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MoneyLion (ML)
NYSE:ML
Risk Overview Q4, 2024
Risk Distribution
38% Finance & Corporate
23% Legal & Regulatory
15% Tech & Innovation
11% Ability to Sell
8% Production
5% Macro & Political
Finance & Corporate - Financial and accounting risks. Risks related to the execution of corporate activity and strategy
This chart displays the stock's most recent risk distribution according to category. TipRanks has identified 6 major categories: Finance & corporate, legal & regulatory, macro & political, production, tech & innovation, and ability to sell.
Risk Change Over Time
S&P500 Average
Sector Average
Risks removed
Risks added
Risks changed
MoneyLion Risk Factors
New Risk (0)
Risk Changed (0)
Risk Removed (0)
No changes from previous report
The chart shows the number of risks a company has disclosed. You can compare this to the sector average or S&P 500 average.
The quarters shown in the chart are according to the calendar year (January to December). Businesses set their own financial calendar, known as a fiscal year. For example, Walmart ends their financial year at the end of January to accommodate the holiday season.
The quarters shown in the chart are according to the calendar year (January to December). Businesses set their own financial calendar, known as a fiscal year. For example, Walmart ends their financial year at the end of January to accommodate the holiday season.
Risk Highlights Q4, 2024
Main Risk Category
Finance & Corporate
With 23 Risks
Finance & Corporate
With 23 Risks
Number of Disclosed Risks
61
+6
From last reportS&P 500 Average: 31
61
+6
From last reportS&P 500 Average: 31
Recent Changes
6Risks added
0Risks removed
1Risks changed
Since Dec 2024
6Risks added
0Risks removed
1Risks changed
Since Dec 2024
Number of Risk Changed
1
-1
From last reportS&P 500 Average: 3
1
-1
From last reportS&P 500 Average: 3
See the risk highlights of MoneyLion in the last period.
Risk Word Cloud
The most common phrases about risk factors from the most recent report. Larger texts indicate more widely used phrases.
Risk Factors Full Breakdown - Total Risks 61
Finance & Corporate
Total Risks: 23/61 (38%)Below Sector Average
Share Price & Shareholder Rights8 | 13.1%
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 1
Our directors and officers may have interests in the Merger different from the interests of our stockholders.Added
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 2
The market price of our securities may be volatile.Fluctuations in the price of our securities could contribute to the loss of all or part of your investment. The trading price of our securities may be volatile and subject to wide fluctuations in response to various factors, some of which are beyond our control. Any of the factors listed below could have a material adverse effect on your investment in our securities and our securities may trade at prices significantly below the price paid for them. In such circumstances, the trading price of our securities may not recover and may experience a further decline.
Factors affecting the trading price of our securities may include:
- actual or anticipated fluctuations in our financial results or the financial results of companies perceived to be similar to us;- operating results failing to meet the expectations of securities analysts or investors in a particular period and changes in the market's expectations about our operating results;- changes in financial estimates and recommendations by securities analysts concerning us or the industry in which we operate in general;- operating and stock price performance of other companies that investors deem comparable to us, including our competitors;- our ability to market new and enhanced products and services on a timely basis;- changes in laws and regulations affecting our business;- commencement of, or involvement in, litigation involving us;- changes in our capital structure, such as future issuances of securities or the incurrence of additional debt;- changes in the volume of shares of Class A Common Stock available for public sale;- any major change in our Board of Directors or management;- sales of substantial amounts of Class A Common Stock by our directors, executive officers or significant stockholders or the perception that such sales could occur;- entry into and competition of strategic transactions or acquisitions, including the Merger Agreement with Gen; and - general economic and political conditions such as recessions, interest rates, fuel prices, international currency fluctuations and acts of war or terrorism.
Broad market and industry factors may materially harm the market price of our securities irrespective of our operating performance. The stock market in general, and the NYSE specifically, have experienced extreme volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. As a result of this volatility, you may not be able to sell your securities at or above the price at which it was acquired. A loss of investor confidence in the market for the stocks of other companies which investors perceive to be similar to us could depress our stock price regardless of our business, prospects, financial conditions or results of operations. A decline in the market price of our securities also could adversely affect our ability to issue additional securities and our ability to obtain additional financing in the future.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 3
Our failure to meet the continued listing requirements of the NYSE could result in a delisting of our securities.On April 24, 2023, we effected a 1-for-30 reverse stock split of the Class A Common Stock, along with a corresponding proportionate reduction in the number of authorized shares of Class A Common Stock, in order to increase the per share market price of the Class A Common Stock to meet the minimum per share price requirement for continued listing on the NYSE. There can be no assurance that we will be able to continue to comply with the NYSE's minimum per share price requirement or other continued listing standards in the future. If we fail to satisfy the continued listing requirements of the NYSE, the NYSE may take steps to delist our securities. In the event the Class A Common Stock is delisted from the NYSE, such a delisting would likely have a negative effect on the price of our securities, including the Class A Common Stock, and would impair your ability to sell or purchase our securities when you wish to do so. In addition, in the event of a delisting, we can provide no assurance that any action taken by us to restore compliance with listing requirements would allow any of our securities to become listed again, stabilize the market price or improve the liquidity of our securities or prevent future non-compliance with the NYSE's listing requirements.
Additionally, if our securities are not listed on, or become delisted from, the NYSE for any reason, and are quoted on the OTC Bulletin Board, an inter-dealer automated quotation system for equity securities that is not a national securities exchange, the liquidity and price of our securities may be more limited than if it were quoted or listed on the NYSE or another national securities exchange. You may be unable to sell your securities unless a market can be established or sustained.
We qualify as an emerging growth company within the meaning of Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act. Because we utilize certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to emerging growth companies, this can make our securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance with other public companies. In addition, under the JOBS Act, emerging growth companies can delay adopting new or revised financial accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. We currently take advantage of this extended transition period under the JOBS Act for adopting new or revised financial accounting standards. For as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, we may also take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies, including not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. As a result, our stockholders may not have access to certain information that they may deem important.
If some investors find the Class A Common Stock less attractive as a result of us taking advantage of these exemptions, there may be a less active trading market for the Class A Common Stock and our share price may be more volatile. If an active, liquid public trading market for the Class A Common Stock does not develop or is not maintained, we may be limited in our ability to raise capital by selling shares of Class A Common Stock and our ability to acquire other companies or assets by using shares of Class A Common Stock or other MoneyLion securities as consideration. We can qualify as an emerging growth company for up to a total of five years, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if our total annual gross revenue exceeds $1.235 billion (as adjusted for inflation from time to time pursuant to SEC rules), if we issue more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during any three-year period, or if before that time we are a "large accelerated filer" under U.S. securities laws. There is no guarantee that the exemptions available to us under the JOBS Act will result in significant savings. To the extent that we choose not to use exemptions from various reporting requirements under the JOBS Act or the exemptions are no longer available to us, we will incur additional compliance costs, which may impact our financial condition.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 4
The issuance by us of additional equity securities may dilute your ownership and adversely affect the market price of the Class A Common Stock.Subject to our Fourth Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (as amended and restated from time to time, the "Certificate of Incorporation"), from time to time, we may issue additional shares of Class A Common Stock and securities convertible into shares of Class A Common Stock on the terms and conditions established by the Board of Directors in its sole discretion. Any Class A Common Stock or securities convertible into shares of Class A Common Stock that we issue, including in connection with a financing, acquisition, investment, other strategic transaction or under any equity incentive plans that we have in place or may adopt in the future, may dilute the economic and voting rights of our existing stockholders and would likely reduce the market price of the Class A Common Stock both upon issuance or, in the case of securities convertible into shares of Class A Common Stock, conversion. Debt securities convertible into equity securities could also be subject to adjustments in the conversion ratio pursuant to which certain events may increase the number of equity securities issuable upon conversion. In addition, preferred stock, if issued, would have rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of the holders of the Class A Common Stock, including preferences with respect to a liquidating distribution or with respect to dividend payments. 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 issuances.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 5
Delaware law and provisions in our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws could make a takeover proposal more difficult.Our organizational documents are governed by Delaware law. Certain provisions of Delaware law and our Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated Bylaws (as amended and restated from time to time, the "Bylaws") could discourage, delay, defer or prevent a merger, tender offer, proxy contest or other change of control transaction that a stockholder might consider in its best interest, including those attempts that might result in a premium over the market price for the shares of Class A Common Stock held by our stockholders. These provisions include the ability of the Board of Directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preference shares, which may make the removal of management more difficult and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.
These anti-takeover provisions as well as certain provisions of Delaware law could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us, even if the third party's offer may be considered beneficial by many of our stockholders. As a result, our stockholders may be limited in their ability to obtain a premium for their shares. If prospective takeovers are not consummated for any reason, we may experience negative reactions from the financial markets, including negative impacts on the price of the Class A Common Stock. 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 that such stockholders desire.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 6
Our Certificate of Incorporation designates the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders' ability to obtain what such stockholders believe to be a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees.Our Certificate of Incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (the "Court of Chancery") shall be the sole and exclusive forum for any stockholder (including a beneficial owner) to bring (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers or other employees to us or our stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim against us or our directors, officers or employees arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law or our Certificate of Incorporation or Bylaws, or (iv) any action asserting a claim against us or our directors, officers or employees governed by the internal affairs doctrine and, if brought outside of Delaware, the stockholder bringing the suit will be deemed to have consented to service of process on such stockholder's counsel, except for, as to each of (i) through (iv) above, any claim (A) as to which the Court of Chancery determines that there is an indispensable party not subject to the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery (and the indispensable party does not consent to the personal jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery within ten days following such determination), (B) which is vested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than the Court of Chancery, (C) for which the Court of Chancery does not have subject matter jurisdiction, or (D) arising under the Securities Act as to which the Court of Chancery and the federal district court for the District of Delaware shall have concurrent jurisdiction. Notwithstanding the foregoing, these provisions will not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of our securities shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to these provisions.
These choice-of-forum provisions may limit a stockholder's ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that he, she or it believes to be favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits. We note that there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce these provisions and that investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for state and federal courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder.
Alternatively, if a court were to find these provisions of our Certificate of Incorporation inapplicable or unenforceable with respect to one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and result in a diversion of the time and resources of our management and the Board of Directors.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 7
Our warrants are exercisable for Class A Common Stock, which would increase the number of shares eligible for future resale in the public market and result in dilution to our stockholders.As of December 31, 2024, there were 17,499,889 Public Warrants and 8,100,000 Private Warrants outstanding, each exercisable for 1/30th of a share of Class A Common Stock at an exercise price of $345.00 per whole share. To the extent such warrants are exercised, additional shares of Class A Common Stock will be issued, which will result in dilution to the holders of Class A Common Stock and increase the number of shares eligible for resale in the public market. Sales of substantial numbers of such shares in the public market could adversely affect the market price of the Class A Common Stock, the impact of which is increased as the value of our stock price increases.
Share Price & Shareholder Rights - Risk 8
We may redeem your unexpired warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making your warrants worthless.We have the ability to redeem outstanding Public Warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant, provided that the closing price of the Class A Common Stock equals or exceeds $540.00 per share for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date we give notice of redemption. If and when the warrants become redeemable, we may exercise the redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. Redemption of the outstanding warrants could force holders to (i) exercise the warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous to do so, (ii) sell the warrants at the then-current market price when the holder might otherwise wish to hold onto such warrants or (iii) accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding warrants are called for redemption, is likely to be substantially less than the market value of the warrants. None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us so long as they are held by their initial purchasers or their permitted transferees.
In addition, we may redeem your warrants after they become exercisable for a number of shares of Class A Common Stock determined based on the redemption date and the fair market value of the Class A Common Stock. Any such redemption may have similar consequences to a cash redemption described above. In addition, such redemption may occur at a time when the warrants are "out-of-the-money," in which case you would lose any potential embedded value from a subsequent increase in the value of the Class A Common Stock had your warrants remained outstanding.
Accounting & Financial Operations5 | 8.2%
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 1
We do not intend to pay any cash dividends on the Class A Common Stock in the foreseeable future.Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 2
If we fail to maintain an effective system of disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting, our ability to produce timely and accurate financial statements or comply with applicable regulations could be impaired.As a public company, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (as amended, the "Sarbanes-Oxley Act"), and the rules and regulations of the applicable listing standards of the NYSE. We expect that the requirements of these rules and regulations will continue to increase our legal, accounting and financial compliance costs, make some activities more difficult, time-consuming and costly and place significant strain on our personnel, systems and resources. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting. Effective internal controls are necessary to provide reliable financial reports and prevent fraud. We are continuing to develop and refine our disclosure controls and other procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we file with the SEC is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in SEC rules and forms and that information required to be disclosed in reports under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our principal executive and financial officers. In order to maintain and improve the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting, we have expended, and anticipate that we will continue to expend, significant resources, including accounting-related costs, and require significant management oversight. Our current controls and any new controls that we develop may become inadequate because of changes in conditions in our business.
Our financial statements involve a number of complex accounting policies, many of which involve significant elements of judgment, including determinations regarding the consolidation of variable interest entities, determinations regarding fair value measurements and the appropriate classification of various items within our financial statements. The inherent complexity of these accounting matters and the nature and variety of transactions in which we are involved require that we have sufficient qualified accounting personnel with an appropriate level of experience and controls in our financial reporting process commensurate with the complexity of our business. We expect that the continued growth and development of our business will place significant additional demands on our internal and external accounting resources. Any failure to develop or maintain effective controls or any difficulties encountered in their implementation or improvement could harm our results of operations or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations and may result in material weaknesses and/or one or more restatements of our financial statements.
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 an entity's annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected and corrected on a timely basis. We have in the past identified, and may in the future identify one or more, material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. For information with respect to certain previously identified material weaknesses, see Part II, Item 9A "Controls and Procedures." The measures that we have taken to date, and any measures we may take in the future, may not be sufficient to avoid potential future material weaknesses. If we identify any new material weaknesses in the future, any such newly identified material weakness could limit our ability to prevent or detect a misstatement of its accounts or disclosures that could result in a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements. In such case, we may be unable to maintain compliance with securities law requirements regarding timely filing of periodic reports in addition to applicable NYSE listing requirements, investors may lose confidence in our financial reporting and our stock price may decline as a result. In addition, ineffective disclosure controls and procedures and internal controls over financial reporting could subject us to additional risks and uncertainties, including, among others, increased professional fees and expenses and time commitment that may be required to address matters related to the remediation of the material weaknesses and the restatements and increased scrutiny of the SEC and other regulatory bodies, which could cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information and could subject us to penalties. In addition, we could face increased potential for litigation or other disputes which may include, among others, claims invoking the federal and state securities laws, contractual claims or other claims arising from, among other things, the restatements, the material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting and the preparation of our financial statements. Any such litigation or dispute, whether successful or not, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations and could cause our stock price to decline.
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal controls over financial reporting designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Our management is likewise required, on a quarterly basis, to evaluate the effectiveness of our internal controls and to disclose any changes and material weaknesses identified through such evaluation in those internal controls. Our independent registered public accounting firm is not required to formally attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting until we are no longer an "emerging growth company" as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the "JOBS Act"). At such time, our independent registered public accounting firm may issue a report that is adverse in the event it is not satisfied with the level at which our internal control over financial reporting is documented, designed or operating.
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 3
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 those set forth in Part II, Item 7 "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Key Performance Metrics" 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 limitations, and our methodologies for tracking these metrics may change over time. In addition, limitations or errors 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 misstate 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.
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 4
We are a rapidly growing company with a relatively limited operating history, which may result in increased risks, uncertainties, expenses and difficulties and makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects.We have experienced rapid growth in recent years, which has placed significant demands on our operational, risk management, technology, compliance and finance and accounting infrastructure, and has resulted in increased expenses. Our historical revenue growth should not be considered indicative of our future performance, which may make it difficult to make accurate predictions about our future performance. We have also encountered, and will continue to encounter, risks, uncertainties and difficulties frequently experienced by growing companies in rapidly changing and heavily regulated industries, including challenges associated with achieving market acceptance of our products and services, attracting and retaining customers, the evolving fraud and information security landscape and complying with extensive laws and regulations (particularly those that are subject to evolving interpretations and application), as well as increased competition and the complexities of managing expenses as we expand our business. If we are not able to timely and effectively address these risks and difficulties, as well as those described elsewhere in this "Risk Factors" section, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows may be adversely affected.
Accounting & Financial Operations - Risk 5
We have a history of losses and may not achieve or maintain profitability in the future.Although we generated net income of $9.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, we generated a net loss of $45.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. As of December 31, 2024, we had a total accumulated deficit of $693.6 million. We may continue to incur net losses in the future, and such losses may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter. We will need to generate and sustain significant revenues for our business and generate greater operating cash flows in future periods in order to achieve profitability, which, even if achieved, we may be unable to maintain due to a number of reasons, including the risks described herein, unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications and delays and other unknown events. Our efforts to grow our business may be more costly than we expect, and we may not be able to increase our revenue sufficiently to offset our higher operating expenses. We intend to continue to invest in sales and marketing, technology and new products and services in order to enhance our brand recognition and our value proposition to our customers, and these additional costs will create further challenges to generating near-term profitability. In addition, general and administrative expenses may in the future increase to meet the increased compliance and other requirements associated with evolving regulatory requirements or other factors.
Debt & Financing5 | 8.2%
Debt & Financing - Risk 1
Borrowers in our Consumer business may prepay a loan at any time without penalty, which could reduce our revenue and harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.Debt & Financing - Risk 2
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, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.To support the origination of loans, cash advances and other receivables on our platform and the growth of our business, we must maintain a variety of funding arrangements. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to extend or replace our existing funding arrangements at maturity on reasonable terms or at all. For example, disruptions in the credit markets or other factors, such as the high inflation and interest rate environment in 2023 and to date in 2024, could adversely affect the availability, diversity, cost and terms of our funding arrangements. In addition, our funding sources may reassess their exposure to our industry or our business, including as a result of any significant underperformance of the consumer receivables facilitated through our platform or regulatory developments, in particular regarding earned wage access products, that impose significant requirements on, or increase potential risks and liabilities related to, the consumer receivables facilitated through our platform, and fail to renew or extend facilities or impose higher costs to access our funding. If our existing funding arrangements are not renewed or replaced or our existing funding sources are unwilling or unable to provide funding on terms acceptable to us, or at all, we would need to secure additional sources of funding or reduce our operations significantly, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Further, as the volume of consumer receivables facilitated through our platform increases and in order to support future business growth, we may require the expansion of our funding capacity under our existing funding arrangements or the addition of new sources of capital. We may also change our funding strategy over time depending on the attractiveness and availability of alternative funding structures. For example, we entered into a new forward flow purchase agreement on June 30, 2024, to finance the origination of Instacash advances, as described further under Part II, Item 8 "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data - Sale of Consumer Receivables." The availability and diversity of new funding arrangements depends on various factors and are subject to numerous risks, many of which are outside of our control. 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 or a reduction in the term or size of funding instruments. 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 or otherwise inhibit our business growth, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
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 and restrictions limit our and our subsidiaries' ability to, among other things: incur additional indebtedness; 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; purchase or otherwise acquire assets or equity interests; modify organizational documents; enter into certain transactions with their affiliates; enter into restrictive agreements; engage in other business activities; and make investments. Our Credit Agreement that we entered into on November 25, 2024, with Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company (the "SVB Credit Agreement"), also contains certain financial covenants with respect to minimum consolidated fixed charge coverage and maximum consolidated total leverage (each as defined therein).
Debt & Financing - Risk 3
We may be unsuccessful in managing the effects of changes in the cost of capital on our business.We have in the past and will continue to evaluate and consider opportunities to access the capital markets to obtain capital to develop new technologies, expand our business, respond to competitive pressures or pursue strategic transactions, as well as for general corporate purposes. We may try to raise additional funds through public or private financings, strategic relationships or other arrangements. However, our future access to the capital markets and ability to obtain debt or equity funding on terms that are satisfactory to us, if at all, could be restricted due to a variety of factors, including a deterioration of our earnings, cash flows, balance sheet quality, our credit rating, investor interest or overall business or industry prospects, our share price, interest rates, 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. In particular, the market price of the Class A Common Stock has been and may continue to be volatile, and any limitation on market liquidity or reduction in the share price could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise capital on terms acceptable to us, or 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.
If we succeed in raising additional funds through the issuance of equity or equity-linked securities, then existing stockholders could experience substantial dilution. If we raise additional funds through the issuance of debt securities or preferred stock, these new securities would have rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of the holders of the Class A Common Stock. In addition, any such issuance could subject us to restrictive covenants relating to our capital raising activities and other financial and operational matters, which may make it more difficult for us to obtain additional capital and to pursue business opportunities, including potential acquisitions. Further, to the extent we incur additional indebtedness or such other obligations, the risks associated with our existing debt, including our possible inability to service our existing debt, would increase.
Debt & Financing - Risk 4
Adverse developments affecting financial institutions or the financial services industry generally, such as actual events or concerns involving liquidity, defaults or non-performance, could adversely affect our operations and liquidity.Actual events involving limited liquidity, defaults, non-performance or other adverse developments that affect financial institutions for the financial services industry generally, or concerns or rumors about any events of these kinds, have in the past and may in the future lead to market-wide liquidity problems. For example, on March 10, 2023, SVB was closed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, which appointed the FDIC as receiver. Despite subsequent actions taken by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Federal Reserve and the FDIC to ensure that all depositors of SVB had access to all of their cash deposits following the closure of SVB, uncertainty and liquidity concerns in the broader financial services industry remained. There is no guarantee that the U.S. Department of Treasury, the U.S. Federal Reserve and the FDIC will provide access to uninsured funds in the future in the event of the closure of other banks or financial institutions in a timely fashion or at all. The failure of banks and financial institutions and the measures taken by governments, businesses and other organizations in response to these events could adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We regularly maintain cash balances at third-party financial institutions in excess of the FDIC insurance limit. Our access to our cash and cash equivalents in amounts adequate to finance our operations could be significantly impaired by the financial institutions with which we maintain cash balances to the extent such financial institutions face liquidity constraints or failures, particularly if we hold a large concentration of cash and cash equivalents in any single financial institution.
In addition, investor concerns regarding the U.S. or international financial systems could result in less favorable commercial financing terms, including higher interest rates or costs and tighter financial and operating covenants, or systemic limitations on access to credit and liquidity sources, thereby making it more difficult for us to acquire financing on acceptable terms or at all. Any material decline in available funding or our ability to access our cash and cash equivalents could adversely impact our ability to meet our operating expenses, result in breaches of our contractual obligations or result in significant disruptions to our business, any of which could have material adverse impacts on our operations and liquidity.
Debt & Financing - Risk 5
If loans made by our lending subsidiaries in our Consumer business are found to violate applicable federal or state interest rate limits or other provisions of applicable consumer lending, consumer protection or other laws, it could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.In our Consumer business, we have 37 subsidiaries through which we conduct our consumer lending business. These entities originate loans pursuant to state licenses or applicable exemptions under state law. The loans we originate are subject to state licensing or exemption requirements and federal and state interest rate restrictions, as well as numerous federal and state requirements regarding consumer protection, interest rate, disclosure, prohibitions on certain activities and loan term lengths. If the loans we originate were deemed subject to and in violation of certain federal or state consumer finance or other laws, including the Military Lending Act, 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, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. For a discussion of the ongoing civil action initiated by the CFPB alleging certain violations of the Military Lending Act and the Consumer Financial Protection Act, see Part I, Item 3 "Legal Proceedings."
Corporate Activity and Growth5 | 8.2%
Corporate Activity and Growth - Risk 1
Our risk management processes and procedures may not be effective.Corporate Activity and Growth - Risk 2
The Merger Agreement contains provisions that limit our ability to pursue alternatives to the Merger and could discourage a potential competing transaction counterparty from making a favorable alternative transaction proposal to us.Added
The Merger Agreement contains provisions that make it more difficult for us to be acquired by, or enter into certain combination transactions with, a third party. The Merger Agreement contains certain provisions that restrict our ability to, among other things, solicit, initiate, propose, knowingly induce the making, submission of announcement of, or knowingly encourage, facilitate or assist, any inquiry, proposal, indication of interest or offer that constitutes or would reasonably be expected to lead to an alternative acquisition proposal. In addition, following our receipt of any alternative transaction proposal that constitutes a Superior Proposal (as defined in the Merger Agreement), Gen would have an opportunity to offer to modify the terms of the Merger Agreement before our board may qualify or modify in a manner adverse to Gen its recommendation with respect to the Merger and before we may terminate the Merger Agreement. If, among other circumstances, the Merger Agreement is terminated by us to enter into a Superior Proposal or by Gen if our board withholds, withdraws, amends or fails to make when required, or qualifies or modifies in a manner adverse to Gen, its recommendation with respect to the Merger or takes certain similar actions, we would be required to pay a termination fee of approximately $41 million to Gen, as contemplated by the Merger Agreement. As of January 24, 2025, the "go-shop" period expired as we did not receive a Superior Proposal. These provisions could discourage a potential third-party acquiror or merger partner that might have an interest in acquiring or combining with all or a significant portion of us or pursuing an alternative transaction from considering or proposing such a transaction.
Corporate Activity and Growth - Risk 3
The pendency of the proposed Merger with Gen may cause disruption in our business.Added
The Merger Agreement related to the proposed Merger with Gen restricts us from taking specified actions without Gen's consent until the Merger is completed or the Merger Agreement is terminated, including making certain acquisitions or investments, incurring certain indebtedness, making certain capital expenditures in excess of a specified threshold, amending or modifying certain material contracts, divesting certain assets (including certain intellectual property rights), and making certain changes to personnel and employee compensation. These restrictions and others more fully described in the Merger Agreement may affect our ability to execute our business strategies and attain our financial and other goals and may impact our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
The pendency of the proposed Merger could cause disruptions to our business or business relationships, which could have an adverse impact on our results of operations. Parties with which we have business relationships, including distributors, advertisers and content providers, may be uncertain as to the future of such relationships and may delay or defer certain business decisions, seek alternative relationships with third parties or seek to alter their present business relationships with us. Parties with whom we otherwise may have sought to establish business relationships may seek alternative relationships with third parties. During this period, we may also face challenges in accessing debt or equity markets on favorable terms, or at all, including due to restrictions on our ability to incur debt contained in the Merger Agreement.
The pursuit of the Merger may place a significant burden on our management and internal resources. The diversion of management's attention away from day-to-day business concerns and any difficulties encountered in the transition and integration process could adversely affect our financial results.
We have incurred and will continue to incur significant costs, expenses and fees for professional services and other transaction costs in connection with the Merger. The substantial majority of these costs will be nonrecurring expenses relating to the Merger, and many of these costs are payable regardless of whether or not the Merger is consummated. We may also become subject to litigation related to the proposed Merger, which could prevent or delay the consummation of the Merger and result in significant costs and expenses.
Corporate Activity and Growth - Risk 4
Failure to complete the Merger in a timely manner or at all could negatively impact the market price of our common stock, as well as our future business and our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.Added
We currently anticipate the Merger will be completed in the first half of Gen's fiscal year 2026 (April 1 through September 30, 2025), but the Merger cannot be completed until conditions to closing are satisfied or (if permissible under applicable law) waived. The Merger is subject to numerous closing conditions, including approval by the Company's stockholders and receipt of certain regulatory approvals from governmental authorities. In addition, either we or Gen may terminate the Merger Agreement under certain circumstances, including if the Merger is not completed by the end date determined pursuant to the Merger Agreement. Governmental authorities may not approve the Merger, may impose conditions to the approval of the Merger, or may require changes to the terms of the Merger. Any such conditions or changes could have the effect of delaying or preventing completion of the Merger, imposing costs on or limiting the revenues of the combined company following the Merger, or otherwise reducing the anticipated benefits of the Merger. We can provide no assurance that these conditions, terms, obligations or restrictions will not result in the abandonment of the Merger. The satisfaction of the required closing conditions could delay the completion of the Merger for a significant period of time or prevent it from occurring. Further, there can be no assurance that the conditions to the closing of the Merger will be satisfied or waived or that the Merger will be completed.
If the Merger is not completed in a timely manner or at all, our ongoing business may be adversely affected as follows:
- we may experience negative reactions from the financial markets, and our stock price could decline to the extent that the current market price reflects an assumption that the Merger will be completed;- we may experience negative reactions from employees, customers, suppliers or other third parties;- we may be subject to litigation, which could result in significant costs and expenses;- management's focus may have been diverted from day-to-day business operations and pursuing other opportunities that could have been beneficial to the Company; and - our costs of pursuing the Merger may be higher than anticipated.
In addition to the above risks, we may be required, under certain circumstances, to pay Gen a termination fee equal to approximately $41 million and/or to reimburse or indemnify Gen for certain of its expenses. If the Merger is not consummated, there can be no assurance that these risks will not materialize and will not materially adversely affect our stock price, business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.
Corporate Activity and Growth - Risk 5
Any acquisitions, strategic investments, entries into new businesses, joint ventures, divestitures and other transactions could fail to achieve strategic objectives, disrupt our ongoing operations or result in operating difficulties, liabilities and expenses, harm our business and negatively impact our results of operations.We have evaluated and considered, and will continue to evaluate and consider, acquisitions, strategic investments, entries into new businesses, joint ventures, divestitures and other transactions. These transactions, including the currently proposed Merger with Gen, could be material to our financial condition and results of operations if consummated and will involve known and unknown risks, including:
- difficulties in integrating the operations, personnel, systems, data, technologies, products and services of the acquired business and in maintaining uniform standards, controls, procedures and policies within the combined organization;- inability of the acquired technologies, products or businesses to achieve expected levels of revenue, profitability, productivity or other benefits, or failure to successfully incorporate or further develop acquired technologies;- diversion of management's time and resources from our normal daily operations and potential disruptions to our ongoing businesses;- difficulties in retaining relationships with customers, employees, suppliers and other third-party partners of the acquired business;- risks of entering markets in which we have no or limited direct prior experience;- regulatory risks, including remaining in good standing with existing regulatory bodies or receiving any necessary approvals, as well as being subject to new regulators with oversight over an acquired business;- assumption of contractual obligations that contain terms that are not beneficial to us, require us to license or waive intellectual property rights or increase our risk for liability;- liability or other ongoing obligations for activities of the acquired or disposed of business before the acquisition or disposition, including patent and trademark infringement claims, violations of laws, regulatory actions, commercial disputes, tax liabilities and other known and unknown liabilities; and - unexpected costs and unknown risks and liabilities associated with strategic transactions.
We may not be able to identify appropriate business opportunities that benefit our business strategy or otherwise satisfy our criteria to undertake such opportunities. Even if we do identify potential strategic transactions, we may not be successful in negotiating favorable terms in a timely manner or at all or in consummating the transaction, and even if we do consummate such a transaction, it may not generate sufficient revenue to offset the associated costs, may not otherwise result in the intended benefits or may result in unexpected difficulties and risks. In particular, any future acquisition of new businesses or technology may not lead to the successful development of new or enhanced products and services, and any new or enhanced products and services, if developed, may not achieve market acceptance or prove to be profitable. It may also take us longer than expected to fully realize the anticipated benefits and synergies of these transactions, and those benefits and synergies may ultimately be smaller than anticipated or may not be realized at all, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, any future strategic transactions may also require us to issue additional equity securities, spend our cash or incur debt (and increase interest expense), liabilities and amortization expenses related to intangible assets or write-offs of goodwill, which could adversely affect our results of operations and dilute the economic and voting rights of our stockholders.
Legal & Regulatory
Total Risks: 14/61 (23%)Above Sector Average
Regulation8 | 13.1%
Regulation - Risk 1
The highly regulated environment in which our third-party financial institution partners operate may subject us to regulation and could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.Regulation - Risk 2
The regulatory regime governing blockchain technologies and digital assets is uncertain, and new laws, regulations or policies may alter our business practices with respect to digital assets.We currently offer certain digital assets-related products and services available to our customers through Zero Hash. The Zero Hash entities are registered as money services businesses and have the necessary state-level licenses for engaging in digital assets activities where the Zero Hash services are offered. Although many regulators have provided some guidance, regulation of digital assets based on or incorporating blockchain technologies, such as digital assets and digital asset exchanges, remains uncertain and will continue to evolve. Further, regulation varies significantly among international, federal, state and local jurisdictions. As blockchain networks and blockchain assets have grown in popularity and in market size, federal and state agencies are increasingly taking interest in, and in certain cases regulating, their use and operation. Treatment of virtual currencies continues to evolve under federal and state law. Many U.S. regulators, including the SEC, the FinCEN, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the "CFTC"), the Internal Revenue Service (the "IRS") and state regulators including the New York State Department of Financial Services (the "NYSDFS"), have made official pronouncements, pursued cases against businesses in the digital assets space or issued guidance or rules regarding the treatment of Bitcoin and other digital currencies. The IRS released guidance treating digital assets as property that is not currency for U.S. federal income tax purposes, although there is no indication yet whether other courts or federal or state regulators will follow this classification. Both federal and state agencies have instituted enforcement actions against those violating their interpretation of existing laws. Other U.S. and many state agencies have offered little official guidance and issued no definitive rules regarding the treatment of digital assets. The CFTC has publicly taken the position that certain virtual currencies, which term includes digital assets, are commodities. To the extent that certain virtual currencies are deemed to fall within the definition of a "commodity interest" under the Commodity Exchange Act (the "CEA"), or if proposed legislation passes which grants the CFTC jurisdiction over spot digital asset trading beyond its current limited power to bring actions for fraud and manipulation, we may be subject to additional regulation under the CEA and CFTC regulations.
Foreign, federal, state and local regulators revisit and update their laws and policies on blockchain technologies and digital assets and can be expected to continue to do so in the future. Changes in this regulatory environment, including changing interpretations and the implementation of new or varying regulatory requirements by federal or state government agencies, or any new legislation, may impose significant costs or restrictions on our ability to conduct business, significantly affect or change the manner in which we currently conduct some aspects of our business or impact our business in unforeseeable ways. Regulatory or enforcement action in this area have been common. The test for determining whether a particular digital asset is a "security" is complex and difficult to apply, and the outcome is difficult to predict. Public, though non-binding, statements by senior officials at the SEC have indicated that the SEC did not consider Bitcoin or Ethereum to be securities in 2018, and does not currently consider Bitcoin to be a security. The SEC staff has also provided informal assurances to a handful of promoters that their digital assets are not securities. In addition, in 2024, the SEC approved certain spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs for listing and trading while noting that their approval was not signaling anything about the SEC's views as to the status of digital assets under federal securities laws. On the other hand, the SEC has brought enforcement actions against the issuers and promoters of several other digital assets on the basis that the digital assets in question are securities. As we facilitate our customers' purchase and sale of digital assets, if the SEC alleges that any digital assets we offer are securities, we could be viewed as operating as an unregistered broker-dealer and could face potential liability, including an enforcement action or private class action lawsuits, and face the costs of defending ourselves in the action, including potential fines, penalties, reputation harm and potential loss of revenue. Our personnel could also become disqualified from associating with a broker-dealer, which could adversely affect our business. See Part I, Item 1 "Business- Our Platform - Consumer - Our Financial Products and Services - MoneyLion Crypto."
Regulation - Risk 3
States may require that we obtain licenses that apply to blockchain technologies and digital assets.Under the terms of our agreement with Zero Hash, we are not directly involved in any digital asset transactions or the exchange of fiat funds for digital asset at or through Zero Hash, and therefore, we do not currently expect to be subject to money services business, money transmitter licensing or other licensing or regulatory requirements specific to transactions relating to virtual currencies. However, state and federal regulatory frameworks around virtual currencies continue to evolve and are subject to interpretation and change, which may subject us to additional licensing and other requirements. The Zero Hash entities are registered as money services businesses with FinCEN and hold active money transmitter licenses (or the state equivalent of such licenses) in all U.S. states and the District of Columbia except for (i) California and Hawaii, where Zero Hash relies upon licensing exemptions; and (ii) Montana, which does not currently have a money transmitter licensing requirement. The Zero Hash entities currently engage in digital asset activities in all U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
As we are not directly involved in the custody, trading or pricing of any digital assets and instead enable Zero Hash to offer its digital asset services to MoneyLion Crypto customers, we do not maintain insurance policies covering the digital assets in which MoneyLion Crypto customers transact. In addition, while our agreement with Zero Hash requires Zero Hash to indemnify us for, among other things, all liabilities, losses, expenses and costs arising out of, in connection with or relating to (a) Zero Hash's failure to perform or comply with the provisions of the agreement, (b) Zero Hash's digital asset business and their provision of digital asset transaction services, (c) any claims or disputes between Zero Hash and a customer with respect to the purchase and sale of digital asset and (d) any failure by Zero Hash to comply with, or perform any action required by, applicable laws, rules and regulations, it does not require Zero Hash to indemnify us or MoneyLion Crypto customers for any risk of loss related to customers' underlying digital assets, nor does it require Zero Hash to maintain an insurance policy with respect to the digital assets of MoneyLion Crypto customers custodied with Zero Hash. Zero Hash's wallet technology provider, Fireblocks Inc. ("Fireblocks"), is SOC 2 Type II certified by Ernst & Young and undergoes a SOC 2 Type II review on an annual basis, as well as regular penetration testing by third-party firms to evaluate the Fireblocks security architecture. Fireblocks also maintains an insurance policy which has coverage for technology, cyberattacks and professional liability and is rated "A" by A.M. Best based on the strength of the policy. However, Zero Hash does not maintain separate insurance coverage for any risk of loss with respect to the digital assets that they custody on behalf of customers. As a result, customers who purchase digital assets through MoneyLion Crypto may suffer losses with respect to their digital assets that are not covered by insurance and for which no person is liable for damages and may have limited rights of legal recourse in the event of such loss. For additional information regarding our arrangement with Zero Hash, see Part I, Item 1 "Business - Our Business Model - Third-Party Providers - Zero Hash."
In the case of virtual currencies, state regulators such as the NYSDFS have created regulatory frameworks. For example, in July 2014, the NYSDFS proposed the first U.S. regulatory framework for licensing participants in digital asset business activity. The regulations, known as the "BitLicense" (23 NYCRR Part 200), are intended to focus on consumer protection. The NYSDFS issued its final BitLicense regulatory framework in June 2015. The BitLicense regulates the conduct of businesses that are involved in virtual currencies in New York or with New York consumers and prohibits any person or entity involved in such activity from conducting such activities without a license. Zero Hash LLC has received a BitLicense and is approved to conduct digital asset business activity in New York by the NYSDFS.
Other states may adopt similar statutes and regulations which will require us or our partners to obtain a license to conduct digital asset activities. Effective August 1, 2020, Louisiana adopted the Virtual Currency Business Act, which requires an operator of a virtual currency business to obtain a virtual currency license to conduct business in Louisiana, and the Louisiana Office of Financial Institutions issued related guidance in December 2021. In 2023, California adopted the Digital Financial Assets Law, under which, effective July 1, 2026, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation is expected to adopt a regulatory framework for licensing companies that seek to engage in digital financial asset business activity. Other states, such as Texas, have published guidance on how their existing regulatory regimes governing money transmitters apply to virtual currencies. Some states, such as Alabama, North Carolina and Washington, have amended their state's statutes to include virtual currencies in existing licensing regimes, while others have interpreted their existing statutes as requiring a money transmitter license to conduct certain digital asset business activities.
It is likely that, as blockchain technologies and the use of virtual currencies continues to grow, additional states will take steps to monitor the developing industry and may require us or our regulated partners to obtain additional licenses in connection with our digital asset activity.
Regulation - Risk 4
We incur significant costs and are subject to additional regulations and requirements as a result of being a public company, and our management is required to devote substantial time to various compliance matters, which could lower profits and make it more difficult to run our business.As a publicly traded company, we incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses, 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 NYSE and various other costs of a public company. These expenses will increase once we are no longer an "emerging growth company" as defined under the JOBS Act. 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 the Board of Directors and its committees and to serve as executive officers.
In addition, new and changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure for public companies, including the Dodd-Frank Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, regulations related thereto and the rules and regulations of the SEC and NYSE, have increased the costs and the time that must be devoted to compliance matters. We expect these rules and regulations will increase our legal and financial costs and lead to a diversion of management time and attention from revenue-generating activities.
Regulation - Risk 5
Failure to comply with government laws and requirements regarding anti-money laundering, counter-terror financing, economic sanctions, anti-bribery and anti-corruption could subject us to penalties and other adverse consequences.We maintain an enterprise-wide compliance program designed to enable us to comply with all applicable anti-money laundering, anti-terrorism financing and economic sanctions laws and regulations, including the BSA, as amended by the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, and its implementing regulations. This compliance program includes policies, procedures, processes and other internal controls designed to identify, monitor, manage and mitigate the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing and prevent our platform from being used to facilitate business in countries or with persons or entities that are the subject of sanctions administered by OFAC and equivalent international authorities or that are otherwise the target of sanctions. These controls include procedures and processes to detect and report potentially suspicious transactions, perform customer due diligence, respond to requests from law enforcement and meet all recordkeeping and reporting requirements related to particular transactions involving currency or monetary instruments. Certain of our subsidiaries may be "financial institutions" under the BSA that are required to establish and maintain a BSA/AML compliance program. Additionally, we are required to maintain a BSA/AML compliance program under our agreements with our third-party partners, and certain state regulatory agencies have intimated they expect such program to be in place and followed.
We cannot provide any assurance that our compliance programs and controls will be effective to ensure compliance with all applicable anti-money laundering, anti-terrorism financing and economic sanctions laws and 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 third-party partners, criticism, fines or other penalties by governmental agencies or any other adverse consequences, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We are also subject to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, U.S. domestic bribery laws and other U.S. and foreign anti-corruption laws. Anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws have been enforced aggressively in recent years and are interpreted broadly to generally prohibit companies, their employees and their third-party intermediaries from authorizing, offering, or providing, directly or indirectly, improper payments or benefits to recipients in the public sector. These laws also require that we keep accurate books and records and maintain internal controls and compliance procedures designed to prevent any such actions. The failure to comply with any such laws could subject us to criminal or civil liability, cause us significant reputational harm and have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Regulation - Risk 6
Our business is subject to extensive regulation, examination and oversight in a variety of areas, including registration and licensing requirements under federal, state and local laws and regulations.We are subject to extensive regulation, supervision and examination under U.S. federal and state laws and regulations. Regulators have broad discretion with respect to the interpretation, implementation and enforcement of these laws and regulations. Any failure or perceived failure to comply with any of these laws or regulations could subject us to lawsuits or governmental actions and/or damage our reputation, which could materially and adversely affect our business. In addition, to the extent that we undertake actions requiring regulatory approval or non-objection, regulators may make their approval or non-objection subject to conditions or restrictions that could have a material adverse effect on our business. Moreover, any competitors subject to different, or in some cases less restrictive, legislative or regulatory regimes may have or obtain a competitive advantage over us.
We must comply with various federal consumer protection regimes, both as a result of the financial products and services we provide directly or facilitate and as a service provider to our bank partner, Pathward. For example, we are subject to the regulatory and enforcement authority of the CFPB, which oversees compliance with federal consumer financial protection laws. If the CFPB were to expand its supervisory authority by promulgating new regulations or reinterpreting existing regulations, 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.
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. 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. Our failure to comply with state licensing or other regulatory requirements as may be in effect from time to time could have a material adverse effect on us and our ability to conduct our business. For example, any failure to obtain and maintain required state licenses for the brokerage of financial, insurance and other related products, including product-specific licenses relating to lending, life insurance and mortgage products, could have a material adverse effect on our Enterprise business. Furthermore, if we expand the scope of our products or services or we operate in new markets, we may be required to obtain additional licenses and otherwise maintain compliance with additional laws, regulations or licensing requirements.
In addition, our wholly-owned subsidiary, ML Wealth, is registered as an investment adviser under the Advisers Act and is subject to regulation by the SEC. The Advisers Act, together with related regulations and interpretations of the SEC, impose numerous obligations and restrictions on investment advisers, including requirements relating to the safekeeping of client funds and securities, limitations on advertising, disclosure and reporting obligations, prohibitions on fraudulent activities, restrictions on agency cross and principal transactions between an adviser and its advisory clients and other detailed operating requirements, as well as general fiduciary obligations. Moreover, although we do not currently engage in any business activity through our wholly-owned subsidiary, MoneyLion Securities LLC, as a broker-dealer, it is registered with the SEC and a member of FINRA. Although it has not commenced business, as a registered broker-dealer, MoneyLion Securities LLC is subject to periodic examinations and investigations by FINRA. Further, broker-dealers are subject to regulations that cover all applicable aspects of their business, which include sales practices, anti-money laundering, handling of material non-public information, safeguarding data, recordkeeping, reporting and the conduct and qualifications of directors, officers, employees, representatives and other associated persons.
We expect to continue to launch, broker and/or otherwise facilitate new products and services in the coming years, which may subject us to additional legal and regulatory requirements under federal, state and local laws and regulations, but which we expect to be similar to the legal and regulatory regimes to which we are already subject.
U.S. federal regulators, state attorneys general or other state enforcement authorities and other governmental agencies may take formal or informal actions against us (or our employees, representatives, agents and third-party service providers). Such formal or informal actions might result in cease and desist orders, fines, civil penalties, criminal penalties or other disciplinary action or force us to adopt new compliance programs or policies, remove personnel including senior executives, provide remediation or refunds to customers, or undertake other changes to our business operations, such as limits or prohibitions of our ability to offer certain products and services, or suspension or revocation of one or more of our licenses. Any weaknesses in our compliance management system may also subject us to penalties or enforcement action by the CFPB.
If we fail to manage our legal and regulatory risk in the jurisdictions in which we operate, our business could suffer, our reputation could be harmed and we would be subject to additional legal and regulatory risks. This could, in turn, increase the size and number of claims and damages asserted against us and/or subject us to regulatory investigations, enforcement actions or other proceedings, or lead to increased regulatory concerns. We may also be required to spend additional time and resources on remedial measures and conducting inquiries, beyond those already initiated and ongoing, which could have an adverse effect on our business.
While we have implemented policies and procedures designed to help our compliance with applicable laws and regulations, there are a number of risks that cannot be completely controlled. 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. For a discussion of specific legal and regulatory proceedings, inquiries and investigations to which we are currently subject, see Part I, Item 3 "Legal Proceedings."
Regulation - Risk 7
The legal and regulatory regimes governing certain of our products and services are uncertain and evolving. Changing or new laws, regulations, interpretations or regulatory enforcement priorities may have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.We are required to comply with constantly changing federal, state and local laws, regulations and rules that regulate various aspects of the products and services that we offer. Federal and state regulators of consumer financial products and services are also enforcing existing laws, regulations and rules more aggressively and enhancing their supervisory expectations regarding the management of legal and regulatory compliance risks. Such laws, regulations and rules are complex and require us to incur significant expenses and devote significant management attention to ensure compliance. For example, the CFPB may adopt new model disclosures and regulations governing consumer financial services, including regulations defining unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices, and they could also issue advisory opinions or other similar soft tools to complement its rulemaking authority which could subject us to new or differing legal and regulatory requirements, which could materially and adversely affect our business. The CFPB's authority to change or interpret regulations adopted in the past by other regulators, or to rescind or alter past regulatory guidance, could increase our compliance costs and litigation exposure. If the CFPB or other similar regulatory bodies adopt, or customer advocacy groups are able to generate widespread support for, positions that are detrimental to our business, then our business, financial condition and results of operations could be harmed.
Changes in the laws, regulations and enforcement priorities applicable to our business, including reexamination of current enforcement practices, could have a material and adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. We may not be able to respond quickly or effectively to regulatory, legislative and other developments. In particular, the regulatory landscape regarding earned wage access products (including our Instacash product) is uncertain and evolving given rapid growth in the use of earned wage access products in recent years. State and federal regulators, may in the future launch inquiries, reviews or similar investigations or issue new, or change or interpret, regulations or rules relating to earned wage access products, which could result in additional compliance requirements and other risks relating to our current and past business activities as described herein. For instance, on July 18, 2024, the CFPB issued a proposed interpretive rule, which, if finalized in its proposed form, would characterize certain earned wage access products as consumer loans subject to the Truth in Lending Act. It is possible that we could incur additional operational costs relating to our Instacash product and that other risks described herein could be heightened if the interpretive rule becomes final. State and federal regulators could also launch inquiries, reviews or similar investigations into our Instacash product.
Proposals to change the statutes affecting financial services companies are frequently introduced in Congress and state legislatures that, if enacted, could affect our operating environment in substantial and unpredictable ways. We cannot determine with any degree of certainty whether any such legislative or regulatory proposals will be enacted and, if enacted, the ultimate impact that any such potential legislation or implemented regulations, or any such potential regulatory actions by federal or state regulators, would have upon our business or our operating environment. As a result, we could be forced, as we have in the past, to temporarily pause, limit or permanently cease to offer our earned wage access product in certain states depending on state regulatory regimes. In addition, numerous federal and state regulators have the authority to promulgate or change regulations that could have a similar effect on our third-party partners and service providers and restrict their business practices, such as the recent rulemaking under the TCPA by the Federal Communications Commission to require one-to-one consumer consents for telemarketing. These changes and uncertainties make our business planning more difficult and could result in changes to our business model, impair our ability to offer our existing or planned features, products and services or increase our cost of doing business.
Our failure to comply (or to ensure that our third-party partners, service providers or other agents comply) with these changing laws, regulations or rules may result in litigation, enforcement actions and penalties, including revocation of licenses and registrations; fines and other monetary penalties; civil and criminal liability; substantially reduced payments by our customers; modification of the original terms of loans and other products, permanent forgiveness of debt or inability to collect on amounts owed by our borrowers; and indemnification claims. Such consequences could, among other things, require changes to our business practices and scope of operations or harm our reputation, which in turn, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. 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, litigation or criminal or civil sanctions, all of which may have an adverse effect on our reputation, business, results of operations and financial condition.
New laws, regulations, rules, guidance and policies could require us to incur significant expenses to ensure compliance, adversely impact our profitability, limit our ability to continue existing or pursue new business activities, require us to change certain of our business practices or alter our relationships with customers, affect retention of key personnel or expose us to additional costs (including increased compliance costs and/or customer remediation). These changes also may require us to invest significant resources or devote significant management attention in order to make any necessary changes. For example, the regulatory frameworks for an open banking paradigm and AI and machine learning technology are evolving and remain uncertain. It is possible that new laws and regulations will be adopted in the U.S., or existing laws and regulations may be interpreted in new ways, that would affect the operation of our platform and the way in which we use consumer data, AI and machine learning technology, including with respect to fair lending laws. For additional information regarding risks related to the use of AI, see "- Risks Relating to Regulation - We utilize AI, which could expose us to liability or adversely affect our business."
Regulation - Risk 8
If we fail to operate in compliance with state or local licensing requirements, it could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.Certain states and localities have adopted laws regulating and requiring licensing, registration, notice filing or other approval by parties that engage in certain activity regarding consumer lending (including debt collection or servicing and/or purchasing or selling loans), life insurance and mortgage transactions, as well as brokering, facilitating and assisting such transactions in certain circumstances, and we currently hold certain state or local licenses. 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 finance 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, as the regulatory landscape regarding earned wage access products develops, as well as increased licensing requirements and regulation of parties engaged in loan solicitation activities. 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. In addition, certain products and offers we offer, including loans facilitated through our platform, could be rendered void or unenforceable in whole or in part, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
We may not be able to maintain all currently required licenses and permits. If we change or expand our business activities, we may be required to obtain additional licenses before we can engage in those activities. If we apply for a new license, a regulator may determine that we were required to do so at an earlier point in time, and as a result, may impose penalties or refuse to issue the license, which could require us to modify or limit our activities in the relevant state. In addition, the states that currently do not provide extensive regulation of our business may later choose to do so, and if such states so act, we may not be able to obtain or maintain all requisite licenses and permits, which could require us to modify or limit our activities in the relevant state or states. The failure to satisfy those and other regulatory requirements could materially and adversely impact our business.
Litigation & Legal Liabilities2 | 3.3%
Litigation & Legal Liabilities - Risk 1
We have in the past, and continue to be, subject to inquiries, subpoenas, exams, pending investigations, enforcement matters and litigation by state and federal regulators, the outcomes of which are uncertain and could cause reputational and financial harm to our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.Litigation & Legal Liabilities - Risk 2
Unfavorable outcomes in legal proceedings may harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.We are, and may in the future become, subject to litigation, claims, examinations, investigations, legal and administrative cases and proceedings, whether civil or criminal, or lawsuits by governmental agencies or private parties, which may affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. These claims, lawsuits and proceedings could involve labor and employment, discrimination and harassment, commercial disputes, intellectual property rights (including patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret and other proprietary rights), class actions, general contract, tort, defamation, data privacy rights, antitrust, common law fraud, government regulation, compliance, alleged federal and state securities and "blue sky" law violations or other investor claims and other matters. For a discussion of specific legal proceedings to which we are currently subject, see Part I, Item 3 "Legal Proceedings." Due to the consumer-oriented nature of a significant portion of our business and the application of certain laws and regulations, participants in our industry are regularly named as defendants in litigation alleging violations of federal and state laws and regulations and consumer law torts, including fraud. Many of these legal proceedings involve alleged violations of consumer protection laws. In addition, we have in the past and may in the future be subject to litigation, claims, examinations, investigations, legal and administrative cases and proceedings related to our loan products and other financial services we provide. For instance, our membership model and some of the products and services we offer, including our earned wage access product, Instacash, are relatively novel and have been and may in the future continue to be subject to regulatory scrutiny or interest and/or litigation. While we continue to respond to and cooperate with state regulators and will continue to do so in the future, as appropriate, any regulatory action in the future could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. For additional information, see "- Risks Relating to Regulation - The legal and regulatory regimes governing certain of our products and services are uncertain and evolving. Changing or new laws, regulations, interpretations or regulatory enforcement priorities may have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations."
Any unfavorable results of pending or future legal proceedings may result in contractual damages, usury-related claims, fines, penalties, injunctions, the unenforceability, rescission or other impairment of loans or cash advances originated on our platform or other censure that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Even if we adequately address the issues raised by an investigation or proceeding or successfully defend a third-party lawsuit or counterclaim, we may have to devote significant financial and management resources to address these issues, which could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Although we currently maintain insurance, there can be no assurance that we will be able to maintain such insurance on acceptable terms in the future, if at all, or that any such insurance will provide adequate protection against potential liabilities. Additionally, we do not carry insurance for all categories of risk that our business may encounter. Any significant liability that is uninsured or not fully insured may require us to pay substantial amounts. There can be no assurance that any current or future claims will not materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Taxation & Government Incentives2 | 3.3%
Taxation & Government Incentives - Risk 1
Our ability to use our deferred tax assets to offset future taxable income may be limited.Taxation & Government Incentives - Risk 2
Changes in tax law and differences in interpretation of tax laws and regulations may adversely impact our financial statements.We operate in multiple jurisdictions and are subject to tax laws and regulations of the U.S. federal, state and local and non-U.S. governments. U.S. federal, state and local and non-U.S. tax laws and regulations are complex and subject to varying interpretations. U.S. federal, state and local and non-U.S. tax authorities may interpret tax laws and regulations differently than we do and challenge tax positions that we have taken. This may result in differences in the treatment of revenues, deductions, credits and/or differences in the timing of these items. The differences in treatment may result in payment of additional taxes, interest or penalties that could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. Further, future changes to U.S. federal, state and local and non-U.S. tax laws and regulations could increase our tax obligations in jurisdictions where we do business or require us to change the manner in which we conduct some aspects of our business.
Environmental / Social2 | 3.3%
Environmental / Social - Risk 1
Our collection, use, and transmission of PII and other sensitive data is subject to stringent and changing state and federal laws, and regulations, and could give rise to liabilities as a result of our failure or perceived failure to comply with such laws and regulations or adhere to the privacy and data protection practices that we articulate to our customers.Changed
Environmental / Social - Risk 2
If the information provided to us by customers or other third parties is incorrect or fraudulent, we may misjudge a customer's qualifications to receive our products and services and our results of operations may be harmed and could subject us to regulatory scrutiny or penalties.Our decisions to provide many of our products and services to customers are based partly on information that they provide to us or authorize us to receive. To the extent that these customers or third parties provide information to us in a manner that we are unable to verify, our decisioning process may not accurately reflect the associated risk. In addition, data provided by third-party sources, including consumer reporting agencies, is a component of our credit decisions and this data may contain inaccuracies. This may result in the inability to either approve otherwise qualified applicants or rejected otherwise unqualified applicants through our platform or accurately analyze credit data, which may adversely impact our business and negatively impact our reputation.
In addition, there is risk of fraudulent activity associated with our business, including as a result of the service providers and other third parties who handle customer information on our behalf. We use identity and fraud prevention tools to analyze data provided by external databases to authenticate the identity of each applicant that signs up for our first-party products and services. However, these checks have failed from time to time and may again fail in the future, and fraud, which may be significant, has and may in the future occur. The level of fraud-related charge-offs on the first-party products and services facilitated through our platform could be adversely affected if fraudulent activity were to significantly increase. We may not be able to recoup funds associated with our first-party products and services made in connection with inaccurate statements, omissions of fact or fraud, in which case our revenue, results of operations and profitability will be harmed. 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 customers, which could negatively impact our results of operations, brand and reputation, and require us to take steps to reduce fraud risk, which could increase our costs.
Tech & Innovation
Total Risks: 9/61 (15%)Below Sector Average
Trade Secrets4 | 6.6%
Trade Secrets - Risk 1
We may be sued by third parties for alleged infringement, misappropriation or other violation of their intellectual property or other proprietary rights, which may be costly and may subject us to significant liability and increased costs of doing business.Trade Secrets - Risk 2
We may be unable to sufficiently obtain, maintain, protect or enforce our intellectual property and other proprietary rights, which could reduce the value of our platform, products, services and brand, impair our competitive position and cause reputational harm.Intellectual property and other proprietary rights are important to the success of our business, and our trademarks, trade names and service marks have significant value to our brand. 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. We rely on both registrations and common law protections for our trademarks. As of December 31, 2024, we owned 22 U.S. registered trademarks, 4 internationally registered trademarks, 2 U.S. registered copyrights and had 4 U.S. trademark applications and 5 international trademark applications. We also own the domain name rights for, among other sites, moneylion.com, engine.tech, fiona.com and malkamedia.com. Nonetheless, the steps we take to obtain, maintain, protect and enforce our intellectual property and other proprietary rights may be inadequate, and we cannot guarantee 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. The legal standards relating to the validity, enforceability and scope of protection of intellectual property and other proprietary rights are uncertain and still evolving. Changes to U.S. or foreign intellectual property laws and regulations may also jeopardize the enforceability and validity of our intellectual property portfolio and harm our ability to obtain patent protection, including for some of our business methods.
Despite our efforts to protect these rights, unauthorized third parties, including our competitors, may reverse engineer, access, obtain or use the proprietary aspects of our technology, processes, products or services without our permission, thereby impeding our ability to promote our platform and possibly leading to customer confusion. Our competitors and other third parties may also design around or independently develop similar technology or otherwise duplicate or mimic our products or services such that we would not be able to successfully assert our intellectual property or other proprietary rights against them. 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. We may also 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. Additionally, if third parties succeed in registering or developing common law rights in our trademarks or similar trademarks, and if we are not successful in challenging such third-party rights, we may not be able to use these trademarks to develop brand recognition of our platform, products or services. If we are unable to establish name recognition based on our trademarks and trade names, we may not be able to compete effectively, which could adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition to registered intellectual property rights such as trademark registrations, we rely on non-registered proprietary information and technology, such as trade secrets, confidential information, know-how and technical information. We utilize confidentiality and intellectual property assignment agreements with our employees and contractors involved in the development of material intellectual property for us, which require such individuals to assign such intellectual property to us and place restrictions on the employees' and contractors' use and disclosure of our confidential information. However, these agreements may not be self-executing, and we cannot guarantee that we have entered into such agreements containing obligations of confidentiality with each party that has or may have had access to proprietary information, knowhow or trade secrets owned or held by us. Additionally, our contractual arrangements may be insufficient, 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, which could cause us to lose any competitive advantage resulting from this intellectual property. Individuals that were involved in the development of intellectual property for us or who had access to our intellectual property may make adverse ownership claims to our current and future intellectual property. Likewise, to the extent that our employees, independent contractors or other third parties with whom we do business use intellectual property owned by others in their work for us, disputes may arise as to the rights in related or resulting works of authorship, know-how and inventions. The measures we have put in place may not prevent misappropriation, infringement or other violation of our intellectual property, 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 time-consuming and expensive, could cause a diversion of resources and may not be successful. Additionally, 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 U.S., and the mechanisms for enforcement of intellectual property and other proprietary rights may be inadequate. Any of the foregoing could adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Trade Secrets - Risk 3
Our inability to obtain or maintain intellectual property, proprietary rights and technology licensed from third parties could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.Our business and our platform rely on technologies licensed from third parties. Third-party software components may become obsolete, defective or incompatible with future versions of our services, or our relationships with the third-party licensors or technology providers may deteriorate, expire or be terminated. Additionally, some of these licenses or other grants of rights may not be available to us in the future on terms that are acceptable, or at all, or that allow our platform, products and services to remain competitive. Companies that perceive us to be a competitor may also be unwilling to assign, license or otherwise grant rights to us. Our inability to obtain licenses or rights on favorable terms could have a material and adverse effect on our business and results of operations. Even if such licenses or other grants of rights are available, we may be required to pay the licensor (or other applicable counterparty) substantial royalties, which may affect the margins on our products and services. Furthermore, incorporating intellectual property or proprietary rights in our products or services licensed from or otherwise made available to us by third parties on a non-exclusive basis could limit our ability to protect the intellectual property and proprietary rights in our products and services and our ability to restrict third parties from developing, selling or otherwise providing similar or competitive technology using the same third-party intellectual property or proprietary rights.
Trade Secrets - Risk 4
If we fail to comply with our obligations under license or technology agreements with third parties, or if we cannot license rights to use technologies on reasonable terms, we could be required to pay damages, lose license rights that are critical to our business or be unable to commercialize new products and services in the future.We license certain third-party intellectual property that is important to our business, including technologies, content and software from third parties, and in the future we may license additional valuable third-party intellectual property or technology. If we fail to comply with any of the obligations under our license agreements, we may be required to pay damages and the licensor may have the right to terminate the license, which would cause us to lose valuable rights, and could prevent us from selling our products and services, or inhibit our ability to commercialize current or future products and services. Our business may suffer if any current or future licenses or other grants of rights to us terminate, if the licensors (or other applicable counterparties) fail to abide by the terms of the license or other applicable agreement, if the licensors fail to enforce the licensed intellectual property rights against infringing third parties, or if the licensed intellectual property rights are found to be invalid or unenforceable. Third parties from whom we currently license intellectual property and technology could refuse to renew our agreements upon their expiration or could impose additional terms and fees that we otherwise would not deem acceptable, requiring us to obtain the intellectual property or technology from another third party, if any is available, or to pay increased licensing fees or be subject to additional restrictions on our use of such third-party intellectual property or technology.
Cyber Security1 | 1.6%
Cyber Security - Risk 1
Cyberattacks, data security breaches or other similar incidents or disruptions suffered by us or third parties upon which we rely could have a material adverse effect on our business, harm our reputation and expose us to public scrutiny or liability.Technology4 | 6.6%
Technology - Risk 1
Defects, failures or disruptions in our systems or those of third parties upon which we rely and resulting interruptions in the availability of our platform could harm our business and financial condition, harm our reputation, result in significant costs to us and expose us to substantial liability.Technology - Risk 2
Our platform and internal systems, and those of third parties upon whom we rely, rely on software that is highly technical, and if it contains undetected technical errors, our business could be adversely affected.Our platform and internal systems rely on software that is highly technical and complex and the ability of such software to store, retrieve, process and manage high volumes of data. The software upon which we rely may from time to time contain undetected technical errors or bugs. Some technical errors or bugs may only be discovered after the code has been released for external or internal use. Technical errors or other design defects within the software upon which we rely may result in a negative experience for customers, clients or third-party partners and issues in our provision of our products and services or their functionality, including the operation of the embedded finance marketplace platform solutions that we provide to our Enterprise Partners, failure to accurately predict the suitability of customers for our products and services, failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations, failure to detect fraudulent activity on our platform, our inability to accurately evaluate potential customers, delayed introductions of new features or enhancements or failure to protect consumer data, our intellectual property or other sensitive data or proprietary information. Any technical errors, bugs or defects discovered in the software upon which we rely could result in harm to our reputation, loss of customers, clients or third-party partners, increased regulatory scrutiny, fines or penalties, loss of revenue or liability for damages, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Technology - Risk 3
We utilize AI, which could expose us to liability or adversely affect our business.Added
We are continuing to incorporate novel uses of AI, including generative AI, into our products and services. However, there are significant risks involved in utilizing AI and no assurance can be provided that our use will enhance our products and services or produce the intended results. For example, AI algorithms may be flawed, insufficient, of poor quality, reflect unwanted forms of bias, or contain other errors or inadequacies, any of which may not be easily detectable; AI has been known to produce false or "hallucinatory" inferences or outputs; AI can present ethical issues and may subject us to new or heightened legal, regulatory, ethical, or other challenges; and inappropriate or controversial data practices by developers and end-users, or other factors adversely affecting public opinion of AI, could impair the acceptance of AI solutions, including those incorporated in our products and services. If the AI solutions that we create or use are deficient, inaccurate or controversial, we could incur operational inefficiencies, competitive harm, legal liability, brand or reputational harm, or other adverse impacts on our business and financial results. If we do not have sufficient rights to use the data or other material or content on which our AI tools rely, we also may incur liability through the violation of applicable laws and regulations, third-party intellectual property, privacy or other rights, or contracts to which we are a party.
In addition, regulation of AI is rapidly evolving worldwide as legislators and regulators are increasingly focused on these powerful emerging technologies. The technologies underlying AI and its uses are subject to a variety of laws and regulations, including intellectual property, privacy, data protection and information security, consumer protection, competition, and equal opportunity laws, and are expected to be subject to increased regulation and new laws or new applications of existing laws and regulations. AI is the subject of ongoing review by various U.S. governmental and regulatory agencies, and various U.S. states and other foreign jurisdictions are applying, or are considering applying, their platform moderation, cybersecurity, and data protection laws and regulations to AI or are considering general legal frameworks for AI. We may not be able to anticipate how to respond to these rapidly evolving frameworks, and we may need to expend resources to adjust our offerings in certain jurisdictions if the legal frameworks are inconsistent across jurisdictions. Furthermore, because AI technology itself is highly complex and rapidly developing, it is not possible to predict all of the legal, operational or technological risks that may arise relating to the use of AI.
Technology - Risk 4
Some aspects of our business processes include open-source software, which poses risks that could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.We incorporate open-source software into processes supporting our business and anticipate using open-source software in the future. Such open-source software may include software covered by licenses like the GNU General Public License and the Apache License. While we monitor our use of open-source software and try to ensure that none is used in a manner that would require us to disclose our proprietary source code or that would otherwise breach the terms of an open-source license, such use could inadvertently occur, or could be claimed to have occurred, in part because open-source license terms are often ambiguous. The terms of various open-source licenses to which we are subject have not been interpreted by U.S. courts, and there is a risk that such licenses could be construed in a manner that imposes unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to operate our systems, limits our use of the software, inhibits certain aspects of our systems and negatively affects our business operations.
We may also face claims from third parties claiming ownership of, or demanding the release or license of, modifications or derivative works that we have developed using such open-source software (which could include our proprietary source code or AI models), or otherwise seeking to enforce the terms of the applicable open-source license. These claims could result in litigation and if portions of our proprietary AI models or software are determined to be subject to an open-source license, or if the license terms for the open-source software that we incorporate change, we could be required to publicly release all or affected portions of our source code, purchase a costly license, cease offering the implicated products or services unless and until we can re-engineer such source code in a manner that avoids infringement, discontinue or delay the provision of our offerings if re-engineering could not be accomplished on a timely basis or change our business activities, any of which could negatively affect our business operations and potentially our intellectual property rights and help third parties, including our competitors, develop products and services that are similar to or better than ours. In addition, the re-engineering process could require us to expend significant additional research and development resources, and we may not be able to complete the re-engineering process successfully. If we were required to publicly disclose any portion of our proprietary models, it is possible we could lose the benefit of trade secret protection for our models.
In addition to risks related to license requirements, the use of certain open-source software can lead to greater risks than the use of third-party commercial software, as open-source licensors generally do not provide support, warranties, indemnification, controls or other contractual protections regarding infringement claims or the quality of the origin of the software. Use of open-source software may also present additional security risks because the public availability of such software may make it easier for hackers and other third parties to determine how to breach our website and systems that rely on open-source software. Any of these risks associated with the use of open-source software could be difficult to eliminate or manage and, if not addressed, could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Ability to Sell
Total Risks: 7/61 (11%)Below Sector Average
Competition1 | 1.6%
Competition - Risk 1
We operate in highly competitive industries, and our inability to compete successfully would materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.Demand1 | 1.6%
Demand - Risk 1
Demand for our products or services may decline if we do not continue to innovate or respond to evolving technological or other changes.Sales & Marketing3 | 4.9%
Sales & Marketing - Risk 1
Companies periodically review and change their advertising and marketing business models and relationships. If we are unable to remain competitive or retain key clients in our media division, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows may be adversely affected.Sales & Marketing - Risk 2
If we are unable to acquire, engage and retain customers and clients or sell additional functionality, products and services to them on our platform, our business will be adversely affected.In order to grow our business and increase our revenue, we must continue to acquire new customers and clients, engage and retain existing customers and clients and expand our customers' and clients' use of our platform by cross-selling additional functionality, products and services to them, particularly as a significant portion of the revenue we generate in our business is derived from transaction-based fees. In addition, our ability to sell additional functionality, products and services to our existing customers and clients may require more sophisticated and costly development, sales or engagement efforts and could be impaired for a variety of reasons, including adverse reaction to changes in the pricing of our products or services, increases in costs we incur to offer our products or services, general economic conditions and/or the other risks described herein in this "Risk Factors" section. If our efforts to sell additional functionality, products and services to our customers and clients are not successful, our business and growth prospects would suffer. In addition, if our customers or clients reduce their usage of our platform or if we lose customers or clients, our revenue and other operating results will decline, and our business would be adversely affected.
As the market for our platform matures, or as new or existing competitors introduce new products, services or functionality that compete with ours, we may experience pricing pressure and may be unable to retain current customers and clients or attract new customers and clients at consistent prices within our operating budget. Our pricing strategy may prove to be unappealing to our customers and clients, and our competitors could choose to bundle certain products and services that are competitive with ours. If this were to occur, it is possible that we would have to change our pricing strategies or reduce our prices, which could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Sales & Marketing - Risk 3
Any failure to effectively match consumer leads from our Channel Partners with product offerings from our Product Partners or any reduced marketing spend by such Product Partners on our Enterprise platform could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.We connect and match consumers with real-time personalized financial product recommendations from our Product Partners through our Enterprise platform. The success of our Enterprise business is dependent in part on our relationships with our Channel Partners, through which we reach a wide base of consumers, and our Product Partners, the financial institutions which provide consumers with product offerings. Our Enterprise business has historically derived, and expects to continue to derive, the majority of revenue through the delivery of qualified consumer lead inquiries and conversions to completed transactions for various financial products to Product Partners. However, the failure of our Enterprise platform to effectively connect and match consumers from our Channel Partners with product offerings from our Product Partners in a manner that results in converted customers and increased revenue for such Product Partners could cause Product Partners to cease spending marketing funds on our Enterprise platform, which could have a material adverse impact on our ability to maintain or increase our Enterprise revenue.
In addition, even if our Enterprise platform effectively connects and matches consumers from our Channel Partners with offers from our Product Partners, our Product Partners may still reduce their marketing spend through our Enterprise platform. For example, adverse macroeconomic conditions have impacted and may continue to impact our Product Partners' spend in the short-term and potentially in the long-term. During 2024, the continued high interest rate environment and increased cost of capital resulted in an ongoing decrease in marketing spend and tightened underwriting standards by our Product Partners in our personal loans vertical that negatively impacted our Enterprise revenue. If any of our Product Partners do not continue to place marketing spend on our Enterprise platform, we could experience a rapid decline in our Enterprise revenue over a relatively short period of time. Any factors that limit the amount that our Product Partners are willing to, and do, spend on marketing or advertising with us could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Brand / Reputation2 | 3.3%
Brand / Reputation - Risk 1
Due to unfamiliarity and negative publicity associated with digital asset-related businesses, existing and potential users of MoneyLion Crypto may lose confidence in digital asset-related products and services, which could negatively affect our business.Added
Brand / Reputation - Risk 2
Adverse publicity concerning us, our business or our personnel or our failure to maintain our brand in a cost-effective manner could materially and adversely affect our business.Maintaining and promoting our brand in a cost-effective manner is critical to achieving widespread acceptance of our products and services, retaining existing customers and clients and expanding our base of customers and clients. Maintaining and promoting our brand depends largely on our ability to continue to provide useful, reliable, secure and innovative products and services, the effectiveness of our marketing efforts, the experience of existing customers and clients, including our ability to provide high-quality support and solutions to quickly resolve issues or otherwise meet their needs, and our ability to maintain trust. We may introduce, or make changes to, features, products, services, privacy practices or terms of service that customers and clients do not like, which may materially and adversely affect our brand. Our efforts to build our brand have involved significant expense, and our marketing spend may increase in the near term or in the future. Our brand promotion activities, including efforts to create personalized content through our media division and any actions we take as part of any rebranding of our businesses, products or services, may not generate or maintain brand awareness or increase revenue, and even if they do, any increase in revenue may not offset the expenses we incur in building and maintaining our brand. If we fail to successfully promote, protect and maintain our brand or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, we may lose our existing customers and clients to our competitors or be unable to attract new customers and clients, which could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
We have been from time to time, and may in the future be, the target of incomplete, inaccurate and misleading or false statements about our company and our business that could damage our brand and deter the adoption of our platform. Harm to our brand can arise from many sources, including the quality and reliability of our products and services or changes thereto; the experience of our customers and clients with our products or services and our ability to effectively manage and resolve issues and complaints; our privacy, data protection and information security practices and our compliance and risk management processes; incidents or allegations of illegal or improper conduct by us, our partners or other counterparties; litigation or regulatory action; and any other negative publicity about our company, our key personnel, including management, and our content creators. If we do not successfully maintain a strong and trusted brand, our business could be materially and adversely affected.
Production
Total Risks: 5/61 (8%)Below Sector Average
Employment / Personnel1 | 1.6%
Employment / Personnel - Risk 1
We depend on our senior management team and other key personnel, and if we fail to attract, retain and motivate our personnel, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.Supply Chain2 | 3.3%
Supply Chain - Risk 1
We depend on various third-party partners, service providers and vendors, and any adverse changes in our relationships with these third parties could materially and adversely affect our business.Supply Chain - Risk 2
If we fail to comply with the applicable requirements of our third-party providers, they could seek to suspend or terminate our accounts, which could adversely affect our business.We rely on agreements with Pathward, DriveWealth, Zero Hash and other third-party providers to provide deposit accounts, debit card services, investment advisory services and digital asset-related services. These agreements and corresponding regulations governing banks and financial institutions may give them substantial discretion in approving certain aspects of our business practices, including our application and qualification procedures for customers, and require us to comply with certain legal requirements. Our third-party providers' discretionary actions under these agreements could impose material limitations to, or have a material adverse effect on, our business, financial condition and results of operations. Without these relationships, we would not be able to offer or service our deposit accounts, debit cards, investment accounts and digital asset accounts, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Furthermore, our financial results could be adversely affected if our costs associated with such relationships materially change or if any penalty or claim for damages is imposed as a result of our breach of the agreement with them or their other requirements.
Costs2 | 3.3%
Costs - Risk 1
If our underwriting criteria for making loans and cash advances in our Consumer business is not sufficient to mitigate against the credit risk of our customers, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected.Costs - Risk 2
Increases in the costs of content may adversely affect our business.The success of our business and our ability to engage and retain customers in our platform are dependent in part on our ability to produce or acquire popular content, which in turn depends on our ability to retain content creators and rights to content for our platform. We may in the future incur increasing revenue-sharing costs to compensate content creators for producing original content. We also rely on key personnel in our media division to generate creative ideas for original content and to supervise the original content origination and production process, which can require considerable resources. If we are not able to compete effectively for talent or attract and retain top talent at reasonable costs, our content production capabilities would be negatively impacted.
We may also, from time to time, license content for our platform instead, and our ability to do so may be impacted by increasing licensing costs to compensate content creators. If we are unable to procure such licenses at reasonable costs, this may impact the categories and volume of engaging content that we can display on our Consumer platform.
Macro & Political
Total Risks: 3/61 (5%)Below Sector Average
Economy & Political Environment3 | 4.9%
Economy & Political Environment - Risk 1
Changing expectations for inflation and deflation and corresponding fluctuations in interest rates could decrease demand for our lending products and negatively affect loan performance as well as increase certain operating costs such as employee compensation.Economy & Political Environment - Risk 2
Our engineering and technical development teams are based primarily in Malaysia, which could be adversely affected by changes in political or economic stability or by government policies.Our engineering and technical development teams are based primarily in Malaysia, which is subject to relatively higher degrees of political and social instability than the United States and may lack the infrastructure to withstand political unrest, market turmoil or natural disasters. The political or regulatory climate in the United States, or elsewhere, also could change so that it would not be lawful or practical for us to use international operations in the manner in which we currently use them. If we had to curtail or cease operations in Malaysia and transfer some or all of these operations to another geographic area, we would incur significant transition costs as well as higher future overhead costs that could materially and adversely affect our results of operations.
Economy & Political Environment - Risk 3
Our business may be adversely affected by economic conditions and other factors that we cannot control.The timing, severity and duration of an economic downturn can have a material adverse effect on our ability to generate revenue and to absorb expected and unexpected losses. Many factors, including factors that are beyond our control, may impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows by affecting our customers' and clients' willingness and capacity to use our products and services. These factors include interest rates, unemployment levels, the impact of seasonality, conditions in the housing market, immigration policies, gas prices, energy costs, government shutdowns, political developments and unrest, trade wars, fluctuating tariff rates, as well as events such as natural disasters, acts of war and other geopolitical developments (such as the ongoing conflicts between Ukraine and Russia and in the Middle East), terrorism, catastrophes and pandemics such as the COVID-19 pandemic or other similar epidemics or adverse public health developments. In addition, adverse macroeconomic conditions may cause our Product Partners to reduce their marketing spend or advertising on our platform, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Adverse macroeconomic conditions may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described herein. In particular, the ongoing conflicts between Ukraine and Russia and in the Middle East could amplify disruptions to the financial and credit markets, increase risks of an information security or operational technology incident, cause cost fluctuations to us or third parties upon which we rely and increase costs to ensure compliance with global and local laws and regulations. The occurrence of any of these risks could adversely impact our business and financial results.
Uncertainty and negative trends in general economic conditions, including significant tightening of credit markets, historically have created a difficult operating environment for the consumer finance industry. For example, in making a decision whether to extend credit to a new or existing customer or determine appropriate pricing for a loan or whether to provide a customer an advance, our decision strategies rely on robust data collection, including from third-party sources, proprietary scoring models and market expertise. Our ability to adapt in a manner that balances future revenue production and loss management may be tested in a downturn. The timing and extent of an economic downturn may also require us to change, postpone or cancel our strategic initiatives or growth plans to pursue shorter-term sustainability. The longer and more severe an economic downturn, the greater the potential adverse impact on us, which could be material.
Many new customers on our platform have limited or no credit history and limited financial resources. Accordingly, such customers have historically been, and may in the future become, disproportionately affected by adverse macroeconomic conditions, potentially impacting our ability to make accurate assessments or decisions about our customers' ability to pay for loans, repay cash advances or pay for other products and services we provide. In addition, major medical expenses, divorce, death or other issues that affect customers could affect a customer's willingness or ability to make payments on their loans, repayments on their advances or engage in investing activities. If borrowers default on loans facilitated on our Consumer platform, the cost to service these loans may also increase without a corresponding increase in revenue earned from lending operations and the value of the loans could decline. Any sustained decline in demand for loans, cash advances or other products and services we offer, or any increase in delinquencies or defaults that result from economic downturns, may harm our ability to maintain robust volumes for our business, which would adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. For the year ended December 31, 2024, for the partially or fully secured personal loans provided through our Credit Builder program, the average 30+ day delinquency rate was 2.4% (representing uncovered past due balances divided by total principal) and the average monthly net charge-off rate was 1.2%. For the year ended December 31, 2024, the non-repayment rate for advances provided through our Instacash product was 4.0%. See Part I, Item 1 "Business - Our Platform - Consumer - Our Financial Products and Services."
In addition, sustained high levels of unemployment may increase the non-repayment rate on our loans and cash advance products, increase the rate of customers declaring bankruptcy or decrease our customers' use of our investment and other products and services. If we are unable to adjust our business operations to account for rises in unemployment, or if our platform is unable to more successfully predict the creditworthiness of potential borrowers compared to other lenders, then our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be adversely affected.
See a full breakdown of risk according to category and subcategory. The list starts with the category with the most risk. Click on subcategories to read relevant extracts from the most recent report.
FAQ
What are “Risk Factors”?
Risk factors are any situations or occurrences that could make investing in a company risky.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires that publicly traded companies disclose their most significant risk factors. This is so that potential investors can consider any risks before they make an investment.
They also offer companies protection, as a company can use risk factors as liability protection. This could happen if a company underperforms and investors take legal action as a result.
It is worth noting that smaller companies, that is those with a public float of under $75 million on the last business day, do not have to include risk factors in their 10-K and 10-Q forms, although some may choose to do so.
How do companies disclose their risk factors?
Publicly traded companies initially disclose their risk factors to the SEC through their S-1 filings as part of the IPO process.
Additionally, companies must provide a complete list of risk factors in their Annual Reports (Form 10-K) or (Form 20-F) for “foreign private issuers”.
Quarterly Reports also include a section on risk factors (Form 10-Q) where companies are only required to update any changes since the previous report.
According to the SEC, risk factors should be reported concisely, logically and in “plain English” so investors can understand them.
How can I use TipRanks risk factors in my stock research?
Use the Risk Factors tab to get data about the risk factors of any company in which you are considering investing.
You can easily see the most significant risks a company is facing. Additionally, you can find out which risk factors a company has added, removed or adjusted since its previous disclosure. You can also see how a company’s risk factors compare to others in its sector.
Without reading company reports or participating in conference calls, you would most likely not have access to this sort of information, which is usually not included in press releases or other public announcements.
A simplified analysis of risk factors is unique to TipRanks.
What are all the risk factor categories?
TipRanks has identified 6 major categories of risk factors and a number of subcategories for each. You can see how these categories are broken down in the list below.
1. Financial & Corporate
- Accounting & Financial Operations - risks related to accounting loss, value of intangible assets, financial statements, value of intangible assets, financial reporting, estimates, guidance, company profitability, dividends, fluctuating results.
- Share Price & Shareholder Rights – risks related to things that impact share prices and the rights of shareholders, including analyst ratings, major shareholder activity, trade volatility, liquidity of shares, anti-takeover provisions, international listing, dual listing.
- Debt & Financing – risks related to debt, funding, financing and interest rates, financial investments.
- Corporate Activity and Growth – risks related to restructuring, M&As, joint ventures, execution of corporate strategy, strategic alliances.
2. Legal & Regulatory
- Litigation and Legal Liabilities – risks related to litigation/ lawsuits against the company.
- Regulation – risks related to compliance, GDPR, and new legislation.
- Environmental / Social – risks related to environmental regulation and to data privacy.
- Taxation & Government Incentives – risks related to taxation and changes in government incentives.
3. Production
- Costs – risks related to costs of production including commodity prices, future contracts, inventory.
- Supply Chain – risks related to the company’s suppliers.
- Manufacturing – risks related to the company’s manufacturing process including product quality and product recalls.
- Human Capital – risks related to recruitment, training and retention of key employees, employee relationships & unions labor disputes, pension, and post retirement benefits, medical, health and welfare benefits, employee misconduct, employee litigation.
4. Technology & Innovation
- Innovation / R&D – risks related to innovation and new product development.
- Technology – risks related to the company’s reliance on technology.
- Cyber Security – risks related to securing the company’s digital assets and from cyber attacks.
- Trade Secrets & Patents – risks related to the company’s ability to protect its intellectual property and to infringement claims against the company as well as piracy and unlicensed copying.
5. Ability to Sell
- Demand – risks related to the demand of the company’s goods and services including seasonality, reliance on key customers.
- Competition – risks related to the company’s competition including substitutes.
- Sales & Marketing – risks related to sales, marketing, and distribution channels, pricing, and market penetration.
- Brand & Reputation – risks related to the company’s brand and reputation.
6. Macro & Political
- Economy & Political Environment – risks related to changes in economic and political conditions.
- Natural and Human Disruptions – risks related to catastrophes, floods, storms, terror, earthquakes, coronavirus pandemic/COVID-19.
- International Operations – risks related to the global nature of the company.
- Capital Markets – risks related to exchange rates and trade, cryptocurrency.