富途控股 (FUTU) 2019 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to Futu Holdings Limited First Quarter 2019 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) This conference is being recorded today, 24th of May 2019.

女士們、先生們，感謝大家的支持，歡迎參加富途控股有限公司2019年第一季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）本次會議於今日（2019 年 5 月 24 日）錄製。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your first presenter today, [Daniel Yuan], Chief of Staff of Futu. Thank you. Please go ahead.

現在我想把會議交給今天的第一位主持人，[Daniel Yuan]，富途參謀長。謝謝。請繼續。

Thank you, operator. Thank you for joining us today to discuss our first quarter 2019 results. On the call today are Leaf Li, Chairman and CEO; Arthur Chen, CFO; and Robin Xu, Vice President of Products.

謝謝你，接線生。感謝您今天加入我們討論我們 2019 年第一季的業績。今天參加電話會議的是董事長兼執行長李葉；陳亞瑟，財務長；和產品副總裁 Robin Xu。

Before management begins their prepared remarks, I would like to remind you of the company's safe harbor statement in connection with today's conference call. Except for any historical information, the materials discussed on this conference call may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current plans, estimates and projections, and therefore, you should not place undue reliance on them.

在管理層開始準備好的演講之前，我想提醒您注意公司與今天的電話會議相關的安全港聲明。除任何歷史資訊外，本次電話會議討論的資料可能包含前瞻性陳述。這些陳述是基於當前的計劃、估計和預測，因此，您不應過度依賴它們。

Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. We caution you that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. For more information about the potential risks and uncertainties, please refer to the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its registration statement.

前瞻性陳述涉及固有風險和不確定性。我們提醒您，許多重要因素可能導致實際結果與任何前瞻性陳述中包含的結果有重大差異。有關潛在風險和不確定性的更多信息，請參閱該公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件，包括其註冊聲明。

With that, I will now turn the call over to Leaf Li. Leaf will make his comments in Chinese, and I will translate.

說完，我現在就把電話轉給李葉。 Leaf會用中文發表評論，我會翻譯。

(foreign language)

（外語）

[Interpreted] Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. It's my pleasure to host our first conference call as a publicly traded company.

【解讀】大家好。感謝您今天加入我們。我很高興能作為一家上市公司主持我們的第一次電話會議。

We recorded solid performance in the first quarter of 2019 as we saw most of our major operating and financial matrices demonstrate strong growth momentum. Our total revenues increased 37.1% year-over-year to HKD 236.4 million, and our non-GAAP adjusted net income grew 2.5% year-over-year to HKD 49.3 million. As of March 31, 2019, we had an attractive and rapidly growing user base of 5.7 million, about 548,000 registered clients and over 148,000 paying clients. Our total client assets grew 20.7% year-over-year to HKD 62.3 billion, and we brokered a total of HKD 223.8 billion in client trades.

我們在 2019 年第一季取得了穩健的業績，因為我們看到大多數主要營運和財務矩陣都表現出強勁的成長勢頭。我們的總營收年增 37.1% 至 2.364 億港元，非美國通用會計準則調整後淨利年增 2.5% 至 4,930 萬港元。截至 2019 年 3 月 31 日，我們擁有 570 萬有吸引力且快速成長的用戶群，其中約 548,000 名註冊客戶和超過 148,000 名付費客戶。客戶總資產年增20.7%至623億港元，代理客戶交易總額達2,238億港元。

(foreign language)

（外語）

[Interpreted] We are an advanced technology company, and we view our comprehensive and user-oriented technology platform as our biggest competitive advantage. In the first quarter, we continued to invest heavily in our proprietary technology infrastructure, which translates into unparalleled product and service extendability as well as an elegant and ever-evolving user experience.

【解讀】我們是一家先進的科技公司，我們將全面且以使用者為導向的技術平台視為我們最大的競爭優勢。第一季度，我們繼續大力投資專有技術基礎設施，這轉化為無與倫比的產品和服務可擴展性以及優雅且不斷發展的用戶體驗。

We launched new iterations of our Futu NiuNiu app on a weekly basis while maintaining 99.98% service availability. We also launched real-time level 2 U.S. stock quotes and a U.S. IPO subscription service in the past quarter. As a result, total client asset balance in U.S. dollar accounts in the form of either stock or cash amounted to USD 3.2 billion as of March 31, 2019. And the number of paying clients with assets in U.S. dollar accounts increased significantly by 62.9% year-over-year. In the coming quarters, we intend to offer a number of new trading products for both the Hong Kong and U.S. stock markets that we believe will attract more paying clients, improve the stickiness of our existing client base and increase client wallet share.

我們每週都會推出富途牛牛應用程式的新版本，同時保持 99.98% 的服務可用性。我們也在上個季度推出了即時二級美股報價和美國IPO認購服務。截至2019年3月31日，美元帳戶中股票或現金形式的客戶資產餘額總額達32億美元。擁有美元帳戶資產的付費客戶數量較去年同期大幅增加62.9% -年比。在未來幾個季度，我們計劃為香港和美國股票市場提供一些新的交易產品，我們相信這些產品將吸引更多付費客戶，提高現有客戶群的黏性並增加客戶錢包份額。

(foreign language)

（外語）

[Interpreted] We are also establishing an increasingly international presence. In the past quarter, while our total paying clients increased by 59.3% year-over-year, we were able to drive 139.5% year-over-year growth in paying clients in Hong Kong, which speaks to our ability to expand into new markets. Given the SFC's consent to fully allow client on-boarding online, the launch of the fast payment system, or FPS, as well as the innovation of bank-to-brokerage transfer in Hong Kong, we expect rapid growth of our local Hong Kong paying clients this year.

[解讀]我們也正在建立日益國際化的影響力。過去一個季度，雖然我們的付費客戶總數年增了 59.3%，但我們在香港的付費客戶年增了 139.5%，這說明我們有能力拓展新市場。鑑於證監會同意全面允許客戶在線辦理、快速支付系統（FPS）的推出以及香港銀行到券商轉賬的創新，我們預計香港本地支付業務將快速增長今年的客戶。

Overall, I think there is no better indication that we are heading in the right direction than our retention rate. We maintain an extraordinarily high paying client quarterly retention rate of 98%, which really shows that users are truly appreciating the value of our platform.

總的來說，我認為沒有什麼比我們的保留率更好地表明我們正在朝著正確的方向前進。我們保持著極高的付費客戶季度保留率 98%，這確實表明用戶真正欣賞我們平台的價值。

(foreign language)

（外語）

[Interpreted] Our user base has also been more active and engaged than ever. In the past quarter, our average DAU grew 30.1% year-over-year, and our users on average spent 28.5 minutes on our platform every day. We believe that our user community and the social engagement that our platform facilitates sets us apart from our U.S. peers.

[解讀]我們的用戶群也比以往任何時候都更加活躍和參與。過去一個季度，我們的平均 DAU 年比成長 30.1%，用戶平均每天在我們平台上花費 28.5 分鐘。我們相信，我們的用戶社群和我們的平台促進的社會參與使我們有別於美國同行。

And in the past quarters, our NiuNiu Community continue to be an effective engagement tool. In March 2019, on average, the socially active client, defined as a client who traded on our platform and visited our NiuNiu Community at least 10 days during the month, traded 52 times. While our non-socially active client, defined as a client who traded on our platform at least once and visited our NiuNiu Community less than 10 days during the month, traded 23 times. Going forward, we will continue to optimize user experience to attract and retain more users on our platform and through our engaging content and community features, boost our clients' trading frequency.

在過去的幾個季度中，我們的牛牛社區仍然是一個有效的參與工具。 2019 年 3 月，社群活躍客戶（定義為當月至少 10 天在我們平台上進行交易並造訪牛牛社群的客戶）平均交易次數為 52 次。而我們的非社交活躍客戶（定義為在我們的平台上至少交易過一次且當月訪問牛牛社區的時間少於 10 天的客戶）交易了 23 次。展望未來，我們將繼續優化用戶體驗，以吸引和留住更多用戶在我們的平台上，並透過我們引人入勝的內容和社群功能，提高客戶的交易頻率。

(foreign language)

（外語）

[Interpreted] Futu is already a fully licensed broker in Hong Kong. We have obtained our type 1, 2, 4, 5 and 9 licenses from the Hong Kong SFC. Today, I'm also excited to announce that FINRA has just granted the application of Futu Clearing Inc., our wholly owned subsidiary in the U.S. for FINRA membership on a preliminary basis, and we expect to complete the whole application process by the end of this month. With this clearing license, we will be allowed to capture the full cycle of the client trade and maintain custody of our clients' assets.

【解讀】富途已經是香港全牌照經紀商。我們已獲得香港證監會頒發的 1、2、4、5 和 9 類牌照。今天，我還很高興地宣布，FINRA 剛剛初步批准了我們在美國的全資子公司 Futu Clearing Inc. 的 FINRA 會員資格申請，我們預計將在 2019 年底前完成整個申請流程。這個月。有了這個清算許可證，我們將能夠捕獲客戶交易的整個週期並維護客戶資產的託管。

Our strong technology capability will ensure that our independent clearing system is highly dependable and efficient and that it provides the same smooth transaction experience that our users have been accustomed to. We will also have more flexibility in terms of our product and service offerings. We are confident that this clearing license will give us financial upsides in the long run.

我們強大的技術能力將確保我們的獨立清算系統高度可靠和高效，並提供與我們的用戶習慣的同樣流暢的交易體驗。我們在產品和服務方面也將擁有更大的靈活性。我們相信，從長遠來看，這張清算許可證將為我們帶來財務上的好處。

(foreign language)

（外語）

[Interpreted] Futu's mission is to redefine traditional investing and build a leading digital financial institution. To achieve that, we aim to continue to grow and monetize our client base, broaden our core service offerings and extend our financial services footprint. We look forward to executing our plans and reporting our progress to all of you in the quarters and years to come.

【解讀】富途的使命是重新定義傳統投資，打造領先的數位金融機構。為了實現這一目標，我們的目標是繼續擴大我們的客戶群並實現貨幣化，擴大我們的核心服務範圍並擴大我們的金融服務足跡。我們期待在未來的季度和幾年中執行我們的計劃並向大家報告我們的進展。

So with that, I will now turn the call over to Arthur to discuss our financial performance.

因此，我現在將把電話轉給亞瑟，討論我們的財務表現。

Thanks, Leaf. Solid growth in the number of paying clients and the client assets drove robust top line growth of 37% year-over-year for our first quarter as a public company. Overall, we record total revenues of HKD 236 million.

謝謝，葉。作為一家上市公司，付費客戶數量和客戶資產的穩健成長推動我們第一季的營收年增 37%。總體而言，我們的總收入為 2.36 億港元。

Brokerage commission and handling charges income was HKD 115 million, an increase of 21% from the same period in 2018. The rise was mainly attributable to the increase in trading volume in the U.S. markets as well as growth in the effective fee rates. This contributes to about 48% of our total revenue.

經紀佣金及手續費收入為1.15億港元，較2018年同期增長21%。增長主要由於美國市場交易量增加以及有效費率增長。這約占我們總收入的 48%。

Our blended growth commission rate, including handling charges, remained stable compared with last quarter, and we expect such situation will carry on over the second quarter of this year.

我們的綜合成長佣金率（包括手續費）與上季相比保持穩定，我們預計這種情況將持續到今年第二季。

Interest income generated from margin financing, stock lending and client deposits was HKD 108 million, an increase of 62% year-over-year and 5% quarter-over-quarter. The rise was mainly due to the increase in the margin financing and the security lending activities and improved return on client deposits due to interest rate hike. Other income was HKD 14 million, an increase of 26% year-over-year mainly driven by increasing corporate service, including our PR service and ESOP service.

融資融券及客戶存款產生的利息收入為1.08億港元，較去年同期成長62%，較上季成長5%。成長的主要原因是保證金融資和擔保借貸活動增加以及升息導致客戶存款回報率提高。其他收入為1,400萬港元，年增26%，主要是由於企業服務增加，包括公關服務和員工持股計畫服務。

On the cost side, total cost was HKD 61 million, an increase of 17% year-over-year. Brokerage commission and handling charges expenses were HKD 21 million, an increase of 8% year-over-year, which was in line with our brokerage commission income growth. Interest expenses increased 18% year-over-year to HKD 21 million primarily due to the growth of our margin financing and security lending business and the increase in the effective rate of borrowing from other financial institutions.

成本方面，總成本為6,100萬港元，較去年同期成長17%。經紀佣金及手續費支出為2,100萬港元，較去年同期成長8%，與經紀佣金收入成長一致。利息支出年增18%至2,100萬港元，主要由於融資融券業務成長以及向其他金融機構借款的有效利率上升。

Processing and service costs were HKD 20 million, an increase of 27% over same period in 2018. The rise was primarily due to the increase in both market information and the data fees and the cloud service fees. As a result, we record a total gross profit of HKD 175 million, an increase of 46% year-over-year. This translates into a gross margin of 74%, which compares with 70% in the first quarter of 2018.

處理及服務成本為2,000萬港元，較2018年同期增加27%。增加主要由於市場資訊及資料費及雲端服務費增加所致。因此，我們錄得總毛利1.75億港元，年增46%。這意味著毛利率為 74%，而 2018 年第一季為 70%。

In terms of our total operating expenses, total expenses were HKD 113 million, an increase of 88% year-over-year. Research and development expenses were HKD 53 million, an increase of 73%. The rise was primarily due to the continued increase in headcount for our research and development functions. We will likely continue to increase our R&D personnel as we expand our product and service offerings.

總營運開支方面，總開支為1.13億港元，年增88%。研發費用為5,300萬港元，成長73%。這一增長主要是由於我們的研發職能人員數量持續增加。隨著我們擴大產品和服務範圍，我們可能會繼續增加研發人員。

Selling and marketing expenses were HKD 32 million, an increase of 216%. The rise was primarily due to IPO one-off marketing expenses allocated to this line amounting to HKD 5 million and higher branding and marketing spending in the first quarter of 2019. The acquisition cost for each paying client remained stable in quarter 1 compared with 2018.

銷售及行銷費用為3,200萬港元，成長216%。這一增長主要是由於分配給該產品線的首次公開募股一次性營銷費用為500 萬港元，以及2019 年第一季品牌和營銷支出增加。與2018 年相比，第一季每個付費客戶的獲取成本保持穩定。

G&A expenses were HKD 28 million, an increase of 43% year-over-year. Part of this increase could be attributed to higher professional service fee as the company continue to apply new license and explore new business opportunities. The capital raised through our recent IPO enhanced our equity base, and our balance sheet can support our business growth strategy in the foreseeable future.

一般及行政費用為 2,800 萬港元，年增 43%。這一增長的部分原因可能是由於公司繼續申請新牌照並探索新的商機，因此專業服務費上漲。透過最近的首次公開募股籌集的資金增強了我們的股本基礎，我們的資產負債表可以支持我們在可預見的未來的業務成長策略。

That concludes our prepared remarks. We would now like to open the call to questions.

我們準備好的演講到此結束。我們現在要開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Wei Chen of Goldman Sachs.

（操作員指示） 你的第一個問題來自高盛陳偉的電話。

Can you hear me?

你聽得到我嗎？

Yes.

是的。

Yes.

是的。

And first, congratulations on the continuous growth despite the turbulence in the market. I got 2 questions. One is regarding the clients. So we see -- Q-on-Q, we see you deliver about 160,000 new clients. And I wonder what's the mix of these new paying clients from Hong Kong, Mainland and probably like ESOP and what would you see for the client growth maybe in the second quarter or rest of the year. Like which will be the major driver for the paying client growth? Like we have seen like the tightening capital control in China, so it might be more difficult to acquire new clients from China Mainland. So I just wanted to get a sense of how management team look at paying client growth. That's the first one.

首先，恭喜您在市場動盪的情況下實現持續成長。我有 2 個問題。一是關於客戶。所以我們看到——Q-on-Q，我們看到你們交付了大約 160,000 個新客戶。我想知道來自香港、大陸的這些新付費客戶（可能還有員工持股計畫）的組合是什麼，以及您對第二季或今年剩餘時間的客戶成長有何看法。哪一個將成為付費客戶成長的主要動力？正如我們所看到的，中國收緊資本管制，因此從中國大陸獲取新客戶可能會更加困難。所以我只是想了解管理團隊如何看待付費客戶成長。這是第一個。

The second is regarding brokerage trading volume. So we see, if we calculated turnover rate with the trading volume and client assets, the turnover rate slightly declined Q-on-Q. I think it's -- based on our calculation, it's 16x versus 19x last quarter. And I wonder what's the cause of the decline in turnover rate in your view. Because in Mainland, we have seen the new -- I'll say, the retail participation in Asia market only started to pick up after the Chinese New Year. I wonder if that would be the case for Futu also. So on monthly basis, it's higher turnover rate in maybe February or March versus January. Is that the case? And what's -- maybe in April, what the trading volume would look like.

二是關於券商交易量。所以我們看到，如果我們用交易量和客戶資產來計算換手率，換手率是季減。我認為，根據我們的計算，上季是 16 倍，而上個季度是 19 倍。我想知道您認為離職率下降的原因是什麼？因為在大陸，我們看到了新的情況——我會說，亞洲市場的零售參與度在農曆新年之後才開始回升。我想知道Futu是否也會出現這種情況。因此，從月度來看，二月或三月的流動率可能比一月更高。是這樣嗎？也許在四月份，交易量會是什麼樣子。

And third one -- sorry for that and the third one. I just got from Leaf that you're guiding that you will have the U.S. clearing license at the end of this month. Is that correct? And what's the definition of that? Does that mean that when you finish the application process, you will be able to directly take client assets, and like Interactive Brokers, they can use some idle cash or margin loans? Is that the case, so a fully operated -- self-operating entity in the U.S. just like IB?

第三個——對第三個感到抱歉。我剛從 Leaf 獲悉，你們將在本月底獲得美國清算許可證。那是對的嗎？那它的定義是什麼？這是否意味著當你完成申請程序後，你將能夠直接拿走客戶資產，並且像盈透證券一樣，他們可以使用一些閒置現金或保證金貸款？是這樣嗎，就像IB一樣，在美國是一個完全運作的自營實體嗎？

Sure. Thank you, Wei Chen. Let me take the questions. In terms of first question, in terms of the number of paying clients, as you mentioned, we generated close to 16,000 new paying clients in the first quarter. In terms of detailed breakdowns, Hong Kong local clients roughly accounts for 60% of new paying clients we generated in the first quarter, and the remaining 40% came from the Mainland. And in terms of the trading velocity, I think your statement was correct. Similar to the Asia markets, what we witnessed is the market start to recover and the retail investors' confidence start to -- became stable after Chinese New Year. So in terms of the trading velocity, on a quarterly basis, you may see slightly velocity turning down compared with the last quarters, but we think it is just a seasonality effect.

當然。謝謝你，魏晨。讓我來回答問題。關於第一個問題，就付費客戶數量而言，正如您所提到的，我們在第一季新增了近16,000名付費客戶。從具體情況來看，我們第一季新增付費客戶中，香港本地客戶約佔60%，其餘40%來自內地。就交易速度而言，我認為你的說法是正確的。與亞洲市場類似，我們看到農曆新年後市場開始復甦，散戶投資者的信心開始穩定。因此，就交易速度而言，按季度計算，與上個季度相比，您可能會看到速度略有下降，但我們認為這只是季節性影響。

And also, in terms of the clearing license, we have gotten the written confirmations from FINRA to accept our applications, and there were just some routine logistic arrangements possibly in the next week. We are very confident you will see our license through the broker checklist in the U.S. within this month. But this not means we will start to transfer our clients from our U.S. business partners to our own clearinghouse because it may still take a very long journey for us to build our own clearing capabilities. We are also doing the evaluations. Despite it is still premature to give a precise number in terms of financial impact. However, as Leaf mentioned before, it will give us a very meaningful financial and operation reward in the long term for sure.

另外，在清算許可方面，我們已經收到了 FINRA 的書面確認，接受我們的申請，並且可能在下週進行一些常規的後勤安排。我們非常有信心您將在本月內透過美國的經紀商清單看到我們的許可證。但這並不意味著我們將開始將我們的客戶從我們的美國業務合作夥伴轉移到我們自己的清算所，因為我們建立自己的清算能力可能仍然需要很長的旅程。我們也在做評估。儘管現在給出財務影響的準確數字還為時過早。然而，正如 Leaf 之前提到的，從長遠來看，它肯定會給我們帶來非常有意義的財務和營運回報。

I just want to give you some statistics. Only 3% of broker-dealers in the United States have their own clearing capabilities. We see self-clearing capability as a very essential and a hard core element of Wall Street. We plan to leverage our own R&D capabilities to build an independent clearing system that allow us to settle and to clear transactions and provide custodians for assets, which provide new space for our monetizations. Having said that, it will be a very long journey, and you may not see any positive impact purely from an accounting-based perspective into our P&L in the next 6 to 9 months.

我只想給你一些統計數據。美國祇有 3% 的經紀自營商擁有自己的清算能力。我們認為自我清算能力是華爾街非常重要且核心的要素。我們計劃利用自己的研發能力建立一個獨立的清算系統，為我們提供交易結算和清算，並為資產提供託管，這為我們的變現提供了新的空間。話雖如此，這將是一個非常漫長的旅程，純粹從基於會計的角度來看，您可能看不到未來 6 到 9 個月內對我們損益表的任何積極影響。

I just have one quick follow-up. I don't know if you are okay to, but can you describe like in terms of like April or May what's the -- or maybe the guidance on the second quarter because it's the end of May, so...

我只有一個快速跟進。我不知道你是否同意，但你能描述一下四月或五月的情況嗎？或者可能是第二季度的指導，因為現在是五月底，所以......

Sure. No problem. I think the recent global equity market volatilities may enhance investors' concerns about the trading volumes and also, our new paying clients' acquisitions. Despite, in particular, in May, we see a very volatile market, we're still very confident. We look for at least the same number, i.e., close to 16,000 new paying clients in the second quarter, if not more.

當然。沒問題。我認為最近的全球股市波動可能會加劇投資者對交易量以及我們新付費客戶收購的擔憂。儘管特別是在五月份，我們看到市場非常波動，但我們仍然非常有信心。我們預計第二季至少有相同的數字，即接近 16,000 名新付費客戶，甚至更多。

Your next question comes from the line of Kelvin Chu from UBS.

您的下一個問題來自瑞銀 (UBS) 的 Kelvin Chu。

Congratulations again regarding the progress you have on the U.S. clearance license. Just follow-up question on that. Arthur, you mentioned a slightly long journey between the approval of the application to the moment we launch our own platform, the moment we will be able to move our client assets to the U.S. I just want to have an idea. What kind of time line are you talking about? Is it like 2, 3 years? And what kind of milestones should we be expecting over the course -- in the, let's say, next 2, 3 years so that we can track the potential establishment of your settlement infrastructure?

再次恭喜您在美國清關許可證方面的進展。只是後續問題。亞瑟，你提到從申請批准到我們推出自己的平台，到我們能夠將客戶資產轉移到美國，這中間有一個稍微漫長的過程。我只是想有個想法。你所說的時間線是什麼樣的？好像是2年、3年？在整個過程中（比如說，未來 2、3 年）我們應該期待什麼樣的里程碑，以便我們能夠追蹤您的定居基礎設施的潛在建設？

Second question is on expenses. We have noticed quite a sharp increase in marketing expense and R&D. I think this will reflect your long-term commitment on growth of cost. We just want to have more idea. Are there any particular projects you want to focus on for this year? And also regarding the budget for both marketing spend and R&D, can you remind us of your budget for this year? Two questions for me.

第二個問題是關於費用。我們注意到行銷費用和研發費用大幅增加。我認為這將反映您對成本成長的長期承諾。我們只是想有更多想法。今年有什麼特別想要關注的項目嗎？還有關於行銷支出和研發預算，您能提醒我們今年的預算嗎？有兩個問題問我。

Sure. Thank you very much, Kelvin, for your 2 questions. Number one, in terms of the clearing capabilities, actually, I think this is one of the reasons we may spend more R&D efforts into 2019 because we want to accelerate our capabilities in this area. Just to give you examples. For instance, Robinhood in the United States, according to their blog statements, it takes them roughly 2 years to complete their own clearing capabilities, i.e. the clearing by Robinhood. I think in terms of our research and development team's capability, and also we have already start the relevant -- the technology developments, it may for us take less time, within 2 years, to complete this journey.

當然。非常感謝你，凱爾文，提出兩個問題。第一，就清算能力而言，實際上，我認為這是我們可能在 2019 年投入更多研發精力的原因之一，因為我們希望加快我們在這一領域的能力。只是給你舉個例子。例如美國的Robinhood，根據其部落格的說法，他們大約需要2年時間才能完成自己的清算能力，也就是Robinhood的清算。我認為以我們研發團隊的能力，以及我們已經開始相關的技術開發，我們可能需要更少的時間，在兩年之內，完成這個旅程。

In terms of the marketing expenses and also the R&D expenses ratio, I think we will continue heavily investing in the R&D, which is a key for our long-term growth strategy. In order to further engage our user and the clients in a sticky manner, we need to accelerate our new product and service launch to expand our total addressable market and gain market share as well. As such, we will continue to recruit and invest talents in this regard. Number-wise, I expect absolute amounts of R&D expenses will continue to increase in the next quarter, and I expect R&D versus revenue ratio will remain over 28% in the second quarter. In terms of marketing spending, in order to fulfill our ambitions of becoming a full-range digital financial service platform, we should become more long-term greedy mentality. It is our belief that as long as we can engage more and more clients and keep our current retention rate alongside with the clients as they increase, we will create more shareholder values. Given the second quarter to date, the equity market was quite volatile and we have more marketing campaign to be launched in the second quarter in connection with our new product offering, I would expect the marketing expenses versus the revenue ratio will grow slightly compared with that in the first quarter in the coming quarters. Thank you.

就行銷費用和研發費用比率而言，我認為我們將繼續大力投資研發，這是我們長期成長策略的關鍵。為了進一步以黏性方式吸引我們的用戶和客戶，我們需要加快新產品和服務的推出，以擴大我們的總目標市場並獲得市場份額。因此，我們將繼續招募和投資這方面的人才。從數量上看，我預計下季研發費用的絕對金額將持續增加，我預計第二季研發與營收的比率將維持在28%以上。在行銷支出方面，為了實現成為全方位數位金融服務平台的雄心，我們應該變得更加長遠的貪婪心態。我們相信，只要我們能吸引越來越多的客戶，並隨著客戶的增加而維持目前的保留率，我們就能創造更多的股東價值。鑑於第二季迄今為止，股市波動相當大，而且我們將在第二季度推出更多與新產品相關的行銷活動，我預計行銷費用與收入的比率將略有增長在未來幾季的第一季度。謝謝。

Arthur, one more question, if I may. So regarding the client growth, if I look at it on a sequential basis, your paying client growth was pretty solid in the first quarter. But if I look at the total user growth, it seemed to be much slower than paying client. Can I have more idea on that?

亞瑟，如果可以的話，還有一個問題。因此，關於客戶成長，如果我按順序查看，您的付費客戶成長在第一季相當穩健。但如果我看一下總用戶成長，它似乎比付費客戶慢得多。我可以對此有更多的想法嗎？

Sure. No problem. Kelvin, I'll let Leaf to answer this question for you regarding the number of the user increase.

當然。沒問題。 Kelvin，關於使用者數量成長的問題，我就讓Leaf為您解答一下。

(foreign language)

（外語）

[Interpreted] Yes. So I think in terms of the number of users, that is a metric that we look at but it's not something we attach too much importance to in the first quarter. And we didn't do that much to stimulate our user growth, and paying client is still the operating metric that we look most closely at. And in the past quarter and in the quarters to come, I think we will continue to launch more products for trading in both Hong Kong and U.S. markets. And also, we have online market data and marketing news for people interested in Asian investing as well.

[解釋] 是的。因此，我認為就用戶數量而言，這是我們關注的指標，但我們在第一季並不太重視它。我們並沒有採取太多措施來刺激用戶成長，付費客戶仍然是我們最密切關注的營運指標。在過去的季度和未來的幾個季度中，我認為我們將繼續推出更多在香港和美國市場進行交易的產品。此外，我們也為對亞洲投資有興趣的人提供線上市場數據和行銷新聞。

(Operator Instructions) Your next question comes from the line of Yiwen Zhang from Bank of China.

（操作員指示） 您的下一個問題來自中國銀行張一文。

(foreign language)

（外語）

[Interpreted] Okay. That's Chinese but I will translate myself. So I have 2 questions. The first is regarding the paying user. Can management share us some difference between China-based and Hong Kong-based paying user, for example, the trading frequency and ARPU? And also how big is the addressable market for both investors.

[解釋]好的。那是中文，但我會自己翻譯。所以我有兩個問題。首先是關於付費用戶。管理階層能否向我們分享一些中國和香港付費用戶之間的差異，例如交易頻率和 ARPU？以及雙方投資者的潛在市場有多大。

And then my second question is about the competitive landscape. So given our competitor is also listed in the U.S., so how do you think the competitive landscape will evolve?

我的第二個問題是關於競爭格局。鑑於我們的競爭對手也在美國上市，您認為競爭格局將如何演變？

Thank you, Yiwen. Let me take the first question, and Leaf will answer the second question about competitive landscape. In terms of the characteristics of the Hong Kong-based local clients and also the Mainland clients, in terms of trading velocity, actually, we don't see significant difference in terms of trading velocities between the Mainland-based Chinese clients and also the Hong Kong local clients. In terms of the client asset size, Hong Kong local clients average assets will be around 20% to 25% lower compared with the Mainland people. This year will be still for us regarding the first year to penetrate and expand in the Hong Kong local people market.

謝謝你，伊文。我回答第一個問題，Leaf回答第二個問題，關於競爭格局。就香港本地客戶和內地客戶的特徵而言，就交易速度而言，實際上，我們並沒有看到中國內地客戶和香港客戶在交易速度方面有顯著差異。香港本地客戶。從客戶資產規模來看，香港本地客戶的平均資產將比內地低約20%至25%。今年對我們來說仍然是滲透和擴展香港本土市場的第一年。

Okay. (foreign language)

好的。 （外語）

[Interpreted] So in terms of our competitive landscape, I think we talked about IPO subscription service and ESOP service. So for our ESOP service, we actually started brainstorming in 2015, and we officially launched our ESOP service in 2016. So actually, we think it's a very difficult capability to acquire because the ESOP services touches on some of the most important and sensitive data of the company. So it really requires the high security of the platform. So actually, our first ESOP client is Tencent, and we had ongoing discussions with their finance team, with their securities team, and it took us 2 years to set up a whole system and to polish the system. So after having Tencent as an example and after developing this prototype, we keep honing our capabilities, and I think it became easier for us to plug in more ESOP clients.

【解讀】那麼就我們的競爭格局而言，我認為我們談到了IPO認購服務和ESOP服務。所以對於我們的ESOP服務，我們實際上在2015年就開始集思廣益，並在2016年正式推出了我們的ESOP服務。所以實際上，我們認為這是一個很難獲得的能力，因為ESOP服務涉及到一些最重要、最敏感的數據。公司。所以確實對平台的安全性要求很高。所以實際上，我們的第一個ESOP客戶是騰訊，我們和他們的財務團隊、他們的證券團隊一直在討論，我們花了兩年的時間來建立一個完整的系統並完善這個系統。所以以騰訊為例，開發了這個原型之後，我們不斷磨練我們的能力，我認為我們更容易接入更多的ESOP客戶端。

And in terms of our IPO subscription service, so in the past year, you should realize that we are involved in almost all of the landmark transactions on the Hong Kong IPO market, including Xiaomi and Meituan. So for both these cases, I think we cover over 30% of the demand from the retail tranche. And starting this year, we started to offer the U.S. IPO subscription service, and we give our users access to the IPOs of Yunji, So-Young, Ruhan, including Luckin Coffee. And we actually provided exclusive IPO subscription service for Luckin Coffee.

而就我們的IPO認購服務而言，所以在過去的一年裡，你應該意識到，我們幾乎參與了香港IPO市場上所有具有里程碑意義的交易，包括小米和美團。因此，對於這兩種情況，我認為我們滿足了零售部分 30% 以上的需求。從今年開始，我們開始提供美國IPO認購服務，我們為用戶提供了雲集、新氧、如涵、包括瑞幸咖啡的IPO。我們實際上為瑞幸咖啡提供了獨家IPO認購服務。

(Operator Instructions) Your next question comes from the line of Wei Chen of Goldman Sachs.

（操作員指示） 您的下一個問題來自高盛的陳偉。

Just got one follow-up question on Asia because you at least just introduced that you are looking to expand the Asia trading through the connect absolutely, in China. So just curious. Given Asia market actually has been quite heated in the first quarter, in April, so I wonder, amongst over like HKD 200 billion transactional volume, how much you said is from Asia? And if you can also break down the Hong Kong and U.S. stock trading, that would be fantastic.

剛剛收到一個關於亞洲的後續問題，因為您至少剛剛介紹說，您希望透過互聯互通在中國擴大亞洲貿易。所以只是好奇。鑑於亞洲市場在第一季度，即4月份實際上已經相當火熱，所以我想知道，在超過2000億港元的交易額中，您所說的有多少來自亞洲？如果你能把港股和美股的交易也細分一下，那就太好了。

Sure. No problem, Wei Chen. In terms of total trading volumes, now the Asia, i.e., northbound connect, roughly accounts for 2% of our total trading volumes generated in the first quarter. And the remaining was almost evenly split between the Hong Kong markets and also the U.S. markets.

當然。沒問題，魏晨。從總交易量來看，現在亞洲，也就是北向連接，大約占我們第一季總交易量的2%。其餘的幾乎由香港市場和美國市場平分。

(Operator Instructions) Your next question comes from the line of [Yu Pei Chi] of [BBC Investment Management.]

（操作員說明）您的下一個問題來自[BBC Investment Management]的[Yu Pei Chi]。

My first one is about client engagement. So despite the constant increase in DAUs and trading frequencies, I've noticed that trading volume per paying client has been declining for a consecutive 4 quarters and there seems no signs of uptick. So that could basically offset your paying client growth in terms of your overall trading -- commission revenues. I'd like to know how would you comment on that.

我的第一個是關於客戶參與度。因此，儘管 DAU 和交易頻率不斷增加，但我注意到每位付費客戶的交易量已連續 4 個季度下降，而且似乎沒有上升的跡象。因此，這基本上可以抵消您的付費客戶在整體交易（佣金收入）方面的成長。我想知道你對此有何評論。

And my second question is about the registered client profile, especially for the 45 newcomers. And how are they different from your previous cohorts in terms of age, like working industry, income levels, et cetera?

我的第二個問題是關於註冊客戶資料，特別是 45 位新客戶。他們在年齡、工作行業、收入水平等方面與您之前的同齡人有何不同？

Thanks very much. I will take the first question, and the second question will be answered by our Vice President, Robin. In terms of the trading volumes, as you said, our overall trading volume generated in this quarter slightly decreased quarter-on-quarter compared with last Q4. And actually, our internal -- the major KPI indicators for us is not actually the trading volumes. We do not encourage people to trade more. Actually, what we're more focused is the investment education and keep them supplied in these markets in a much longer term so that their whole lifetime value will become more valuable to us.

非常感謝。我回答第一個問題，第二個問題將由我們的副總裁羅賓回答。從交易量來看，正如您所說，我們本季的整體交易量較上季較上季略有下降。實際上，我們內部主要的 KPI 指標其實並不是交易量。我們不鼓勵人們進行更多交易。事實上，我們更關注的是投資教育，並讓它們在這些市場上長期供應，這樣它們的整個生命週期價值對我們來說就會變得更有價值。

And also, we will be more focusing on the number of the paying client increase and also the client assets we generate this year alongside with the retention rate, i.e., as long as you can engage more and more clients and, at the same time, you can retain them in your platform and you can keep their assets as much as possible in our platforms, we can deliver the value to our shareholders in the long run.

此外，我們將更加關注付費客戶數量的成長，以及我們今年產生的客戶資產以及保留率，即只要您能夠吸引越來越多的客戶，同時，您可以將他們保留在您的平台上，您可以將他們的資產盡可能保留在我們的平台上，從長遠來看，我們可以為股東創造價值。

(foreign language)

（外語）

[Interpreted] Yes. So in terms of client profile of our new cohort, so the ARPU, the trading volume has been pretty much consistent, and we see a lot of more paying clients from Hong Kong. And this group tends to be very young and trades more frequently than our Mainland China client. And as for our new China paying clients, we still observe that majority of them comes from the TMT industries as well as the finance industry.

[解釋] 是的。因此，就我們新群體的客戶概況而言，即 ARPU，交易量幾乎保持一致，而且我們看到更多來自香港的付費客戶。這個群體往往非常年輕，而且比我們中國大陸的客戶交易更頻繁。至於我們的新中國付費客戶，我們仍然觀察到他們大多來自TMT產業以及金融業。

(Operator Instructions) There are no further questions at this time. [Mr. Daniel Yuan], you may proceed with your remarks.

（操作員說明） 目前沒有其他問題。 [先生。袁丹尼爾]，您可以繼續發言。

That concludes our call today. On behalf of the entire Futu management team, I would like to thank you for joining us today. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact us. Thank you, and goodbye.

我們今天的電話會議到此結束。我謹代表富途整個管理團隊感謝您今天加入我們。如果您還有其他疑問，請隨時與我們聯繫。謝謝，再見。

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may all disconnect.

女士們、先生們，我們今天的會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。你們都可以斷開連線。