prevent data loss, our security measures or those of our vendors could be breached resulting in the loss of, or unauthorized access to, our or our consumers’ data, our intellectual property, or other confidential, proprietary, or sensitive business information. Any accidental or willful security breaches or other unauthorized access to our platform or servicing systems could cause confidential, proprietary, or sensitive information to be stolen and used for criminal or other unauthorized purposes. Security breaches or unauthorized access to confidential information could also expose us to liability related to the loss of the information, time-consuming and expensive litigation, and negative publicity. If security measures are breached because of employee theft, exfiltration, merchant fraud, misuse or malfeasance, our actions, omissions, or errors, third-party actions, omissions, or errors, unintentional events, deliberate attacks by cyber criminals or otherwise, or if design flaws in our software or systems are exposed and exploited, our relationships with consumers could be damaged, and we could incur significant liability. There is no guarantee that our monitoring efforts will be effective.
The techniques used to obtain unauthorized, improper, or illegal access to our systems, our or our consumers’ data, or to disable or degrade service or sabotage systems, are constantly evolving, may be difficult to detect quickly, and often are not recognized until after they have been launched against a target. We may be unable to anticipate these techniques, react in a timely manner, or implement adequate preventative or remedial measures. Unauthorized parties have in the past attempted and may in the future attempt to gain access to our systems or facilities through various means, including, among others, hacking into our or our partners’ or consumers’ systems or facilities, or attempting to fraudulently induce our employees, partners, consumers or others into disclosing usernames, passwords, or other sensitive information, which may in turn be used to access our information technology systems and gain access to our or our consumers’ data or other confidential, proprietary, or sensitive
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information. Such efforts may be state-sponsored and supported by significant financial and technological resources, making them even more difficult to detect and prevent.
In addition, in certain circumstances we utilize vendors, including cloud service providers, to facilitate the servicing of consumer accounts. Under these arrangements, these vendors require access to certain consumer data for the purpose of servicing the accounts. Because we do not control our vendors, or the processing of data by our vendors, other than through our contractual relationships, our ability to monitor our vendors’ data security may be very limited such that we cannot ensure the integrity or security of measures they take to protect and prevent the loss of our or our consumers’ data. As a result, we are subject to the risk that cyber-attacks on, or other security incidents affecting, our vendors may adversely affect our business even if an attack or breach does not directly impact our systems. It is also possible that security breaches sustained by, or other security incidents affecting, our competitors could result in negative publicity for our entire industry that indirectly harms our reputation and diminishes demand for our products and services.
Any actual or perceived failure to comply with legal and regulatory requirements applicable to us, including those relating to information security, or any failure to protect the information that we collect from our consumers and merchants, including personally identifiable information, from cyber-attacks, or any such actual or perceived failure by our originating bank partners, may result in, among other things, revocation of required licenses or registrations, loss of approved status, private litigation, regulatory or governmental investigations, administrative enforcement actions, sanctions, civil and criminal liability, and constraints on our ability to continue to operate. Our originating bank partners also operate in a highly regulated environment, and many laws and regulations that apply directly to our originating bank partners are indirectly applicable to us through our arrangements with our originating bank partners.
Furthermore, federal and state regulators and many federal and state laws and regulations require notice of any data security breaches that involve personal information. These mandatory disclosures regarding a security breach are costly to implement and often lead to widespread negative publicity, which may cause consumers to lose confidence in the effectiveness of our data security measures. Any security breach suffered by us or our vendors, any attack against our service availability, any unauthorized, accidental, or unlawful access or loss of data, or the perception that any such event has occurred, could result in a disruption to our service, litigation, an obligation to notify regulators and affected individuals, the triggering of indemnification and other contractual obligations, regulatory investigations, government fines and penalties, reputational damage, and loss of consumers and ecosystem partners, and our business and operations could be adversely affected. In addition, we may incur significant costs and operational consequences in connection with investigating, mitigating, remediating, eliminating, and putting in place additional tools and devices designed to prevent future actual or perceived security incidents, as well as in connection with complying with any notification or other obligations resulting from any security incidents. Our insurance policies carry retention and coverage limits, which may not be adequate to reimburse us for losses caused by security breaches, and we may not be able to collect fully, if at all, under these insurance policies. The successful assertion of one or more large claims against us that exceed available insurance coverage, or the occurrence of changes in our insurance policies, including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or co-insurance requirements, could adversely affect our business. Furthermore, we cannot be certain that insurance coverage will continue to be available on acceptable terms or at all, or that the insurer will not deny coverage as to any future claim. Reduced confidence and participation in our platform and our data security measures could also adversely affect a consumer’s willingness to make payments on his or her loan, which could result in reduced collections.
We may be unable to sufficiently obtain, maintain, protect, or enforce our intellectual property and other proprietary rights.
Intellectual property and other proprietary rights are important to the success of our business. Our ability to compete effectively is dependent in part upon our ability to obtain, maintain, protect, and enforce our intellectual property and other proprietary rights, including with respect to our proprietary technology, and to obtain licenses to use the intellectual property and proprietary rights of others. We rely on a combination of patents, trademarks, service marks, copyrights, trade secrets, domain names, and agreements with employees and third-parties to protect
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our intellectual property and other proprietary rights. We own the domain name rights for affirm.com, and, as of June 30, 2021, we owned ten registered trademarks and twenty-four trademark applications in the United States, seven registered trademarks and nine trademark applications in various foreign jurisdictions, and three issued patent and eighteen pending patent applications in the United States. Nonetheless, the steps we take to obtain, maintain, protect, and enforce our intellectual property and other proprietary rights may be inadequate and, despite our efforts to protect these rights, unauthorized third-parties, including our competitors, may duplicate, mimic, reverse engineer, access, obtain, or use the proprietary aspects of our technology, processes, products, or services without our permission. Our competitors and other third-parties may also design around or independently develop similar technology or otherwise duplicate or mimic our services or products such that we would not be able to successfully assert our intellectual property or other proprietary rights against them. We cannot assure that any future patent, trademark, or service mark registrations will be issued for our pending or future applications or that any of our current or future patents, copyrights, trademarks, or service marks (whether registered or unregistered) will be valid, enforceable, sufficiently broad in scope, provide adequate protection of our intellectual property or other proprietary rights, or provide us with any competitive advantage.
Our trademarks, trade names, and service marks have significant value, and our brand is an important factor in the marketing of our services. We intend to rely on both registrations and common law protections for our trademarks. However, we may be unable to prevent competitors or other third-parties from acquiring or using trademarks, service marks, or other intellectual property or other proprietary rights that are similar to, infringe upon, misappropriate, dilute, or otherwise violate or diminish the value of our trademarks and service marks and our other intellectual property and proprietary rights. The value of our intellectual property and other proprietary rights could diminish if others assert rights in or ownership of our intellectual property or other proprietary rights, or in trademarks or service marks that are similar to our trademarks or service marks.
In addition, we cannot guarantee that we have entered into agreements containing obligations of confidentiality with each party that has or may have had access to proprietary information, know-how, or trade secrets owned or held by us. Moreover, our contractual arrangements may be breached or may otherwise not effectively prevent disclosure of, or control access to, our confidential or otherwise proprietary information or provide an adequate remedy in the event of an unauthorized disclosure. The measures we have put in place may not prevent misappropriation, infringement, or other violation of our intellectual property or other proprietary rights or information and any resulting loss of competitive advantage, and we may be required to litigate to protect our intellectual property or other proprietary rights or information from misappropriation, infringement, or other violation by others, which is expensive, could cause a diversion of resources, and may not be successful, even when our rights have been infringed, misappropriated, or otherwise violated. Our efforts to enforce our intellectual property and other proprietary rights may be met with defenses, counterclaims, and countersuits attacking the validity and enforceability of our intellectual property and other proprietary rights, and if such defenses, counterclaims, or countersuits are successful, it could diminish or we could otherwise lose valuable intellectual property and other proprietary rights. Additionally, the laws of some foreign countries may not be as protective of intellectual property and other proprietary rights as those in the United States, and the mechanisms for enforcement of intellectual property and other proprietary rights may be inadequate.
Furthermore, third-parties may challenge, invalidate, or circumvent our intellectual property and proprietary rights, including through administrative processes or litigation. The legal standards relating to the validity, enforceability, and scope of protection of intellectual property and other proprietary rights are uncertain and still evolving. Our intellectual property and other proprietary rights may not be sufficient to provide us with a competitive advantage and the value of our intellectual property and other proprietary rights could also diminish if others assert rights therein or ownership thereof, and we may be unable to successfully resolve any such conflicts in our favor or to our satisfaction.
We may be subject to claims brought by third-parties for alleged infringement, misappropriation, or other violation of their intellectual property or other proprietary rights.
Our success depends, in part, on our ability to develop and commercialize our products and services without infringing, misappropriating, or otherwise violating the intellectual property or other proprietary rights of
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third-parties. We may receive claims or otherwise become involved in disputes from time to time concerning intellectual property or other proprietary rights of third-parties, which may relate to our own proprietary technology, or to technology that we acquire or license from third-parties, and we may not prevail in these disputes. Relatedly, competitors or other third-parties may raise claims alleging that service providers or other third-parties retained or indemnified by us, infringe on, misappropriate, or otherwise violate such competitors’ or other third-parties’ intellectual property or other proprietary rights. These claims of infringement, misappropriation, or other violation may be extremely broad, and it may not be possible for us to conduct our operations in such a way as to avoid all such alleged violations of such intellectual property or other proprietary rights. We also may be unaware of third-party intellectual property or other proprietary rights that cover or otherwise relate to some or all of our products and services.
Given the complex, rapidly changing, and competitive technological and business environment in which we operate, and the potential risks and uncertainties of intellectual property-related litigation, a claim of infringement, misappropriation, or other violation against us may require us to spend significant amounts of time and other resources to defend against the claim (even if we ultimately prevail), pay significant money damages, lose significant revenues, be prohibited from using the relevant systems, processes, technologies, or other intellectual property (temporarily or permanently), cease offering certain products or services, obtain a license, which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all, or redesign our products or services or functionality therein, which could be costly, time-consuming, or impossible.
Some of the aforementioned risks of infringement, misappropriation or other violation, in particular with respect to patents, are potentially increased due to the nature of our business, industry, and intellectual property portfolio. For instance, it has become common in recent years for certain third-parties to purchase patents or other intellectual property assets for the sole purpose of making claims of infringement, misappropriation, or other violation in an attempt to extract settlements from companies such as ours. Relatedly, we do not currently have a large patent portfolio, which could otherwise assist us in deterring patent infringement claims from competitors, through our ability to bring patent infringement counterclaims using our own patent portfolio. In addition to the previously mentioned impacts of intellectual property-related litigation, while in some cases a third-party may have agreed to indemnify us for costs associated with intellectual property-related litigation, such indemnifying third-party may refuse or be unable to uphold its contractual obligations. In other cases, our insurance may not cover potential claims of this type adequately or at all, and we may be required to pay monetary damages, which may be significant.
Some aspects of our platform include open source software, and our use of open source software could negatively affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
Aspects of our platform include software covered by open source licenses. The terms of various open source licenses have not been interpreted by United States courts, and there is a risk that such licenses could be construed in a manner that imposes unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our platform. In such an event, we could be required to re-engineer all or a portion of our technologies, seek licenses from third-parties in order to continue offering our products, discontinue the use of our platform in the event re-engineering cannot be accomplished, or otherwise be limited in the licensing of our technologies, each of which could reduce or eliminate the value of our technologies and loan products. If portions of our proprietary software are determined to be subject to an open source license, we could also be required to, under certain circumstances, publicly release or license, at no cost, our products that incorporate the open source software or the affected portions of our source code, which could allow our competitors or other third-parties to create similar products and services with lower development effort, time, and costs, and could ultimately result in a loss of transaction volume for us. We cannot ensure that we have not incorporated open source software in our software in a manner that is inconsistent with the terms of the applicable license or our current policies, and we may inadvertently use open source in a manner that we do not intend or that could expose us to claims for breach of contract or intellectual property infringement, misappropriation, or other violation. If we fail to comply, or are alleged to have failed to comply, with the terms and conditions of our open source licenses, we could be required to incur significant legal expenses defending such allegations, be subject to significant damages, be enjoined from the sale of our products and services, and be
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required to comply with onerous conditions or restrictions on our products and services, any of which could be materially disruptive to our business.
In addition to risks related to license requirements, usage of open source software can lead to greater risks than use of third-party commercial software because open source licensors generally do not provide warranties or other contractual protections regarding infringement, misappropriation, or other violations, the quality of code, or the origin of the software. Many of the risks associated with the use of open source software cannot be eliminated and could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects. For instance, open source software is often developed by different groups of programmers outside of our control that collaborate with each other on projects. As a result, open source software may have security vulnerabilities, defects, or errors of which we are not aware. Even if we become aware of any security vulnerabilities, defects, or errors, it may take a significant amount of time for either us or the programmers who developed the open source software to address such vulnerabilities, defects, or errors, which could negatively impact our products and services, including by adversely affecting the market’s perception of our products and services, impairing the functionality of our products and services, delaying the launch of new products and services, or resulting in the failure of our products and services, any of which could result in liability to us, our vendors and service providers. Further, our adoption of certain policies with respect to the use of open source software may affect our ability to hire and retain employees, including engineers.
Risks Related to Our Regulatory Environment
We are subject to various federal and state consumer protection laws.
We must comply with various federal and state regulatory regimes, including those applicable to consumer credit transactions. The laws to which we are or may be subject include:
•state laws and regulations that impose requirements related to consumer financial services, such as loan disclosures and terms, data privacy, credit discrimination, credit reporting, money transmission, recordkeeping, the arranging of loans made by third-parties, debt servicing and collection, and unfair or deceptive business practices;
•the Truth-in-Lending Act and Regulation Z promulgated thereunder, which require certain disclosures to consumers regarding the terms and conditions of their loans and credit transactions;
•Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, which prohibits unfair and deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce, and Section 1031 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which prohibits unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices (“UDAAP”) in connection with any consumer financial product or service;
•the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (the “ECOA”) and Regulation B promulgated thereunder, which prohibit creditors from discriminating against credit applicants on the basis of race, color, sex, age, religion, national origin, marital status, the fact that all or part of the applicant’s income derives from any public assistance program, or the fact that the applicant has in good faith exercised any right under the Federal Consumer Credit Protection Act or any applicable state law;
•the Fair Credit Reporting Act (the “FCRA”), as amended by the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, and Regulation V promulgated thereunder, which promote the accuracy, fairness, and privacy of information in the files of consumer reporting agencies;
•the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Regulation F promulgated thereunder,and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, each of which provide guidelines and limitations concerning the conduct of certain creditors and third-party debt collectors in connection with the collection of consumer debts;
•the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (the “GLBA”), which includes limitations on use and disclosure of nonpublic personal information about a consumer by a financial institution;
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•the California Consumer Privacy Act (the “CCPA”), which includes limitations and requirements surrounding the use, disclosure, and other processing of certain personal information about California residents, and other data protection laws and regulations, such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation;
•the Bankruptcy Code, which limits the extent to which creditors may seek to enforce debts against parties who have filed for bankruptcy protection;
•the Holder Rule, and equivalent state laws, which make Affirm or any other holder of a consumer credit contract include the required notice and become subject to all claims and defenses that a borrower could assert against the seller of goods or services;
•the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and Regulation E promulgated thereunder, which provide disclosure requirements, guidelines, and restrictions on the electronic transfer of funds from consumers’ bank accounts;
•the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act and similar state laws, particularly the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, which authorize the creation of legally binding and enforceable agreements utilizing electronic records and signatures;
•the Military Lending Act and similar state laws, which provide disclosure requirements, interest rate limitations, substantive conduct obligations, and prohibitions on certain behavior relating to loans made to covered borrowers, which include both servicemembers and their dependents;
•the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act and similar state laws, which allows active duty military members to suspend or postpone certain civil obligations so that the military member can devote his or her full attention to military duties; and
•new requirements pursuant to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”) enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including requirements relating to collection and credit reporting, though many of the implementing regulations under the CARES Act have not yet been issued.
Many states and local jurisdictions have consumer protection laws analogous to, or in addition to, those federal laws listed above, such as usury laws and state debt collection practices laws that apply to first-party lenders. These laws affect how loans are made, enforced and collected. The U.S. government and states may pass new laws, or may amend existing laws, to regulate further the consumer finance industry or loans of the type provided through our platform, or to reduce the finance charges or other fees that may be imposed with respect to consumer loans. This could make the provision and collection of consumer loans more difficult or costly, which may negatively impact our business.
While we have developed policies and procedures designed to assist in compliance with these laws and regulations, no assurance is given that our compliance policies and procedures will be effective. Failure to comply with these laws and with regulatory requirements applicable to our business could subject us to damages, revocation of licenses, class action lawsuits, administrative enforcement actions, and civil and criminal liability, which may harm our business.
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Our business is subject to extensive regulation, examination, and oversight in a variety of areas, all of which are subject to change and uncertain interpretation. Changing federal, state, and local laws, as well as changing regulatory enforcement policies and priorities, including changes that may result from changes in the political landscape, may negatively impact our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
We are subject to extensive regulation, supervision, and examination by federal and state governmental authorities under United States federal and state laws and regulations. We are required to comply with constantly changing federal, state, and local laws and regulations that regulate, among other things, the terms of the loans that we and our originating bank partners originate and the associated fees that may be charged. A change in these laws that enables our credit scoring and pricing model, including our ability to export interest rates across state lines, could have a material impact on our business model and financial position.
New laws or regulations could also require us to incur significant expenses and devote significant management attention to ensure compliance. In addition, our failure to comply (or to ensure that our agents and third-party service providers comply) with these laws or regulations may result in litigation or enforcement actions, the penalties for which could include: revocation of licenses; fines and other monetary penalties; civil and criminal liability; substantially reduced payments by borrowers; modification of the original terms of loans, permanent forgiveness of debt, or inability to, directly or indirectly, collect all or a part of the principal of or interest on loans; and increased purchases of loan receivables for loans originated by our originating bank partners and indemnification claims.
We are subject to the regulatory and enforcement authority of the CFPB as a facilitator, servicer, or acquirer of consumer credit. The Dodd-Frank Act gives the CFPB supervisory authority over entities that are designated as “larger participants” in certain financial services markets. The CFPB previously announced that it intends to expand its supervisory authority through the use of “larger participant rules” to cover the markets for consumer installment loans and auto title loans. While the CFPB has not yet issued a “larger participant” rule applicable to us, the CFPB indicated in its January 2021 Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law Report that it “believes it is time to articulate some clear standards for this important decision,” and that it recommends the “Bureau should revisit its larger participant rules to assess the cost and benefits of the rules in conducting effective supervision and promoting consumer protection.” This suggests that the CFPB may issue a proposed rule defining larger participants to include installment lending industry participants. Were the CFPB to promulgate a rule for the direct supervision of non-bank installment lenders, it is possible that the CFPB could be permitted to conduct periodic examination of our business, which may increase our risk of regulatory or enforcement actions. For further discussion on the CFPB's enforcement authority, see “ Business — Regulatory Environment — U.S. federal consumer protection requirements.”
State attorneys general have indicated that they will take a more active role in enforcing consumer protection laws, including through use of Dodd-Frank Act provisions that authorize state attorneys general to enforce certain provisions of federal consumer financial laws and obtain civil money penalties and other relief available to the CFPB. In conducting an investigation, the CFPB or state attorneys general may issue a civil investigative demand requiring a target company to prepare and submit, among other items, documents, written reports, answers to interrogatories, and deposition testimony. If we become subject to such investigation, the required response could result in substantial costs and a diversion of the attention and resources of our management.
Further, we are regulated by many state regulatory agencies through licensing and other supervisory or enforcement authority, which includes regular examination by state governmental authorities.
Such regulatory actions could result in penalties and reputational harm to us and a loss of consumers participating in our platform, and our compliance costs and litigation exposure could increase if the CFPB or other regulatory agencies enact new regulations, change regulations that were previously adopted, modify, through supervision or enforcement, past regulatory guidance, or interpret existing regulations in a manner different or stricter than have been previously interpreted, any of which could adversely affect our ability to perform. Further, in some cases, regardless of fault, it may be less time-consuming or costly to settle these matters, which may require us to implement certain changes to our business practices, provide remediation to certain individuals or make a settlement payment to a given party or regulatory body.
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In addition, the Biden Administration has brought an increased focus on enforcement of federal consumer protection laws and appointed consumer-oriented regulators at federal agencies such as the CFPB, the OCC and the FDIC. It is possible that regulators in the Biden Administration could promulgate rulemakings and bring enforcement actions that materially impact our business and the business of our originating bank partners. These regulators may augment requirements that apply to loans facilitated by our platform, or impose new programs and restrictions, including new forbearance initiatives related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and could otherwise revise or create new regulatory requirements that apply to us (or our bank partners), impacting our business, operations, and profitability.
Further, we may not be able to respond quickly or effectively to regulatory, legislative, and other developments, and these changes may in turn impair our ability to offer our existing or planned features, products, and services and/or increase our cost of doing business. In addition, if our practices are not consistent or viewed as not consistent with legal and regulatory requirements, we may become subject to audits, inquiries, whistleblower complaints, adverse media coverage, investigations, or criminal or civil sanctions, all of which may have an adverse effect on our reputation, business, results of operations, and financial condition.
If our originating bank partner model is successfully challenged or deemed impermissible, we could be found to be in violation of licensing, interest rate limit, lending, or brokering laws and face penalties, fines, litigation, or regulatory enforcement.
A substantial majority of the loans facilitated through our platform are originated through Cross River Bank and we rely on our originating bank partner model to comply with various federal, state, and other laws. If the legal structure underlying our relationship with our originating bank partners was successfully challenged, we may be found to be in violation of state licensing requirements and state laws regulating interest rates and other aspects of consumer lending. In the event of such a challenge or if our arrangements with our originating bank partners were to change or end for any reason, we would need to rely on an alternative bank relationship, find an alternative bank relationship, rely on existing state licenses, obtain new state licenses, pursue a federal charter, offer consumer loans, and/or be subject to the interest rate limitations of certain states.
There are two examples of claims that have been raised that could each, separately or jointly, result in this outcome in some or all states.
First, the FDIC stated that its Federal Interest Rate Authority Rule was promulgated in part to codify the “valid when made” doctrine due to court decisions such as the one in Madden v. Midland Funding, LLC, 786 F.3d 246 (2d Cir. 2015), cert. denied, 136 S.Ct. 2505 (June 27, 2016). In Madden v. Midland Funding, the Second Circuit ruled that federal preemption generally applicable to national banks did not apply to non-bank assignees if the assignee was not acting on behalf of the bank, if the bank no longer had an interest in the loan, or such determination did not significantly interfere with the bank’s exercise of its federal banking powers. Under this rationale, the Second Circuit did not preempt state interest rate limitations that might apply to the non-bank assignees. The Second Circuit’s holding in the Madden case is binding on federal courts in the states of New York, Connecticut, and Vermont. Following the Madden decision, there have been a number of lawsuits in other parts of the country making similar allegations . Under the Federal Interest Rate Authority Rule promulgated by the FDIC, which is the interest rate authority of state-chartered banks (such as our originating bank partners), the interest rate applicable to a loan originated by a state-chartered bank on the date of origination will carry with the commercial paper (loan) irrespective of ownership (i.e., the interest rate is “valid when made”). The OCC issued a similar rule on May 29, 2020 with respect to loans originated by national banks. State attorneys general of the states of California, New York and Illinois have filed a lawsuit against the OCC alleging that the OCC had no statutory authority to issue its May 29, 2020 rule regarding the permissibility of interest rates on loans purchased from a national bank and failed to follow required procedures in promulgating the rule. State attorneys general of the states of California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, and North Carolina, together with the District of Columbia, filed a similar lawsuit against the FDIC regarding the FDIC Federal Interest Rate Authority Rule. It is uncertain whether these lawsuits will be effective and whether these or other state attorneys general will file similar suits with respect to any other rule regarding the permissibility of interest rates by the FDIC, OCC or other regulators.
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Second, there have also been both private litigation and governmental enforcement actions seeking to recharacterize a lending transaction, claiming that the named lender was not the true lender, and that instead another entity was the true lender or the de facto lender. These claims are traditionally based upon state lending laws, other statutory provisions, or state common law through which a private litigant or governmental agency could seek to license, regulate, or prohibit the activities of the entity they consider the true lender or de facto lender. Any such litigation or enforcement action with respect to a loan facilitated through our platform against us, any successor servicer, prior owners, or subsequent transferees of such loans (including our originating bank partners) could subject them to claims for damages, disgorgement, or other penalties or remedies. On October 27, 2020, under the Trump Administration, the OCC promulgated a final rulemaking setting forth standards for determining the true lender of a loan issued by a national bank. On June 30, 2021, President Biden signed a Congressional Review Act resolution to repeal the OCC's true lender rule, and the OCC may not issue any substantially similar rule without subsequent statutory authorization..
Further, it is unclear whether these rules will be given effect by courts and regulators in a manner that actually mitigates risks relating to state interest rate limits and related risks to us, our originating bank partner, any other program participant, or the loans facilitated through our platform. We could be subject to litigation, whether private or governmental, or administrative action regarding the above claims. The potential consequences of an adverse determination could include the inability to collect loans at the interest rates contracted for, licensing violations, the loans being found to be unenforceable or void, or the reduction of interest or principal, or other penalties or damages. Third-party purchasers of loans facilitated through our platform also may be subject to scrutiny or similar litigation, whether based upon the inability to rely upon the “valid when made” doctrine or because a party other than the originating bank is deemed the true lender.
If we were found to be operating without having obtained necessary state or local licenses, it could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
Certain states have adopted laws regulating and requiring licensing, registration, notice filing, or other approval by parties that engage in certain activity regarding consumer finance transactions, including facilitating and assisting such transactions in certain circumstances. Furthermore, certain states and localities have also adopted laws requiring licensing, registration, notice filing, or other approval for consumer debt collection or servicing, and/or purchasing or selling consumer loans. We have also received inquiries from state regulatory agencies regarding requirements to obtain licenses from or register with those states, including in states where we have determined that we are not required to obtain such a license or be registered with the state, and we expect to continue to receive such inquiries. The application of some consumer financial licensing laws to our platform and the related activities it performs is unclear. In addition, state licensing requirements may evolve over time, including, in particular, recent trends toward increased licensing requirements and regulation of parties engaged in loan solicitation activities. If determined to be applicable to us, some states’ licensing restrictions and limitations may prevent certain Affirm products being offered in a state entirely. In addition, if we were found to be in violation of applicable state licensing requirements by a court or a state, federal, or local enforcement agency, or agree to resolve such concerns by voluntary agreement, we could be subject to or agree to pay fines, damages, injunctive relief (including required modification or discontinuation of our business in certain areas), criminal penalties, and other penalties or consequences, and the loans facilitated through our platform could be rendered void or unenforceable in whole or in part, any of which could have an adverse effect on the enforceability or collectability of the loans facilitated through our platform. For example, in July 2020, we entered into a consent agreement with the Massachusetts Department of Banking to resolve potential concerns regarding state law applicability in connection with a license application submitted by us and obtained certain licenses. We also entered into a settlement agreement with the West Virginia’s Attorney General’s office in July 2020 regarding state law applicability with respect to licensing requirements and interest rates.
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If loans made by us under our state lending licenses are found to violate applicable state interest rate limits or other provisions of applicable state lending and other laws, it could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
The loans originated by our originating bank partners may not be subject to state licensing and interest rate restrictions. However, the loans we may originate on our platform pursuant to our state licenses are subject to state licensing and interest rate restrictions, as well as numerous state requirements regarding consumer protection, interest rate, disclosure, prohibitions on certain activities, and loan term lengths. If the loans we originate pursuant to our state licenses were deemed subject to and in violation of certain state consumer finance or other laws, we could be subject to fines, damages, injunctive relief (including required modification or discontinuation of our business in certain areas), and other penalties or consequences, and the loans could be rendered void or unenforceable in whole or in part, any of which could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
The highly regulated environment in which our originating bank partners operate could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
Our originating bank partners are subject to federal and state supervision and regulation. Federal regulation of the banking industry, along with tax and accounting laws, regulations, rules, and standards, may limit their operations significantly and control the methods by which they conduct business. In addition, compliance with laws and regulations can be difficult and costly, and changes to laws and regulations can impose additional compliance requirements. Regulatory requirements affect our originating bank partners’ lending practices and investment practices, among other aspects of their businesses, and restrict transactions between us and our originating bank partners. These requirements may constrain the operations of our originating bank partners, and the adoption of new laws and changes to, or repeal of, existing laws may have a further impact on our business.
In choosing whether and how to conduct business with us, current and prospective bank partners can be expected to take into account the legal, regulatory, and supervisory regime that applies to them, including potential changes in the application or interpretation of regulatory standards, licensing requirements, or supervisory expectations. Regulators may elect to alter standards or the interpretation of the standards used to measure regulatory compliance or to determine the adequacy of liquidity, certain risk management, or other operational practices for financial services companies in a manner that impacts our current and prospective bank partners.
Furthermore, the regulatory agencies have extremely broad discretion in their interpretation of the regulations and laws and their interpretation of the quality of our originating bank partners’ loan portfolios and other assets. If any regulatory agency’s assessment of the quality of our originating bank partners’ assets, operations, lending practices, investment practices, or other aspects of their business changes, it may reduce our originating bank partners’ earnings, capital ratios, and share price in such a way that affects our business.
Bank holding companies and financial institutions are extensively regulated and currently face an uncertain regulatory environment. Applicable state and federal laws, regulations, interpretations, including licensing laws and regulations, enforcement policies, and accounting principles have been subject to significant changes in recent years, and may be subject to significant future changes. We cannot predict with any degree of certainty the substance or effect of pending or future legislation or regulation or the application of laws and regulations to our current and prospective bank partners. Future changes may have an adverse effect on our current and prospective bank partners and, therefore, on us.
Our use of vendors and our other ongoing third-party business relationships are subject to increasing regulatory requirements and attention.
We regularly use vendors and subcontractors as part of our business. We also depend on our substantial ongoing business relationships with our originating bank partners, merchants, and other third-parties. These types of third-party relationships, particularly with our originating bank partners, are subject to increasingly demanding regulatory requirements and oversight by federal bank regulators (such as the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of
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the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) and the CFPB. The CFPB has enforcement authority with respect to the conduct of third-parties that provide services to financial institutions. The CFPB has made it clear that it expects non-bank entities to maintain an effective process for managing risks associated with vendor relationships, including compliance-related risks. In connection with this vendor risk management process, we are expected to perform due diligence reviews of potential vendors, review their policies and procedures and internal training materials to confirm compliance-related focus, include enforceable consequences in contracts with vendors regarding failure to comply with consumer protection requirements, and take prompt action, including terminating the relationship, in the event that vendors fail to meet our expectations.
It is expected that regulators will hold us responsible for deficiencies in our oversight and control of third-party relationships and in the performance of the parties with which we have these relationships. As a result, if our regulators conclude that we have not exercised adequate oversight and control over vendors and subcontractors or other ongoing third-party business relationships or that such third-parties have not performed appropriately, we could be subject to enforcement actions, including civil money penalties or other administrative or judicial penalties or fines, as well as requirements for consumer remediation.
Stringent and changing laws and regulations relating to privacy and data protection could result in claims, harm our results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects, or otherwise harm our business.
We are subject to a variety of laws, rules, directives, and regulations, as well as contractual obligations, relating to the processing of personal information, including personally identifiable information. The regulatory framework for privacy and data protection worldwide is rapidly evolving and, as a result, implementation standards and enforcement practices are likely to continue to evolve for the foreseeable future. Legislators and regulators are increasingly adopting or revising privacy and data protection laws, rules, directives, and regulations that could have a significant impact on our current and planned privacy and data protection-related practices; our processing of consumer or employee information; and our current or planned business activities.
Compliance with current or future privacy and data protection laws (including those regarding security breach notification) affecting consumer and/or employee data to which we are subject could result in higher compliance and technology costs and could restrict our ability to provide certain products and services (such as products or services that involve us sharing information with third-parties or storing sensitive information), which could materially and adversely affect our profitability and could reduce income from certain business initiatives.
We publicly post policies and documentation regarding our practices concerning the processing of data. This publication of our privacy policy and other documentation that provide promises and assurances about privacy and security is required by applicable law and can subject us to proceedings and actions brought by data protection authorities, government entities, or others (including, potentially, in class action proceedings brought by individuals) if our policies are alleged to be deceptive, unfair, or misrepresentative of our actual practices. Although we endeavor to comply with our published policies and documentation, we may at times fail to do so or be alleged to have failed to do so.
We are subject to the GLBA and implementing regulations and guidance. Among other things, the GLBA (i) imposes certain limitations on the ability to share consumers’ nonpublic personal information with non-affiliated third-parties and (ii) requires certain disclosures to consumers about information collection, sharing, and security practices and their right to “opt out” of the institution’s disclosure of their personal financial information to non-affiliated third-parties (with certain exceptions). Privacy requirements, including notice and opt out requirements, under the GLBA and the FCRA are enforced by the FTC and by the CFPB through UDAAP laws and regulations, and are a standard component of CFPB examinations. State entities also may initiate actions for alleged violations of privacy or security requirements under state law.
Furthermore, an increasing number of state, federal, and international jurisdictions have enacted, or are considering enacting, privacy laws, such as the CCPA, which became effective on January 1, 2020, and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), which regulates the collection, control, sharing, disclosure and use and other processing of personal information of data subjects in the EU and the European Economic Area. The
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CCPA gives residents of California expanded rights to access and delete their personal information, opt out of certain personal information sharing, and receive detailed information about how their personal information is used, and also provides for civil penalties for violations and private rights of action for data breaches. Meanwhile, the GDPR provides data subjects with greater control over the collection and use of their personal information (such as the “right to be forgotten”) and has specific requirements relating to cross-border transfers of personal information to certain jurisdictions, including to the United States, with fines for noncompliance of up to the greater of 20 million euros or up to 4% of the annual global revenue of the noncompliant company. In addition, on November 3, 2020, California voters approved a new privacy law, the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”), which significantly modifies the CCPA, including by expanding consumers’ rights with respect to certain personal information and creating a new state agency to oversee implementation and enforcement efforts. Many of the CPRA’s provisions will become effective on January 1, 2023. The CCPA, CPRA, GDPR, and any other applicable state, federal, and international privacy laws, may increase our compliance costs and potential liability.
Our failure, or the failure of any third-party with whom we work, to comply with privacy and data protection laws could result in potentially significant regulatory investigations and government actions, litigations, fines, or sanctions, consumer, funding source, bank partner, or merchant actions, and damage to our reputation and brand, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business. Complying with privacy and data protection laws and regulations may cause us to incur substantial operational costs or require us to change our business practices. We may not be successful in our efforts to achieve compliance either due to internal or external factors, such as resource allocation limitations or a lack of vendor cooperation. We have in the past, and may in the future, receive complaints or notifications from third-parties alleging that we have violated applicable privacy and data protection laws and regulations. Non-compliance could result in proceedings against us by governmental entities, consumers, data subjects, or others. We may also experience difficulty retaining or obtaining new consumers in these jurisdictions due to the legal requirements, compliance cost, potential risk exposure, and uncertainty for these entities, and we may experience significantly increased liability with respect to these consumers pursuant to the terms set forth in our engagements with them.
As we continue to expand our operations internationally, we may become subject to various foreign privacy and data protection laws and regulations, which may in some cases be more stringent than the requirements in the jurisdictions in which we currently operate. Because the interpretation and application of many privacy and data protection laws are uncertain, it is possible that these laws may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent with our existing data management practices or the features of our products and services. If so, in addition to the possibility of fines, lawsuits, regulatory investigations, and other claims and penalties, we could be required to change our business activities and practices or modify our products or services, any of which could have an adverse effect on our business. Any claims regarding our inability to adequately address privacy and security concerns, even if unfounded, or to comply with applicable privacy and data security laws, regulations, contractual requirements, and policies, could result in additional cost and liability to us, damage our reputation, and adversely affect our business. Privacy and data security concerns, whether valid or not, may inhibit market adoption of our products and services, particularly in certain industries and jurisdictions. If we are not able to quickly adjust to changing laws, regulations, and standards related to the internet, our business may be harmed.
We have a pass-through federal obligation to comply with anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing laws, and failure to comply with this obligation could have significant adverse consequences for us.
We maintain an enterprise-wide program designed to enable us to comply with all applicable anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing laws and regulations, including the Bank Secrecy Act and the Patriot Act. This program includes policies, procedures, processes, and other internal controls designed to identify, monitor, manage, and mitigate the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing. These controls include procedures and processes to detect and report potentially suspicious transactions, perform consumer due diligence, respond to requests from law enforcement, and meet all recordkeeping and reporting requirements related to particular transactions involving currency or monetary instruments. We are required to maintain this program under our agreements with our originating bank partners, and certain state regulatory agencies have intimated they expect the program to be in place and followed. We cannot provide any assurance that our programs and controls will be effective to ensure compliance with all applicable anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing laws and
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regulations we are required to comply with, and our failure to comply with these laws and regulations could result in a breach and termination of our agreements with our originating bank partners or criticism by state governmental agencies, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
If we fail to comply with applicable requirements for our high-yield savings account product, our customers’ deposits may not qualify for FDIC insurance and they may withdraw their funds, which could adversely affect our brand, business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
We offer an FDIC-insured, interest-bearing savings account, which is provided by Cross River Bank, on the Affirm app. Under the terms of our program agreement with Cross River Bank as well as the deposit account agreements between participating consumers and Cross River Bank, the savings account is opened and maintained by Cross River Bank. We act as the service provider to, among other things, facilitate communication between consumers and Cross River Bank via the Affirm app. We believe our savings account program, including applicable records maintained by us and Cross River Bank, complies with all applicable requirements for each participating consumer’s deposits to be covered by FDIC insurance, up to the applicable maximum deposit insurance amount. However, if the FDIC were to disagree (e.g., because we and Cross River Bank have not adequately evidenced participating consumers’ ownership of each account), the FDIC might not recognize consumers’ claims as covered by deposit insurance in the event Cross River Bank fails and enters receivership proceedings under the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (“FDIA”). If the FDIC were to determine that consumers’ claims as covered by deposit insurance, or if Cross River Bank were to actually fail and enter receivership proceedings under the FDIA (regardless of whether the deposits are covered by FDIC insurance), participating consumers may withdraw their funds, which could adversely affect our brand, business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
We also must abide by the terms of the deposit account program agreement with Cross River Bank, failure of which could lead Cross River Bank to terminate the savings account program. If Cross River Bank terminated our savings account program and we were unable to find another bank partner, we may have to close our savings account program, which could adversely affect our brand, business, results of operations, financial condition, and future prospects.
We have been in the past and may in the future be subject to federal and state regulatory inquiries and general litigation regarding our business.
We have, from time to time in the normal course of our business, received, and may in the future receive or be subject to, inquiries or investigations by state and federal regulatory agencies and bodies such as the CFPB, state attorneys general, state financial regulatory agencies, and other state or federal agencies or bodies regarding our platform, including the origination and servicing of consumer loans, practices by merchants or other third-parties, and licensing and registration requirements. Any such inquiries or investigations could involve substantial time and expense to analyze and respond to, could divert management’s attention and other resources from running our business, and could lead to public enforcement actions or lawsuits, or result in fines, penalties, injunctive relief, consumer remediation, increased compliance costs, limit the ability to offer certain products or services or engage in certain business practices, damage our reputation, or result in the need to obtain additional licenses that we do not currently possess. Our involvement in any such matters, whether tangential or otherwise and even if the matters are ultimately determined in our favor, could also cause significant harm to our reputation, lead to additional investigations and enforcement actions from other agencies or litigants, and further divert management attention and resources from the operation of our business. As a result, the outcome of legal and regulatory actions arising out of any state or federal inquiries we receive could be material to and/or have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, future prospects, and cash flows.
While certain of our consumer agreements contain arbitration provisions with class action waiver provisions that may limit our exposure to consumer class action litigation, there can be no assurance that we will be successful in enforcing these arbitration provisions, including the class action waiver provisions, in the future or in any given case. Legislative, administrative, or regulatory developments may directly or indirectly prohibit or limit
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the use of pre-dispute arbitration clauses and class action waiver provisions. Any such prohibitions or limitations on or discontinuation of the use of, such arbitration or class action waiver provisions could subject us to additional lawsuits, including additional consumer class action litigation, and significantly limit our ability to avoid exposure from consumer class action litigation.
Regulatory agencies and consumer advocacy groups are becoming more aggressive in asserting “disparate impact” claims, particularly with respect to credit models that utilize machine learning or other automated underwriting.
Federal anti-discrimination statutes, such as the ECOA, prohibit creditors from discriminating against loan applicants and consumers on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status or age or because an applicant receives income from a public assistance program or has in good faith exercised any right under the Consumer Credit Protection Act. In addition to acts of intentional discrimination, the ECOA has been interpreted by federal regulators and courts to prohibit creditors from maintaining policies and practices that, while facially neutral, result in a disproportionate, adverse impact on applicants or consumers in protected groups.
For this reason, a loan decisioning or credit scoring model must comply with the ECOA by not using any variable that may be deemed a proxy for a protected characteristic such as race, ethnicity, or sex. Further, the variables used in the model must be supported by documented, legitimate business justifications where the model results in a disproportionate effect on applicants or consumers of certain demographic groups.
Accordingly, we face the risk that one or more of the variables included in our loan decisioning model may need to be revised or eliminated to ensure compliance with ECOA, which could result in lower approval rates or higher credit losses. In addition, our use of machine learning in our models could inadvertently result in a “disparate impact” on protected groups, which would require a review of the model’s underlying data and algorithms. Although we proactively monitor and test our models for such a disparate impact, we may be unable to identify and eliminate all practices or variables causing the disparate impact, resulting in residual fair lending risk.
Risks Related to our Class A Common Stock
The dual class structure of our common stock has the effect of concentrating voting control with those stockholders who hold shares of our Class B common stock, including our executive officers and directors and their affiliates.
Our Class B common stock has 15 votes per share, whereas our Class A common stock has one vote per share. Because the holders of our Class B common stock collectively hold significantly more than a majority of the combined voting power of our capital stock, such holders, acting together, control all matters submitted to our stockholders for approval. As a result, for the foreseeable future, holders of our Class B common stock will continue to have significant influence over the management and affairs of our company and over the outcome of all matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, including the election of directors and significant corporate transactions, such as a merger, consolidation or sale of substantially all of our assets, even if their stock holdings represent less than 50% of the outstanding shares of our capital stock. In addition, this may prevent or discourage unsolicited acquisition proposals or offers for our capital stock. Holders of our Class B common stock may have interests that differ from those of the holders of our Class A common stock and may vote in a way with which the Class A holders disagree or which may be adverse to the Class A holders' interests. This control may adversely affect the trading price of our Class A common stock.
Further, as of the completion of our initial public offering in January 2021, Max Levchin, our Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, had voting control over approximately 19.8% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock. As a stockholder, Mr. Levchin is entitled to vote his shares, and shares over which he has voting control, in his own interests, which may not always be in the interests of our stockholders generally.
Transfers by holders of Class B common stock will generally result in those shares converting to Class A common stock, except certain transfers to entities, to the extent the transferor retains sole dispositive power and exclusive voting control with respect to the shares of Class B common stock, and certain other transfers described in
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our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. In addition, all shares of Class B common stock will automatically convert into shares of Class A common stock on the earliest of (i) January 15, 2028, (ii) the date immediately following an annual meeting of our stockholders if neither Max Levchin, our Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, nor Nellie Levchin, Mr. Levchin’s spouse, is then serving as one of our officers, employees, directors or consultants, and neither Mr. Levchin or Mrs. Levchin has served in such capacities in the six months prior to such date, (iii) the date on which Mr. Levchin and Mrs. Levchin, together with their permitted transferees, cease to beneficially own in the aggregate at least 50% of the number of shares of capital stock beneficially owned by such holders in the aggregate on January 15, 2021, or (iv) the death or incapacity of the last to die or become incapacitated of Mr. Levchin or Mrs. Levchin, subject to extension for a total period of no longer than nine months from such incapacitation or death if approved by a majority of the independent directors then in office. Conversions of Class B common stock to Class A common stock will have the effect, over time, of increasing the relative voting power of those holders of Class B common stock who retain their shares in the long term. If, for example, one or more of our existing stockholders retains a significant portion of their holdings of Class B common stock for an extended period of time, they could, in the future, control a majority of the combined voting power of our outstanding capital stock.
Our dual class structure may depress the trading price of our Class A common stock.
We cannot predict whether our dual class structure will result in a lower or more volatile market price of our Class A common stock or in adverse publicity or other adverse consequences. For example, certain index providers have announced restrictions on including companies with multiple-class share structures in certain of their indexes. S&P Dow Jones and FTSE Russell have announced changes to their eligibility criteria for inclusion of shares of public companies on certain indices, including the S&P 500. These changes exclude companies with multiple classes of shares of common stock from being added to these indices. In addition, several stockholder advisory firms have announced their opposition to the use of multiple class structures. As a result, the dual class structure of our common stock may prevent the inclusion of our Class A common stock in these indices and may cause stockholder advisory firms to publish negative commentary about our corporate governance practices or otherwise seek to cause us to change our capital structure. Any such exclusion from indices could result in a less active trading market for our Class A common stock. Any actions or publications by stockholder advisory firms critical of our corporate governance practices or capital structure could also adversely affect the value of our Class A common stock.
The market price of our Class A common stock has been and may continue to be volatile, which could cause the value of your investment to decline.
The market price of our Class A common stock has been and may continue to be highly volatile and could be subject to wide fluctuations. In addition, the trading volume in our Class A common stock may fluctuate and cause significant price variations to occur. Securities markets worldwide experience significant price and volume fluctuations. This market volatility, as well as general economic, market, and political conditions, could reduce the market price of shares of our Class A common stock in spite of our operating performance.
In addition, our results of operations could be below the expectations of public market analysts and investors due to a number of potential factors, including: variations in our quarterly or annual results of operations; additions or departures of key management personnel; the loss of an originating bank partner or key funding sources or merchants; the growth and development of key merchant partner relationships, including our relationship with Amazon; and changes in our earnings estimates (if provided). Also, the publication of research reports about our industry, litigation and government investigations, changes or proposed changes in laws or regulations or differing interpretations or enforcement thereof affecting our business, adverse market reaction to any indebtedness we may incur or securities we may issue in the future, changes in market valuations of similar companies or speculation in the press or the investment community with respect to us or our industry, adverse announcements by us or others and developments affecting us, announcements by our competitors of significant contracts, acquisitions, dispositions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments, actions by institutional stockholders, and increases in market interest rates that may lead investors in our shares to demand a higher yield, could result in the significant decrease of the market price of shares of our Class A common stock.
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These broad market and industry factors may decrease the market price of our Class A common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. The stock market in general has, from time to time, experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations. In addition, in the past, following periods of volatility in the overall market and the market price of a company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against these companies. Such litigation, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management’s attention and resources.
We incur increased costs and have become subject to additional regulations and requirements as a result of becoming a public company, and our management is required to devote substantial time to new compliance matters, which could lower profits and make it more difficult to run our business.
We completed our initial public offering of shares of our Class A common stock on January 15, 2021. As a public company, we incur significant legal, accounting, reporting, and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company, including costs associated with public company reporting requirements and costs of recruiting and retaining non-employee directors. We also have incurred, and will continue to incur, costs associated with compliance with the rules and regulations of the SEC, the listing requirements of Nasdaq, and various other costs of a public company. These rules and regulations have increased our legal and financial compliance costs and may make some activities more time-consuming and costly. Our management devotes a substantial amount of time to ensure that we comply with all of these requirements. These laws and regulations also could make it more difficult and costly for us to obtain certain types of insurance, including director and officer liability insurance, and we may be forced to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. These laws and regulations could also make it more difficult to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our board of directors and board committees and serve as executive officers.
Furthermore, if we are unable to satisfy our obligations as a public company, we could be subject to delisting of our Class A common stock, fines, sanctions, and other regulatory action and potentially civil litigation.
Sales, directly or indirectly, of a substantial amount of our Class A common stock in the public markets, or the perception that such sales might occur, may cause the price of our Class A common stock to decline.
The price of our Class A common stock could decline if there are substantial sales of our Class A common stock, or if there is the perception that these sales could occur. Many of our existing security holders have substantial unrecognized gains on the value of the equity they hold, and may take, or attempt to take, steps to sell, directly or indirectly, their shares or otherwise secure, or limit the risk to, the value of their unrecognized gains on those shares.
Certain of our stockholders have rights, subject to some conditions, to require us to file registration statements covering their shares that we may file for ourselves or our stockholders. In addition, as of June 30, 2021, we had stock options and restricted stock units outstanding that, if fully exercised or settled, would result in the issuance of an aggregate of 50,771,657 shares of our Class A common stock. All of the shares of our Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of stock options and settlement of restricted stock units, and the shares reserved for future issuance under our equity incentive plans, are registered for public resale under the Securities Act. Any registration statement we file to register additional shares, whether as a result of registration rights or otherwise, could cause the market price of our Class A common stock to decline or be volatile.
The issuance by us of additional equity securities may dilute your ownership and adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes us to issue additional shares of Class A common stock and rights relating to Class A common stock for the consideration and on the terms and conditions established by our board of directors in its sole discretion, whether in connection with acquisitions or otherwise. Any Class A common stock or securities convertible into shares of our Class A common stock that we issue from time to time, including in connection with a financing, acquisition, investment or under any equity incentive plans or otherwise that we may adopt in the future, will dilute your percentage ownership.
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In the future, we may attempt to obtain financing or to further increase our capital resources by issuing additional shares of our Class A common stock or securities convertible into shares of our Class A common stock or offering debt or other securities. We could also issue shares of our Class A common stock or securities convertible into our Class A common stock or debt or other securities in connection with acquisitions or other strategic transactions. In addition, as we did when we initially formed our partnership with Shopify, we may issue additional shares of our Class A common stock or securities convertible into shares of Class A common stock as a means of initiating, developing, strengthening or preserving key merchant relationships. Issuing additional shares of our Class A common stock or securities convertible into shares of our Class A common stock or debt or other securities may dilute the economic and voting rights of our existing stockholders and would likely reduce the market price of our Class A common stock. Upon liquidation, holders of debt securities and preferred shares, if issued, and lenders with respect to other borrowings would receive a distribution on our distributable assets prior to the holders of our common stock. Debt securities convertible into equity securities could be subject to adjustments in the conversion ratio pursuant to which certain events may increase the number of equity securities issuable upon conversion. Preferred shares, if issued, could have a preference with respect to liquidating distribution or preferences with respect to dividend payments that could limit our ability to pay dividends to the holders of our common stock. Our decision to issue securities in any future offering will depend on market conditions and other factors beyond our control, which may adversely affect the amount, timing, and nature of our future offerings. As a result, holders of our Class A common stock bear the risk that our future offerings may reduce the market price of our Class A common stock and dilute their stockholdings in us.
Delaware law and certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws could make a merger, tender offer, or proxy contest difficult, thereby adversely affecting the market price of our common stock.
Our status as a Delaware corporation and the anti-takeover provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”) may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control by prohibiting us from engaging in a business combination with an interested stockholder for a period of three years after the person becomes an interested stockholder, even if a change of control would be beneficial to our stockholders. In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws contain provisions that may make the acquisition of our company more difficult, including the following:
•our dual class common stock structure, which provides holders of our Class B common stock with the ability to significantly influence the outcome of matters requiring stockholder approval, even if they own significantly less than a majority of the shares of our outstanding common stock;
•our board of directors is classified into three classes of directors with staggered three-year terms and directors may only able to be removed from office for cause;
•certain amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation require the approval of 66 2/3% of the then-outstanding voting power of our capital stock;
•our amended and restated bylaws provide that the affirmative vote of 66 2∕3% of the then-outstanding voting power of our capital stock, voting as a single class, is required for stockholders to amend or adopt any provision of our bylaws;
•our stockholders may only take action at a meeting of stockholders and not by written consent;
•vacancies on our board of directors may be filled only by our board of directors and not by stockholders;
•no provision in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or amended and restated bylaws provides for cumulative voting, which limits the ability of minority stockholders to elect director candidates;
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•only our chairman of the board of directors, our lead independent director, our chief executive officer, or a majority of the board of directors are authorized to call a special meeting of stockholders;
•our amended and restated bylaws provide that certain litigation against us can only be brought in Delaware;
•nothing in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation precludes future issuances without stockholder approval of the authorized but unissued shares of our Class A common stock;
•our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes undesignated preferred stock, the terms of which may be established and shares of which may be issued, without the approval of the holders of our capital stock; and
•advance notice procedures apply for stockholders to nominate candidates for election as directors or to bring matters before an annual meeting of stockholders.
These anti-takeover defenses could discourage, delay or prevent a transaction involving a change in control of our company. These provisions could also discourage proxy contests and make it more difficult for stockholders to elect directors of their choosing and to cause us to take other corporate actions they desire, any of which, under certain circumstances, could limit the opportunity for our stockholders to receive a premium for their shares of our Class A common stock, and could also affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for our Class A common stock.
Our amended and restated bylaws contain exclusive forum provisions for certain claims, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or employees.
Our amended and restated bylaws, to the fullest extent permitted by law, provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the sole and exclusive forum for (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of us, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a duty (including any fiduciary duty) owed by any of our current or former directors, officers, stockholders, employees or agents to us or our stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim against us or any of our current or former directors, officers, stockholders, employees or agents arising out of or relating to any provision of the DGCL or our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws, or (iv) any action asserting a claim against us or any of our current or former directors, officers, stockholders, employees or agents governed by the internal affairs doctrine of the State of Delaware. As described below, this provision does not apply to suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or Exchange Act, or rules and regulations thereunder.
Moreover, Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all claims brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder and our amended and restated bylaws provide that the federal district courts of the United States of America will, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. Our decision to adopt such a federal forum provision followed a decision by the Supreme Court of the State of Delaware holding that such provisions are facially valid under Delaware law. While there can be no assurance that federal or state courts will follow the holding of the Delaware Supreme Court or determine that our federal forum provision should be enforced in a particular case, application of our federal forum provision means that suits brought by our stockholders to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act must be brought in federal court and cannot be brought in state court.
Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all claims brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder and our amended and restated bylaws provide that neither the exclusive forum provision nor our federal forum provision applies to suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act. Accordingly, actions by our stockholders to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder must be brought in federal
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court. Our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with the federal securities laws and the regulations promulgated thereunder.
Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring or holding any interest in any of our securities is deemed to have notice of and consented to our exclusive forum provisions, including the federal forum provision. Additionally, our stockholders cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. These provisions may limit our stockholders’ ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum they find favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our directors, officers, and other employees and agents. Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in our amended and restated bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, operating results and financial condition.
ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
None.
ITEM 2. PROPERTIES.
We lease facilities under operating leases with various expiration dates through 2030. Our corporate headquarters are located in San Francisco, California. We also lease office space in New York, New York; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Salt Lake City, Utah; Chicago, Illinois; and Toronto, Canada. We do not own any real property. We believe that our facilities are adequate to meet our current needs.
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ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
From time to time, we may be subject to legal proceedings and claims in the ordinary course of business. We are not presently a party to any legal proceedings that, if determined adversely to us, would individually or taken together have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, or cash flows. The results of any current or future litigation cannot be predicted with certainty, and regardless of the outcome, litigation can have an adverse impact on us because of defense and settlement costs, diversion of management resources, and other factors.
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ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES.
Not applicable.
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PART II
ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
Market Information for Common Stock
Our Class A common stock has been listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol "AFRM" since January 13, 2021. Prior to that time, there was no public market for our stock.
Our Class B common stock is not listed on any stock exchange nor traded on any public market.
Holders of Record
As of September 10, 2021, there were 423 stockholders of record of our Class A common stock, and the closing price of our Class A common stock was $123.70 per share as reported on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. Because many of our shares of Class A common stock are held by brokers and other institutions on behalf of stockholders, we are unable to estimate the total number of stockholders represented by these record holders. As of September 10, 2021, there were 304 stockholders of record of our Class B common stock.
Dividend Policy
We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our capital stock. We currently intend to retain any future earnings to finance the operation and expansion of our business, and we do not expect to declare or pay any dividends for the foreseeable future.
Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers
None.
Recent Sale of Unregistered Securities
Issuances of Options to Purchase Common Stock and Restricted Stock Units
During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021, we granted under our Amended and Restated 2012 Stock Plan options to purchase an aggregate of 16,221,339 shares of our common stock and 11,860,237 RSUs to be settled in shares of our common stock. See Note 15. Equity and Cash Incentive Plans for more information on the terms of the options grander under our Amended and Restate 2012 Stock Plan.
Issuances of Redeemable Convertible Preferred Stock
From September 11, 2020 to October 8, 2020, we sold an aggregate of 21,836,687 shares of our Series G redeemable convertible preferred stock to 40 accredited investors at a purchase price of $19.93 per share, for an aggregate purchase price of $435.1 million. See Note 14. Redeemable Convertible Preferred Stock and Stockholders’ Deficit for more information on the terms of our Series G redeemable convertible preferred stock.
Issuances of Convertible Promissory Notes
From April 29, 2020 to May 6, 2020, we issued convertible promissory notes to 24 accredited investors with an aggregate principal amount of $75.0 million. All of the 2020 convertible promissory notes were converted into shares of our Series G-1 redeemable convertible preferred stock on September 11, 2020 in connection with our Series G preferred stock financing.
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Issuances of Warrants
During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021, we issued an aggregate of 7,788,592 shares of Class A common stock and 7,788,592 shares of Class B common stock to three accredited investors in connection with the exercise of outstanding warrants.
PayBright Acquisition
In connection with the closing of the transaction contemplated by the Stock Purchase Agreement entered into with PayBright, Inc. ("PayBright") and the shareholders of PayBright on January 1, 2021, we issued an aggregate of 3,622,445 shares of our common stock to the shareholders of PayBright at closing plus an aggregate of 2,587,362 shares of our common stock into escrow and subject to forfeiture if certain post-closing revenue milestones are not met. On January 12, 2021, these shares were reclassified into an aggregate of 1,811,222 shares of our Class A common stock and 1,811,222 shares of our Class B common stock issued to the shareholders of PayBright at closing and an aggregate of 1,293,681 shares of our Class A common stock and 1,293,681 shares of our Class B common stock issued into escrow.
Returnly Acquisition
In connection with the closing of the transaction contemplated by the Agreement and Plan of Merger and Reorganization entered into with Returnly Technologies, Inc. ("Returnly"), a Delaware corporation, and Shareholder Representative Services LLC, a Colorado limited liability company, solely in its capacity as the representative of the securityholders of Returnly, on May 1, 2021, we issued an aggregate of 2,989,697 shares of our Class A common stock to the securityholders of Returnly at closing and issued 304,364 shares of our Class A common stock which are held in escrow and subject to forfeiture upon the termination of certain employees or if certain revenue milestones are not met.
We believe that all of the foregoing transactions were exempt from registration under the Securities Act in reliance upon Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act, or Regulation D promulgated thereunder, or Regulation S under the Securities Act, or Rule 701 promulgated under Section 3(b) of the Securities Act as transactions by an issuer not involving any public offering or pursuant to benefit plans and contracts relating to compensation as provided under Rule 701. The recipients of the securities in each of these transactions represented their intentions to acquire the securities for investment only and not with a view to or for sale in connection with any distribution thereof, and appropriate legends were placed upon the stock certificates issued in these transactions. All recipients had adequate access, through their relationships with us, to information about us.
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Stock Performance Graph
This performance graph shall not be deemed “soliciting material” or to be “filed” with the SEC, for purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act, or otherwise subject to the liabilities under that Section, and shall not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any of our filings under the Securities Act.
The graph below shows the cumulative total stockholder return on our Class A common stock with the cumulative total return on the Nasdaq Composite Index and the S&P North American Technology Index. The graph assumes (i) that $100 was invested at the market close on January 13, 2021, the date that our Class A common stock commenced trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, in each of our Class A common stock, the Nasdaq Composite Index, and the S&P North American Technology Index and (ii) reinvestment of gross dividends. The graph uses the closing market price on January 13, 2021 of $97.24 per share as the initial value of our Class A common stock. The stock price performance shown in the graph represents past performance and should not be considered an indication of future stock price performance.
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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
The following selected consolidated statements of operations data for the years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019 and the selected consolidated balance sheet data as of June 30, 2021 and June 30, 2020 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The selected consolidated balance sheet data as of June 30, 2019 is derived from our audited consolidated financial statements which are not included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for any other period in the future. You should read this information in conjunction with the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements, the accompanying notes, and other financial information included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
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| Year Ended June 30, | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||
| (in thousands, except share and per share data) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Consolidated Statement of Operations Data | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Merchant network revenue | $ | 379,551 | $ | 256,752 | $ | 132,363 | ||||||||||||||
| Virtual card network revenue | 49,851 | 19,340 | 7,911 | |||||||||||||||||
| Total network revenue | 429,402 | 276,092 | 140,274 | |||||||||||||||||
Interest income(1) | 326,417 | 186,730 | 119,404 | |||||||||||||||||
Gain (loss) on sales of loans(1) | 89,926 | 31,907 | (440) | |||||||||||||||||
| Servicing income | 24,719 | 14,799 | 5,129 | |||||||||||||||||
| Total Revenue, net | $ | 870,464 | $ | 509,528 | $ | 264,367 | ||||||||||||||
Operating Expenses(2) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Loss on loan purchase commitment | $ | 246,700 | $ | 161,452 | $ | 73,383 | ||||||||||||||
| Provision for credit losses | 65,878 | 105,067 | 78,025 | |||||||||||||||||
| Funding costs | 52,700 | 32,316 | 25,895 | |||||||||||||||||
| Processing and servicing | 73,767 | 49,831 | 32,669 | |||||||||||||||||
| Technology and data analytics | 256,082 | 122,378 | 76,071 | |||||||||||||||||
| Sales and marketing | 184,279 | 25,044 | 16,863 | |||||||||||||||||
| General and administrative | 370,251 | 121,230 | 88,902 | |||||||||||||||||
| Total Operating Expenses | 1,249,657 | 617,318 | 391,808 | |||||||||||||||||
| Operating Loss | $ | (379,193) | $ | (107,790) | $ | (127,441) | ||||||||||||||
| Other income (expense), net | (54,073) | (4,432) | 7,022 | |||||||||||||||||
| Loss Before Income Taxes | $ | (433,266) | $ | (112,222) | $ | (120,419) | ||||||||||||||
| Income tax (benefit) expense | (2,343) | 376 | 36 | |||||||||||||||||
| Net Loss | $ | (430,923) | $ | (112,598) | $ | (120,455) | ||||||||||||||
| Excess return to preferred stockholders on repurchase | — | (13,205) | (14,113) | |||||||||||||||||
| Net Loss Attributable to Common Stockholders | $ | (430,923) | $ | (125,803) | $ | (134,568) | ||||||||||||||
| Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Foreign currency translation adjustments | $ | 7,042 | $ | (302) | $ | — | ||||||||||||||
| Unrealized gains on investments | 29 | — | — | |||||||||||||||||
| Net Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) | 7,071 | (302) | — | |||||||||||||||||
| Comprehensive Loss | $ | (423,852) | $ | (112,900) | $ | (120,455) | ||||||||||||||
| Per share data: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Net loss per share attributable to Class A and Class B common stockholders - basic and diluted | $ | (2.72) | $ | (2.63) | $ | (2.84) | ||||||||||||||
| Weighted average common shares outstanding - basic and diluted | 158,367,923 | 47,856,720 | 47,345,328 | |||||||||||||||||
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(1) Upon purchase of a loan from our originating bank partners at a price above the fair market value of the loan or upon the origination of a loan with a par value in excess of the fair market value of the loan, a discount is included in the amortized cost basis of the loan. For loans held for investment, this discount is amortized over the life of the loan into interest income. When a loan is sold to a third-party loan buyer, the unamortized discount is released in full at the time of sale and recognized as part of the gain or loss on sales of loans. However, the cumulative value of the loss on loan purchase commitment or loss on origination, the interest income recognized over time from the amortization of discount while retained, and the release of discount into gain (loss) on sales of loans, together net to zero over the life of the loan. The following table details activity for the discount, included in loans held for investment, for the periods indicated:
| Year Ended June 30, | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Balance at the beginning of the period | $ | 28,659 | $ | 13,068 | $ | 5,201 | ||||||||||||||
| Additions from loans purchased, net of refunds | 264,725 | 157,426 | 70,700 | |||||||||||||||||
| Amortization of discount | (101,078) | (35,251) | (21,833) | |||||||||||||||||
| Unamortized discount released on loans sold | (139,129) | (106,584) | (41,000) | |||||||||||||||||
| Balance at the end of the period | $ | 53,177 | $ | 28,659 | $ | 13,068 | ||||||||||||||
(2) Amounts include stock-based compensation as follows:
| Year Ended June 30, | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| General and administrative | $ | 183,055 | $ | 13,682 | $ | 22,647 | ||||||||||||||
| Technology and data analytics | 83,390 | 12,285 | 13,913 | |||||||||||||||||
| Sales and marketing | 19,181 | 4,040 | 4,179 | |||||||||||||||||
| Processing and servicing | 2,407 | 82 | 132 | |||||||||||||||||
| Total stock-based compensation in operating expenses | $ | 288,033 | $ | 30,089 | $ | 40,871 | ||||||||||||||
| June 30, 2021 | June 30, 2020 | June 30, 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Consolidated Balance Sheet Data | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents | $ | 1,466,558 | $ | 267,059 | $ | 320,448 | ||||||||||||||
| Loans held for investment | 2,022,320 | 1,034,312 | 735,414 | |||||||||||||||||
| Total assets | 4,866,967 | 1,402,251 | 1,148,505 | |||||||||||||||||
| Funding debt | 680,602 | 817,926 | 569,234 | |||||||||||||||||
| Notes issued by securitization trusts | 1,176,673 | — | — | |||||||||||||||||
| Redeemable convertible preferred stock | — | 804,170 | 798,074 | |||||||||||||||||
| Total stockholders’ equity (deficit) | 2,581,153 | (367,096) | (263,414) | |||||||||||||||||
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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K ("Form 10-K"). You should review the sections titled “Risk Factors” for a discussion of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in the following discussion and analysis. For the periods presented, references to originating bank partners are to Cross River Bank and Celtic Bank. Unless the context otherwise requires, all references in this report to “Affirm,” the “Company,” “we,” “our,” “us,” or similar terms refer to Affirm Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries. A discussion regarding our financial condition and results of operations for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021 compared to the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020 is presented below. A discussion regarding our financial condition and results of operations for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020 compared to the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019 can be found in “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Final Prospectus dated January 12, 2021 and filed with the SEC pursuant to Rule 424(b)(4) on January 14, 2021.
Overview
We are building the next generation platform for digital and mobile-first commerce. We believe that by using modern technology, the very best engineering talent, and a mission-driven approach, we can reinvent payments and commerce. Our solutions, which are built on trust and transparency, make it easier for consumers to spend responsibly and with confidence, easier for merchants to convert sales and grow, and easier for commerce to thrive.
Our point-of-sale solution allows consumers to pay for purchases in fixed amounts without deferred interest, hidden fees, or penalties. We empower consumers to pay over time rather than paying for a purchase entirely upfront. This increases consumers’ purchasing power and gives them more control and flexibility. Our platform facilitates both true 0% APR payment options and interest-bearing loans. On the merchant side, we offer commerce enablement, demand generation, and customer acquisition tools. Our solutions empower merchants to more efficiently promote and sell their products, optimize their customer acquisition strategies, and drive incremental sales. We also provide valuable product-level data and insights — information that merchants cannot easily get elsewhere — to better inform their strategies. Finally, our consumer app unlocks the full suite of Affirm products for a delightful end-to-end consumer experience. Consumers can use our app to manage payments, open a high-yield savings account, and access a personalized marketplace.
Our company is predicated on the principles of simplicity, transparency, and putting people first. By adhering to these principles, we have built enduring, trust-based relationships with consumers and merchants that we believe will set us up for long-term, sustainable success. We believe our innovative approach uniquely positions us to define the future of commerce and payments.
Technology and data are at the core of everything we do. Our expertise in sourcing, aggregating, and analyzing data has been what we believe to be the key competitive advantage of our platform since our founding. We believe our proprietary technology platform and data give us a unique advantage in pricing risk. We use data to inform our risk scoring in order to generate value for our consumers, merchants, and capital partners. We collect and store petabytes of information that we carefully structure and use to regularly recalibrate and revalidate our models, thereby getting to risk scoring and pricing faster, more efficiently, and with a higher degree of confidence. We also prioritize building our own technology and investing in product and engineering talent as we believe these are enduring competitive advantages that are difficult to replicate. Our solutions use the latest in machine learning, artificial intelligence, cloud-based technologies, and other modern tools to create differentiated and scalable products.
We have achieved significant growth in recent periods. Our total revenue, net was $870.5 million, $509.5 million, and $264.4 million for the years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019 respectively. We incurred net losses
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of $430.9 million, $112.6 million, and $120.5 million for the years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019 respectively.
The combination of our differentiated product offering, efficient go-to-market strategy, and strong monetization engine has resulted in rapid growth.
•Accelerating GMV growth. We grew our Gross Merchandise Volume ("GMV") by 79% year-over-year to $8.3 billion during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, GMV was $4.6 billion, which represented 77% growth over the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019.
•Increased consumer engagement. The number of active consumers on our platform grew by 3.5 million consumers from June 30, 2020 to June 30, 2021, an increase of 97% to a total of 7.1 million.
•Expanded merchant network. We have also continued to scale the breadth and reach of our platform. From June 30, 2020 to June 30, 2021, our merchant base expanded by 412% to 28,995 active merchants.
•Compelling network revenue growth. Network revenue, which combines merchant network revenue and virtual card network revenue, increased 56% year-over-year compared to the year ended June 30, 2020. We believe that the continued growth of network revenue demonstrates the value of our platform to our merchants.
Our business was designed to scale efficiently. Our partnerships with banks and other funding relationships have allowed us to remain equity capital efficient. Since July 1, 2016, we have processed approximately $17.5 billion of GMV on our platform. As of June 30, 2021, we had over $6.5 billion in funding capacity from a diverse set of capital partners, including through our warehouse facilities, securitization trusts, and forward flow arrangements, an increase of $3.2 billion from $3.3 billion as of June 30, 2020.
Through the diversity of these funding relationships, the equity capital required to build our total platform portfolio has declined from approximately 9% of the total platform portfolio as of June 30, 2020, to approximately 4% as of June 30, 2021. We define our total platform portfolio as the unpaid principal balance outstanding of all loans facilitated through our platform as of the balance sheet date, including both those loans held for investment and those loans owned by third-parties. This amount totaled $4.7 billion and $2.5 billion as of June 30, 2021 and June 30, 2020, respectively. Additionally, we define the equity capital required as the balance of loans held for investment, plus loans held for sale, less funding debt and notes issued by securitization trusts, per our consolidated balance sheet. This amount totaled $178.1 million and $220.8 million as of June 30, 2021 and June 30, 2020, respectively. Equity capital required as a percent of the last twelve months' GMV was 2% and 5% as of June 30, 2021 and June 30, 2020, respectively.
We have focused on growing our platform and plan to continue making investments to drive future growth, as evidenced by our strategic acquisitions. In January 2021, we acquired PayBright, one of Canada's leading providers of installment payment plans for e-commerce and in-store purchases, to expand the scale and reach of our platform, creating a larger, more diverse merchant and consumer network across the United States and Canada. In May 2021, we acquired Returnly, a leader in online return experiences and post-purchase payments, to expand the capabilities of our platform and address the full shopping journey by enabling seamless return experiences that drive customer loyalty and satisfaction.
We believe that our continued success will depend on many factors, including our ability to attract additional merchant partners, retain our existing merchant partners, and grow and develop our relationships with new and existing merchant partners (including our relationship with Amazon), help our merchants grow their revenue on our platform, and develop new innovative solutions to establish the ubiquity of our network and breadth of our platform. For a further discussion of trends, uncertainties and other factors that could impact our operating results, see the section entitled "Risk Factors" in Item 1A, which is incorporated herein by reference.
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Our Financial Model
Our Revenue Model
From merchants, we earn a fee when we help them convert a sale and facilitate a transaction. While merchant fees depend on the individual arrangement between us and each merchant, and vary based on the terms of the product offering, we generally earn larger merchant fees on 0% APR financing products and financial products with longer term lengths. For the years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019, 0% APR financing represented 43%, 43%, and 33%, respectively, of total GMV facilitated through our platform.
From consumers, we earn interest income on the simple interest loans that we purchase from our originating bank partners. Interest rates charged to our consumers vary depending on the transaction risk, creditworthiness of the consumer, the repayment term selected by the consumer, the amount of the loan, and the individual arrangement with a merchant. Because our consumers are never charged deferred or compounding interest, late fees, or penalties on the loans, we are not incentivized to profit from our consumers’ hardships.
In order to accelerate our ubiquity, we facilitate the issuance of virtual cards directly to consumers through our app, allowing them to shop with merchants that may not yet be fully integrated with Affirm. When these virtual cards are used over established card networks, we earn a portion of the interchange fee from the transaction.
Our Loan Origination and Servicing Model
When a consumer applies for a loan through our platform, the loan is underwritten using our proprietary risk model. Once approved for the loan, the consumer then selects his/her preferred repayment option. The substantial majority of these loans are funded and issued by our originating bank partners.
A substantial majority of the loans facilitated through our platform are originated through our originating bank partners: Cross River Bank, an FDIC-insured New Jersey state-chartered bank, and Celtic Bank, an FDIC-insured Utah state-chartered industrial bank. These partnerships allow us to benefit from our partners' ability to originate loans under their banking licenses while complying with various federal, state, and other laws. Under this arrangement, we must comply with our originating bank partners' credit policies and underwriting procedures, and our originating bank partners maintain ultimate authority to decide whether to originate a loan. When an originating bank partner originates a loan, it funds the loan out of its own funds and may subsequently offer and sell the loan to us. Pursuant to our agreements with these partners, we are obligated to purchase the loans facilitated through our platform that our partner offers us and our obligation is secured by cash deposits. To date, we have purchased all of the loans facilitated through our platform and originated by our originating bank partners. When we purchase a loan from an originating bank partner, the purchase price is equal to the outstanding principal balance of the loan, plus a fee and any accrued interest. The originating bank partner also retains an interest in the loans purchased by us through a loan performance fee that is payable by us on the aggregate principal amount of a loan that is paid by a consumer. See Note 13. Fair Value of Financial Assets and Liabilities for more information on the performance fee liability.
We are also able to originate loans directly under our lending, servicing, and brokering licenses in Canada and across various states in the U.S. through our consolidated subsidiaries. We started originating loans directly in Canada in October 2019 and, through June 30, 2021, we had originated approximately $257.7 million of loans in Canada. As of June 30, 2021, we had directly originated $336.1 million of loans in the U.S. pursuant to our state licenses.
We act as the servicer on all loans that we originate directly or purchase from our originating bank partners and earn a servicing fee on loans we sell to our funding sources. We do not sell the servicing rights on any of the loans, allowing us to control the consumer experience end-to-end. To allow for flexible staffing to support overflow and seasonal traffic, we partner with several sub-servicers to manage customer care, first priority collections, and third-party collections in accordance with our policies and procedures.
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Our Funding Sources
We maintain a capital-efficient model through a diverse set of funding sources. When we originate a loan directly or purchase a loan originated by our originating bank partners, we often utilize warehouse facilities with certain lenders to finance our lending activities or loan purchases. We sell the loans we originate or purchase from our originating bank partners to whole loan buyers and securitization investors through forward flow arrangements and securitization transactions, and earn servicing fees from continuing to act as the servicer on the loans.
Key Operating Metrics
We collect and analyze operating and financial data of our business to assess our performance, formulate financial projections, and make strategic decisions. In addition to revenue, net (loss) income, and other results under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“U.S. GAAP”), the following tables set forth key operating metrics we use to evaluate our business.
| Year Ended June 30, | |||||||||||||||||
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | |||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | |||||||||||||||||
| Gross Merchandise Volume ("GMV") | $ | 8,292,031 | $ | 4,637,220 | $ | 2,620,059 | |||||||||||
GMV
We measure gross merchandise volume to assess the volume of transactions that take place on our platform. We define GMV as the total dollar amount of all transactions on the Affirm platform during the applicable period, net of refunds. GMV does not represent revenue earned by us. However, the GMV processed through our platform is an indicator of the success of our merchants, value provided to our consumers, and the strength of our platform. For the year ended June 30, 2021, GMV was $8.3 billion, which represented an increase of approximately 79% as compared to $4.6 billion for the year ended June 30, 2020. For the year ended June 30, 2020, GMV was $4.6 billion, which represented an increase of approximately 77% as compared to $2.6 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019. Our acquisitions of PayBright and Returnly contributed an incremental $153.8 million of GMV during the year ended June 30, 2021.
| June 30, 2021 | June 30, 2020 | June 30, 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||
| (in thousands, except per consumer data) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Active Consumers | 7,121 | 3,618 | 2,045 | |||||||||||||||||
| Transactions per Active Consumer (x) | 2.3 | 2.1 | 2.0 | |||||||||||||||||
Active Consumers
We assess consumer adoption and engagement by the number of active consumers across our platform. Active consumers are the primary measure of the size of our network. We define an active consumer as a consumer who engages in at least one transaction on our platform during the twelve months prior to the measurement date. As of June 30, 2021, we had 7.1 million active consumers, representing an increase of approximately 97% compared to 3.6 million as of June 30, 2020, and approximately 77% compared to 2.0 million at June 30, 2019. Active consumers include an incremental 1.1 million consumers who engaged in at least one transaction on the PayBright or Returnly platforms during the twelve months prior to the measurement date, including prior to the acquisitions of PayBright and Returnly by Affirm.
Transactions per Active Consumer
We believe the value of our network is amplified with greater consumer engagement and repeat usage, highlighted by increased transactions per active consumer. Transactions per active consumer is defined as the average number of transactions that an active consumer has conducted on our platform during the twelve months
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prior to the measurement date. As of June 30, 2021, we had approximately 2.3 transactions per active consumer, representing an increase of 8% as compared to 2.1 as of June 30, 2020 and an increase of 13% compared to June 30, 2019. Transactions per active consumer includes incremental transactions completed by active consumers on the PayBright or Returnly platforms during the twelve months prior to the measurement date and prior to the acquisitions of PayBright and Returnly by Affirm.
Factors Affecting Our Performance
Expanding our Network, Diversity, and Mix of Funding Relationships
Our capital efficient funding model is integral to the success of our platform. As we scale the number of transactions on our network and grow GMV, we maintain a variety of funding relationships in order to support our network. Our diversified funding relationships include warehouse facilities, securitization trusts, forward flow arrangements, and partnerships with banks. Given the short duration and strong performance of our assets, funding can be recycled quickly, resulting in a high-velocity, capital efficient funding model. We have continued to reduce the percentage of our equity capital required to fund our total platform portfolio from approximately 9% as of June 30, 2020, to approximately 4% as of June 30, 2021. The mix of on-balance sheet and off-balance sheet funding will also impact our results in any given period.
Mix of Business on Our Platform
The mix of products that our merchants offer and our consumers purchase in any period affects our operating results. The mix impacts GMV, revenue, and the financial results of that period. Differences in product mix relate to different loan durations, APR mix, and varying proportion of 0% APR versus interest-bearing financings. For example, our low AOV products generally benefit from shorter duration, but also have lower revenue as a percentage of GMV when compared to high AOV products. These mix shifts are driven in part by merchant-side activity relating to the marketing of their products, whether the merchant is fully integrated within our network, and general economic conditions affecting consumer demand. In addition, we expect that our commercial agreement with Shopify to offer Shop Pay Installments powered by Affirm and our recent Split Pay offering, a short-term payment plan for purchases under $250 with 0% APR, will increase the mix of our shorter duration, low AOV products. Differences in the mix of high versus low AOV will also impact our results. For example, we expect that transactions per active consumer may increase while revenue as a percentage of GMV may decline in the medium term to the extent that a greater portion of our GMV comes from Split Pay and other low-AOV offerings.
Sales and Marketing Investment
We have historically relied on the strength of our merchant relationships and positive user experience to develop our consumer brand and grow the ubiquity of our platform. During the year ended June 30, 2021, we increased our investment in sales and marketing channels that we believe will drive further brand awareness and preference among both consumers and merchants. Given the nature of our revenue, our investment in sales and marketing in a given period may not impact results until subsequent periods. Additionally, given the increasingly competitive nature of merchant acquisition, we expect that we may make significant investments in retaining and acquiring new merchants. We are focused on the effectiveness of sales and marketing spending and will continue to be strategic in maintaining efficient consumer and merchant acquisition.
Seasonality
We experience seasonal fluctuations in our revenue as a result of consumer spending patterns. Historically, our revenue has been the strongest during the second quarter of our fiscal year due to increases in retail commerce during the holiday season. Additionally, revenue associated with the purchase of home fitness equipment historically has been strongest in the third quarter of our fiscal year. Adverse events that occur during these months could have a disproportionate effect on our financial results for the fiscal year.
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Timing of Merchant Transaction Recognition Change
The timing of our revenue recognition is tied to when a merchant captures payment and confirms a transaction financed through our platform, which we refer to as the merchant capture date. If a merchant recognizes the payment collection and confirms the transaction later in their transaction process, we expect that this change would delay the merchant capture date, which would delay our recognition of GMV and revenue related to that merchant’s transactions by a corresponding amount. Such a delay would adversely affect the GMV and revenue that we recognize from such merchant’s transactions in the quarterly period of such change, as the merchant capture date for a portion of such transactions would shift to a future quarterly period. We typically experience small timing differences between the consumer purchase date and the date when a merchant captures payment; however, these differences have historically been immaterial.
In December 2020, the implementation of such a change began with respect to our largest merchant, Peloton, who implemented a change in the timing of when the transaction is considered captured. This resulted in a delay in the recognition of GMV and revenue related to these transactions in the period ended December 31, 2020.
For the year ended June 30, 2021, we facilitated $66.3 million more transaction volume on our platform than was captured and confirmed by our merchants, an increase of $54.1 million from the year ended June 30, 2020, during which we facilitated $12.2 million more transaction volume than was captured and confirmed by our merchants. As of June 30, 2021 and over the multi-year life of our merchant partnership with Peloton, we had facilitated approximately $73.5 million more transaction volume than had been captured and confirmed by the merchant. This is an increase of $73.5 million from June 30, 2020 and an increase of $7.8 million from March 31, 2021.
For more information on factors affecting our performance, see “Item 1A. Risk Factors.”
Impact of COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has had, and continues to have, a significant impact on the U.S. economy and the markets in which we operate. Our positive performance during this period demonstrates the value and effectiveness of our platform, the resiliency of our business model, and the capabilities of our risk management and underwriting approach. However, some of the COVID-19 related trends underlying this positive performance, in particular the significant revenue generated from certain types of merchants, may not continue at current levels.
Diversified Mix of Merchant Partners
We have a diversified set of merchant partners across industries, which allows us to capitalize on industry tailwinds and changing consumer spending behavior, economic conditions, and other factors that may affect a particular type of merchant or industry. For example, following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, our revenue from merchant partners in the travel, hospitality, and entertainment industries declined significantly, but we saw a significant increase in revenue from merchant partners offering home fitness equipment, home office products, and home furnishings. While we have benefited as a result of such consumer spending trends, there can be no assurance that such trends will continue or that the levels of total revenue and merchant network revenue that we generate from merchants in fitness equipment, home office products, and home furnishings industries will continue; in fact, we have begun to see these trends begin to reverse as access to COVID-19 vaccinations has increased. The decline of sales by our merchants for any reason will generally result in lower credit sales and, therefore, lower loan volume and associated fee income for us. However, the beginnings of economic reopening and recovery present new opportunities for growth in our diverse merchant base, including early indications of strong recovery in the travel and hospitality sectors, in which we believe we are well positioned.
Dynamic Changes to Risk Model
As part of our risk mitigation platform, we closely track data and trends to measure risk and manage exposure, leveraging our flexibility to quickly adjust and adapt. In response to the macroeconomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, we initiated a series of refinements to our risk model based on our real-time data observations
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and analysis. We were able to respond, implement, and test the updates to our model quickly due to the adaptability of our infrastructure, underwriting, and risk management models. This resulted in decreases across both charge-offs and delinquencies. As macroeconomic conditions improved, the embedded flexibility of the model allowed our risk tolerances to return closer to pre-pandemic levels while still maintaining low losses. Our proprietary risk model was not designed to take into account the longer-term impacts of social, economic, and financial disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and while we continue to make refinements to our risk model as new information becomes available to us, any changes to our risk model may be ineffective and the performance of our risk model may decline.
Resilient Allowance Model
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, we factored in updated loss multiples using macroeconomic data to reflect stressed expected loss scenarios emerging from forecasted delinquencies and defaults. This stressing of the model resulted in an increase of the allowance for credit losses as a percentage of loans held for investment from 8.9% as of February 29, 2020 to 14.8% as of March 31, 2020. In the months subsequent to this, we have seen stronger than expected repayment history in the portfolio, resulting in a release of the allowance. As of June 30, 2021 and June 30, 2020, the allowance for credit losses as a percentage of loans held for investment was 6% and 9%, respectively. Our allowance for credit losses has declined as a percentage of loans held for investment as we retained a higher portion of longer-term, 0% APR loans on our balance sheet since completing our consolidated 2020-Z1 and 2020-Z2 securitizations during the year ended June 30, 2021. These longer-term, 0% APR loans tend to have lower expected losses than our interest bearing loans and generally carry lower loss reserves as a percentage of initial principal balance. Additionally, improved macroeconomic conditions have resulted in an overall improved credit outlook and reduced expected losses. Should macroeconomic factors or expected losses change, we may increase or decrease the allowance for credit losses.
For more information on the risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic, see “Item 1A. Risk Factors — Risks Related to Our Business and Industry.”
Components of Results of Operations
Revenue
Merchant Network Revenue
Merchant partners are charged a fee on transactions processed through the Affirm platform. The fees vary depending on the individual arrangement between us and each merchant and on the terms of the product offering. The fee is recognized at the point in time the terms of the executed merchant agreement have been fulfilled and the merchant successfully confirms the transaction. We may originate certain loans via our wholly-owned subsidiaries, with zero or below market interest rates. In these instances, the par value of the loans originated is in excess of the fair market value of such loans, resulting in a loss, which we record as a reduction to merchant network revenue when we estimate that these losses will be recoverable over the term of our contract with the merchant. In order to continue to expand our consumer base, we may originate loans under certain merchant arrangements that we do not expect to achieve positive revenue. In these instances, the loss is recorded as sales and marketing expense. During the years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019, we generated 44%, 50% and 50% of our revenue, respectively, from merchant network fees.
Virtual Card Network Revenue
A smaller portion of our revenue comes from our Virtual Card product. We have agreements with issuer processors to facilitate transactions through the issuance of virtual debit cards to be used by consumers at checkout. Consumers can apply for a virtual debit card through the Affirm app and, upon approval, receive a single-use virtual debit card to be used for their purchase online or offline at a non-integrated merchant. The virtual debit card is funded at the time a transaction is authorized using cash held by the issuer processor in a reserve fund, which is ultimately funded and maintained by us. Our originating bank partner then originates a loan to the consumer once the transaction is confirmed by the merchant. The non-integrated merchants are charged interchange fees by the
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issuer processor for virtual debit card transactions, as with all debit card purchases, and the issuer processor shares a portion of this revenue with us. We also leverage this issuer processor as a means of integrating certain merchants. Similarly, for these arrangements with integrated merchants, the merchant is charged interchange fees by the issuer processor and the issuer processor shares a portion of this revenue with us. This revenue is recognized as a percentage of both our loan volume transacted on the payment processor network and net interchange income, and this revenue is presented net of associated processing fees. We generated 6%, 4%, and 3% of our revenue from virtual card network fees for the years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively.
Interest Income
We also earn revenue through interest earned on loans facilitated by our platform. Interest income includes interest charged to consumers over the term of the consumers’ loans based on the principal outstanding and is calculated using the effective interest method. In addition, interest income includes the amortization of any discounts or premiums on loan receivables created upon either the purchase of a loan from our originating bank partners or the origination of a loan. These discounts and premiums are accreted or amortized over the life of the loan using the effective interest method and represented 31%, 19%, and 18% of total interest income for the years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively. During the years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019, we generated 37%, 37%, and 45% of our revenue from interest income, respectively.
Gain on Sales of Loans
We sell a portion of the loans we originate or purchase from our originating bank partners to third-party investors. We recognize a gain or loss on sale of such loans as the difference between the proceeds received, adjusted for initial recognition of servicing assets and liabilities obtained at the date of sale, and the carrying value of the loan. During the years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019, we generated 10%, 6% and 0% of our revenue from gain (loss) on sales of loans, respectively.
Servicing Income
We earn a specified fee from providing professional services to manage loan portfolios on behalf of our third-party loan owners. Under the servicing agreements with our capital markets partners, we are entitled to collect servicing fees on the loans that we service, which are paid monthly based upon an annual fixed percentage of the outstanding loan portfolio balance. During the years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019, we generated 3%, 3%, and 2% of our revenue from servicing fees, respectively.
We expect our revenue may vary from period to period based on, among other things, the timing and size of onboarding of new merchants, the mix of 0% APR loans versus interest-bearing loans with simple interest, type and mix of products that our merchants offer to their customers, the rate of repeat transactions, transaction volume, and seasonality of or fluctuations in usage of our platform.
Operating Expenses
Our operating expenses consist of the loss on loan purchase commitment made to our originating bank partners, the provision for credit losses, funding costs, processing and servicing, technology and data analytics, sales and marketing, and general and administrative expenses. Salaries and personnel-related costs, including benefits, bonuses, and stock-based compensation expense, comprise a significant component of several of these expense categories. An allocation of overhead, such as rent and other occupancy expenses, is based on employee headcount and included in processing and servicing, technology and data analytics, sales and marketing, and general and administrative expenses.
As of June 30, 2021, we had 1,641 employees, compared to 893 employees as of June 30, 2020. We increased our headcount and personnel related costs across our business in order to support our growth strategy. We expect headcount to continue to increase during fiscal year 2022 given our focus on growth and expansion.
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Loss on Loan Purchase Commitment
We purchase certain loans from our originating bank partners that are processed through our platform and our originating bank partner puts back to us. Under the terms of the agreements with our originating bank partners, we are generally required to pay the principal amount plus accrued interest for such loans. In certain instances, our originating bank partners may originate loans with zero or below market interest rates that we are required to purchase. In these instances, we may be required to purchase the loan for a price in excess of the fair market value of such loans, which results in a loss. These losses are recognized as loss on loan purchase commitment in our consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss. These costs are incurred on a per loan basis.
Provision for Credit Losses
Provision for credit losses consists of amounts charged against income during the period to maintain an allowance for credit losses. Our allowance for credit losses represents our estimate of the credit losses inherent in our loans held for investment and is based on a variety of factors, including the composition and quality of the portfolio, loan specific information gathered through our collection efforts, current economic conditions, and our historical net charge-off and loss experience. These costs are incurred on a per loan basis.
Funding Costs
Funding costs consist of the interest expense we incur on our borrowings and amortization of fees and other costs incurred in connection with funding the purchase and origination of loans. Excluding the amortization of debt issuance costs, which totaled $6.4 million, $2.3 million, and $1.7 million for the years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively, we incur an expense per loan pledged to our debt funding sources.
Processing and Servicing
Processing and servicing expense consists primarily of payment processing fees, third-party customer support and collection expense salaries and personnel-related costs of our customer care team, and allocated overhead. Payment processing costs are primarily driven by the number and dollar value of consumer repayments which grow as the number of transactions and GMV processed on our platform increases. Customer care loan servicing costs are primarily staffing costs related to third-party and in-house loan servicing agents, the demand for which generally increases with the number of transactions on our platform. Collection fees are fees paid to agencies as percentages of the dollars of repayment they recuperate from borrowers whose loans had previously been charged off. Processing and servicing expenses are predominantly per transaction processing fees and third-party staffing fees that generally increase with consumer contact.
Technology and Data Analytics
Technology and data analytics expense consists primarily of the salaries, stock-based compensation, and personnel-related costs of our engineering and product employees as well as our credit and analytics employees who develop our proprietary risk model, and totaled $182.2 million, $75.8 million, and $53.2 million for the years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively.
Additionally, for the years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019, $29.0 million, $17.1 million, and $12.6 million, respectively, of salaries and personnel costs that relate to the development of internal-use software were capitalized into property, equipment and software, net on the consolidated balance sheets, and amortized into technology and data analytics expense over the useful life of the internal-use software. This amortization expense totaled $10.3 million, $5.5 million, and $2.9 million for the years ended June 30, 2021, 2020, and 2019, respectively. Additional technology and data analytics expenses include platform infrastructure and hosting costs, third-party data acquisition expenses, and expenses related to the maintenance of existing technology assets and our technology platform as a whole.
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Sales and Marketing
Sales and marketing expense consists primarily of salaries and personnel-related costs, as well as costs of general marketing and promotional activities, promotional event programs, sponsorships, and allocated overhead. In July 2020, we recognized an asset in connection with a commercial agreement with Shopify in which we granted warrants in exchange for their promotion of the Affirm platform with potential new merchant partners. This asset represents the probable future economic benefit to be realized over the four-year expected benefit period and is valued based on the fair value of the warrants at the grant date. This value is amortized on a straight-line basis over the four-year expected benefit period into sales and marketing expense, due to the nature of the expected benefit.
Additionally, in order to continue to expand our consumer base, we may originate certain loans via our wholly-owned subsidiaries with zero or below market interest rates under certain merchant arrangements that we do not expect to achieve positive revenue. In these instances, losses measured as the difference between the par value and fair market value of such loans are re