富途控股 (FUTU) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Futu Holdings fourth-quarter and full-year 2023 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Today's conference call is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time.

女士們、先生們，大家好。歡迎參加富途控股第四季及2023年全年財報電話會議。（操作員指示）今天的電話會議正在錄音。如果您有任何異議，您可以此時斷開連接。

I would now like to turn the conference over to your host for today's conference call, Daniel Yuan, Chief of Staff to CEO and Head of IR at Futu. Please go ahead, sir.

現在我想將會議交給今天電話會議的主持人，富途執行長兼 IR 主管兼執行長幕僚長 Daniel Yuan。請繼續，先生。

Thanks, operator, and thank you all for joining us today to discuss our fourth-quarter and full-year 2023 earnings results. Joining me on the call today are Mr. Leaf Li, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Arthur Chen, Chief Financial Officer; and Robin Xu, Senior Vice President.

感謝營運商，感謝大家今天加入我們討論我們的 2023 年第四季和全年獲利結果。今天與我一起參加電話會議的還有董事長兼執行長李葉先生；陳亞瑟，財務長；徐彥，資深副總裁。

As a reminder, today's call may include forward-looking statements, which represent the company's belief regarding future events, which by their nature are not certain and are outside of the company's control. 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 statement. For more information about the potential risks and uncertainties, please refer to the company's filings with the SEC, including its annual report.

提醒一下，今天的電話會議可能包括前瞻性陳述，這些陳述代表了公司對未來事件的信念，這些事件本質上是不確定的，並且不在公司的控制範圍內。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聲明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 SEC 提交的文件，包括其年度報告。

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

現在我將把電話轉給 Leaf。Leaf會用中文發表評論，我會翻譯。

(interpreted) Thank you all for joining our earnings call today. In the fourth quarter, we added over 59,000 paying clients. Our total paying clients as of year end reached over 1.7 million, representing 15% growth year over year and exceeding our guidance.

（翻譯）感謝大家今天參加我們的財報電話會議。第四季度，我們增加了超過 59,000 名付費客戶。截至年底，我們的付費客戶總數超過 170 萬，年成長 15%，超出了我們的指導。

Client acquisition in Singapore has sustained high growth into the fourth quarter. Money market funds continue to garner significant client interest amid high interest rate and market volatility. In December, we became the first and only distributor of Fullerton Fund Management Singapore-dollar-denominated money market fund, the only T+0 Singapore dollar money market fund for retail investors in Singapore.

新加坡的客戶獲取量在第四季持續保持高速成長。在高利率和市場波動的情況下，貨幣市場基金繼續吸引大量客戶的興趣。12月，我們成為富登基金管理公司新加坡元貨幣市場基金的第一家也是唯一一家經銷商，該基金是新加坡唯一針對散戶投資者的T+0新加坡元貨幣市場基金。

We continue to gain user mindshare in Japan with our rich market information, comprehensive market data, and interactive social community. In the fourth quarter, the average daily downloads of moomoo app in Japan ranked top three among all brokers and surpassed those of Nomura and Matsui Securities according to data.ai. With [Nikkei] recording remarkable gains and hitting new highs, client acquisition in Japan also showed a notable sequential increase in the first quarter.

我們憑藉豐富的市場資訊、全面的市場數據和互動的社交社區，持續贏得日本用戶的關注。根據data.ai的數據，第四季度moomoo應用程式在日本的每日平均下載量在所有經紀商中排名前三，並超過了野村證券和松井證券。隨著日經指數錄得顯著漲幅並創下新高，第一季日本的客戶獲取量也出現了顯著的環比增長。

We continue to streamline the account opening process to reduce leakage in the conversion funnel and focused on R&D for key investment products. We launched the NISA growth account in December that will soon roll out Japan equities trading. Our clients in Hong Kong and Singapore will also have access to Japan stock trading in the second quarter.

我們持續簡化開戶流程，減少轉換漏斗，並專注於關鍵投資產品的研發。我們於 12 月推出了 NISA 成長帳戶，很快將推出日本股票交易。我們在香港和新加坡的客戶也將在第二季進入日本股票交易。

Client acquisition in Hong Kong slowed down due to sluggish market sentiments. We have rebounded in the first quarter along with the recovery of the Hong Kong stock market. In the US, we continue to prioritize client quality over quantity with the average asset balance of new paying clients in their first quarter of onboarding, increasing by over 30% compared to the last quarter. In Australia, we focused on cultivating brand equity and adding new products, including cash management.

由於市場情緒低迷，香港的客戶獲取放緩。隨著香港股市的復甦，我們在第一季出現了反彈。在美國，我們繼續優先考慮客戶品質而非數量，新付費客戶在入職第一季的平均資產餘額較上季增加了 30% 以上。在澳大利亞，我們專注於培養品牌資產和增加新產品，包括現金管理。

On February 26, we launched brokerage business in Malaysia and gained significant traction. Over 30,000 clients flocked to our platform within one week of the official launch, representing the fastest growth in any of our international markets. We managed to generate high brand awareness in Malaysia from the outset thanks to our rapid share gain in Singapore over the past three years.

2月26日，我們在馬來西亞推出經紀業務並獲得了巨大的關注。正式推出後一週內，就有超過 30,000 名客戶湧入我們的平台，這是我們所有國際市場中成長最快的。由於過去三年在新加坡市場份額的快速增長，我們從一開始就在馬來西亞建立了很高的品牌知名度。

We observed robust paying client growth across all markets this year. In fact, we attracted more paying clients and net asset inflows in the first two months this year than the entire fourth quarter. Given the strong momentum year to date, we are guiding for 350,000 net new paying clients in 2024.

我們觀察到今年所有市場的付費客戶強勁成長。事實上，今年前兩個月我們吸引的付費客戶和淨資產流入比整個第四季還要多。鑑於今年迄今的強勁勢頭，我們預計到 2024 年將有 35 萬名淨新付費客戶。

Total client assets increased by 16% year over year and 4% quarter over quarter to HKD486 billion. The sequential increase was largely due to robust net asset inflow across all regions and the market appreciation of our clients' US stockholding. In Singapore, total client assets and average client assets posted sequential increase of 25% and 17%, respectively. Average client assets was over SGD17,000 due to strong inflows across cohorts. As we continue to build brand equity, moomoo gained traction among high-net-worth clients in Singapore.

客戶總資產年增16%，季增4%至4,860億港元。環比成長主要是由於各地區淨資產強勁流入以及客戶所持有美國股票的市場升值。在新加坡，客戶總資產和平均客戶資產較上季成長 25% 和 17%。由於各群體的資金流入強勁，平均客戶資產超過 17,000 新元。隨著我們不斷建立品牌資產，moomoo 贏得了新加坡高淨值客戶的青睞。

As of quarter end, margin financing and securities lending balance increased marginally by 2% quarter over quarter. While we saw an uptick in security funding balance for US stocks, margin financing balance declined as clients unwound their positions.

截至季末，融資融券餘額較上季小幅增加2%。雖然我們看到美國股票的擔保融資餘額增加，但隨著客戶平倉，保證金融資餘額下降。

Total trading volume was HKD957 billion, down 12% year over year and quarter over quarter. In the fourth quarter, Hong Kong and US stock trading volume were down 13% and 12% sequentially. Weak sentiments around Hong Kong equities and lower turnover in US tech stocks dragged total trading volume. Our share gains in the derivatives market and Hong Kong was a bright spot. Hong Kong futures and options trading at 8.5% and 14.7% market share in the fourth quarter respectively.

總成交量為 9,570 億港元，較去年同期下跌 12%。第四季度，港股和美股交易量分別下降13%和12%。香港股市的疲軟情緒和美國科技股的成交量下降拖累了總交易量。我們在衍生性商品市場和香港的份額成長是一個亮點。第四季香港期貨和選擇權交易市佔率分別為8.5%和14.7%。

Total client assets in wealth management increased by 82% year over year and 11% quarter over quarter to HKD58 billion, accounting for 12% of total client assets. Clients increased their allocation in money market funds and US treasury bills to harvest high yields. Total bond holdings as a result increased by over 60% quarter over quarter. We continue to enrich our structured products by onboarding the accumulator notes, a product that allow clients to sell their stock positions out of premium.

財富管理客戶總資產年增82%，較上季成長11%至580億港元，佔客戶總資產12%。客戶增加貨幣市場基金和美國國債配置，以獲得高收益。因此，債券持有總量較上季增加了 60% 以上。我們透過推出累積票據繼續豐富我們的結構性產品，該產品允許客戶以溢價出售其股票頭寸。

Our enterprise business had 414 IPO distribution and IR clients, up 24% year over year. In the fourth quarter, we acted as joint book runners for several high-profile Hong Kong IPOs, including those of J&T Express and UBTech. We underwrote 37 Hong Kong IPOs in 2023 and ranked first among all brokers according to Wind.

企業業務IPO發行及IR客戶414家，較去年成長24%。第四季度，我們擔任了多起備受矚目的香港IPO的聯合帳簿管理人，其中包括J&T Express和UBTech的IPO。根據 Wind 的數據，我們在 2023 年承銷了 37 家香港 IPO，在所有券商中排名第一。

Next, I'd like to invite our CFO, Arthur, to discuss our financial performance.

接下來，我想邀請我們的財務長阿瑟來討論我們的財務表現。

Thank you, Leaf and Daniel. Before going through our financial performance, I'd like to give you an update on our latest share repurchase program announced on March 11, 2022. As of December 31, 2023, the expiration date of the program, we have repurchased an aggregate of 11 billion ADS with approximately USD365 million total repurchase amount in open market transactions. We have put in place a new share repurchase program, which approved and authorized us to repurchase up to USD500 million of ADS before December 31, 2025.

謝謝你們，葉和丹尼爾。在介紹我們的財務表現之前，我想向您介紹我們於 2022 年 3 月 11 日宣布的最新股票回購計畫的最新情況。截至2023年12月31日，即該計畫到期日，我們已在公開市場交易中回購了總計110億枚ADS，回購總額約為3.65億美元。我們已經制定了新的股票回購計劃，該計劃批准並授權我們在 2025 年 12 月 31 日之前回購最多 5 億美元的 ADS。

Now please allow me to walk you through our financial performance. All numbers Hong Kong dollars unless otherwise noted.

現在請容許我向您介紹我們的財務表現。除非另有說明，所有數字均為港幣。

Total revenue was $2.4 billion, up 4% from $2.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022. We ended 2023 with full-year revenue growing 31% to $10 billion. Brokerage commission and handling charge income were $904 million, a decrease of 14% year over year and 10% QoQ. The decrease was mainly driven by lower trading volumes.

總營收為 24 億美元，比 2022 年第四季的 23 億美元成長 4%。截至 2023 年，我們的全年營收成長了 31%，達到 100 億美元。經紀佣金及手續費收入為9.04億美元，年減14%，季減10%。下降的主要原因是交易量下降。

Interest income was $1.3 billion, up 17% year over year and down 11% QoQ. The year-over-year increase was mainly driven by higher interest income from client cash deposits due to higher benchmark interest rate and higher margin financing income due to an increase in daily average margin balance. The Q-over-Q decrease was mostly driven by the lower interest income from clients' cash deposits due to decrease in daily average client cash balance.

利息收入為13億美元，年增17%，季減11%。年比成長主要是由於基準利率上升導致客戶現金存款利息收入增加以及每日平均保證金餘額增加導致保證金融資收入增加。環比下降主要是由於每日平均客戶現金餘額減少導致客戶現金存款利息收入下降。

Other income was $137 million, up 46% year over year and a largely flat QoQ. The year-over-year increase was primary attribute to higher fund distribution income, partially offset by lower enterprise public relationship service income and underwriting fee income. Our total cost of $433 million, an increase of 27% from $342 million in the fourth quarter of 2022.

其他收入為 1.37 億美元，年增 46%，環比基本持平。年比成長的主要原因是基金分配收入增加，但部分被企業公關服務收入和承銷費收入減少所抵銷。我們的總成本為 4.33 億美元，比 2022 年第四季的 3.42 億美元增加了 27%。

Brokerage commission and handling charge expenses were $59 million, down 8% year over year and 6% Q-over-Q. The decrease was roughly in line with our decrease of our brokerage commission and handling charge income, partially offset by the cost of migrating our SGX equities to our self-clearing system.

經紀佣金和手續費支出為 5,900 萬美元，年減 8%，較上季下降 6%。這一下降與我們的經紀佣金和手續費收入的下降大致一致，部分被將新交所股票遷移到我們的自我清算系統的成本所抵消。

Interest expenses were $271 million, up 49% year over year and down 6% Q-over-Q. The year-over-year increase was driven by higher interest expenses associated with our securities borrowing and lending business and the higher margin financing interest expenses. The Q-over-Q decrease was mostly due to lower interest expenses associated with our security borrowing and the lending business, partially offset by higher margin financing interest expenses.

利息支出為 2.71 億美元，年增 49%，季減 6%。年比增長是由於與我們的證券借貸業務相關的利息費用增加以及保證金融資利息費用增加所致。環比下降主要是由於與我們的證券借貸業務相關的利息支出減少，部分被保證金融資利息支出增加所抵銷。

Processing and servicing costs was $104 million, up 7% year over year and 21% Q-over-Q. The increase was largely due to higher product service fee for new markets and higher system usage fees. As a result, our total gross profit was $1.9 billion, largely flat year over year. Gross margin was 81.7% as compared to 85% in the fourth quarter of 2022.

處理和服務成本為 1.04 億美元，年增 7%，季增 21%。增加的主要原因是新市場的產品服務費和系統使用費增加。因此，我們的總毛利為 19 億美元，與去年同期基本持平。毛利率為 81.7%，而 2022 年第四季為 85%。

Operating expenses was up 12% year over year and 3% Q-over-Q, so $916 million. R&D expenses were $363 million, up 9% year over year and 1% Q-over-Q. The year-over-year increase was mainly due to increasing R&D headcount as we continue to support new product offerings in international markets.

營運費用年增 12%，季增 3%，達到 9.16 億美元。研發費用為 3.63 億美元，年增 9%，季增 1%。年比成長主要是由於我們繼續支持國際市場上的新產品供應，因此研發人員數量增加。

Selling and marketing expenses was $182 million, up 19% year over year and down 14% Q-over-Q. The year-over-year increase was due to a 41% year-over-year increase in net new paying clients, partially offset by lower customer acquisition costs. And the Q-over-Q decrease was due to fewer net new clients and lower customer acquisition costs.

銷售和行銷費用為 1.82 億美元，年增 19%，季減 14%。年比成長是由於淨新付費客戶年增 41%，但部分被客戶獲取成本降低所抵銷。環比下降是由於淨新客戶減少和客戶獲取成本降低。

G&A expenses were $370 million, up 12% year over year and 15% Q-over-Q. The increase was primary due to increase in headcount for general and administrative personnel, partially offset by lower professional service fees. As a result, income from operations decreased 9% year over year and 22% Q-over-Q to $1 billion. Operating margin declined to 43.1% from 49.1% in the fourth quarter of 2022, mostly due to operating deleverage.

一般管理費用為 3.7 億美元，年增 12%，季增 15%。這一增長主要是由於一般和行政人員人數的增加，但部分被專業服務費的下降所抵消。因此，營運收入年減 9%，季減 22%，至 10 億美元。營運利潤率從 2022 年第四季的 49.1% 下降至 43.1%，主要是由於營運去槓桿化。

Our net income decreased by 9% year over year and 20% Q-over-Q to $876 million. Net income margin shrank to 36.9% in the fourth quarter as compared to 42% in the same quarter last year. Among our international business, Singapore was the first to achieve breakeven on a quarterly basis even with apportioned cost from headquarter. As client assets continued to grow, we believe the unit economics in Singapore will maintain an upward trajectory.

我們的淨利潤年減 9%，季減 20%，至 8.76 億美元。第四季淨利率從去年同期的 42% 下降至 36.9%。在我們的國際業務中，新加坡是第一個在總部分攤成本的情況下實現季度盈虧平衡的。隨著客戶資產持續成長，我們相信新加坡的單位經濟效益將維持上升趨勢。

That concludes our prepared remarks. We'd now like to open the call to questions. Operator, please go ahead. Thank you.

我們準備好的演講到此結束。我們現在要開始提問。接線員，請繼續。謝謝。

Thank you. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝。（操作員說明）

Cindy Wang, China Renaissance.

王辛迪，中國文藝復興。

(spoken in Chinese)

(用中文說)

Thanks for taking my call. And I have two questions. First one is what's your progress of improving accounts opening process in Japan? And could you provide more color on new paying client acquisition in fourth quarter last year versus first quarter this year so far in Japan? And when would you expect to launch Japan stock trading?

感謝您接聽我的電話。我有兩個問題。第一個是你們在改善日本開戶流程上取得了什麼進展？您能否提供更多有關日本去年第四季與今年第一季新付費客戶獲取情況的資訊？您預計什麼時候推出日本股票交易？

And the second question is regarding to the new paying clients. So we see the new paying client target of 350,000 in 2024. It's very impressive. Could you break down by key markets, including like Hong Kong, Singapore, US, Japan, et cetera? Thank you.

第二個問題是關於新的付費客戶。因此，我們預計 2024 年新的付費客戶目標將達到 35 萬人。這是非常令人印象深刻的。您能否依主要市場細分，包括香港、新加坡、美國、日本等？謝謝。

Thank you, Cindy. I will take your second question first and will leave the first question to my colleague, Daniel. In terms of our new targets for 2024, the contributions from Singapore, Hong Kong and the Australians -- these existing markets absolute terms should be similar to last year. So the incremental growth drivers mainly come from certain new markets we enter into this year and recently in the fourth quarter last year, such as Japan, Canada, and Malaysia. Thank you.

謝謝你，辛蒂。我先回答你的第二個問題，然後把第一個問題留給我的同事丹尼爾。就我們 2024 年的新目標而言，新加坡、香港和澳洲的貢獻——這些現有市場的絕對值應該與去年類似。所以增量成長動力主要來自我們今年和去年第四季進入的一些新市場，像是日本、加拿大和馬來西亞。謝謝。

Hi, Cindy. This is Daniel, and I'll take your question on Japan. So in the fourth quarter, we continued to optimize their account opening process and to integrate the redundant processes and pages in that process, and to iterate on the key friction points. And we have seen, therefore, a very meaningful increase in the conversion rate from users to registered clients to paying clients.

嗨，辛蒂。我是丹尼爾，我將回答你關於日本的問題。所以在第四季度，我們繼續優化他們的開戶流程，整合流程中的冗餘流程和頁面，迭代關鍵摩擦點。因此，我們看到從用戶到註冊客戶再到付費客戶的轉換率有了非常有意義的提升。

But in comparison to other international markets, there is still a lot of room for improvement in that conversion number and to continue to optimize that account opening golden process will be a key priority for us this year. And in terms of Japan, equities trading, yes, we are planning to roll out the Japan equities trading to our Japan clients by the end of March. And then in April or May, we're going to roll out Japan equities trading to our clients in Hong Kong and Singapore. Thank you.

但與其他國際市場相比，轉換數字還有很大的提升空間，繼續優化開戶黃金流程將是我們今年的重點工作。就日本股票交易而言，是的，我們計劃在三月底前向日本客戶推出日本股票交易。然後在四月或五月，我們將向香港和新加坡的客戶推出日本股票交易。謝謝。

Thank you. Chiyao Huang, Morgan Stanley.

謝謝。黃馳耀，摩根士丹利。

(spoken in Chinese)

(用中文說)

My question is on Singapore. So what was roughly the client number and client asset contribution on the overall firm basis? And also wonder what's the strategy in Singapore for 2024, and how's the competitive landscape change in Singapore? And also what's the risk appetite evolving for Singapore clients in '24, given the US market still performing quite well? Are they trading more stocks? Thank you.

我的問題是關於新加坡的。那麼，在整個公司基礎上，客戶數量和客戶資產貢獻大致上是多少？還想知道2024年新加坡的策略是什麼，新加坡的競爭格局如何改變？鑑於美國市場仍表現良好，24 年新加坡客戶的風險偏好會發生什麼樣的變化？他們交易更多股票嗎？謝謝。

Thank you, Chiyao. My colleague, Robin, will answer this question for you.

謝謝你，赤瑤。我的同事羅賓將為您解答這個問題。

(interpreted) In the fourth quarter, the Singapore recorded very steady client growth and contributed about 30% of our total net new clients for the entire quarter. And thanks to the continued net asset inflow of our existing clients and the higher quality new clients, the total client assets and average client assets in Singapore reported 25% and 17% sequential growth, respectively. And the total client asset reported sequential increase for every single quarter since we launched the business.

（解讀）第四季度，新加坡的客戶成長非常穩定，佔整個季度淨新客戶總數的30%左右。由於現有客戶淨資產的持續流入和更高品質的新客戶，新加坡客戶總資產和平均客戶資產分別較上季成長25%和17%。自從我們推出該業務以來，客戶總資產每季都呈現環比成長。

And average client assets have been on an upward trajectory for six consecutive quarters. And as at the end of last year, average client assets in Singapore was over SGD17,000. And we believe that as we continue to enhance our brand awareness to diversify and enrich our product offerings and to improve our client services, moomoo will continue to attract more high-net-worth individuals.

平均客戶資產連續六季呈現上升趨勢。截至去年底，新加坡的平均客戶資產超過 17,000 新元。我們相信，隨著我們不斷提高品牌知名度、多樣化和豐富我們的產品供應並改善我們的客戶服務，moomoo 將繼續吸引更多高淨值人士。

And we've also seen the unit economics in Singapore to continue to improve in the past two years. And taking into account the costs from the headquarters to support Singapore, the Singapore subsidiary breakeven for the first time during the fourth quarter, and we have some very good growth year to date.

我們也看到新加坡的單位經濟效益在過去兩年中持續改善。考慮到總部支持新加坡的成本，新加坡子公司在第四季度首次實現盈虧平衡，並且我們今年迄今為止有一些非常好的成長。

And in terms of clients' risk appetite -- so during the past rate hike cycle, we started to promote our Cash Plus product, which is the money market fund product. And we continue to cross-sell on different investment products based on our clients' risk appetite. And this year, we have seen very strong traction in US equities among our Singapore clients. Thank you.

從顧客的風險偏好來看，所以在過去的升息週期中，我們開始推廣我們的Cash Plus產品，也就是貨幣市場基金產品。我們繼續根據客戶的風險偏好交叉銷售不同的投資產品。今年，我們看到美國股票對新加坡客戶的吸引力非常大。謝謝。

Thank you very much.

非常感謝。

Thank you. [Yu Fan, CICC].

謝謝。[於凡，中金公司]。

(spoken in Chinese)

(用中文說)

My first question is regarding the blended commission rate. We see the commission rate increase this quarter. So what's the reason behind? And the second question is about the CAC. So we see the CAC decreased a lot this quarter. So what's the reason behind? And how do you view the future trend of the CAC?

我的第一個問題是關於混合佣金率。我們看到本季佣金率上升。那麼背後的原因是什麼呢？第二個問題是關於CAC的。所以我們看到本季的 CAC 下降了很多。那麼背後的原因是什麼呢？您如何看待CAC未來的發展趨勢？

Thank you. I will take these two questions. For commission rate, the combined take rate is almost flat on a QoQ basis, slightly up because of the product mixture and more contributions from our -- the virtual products.

謝謝。我將回答這兩個問題。就佣金率而言，綜合佣金率幾乎比幾乎持平，但由於產品組合和我們虛擬產品的更多貢獻而略有上升。

And then for the CAC, we further optimized our different marketing campaigns channels to control and even decrease our CAC, which -- they are very strong result in the fourth quarter. And then looking forward and based on the year-to-date situations, we do expect this year, CAC number will decrease compared with last year, hopefully by 10% to 20% year-on-year basis. Thank you.

然後對於 CAC，我們進一步優化了不同的行銷活動管道，以控制甚至降低我們的 CAC，這是第四季度非常強勁的結果。然後展望未來，根據今年迄今的情況，我們預計今年的 CAC 數量將比去年減少，預計將年減 10% 至 20%。謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you. Emma Xu, Bank of America Securities.

謝謝。艾瑪·徐，美國銀行證券。

(spoken in Chinese)

(用中文說)

So I have two questions. The first one is about the client quality in other international markets. You mentioned earlier about the positive progress in Singapore client quality, but how about other international market? Do you also see improvement in the average client asset? And for your Hong Kong market, with you penetrating into the mass market, how will the client profile and average client assets change?

所以我有兩個問題。第一個是關於其他國際市場的客戶品質。您之前提到新加坡客戶品質的積極進步，那麼其他國際市場呢？您是否也看到平均客戶資產有所改善？那麼對於你們的香港市場來說，隨著你們進入大眾市場，客戶概況和平均客戶資產會發生什麼變化？

And the second question is about your trading velocity and trading volume. The trading velocity declined to a record low in fourth quarter, and it is quite understandable that the Hong Kong trading velocity declined due to the weak market. However, US market actually performed quite well in the fourth quarter, but your US trading volume also declined. So how should we think about the connection between the market performance and your trading velocity? Do we see a notable rebound of your trading velocity in the first quarter?

第二個問題是關於你的交易速度和交易量。第四季交易速度跌至歷史新低，香港交易速度因市場疲軟而下降也是可以理解的。但是美國市場第四季其實表現還不錯，但你們美國的交易量也下降了。那我們該如何考慮市場表現和交易速度之間的連結呢？我們看到第一季你們的交易速度有顯著回升嗎？

Thank you. I will take your second question first and leave the first question to my colleague, Daniel. In terms of trading velocity, you're right. The trading velocity [stung] in Hong Kong and the US in the fourth quarter despite the US stock performed very well in the fourth quarter, but it remains a very strong continuous uptrend for the whole quarters. So most of our clients actually use a buy-and-hold strategy to enjoy the rallies. And the implied volatility in the US markets in the fourth quarter actually went down compared with third quarter.

謝謝。我先回答你的第二個問題，然後把第一個問題留給我的同事丹尼爾。就交易速度而言，你是對的。儘管美股第四季表現良好，但第四季香港和美國的交易速度仍然強勁，但整個季度仍保持強勁的持續上漲趨勢。因此，我們的大多數客戶實際上使用買入並持有策略來享受反彈。而美國市場第四季的隱含波動率實際上比第三季有所下降。

So the trading velocities decreased. Actually, based on our humble observations is in line with a lot of other US discount brokers' operating matrix as well. Then in the first quarter this year so far, we have seen a very healthy pickup, not only in the US but also in Hong Kong in terms of the trading volume and also the trading velocity. Thank you.

因此交易速度下降了。事實上，根據我們的粗淺觀察，這也與許多其他美國折扣經紀商的營運矩陣一致。今年第一季到目前為止，我們看到了非常健康的回升，不僅在美國，而且在香港的交易量和交易速度方面也是如此。謝謝。

Thank you, Emma. This is Daniel, and I will take your question on decline quality in international markets. Actually, we have seen an improvement in average AUM, not only in Singapore, but also in our other international markets, including US, Australia, and Japan, mostly because unlike some of our other peers, I think, Futu really cares about quality growth. And net inflow of AUM is a key KPI -- very important KPI for all of our marketing teams across different international regions.

謝謝你，艾瑪。我是丹尼爾，我將回答你關於國際市場品質下降的問題。事實上，我們看到平均資產管理規模有所提高，不僅在新加坡，而且在我們其他國際市場，包括美國、澳洲和日本，主要是因為與我​​們其他一些同行不同，我認為富途真的很關心品質增長。AUM的淨流入是一個關鍵的KPI——對於我們在不同國際地區的所有行銷團隊來說非常重要的KPI。

And in the fourth quarter, we have seen very strong AUM inflows despite weak market sentiments. And in the first two months this year, as Leaf mentioned in his opening remarks, we have a higher net asset inflow in the first two months of this year than the entire fourth quarter combined. And actually, over one-third of that net asset inflow comes from international markets. And so we'll expect a continued upward trajectory in our client assets across international markets.

在第四季度，儘管市場情緒疲軟，我們仍看到資產管理規模流入非常強勁。今年前兩個月，正如Leaf在開場白中所提到的，我們今年前兩個月的淨資產流入量比整個第四季的總和還要高。事實上，超過三分之一的淨資產流入來自國際市場。因此，我們預計我們的客戶資產在國際市場上將持續上升。

And for Hong Kong, in the past couple of quarters, we continue to attract older clients, especially with our off-line store. And we have seen that these clients typically have higher average assets. But because of the large base effect, these new clients didn't change the overall client profile much in Hong Kong. Thank you.

對於香港來說，在過去的幾個季度中，我們繼續吸引老客戶，尤其是我們的線下商店。我們發現這些客戶通常擁有較高的平均資產。但由於基數效應較大，這些新客戶並沒有對香港的整體顧客狀況造成太大影響。謝謝。

Thank you. This is really encouraging.

謝謝。這確實令人鼓舞。

Thank you. Leon Qi, Daiwa.

謝謝。萊昂奇，大和。

(spoken in Chinese)

(用中文說)

Thanks for taking my questions. This is Leon Qi. I want to ask two questions today. Firstly is on our Hong Kong marketing and client acquisition strategy. Just now, management shared a lot of details on Singapore, but I'm interested in Hong Kong now. Given we have an increasing number of client base -- paying client base now, with management's view that going forward, it will be increasingly more difficult for us to acquire new customers, are we considering gradually shifting our focus from the number of customers into average AUM or the quality of our customers?

感謝您回答我的問題。這是齊立昂。我今天想問兩個問題。首先是我們的香港行銷和客戶獲取策略。剛才管理層分享了很多關於新加坡的細節，但我現在對香港感興趣。鑑於我們現在擁有越來越多的客戶群——付費客戶群，管理層認為，未來我們獲得新客戶將變得越來越困難，我們是否正在考慮逐漸將重點從客戶數量轉向平均客戶數量資產管理規模（AUM）還是我們客戶的品質？

We do appreciate the new customer guidance that management talked about just now -- that Hong Kong new customers' guidance 2024 would be similar to 2023.

我們確實很欣賞管理層剛才談到的新客戶指導——2024 年香港新客戶指導將與 2023 年類似。

Second question is on self-clearing in US stocks. May I confirm that all of our trades in US has already been self-cleared? In addition to the positive impact on our net interest income, do we see any improvements in terms of our trading execution efficiencies by using self-clearing? Wondering if we can make any comparisons with our competitors in the US, such as Interactive Brokers, et cetera. Thank you very much.

第二個問題是關於美股的自我清算。我可以確認一下我們在美國的所有交易都已經自行清算了嗎？除了對我們的淨利息收入產生正面影響之外，透過使用自我清算，我們的交易執行效率是否有任何改善？想知道我們是否可以與美國的競爭對手（例如盈透證券等）進行比較。非常感謝。

Thank you, Leon. I'll Leaf to take the first question, and I will answer the second one.

謝謝你，萊昂。我將回答第一個問題，然後我將回答第二個問題。

(interpreted) The Hong Kong market is our home base, and in 2023, we continue to maintain very high penetration among the younger clients. And we also steadily improved our penetration into clients from other age groups. As of the end of Q4, our paying client penetration among the adults aged 35 to 55 in Hong Kong was over 10%.

（解讀）香港市場是我們的大本營，2023年我們繼續在年輕客戶中保持非常高的滲透率。我們也穩步提高了對其他年齡層客戶的滲透率。截至第四季末，我們的付費客戶在香港35歲至55歲成年人的滲透率超過10%。

And in Hong Kong, our goal is to achieve high-quality growth, and we focus on acquiring high-quality clients and also focus on attracting net asset inflow from existing clients. That's why during Q4 and also in the past where market sentiments were weak, we continued to see very robust net asset inflow from Hong Kong. And going forward, we'll leverage our comprehensive product offerings and have different operational strategies for clients with different asset analysis and different investment needs. And we'll very closely track the net asset inflow trend in Hong Kong. Thank you.

而在香港，我們的目標是實現高品質成長，我們專注於獲取優質客戶，同時也專注於吸引現有客戶的淨資產流入。這就是為什麼在第四季以及過去市場情緒疲軟的情況下，我們仍然看到香港的淨資產流入非常強勁。展望未來，我們將利用全面的產品組合，針對不同資產分析和不同投資需求的客戶制定不同的營運策略。我們將密切追蹤香港的淨資產流入趨勢。謝謝。

And for the second question, you're right, we have already largely complete the US self-clearing so far. And I think actually the positive contributions from this migration will continue thanks to the increase the client access cohort and also the contribution from the new markets such as Japan and Malaysia.

關於第二個問題，你是對的，到目前為止我們已經基本完成了美國的自我清理。我認為實際上，由於客戶訪問群體的增加以及日本和馬來西亞等新市場的貢獻，這種遷移的積極貢獻將繼續下去。

And in terms of the operating efficiency, definitely after the self-clearing capabilities, our service downtimes versus before has been meaningfully decreased and also the trading execution in terms of the reporting, et cetera, will be more smooth. Thank you.

在營運效率方面，毫無疑問，在自我清算功能之後，我們的服務停機時間比以前顯著減少，而且報告等方面的交易執行也會更加順暢。謝謝。

Thank you very much.

非常感謝。

Thank you. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝。（操作員說明）

[Peter Zhang, JP Morgan].

[張彼得，摩根大通]。

(spoken in Chinese)

(用中文說)

My first question is about the interest income. We noticed that your interest income had been decreased sequentially in first quarter. We wish to understand what's the fourth-quarter trend for clients idle cash and Futu's deposit rates. And also, I wish to understand what's the trend in first quarter for clients' idle cash balance.

我的第一個問題是關於利息收入。我們注意到，第一季你們的利息收入較上季下降。我們想了解一下第四季客戶閒置現金的走勢以及富途的存款利率是怎麼樣的。另外，我想了解第一季客戶閒置現金餘額的趨勢如何。

My second question is about the operating expense. I wish to understand what is Futu's plan for the headcount increase in 2024 and what's management's guidance for Futu's operating expense increase of, say, cost of income ratio trends? Thank you.

我的第二個問題是關於營運費用。我想了解富途在2024年的員工增加計畫是什麼，管理階層對富途營運費用增加（例如收入成本比率趨勢）的指導是什麼？謝謝。

Thank you, Peter. I will take these two questions. For idle cash, roughly idle cash account for 10% to 15% of our total client assets in the past quarter and also the similar situation happened in the first quarter so far. And the decrease of the interest revenue in the fourth quarter, as I mentioned in the opening remarks, is mainly due to the decrease of the average balance decrease for the security borrowing and the lending despite -- if you see the balance sheet date, the margin and the security lending balance was higher than that in the third quarter.

謝謝你，彼得。我將回答這兩個問題。對於閒置現金，上一季閒置現金大約占我們客戶總資產的10%到15%，到目前為止，第一季也出現了類似的情況。正如我在開場白中提到的，第四季度利息收入的下降主要是由於證券借貸的平均餘額減少所致，儘管如果你看資產負債表日，保證金和擔保借貸餘額均高於三季。

Then for your second question, in terms of headcounts, we are looking for mid to high single-digit headcount growth, mainly will be deployed following international market expansion and further enhance our R&D capabilities.

那麼第二個問題，在人員數量方面，我們正在尋求中高個位數的人員成長，主要是在國際市場拓展之後進行部署，並進一步增強我們的研發能力。

Unfortunately, we do not have a cost income ratio guidance. Given the nature of our business, our revenue is very volatile. It is very difficult to predict due to the market volatility. So we were more focusing on the people side, given this is one of the largest cost components for our overall cost structure. Thank you.

不幸的是，我們沒有成本收入比率指導。鑑於我們業務的性質，我們的收入波動很大。由於市場波動，預測非常困難。因此，我們更加關注人員方面，因為這是我們整體成本結構中最大的成本組成部分之一。謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you. And this does conclude the question-and-answer session. So at this time, I would like to hand the conference back to Daniel Yuan for closing remarks. Thank you.

謝謝。問答環節到此結束。所以這時候我想把會議交回給袁丹尼爾做閉幕致詞。謝謝。

That concludes our call today. On behalf of the Futu management team, I would like to thank you for joining us today. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or any of our Investor Relations representatives. Thank you and goodbye.

我們今天的電話會議到此結束。我謹代表富途管理團隊感謝您今天加入我們。如果您有任何其他問題，請隨時與我或我們的任何投資者關係代表聯繫。謝謝你，再見。

Thank you and this does conclude today's conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.

謝謝大家，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與，您現在可以斷開連接。

Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call. The interpreter was provided by the company sponsoring this event.

本筆錄中的英語陳述是由現場通話中的口譯員說出的。口譯員由贊助本次活動的公司提供。