Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Interest and Credit Risk
Financial instruments that are potentially subject to credit risk consist of cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, and short term investments. The carrying amounts of cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and short term investments represent the maximum amount of loss due to credit risk. We had cash and cash equivalents of $1.4 billion, $618.0 million and $712.9 million, restricted cash of $8.1 million, $2.8 million and $27.8 million, and short-term investments of $3.3 billion, $364.7 million and $1.1 billion, at December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Our cash and cash equivalents are deposited with various major reputable financial institutions located within or without the PRC. The deposits placed with these financial institutions are not protected by statutory or commercial insurance. In the event of bankruptcy of one of these financial institutions, we may be unlikely to claim our deposits back in full. We believe that these financial institutions are of high credit quality, and we continually monitor the credit worthiness of these financial institutions. At December 31, 2020, our short-term investments consisted primarily of U.S. treasury securities. We believe that U.S. treasury securities are of high credit quality and continually monitor the credit worthiness of these institutions.
The primary objectives of our investment activities are to preserve principal, provide liquidity, and maximize income without significant increasing risk. Our primary exposure to market risk relates to fluctuations in the interest rates, which are affected by changes in the general level of PRC and U.S. interest rates. Given the short‑term nature of our cash equivalents, we believe that a sudden change in market interest rates would not be expected to have a material impact on our financial condition and/or results of operation. We estimate that a hypothetical 100‑basis point increase or decrease in market interest rates would result in a decrease of $17.1 million or increase of $4.3 million, respectively, in the fair value of our investment portfolio as of December 31, 2020.
We do not believe that our cash, cash equivalents, and short‑term investments have significant risk of default or illiquidity. While we believe our cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments do not contain excessive risk, we cannot provide absolute assurance that in the future investments will not be subject to adverse changes in market value.
Currency Convertibility Risk
A significant portion of our expenses, assets, and liabilities are denominated in RMB. In 1994, the PRC government abolished the dual rate system and introduced a single rate of exchange as quoted daily by the People’s Bank of China (the "PBOC"). However, the unification of exchange rates does not imply that the RMB may be readily convertible into U.S. dollars or other foreign currencies. All foreign exchange transactions continue to take place either through the PBOC or other banks authorized to buy and sell foreign currencies at the exchange rates quoted by the PBOC. Approvals of foreign currency payments by the PBOC or other institutions require submitting a payment application form together with suppliers’ invoices, shipping documents and signed contracts.
Additionally, the value of the RMB is subject to changes in central government policies and international economic and political developments affecting supply and demand in the PRC foreign exchange trading system market.
Foreign Currency Exchange Rate Risk
We are exposed to foreign exchange risk arising from various currency exposures. Our reporting currency is the U.S. dollar, but a portion of our operating transactions and assets and liabilities are in other currencies, such as RMB, Euro, and Australian dollar.
RMB is not freely convertible into foreign currencies for capital account transactions. The value of RMB against the U.S. dollar and other currencies is affected by, among other things, changes in China’s political and economic conditions and China’s foreign exchange prices. Since 2005, the RMB has been permitted to fluctuate within a narrow and managed band against a basket of certain foreign currencies. The RMB compared to the U.S. dollar appreciated approximately 6.3%,
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depreciated approximately 1.3%, and depreciated approximately 5.7% for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively. It is difficult to predict how market forces or PRC or U.S. government policy may impact the exchange rate between the RMB and the U.S. dollar in the future.
To the extent that we need to convert U.S. dollars into RMB for capital expenditures, working capital and other business purposes, appreciation of RMB against the U.S. dollar would have an adverse effect on the RMB amount we would receive from the conversion. Conversely, if we decide to convert RMB into U.S. dollars for the purpose of making payments for dividends on our ordinary shares, strategic acquisitions or investments or other business purposes, appreciation of the U.S. dollar against RMB would have a negative effect on the U.S. dollar amount available to us.
In addition, a significant depreciation of the RMB against the U.S. dollar may significantly reduce the U.S. dollar equivalent of our foreign cash balances and trade receivables. Further, volatility in exchange rate fluctuations may have a significant impact on the foreign currency translation adjustments recorded in other comprehensive income (loss). We have not used derivative financial instruments to hedge exposure to foreign exchange risk.
Effects of Inflation
Inflation generally affects us by increasing our cost of labor and clinical development costs. We do not believe that inflation has had a material effect on our results of operations during the year ended December 31, 2020.
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
The financial statements required to be filed pursuant to this item are appended to this Annual Report. An index of those financial statements is in “Part IV—Item 15—Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules.”
Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure
None.