富途控股 (FUTU) 2021 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Hello, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Futu Holdings Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Today's conference call is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. And I'd like to turn the conference over to your host for today's conference call, Daniel Yuan, Chief of Staff and Head of IR at Futu. Please go ahead, sir.

女士、先生們，大家好，歡迎參加富途控股2021年第四季及全年電話會議。 （操作員指示）今天的電話會議正在錄音。如果您有任何異議，此時您可以斷開連接。我想將今天的電話會議主持人 Daniel Yuan 交給富途證券首席參謀長兼投資人關係主管。先生，請繼續。

And thank you for joining us today to discuss our fourth quarter and full year 2021 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.

感謝您今天加入我們討論我們的 2021 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立先生； Arthur Chen，財務長；以及資深副總裁 Robin Xu。

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 the 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 SEC, including its registration statement.

提醒一下，今天的電話會議可能包含前瞻性陳述，這些陳述代表了公司對未來事件的看法，這些事件本質上並不確定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陳述中的結果有重大差異。有關潛在風險和不確定性的更多信息，請參閱公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件，包括其註冊聲明。

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

因此，我現在將電話轉給 Leaf。 Leaf 將以中文發表評論，我負責翻譯。

(foreign language)

（外語）

[Interpreted] Thank you all for joining our earnings call today. 2021 marked another year of rapid client base expansion as we exceeded our full-year paying client guidance by adding approximately 728,000 paying clients. This brings our total paying clients to over 1.2 million, translating to 141% growth year-over-year. We added 77,000 paying clients in 4Q with about 90% of new paying clients coming from Hong Kong and other overseas markets.

[翻譯]感謝大家參加我們今天的財報電話會議。 2021 年是客戶群快速擴張的另一年，我們增加了約 728,000 名付費客戶，超越了全年付費客戶預期。這使我們的付費客戶總數超過 120 萬，年增 141%。我們在第四季增加了77,000名付費客戶，其中約90％的新付費客戶來自香港和其他海外市場。

Paying client retention remained around 97% despite the negative impact from a series of headline news. Looking into 2022, we are guiding for 200,000 net new paying clients, representing 16% year-over-year growth in total paying clients. We will dynamically adjust our growth target subject to market condition. In a moment, net addition, we expect roughly 1/3 to come from the Greater China region, 1/3 from Singapore and 1/3 from the U.S. and Australia.

儘管受到一系列頭條新聞的負面影響，付費客戶保留率仍保持在 97% 左右。展望 2022 年，我們預計將新增 20 萬名付費客戶，佔付費客戶總數的 16%。我們將根據市場情況動態調整成長目標。就淨增量而言，我們預計約 1/3 來自大中華地區，1/3 來自新加坡，1/3 來自美國和澳洲。

(foreign language)

（外語）

[Interpreted] Our client assets were HKD408 billion, up 43% year-over-year and down 4% quarter-over-quarter. While a tumbled equities market and some headline news weighed on total asset balance, asset inflows remain positive in each market, totaling more than HKD10 billion. In Singapore, strong asset inflow pushed every client assets up by 26% quarter-over-quarter despite a negative mark-to-market impact on their holding.

[解讀] 客戶資產規模達4,080億港元，年增43%，季減4%。雖然股市暴跌及一些頭條新聞對總資產餘額造成壓力，但各市場的資產流入仍為正，總額超過 100 億港元。在新加坡，強勁的資產流入推動每個客戶資產較上季成長 26%，儘管以市價計價對持股產生負面影響。

(foreign language)

（外語）

[Interpreted] Total trading volume was HKD1.2 trillion, flattish year-over-year. Due to fewer trading days in the fourth quarter, total trading volume slipped 9% sequentially despite a higher turnover of 3.1x. Trading volume for U.S. stocks were HKD177 billion, up 14% quarter-over-quarter, driven by surging trading volume in some U.S. tech names, higher U.S. options trading volume and higher trading volume from Singapore clients. Trading volume for Hong Kong stocks was HKD403 billion, down 33% quarter-over-quarter due to dampened market sentiments, especially around Chinese tech stocks.

[解讀] 總成交量1.2兆港元，較去年持平。由於第四季交易日較少，儘管週轉率上升至3.1倍，但總交易量較上季下滑9%。美股成交量為 1,770 億港元，較上季成長 14%，主要是受部分美國科技股成交量飆漲、美國選擇權成交量增加以及新加坡客戶成交量增加所帶動。受市場情緒低迷（尤其是中國科技股）影響，香港股票成交量為 4,030 億港元，較上季下降 33%。

(foreign language)

（外語）

[Interpreted] Our wealth management business maintained resilient growth, with total client assets reaching around HKD19 billion, up 84% year-over-year and 6% quarter-over-quarter. In Singapore, we have established partnerships with 20 fund houses and we will continue to expand our mutual fund product offerings and services in the quarters to come.

[解讀]財富管理業務維持穩健成長，客戶總資產達約190億港元，年增84%，季增6%。在新加坡，我們已經與 20 家基金公司建立了合作夥伴關係，並將在未來幾季繼續擴大我們的共同基金產品和服務。

In Hong Kong, we established new partnerships with 4 prominent asset managers, including Fidelity and AXA. As of quarter-end, approximately 140,000 or 11% of our paying clients held wealth management positions. In the fourth quarter, we launched auto-rebalancing function for our mutual fund portfolio product and distributed a flagship multi-asset hedge funds, managed by a leading global alternative manager.

在香港，我們與富達、安盛等4家知名資產管理公司建立了新的合作關係。截至季末，約有 14 萬名（佔 11%）付費客戶持有財富管理部位。第四季度，我們為共同基金投資組合產品推出了自動再平衡功能，並分銷了由全球領先的另類基金經理人管理的旗艦多元資產對沖基金。

Private fund asset balance as a result grew substantially by 120% quarter-over-quarter. We believe alternative assets are an integral source of diversification for our high net worth clients during market turmoil and we intend to onboard more private funds in coming quarters.

私募基金資產餘額因此大幅成長，季增120%。我們相信，在市場動盪期間，另類資產是我們高淨值客戶實現資產多元化的重要來源，我們打算在未來幾季引入更多私募基金。

(foreign language)

（外語）

[Interpreted] As of year-end, Futu I&E had 236 IPO and IR clients and 400 ESOP clients, up 125% and 152% year-over-year, respectively. We acted as joint book managers for several high profile Hong Kong IPOs, including that of SenseTime, to which we contributed over 20% of the retail subscribers and retail subscription. As of quarter-end, over 800 companies, including more than 200 listed companies with market capitalization above HKD10 billion held enterprise accounts in our social community to interact with retail investors.

【解讀】截至年末，富途投顧IPO及IR客戶數236家、ESOP客戶數400家，較去年同期分別成長125%及152%。我們擔任多隻備受矚目的香港 IPO 的聯合帳簿管理人，其中包括商湯科技的 IPO，我們為其貢獻了超過 20% 的散戶認購者和散戶認購金額。截至季末，已有超過 800 家公司（其中包括超過 200 家市值超過 100 億港元的上市公司）在我們的社交社區中開設企業帳戶，與散戶投資者互動。

(foreign language)

（外語）

Thanks, Leaf and Daniel.

謝謝，Leaf 和 Daniel。

[Interpreted] I'd like to invite our CFO Arthur, to discuss our financial performance.

[翻譯] 我想邀請我們的財務長亞瑟來討論我們的財務表現。

Thanks, Leaf and Daniel. Please allow me to walk you through our financial performance in the fourth quarter. All the numbers are in Hong Kong dollar, unless otherwise noted. Our total revenue was HKD1.6 billion, up 35% from HKD1.18 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020, ending a strong year as full year 2021 revenue grew 115% to over HKD7 billion.

謝謝，Leaf 和 Daniel。請容許我向您介紹我們第四季的財務表現。除非另有說明，所有數字均為港元。我們的總營收為 16 億港元，較 2020 年第四季的 11.8 億港元成長 35%，以強勁的業績結束了這一年，2021 年全年營收成長 115%，達到 70 億港元以上。

Brokerage commission and handling charge income was HKD857 million, an increase of 19% year-over-year and a decrease of 8% Q-over-Q. The increase was driven by higher blended commission rate of 7 basis points. The blended commission rate expands as commission rate for U.S. equity rose year-over-year and that the direct trading contributed a higher proportion of brokerage commissions. The Q-over-Q decrease was mainly due to lower trading volume for Hong Kong stocks.

經紀佣金及手續費收入為8.57億港元，年增19%，季減8%。成長的原因是混合佣金率上升了 7 個基點。由於美股佣金率較去年同期上升，且直接交易貢獻了更高的經紀佣金比例，混合佣金率已擴大。環比下降主要由於港股交易量下降。

Interest income was HKD618 million, an increase of 83% year-over-year and a decrease of 2% Q-over-Q. The year-over-year increase was driven by higher margin financing income as a result of higher daily average margin financing balance. Other income was HKD128 million, down 2% year-over-year and 23% Q-over-Q. The year-over-year and the Q-over-Q decrease was both primarily due to lower IPO financing service charge income.

利息收入為6.18億港元，年增83%，月減2%。年比增長是由於每日平均保證金融資餘額增加導致保證金融資收入增加。其他收入為1.28億港元，年減2%，季減23%。年比和季減主要由於IPO融資服務費收入下降。

Our total costs was HKD217 million, a decrease of 10% from HKD242 million in the fourth quarter of 2020. Brokerage commission and handling charge expenses were HKD88 million, down 34% year-over-year and the 30% Q-over-Q. The expenses didn't move in line with our brokerage commission and handling charge income due to our upgraded service package with our U.S. clearing house and the lower IPO subsequent fees.

我們的總成本為 2.17 億港元，較 2020 年第四季的 2.42 億港元減少 10%。經紀佣金及手續費支出為 8,800 萬港元，年減 34%，季減 30%。由於我們與美國清算所的服務套餐升級以及IPO後續費用降低，這些費用並未與我們的經紀佣金和手續費收入同步變動。

Interest expenses were HKD56 million, down 14% year-over-year and 25% Q-over-Q. The year-over-year decrease was due to lower IPO financing interest expenses, partially offset by higher interest expenses, associated with our security borrowing and the lending business. Interest expenses declined Q-over-Q primarily due to lower blended funding cost.

利息支出為5,600萬港元，較去年同期下降14%，較上季下降25%。年比下降是由於 IPO 融資利息支出減少，但被與證券借貸業務相關的利息支出增加部分抵銷。利息支出較上月下降主要由於混合融資成本下降。

Processing and servicing costs were HKD74 million, up 65% year-over-year and 9% Q-over-Q. The increase was primarily due to higher cloud service fees to support overseas market expansion and to process a larger number of concurrent trades. As a result, total gross profit was HKD1.39 billion, an increase of 47% from HKD944 million in the fourth quarter of 2020. Gross margin was 87% as compared to 80% in the fourth quarter of 2020.

加工及服務成本為7,400萬港元，較去年成長65%，較上季成長9%。成長的主要原因是為了支持海外市場擴張和處理大量並發交易而提高的雲端服務費。因此，總毛利為13.9億港元，較2020年第四季的9.44億港元成長47%。毛利率為87%，而2020年第四季為80%。

Operating expenses was up 127% year-over-year and up 8% Q-over-Q to HKD826 million. To break it down, R&D expenses were HKD271 million, up 64% year-over-year and 21% Q-over-Q. The increase was mainly due to increase in R&D headcount as we continue to support new product offerings, invest in the U.S. self-clearing capabilities and the customized products for international markets.

營業費用年增127%，季增8%，至8.26億港元。其中，研發費用為2.71億港元，年增64%，較上季成長21%。成長的主要原因是，我們繼續支持新產品的推出、投資美國的自我清算能力以及針對國際市場的客製化產品，從而增加了研發人員的數量。

Selling and marketing expenses was HKD337 million, an increase of 200% year-over-year and a decrease of 16% Q-over-Q. The year-over-year increase was due to higher marketing and the branding spending, especially in international markets. The expenses decline Q-over-Q as performance marketing spending came down amid tempered market sentiments.

銷售及行銷費用為3.37億港元，較去年成長200%，較上季下降16%。年比成長是由於行銷和品牌支出增加，尤其是在國際市場。由於市場情緒低落導致績效行銷支出下降，因此費用較上季下降。

G&A expenses was HKD218 million, up 145% year-over-year and up 59% Q-over-Q. The rise was primarily due to increase in headcount for G&A personnel with the opening of more international office. As a result, our net income decreased by 6% year-over-year and 19% Q-over-Q to HKD499 million. Our effective tax rate for the quarter was 12.9% and the net income margin was 31%.

一般行政開支為2.18億港元，較去年同期增加145%，較上一季增加59%。成長的主要原因是隨著更多國際辦事處的開設，一般及行政人員的數量增加。因此，我們的淨收入年減 6%，季減 19%，至 4.99 億港元。我們本季的有效稅率為 12.9%，淨收入率為 31%。

In addition to USD300 million share repurchase program previously announced on November 3, 2021, which we have completed in open market transactions, our Board has authorized a new share repurchase program, enable us to purchase up to $500 million worth of our ADS until December 31, 2023. We plan to fund this repurchase from our current working capital.

除了我們先前於 2021 年 11 月 3 日宣布的 3 億美元股票回購計劃（該計劃已在公開市場交易中完成）之外，我們的董事會還批准了一項新的股票回購計劃，使我們能夠在 2023 年 12 月 31 日之前購買價值高達 5 億美元的 ADS。我們計劃從目前的營運資金中為此回購提供資金。

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

我們的準備好的演講到此結束。我們現在想開始提問。接線員，請繼續。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Katherine Liu from Morgan Stanley.

（操作員指示）我們的第一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Katherine Liu。

(foreign language)

（外語）

I will translate for myself. I'm Katherine Liu from Morgan Stanley. So I have 2 questions. First, as -- can management give us some guidance in terms of the year-to-date operation results in terms of, for example, like new client addition, geographical breakdown on assets and also turnover rate?

我會自己翻譯。我是摩根士丹利的凱瑟琳·劉。所以我有兩個問題。首先，管理階層能否就年初至今的經營績效給我們一些指導，例如新增客戶、資產的地理分佈以及週轉率？

And second, this is about the overseas markets. Can management give us some guidance in terms of their plan and target for the Australian market and how they compare the Australian market with Singapore market? And also is there any update in terms of U.S. self-clearing progress and also the expectations on revenue -- on profit making?

第二，關於海外市場。管理層能否就他們對澳洲市場的計劃和目標以及澳洲市場與新加坡市場的比較為我們提供一些指導？另外，美國自行清算的進展以及收入和獲利預期方面有什麼最新消息嗎？

This is also Arthur. Maybe I can answer your last question first. Then, I will leave the first 2 questions to Leaf himself. In terms of self-clearing, so far we have already migrated dollar value around 40% of our U.S. stock holdings from our U.S. stream business partners to our own clearing house in Dallas. And our target is, we try to complete this migration toward the end of the third quarter, because we want to ensure the stabilities and the systems scalabilities during these transitions.

這也是亞瑟。也許我可以先回答你的最後一個問題。那麼，前兩個問題就留給 Leaf 自己去回答吧。在自我清算方面，到目前為止，我們已經將約 40% 的美國股票持有量（以美元價值計算）從我們的美國串流媒體業務合作夥伴轉移到我們位於達拉斯的清算所。我們的目標是，嘗試在第三季末完成遷移，因為我們希望確保遷移過程中的穩定性和系統可擴展性。

So, yesterday, we have already seen positive impacts from this self-clearing, which have generated revenues alongside a lot of 0 -- essentially 0 cost fundings to our operations outside of the U.S. And we -- as we mentioned that in our previous earning calls, we do have some very rough calculations after -- just self-clearing completions. For 2022, we do expect there will be around HKD116 million operating revenues incrementally from this self-clearing migration. And the majority part will be translated into the pre-tax profit.

因此，昨天，我們已經看到了這種自我清算帶來的積極影響，它不僅創造了收入，還為我們在美國以外的業務帶來了大量 0（基本上是 0 成本）的融資。正如我們在之前的財報電話會議上提到的那樣，在自我清算完成後，我們確實進行了一些非常粗略的計算。至 2022 年，我們預計此次自行清算遷移將帶來約 1.16 億港元的營運收入。其中大部分將轉化為稅前利潤。

(foreign language)

（外語）

[Interpreted] In terms of business update, our client addition kind of slowed down a little bit this year due to the negative kind of equities market performance and a less active IPO market. So what's positive around that, is that, we don't see any lingering impact from the headline news on our client attrition and retention. And to break down among different markets, I think our client acquisition in the Greater China region was largely stable, although we saw new competitors entering into the market, we still have a very leading market position.

[解釋] 就業務更新而言，由於股票市場表現不佳以及 IPO 市場不太活躍，今年我們的客戶增加速度有所放緩。積極的一面是，我們沒有看到頭條新聞對我們的客戶流失和保留產生任何持續影響。細分到不同的市場，我認為我們在大中華區的客戶獲取基本穩定，雖然我們看到新的競爭對手進入市場，但我們仍然擁有非常領先的市場地位。

And when there is uncertainties around the market performance and regulations, we'll employ a more steady growth strategy. And in terms of Singapore, we have seen very healthy net asset inflow which offset the negative mark-to-market impact from the equities market downturn. But, our client acquisition in Singapore also slowed down due to negative market performance.

當市場表現和法規存在不確定性時，我們將採用更穩健的成長策略。就新加坡而言，我們看到非常健康的淨資產流入，抵消了股市低迷帶來的負面市價影響。但由於市場表現不佳，我們在新加坡的客戶獲取速度也放緩了。

In terms of trading turnover, it was largely stable. And in terms of net asset inflow, it's rebounded from the 4Q numbers, but the overall client assets [bill] trended down little bit due to the negative mark-to-market impact.

從成交量來看，成交整體平穩。就淨資產流入而言，它已從第四季度的數據中反彈，但由於負面的市價影響，整體客戶資產[帳單]呈略有下降趨勢。

And in terms of product offerings, in Australia, we launched the U.S. stock trading -- Australian stock trading as well as ETF trading and going forward, we'll continue to enrich our product offerings. And as Arthur already mentioned, so for our self-clearing business, we've migrated about over 40%, close to 50% of our U.S. stock holdings to our self-clearing business, and we already see 0 cost funding that's brought about by our clearing business.

在產品方面，在澳大利亞，我們推出了美國股票交易、澳洲股票交易以及 ETF 交易，未來我們將繼續豐富我們的產品。正如 Arthur 已經提到的，對於我們的自我清算業務，我們已經將大約超過 40%、接近 50% 的美國股票持有量遷移到我們的自我清算業務，而且我們已經看到清算業務帶來的零成本融資。

(foreign language)

（外語）

[Interpreted] And I'd like to talk a little bit about the competitive dynamics in Australia. So on one hand, you see those incumbent players like CommSec and ANZ, their commonality is that their trading account is seamlessly integrated with the bank account, and the bank to brokerage transfer is such very smooth and seamless. But the disadvantage is that they typically charge pretty high commission rates and charge a fee for the idle account.

[口譯] 我想談談澳洲的競爭動態。一方面，你會看到像 CommSec 和 ANZ 這樣的現有參與者，他們的共同點是他們的交易帳戶與銀行帳戶無縫集成，銀行對經紀商的轉帳非常順暢和無縫。但缺點是他們通常收取相當高的佣金率，並對閒置帳戶收取費用。

And on the other hand, you see those online brokers like SelfWealth and Stake, their advantages they have a pretty well commission rates. They have very straightforward trading interfaces. But the general, a lot more sophisticated trading functions, technical analysis, other analytical tools and also a very vibrant community. So these online brokers, they still kind of have a smaller kind of client base right now, roughly around like couple hundred thousand.

另一方面，你會看到像 SelfWealth 和 Stake 這樣的線上經紀商，他們的優勢在於佣金率相當高。他們有非常直接的交易介面。但總的來說，它擁有更多複雜的交易功能、技術分析、其他分析工具以及一個非常活躍的社群。所以這些線上經紀人目前的客戶群仍然較小，大約只有幾十萬。

And that's for us, we think that we have advantages in terms of our product offerings, and in terms of our tech capabilities, that since we are -- we've just entered into the market, it's difficult to gauge market potential and where -- we will come to share more results about our Australian operations next quarter.

對我們來說，我們認為我們在產品供應和技術能力方面具有優勢，由於我們剛剛進入市場，很難衡量市場潛力和位置，我們將在下個季度分享更多有關我們澳洲業務的結果。

Our next question is from Leon Qi from Daiwa Capital.

下一個問題來自大和資本管理公司的 Leon Qi。

This is Leon Qi from Daiwa. I have 2 questions today. First one is about your user mix, AUM mix geographically. I appreciate that management just mentioned a very clear guidance on our user acquisition targets in 2022 and the specific regional breakdowns on it. But if we just take a longer time horizon strategically for the next 3 years, would you expect the overseas markets, I'm referring in particular for the market, example in Mainland China, do you expect that the overseas markets to contributes to a much larger proportion of the users, and AUMs? I appreciate if management could give us a very high level color on that over a longer timeframe.

我是 Daiwa 的 Leon Qi。我今天有兩個問題。第一個是關於您的使用者組合、AUM 的地理組合。我很欣賞管理層剛才提到的有關我們 2022 年用戶獲取目標的非常明確的指導以及具體的區域細分。但是，如果我們從戰略上將時間範圍放長一點，放眼未來 3 年，您是否預計海外市場，我特別指的是中國大陸市場，您是否預計海外市場會對更大比例的用戶和 AUM 做出貢獻？如果管理層能夠在較長的時間內為我們提供高水平的信息，我將非常感激。

The second question is about your user acquisition cost. I understand your user acquisition has been very successful over the past few years. But given the dramatic change in the market conditions over the past few months, well, naturally a lot of our customers and potential customers are becoming more cautious. Would you be keep spending your user acquisition dollars in a way that has been similar over the past few years, or you will be considering some changes in the tactics that you are doing in a market that is less exciting at least for the moment?

第二個問題是關於你們的用戶獲取成本。據我了解，過去幾年你們的用戶獲取工作非常成功。但鑑於過去幾個月市場狀況的巨大變化，我們的許多客戶和潛在客戶自然變得更加謹慎。您是否會繼續以過去幾年類似的方式投入用戶獲取資金，或者您會考慮在至少目前不那麼令人興奮的市場中改變您所採取的策略？

(foreign language)

（外語）

Thank you for the question. Maybe I take the second question first. I will also leave the first question to Leaf.

感謝您的提問。也許我首先要回答第二個問題。我也會把第一個問題留給 Leaf。

In terms of the marketing expenses, you're right. It is highly correlated to the market conditions as everybody can understand. For 2022, we do expect our CAC for each new paying clients will be in the range of around the HKD2,500 [or something]. And internally, we will have different parameters to evaluate the effectiveness of the client positions.

就行銷費用而言，你是對的。每個人都能理解，它與市場狀況高度相關。到 2022 年，我們確實預計每個新付費客戶的 CAC 將在 2,500 港幣左右。而在內部，我們會採用不同的參數來評估客戶職位的有效性。

Not only just, the CAC numbers for each new paying client, but also we will be more focusing on the payback period for this CAC, i.e. the clients' effective ARPU versus cap ratios. Depends on different markets, or these more mature markets such as Great China, this payback here will be controlled in the range of 6 months to 9 months as always. But for the -- some new markets such as Singapore, Australia and the U.S., et cetera, we are more generous in this ratio, because we think in the early stage, the user engagement is still the most important things -- the things we need to consider.

我們不僅會關注每個新付費客戶的 CAC 數字，還會更加關注該 CAC 的投資回收期，即客戶的有效 ARPU 與資本化比率。取決於不同的市場，或這些較成熟的市場，例如大中華區，這裡的回報期將一如既往地控制在6個月到9個月的範圍內。但對於新加坡、澳洲和美國等一些新市場，我們在這個比例上更加慷慨，因為我們認為在早期階段，用戶參與度仍然是最重要的事情，是我們需要考慮的事情。

Besides this ratio, we will also look at the other ratio, that is the new client asset acquisition cost, i.e. how much money we need to pay before they migrate incremental new assets into our platform. On a apple-to-apple basis, if we do not consider the market situations year-to-date or which may continue in the next couple of quarters, we do expect our new client acquisition amount, this client net asset new inflow will be increased by 20% to 25%, versus the number at the end of last year.

除了這個比率之外，我們還會看另一個比率，那就是新客戶資產獲取成本，也就是在他們將增量新資產遷移到我們的平台之前，我們需要支付多少錢。從同類比較來看，如果我們不考慮今年迄今為止的市場狀況或未來幾季可能持續的市場情況，我們預計我們的新客戶獲取量，即客戶淨資產新流入量將比去年年底增加 20％ 至 25％。

(foreign language)

（外語）

[Interpreted] I think in 3 years' time, we expect the ratio of our paying clients from Mainland China, Hong Kong and other overseas markets to be around 1 to 3 to 6. And from a client asset perspective, this ratio will look more like 2 to 3 to 5.

[解讀] 我認為，3年後，我們預期來自中國大陸、香港和其他海外市場的付費客戶比例將在1：3：6左右。而從客戶資產的角度來看，這個比例將更像是2：3：5。

Our next question comes from Zoey Zong from Jefferies.

下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Zoey Zong。

(foreign language) I have 2 questions. My first question is that, when will we launch our digital currency trading services? And my second question is that, among our paying clients, how much were acquired via ESOP?

（外語）我有兩個問題。我的第一個問題是，我們什麼時候推出數位貨幣交易服務？我的第二個問題是，我們的付費客戶中，有多少是透過 ESOP 獲得的？

Sure. I will take these 2 questions. For the second question, actually the new paying clients contributed by the ESOP channel just account for less low single digits for the fourth quarter. Of course, you can understand the IPO situations, the market was not very strong in the fourth quarter and also year-to-date as well. For the crypto business, we are still doing the feasibility studies and also certain -- the license application. Therefore, we have not come from -- we do not have a confirmed time scheduled yet.

當然。我將回答這兩個問題。對於第二個問題，實際上ESOP通路貢獻的新增付費客戶在第四季僅佔較低的個位數。當然，你可以了解 IPO 的情況，第四季以及今年迄今的市場表現都不是很強勁。對於加密業務，我們仍在進行可行性研究，並且正在進行許可證申請。因此，我們還沒有到來——我們還沒有確定具體的時間安排。

Our next question comes from Zeyu Yao from CICC.

下一個問題來自中金公司的姚澤宇。

(foreign language)

（外語）

This is Zeyu Yao from CICC. Congrats to our strong result in these sluggish market. I would like to ask 2 questions. The first one is regarding our business in the U.S. I would like to know what is the new about -- what's new about our customer acquisition strategy in the U.S. market? And what's our next move for business growth in the mid to long-term?

我是中金公司的姚澤宇。恭喜我們在低迷的市場中取得的強勁業績。我想問兩個問題。第一個問題有關我們在美國的業務。我想知道我們在美國市場的客戶獲取策略有什麼新進展？我們中長期業務成長的下一步計劃是什麼？

And secondly, doing our business expansion in 2022, are we still expected to see a rapid growth in employment related to expenses as we had already seen such increases last year.

其次，在 2022 年擴展業務時，我們是否仍預計會看到與費用相關的就業快速成長，因為去年我們已經看到了這種成長。

Maybe I can share some colors or our initial source for the headcount increase for 2022. Then my colleagues Robin Xu can give you some more color on our U.S. operation and the U.S. marketing strategy going forward.

也許我可以分享一些細節或我們 2022 年員工人數增加的初步來源。然後我的同事 Robin Xu 可以為您提供有關我們未來的美國業務和美國行銷策略的更多細節。

For the overall count increase on 2022, we do look for another 20% year-over-year growth. This growth will primary be deployed into our R&D functions and also the international market development. The reasons behind for putting more staff into the R&D, yes, we want to do a very significant system migrations, i.e. from our current infrastructure building on language C++ to (inaudible) and also we will adopt a more cloud-native technology in our infrastructure.

對於 2022 年的總體數量增長，我們確實預計將同比增長 20%。這一成長將主要用於我們的研發功能以及國際市場開發。投入更多人員進行研發的原因是，是的，我們想要進行一次非常重要的系統遷移，也就是說，從我們目前基於 C++ 語言構建的基礎設施遷移到（聽不清楚），而且我們將在基礎設施中採用更加雲端原生的技術。

We are dedicated to assign a special task force to develop these 2 areas. And we do expect this migration will be completed toward the end of this year. After this completion, we do expect our R&D efficiency will be enhanced by 20% to 30% down the road. And the search migration will ensure our system stability and the scalability in the next 3 to 5 years.

我們將委派特別工作小組來發展這兩個領域。我們預計此次遷移將在今年底完成。此次完成後，我們預計我們的研發效率將提高20％至30％。並且搜尋遷移將確保我們系統在未來3到5年的穩定性和可擴展性。

At the same time, it will significantly enhance the system flexibilities, and to lower the IT spending in the IDC and also the server. These annual IT spending savings will exceed HKD100 million starting from 2024.

同時大幅提升系統的彈性，並降低IDC及伺服器的IT開支。從2024年開始，每年IT支出節省將超過1億港元。

(foreign language)

（外語）

[Interpreted] As our client acquisition picked up in the fourth quarter, I think on one hand, that's because we continue to invest to improve our product experience, and we want to improve the conversion rate from the app downloads to registration, from registration to account opening, and then from account opening to asset deposit. And another reason aside as our outspending in the U.S. market increases, our brand recognition has also risen in the past couple of quarters as a result. So I think we need more time to continue to improve our client acquisition efficiency in the U.S.

[解讀]我們第四季的客戶獲取量有所回升，我想一方面是因為我們持續投入來改善我們的產品體驗，我們希望提高從應用下載到註冊、從註冊到開戶、再從開戶到資產存入的轉換率。另一個原因是，除了我們在美國市場的支出增加之外，我們的品牌知名度在過去幾季也隨之上升。所以我認為我們需要更多時間來繼續提高我們在美國的客戶獲取效率。

Our next question comes from Emma Xu from Bank of America Securities.

下一個問題來自美國銀行證券的 Emma Xu。

(foreign language)

（外語）

So I have question regarding the newly announced USD500 million repurchase program. Is this accounted for roughly 85% of the cash outstanding by fourth quarter 2021. So, is it because you didn't see much cash needed -- much working capital needed for future investment or do you see that you can continue to generate enough to cash to fund investment in the future?

所以我對新宣布的5億美元回購計畫有疑問。這是否佔 2021 年第四季未償還現金的約 85%。那麼，是因為您認為不需要太多現金——未來投資需要太多營運資金，還是您認為您可以繼續產生足夠的現金來為未來的投資提供資金？

Sure. Thank you for your question. This is Arthur and I can answer this question. Since our IPO, we have conducted 3 round of equity financings. So alongside with these fundings from the share placement, together with our user returning generate every year. At the end of last year, you can see our total net assets reached over $2.7 billion and then we do think our capability to continue to generate profit and the free cash flow will remain robust in the next 1 or 2 years.

當然。感謝您的提問。我是亞瑟，我可以回答這個問題。自IPO以來，我們已經進行了三輪股權融資。因此，除了配股所獲得的資金外，我們每年還會獲得用戶回報。截至去年年底，您可以看到我們的總淨資產已超過 27 億美元，我們確實認為我們在未來 1 到 2 年內繼續創造利潤和自由現金流的能力將保持強勁。

So, considering our current market conditions and the funding needs for the organic growth, we do think now we have some idle cash, which can be deployed and be utilized to reward our long-term shareholders. Having said that, we will continue to closely monitor the potential and then merger and acquisition situation if appears and also the valuation be attractive. So it will be -- a share repurchase program covering the next almost 18 months. So it will be very dependent on the market conditions and also the opportunities, whether we can come across.

因此，考慮到我們當前的市場狀況和有機成長的資金需求，我們確實認為現在我們有一些閒置現金，可以部署並用於獎勵我們的長期股東。話雖如此，我們將繼續密切關注潛在的併購情況，以及估值是否具有吸引力。所以這將是一個涵蓋未來近 18 個月的股票回購計畫。所以這將在很大程度上取決於市場條件和機會，以及我們是否能夠遇到它。

We have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. I will turn the call back to Daniel for closing remarks.

問答環節已經結束。我將把電話轉回給丹尼爾，請他作最後發言。

Thank you, operator. And 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.

謝謝您，接線生。今天的通話到此結束。我謹代表富途管理團隊感謝您今天的出席。如果您還有任何其他問題，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. Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may all disconnect.

謝謝。女士們、先生們，今天的會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。你們都可以斷開連線。

[Portions of this transcript that are marked [Interpreted] were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]

[本記錄中標記為[已翻譯]的部分由現場翻譯人員朗讀。 ]