Interactive Brokers Group Inc (IBKR) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Interactive Brokers Group Quarter 2 '23 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加盈透證券集團 2023 年第 2 季度財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to hand the conference over to Nancy Stuebe. Please go ahead.

我現在想把會議交給南希·斯圖貝。請繼續。

Thank you. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for our second quarter 2023 earnings conference call. Once again, Thomas is on the call, but asked me to present his comments on the 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。下午好，感謝您參加我們的 2023 年第二季度收益電話會議。托馬斯再次接聽電話，但要求我發表他對這項業務的評論。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保羅·布羅迪。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。我們的實際結果和財務狀況可能與這些前瞻性陳述中所示的內容存在重大差異。我們要求您參閱我們新聞稿中的免責聲明。您還應該查看我們向 SEC 提交的財務報告中包含的風險因素描述。

Our robust operating metrics once again translated into strong financial results this quarter. In fact, but for a substantial addition to reserves for legal contingencies, we would have posted record adjusted pretax income. Our account growth remained strong at 19%, while our client equity was up 24%. Margin loans have increased over the course of 2023 as investors are feeling more confident in the markets after a down year in 2022. Our net interest income reached a record as did our total adjusted net revenues, which were over $1 billion this quarter.

我們強勁的運營指標再次轉化為本季度強勁的財務業績。事實上，如果不是大幅增加法律意外準備金，我們的調整後稅前收入將創歷史新高。我們的賬戶增長依然強勁，達到 19%，而我們的客戶資產則增長了 24%。 2023 年保證金貸款有所增加，原因是投資者在經歷 2022 年的低迷之後對市場信心增強。我們的淨利息收入和調整後淨收入總額均創歷史新高，本季度超過 10 億美元。

On the other hand, trading volumes dropped this quarter and with that, dropped our commissions by 10% from the first quarter. Lower commissions prevailed across the board, option commissions decreased the least, then came futures and stock commissions dropped the most. I do not expect the situation to reverse.

另一方面，本季度交易量下降，我們的佣金比第一季度下降了 10%。佣金普遍下降，期權佣金降幅最小，然後是期貨和股票佣金降幅最大。我預計情況不會逆轉。

Our clients are most heavily weighted in the Magnificent Seven where they luckily have huge unrealized gains that they are not likely to want to realize. As a result, I expect a lot of calls to be written in the coming quarters in these stocks. When the stock rise further, the calls will be repurchased. And when they fall, they will lapse. In this way, our option commissions will benefit and our stock commissions will continue to suffer. Investors voted to put their money into big tech stocks rather than keeping it at banks at near 0 returns.

我們的客戶在“七強”中權重最大，幸運的是，他們擁有巨大的未實現收益，而他們不太可能想實現這些收益。因此，我預計未來幾個季度將有大量看漲期權買入這些股票。當股價進一步上漲時，看漲期權將被回購。當它們跌倒時，它們就會失效。這樣，我們的期權佣金將受益，而我們的股票佣金將繼續受到影響。投資者投票決定將資金投入大型科技股，而不是以接近 0 的回報率將資金存入銀行。

As usual, we do not know how well our advertising worked, telling everyone about our 4.58% return on immediately available qualified cash may have prevented more and larger withdrawals, but it barely helped to increase customer cash, which grew only by a little more than 2% over the first quarter.

像往常一樣，我們不知道我們的廣告效果如何，告訴大家我們立即可用的合格現金的 4.58% 回報率可能阻止了更多和更大規模的提款，但它幾乎沒有幫助增加客戶現金，僅增長了一點點較第一季度增長2%。

As I have mentioned before, I still believe inflation is going to stay with us. And while there may be a pause in rate hikes, this is not a short-term state of affairs that will soon result in rate cuts. The debt has increased by $1 trillion since Congress raised the debt limit. Interest on U.S. debt cost over $650 billion over just the past 9 months. Annualized, this comes close to $1 trillion a year. This increased spending will drive inflation, which will lead to higher rates which will in turn increase spending and so on.

正如我之前提到的，我仍然相信通貨膨脹將持續存在。儘管加息可能會暫停，但這並不是很快就會導致降息的短期情況。自國會提高債務上限以來，債務增加了1萬億美元。僅過去 9 個月，美國債務利息就超過 6500 億美元。按年計算，這一數字接近每年 1 萬億美元。這種支出的增加將推動通貨膨脹，從而導致利率上升，進而增加支出等等。

In terms of our client segments, our strongest ones for account growth have been individuals, proprietary traders and hedge funds. These have also shown the strongest growth in 12-month commissions revenue. While individuals, prop traders and financial advisers have been the strongest drivers of net interest income.

就我們的客戶群而言，我們賬戶增長最強勁的客戶群是個人、自營交易商和對沖基金。這些也顯示出 12 個月佣金收入的最強勁增長。而個人、自營交易員和財務顧問一直是淨利息收入的最強驅動力。

We are still looking to onboard the first of the 2 large introducing broker accounts this year, hopefully in the third quarter. It will start slowly, and we hope to see it completed within a few months of its start. Our dates are slipping with respect to the second large introducing broker, but we are still hoping to begin onboarding them before year-end.

我們仍然希望今年能夠加入兩個大型介紹經紀商賬戶中的第一個，希望是在第三季度。它將慢慢開始，我們希望看到它在開始後的幾個月內完成。相對於第二家大型介紹經紀商，我們的日期正在推遲，但我們仍然希望在年底前開始與他們合作。

Our developers have been extremely busy with new products and tools and have a full plate for the remainder of the year. One area we have focused on is delivering specific tools to specific customer types. For financial advisers, we introduced customized indexing, making it easy to build stock portfolios modeled on ETF that are customizable for tax efficiency and investment goals. Customized indexing clients will own fractional shares of each component stock. The adviser can adjust waitings, capitalize on gains or losses for tax purposes, or exclude specific stocks or sectors, personalizing as their clients' need.

我們的開發人員一直非常忙於新產品和工具的開發，今年剩下的時間都忙得不可開交。我們關注的領域之一是為特定的客戶類型提供特定的工具。對於財務顧問，我們引入了定制索引，使您可以輕鬆構建以 ETF 為模型的股票投資組合，並可根據稅收效率和投資目標進行定制。定制的指數客戶將擁有每隻成分股的部分股份。顧問可以調整等待時間，利用收益或損失用於稅收目的，或排除特定股票或行業，根據客戶的需求進行個性化設置。

We also introduced a tax harvesting tool, a streamlined CRM and now offer our RIA's research from ISI Evercore. We do not require minimums. We have no ticket charges and charge no custodial technology, software, platform or reporting fees.

我們還推出了稅收收集工具、簡化的 CRM，現在提供來自 ISI Evercore 的 RIA 研究。我們不要求最低限度。我們不收取任何門票費用，也不收取託管技術、軟件、平台或報告費用。

For individuals in introducing broker clients, we expanded overnight trading in U.S. stocks and ETFs and now have over 10,000 names available. This has been particularly attractive for our clients in those time zones or investing during regular U.S. trading hours is difficult.

對於介紹經紀商客戶的個人，我們擴大了美國股票和ETF的隔夜交易，現在有超過10,000個名字可供選擇。這對於那些時區的客戶特別有吸引力，或者在美國正常交易時間內進行投資很困難。

For a more sophisticated clients and funds, we introduced our securities lending dashboard, which allows them to access the same expanded securities lending data and key metrics for U.S. equities that historically were only available to banks, broker-dealers and large institutional investors.

對於更成熟的客戶和基金，我們推出了證券借貸儀表板，使他們能夠訪問相同的擴展證券借貸數據和美國股票的關鍵指標，而這些數據和關鍵指標歷來僅向銀行、經紀自營商和大型機構投資者開放。

Internationally, we added the Taiwan Stock Exchange, Nasdaq Copenhagen and the Prague Stock Exchange to our platform, while fractional share trading will soon be available for Canadian stocks and ETFs. I -- we remain committed to having the most informed clients wherever they are in their investing journey.

在國際上，我們將台灣證券交易所、哥本哈根納斯達克交易所和布拉格證券交易所添加到我們的平台，而加拿大股票和 ETF 的零碎股票交易也將很快推出。我——我們仍然致力於為客戶提供最了解情況的投資，無論他們處於投資旅程的哪個階段。

Our IBKR campus educational website has the courses, webinars, podcasts and market commentaries to assist our clients in learning more about trading, the economy and financial markets from the most basic educational fundamentals, sophisticated strategies and market commentary. They can learn more about Interactive Brokers' trading tools and how to use them. Our learn and earn program lets clients who are new to a particular securities product or in commission credits for each bundle of courses they complete.

我們的IBKR校園教育網站提供課程、網絡研討會、播客和市場評論，幫助我們的客戶從最基本的教育基礎知識、複雜的策略和市場評論中了解更多有關交易、經濟和金融市場的知識。他們可以了解有關盈透證券交易工具以及如何使用它們的更多信息。我們的學習和賺取計劃讓剛接觸特定證券產品的客戶或在完成每套課程後獲得佣金學分。

We remain very optimistic about what our business model, international market access, a strong and secured balance sheet, multiple features and tools at low prices and high interest paid on cash balances offers to clients and potential clients around the world. We are extremely disappointed that we did not achieve a new record in the second quarter, and we were determined to redouble our efforts and get there in the third.

我們對我們的商業模式、國際市場准入、強大而安全的資產負債表、低價的多種功能和工具以及現金餘額支付的高利息向世界各地的客戶和潛在客戶提供的服務仍然非常樂觀。我們對第二季度沒有創造新紀錄感到非常失望，我們決心加倍努力，在第三季度實現這一目標。

With that, I will turn the call over to our CFO, Paul Brody, who will go through the numbers for the quarter. Paul?

接下來，我會將電話轉給我們的首席財務官保羅·布羅迪 (Paul Brody)，他將審核本季度的數據。保羅？

Thank you, Nancy. Thanks, everyone, for joining the call. As usual, we'll start with our revenue items on Page 3 of the release. We followed on our strong first quarter performance, recording net revenues of $1 billion in the current quarter. With ongoing customer account and balance sheet growth, we continue to build a strong base for both commission and interest revenues in the future.

謝謝你，南希。感謝大家加入通話。與往常一樣，我們將從新聞稿第 3 頁的收入項目開始。我們延續了第一季度的強勁表現，本季度淨收入達到 10 億美元。隨著客戶賬戶和資產負債表的持續增長，我們將繼續為未來的佣金和利息收入奠定堅實的基礎。

Commissions were $322 million, level with the year ago quarter despite industry-wide declines in volumes for futures and especially for equities. Our futures and options volumes came in at -- near their quarterly highs, while stock share volumes declined from last year's quarter, once again driven by a drop in trading of lower-priced stocks. Net interest income was a quarterly record $694 million, reflecting higher interest on margin loans and segregated cash from both increases in benchmark rates and larger segregated cash portfolio.

儘管整個行業的期貨交易量（尤其是股票交易量）有所下降，但佣金仍為 3.22 億美元，與去年同期持平。我們的期貨和期權交易量接近季度高點，而股票交易量較去年季度有所下降，這再次受到低價股票交易下降的推動。季度淨利息收入達到創紀錄的 6.94 億美元，反映出基準利率上升和更大的獨立現金投資組合帶來的保證金貸款和獨立現金利息的增加。

U.S. benchmark rates have moved from an average effective rate of 77 basis points in the second quarter of last year, to 499 basis points this quarter. These gains were partially offset by the higher interest we paid on customer credit balances as our long-standing policy is to pass through rate hikes above 50 basis points to our customers on their qualified funds.

美國基準利率已從去年第二季度的平均有效利率77個基點升至本季度的499個基點。這些收益被我們對客戶信貸餘額支付的較高利息部分抵消，因為我們的長期政策是將超過 50 個基點的加息轉嫁給客戶的合格資金。

Other fees and services generated $47 million, with the biggest contributors being market data fees of $18 million, risk exposure fee revenue of $10 million and options exchange liquidity payments of $7 million. The increase in risk exposure fees from the prior year quarter was driven by more risk on positioning of customers, which led to a $4 million rise in these fees.

其他費用和服務產生了 4700 萬美元，其中最大的貢獻者是 1800 萬美元的市場數據費、1000 萬美元的風險暴露費收入和 700 萬美元的期權交易所流動性支付。風險暴露費用較去年同期增加的原因是客戶定位風險增加，導致這些費用增加了 400 萬美元。

Other income was a loss of $63 million, and 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. And without these excluded items, other income was a $1 million gain for the quarter.

其他收入為 6300 萬美元的損失，包括我們的投資、貨幣多元化策略和主要交易的損益。請注意，許多非核心項目不包括在我們的調整後收益中。如果沒有這些排除項目，本季度其他收入將增加 100 萬美元。

Turning to expenses, execution, clearing and distribution costs rose 21% versus last year, led by higher volumes and options, which carry higher fees, the nonrecurrence of last year's $3 million OCC clearing fee rebate and a $1 million increase in market data fees as well as lower liquidity rebates.

就費用而言，執行、清算和分銷成本比去年上升了 21%，原因是交易量和期權增加（費用更高）、去年 300 萬美元的 OCC 清算費用回扣不再重複，以及市場數據費用增加了 100 萬美元。以及較低的流動性回扣。

We find it useful to measure what we call gross transactional profit, which is commissions less execution and clearing costs directly related to trading, which excludes primarily market data distribution fees. As a percent of commission revenues, execution and clearing costs, which are driven by a combination of trading volume, exchange rebates and changing fee schedules were at 22% this quarter for a gross transactional profit margin of 78%.

我們發現衡量所謂的總交易利潤很有用，即佣金減去與交易直接相關的執行和清算成本，其中主要不包括市場數據分發費用。本季度，由交易量、兌換回扣和變更費用表共同驅動的執行和清算成本佔佣金收入的百分比為 22%，交易毛利率為 78%。

Market data expense, a pass-through item, is included in execution clearing and distribution fees line item, while the corresponding market data revenue is reported in other fees and services, rather than in commission. For this purpose, in the second quarter, we exclude $15 million in market data expense.

市場數據費用作為轉嫁項目，包含在執行清算和分配費用行項目中，而相應的市場數據收入則在其他費用和服務中報告，而不是在佣金中報告。為此，我們在第二季度排除了 1500 萬美元的市場數據費用。

Compensation and benefits expense rose 21% over the prior year quarter on a combination of staffing increases and inflation. While up in dollar terms for the quarter, comp and benefits expense remained at 13% of our adjusted net revenues versus 16% last year and somewhat below its historical level. Our head count at quarter end was 2,908.

由於人員配置增加和通貨膨脹，薪酬和福利費用比去年同期增長了 21%。雖然本季度以美元計算有所上升，但薪酬和福利費用仍占我們調整後淨收入的 13%，而去年為 16%，略低於歷史水平。截至季度末，我們的員工人數為 2,908 人。

G&A expenses roughly doubled versus last year's second quarter, largely attributable to a substantial increase in reserves related to the previously disclosed regulatory investigation into the use of unapproved electronic messaging and the trend's recordkeeping requirements. Without that increase, G&A expenses would be down slightly year-on-year.

與去年第二季度相比，一般管理費用大約增加了一倍，這主要是由於之前披露的針對使用未經批准的電子信息的使用的監管調查以及該趨勢的記錄保存要求相關的準備金大幅增加。如果沒有這種增長，一般管理費用將同比略有下降。

Our adjusted pretax margin was 67%, up from 63% in the year ago quarter. While higher interest rates benefit us, automation remains our key means of maintaining consistently high margins. Income tax expense of $51 million reflects the sum of the public company's $30 million and the operating company's $21 million.

我們調整後的稅前利潤率為 67%，高於去年同期的 63%。雖然較高的利率使我們受益，但自動化仍然是我們保持持續高利潤的關鍵手段。 5100 萬美元的所得稅費用是上市公司 3000 萬美元和運營公司 2100 萬美元的總和。

Moving to our balance sheet on Page 5 of our release. Our total assets were $121 billion at the end of the quarter with growth over last year driven primarily by increases in our segregated cash and securities. We maintain a balance sheet aimed at supporting our growing business and providing ample financial resources during volatile markets with maximum flexibility and short-term liquidity. We have no long-term debt. The duration of our investment portfolio as of June 30 was 40 days.

轉到我們新聞稿第 5 頁的資產負債表。截至本季度末，我們的總資產為 1,210 億美元，較去年增長的主要原因是我們的獨立現金和證券的增加。我們維持資產負債表，旨在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，並具有最大的靈活性和短期流動性。我們沒有長期債務。截至6月30日，我們的投資組合的期限為40天。

Turning to our operating data on Pages 6 and 7. Our contract volumes for all customers were strong, reaching their fourth highest quarterly level in options, up 9% over the year ago quarter. Futures contract and stock share volumes were down 3% and 28%, respectively. Options and futures volumes were generally in line with interest volume. And in stocks, the drop-off was largely attributable to investors moving to higher quality stocks as trading in pink sheet and other very low-priced stocks was impacted most.

轉向第 6 頁和第 7 頁的運營數據。我們為所有客戶提供的合同量都很強勁，期權數量達到第四高季度水平，比去年同期增長 9%。期貨合約和股票交易量分別下降 3% 和 28%。期權和期貨交易量總體上與利息量一致。在股票方面，下跌主要歸因於投資者轉向更高質量的股票，因為粉紅單和其他價格極低的股票交易受到的影響最大。

On Page 7, you can see that our account growth remains robust with over 95,000 net account adds in the quarter and total accounts to $2.3 million, up 19% over the prior year. Total customer DARTs were 1.9 million trades per day, down 14% from the stronger prior year quarter. Our cleared IBKR Pro customers paid an average of $3.11, commissioned per cleared commissionable order, up 14% from last year as our clients' volume mix included higher per order contributions from nearly all product categories, particularly from options and futures.

在第 7 頁上，您可以看到我們的賬戶增長依然強勁，本季度淨賬戶增加超過 95,000 個，賬戶總數達到 230 萬美元，比上一年增長 19%。每天的客戶 DART 交易總數為 190 萬筆，比去年同期的強勁水平下降 14%。我們的清算IBKR Pro客戶平均為每個清算委託訂單支付3.11美元的佣金，比去年增長14%，因為我們客戶的交易量組合包括來自幾乎所有產品類別的更高的每筆訂單貢獻，特別是來自期權和期​​貨。

Page 8 presents our net interest margin numbers. Total GAAP net interest income nearly doubled to $694 million on the year ago quarter, reflecting stronger earnings on segregated cash and margin loans, partially offset by higher interest expense on customer cash balances.

第 8 頁顯示了我們的淨息差數據。 GAAP 淨利息收入總額比上年同期增長近一倍，達到 6.94 億美元，反映出獨立現金和保證金貸款的收益強勁，但部分被客戶現金餘額利息支出的增加所抵消。

After a series of 7 target rate increases in 2022, the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates by 25 basis points 3x this year, and many other central banks also raised this quarter. This group includes the U.K., Canada, Australia and Hong Kong as well as the Eurozone and Switzerland.

在2022年連續7次上調目標利率後，美聯儲今年已3次加息25個基點，許多其他央行也在本季度加息。該組包括英國、加拿大、澳大利亞和香港以及歐元區和瑞士。

Net interest on segregated cash was $700 million, primarily due to federal reserve rate hikes, but also to our managing to short duration on invested funds, which has allowed us to more closely match asset and liability maturities and to pick up benchmark rate increases quickly. At June 30, our U.S. portfolio duration was 40 days. So the investments have rolled over into new higher rates with a fairly short lag time. A 21% increase over the year ago quarter in average segregated cash and securities balances also drove interest income higher.

獨立現金的淨利息為 7 億美元，主要歸因於美聯儲加息，但也歸因於我們對投資基金的短期管理，這使我們能夠更緊密地匹配資產和負債期限，並迅速提高基準利率。截至 6 月 30 日，我們的美國投資組合久期為 40 天。因此，這些投資已在相當短的滯後時間內轉入新的更高利率。平均獨立現金和證券餘額較去年同期增長 21%，也推動利息收入上升。

Margin loan interest rose to $547 million, up significantly from $197 million last year despite average margin loan balances declining 11% from last year's second quarter. Higher rates in the U.S. and internationally have driven higher margin interest income.

儘管平均保證金貸款餘額較去年第二季度下降 11%，但保證金貸款利息仍從去年的 1.97 億美元大幅上升至 5.47 億美元。美國和國際上較高的利率推動了利潤利息收入的增加。

Securities lending net interest was $79 million, down from the year ago quarter due to a dynamic we have noted previously. While securities lending opportunities maintained a relatively strong pace, it's also the case that as benchmark rates rise, a greater portion of the revenue generated by securities lending, for which we received cash collateral that we invest as segregated funds is reflected as interest on segregated cash.

由於我們之前註意到的動態，證券借貸淨利息為 7900 萬美元，較去年同期有所下降。雖然證券借貸機會保持相對強勁的步伐，但隨著基準利率上升，證券借貸產生的收入中，我們收到作為獨立基金投資的現金抵押品的很大一部分反映為獨立現金的利息。

We estimate this impact to be about $40 million for the quarter versus last year. In other words, without the shift in reporting line items. Net interest from securities lending would be $119 million, up 3% from the year ago quarter.

我們估計，與去年相比，本季度的影響約為 4000 萬美元。換句話說，沒有報告行項目的變化。證券借貸淨利息為 1.19 億美元，比去年同期增長 3%。

Interest on customer credit balances or the interest we pay our customers grew as higher rates in many currencies led to our paying interest on qualifying balances as we pass through rate increases. We paid $774 million to our customers on their balances in the second quarter. Fully rate-sensitive balances were roughly unchanged at about $20 billion.

由於許多貨幣的利率上升，客戶信貸餘額的利息或我們向客戶支付的利息增加，導致我們在利率上漲時對合格餘額支付利息。第二季度我們向客戶支付了 7.74 億美元的餘額。完全利率敏感的餘額基本保持不變，約為 200 億美元。

We consider our policy offering clients a full pass-through of all rate hikes after the first 50 basis points on their qualified cash, a significant component in our success and one that continues to set us apart. We believe this leads to clients choosing to keep their cash with us, especially active clients who do not want to use sweep programs that prevent them from immediately accessing their cash to invest.

我們認為，我們的政策為客戶的合格現金提供了在前 50 個基點後所有加息的全面轉嫁，這是我們成功的重要組成部分，也是我們繼續與眾不同的因素。我們相信，這會導致客戶選擇將現金留在我們這裡，特別是那些不想使用掃蕩計劃的活躍客戶，因為掃蕩計劃會阻止他們立即獲取現金進行投資。

Now for our estimates of the impact of increases in rates, given market expectations of possibly 1 or more rate hikes to come, we estimate the effects of increases in the Fed funds rate to produce an additional annual net interest income of approximately $49 million for each 25 basis points increase in the benchmark. Note that our starting point for these estimates is June 30, with the Fed funds effective rate at 5.08% and also based on balances at that date.

現在，對於我們對加息影響的估計，考慮到市場預期可能會出現 1 次或多次加息，我們估計聯邦基金利率上調的影響將為每一次額外產生約 4900 萬美元的年度淨利息收入。基准上調25個基點。請注意，我們的這些估計的起點是 6 月 30 日，聯邦基金有效利率為 5.08%，並且也是基於該日的餘額。

About 25% of our customer cash balances is not in U.S. dollars. So estimates of U.S. rate change effects exclude these currencies. We estimate increases in all the relevant non-USD benchmark rates to produce additional annual net interest income of $26 million for each 25 basis point increase in the benchmarks.

我們大約 25% 的客戶現金餘額不是美元。因此，對美國利率變化影響的估計不包括這些貨幣。我們預計，所有相關非美元基準利率每增加 25 個基點，就會產生額外的年度淨利息收入 2600 萬美元。

In conclusion, the company performed well in the second quarter in a complex and uncertain environment. Reflecting our continued ability to grow our customer base and deliver on our core services to customers, all at a low cost and while offering meaningful cash interest as we manage the business effectively with strong controls over risk and operating expenses.

綜上所述，在復雜不確定的環境下，公司二季度表現良好。這反映了我們持續擴大客戶群並向客戶提供核心服務的能力，所有這些都以低成本進行，同時通過對風險和運營費用的強有力控制來有效管理業務，同時提供有意義的現金利息。

And with that, we'll turn it over to the moderator, and we will take questions.

然後，我們將把它交給主持人，我們將回答問題。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question is from Benjamin Budish of Barclays.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的本傑明·布迪什。

Maybe first on the marketing spend. You indicated it's not entirely clear if it's working the way you hoped. Can you maybe talk about kind of your commitment to continuing with that? And maybe for Paul, just I think you had previously indicated that there would be a bit of a step-up quarter-over-quarter, but when we sort of subtract the reserve charge that you took, it looks like the step-up maybe wasn't as big. So how much of that spend was in the quarter? And what are your thoughts on sort of continuing with that strategy?

也許首先是營銷支出。您表示尚不完全清楚它是否按您希望的方式工作。您能否談談您對繼續這樣做的承諾？也許對保羅來說，我認為你之前曾表示，季度環比上會有一點提升，但當我們減去你所收取的準備金費用時，看起來可能會有所提升沒有那麼大。那麼本季度的支出有多少？您對於繼續實施這一策略有何想法？

Are you asking about marketing expenses or the reserves?

您是問營銷費用還是儲備金？

The marketing expense. So I think if you back out the expenses.

營銷費用。所以我想如果你取消費用。

The marketing -- yes, we are definitely going to stick with our marketing programs, and we will increase marketing spend gradually quarter after quarter after quarter, we will spend more and more money marketing. As we find out marketing outlets that we believe to be order we cannot precisely measure it, but we believe to be a positive impact.

營銷——是的，我們肯定會堅持我們的營銷計劃，我們將逐季增加營銷支出，我們將花越來越多的錢進行營銷。當我們發現我們認為是訂單的營銷渠道時，我們無法精確衡量它，但我們相信這是積極的影響。

Got it. That's helpful. And then maybe, Thomas, just to kind of pick your brain on the sort of the customer trading behavior. What do you -- it sounds like you're expecting things to be a little less active in the back half of the year. What do you think kind of reverses that? Is it sort of a decline in rates? Is it just more broader macro volatility? What sort of indicators should we be looking for maybe like with your unique customer segment that might drive more of a pickup there?

知道了。這很有幫助。托馬斯，也許只是想了解一下客戶的交易行為。你怎麼看——聽起來你預計下半年情況會不那麼活躍。您認為什麼可以扭轉這一局面？這是利率下降嗎？這只是更廣泛的宏觀波動嗎？我們應該尋找什麼樣的指標，比如您獨特的客戶群可能會推動更多的增長？

Well, I think that what is coming down the pike is more technology-driven order flow. And that has more AI systems get behind money management, I think that as a result of that trading activity will pick up, there will be more and more small orders, there will be more and more fractional shareholders, there'll be more and more registered investment advisers who we hire technology-driven systems to drive their investment choices. And so that's what I see in the future.

嗯，我認為接下來會出現更多由技術驅動的訂單流。並且有更多的人工智能係統支持資金管理，我認為由於交易活動將會增加，將會有越來越多的小訂單，將會有越來越多的小股東，將會有越來越多的人我們聘請技術驅動系統來驅動他們的投資選擇的註冊投資顧問。這就是我所看到的未來​​。

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

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的克雷格·西根塔勒。

I wanted to get an update on your prospecting effort in the introducing broker channel and really trying to gauge the potential to translate some of these prospects into IV care customers. And maybe one thing you can share with us, if you can, is like how many prospecting meetings you have done in the first half of the year.

我想了解你們在介紹經紀人渠道中的勘探工作的最新情況，並真正嘗試評估將其中一些潛在客戶轉化為靜脈注射護理客戶的潛力。如果可以的話，也許您可以與我們分享一件事，比如您在今年上半年舉行了多少次勘探會議。

Interactive introducing brokers have always been an important segment for our business. That is what our sales force focuses on. We have many prospects in the pipeline in various stages of the development. With some, we are still discussing the best way to connect and integrate with us. Others are already doing test rates on our platform and the most advanced ones are already at the stage of getting their customers into the production trading.

互動介紹經紀商一直是我們業務的重要組成部分。這就是我們銷售人員關注的重點。我們在不同的發展階段都有許多前景。我們仍在與一些人討論與我們聯繫和融合的最佳方式。其他人已經在我們的平台上進行測試，最先進的平台已經處於讓客戶進入生產交易的階段。

Not much has changed other than we continue to focus on the high broker segment, and we are continuously making software development changes that make the integration easier and so that we can offer them more choices for the integration going forward?

除了我們繼續專注於高端經紀商細分市場之外，沒有太大變化，並且我們不斷進行軟件開發更改，使集成變得更容易，以便我們可以為他們提供更多的集成選擇？

Do I get a second question? Or is it just 1 question on the call?

我還有第二個問題嗎？或者只是電話中的 1 個問題？

Go ahead.

前進。

Great. Okay. So my follow-up is, given slowing growth on a cyclical basis in the active trader channel relative to accelerating growth in the introducing broker vertical, can you talk about how you expect this to impact your profitability or even revenue growth relative to account growth?

偉大的。好的。因此，我的後續行動是，考慮到活躍交易者渠道的周期性增長放緩（相對於介紹經紀商垂直領域的加速增長），您能否談談您預計這將如何影響您的盈利能力，甚至相對於賬戶增長的收入增長？

Yes. So look, the introducing broker client is always the least profitable client. The action client is always the most profitable client. And the prop traders are our sweet spot. So yes, to the extent that our number of accounts will jump in number the profitability will not similarly increase. Profitability comes mostly from our more sophisticated professional client base, which is, by the way, also is increasing quite well.

是的。所以看，介紹經紀商客戶始終是利潤最低的客戶。行動客戶永遠是最賺錢的客戶。而道具交易員是我們的最佳選擇。所以，是的，只要我們的賬戶數量增加，盈利能力就不會相應增加。盈利能力主要來自我們更成熟的專業客戶群，順便說一句，這個客戶群的增長也相當不錯。

Our next question comes from Daniel Fannon of Jefferies LLC.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jefferies LLC 的 Daniel Fannon。

I was hoping to follow up on that and just think about maybe you get a sense of the activity levels or how active you think the introducing broker relationships are when they come on board and the maturation to think about other customers, I think you've talked about previously as they get comfortable with the platform and they trade more over time. Is that still similar when you think about the IB channel? And is there a way to put some numbers around that?

我希望跟進這一點，想一想也許你能了解活動水平，或者你認為介紹經紀人關係在加入時有多活躍，以及考慮其他客戶的成熟度，我認為你已經之前談到過，隨著他們對平台的適應，並且隨著時間的推移，他們的交易量會增加。當您考慮 IB 渠道時，這是否仍然相似？有沒有辦法用一些數字來解決這個問題？

Well, put some numbers around it. I -- well, let me put it this way. So our average account yield about $1,200 of revenues per year. The average introducing broker account, gee, I'm guessing here. The average introducing broker account, I would expect them to be around $300 to $400 a year. And the -- I mean you're asking the numbers around it. I do not have these numbers in front of me, unfortunately. So I really -- I'm embarrassed I can't tell you.

好吧，在它周圍加上一些數字。我——好吧，讓我這樣說。因此，我們的賬戶每年平均產生約 1,200 美元的收入。平均介紹經紀商帳戶，哎呀，我猜在這裡。我預計平均介紹經紀人賬戶每年約為 300 至 400 美元。我的意思是你問的是它周圍的數字。不幸的是，我面前沒有這些數字。所以我真的——我很尷尬不能告訴你。

Understood. That's okay. I guess a more specific modeling question for Paul. Just in terms of the other income, it's moved around a lot in recent quarters is $1 million when we adjust everything out. What's a reasonable level or as you think about like a baseline level going forward to model for?

明白了。沒關係。我想保羅有一個更具體的建模問題。就其他收入而言，最近幾個季度變動很大，當我們調整一切後，為 100 萬美元。什麼是合理水平，或者您認為未來建模的基線水平是多少？

Well, I think it's not that variable. When you take out our non-GAAP adjustments, right, which is primarily the currency impact and partially from mark-to-market on the U.S. government securities. And by the way, that's not -- that's smaller than it used to be, given that our duration is so short.

嗯，我認為這不是那個變量。當你去掉我們的非公認會計原則調整時，對吧，這主要是貨幣影響，部分來自美國政府證券的按市價計算。順便說一句，考慮到我們的持續時間很短，這並不比以前小。

So we report to you which items we've taken out. And if you take those out, you probably get a reasonable baseline. But other income is also some miscellaneous investments and things that are not very predictable. But after those large items, the whole category is not very large.

因此，我們會向您報告我們取出了哪些物品。如果你把它們去掉，你可能會得到一個合理的基線。但其他收入也是一些雜項投資和不太可預測的東西。但除去那些大件之後，整個品類就不是很大了。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from (inaudible) Piper Sandler.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自（聽不清）Piper Sandler。

Just one on last quarter, you had the security sale. Just wondering if you could quantify the impact from that reinvestment had on net interest income in the current quarter.

就上個季度而言，您進行了證券銷售。只是想知道您是否可以量化再投資對本季度淨利息收入的影響。

I don't think we could say that precisely. You're talking about when we liquidated some treasuries, reinvested them in shorter term.

我認為我們不能準確地說。你說的是我們清算了一些國債，並在短期內將它們進行再投資。

Yes. Exactly.

是的。確切地。

I mean we recognize the liquidated loss and obviously reinvested at short-term current treasury rates. And if you look at the yield curve, you know what those are? So yes, we're making it back for sure.

我的意思是，我們承認清算損失，並且顯然以短期當前國債利率進行再投資。如果你看一下收益率曲線，你知道它們是什麼嗎？所以是的，我們肯定會回來的。

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克里斯艾倫。

I had a couple of follow-ups. On the other income, is there any legacy market making still left in there? I know there was when you had sold the business, and that's where it got recorded and drove some principal transactions. Is that still on that other income line?

我進行了幾次後續行動。在其他收入方面，是否還有遺留的做市活動？我知道當你出售公司時，這就是它被記錄並推動一些主要交易的地方。那還在其他收入線上嗎？

Got it. It's still in there, and it's a very minor contributor to the total.

知道了。它仍然在那裡，而且只佔總數的很小一部分。

Understood. And then just on the duration of the U.S. investment portfolio. You know there was 40 days. If I recall correctly, last quarter, you sold some securities and reinvested and I think the duration was 24 days. So based on those numbers seem like you're extending a little bit. Obviously, nothing crazy or anything like that. Do I have that correct? And was this a function of any extension? Or is it just a function of maybe stuff maturing and new cash coming on?

明白了。然後是美國投資組合的期限。你知道有40天。如果我沒記錯的話，上個季度，您出售了一些證券並進行了再投資，我認為持續時間是 24 天。因此，根據這些數字，您似乎延長了一點。顯然，沒有什麼瘋狂或類似的事情。我說的對嗎？這是任何擴展的函數嗎？或者這只是事物成熟和新現金出現的函數？

Well, it all has to do with when the Fed is scheduled to move. So we do not want to speculate on what the Fed is going to do. So we like to defer to -- invest before the Fed date or if the Fed like in this case, said that they are going to raise a quarter.

嗯，這一切都與美聯儲計劃何時採取行動有關。因此，我們不想猜測美聯儲將做什麼。因此，我們希望推遲在美聯儲日期之前進行投資，或者如果美聯儲像在這種情況下那樣表示他們將籌集一個季度的資金。

We believe them that they are going to raise a quarter, and given that the market believes 98% that they are going to raise a quarter. We don't mind to go over that date, but not the subsequent date. So we are still before we are investing to prior to our investment will mature before the September Fed meeting.

我們相信他們將籌集一個季度的資金，並且鑑於市場 98% 的人相信他們將籌集一個季度的資金。我們不介意回顧那個日期，但不介意隨後的日期。因此，我們仍然在我們的投資在九月美聯儲會議之前成熟之前進行投資。

(Operator Instructions) Your next question comes from the line of Kyle Voigt of KBW.

（操作員說明）您的下一個問題來自 KBW 的 Kyle Voigt。

Maybe just a question on the compensation expense. So the headcount was up, I think, roughly 5% year-on-year, comp looks up closer to 20%. I just want to make sure that there are no one-offs, Paul, in the comp line or anything to know from a one-off standpoint. And also, I just wanted to clarify the entirety of the kind of one-offs and legal reserves were in the G&A line specifically?

也許只是關於賠償費用的問題。因此，我認為員工人數同比增加了大約 5%，預計增幅接近 20%。保羅，我只是想確保在比賽中不存在一次性的情況，或者從一次性的角度來看任何需要了解的事情。而且，我只是想澄清一下 G&A 行中的一次性儲備金和法定儲備金的全部內容？

Right. So on the comp -- and you're right to ask this question. So it's not specifically a one-off, but there is some expense in there for -- we have to expense accrued vacation days of staff that have not yet been taken. So each quarter, we measure the accruals, which are at a fairly consistent rate versus days taken, and they tend to be smaller in the second quarter and then people tend to take vacation in the third quarter. And each quarter, we have to recognize an expense of the difference between those 2.

正確的。所以在比較方面——你問這個問題是對的。因此，這並不是一次性的，但其中存在一些費用——我們必須支付尚未休假的員工的累計假期費用。因此，每個季度，我們都會衡量應計費用，其比率與休假天數相當一致，並且第二季度的應計費用往往較小，然後人們傾向於在第三季度休假。每個季度，我們都必須承認這兩者之間的差異的費用。

It happened to be that in the second quarter, the difference was larger than usual. And so there is -- probably the impact is 2% or 3% on that 21% that came from that, we would expect it to return maybe even in the third quarter, depends on when people take a vacation. And then, of course, inflation figures into all of that, and we had a headcount increase. So that gets us to most of the rest.

恰好到了第二季度，差距就比平時更大了。因此，對 21% 的影響可能是 2% 或 3%，我們預計它甚至可能在第三季度回歸，這取決於人們何時度假。當然，通貨膨脹也影響到了所有這些因素，我們的員工人數也有所增加。這樣我們就可以完成剩下的大部分內容了。

I guess when you're thinking about this year versus last year, I guess we're hearing from some others that may be the hiring environment is getting a bit better. They're seeing a little bit less inflation in terms of staffing costs, less and less competitive environment.

我想當你考慮今年與去年相比時，我想我們從其他一些人那裡聽到，招聘環境可能會變得更好一些。他們看到員工成本方面的通貨膨脹有所減少，競爭環境也越來越少。

I guess when we look at your 2022 figures, it seems like there's maybe a little bit less inflationary pressures, I guess, relative to the headcount that you grew in 2022. It seems to be more of a divergence this year, but I know there's other factors in there. So just wanted to know if you could kind of maybe parse out what you're seeing from a hiring standpoint. Are you having to pay up to retain employees, et cetera, kind of what's really driving that? And how the environment maybe has changed from 2022 to 2023 on the inflationary side?

我想，當我們查看你們 2022 年的數據時，我想，相對於 2022 年增長的員工人數，通脹壓力似乎要小一些。今年的差異似乎更大，但我知道有還有其他因素在裡面。所以只是想知道您是否可以從招聘的角度解析您所看到的內容。你是否必須付出代價才能留住員工等等，真正的推動因素是什麼？從 2022 年到 2023 年，通脹方面的環境可能發生了怎樣的變化？

In 2022, at the end of the year, when we pay our employees, the bonuses and adjust their base salaries for the next year, we had to award significant increases in response to the inflation. At the beginning of this year, we thought that we were going to have an easier time hiring, especially the tech people after the layoffs were announced by the big tech companies. that unfortunately did not last long.

2022年年底，當我們給員工發工資、發放獎金並調整他們下一年的基本工資時，我們不得不大幅增加工資以應對通貨膨脹。今年年初，我們認為招聘會更容易，尤其是大型科技公司宣布裁員後的科技人員。不幸的是，這種情況並沒有持續多久。

Very recently, let's say, the last month, we have had occasions where we had made what we thought to be competitive offers to some information technology applicants that were declined. So there are lots of jobs out there, again, especially in the tech area and we have to pay attention and we have to pay what it takes to get the talent in the door. In this last quarter, we managed to hire we have net 36 more employees than the quarter before. Approximately half of them are in the technology space, the rest of them are in client services and compliance.

最近，比如說上個月，我們曾多次向一些信息技術申請人提出我們認為具有競爭力的報價，但遭到拒絕。因此，那裡有很多工作機會，特別是在科技領域，我們必須關注，我們必須付出代價才能吸引人才。在最後一個季度，我們成功招聘了比上一季度淨多 36 名的員工。其中大約一半在技術領域，其餘的在客戶服務和合規領域。

That's great color. And I guess does that change your view or inform your opinion as to like how we should think really about those the fixed expense growth for the business. I think in the first quarter, it's trending towards 10% seems , I think it was closer to 15% when we kind of back out the legal expense in the second quarter.

那顏色真棒。我想這是否會改變您的觀點或告知您我們應該如何真正考慮業務固定費用增長的觀點。我認為第一季度似乎有 10% 的趨勢，當我們在第二季度取消法律費用時，我認為接近 15%。

I guess, is there a right to kind of in the environment that we're in today, is there a right way to think about that kind of total fixed expense growth as we look ahead over the next, let's call it, 18 to 24 months?

我想，在我們今天所處的環境中，是否有權利這樣做？當我們展望未來（我們稱之為 18 至 24 年）時，是否有正確的方法來考慮這種總固定費用增長幾個月？

No, I think 1 measure that you could use would be the core inflation rate, and we do not want to stay behind. We want our employees to maintain their standard of living. We want to remain competitive so that we have significant talent in our offices, helping us build our systems for the future.

不，我認為你可以使用的一個衡量標準是核心通脹率，我們不想落後。我們希望我們的員工維持他們的生活水平。我們希望保持競爭力，以便我們的辦公室擁有大量人才，幫助我們構建面向未來的系統。

So to the extent that the inflation stays with us or increases, we are going to be responding to that just like to the market forces, if the competing companies pick up the hiring, and we will have to compete for the talent we will do so. We are a technology company at its heart, and we will always spend what we need to, to make sure that we have the right people on building our systems.

因此，如果通貨膨脹持續存在或加劇，我們將像對市場力量一樣做出反應，如果競爭公司開始招聘，我們將不得不競爭人才，我們將這樣做。我們本質上是一家技術公司，我們將始終花費我們需要的資金，以確保我們擁有合適的人員來構建我們的系統。

Understood. I just want to ask one more question given we're at the end of the call here, towards the end. Just on margin balances. I know those rose month-on-month in June to $42 billion. But the margin balances are still significantly below the $55 billion peak that was reached in, I believe, December 2021.

明白了。我只想再問一個問題，因為我們的通話即將結束，接近尾聲。只是保證金餘額。我知道 6 月份環比增長至 420 億美元。但保證金餘額仍遠低於 2021 年 12 月達到的 550 億美元峰值。

So first part of the question, just given the risk on environment, we're continuing to see in July, is it fair to think those margin balances have continued to increase month to date? And then the second question, like do you have any view as to how much of the decline in margin balances from that December 21 peak to current levels was driven by the risk-off environment and the shift that we saw over the last year versus higher borrowing rates because we're just trying to get a sense of maybe how much room there is to run in terms of margin balance increases if this risk on environment persists from here?

因此，問題的第一部分，考慮到環境風險，我們將在 7 月繼續看到，認為這些保證金餘額本月迄今繼續增加是否公平？然後是第二個問題，你是否認為保證金餘額從 12 月 21 日的峰值下降到當前水平有多少是由避險環境以及我們去年看到的相對較高水平的轉變推動的？借貸利率，因為我們只是想了解，如果這種環境風險持續存在，那麼保證金餘額增加方面可能還有多少空間？

So margin balance sheets are increasing, and they have increased since the end of the quarter. And look, as long as the market keeps creeping up margin (inaudible) as we continue to creep up along with it. What happens with us that any time there is a sudden fall in the market, people immediately sell out their leverage positions and then they become very careful and use lower leverage going forward. So well, I have to say to you that as long as the market keeps going up, our margin balances will continue to rise.

因此，保證金資產負債表正在增加，而且自本季度末以來一直在增加。瞧，只要市場繼續攀升利潤（聽不清），而我們也繼續隨之攀升。我們會發生什麼情況，每當市場突然下跌時，人們都會立即賣出他們的槓桿頭寸，然後他們變得非常小心，並在未來使用較低的槓桿。那麼，我必須對你說，只要市場繼續上漲，我們的保證金餘額就會繼續上升。

I'm showing no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the conference back to Nancy Stuebe for closing remarks.

我目前沒有提出任何進一步的問題。現在我想請南希·斯圖貝 (Nancy Stuebe) 致閉幕詞。

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 the 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，本次電話會議將在我們的網站上重播，明天我們還將在網站上發布干淨版本的文字記錄。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。