Interactive Brokers Group Inc (IBKR) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to Interactive Brokers Group's Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions)

感謝您的支持，歡迎來到盈透證券集團 2022 年第四季度財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）

I would now like to hand the call over to Director of Investor Relations, Nancy Stuebe. Please go ahead.

我現在想把電話轉給投資者關係總監 Nancy Stuebe。請繼續。

Thank you. Good afternoon. Happy New Year, and thank you for joining us for our fourth quarter 2022 earnings call. Thomas is on the call and asked me to present his comments on our business. Also joining us today are Milan Galik, our CEO; and Paul Brody, our CFO. After prepared remarks, we will have a Q&A.

謝謝你。下午好。新年快樂，感謝您加入我們的 2022 年第四季度財報電話會議。 Thomas 正在接聽電話，要我發表他對我們業務的評論。今天加入我們的還有我們的首席執行官 Milan Galik；和我們的首席財務官 Paul Brody。在準備好發言後，我們將進行問答。

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. Our actual results and financial condition may differ, possibly materially, from what is indicated in these forward-looking statements. We ask that you refer to the disclaimers in our press release. You should also review a description of risk factors contained in our financial reports filed with the SEC.

提醒一下，今天的電話會議可能包含前瞻性陳述，代表公司對未來事件的看法，這些事件本質上是不確定的，並且不在公司的控制範圍內。我們的實際結果和財務狀況可能與這些前瞻性陳述中的內容存在差異，甚至可能存在重大差異。我們要求您參考我們新聞稿中的免責聲明。您還應該查看我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的財務報告中對風險因素的描述。

The good news about 2022 can be seen in our numbers. We now have over 2 million customers around the world. We earned $3 billion in net revenues for the first time. In the fourth quarter, our pretax margin reached 71%, by far the highest in the industry.

關於 2022 年的好消息可以從我們的數字中看出。我們現在在全球擁有超過 200 萬客戶。我們首次獲得了 30 億美元的淨收入。第四季度，我們的稅前利潤率達到了 71%，是迄今為止業內最高的。

After 2 years of unprecedented investor interest in the markets overall, we now see some retrenchment and more localized engagement in particular product segments like futures and options rather than across the board. Rising inflation and interest rates as well as geopolitical uncertainty in places around the globe, helped commodity, interest rate and stock index futures become more popular, while options were increasingly used to manage risk. Equity markets grew weaker as inflation and the impact of central bank policies took hold.

在經歷了 2 年空前的投資者對整個市場的興趣之後，我們現在看到一些緊縮和更本地化的參與特定產品領域，如期貨和期權，而不是全面參與。全球各地不斷上升的通脹和利率以及地緣政治的不確定性幫助商品、利率和股指期貨變得更受歡迎，而期權也越來越多地用於管理風險。隨著通貨膨脹和中央銀行政策的影響持續，股市走弱。

After years of persistent deficit spending with 0 and negative interest rate policies around the world, I believe inflation is going to stay with us. It is likely to stay above 4% and the Federal Reserve will keep rates at this level or higher and eventually we'll have to give up on getting inflation down to the current 2% target. We believe that the target will be raised.

在全球範圍內實施多年零利率和負利率政策的持續赤字支出之後，我相信通脹將繼續存在。它可能會保持在 4% 以上，美聯儲將把利率維持在這個水平或更高水平，最終我們將不得不放棄將通脹率降至目前 2% 的目標。我們相信目標將會提高。

Higher inflation and lower equities markets impacted our industry. For us, our year-on-year account growth was 25% in 2022. While for many companies, this would be good news, we want to do better. Our natural account growth by word of mouth is 10% to 20%. When markets go down, as they are now, that growth is closer to 10%. And when the market goes up, that growth is more like 20%.

更高的通貨膨脹和更低的股票市場影響了我們的行業。對我們來說，2022 年我們的客戶同比增長 25%。雖然對於許多公司來說，這將是個好消息，但我們希望做得更好。我們通過口口相傳的自然賬戶增長是 10% 到 20%。當市場下跌時，就像現在這樣，增長率接近 10%。當市場上漲時，增長率更接近 20%。

Our sales efforts also add another 10% to 20% on top of that. Though in the short term, that growth can be very lumpy.

除此之外，我們的銷售工作還增加了 10% 到 20%。儘管在短期內，這種增長可能非常不穩定。

We still see the bulk of the onboarding of the 2 new introducing broker clients we have mentioned happening in the second and third quarters of this year.

我們仍然看到我們提到的 2 個新介紹經紀人客戶的大部分入職發生在今年第二和第三季度。

There's a lot of discussion today around market structure, an Interactive Brokers auction model for options offers customers a path to best execution. In a volatile market, options have continued to be a security of choice for investors, both to take on exposure to a security at a lower cost than buying the stock outright and as a way to mitigate risk. Industry listed U.S. options average daily volume was over 41 million contracts in 2022, up from under 40 million the prior year.

今天有很多關於市場結構的討論，盈透證券的期權拍賣模型為客戶提供了最佳執行途徑。在動蕩的市場中，期權一直是投資者的首選證券，既可以以比直接購買股票更低的成本承擔證券敞口，也可以作為降低風險的一種方式。 2022 年，行業上市的美國期權日均交易量超過 4100 萬份合約，高於上年的不足 4000 萬份。

We do not accept payment for order flow for IBKR Pro customer orders. Rather, we invite pegged to the mid-price orders by institutions and market makers to our ATS to trade with our retail orders. Somewhat similarly, we auction off each option order among 22 top market makers and other professional traders who give their best bids and offers for every order our customers enter.

我們不接受 IBKR Pro 客戶訂單的訂單流付款。相反，我們邀請機構和做市商掛鉤中間價訂單到我們的 ATS 與我們的零售訂單進行交易。有點類似，我們在 22 位頂級做市商和其他專業交易員中拍賣每個期權訂單，他們為我們的客戶輸入的每個訂單提供最佳出價和報價。

These auctions last something on the order of 100 milliseconds, and the winner chooses which exchange wants to use to trade with the order. We then post the order for a second auction at the exchange. And if nobody improves on the price, the original winner of the auction trades the contract at the previously agreed-upon price. This all happens in a fraction of a second. All participants use automated processes and they automatically feed the amount of price improvement they are interested in competing on for any specific option contract at that specific time to trade with. This competition to win the auction means our customers can take advantage of a leading-edge system designed to get them the best available price.

這些拍賣持續大約 100 毫秒，獲勝者選擇要使用哪個交易所來處理訂單。然後我們在交易所發布第二次拍賣的訂單。如果沒有人提高價格，拍賣的最初獲勝者將以先前商定的價格交易合約。這一切都發生在幾分之一秒內。所有參與者都使用自動化流程，他們會自動提供他們有興趣在特定時間競爭任何特定期權合約的價格改善量。這場贏得拍賣的競爭意味著我們的客戶可以利用旨在讓他們獲得最優惠價格的領先系統。

We are now going to enhance this system by enabling our own customers who are so inclined to participate in this process on the market maker side. We are going to give them an order type with which they can signify the option or options they want to buy or sell. And then when we receive an opposing order, we will bid or offer on their behalf, along with the market makers. They will also tell us the price relative to the floating mid-price, the middle of the bid offer spread that they are willing to pay up to and our software will do the bidding for them. We still have some minor details we must work out with this project, but we are hoping to be able to introduce this capability to our customers by the end of this month.

我們現在將通過讓我們自己的客戶能夠在做市商方面參與這個過程來增強這個系統。我們將給他們一個訂單類型，他們可以用它來表示他們想要買賣的一個或多個期權。然後當我們收到反對訂單時，我們將與做市商一起代表他們出價或出價。他們還會告訴我們相對於浮動中間價的價格，即他們願意支付的買賣價差的中間價，我們的軟件將為他們出價。對於這個項目，我們還有一些小細節必須解決，但我們希望能夠在本月底之前向我們的客戶介紹此功能。

We are at the cutting edge of this best execution through auction process. We were the largest market makers and auctions for over 30 years, so we are very well versed in these processes, and we have been keeping them up to date over the years. With the potential for a new regulatory process, in addition to new exchanges and continuously evolving new rules, we have a team of programmers regularly engaged in this activity.

我們正處於通過拍賣過程實現最佳執行的最前沿。 30 多年來，我們一直是最大的做市商和拍賣行，因此我們非常精通這些流程，多年來我們一直在更新這些流程。鑑於新監管流程的潛力，除了新的交流和不斷發展的新規則外，我們還有一個程序員團隊定期參與這項活動。

If some similar method becomes required, sophisticated mechanisms like the ones we use could take a long time and great expense for others to create. There's a lot of debate on this, but we will be good with whatever ends up being the outcome. By the way, we are always happy to welcome more market makers to our platform. We added another 4 this past year. So please get in touch if you'd like to join us.

如果需要某種類似的方法，像我們使用的那樣複雜的機制可能需要很長時間，其他人才能創造出巨大的成本。對此有很多爭論，但無論最終結果如何，我們都會很好。順便說一下，我們總是很高興歡迎更多的做市商加入我們的平台。去年我們又增加了 4 個。因此，如果您想加入我們，請與我們聯繫。

We introduced more new products and expanded the capabilities of existing ones. Recognizing our global customers' reach, we introduced global trader, a streamlined version of our platform for mobile devices which allows our clients to trade in over 90 stock markets worldwide. We continue to enhance our options trading tools from mobile options trading to our rollover options tool, strategy builder and probability lab. We will be upgrading our platform with more features and capabilities. We are introducing new tools for financial advisers, ones they have been asking for and that will set our offering apart as best in its class as well as being among the lowest cost for an adviser to use. We are also adding new countries where our clients can trade.

我們推出了更多新產品並擴展了現有產品的功能。認識到我們的全球客戶的影響力，我們推出了 global trader，這是我們移動設備平台的簡化版本，允許我們的客戶在全球 90 多個股票市場進行交易。我們繼續增強我們的期權交易工具，從移動期權交易到我們的展期期權工具、策略構建器和概率實驗室。我們將升級我們的平台以提供更多特性和功能。我們正在為財務顧問推出他們一直要求的新工具，這將使我們的產品在同類產品中脫穎而出，並成為顧問使用成本最低的產品之一。我們還增加了客戶可以進行交易的新國家。

We were pleased to receive our bank license in Hungary and plan to make it operational in 2023. Unlike in the U.S., customer funds on deposit with an EU broker may not be used to finance margin borrowings by other customers of the broker. Only banks can lend their customers' funds to other customers no matter what kind of collateral is involved. Our primary purpose with this EU bank is to facilitate such financing.

我們很高興在匈牙利獲得銀行牌照，併計劃在 2023 年投入運營。與美國不同，存入歐盟經紀商的客戶資金不得用於為經紀商的其他客戶提供保證金借款。無論涉及何種抵押品，只有銀行才能將客戶的資金借給其他客戶。我們與這家歐盟銀行合作的主要目的是促進此類融資。

There is much to look forward to. The Interactive Brokers platform is built with the purpose of bringing investors and marketplaces together all over the world, optimizing the allocation of capital and resources. It is our job to develop the best tools and capabilities to facilitate that. We are as busy programming as we've ever been. This and our much lower cost structure is what sets us apart and will continue to do so in the years ahead. Paul?

有很多值得期待的。盈透證券平台旨在將全球投資者和市場聚集在一起，優化資本和資源配置。我們的工作是開發最好的工具和能力來促進這一點。我們一如既往地忙於編程。這和我們低得多的成本結構使我們與眾不同，並將在未來幾年繼續這樣做。保羅？

Thank you, Nancy. Welcome, everyone, to the call. I'll review our fourth quarter results, and then we'll open it up for questions. Starting with our revenue items on Page 3 of the release. We're pleased with the record financial results we achieved this quarter. Commissions rose versus last year despite declining global market indices reaching $331 million, our third highest quarter ever. For the full year, commissions were $1.3 billion, down only slightly from 2021 mean stock spike in trading. We saw higher trading volumes in futures and options in 2022, coming from our large base of sophisticated and active traders, investors and advisers.

謝謝你，南希。歡迎大家來電。我將回顧我們的第四季度業績，然後我們將公開提問。從新聞稿第 3 頁上的收入項目開始。我們對本季度取得的創紀錄的財務業績感到滿意。儘管全球市場指數下降至 3.31 億美元，這是我們有史以來第三高的季度，但佣金與去年相比有所上升。全年佣金為 13 億美元，僅略低於 2021 年平均股票交易高峰。我們看到 2022 年期貨和期權的交易量增加，這得益於我們龐大的經驗豐富且活躍的交易員、投資者和顧問群體。

Net interest income of $565 million for the quarter and $1.7 billion for the year, reflected increases in benchmark rates worldwide. U.S. rates have moved from an average effective rate of 0.08% in the fourth quarter of '21 to 3.65% in the fourth quarter of '22. This led to higher interest earned on margin loans and our segregated cash portfolio. These were partially offset by the higher interest paid to our customers on their cash balances as interactive brokers passes through to them all rate hikes above the first 50 basis points on their qualified funds.

本季度淨利息收入為 5.65 億美元，全年淨利息收入為 17 億美元，反映了全球基準利率的上升。美國利率已從 21 年第四季度的平均有效利率 0.08% 上升至 22 年第四季度的 3.65%。這導致保證金貸款和我們的隔離現金投資組合賺取更高的利息。這些部分被支付給我們客戶的現金餘額的更高利息部分抵消，因為互動經紀商將其合格基金的所有加息超過前 50 個基點。

Other fees and services generated $43 million for the quarter and $184 million for the year. The drop from the prior year quarter is driven primarily by the risk off positioning of customers, which led to a reduction in risk exposure fees from $18 million to $6 million. FDIC sweeps fees rose to $3 million this quarter, while market data fees of $18 million and exchange liquidity payments of $9 million were both off 10%.

其他費用和服務在本季度產生了 4300 萬美元，在全年產生了 1.84 億美元。與去年同期相比下降的主要原因是客戶的風險規避定位導致風險敞口費用從 1800 萬美元減少到 600 萬美元。本季度 FDIC 清算費用增至 300 萬美元，而 1800 萬美元的市場數據費用和 900 萬美元的交易所流動性支付均下降了 10%。

Other income includes gains and losses on our investments, our currency diversification strategy and principal transactions. Note that many of these noncore items are excluded in our adjusted earnings. Without these excluded items, other income was $19 million for the quarter and $39 million for the year.

其他收入包括我們的投資收益和損失、我們的貨幣多元化戰略和主要交易。請注意，我們調整後的收益中不包括許多這些非核心項目。如果沒有這些排除項目，本季度的其他收入為 1900 萬美元，全年為 3900 萬美元。

Turning to expenses. Execution, clearing and distribution costs were $90 million in the quarter and $324 million for the year. The increases were led by lower liquidity rebates and nonrecurrence of 2021's options fee reduction and fee holidays from unusually high volumes throughout the industry, high futures volumes, which carry higher fees and an increase in the SEC fee rate on U.S. stocks and options.

談到開支。本季度的執行、清算和分銷成本為 9000 萬美元，全年為 3.24 億美元。導致這一增長的原因是較低的流動性回扣和 2021 年的期權費減免以及整個行業異常高交易量的費用假期、高期貨交易量（帶來更高的費用）以及美國證券交易委員會對美國股票和期權的費用率增加。

As a percent of commission revenues, execution and clearing costs were 21% in the fourth quarter. Note that we report market data expense a pass-through item in execution, clearing and distribution fees, while the corresponding revenue item, Market Data revenue is included in other fees and services. To align the volume-based costs with commission, we look at execution and clearing costs ex market data expense.

第四季度，執行和清算成本佔佣金收入的百分比為 21%。請注意，我們將市場數據費用報告為執行、清算和分銷費用中的傳遞項目，而相應的收入項目市場數據收入則包含在其他費用和服務中。為了使基於數量的成本與佣金保持一致，我們研究了除市場數據費用之外的執行和清算成本。

Compensation and benefits expense was $119 million for the quarter for a ratio of comp expense to adjusted net revenues of 12%. For the year, this ratio was 14%, unchanged from last year despite a 10% increase in headcount. We continue to focus on expense discipline while improving our strong top line. Our head count at year-end was 2,820.

本季度的薪酬和福利支出為 1.19 億美元，薪酬支出與調整後淨收入的比率為 12%。今年，這一比例為 14%，儘管員工人數增加了 10%，但與去年持平。我們繼續專注於費用紀律，同時提高我們強勁的收入。年末我們的員工人數為 2,820 人。

G&A expenses were up from the year ago quarter, primarily on higher legal expenses from relatively low numbers last year, though for the full year, they were down 6%, reflecting the nonrecurrence of Brexit-related costs and a reduction in consulting expenses and bank fees.

G&A 費用較上年同期有所增加，主要是由於去年相對較低的法律費用有所增加，但全年下降了 6%，反映出與英國退歐相關的非經常性費用以及諮詢費用和銀行業務的減少費用。

Our pretax margin was a record 71%. Automation and expense control along with prudent management of our balance sheet, remain our key means of maintaining high margins while we continue to hire talented people and invest in the future of our business. Income taxes of $56 million reflects the sum of the public company's $31 million and the operating company's $25 million. For the year, taxes of $156 million are the sum of the public company's $87 million and the operating company's $69 million.

我們的稅前利潤率達到創紀錄的 71%。自動化和費用控制以及對資產負債表的審慎管理，仍然是我們保持高利潤率的關鍵手段，同時我們繼續聘請人才並投資於我們業務的未來。 5600 萬美元的所得稅反映了上市公司 3100 萬美元和運營公司 2500 萬美元的總和。這一年，1.56 億美元的稅收是上市公司 8700 萬美元和運營公司 6900 萬美元的總和。

Moving to the balance sheet on Page 5 of the release, our total assets ended the year at $115 billion, with growth driven by higher customer cash balances, partially offset by lower customer margin lending. We maintain a balance sheet geared towards supporting our growing business and providing sufficient financial resources during volatile markets. We have no long-term debt.

轉到新聞稿第 5 頁的資產負債表，我們的總資產在年底達到 1150 億美元，增長是由客戶現金餘額增加推動的，部分被較低的客戶保證金貸款所抵消。我們維持資產負債表，以支持我們不斷增長的業務，並在動蕩的市場中提供充足的財務資源。我們沒有長期債務。

Our ample capital base is not only deployed in running our current business has helped us win new business by showing the strength and depth of our balance sheet to current and prospective clients and partners, and it positions us to capture numerous growth and investment opportunities we see worldwide.

我們充足的資本基礎不僅用於運營我們當前的業務，還通過向現有和潛在客戶及合作夥伴展示我們資產負債表的實力和深度來幫助我們贏得新業務，它使我們能夠抓住我們看到的眾多增長和投資機會全世界。

In our operating data on Pages 6 and 7, our contract volumes for all customers rose 23% over the prior year quarter in futures, well above the industry growth. Options contract and stock share volumes declined versus unusually high volumes last year. For the full year, options and futures contract volumes rose 3% and 33%, respectively. The decrease in stock share volume was largely attributable to lower trading in pink sheet and other very low-priced stocks.

在我們第 6 頁和第 7 頁的運營數據中，我們所有客戶的期貨合約量比去年同期增長 23%，遠高於行業增長。與去年異常高的交易量相比，期權合約和股票交易量有所下降。全年來看，期權和期貨合約交易量分別增長了 3% 和 33%。股票數量的減少主要是由於粉單和其他價格非常低的股票交易量減少。

On Page 7, you can see that account growth remains robust with 415,000 net new account adds for the year. Total accounts broke through the $2 million mark in 2022, closing the year at $2.1 million, up 25% over the prior year.

在第 7 頁，您可以看到帳戶增長依然強勁，全年新增帳戶淨增 415,000 個。 2022 年總賬戶突破 200 萬美元大關，全年收於 210 萬美元，比上年增長 25%。

Total customer DARTs were 1.9 million trades per day, reflecting a risk off period for investors and down from last year's stronger market environment. Commission for a cleared commissionable order of $3.15 was up 32% from last year as our clients' volume mix included fewer low-priced stock trades and larger average trade size and options.

DART 客戶總數為每天 190 萬筆交易，反映了投資者的風險規避期，並且低於去年強勁的市場環境。由於我們客戶的交易量組合包括更少的低價股票交易和更大的平均交易規模和期權，因此 3.15 美元的清算佣金訂單的佣金比去年增加了 32%。

Page 8 shows our net interest margin numbers. Total GAAP net interest income was $565 million for the quarter, up 92%, and $1.7 billion for the year, up 45%. These reflected strength in margin loan and segregated cash interest, partially offset by higher interest expense and customer cash balances.

第 8 頁顯示了我們的淨息差數據。本季度 GAAP 淨利息總收入為 5.65 億美元，增長 92%，全年為 17 億美元，增長 45%。這些反映了保證金貸款和獨立現金利息的實力，部分被更高的利息支出和客戶現金餘額所抵消。

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates twice in the quarter by 75 basis points in November and a further 50 basis points in mid-December. These increases had a partial positive impact in a 12-week quarter but will have a full impact in the first quarter of '23. Other central banks also raised rates this quarter, including the U.K., Hong Kong, Canada, Australia, the Eurozone and Switzerland. Higher interest rates led to margin loan interest income up 32% over the third quarter and 182% over the prior year quarter, more than compensating for lower average balances in both periods.

美聯儲在本季度兩次加息，分別在 11 月和 12 月中旬分別加息 75 個基點和 50 個基點。這些增長在為期 12 週的季度中產生了部分積極影響，但將在 23 年第一季度產生全面影響。其他央行也在本季度提高了利率，包括英國、香港、加拿大、澳大利亞、歐元區和瑞士。較高的利率導致保證金貸款利息收入比第三季度增長 32%，比去年同期增長 182%，足以彌補兩個時期較低的平均餘額。

Securities lending net interest was not as strong as in the prior year for a few reasons. First, while overall customer demand for shorting stocks and borrowing shares rose, there were fewer hard-to-borrow names throughout the industry. Second, benchmark rates are rising.

由於幾個原因，證券借貸淨利息不如上一年強勁。首先，雖然客戶對做空股票和借入股票的整體需求上升，但整個行業難以藉入的股票數量減少了。其次，基準利率正在上升。

The interest we earn on cash collateral received in exchange for lending stock is also rising. That's good news. Because this cash collateral is invested as segregated funds, the interest earned on it falls under the heading, net interest income on segregated cash in our net interest margin table rather than securities borrowed and loans. We estimate that the incremental interest earned on this stock loan cash collateral from rate increases was $42 million for the quarter.

我們通過借出股票而收到的現金抵押品所賺取的利息也在上升。那是好消息。由於該現金抵押品作為獨立資金進行投資，因此其所賺取的利息屬於我們淨利差表中獨立現金淨利息收入的標題，而不是藉入的證券和貸款。我們估計本季度因加息而從該股票貸款現金抵押品中獲得的增量利息為 4200 萬美元。

Interest on customer credit balances or the interest we pay to our customers increased, higher rates than nearly all currencies led to our paying interest on qualifying balances as we pass through these rate increases to our customers. We paid $487 million to our customers on these balances in the fourth quarter and a total of $763 million for the year. Fully rate-sensitive balances were about $20 billion this quarter.

客戶信貸餘額的利息或我們支付給客戶的利息增加，利率高於幾乎所有貨幣導致我們支付合格餘額的利息，因為我們將這些利率增加傳遞給我們的客戶。我們在第四季度就這些餘額向客戶支付了 4.87 億美元，全年共計支付了 7.63 億美元。本季度完全對利率敏感的餘額約為 200 億美元。

Now for our estimates of the impact of increases in rates, given market expectations of more rate hikes to come, we estimate the effects of increases in the Fed funds rate to produce additional annual net interest income as follows: at 25 basis points, an increase of $49 million; at 50 basis points, an increase of $97 million; at 75 basis points, an increase of $146 million; and at 100 basis points, an increase of $195 million. Note that our starting point for these estimates is December 31, with the Fed funds effective rate at 4.33% and our balances at that date.

現在，對於我們對加息影響的估計，鑑於市場對未來更多加息的預期，我們估計聯邦基金利率上升對產生額外年度淨利息收入的影響如下：在 25 個基點，增加4900萬美元；按 50 個基點計算，增加 9700 萬美元；按 75 個基點計算，增加 1.46 億美元；以 100 個基點計算，增加了 1.95 億美元。請注意，我們進行這些估計的起點是 12 月 31 日，聯邦基金有效利率為 4.33%，我們在該日期的餘額。

About 25% of our customer segregated cash is not in U.S. dollars, so estimates of U.S. rate change impacts exclude those currencies. We estimate a 25 basis point increase in all the relevant non-USD benchmark rate would produce additional annual net interest income of $25 million, and rising to about $100 million at a 100 basis point rate increase.

我們大約 25% 的客戶隔離現金不是美元，因此對美國利率變化影響的估計不包括這些貨幣。我們估計所有相關的非美元基準利率增加 25 個基點將產生 2500 萬美元的額外年度淨利息收入，並在利率增加 100 個基點時增加至約 1 億美元。

In conclusion, we had a financially strong quarter, closed out a record year of net revenues and pretax margin, reflecting our continued ability to grow our customer base and deliver on our core value proposition to customers. We've done this while highlighting the attractiveness of our strategy to automate for growth, expanding what we offer while minimizing what we charge. We do this at a low cost managing our growing business effectively and with strong expense control.

總之，我們有一個財務強勁的季度，結束了創紀錄的淨收入和稅前利潤率，反映了我們繼續擴大客戶群和向客戶提供核心價值主張的能力。我們這樣做的同時強調了我們實現增長自動化戰略的吸引力，擴大了我們提供的服務，同時最大限度地減少了我們的收費。我們以低成本有效地管理我們不斷增長的業務並通過強大的費用控制來做到這一點。

With that, I'll turn it over to the moderator, and we'll take some questions.

有了這個，我會把它交給主持人，我們會回答一些問題。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Richard Repetto of Piper Sandler.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Piper Sandler 的 Richard Repetto。

Thomas and Paul and Milan, sorry. I guess my question, Thomas had to do with the introduction and how you talked about interactive brokers technology being so adept, I guess, in the actions, auctions. And I guess the question is, okay, it looks like we could have auctions implemented into equities. And could you just talk about if there's any first impressions of what the SEC has rolled out? And is auction -- and what do you think is the impact? And would you have that same -- I guess you're saying you have that same advantage of the experience of the auctions from options and can apply it to equities. Is that what the message was?

托馬斯、保羅和米蘭，抱歉。我想我的問題，Thomas 與介紹有關，以及你如何談論互動經紀人技術在行動和拍賣中如此熟練。我想問題是，好吧，看起來我們可以將拍賣實施到股票中。您能否談談對 SEC 推出的產品是否有任何第一印象？是拍賣——您認為影響是什麼？你會不會有同樣的 - 我猜你是說你擁有期權拍賣經驗的相同優勢，並且可以將其應用於股票。消息是這樣的嗎？

Yes. So I do -- I haven't heard anything, and I do not expect that the SEC will require an auction process for options. But to the extent that they will do so for securities, I think that gives us a great leg up in marketing our auction process for options because obviously, if auctions are good for securities, they are good for options, too.

是的。所以我確實 - 我沒有聽到任何消息，我不認為 SEC 會要求對期權進行拍賣程序。但就他們對證券這樣做的程度而言，我認為這使我們在營銷我們的期權拍賣過程方面有很大的優勢，因為顯然，如果拍賣對證券有利，那麼它們對期權也有利。

As a matter of fact, the fact is that it is better for options because options, the bid offer spread is relatively wider than it is in securities. So a $3 option that really cost say $300 for a contract, the spread -- the bid offer spread is up and as wide as $0.05, $0.06 or $5 to $6 on a $300 trade, right? So a facility whereby the participants can meet somewhere in the middle and there is no -- the spread is safe to our 2 customers on each side of the trade, I think it's a huge leg up and we can market the hell out of it. That's the idea here.

事實上，事實是期權更好，因為期權的買賣價差比證券要大。因此，一份 3 美元的期權實際上需要 300 美元的合約，價差——買賣價差上升到 0.05 美元、0.06 美元或 300 美元交易的 5 美元至 6 美元，對嗎？因此，參與者可以在中間的某個地方會面並且沒有 - 價差對我們交易每一方的 2 個客戶來說是安全的，我認為這是一個巨大的優勢，我們可以從中推銷。這就是這裡的想法。

I guess just a quick follow-up on that, but you don't consider the options price improvement sort of -- I thought those are called the auctions, but you don't consider them equivalent to what the SEC is sort of outlined at this point?

我想只是對此進行快速跟進，但你不考慮期權價格的提高——我認為這些被稱為拍賣，但你不認為它們等同於美國證券交易委員會在這點？

Well, it is equivalent in the stock space, but they didn't -- I haven't heard them talking about options. But we are basically proposing to do the same thing in options as they may require for stocks.

好吧，它在股票領域是等價的，但他們沒有——我沒聽他們談論過期權。但我們基本上建議在期權中做與股票可能要求的相同的事情。

Okay. And one other financial analysis to answer question. Paul, can you give us sort of expectations for expenses in the coming year? It looks like the adjusted -- I think our number is right, somewhere about 15% year-over-year increase this year. Is that something to sort of -- is that a good number to sort of use as a benchmark or rule of thumb for 2023?

好的。和另一個財務分析來回答問題。保羅，你能給我們一些對來年開支的預期嗎？看起來像是調整後的——我認為我們的數字是正確的，今年同比增長約 15%。這是某種意義上的——作為 2023 年的基准或經驗法則，這是一個很好的數字嗎？

Thomas, do you have a view? Maybe we have been...

托馬斯，你有什麼看法嗎？也許我們一直...

I'm sorry, I didn't pay attention to the question.

對不起，我沒有註意這個問題。

The increase in overall expenses. I mean, we do continue to hire along with the growth in our business.

總費用增加。我的意思是，隨著我們業務的增長，我們確實會繼續招聘。

Yes. I think our increase -- I think we're going to increase expenses roughly 15% a year as we have done in the past. We continue to grow. We continue to come up with new things, and we continue to pay to attract new talent. But as long as our expenses don't increase any higher than our revenues, I think we're going to continue to run up around 70% profit margin, and that's good enough for us.

是的。我認為我們的增長——我認為我們將像過去一樣每年增加大約 15% 的開支。我們繼續成長。我們不斷提出新的東西，我們繼續支付以吸引新的人才。但只要我們的支出增長不超過我們的收入，我認為我們將繼續保持 70% 左右的利潤率，這對我們來說已經足夠了。

Our next question comes from the line of Craig Siegenthaler of Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Craig Siegenthaler。

So if we exclude the 2 large introducing broker wins that are going to start funding in 2Q, how does the future high broker pipeline look? And could you announce additional large IBroker wins over the course of the next year?

因此，如果我們排除將在 2Q 開始融資的 2 家大型介紹經紀商獲勝，未來的高經紀商管道看起來如何？您能否宣布 IBroker 在明年的過程中獲得更多的大筆訂單？

Could we -- sure we could. The question is really not so well. I mean, obviously, we have a lot of people out there who are trying to recruit and our brokers and the more we get on the platform, the more we will -- the more we will hear about it and the more of them will come to us. The idea basically is that worldwide, it is very difficult to create a system that is compliant with all the regulations all over the world. And so we have a huge drag up in having done so, and I think we don't have any -- basically, I don't think we have any serious competitors in this space.

我們可以——我們當然可以。這個問題真的不太好。我的意思是，很明顯，我們有很多人在嘗試招募我們的經紀人，我們在平台上獲得的越多，我們就會越多——我們聽到的越多，他們就會來的越多給我們。這個想法基本上是在世界範圍內，很難創建一個符合全世界所有法規的系統。因此，我們這樣做有很大的阻力，我認為我們沒有 - 基本上，我認為我們在這個領域沒有任何真正的競爭對手。

Got it, Thomas. And then just for my follow-up, I heard Paul's comments on higher legal expenses in G&A. Should we assume part of that is onetime as we work. And I'm just thinking, is there a good number for us to work off of for 1Q '23 relative to the $48 million in 4Q?

明白了，托馬斯。然後就我的後續行動而言，我聽到了保羅關於 G&A 中更高的法律費用的評論。我們是否應該假設其中一部分是我們工作時的一次性。而且我只是在想，相對於第四季度的 4800 萬美元，我們可以為 23 年第一季度的工作做準備嗎？

Legal expenses get -- they go up, they go down, cases come by, regulatory things come by. Maybe the best -- the most realistic thing you could look at is on the year as opposed to on the quarter.

法律費用得到——他們上升，他們下降，案件來了，監管的事情來了。也許最好的——你能看到的最現實的事情是一年而不是季度。

Our next question comes from the line of Benjamin Budish of Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Benjamin Budish。

I kind of wanted to follow up on the spending, but maybe kind of a higher-level question. Can you maybe talk about some of your strategic priorities for this year? I think in the past, you've kind of indicated the more geographic expansion, digging deeper into the hedge fund business. Where are you kind of focused in terms of spending your top priorities?

我有點想跟進支出，但也許是一個更高層次的問題。您能否談談今年的一些戰略重點？我想在過去，你已經表示了更多的地域擴張，更深入地挖掘對沖基金業務。在花費最優先事項方面，您的重點是什麼？

Thanks for the question. We are focusing on making our systems more robust. The more IBrokers we get on the platform, some of them being large multinational banks, they require a very high level of reliability and redundancy. We have had back up data centers, online available to us for a long time, but we are not able to turn them on in a matter of seconds or minutes. So that is when significant expenditure is going to go.

謝謝你的問題。我們專注於使我們的系統更加健壯。我們在平台上獲得的 IBrokers 越多，其中一些是大型跨國銀行，他們需要非常高的可靠性和冗餘度。我們有備份數據中心，我們可以在線使用很長時間，但我們無法在幾秒鐘或幾分鐘內打開它們。所以那是大量支出的時候。

As far as growing the staff, we're going to be flexible in the area of compliance and customer service, and we will respond to the increase in the number of accounts and the trading activity. As far as the technology is concerned, we will continue hiring the talent as we have in the past.

就增加員工而言，我們將在合規和客戶服務領域保持靈活性，我們將應對賬戶數量和交易活動的增加。就技術而言，我們將像過去一樣繼續招聘人才。

Great. Super helpful. And then if I could follow up on kind of a comment you guys made earlier on, I know you said that the account growth, there's kind of a mix between natural word of mouth and sales, which can be quite lumpy. I'm just wondering kind of in the most recent months, what has been the mix. Has it been sort of even or more geared one way or another?

偉大的。超級有幫助。然後，如果我可以跟進你們早些時候發表的評論，我知道你們說過賬戶增長，自然口碑和銷售之間存在某種混合，這可能非常不穩定。我只是想知道最近幾個月的混合情況。它是否以一種或另一種方式更適合或更適合？

It's (inaudible) roughly.

大致是（聽不清）。

Our next question comes from the line of Daniel Fannon of Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Daniel Fannon。

Thomas, I wanted to get your thoughts on just the elevated use of options as well as futures and maybe the sustainability of that as you think about 2023 and whether we're above average, below or you think we can still grow from here?

托馬斯，我想听聽您對期權和期貨的使用增加的看法，以及您對 2023 年的可持續性的看法，以及我們是高於平均水平、低於平均水平，還是您認為我們仍可以從這裡增長？

So as I started my career in this business in as an options trader on the floor of the MX. And all I have seen over the past 46 years is a continuous increase in options trading. And what we see now is in addition to the U.S. growth, growth is now beginning to pick up in Asia and in Europe in the auction space because they basically go into the options business about 20 or 30 years ago and then it's slowly dwindled down to nothing over there. and now it's finally picking up again.

因此，當我作為 MX 場內的期權交易員開始我的職業生涯時。在過去的 46 年裡，我所看到的只是期權交易的持續增長。我們現在看到的是，除了美國的增長之外，亞洲和歐洲拍賣領域的增長現在開始回升，因為他們基本上在 20 或 30 年前進入期權業務，然後慢慢減少到那邊什麼都沒有現在它終於又回升了。

So I am extremely optimistic about the growth in options trading. Obviously, if you just look at the idea of doing vertical spreads, when your losses are very limited, and you can have some very thing positive, you can put on some terrific positions in vertical spreads, it's much better than trading stocks.

所以我對期權交易的增長非常樂觀。顯然，如果你只看做垂直價差的想法，當你的損失非常有限，而且你可以有一些非常積極的東西時，你可以在垂直價差中建立一些極好的頭寸，這比交易股票要好得多。

Our next question comes from the line of Kyle Voigt of KBW.

我們的下一個問題來自 KBW 的 Kyle Voigt。

Maybe just a follow-up on the commentary earlier regarding the sales effort adding 10% to 20% to account growth per year. I'm just wondering is that with the current sales team and marketing budget and when we think about that 15% expense growth in sales and marketing and area you're prioritizing, I'm just wondering like, like bigger picture, are there larger changes in advertising strategy that you're contemplating, I guess, as you look out to next year or is it?

也許只是對早些時候關於銷售努力使客戶每年增長 10% 到 20% 的評論的跟進。我只是想知道，在目前的銷售團隊和營銷預算下，當我們考慮銷售和營銷以及您優先考慮的領域的 15% 費用增長時，我只是想知道，像更大的圖景，是否有更大的你正在考慮的廣告策略的變化，我猜，你展望明年還是這樣？

So we're working this across the board. We're continuously trying to train new salespeople who are basically come to begin working on our professional help desk. And after they went through that for about 2 or 3 years, they are mature enough to bring into the sales team and begin to sell.

所以我們正在全面開展這項工作。我們一直在努力培訓新的銷售人員，他們基本上已經開始在我們的專業幫助台上工作了。在他們經歷了大約 2 或 3 年之後，他們已經足夠成熟，可以帶入銷售團隊並開始銷售。

As far as advertising, as you know, it's the digital advertising world is very up in it's a situation that -- it's -- so I'm sorry, -- it is the digital advertising space is in flux to the extended, I mean trying to talk about it. And so I -- basically, what I'm saying is reflecting what's going on there. and the way I say it.

就廣告而言，正如你所知，數字廣告世界正在處於這樣一種情況——這是——所以我很抱歉——數字廣告空間正在不斷擴大，我的意思是試圖談論它。所以我 - 基本上，我所說的是反映那裡發生的事情。以及我說話的方式。

So we're continuously working on it, and we are -- we do not have budget constraints anywhere but we are trying to get a good return on the investment. So we are not going to throw a lot of money on various campaigns unless we see that it proves itself.

所以我們一直在努力，而且我們 - 我們在任何地方都沒有預算限制，但我們正在努力獲得良好的投資回報。因此，除非我們看到它證明了自己，否則我們不會在各種活動上投入大量資金。

So we try small and if it works, we keep trying to get it bigger and bigger and bigger. But usually, as we find it when we start something, it starts working. And as we keep growing, it works less and less. I don't know why that is so, but that's how it is. So we have a lot more, we would love to spend a lot more money advertising, but we won't do it without having a reasonable return.

所以我們嘗試小規模，如果可行，我們會繼續努力讓它越來越大。但通常，當我們開始做某事時發現它，它就會開始起作用。隨著我們不斷成長，它的作用越來越小。我不知道為什麼會這樣，但就是這樣。所以我們有更多，我們願意花更多的錢做廣告，但如果沒有合理的回報我們不會這樣做。

Understood. Maybe I shift over to NII. Just curious, strategically speaking, if we start to see the central banks cut overnight rates potentially by later this year, does that change your strategy on the duration of the segregated cash portfolio at all?

明白了。也許我會轉到 NII。只是好奇，從戰略上講，如果我們開始看到中央銀行可能在今年晚些時候降低隔夜利率，這是否會完全改變您對隔離現金投資組合久期的策略？

Well, if you believe that they will cut it, good luck to you.

好吧，如果你相信他們會削減它，祝你好運。

I guess if we do start to see that move, I guess, does that change your viewpoint or is what you said earlier?

我想如果我們確實開始看到這一舉措，我想，這會改變您的觀點還是您之前所說的？

It is a risk we cannot take because if you're right, we'll actually make extra money. But if we're wrong, we can lose a fortune because as rates go up, we have to raise the rate that we pay to our clients. And I don't want to be in a situation, we don't want to be a situation where we are (inaudible) on the wrong end and we're borrowing on the short term from our customers. So we can get creamed that way, and we will not do that.

這是我們不能承擔的風險，因為如果你是對的，我們實際上會賺到額外的錢。但如果我們錯了，我們可能會損失一大筆錢，因為隨著利率上升，我們必須提高支付給客戶的利率。而且我不想處於這樣一種情況，我們不想成為我們（聽不清）在錯誤的一端並且我們在短期內從客戶那裡借錢的情況。所以我們可以那樣做，我們不會那樣做。

Understood. And last question for me. It's just the yield on customer credit balances that you're paying out the clients came in a bit lower than we expected. Paul, I know you said $20 billion is the fully rate-sensitive cash figure. I just want to confirm that $20 billion figure, does that also include balances that are partially rate sensitive within there? I just wanted to confirm that.

明白了。最後一個問題問我。這只是您支付給客戶的客戶信貸餘額的收益率比我們預期的要低一些。保羅，我知道你說過 200 億美元是完全對利率敏感的現金數字。我只想確認 200 億美元的數字，其中是否還包括部分對利率敏感的餘額？我只是想確認一下。

Right. I mean it includes the equivalent of the fully sensitive balance, right? So we pay a pro rata portion of our full rate on accounts that have between $10,000 and $100,000 in equity. We've calculated the equivalent effective principle on which full amount -- the full rate would have been paid, right? So it's a good number to assume they're fully sensitive.

正確的。我的意思是它包括相當於完全敏感的天平，對嗎？因此，我們為淨值在 10,000 美元到 100,000 美元之間的賬戶按比例支付全額費用。我們已經計算了全額支付的等效有效原則 - 全額費用，對吧？因此，假設他們完全敏感是一個很好的數字。

Yes. And the interest rate sensitivity that you gave earlier, Paul, I just want to confirm as well, that does not include, I'm assuming, the interest -- additional interest that you'd also earn on corporate cash balances. Is that correct?

是的。保羅，你之前給出的利率敏感性，我也想確認一下，這不包括，我假設，利息——你也會從公司現金餘額中賺取的額外利息。那是對的嗎？

No, it does assume that both the customer side and the investment side move together, right? And we have quite a short duration. And so those are fully absorbed run rates, but it wouldn't take us that long to get there as rates move around given that our duration is short.

不，它確實假設客戶方和投資方一起移動，對嗎？我們的持續時間很短。因此，這些是完全吸收的運行率，但鑑於我們的持續時間很短，我們不會花那麼長時間到達那裡，因為利率會發生變化。

Our next question comes from the line of Chris Allen of Citi.

我們的下一個問題來自花旗銀行的 Chris Allen。

I was wondering if maybe you could give some color just in terms of the account growth where there was any strength in any particular customer segments or regions relative to any others this quarter?

我想知道您是否可以僅根據本季度任何特定客戶群或地區相對於其他客戶群或地區有任何優勢的帳戶增長給出一些顏色？

Well, look, our fastest account growth is individuals, followed by (inaudible) funds followed by IBrokers and lastly, financial advisers, so that's the relative rate of growth. And that is for the last 12 months, so I have not broken this out for the last quarter. But -- so look, basically, probably the last quarter hedge funds growth is probably -- yes, that is unusually high. And we don't do as well financial advisers as we do with hedge funds. The software development that Milan mentioned having to do with financial advisers is meant to better that growth rate.

嗯，看，我們最快的賬戶增長是個人，其次是（聽不清）基金，然後是 IBrokers，最後是財務顧問，這就是相對增長率。那是過去 12 個月的情況，所以我沒有在最後一個季度打破這一點。但是 - 所以基本上看，上個季度對沖基金的增長可能是 - 是的，這是異常高的。我們做的財務顧問不如對沖基金。米蘭提到的與財務顧問有關的軟件開發旨在提高增長率。

Got it. Any specific regions growing faster than others at the moment?

知道了。目前有哪些特定地區的增長速度比其他地區快？

Yes, I think it's to a large extent, this is a word of market, right? And it just so happens that we are doing very well among people and financial advisers are more or they are locked up to the extent that they are associated with Morgan Stanley and UBS, they are locked up there. To the extent they are independent. They are with Schwab and Ameritrade. And so they are not as easily -- and there are not so many new of them that start, right? So it is a more difficult task to get new financial adviser than it is to get (inaudible).

是的，我覺得很大程度上，這是一個市場的詞，對吧？碰巧我們在人群中做得很好，財務顧問更多，或者他們被鎖定到與摩根士丹利和瑞銀有關聯的程度，他們被鎖定在那裡。在某種程度上他們是獨立的。他們與 Schwab 和 Ameritrade 合作。所以它們並不那麼容易——而且沒有那麼多新的開始，對吧？因此，獲得新的財務顧問比獲得（聽不清）更困難。

Got it. And just -- is there any way you guys can frame out the Hungary bank license, what that might mean just in terms of the inability to fund margin loans in Europe right now, what the demand would theoretically be, any way to think about that?

知道了。只是 - 你們有什麼辦法可以製定匈牙利銀行牌照，就目前無法為歐洲的保證金貸款提供資金而言，這可能意味著什麼，理論上的需求是什麼，以任何方式考慮？

Well, margin accounts, currently, we cannot use customer monies to lend out to other customers in the EU, and we have roughly a similar demand in the U.S., we have in the U.S. for that. And so we are currently using our own money. In the future, we will be able to use other customers' money.

嗯，保證金賬戶，目前，我們不能用客戶的錢借給歐盟的其他客戶，我們在美國也有大致相似的需求，我們在美國也有這樣的需求。因此，我們目前正在使用自己的錢。將來，我們將可以使用其他客戶的錢。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from the line of Richard Repetto of Piper Sandler.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自 Piper Sandler 的 Richard Repetto。

Yes, sorry. First, just a couple of quick accounting follow-ups. Paul, you said that -- I thought you said that the market data expense went into execution and clearing. I didn't get the number. And if they have it right, can you give us the amount that went into the execution and clearing expense?

是的，對不起。首先，只是幾個快速的會計跟進。保羅，你說過 - 我以為你說過市場數據費用用於執行和清算。我沒有得到號碼。如果他們做對了，你能告訴我們執行和清算費用的金額嗎？

Right. So the line item is called execution, clearing and distribution, where the distribution is really distribution of market data, what I was pointing out is that when we talk about the expense portion of executing a trade about 21% cost versus the commission that we earned. And in order to get a reasonable number there, an accurate number, you have to pull out from the line item, market data, which doesn't go into, commission that goes into the other income line. That's how it's paired up, right?

正確的。因此，該行項目稱為執行、清算和分配，其中分配實際上是市場數據的分配，我要指出的是，當我們談論執行交易的費用部分時，成本占我們賺取的佣金的 21% .為了在那裡獲得一個合理的數字，一個準確的數字，你必須從行項目中提取市場數據，它不會進入其他收入行的佣金。就是這麼搭配的吧？

It's marginally profitable every year because there's a little bit of markup and some estimates on how we have to estimate our costs and pass through. But in other words, what I was pointing out is to get rid of the noise when you're thinking about the marginal gross profit that we get when we execute a trade and earn a commission.

它每年都有微薄的利潤，因為有一點加價和一些關於我們如何估算成本和轉嫁的估算。但換句話說，當你考慮執行交易並賺取佣金時獲得的邊際毛利潤時，我要指出的是消除噪音。

Okay. And was there any onetimers this quarter in G&A expenses.

好的。本季度 G&A 費用中是否有過時者。

Not especially other than, as I said, legal fees go up and down. They were up a bit higher this year, but they were especially low last year. So it's as I said, nothing else of note and it's better to look at probably the whole year to understand something more about our run rate.

正如我所說，除了法律費用起起落落之外，沒有什麼特別的。他們今年上漲了一點，但去年特別低。所以正如我所說，沒有其他值得注意的，最好看一下全年，以更多地了解我們的運行率。

Okay. And then the last question is I believe the sensitivity, the interest rate sensitivity for the 25 basis point rate hike is smaller than it was what you said it was last quarter. I believe it was 54%, going down to 49%. If I do have that correct, can -- I know margin balances are down, but is that just the prime culprit because -- cash balances are up and -- yes, I'm just trying to get the -- why it moved down.

好的。然後最後一個問題是我相信敏感性，加息 25 個基點的利率敏感性比你上個季度所說的要小。我相信它是 54%，下降到 49%。如果我確實說對了，我知道保證金餘額下降了，但這只是罪魁禍首嗎，因為現金餘額上升了，是的，我只是想弄清楚為什麼它下降了.

Right. So there's a few different scenarios that we talk about. If we assume that all currencies, understand, it's a hypothetical case. If all currencies raised rates together, the numbers are actually up from last quarter. The projected numbers are up.

正確的。所以我們討論了一些不同的場景。如果我們假設所有貨幣，請理解，這是一個假設案例。如果所有貨幣一起加息，這個數字實際上比上個季度有所上升。預計數字上升了。

When we assume that the USD only the Fed funds will increase and other currencies will not. What happens is that there's an overlay of currency swaps because we in order to protect customer money for the U.S. customers when we receive other currencies, we swap them into U.S. dollars and put them in this segregation as the cost of that. And that when the USD rates go up, that cost goes up.

當我們假設美元只有聯邦基金會增加而其他貨幣不會。發生的事情是貨幣掉期疊加，因為我們為了在收到其他貨幣時保護美國客戶的客戶資金，我們將它們換成美元並將其作為成本隔離。當美元匯率上升時，成本就會上升。

And so as you project out a higher interest rate increase only in the U.S. dollars, there is some offsetting effect that would tend to dampen the incremental number at any given increase 25 basis points, 100 basis points.

因此，當您預計僅美元會有更高的利率增長時，就會產生一些抵消效應，這種效應往往會抑制任何給定增長 25 個基點、100 個基點的增量。

Our next question comes from the line of Macrae Sykes of GAMCO.

我們的下一個問題來自 GAMCO 的 Macrae Sykes。

Congratulations on the quarter and the year, very strong progress. My question is around providing an update on your efforts to attract larger institutional customers to interact with your order flow. And I was wondering if some of the talk about the changes in potential market structure, is that helping to drive some further discussions with other clients as well.

祝賀本季度和本年度，取得了非常大的進步。我的問題是關於您為吸引更大的機構客戶與您的訂單流互動所做的努力的最新情況。我想知道關於潛在市場結構變化的一些討論是否也有助於推動與其他客戶的進一步討論。

Yes, we continue to attract institutional traders into our ATS. They had their disposal, they have a number of order types they can trade against the client flow that we have. They can use back to mid orders, they can expect best orders. We will continue the effort to get more onto the platform. We are approaching various algorithmic trading firms and algo providers. We believe that they would enjoy the quality of the flow that they get to interact with.

是的，我們繼續吸引機構交易者加入我們的 ATS。他們有自己的處置權，他們有許多可以根據我們擁有的客戶流進行交易的訂單類型。他們可以使用回中訂單，他們可以期待最好的訂單。我們將繼續努力，讓更多內容進入該平台。我們正在接觸各種算法交易公司和算法提供商。我們相信他們會喜歡與之交互的流的質量。

As far as the upcoming changes that the SEC announced, to put them into perspective, the comment time period ends at the end of March. There are going to be a lot of industry participants responding to the proposals, we will submit our own comment letter. After that, it's going to be decided what we'll finally get accepted and adopted. And I think it is going to take approximately 2 years for any change to take place.

至於 SEC 宣布的即將發生的變化，從長遠來看，評論時間將於 3 月底結束。將會有很多行業參與者對提案做出回應，我們將提交自己的評論信。在那之後，將決定我們最終會接受和採用什麼。我認為任何改變都需要大約 2 年的時間。

Now as to what exactly is going to happen in the area of auctions, it somewhat depends because the details were not really specified. What we do know is that some percentage of the retail flow will have to be exposed into the exchange auctions. This is typically a flow of clients that trade around 240 x in 6 months. So these are not frequently trading accounts and therefore is going to be subjected to auctions.

現在至於拍賣領域究竟會發生什麼，這在某種程度上取決於細節，因為沒有真正指定細節。我們所知道的是，一定比例的零售流量將不得不暴露在交易所拍賣中。這通常是 6 個月內交易量約為 240 倍的客戶流。所以這些不是經常交易的賬戶，因此將被拍賣。

But there is a way around that. If a broker holding this order does not want the order to go into an auction, he can fill it at the mid-price. At the mid-price that he can find somewhere at an open market or at an ATS or in a DART pool or he can fill it against his own inventory.

但有辦法解決這個問題。如果持有此訂單的經紀人不希望訂單進入競價，他可以以中間價成交。以他可以在公開市場、ATS 或 DART 池中的某個地方找到的中間價，或者他可以根據自己的庫存填充它。

Now exactly what the limitations are going to be is unclear. The SEC may have a preference for a very large portion of these orders to go into the auctions and limit the number of orders that the brokers can fill outside of the auctions. We don't know the details. And I think all this is going to be cleared up after the industry had time an opportunity to respond and the SEC carefully evaluate the responses.

現在還不清楚具體的限制是什麼。 SEC 可能傾向於將這些訂單中的很大一部分用於拍賣，並限制經紀人可以在拍賣之外填寫的訂單數量。我們不知道細節。而且我認為，在行業有時間做出回應並且 SEC 仔細評估回應之後，所有這一切都將得到澄清。

Thank you. At this time, I'd like to turn the call back over to Nancy Stuebe for closing remarks. Madam?

謝謝你。此時，我想將電話轉回給 Nancy Stuebe 以作結束語。女士？

Thank you, everyone, for participating today. As a reminder, this call will be available for replay on our website, and we will also be posting a clean version of our transcript on our site tomorrow. Thank you again, and we will talk to you next quarter end.

謝謝大家今天的參與。提醒一下，這個電話可以在我們的網站上重播，我們明天也會在我們的網站上發布我們的記錄的干淨版本。再次感謝您，我們將在下個季度末與您交談。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

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。