(IBKR) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by, and welcome to Interactive Brokers Group First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

美好的一天，感謝您的耐心等待，歡迎參加盈透證券集團 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。 （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 your speaker today, Nancy Stuebe, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在我想將會議交給今天的發言人，投資者關係總監南希·斯圖貝 (Nancy Stuebe)。請繼續。

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for our first quarter 2024 earnings call. Joining us today are Thomas Peterffy, our Founder and Chairman; Milan Galik, our President and CEO; and Paul Brody, our CFO. I will be presenting Milan's comments on the business, and all 3 will be available at our Q&A.

下午好，感謝您參加我們的 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。今天加入我們的是我們的創辦人兼董事長 Thomas Peterffy； Milan Galik，我們的總裁兼執行長；和我們的財務長保羅·布羅迪。我將介紹米蘭對這項業務的評論，所有 3 條評論都將在我們的問答中提供。

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的內容有所不同，甚至可能存在重大差異。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。

This quarter, many of the same major trends we saw in 2023 continued to play out. With market indexes on the rise worldwide and the popularity of investing growing, we see global interest from investors who increasingly want broad portfolios with some invested in securities in their home markets but a more significant portion invested overseas, particularly in U.S. securities.

本季度，我們在 2023 年看到的許多主要趨勢繼續上演。隨著全球市場指數的上漲和投資越來越受歡迎，我們看到全球投資者越來越感興趣，他們越來越想要廣泛的投資組合，其中一些投資於本國市場的證券，但更大部分投資於海外，特別是美國證券。

Product-wise, industry options contract volumes, both individual securities and 0DTE, were up as their popularity continued. Since the pandemic, average daily volume in OCC options has more than doubled from about 20 million contracts a day in 2019 to 40 million in 2022 and now a record 47.5 million in the first quarter. CME Futures volumes, though down slightly from last year when investors were trading actively on the direction of interest rates, are up versus last quarter and meaningfully above pre-pandemic levels. And on the equities front, nearly every stock market around the world was up this quarter with the exception of Hong Kong and China. This is a similar pattern to what we saw in 2023.

從產品角度來看，產業選擇權合約交易量（包括個人證券和 0DTE）隨著其受歡迎程度的持續上升而上升。自疫情爆發以來，OCC 選擇權的每日平均交易量增加了一倍多，從 2019 年的約 2,000 萬份合約增至 2022 年的 4,000 萬份合約，目前第一季創紀錄的 4,750 萬份合約。芝商所期貨交易量雖然比去年投資者根據利率方向積極交易時略有下降，但與上一季相比有所上升，明顯高於大流行前的水平。股市方面，除香港和中國大陸外，本季全球幾乎所有股市均上漲。這與我們在 2023 年看到的情況類似。

The popularity of the Magnificent Seven technology names continues, which has meant that many investors hold onto their positions and are distinctly not looking to make any changes like selling them and buying new names. The Magnificent Seven are not gripping the index quite as firmly as last year-- when they represented 75% of the S&P 500's first quarter performance versus 43% in this quarter-- but their stock price strength means investors have not needed to look elsewhere for gains, and as happened in 2023, industry equities volumes are down again as a result.

七大科技公司的受歡迎程度仍在持續，這意味著許多投資者堅持持有自己的頭寸，並且顯然不打算做出任何改變，例如出售它們和購買新公司。七大巨頭並沒有像去年那樣牢牢地掌控著該指數——當時它們佔標準普爾500 指數第一季表現的75%，而本季則為43%——但它們的股價強勢意味著投資者無需到其他地方尋找收益，正如 2023 年所發生的那樣，行業股票交易量因此再次下降。

What all of the above has meant for our business starts with strong account growth as we add more investors to our platform, both institutional and individual. In the first quarter, we added 184,000 new accounts, second only to the meme stock days of the first quarter 2021. We added in this one quarter twice the number of accounts we added in all of 2019. New accounts meant more cash in those accounts, which helped raise our client credit balances to a record $104.9 billion. Our client equity was up 36% to $466 billion, meaning we are approaching half a trillion of client assets.

上述所有內容對我們的業務意味著隨著我們的平台增加更多投資者（機構和個人），帳戶的強勁增長。第一季度，我們新增了184,000 個新帳戶，僅次於2021 年第一季的meme 股票日。帳戶意味著這些帳戶中的現金更多，這有助於我們的客戶信貸餘額達到創紀錄的 1049 億美元。我們的客戶資產成長了 36%，達到 4,660 億美元，這意味著我們的客戶資產正在接近 5,000 億美元。

Volume-wise, we saw strong contract volumes in options, up 24% in the quarter and significantly ahead of the industry and slightly weaker volumes in futures and equities, similar to the industry. However, rising equity markets have led clients to feel more comfortable with taking on risk so they took on more assertive positions, which increased our exposure fee revenue and took on more leverage to bolster their positions, increasing our margin loans-- which exceeded $50 billion for the first time since 2021-- and our margin interest income.

從交易量來看，我們看到選擇權合約交易量強勁，本季成長 24%，明顯領先於產業，而期貨和股票交易量則略有疲軟，與產業類似。然而，不斷上漲的股市讓客戶更願意承擔風險，因此他們採取了更加自信的頭寸，這增加了我們的風險敞口費收入，並採用更多槓桿來支撐他們的頭寸，從而增加了我們的保證金貸款——超過500 億美元自 2021 年以來首次——以及我們的保證金利息收入。

This translated into strong financial results. Commission revenue was second only to the meme-stock spike of the first quarter of 2021, and net interest income reached a record, as did total revenues. We always focus on our expenses, meaning our pretax income also reached a record and our pretax profit margin remained at an industry-leading 72%.

這轉化為強勁的財務業績。佣金收入僅次於 2021 年第一季的 meme 股票飆升，淨利息收入和總收入均創歷史新高。我們始終關注支出，這意味著我們的稅前收入也創歷史新高，稅前利潤率維持在業界領先的72%。

In recognition of this, and as a sign of our confidence in our business model and growth potential, we revisited the amount of dividend we pay, and decided to increase it to $0.25 a quarter. We recognized that the dividend was unchanged since we initiated it at $0.10 in 2011, a time when we had 170,000 accounts, quarterly earnings of $222 million and capital of $4.4 billion. Today we enjoy a strong capital position, which will allow us to be opportunistic in the M&A space should the right opportunity arise, but we would like to acknowledge our shareholders by returning some capital to them.

認識到這一點，並作為我們對業務模式和成長潛力充滿信心的標誌，我們重新審視了支付的股息金額，並決定將其增加至每季 0.25 美元。我們認識到，自 2011 年將股息設定為 0.10 美元以來，股息一直沒有變化，當時我們擁有 17 萬個帳戶，季度收益為 2.22 億美元，資本額為 44 億美元。今天，我們擁有強大的資本地位，這將使我們能夠在合適的機會出現時在併購領域抓住機會，但我們想透過向股東返還一些資本來感謝他們。

In terms of how the business looked on the client front, our accounts and client equity grew fastest in Europe and Asia, similar to what I mentioned earlier-- growing numbers of investors worldwide wanting access to international and, particularly, U.S. markets. Individuals saw the fastest account growth among our 5 client segments with introducing brokers and proprietary traders close behind. On the client equity side, financial advisors grew the fastest, followed by individuals and i-brokers. Proprietary traders had the fastest commission growth while net interest growth was led by introducing brokers, followed by hedge funds and individuals.

就業務在客戶方面的表現而言，我們的帳戶和客戶資產在歐洲和亞洲增長最快，這與我之前提到的類似——全球越來越多的投資者希望進入國際市場，尤其是美國市場。在我們的 5 個客戶群中，個人帳戶成長最快，介紹經紀商和自營交易者緊隨其後。在客戶資產方面，財務顧問成長最快，其次是個人和網路經紀人。自營交易者的佣金成長最快，而淨利息成長則由介紹經紀商帶動，其次是對沖基金和個人。

Speaking of introducing brokers, our pipeline of potential clients remains healthy. There are several of these opportunities-- about a couple dozen of them-- at various stages. Some are in the testing stage. Others have started onboarding so-called 'Friends and Family accounts,' where they test the waters and make sure that everything is working-- while others are in the prospect stage to figure out what the optimal way for them to interface with us is.

說到介紹經紀人，我們的潛在客戶管道仍然健康。其中有幾個機會——大約有幾十個——處於不同的階段。有些正處於測試階段。其他人已經開始加入所謂的“朋友和家人帳戶”，在那裡他們進行測試並確保一切正常 - 而其他人則處於前景階段，以找出他們與我們互動的最佳方式是什麼。

This can take time, since we offer a variety of ways for an introducing broker to come on to our platform. On the one hand, it can be as simple as a broker white-labeling our services, in which case the start-up is very quick. Or on the other, it can be quite complex for i-brokers who want to have their own client-facing user interfaces, so they take longer to integrate with us. In between these two, there are many different setups with varying degrees of nuance and distinctions as the broker picks and chooses the level of integration and coupling that works best based on its needs and on what it is able to support in-house.

這可能需要時間，因為我們為介紹經紀人提供多種進入我們平台的方式。一方面，它可以像經紀人為我們的服務貼上白標一樣簡單，在這種情況下啟動速度非常快。另一方面，對於想要擁有自己的面向客戶的使用者介面的網路經紀商來說，這可能相當複雜，因此他們需要更長的時間才能與我們整合。在這兩者之間，有許多不同的設置，具有不同程度的細微差別和區別，經紀商根據其需求和內部支援能力來選擇最有效的整合和耦合級別。

In terms of new product introductions, we had a busy quarter. We are pleased to introduce our High Touch Prime Brokerage Service, which we announced last week. Hedge funds in our High Touch program will have a dedicated relationship manager and direct access to subject matter experts as well as to an in-person 24x5 global outsourced trading desk. We consider the mission of the High Touch Service to be: "Find a Way to Yes" for our clients' requests. For those hedge funds listening, I am sure there's a piece of your portfolio you could consider allocating to us.

在新產品推出方面，我們度過了一個忙碌的季度。我們很高興推出上周宣布的高接觸大宗經紀服務。我們的高接觸計畫中的對沖基金將擁有專門的客戶關係經理，並可直接聯繫主題專家以及 24x5 現場全球外包交易櫃檯。我們認為高接觸服務的使命是：「找到滿足客戶要求的方法」。對於那些傾聽的對沖基金，我確信您可以考慮將您的投資組合中的一部分分配給我們。

Regarding our platforms, we introduced IBKR Desktop, a streamlined, simpler-to-use, next-generation desktop trading application for Windows and Mac. IBKR Desktop is now sufficiently resource-rich, stable and available to our clients. We've added multisort screeners, option analysis and other enhancements, to name a few.

關於我們的平台，我們推出了IBKR Desktop，這是一款適用於Windows和Mac的精簡且易於使用的下一代桌面交易應用程式。 IBKR桌面現在資源足夠豐富、穩定並且可供我們的客戶使用。我們新增了多分類篩選器、選項分析和其他增強功能，僅舉幾例。

For our flagship Trader Workstation, we added a multi-stock tax loss harvesting tool. And for IBKR Mobile, we re-engineered information architecture and navigation from the ground up. Our registered investment advisor clients got a host of new tools this quarter, including an improved Message Center, a reworked Advisor Portal menu with new features for managing contacts, accounts and portfolios and ways for the platform to assist with filing their Form ADVs.

對於我們的旗艦交易者工作站，我們增加了多股票稅收損失收穫工具。對於行動IBKR，我們從頭開始重新設計了資訊架構和導航。我們的註冊投資顧問客戶本季獲得了許多新工具，包括改進的訊息中心、重新設計的顧問入口網站選單，其中包含用於管理聯絡人、帳戶和投資組合的新功能，以及平台協助提交表格ADV 的方法。

Automating substantial parts of the brokerage business for client success is the heart of what we do. There is much we are looking forward to, and much work to be done, as there always is, and as every software developer will tell you. We are as busy as we've ever been and continue to see global demand for access to all markets. This trend, and our ability to serve it with a much lower cost structure and a much broader product and tool set, is what sets us apart, and will continue to do so in the years ahead.

使經紀業務的大部分自動化以幫助客戶成功是我們工作的核心。我們有很多期待，還有很多工作要做，一如既往，每個軟體開發人員都會告訴您。我們一如既往地忙碌，並繼續看到全球對進入所有市場的需求。這種趨勢，以及我們以更低的成本結構和更廣泛的產品和工具集來服務這一趨勢的能力，使我們與眾不同，並將在未來幾年繼續如此。

With that, I will turn the call over to Paul Brody. Paul?

這樣，我會將電話轉給保羅·布羅迪。保羅？

Thank you, Nancy. Good afternoon, everyone. I will review our first quarter results, and then of course, we'll open it up for questions.

謝謝你，南希。大家下午好。我將回顧我們第一季的業績，當然，我們會開放提問。

Starting with our revenue items on Page 3 of the release. We are pleased with our financial results this quarter, as we again produced record net revenues and pretax income. Commissions rose versus last year's first quarter, reaching $379 million. This quarter, we saw higher trading volumes from our growing base of active customers, particularly in options, which set a new quarterly volume record. Net interest income also reached a quarterly record of $747 million, reflecting a risk on environment in the quarter versus last year that led to more margin borrowing as well as higher yields on our margin loans and segregated cash portfolio. These were partially offset by the higher interest paid to our customers on their cash balances.

從新聞稿第 3 頁的收入項目開始。我們對本季的財務表現感到滿意，因為我們再次創造了創紀錄的淨收入和稅前收入。佣金較去年第一季上升，達 3.79 億美元。本季度，我們看到活躍客戶群不斷成長，交易量增加，特別是選擇權交易量，創下了新的季度交易量記錄。淨利息收入也達到了 7.47 億美元的季度記錄，反映出與去年相比，本季的環境風險導致了更多的保證金借款以及我們的保證金貸款和獨立現金投資組合的更高收益率。這些部分被支付給客戶現金餘額的較高利息所抵銷。

Interactive Brokers passes through to them all rate hikes above the first 50 basis points on their qualified funds, which makes us attractive compared to other brokers and banks and competitive with money market funds. Other fees and services generated $59 million, up 37% from the prior year, driven by the risk-on positioning of customers in the quarter. As we report in the financial highlights on Page 1 of our earnings release, the primary factor was an increase in risk exposure fees with a contribution from FDIC sweep fees as well. Other income includes gains and losses on our investments, our currency diversification strategy and principal transactions. Note that many of these non-core items are excluded in our adjusted earnings. Without these excluded items, other income was $31 million for the quarter.

盈透證券將其合格基金的前 50 個基點以上的所有加息轉嫁給他們，這使我們與其他經紀商和銀行相比具有吸引力，並且與貨幣市場基金相比具有競爭力。在本季客戶風險定位的推動下，其他費用和服務產生了 5,900 萬美元，比上年增長 37%。正如我們在收益報告第一頁的財務摘要中所報告的那樣，主要因素是風險敞口費用的增加，以及 FDIC 清理費用的貢獻。其他收入包括我們的投資、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，該季度的其他收入為 3,100 萬美元。

Turning to expenses-- Execution, clearing and distribution costs were $101 million in the quarter, up 6% over the year-ago quarter on higher volumes in options, which carry higher fees. As a percent of commission revenues, execution and clearing costs were 21% in the first quarter for a gross transactional profit margin of 79%. We calculate this by excluding from "execution, clearing and distribution" $21 million of non-transaction-based costs, predominantly market data, which do not have a direct commission -- a commission revenue component.

說到費用——本季的執行、清算和分銷成本為 1.01 億美元，比去年同期增長 6%，原因是期權數量增加，費用也更高。第一季的執行和清算成本佔佣金收入的百分比為 21%，交易毛利率為 79%。我們透過從「執行、清算和分配」中排除 2,100 萬美元的非交易成本（主要是市場數據）來計算這一點，這些成本沒有直接佣金（佣金收入組成部分）。

Compensation and benefits expense was $145 million for the quarter, for a ratio of compensation expense to adjusted net revenues of 12%, down slightly from last year's quarter. We remain focused on expense discipline, as reflected in our slowing the staff increase to 3% over the prior year. Our headcount at March 31st was 2,956. G&A expenses were $50 million, up from the year-ago quarter on higher advertising and legal expenses. Our pretax margin was 72% for the quarter. Income taxes of $71 million reflects the sum of the public company's $36 million and the operating companies' $35 million. The public company's adjusted effective tax rate was 17.2% within its usual range and similar to the prior year.

該季度的薪資和福利費用為 1.45 億美元，薪資費用與調整後淨收入的比率為 12%，比去年同期略有下降。我們仍然關注費用紀律，這反映在我們將員工成長速度放緩至前一年的 3%。截至 3 月 31 日，我們的員工人數為 2,956 人。由於廣告和法律費用增加，一般管理費用為 5,000 萬美元，較去年同期增加。本季我們的稅前利潤率為 72%。 7,100 萬美元的所得稅是上市公司 3,600 萬美元和營運公司 3,500 萬美元的總和。該上市公司調整後的有效稅率為 17.2%，在正常範圍內，與前一年相似。

Moving to our balance sheet on Page 5 of the release. The consistent strength of our business and our healthy balance sheet supports our raising the dividend from $0.40 per year to $1.00, returning capital to shareholders while still maintaining an ample capital base for the current business and future opportunities. Our total assets ended the quarter 11% higher at $132 billion with growth driven by margin lending to both new and existing customers. We continue to have no long-term debt. We maintain a balance sheet geared towards supporting growth in our existing business and helping us win new business by demonstrating our strength to prospective clients and partners.

前往新聞稿第 5 頁的資產負債表。我們業務的持續實力和健康的資產負債表支持我們將股息從每年 0.40 美元提高到 1.00 美元，向股東返還資本，同時仍為當前業務和未來機會保持充足的資本基礎。本季末，我們的總資產成長了 11%，達到 1,320 億美元，成長的動力來自於向新客戶和現有客戶提供的保證金貸款。我們仍然沒有長期債務。我們維持資產負債表，旨在支持現有業務的成長，並透過向潛在客戶和合作夥伴展示我們的實力來幫助我們贏得新業務。

In our operating data on Pages 6 and 7. Our contract volumes in options for all customers rose 24% over the prior-year quarter, well above industry growth. Futures contract volumes and stock share volumes declined as they did across the industry. The decrease in stock share volume occurred in tandem with clients gravitating to larger, higher-quality names, with lower trading in pink sheet and other very low-priced stocks. In fact, despite the decline in share volume-- the total notional value of brokerage shares traded was up in many markets, particularly in the U.S.

在我們第 6 頁和第 7 頁的營運數據中。期貨合約交易量和股票交易量與整個行業一樣下降。股票交易量的下降與客戶傾向於規模更大、品質更高的股票同時發生，粉紅單和其他價格極低的股票的交易量減少。事實上，儘管股票交易量下降，但許多市場（尤其是美國）的經紀股票交易總名目價值卻有所上升。

On Page 7, you can see that total customer DARTs were 2.4 million trades per day, up 14% from the prior year and especially strong in options, followed by stocks and foreign exchange. Commission per cleared commissionable order of $2.93 was down from last year, due to a mix of smaller average order sizes in stocks and options and larger in futures. Stocks and options contributed higher overall volumes but smaller average order sizes, while futures contributed lower volume with a larger average order size.

在第 7 頁上，您可以看到客戶 DART 交易總數為每天 240 萬筆交易，比上一年增長 14%，其中期權尤其強勁，其次是股票和外匯。由於股票和選擇權的平均訂單規模較小以及期貨的平均訂單規模較大，每筆清算佣金訂單的佣金為 2.93 美元，較去年有所下降。股票和選擇權貢獻了較高的整體交易量，但平均訂單規模較小，而期貨貢獻的交易量較低，但平均訂單規模較大。

Page 8 shows our net interest margin numbers. Total GAAP net interest income was $747 million for the quarter, up 17%, while our NIM net interest income was $762 million, or $15 million higher. In the NIM computation, we include some income that for GAAP purposes is classified as other fees or other income, but we believe is more appropriately considered interest. Our net interest income reflects strength in margin loan and segregated cash interest, partially offset by higher interest expense on customer cash balances.

第 8 頁顯示了我們的淨利差數字。本季 GAAP 淨利息收入總額為 7.47 億美元，成長 17%，而我們的 NIM 淨利息收入為 7.62 億美元，增加了 1,500 萬美元。在淨利差計算中，我們包括了一些按照公認會計原則分類為其他費用或其他收入的收入，但我們認為將其視為利息更合適。我們的淨利息收入反映了保證金貸款和獨立現金利息的實力，部分被客戶現金餘額利息支出的增加所抵銷。

Most central banks around the world, including the Federal Reserve, held interest rates steady this quarter. Exceptions included a rate rise in Japan from negative 10 basis points to 0 to positive 10 basis points, and a 25-basis point rate cut in the Swiss franc benchmark. Reflecting the rise in benchmark rates over the year, our segregated cash interest income rose 26% on a 2% increase in average balances while margin loan interest rose by 42% on a 19% increase in average balances.

包括聯準會在內的全球大多數央行本季維持利率穩定。例外情況包括日本將利率從負 10 個基點上調至 0 至正 10 個基點，以及瑞士法郎基準利率下調 25 個基點。反映一年來基準利率上升的情況是，我們的獨立現金利息收入增加了 26%，平均餘額增加了 2%，而保證金貸款利息則增加了 42%，平均餘額增加了 19%。

The average duration of our portfolio remained at less than 30 days. With the U.S. dollar yield curve continuing to be inverted, we have been maximizing what we earn by focusing on higher short-term yields rather than accept the significantly lower yields of longer maturities. This strategy allows us to maintain a relatively tight maturity match between our assets and liabilities.

我們投資組合的平均久期維持在30天以下。隨著美元殖利率曲線繼續倒掛，我們一直透過專注於更高的短期收益率而不是接受期限較長的收益率大幅降低來最大化我們的收益。這項策略使我們能夠在資產和負債之間保持相對緊密的期限匹配。

Securities lending net interest has not been as strong as in prior quarters for 3 main reasons. First, throughout the industry, overall demand for shorting stocks has fallen. An extremely strong stock market, up in the U.S. nearly 30% in the past year and 10% in the first quarter alone means fewer people are looking to put on shorts when the overall market trend is so soundly upward.

證券借貸淨利息沒有前幾季那麼強勁，主要有以下三個原因。首先，從整個產業來看，做空股票的整體需求有所下降。美國股市去年上漲了近 30%，光是第一季就上漲了 10%，這意味著在整體市場趨勢如此強勁上漲的情況下，希望做空的人越來越少。

Second, there are fewer "hard-to-borrow" names industry-wide, not only because the overall market is rising sharply but also due to weakness in some of the drivers relevant to securities lending, including significantly fewer IPOs, low market volatility and less merger and acquisition activity.

其次，全行業「難藉」名字較少，不僅因為整體市場大幅上漲，還因為一些與融券相關的驅動因素疲軟，包括IPO大幅減少、市場波動性較低以及併購活動減少。

Finally, as noted on previous calls, higher average interest rates versus prior year periods means more of what we earn from securities lending is classified as interest on "segregated cash." To more accurately compare our securities lending revenue with last year, we estimate that if the additional interest earned on cash collateral were reported under "securities borrowed and loaned", it would have been $12 million higher, or $38 million.

最後，正如先前的電話會議所指出的，與去年同期相比，平均利率較高，這意味著我們從證券借貸中賺取的更多收入被歸類為「獨立現金」的利息。為了更準確地將我們的證券借貸收入與去年進行比較，我們估計，如果現金抵押品賺取的額外利息在「證券借入和貸出」項下報告，則會增加1200 萬美元，即3800 萬美元。

Interest on customer credit balances, the interest we pay to our customers on the cash in their accounts, rose on both higher rates in nearly all currencies and higher balances from new account growth. As we've noted many times in the past, the high interest rates we pay on customer cash-- currently 4.83% on qualified U.S. dollar balances-- is a significant driver of new customers. Fully rate-sensitive customer balances were about $18.5 billion this quarter, versus $17.2 billion in the year-ago quarter. And firm equity, most of which consists of interest-earning assets, increased 20% over the prior year.

客戶信貸餘額的利息，即我們向客戶帳戶中的現金支付的利息，由於幾乎所有貨幣的利率上升以及新帳戶增長帶來的餘額增加而上漲。正如我們過去多次指出的那樣，我們對客戶現金支付的高利率（目前合格美元餘額的利率為 4.83%）是新客戶的重要推動力。本季完全對利率敏感的客戶餘額約為 185 億美元，而去年同期為 172 億美元。公司權益（其中大部分為生息資產）比上年增長了 20%。

Now, for our estimates of the impact of changes in rates. Given market expectations of rate cuts sometime in 2024, we estimate the effect of a 25-basis point decrease in the benchmark fed funds rate to be a $58 million reduction in annual net interest income. Note that our starting point for this estimate is March 31st with the Fed Funds effective rate at 5.33% and balances as of that date. Any growth in our balance sheet and interest-earning assets would reduce this impact.

現在，我們對利率變化的影響進行估計。鑑於市場預期 2024 年某個時候降息，我們估計基準聯邦基金利率下降 25 個基點的影響將導致年度淨利息收入減少 5,800 萬美元。請注意，我們這項估計的起點是 3 月 31 日，聯邦基金有效利率為 5.33%，截至該日的餘額。我們的資產負債表和生息資產的任何成長都會減少這種影響。

About 25% of our customer cash balances is not in U.S. dollars so estimates of the U.S. rate change exclude those currencies. We estimate the effect of decreases in all the relevant non-USD benchmark rates would reduce annual net interest income by $18 million for each 25-basis point decrease in those benchmarks. At a high level, a full 1% decrease in all benchmark rates would decrease our annual net interest income by about $304 million. This takes into account rate-sensitive customer balances and firm equity.

我們大約 25% 的客戶現金餘額不是美元，因此對美元匯率變動的估計不包括這些貨幣。我們估計，所有相關非美元基準利率每下降 25 個基點，年度淨利息收入就會減少 1,800 萬美元。從較高水準來看，所有基準利率下降 1% 將使我們的年度淨利息收入減少約 3.04 億美元。這考慮到了對利率敏感的客戶餘額和公司資產。

In conclusion, we started the year with another financially strong quarter in net revenues and pretax margin, reflecting our continued ability to grow our customer base and deliver on our core value proposition to customers while scaling the business. We raised our dividend in recognition of our financial strength. Our business strategy continues to be effective: automating as much of the brokerage business as possible and expanding what we offer while minimizing what we charge.

總之，今年伊始，我們在淨收入和稅前利潤方面又實現了財務強勁的季度，這反映出我們在擴大業務的同時不斷擴大客戶群並為客戶提供核心價值主張的能力。我們提高了股息以表彰我們的財務實力。我們的業務策略仍然有效：盡可能實現經紀業務的自動化，並擴大我們的服務範圍，同時最大限度地減少我們的收費。

With that, I'll turn it over to the moderator, and we'll open up the line for questions.

這樣，我會將其轉交給主持人，然後我們將開放提問熱線。

(Operator Instructions) And our first question comes from Craig Siegenthaler from Bank of America.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自美國銀行的 Craig Siegenthaler。

I wanted to start with capital management with the dividend hike. The dividend payout is still just 15% of profits. And you have upwards of $15 billion of equity capital, and this is growing each quarter. So what should our read-through be on the increase? Should we expect additional increases as profits grow each year? And is this somewhat related to a lack of M&A opportunities following the 2 deals that broke down that you highlighted on the 4Q call in January?

我想從提高股利開始進行資本管理。股息支付仍僅為利潤的15%。您擁有超過 150 億美元的股本，並且每個季度都在成長。那麼我們的閱讀量該增加什麼呢？隨著利潤逐年增長，我們是否應該期待額外的增長？這是否與您在 1 月第四季電話會議上強調的兩筆交易失敗後缺乏併購機會有關？

Thanks for the question. So the $15 billion equity, what you have to take into consideration is that a lot of that capital is needed to run the business. So what remains as usable for M&A is significantly smaller.

謝謝你的提問。因此，對於 150 億美元的股權，你必須考慮的是，營運業務需要大量資本。因此，仍然可用於併購的資源要少得多。

Now for the dividend, we are happy with the number that we came up with. It's approximately 15% payout ratio of the earnings. And we believe that this amount of dividend is sustainable yet it allows us to continue to build the capital that we enjoy to have for the potential M&A opportunities.

現在就股息而言，我們對得出的數字感到滿意。約佔收益的15%。我們相信，這筆金額的股利是可持續的，但它使我們能夠繼續為潛在的併購機會累積資本。

And just as my follow-up, I wanted to get your perspective on the improving retail engagement backdrop. And we're seeing this at your company and other companies across multiple metrics, margin loan growth, activity rates and trading, organic growth with the account growth acceleration. So I'm just wondering how much upside do you expect from the individual investor business if markets continue to recover here. And we assume 2021 is not repeatable again, but [2023] (corrected by company after the call) was likely a floor. So any reference points that would be helpful?

正如我的後續行動一樣，我想了解您對零售參與度不斷改善的背景的看法。我們在您的公司和其他公司的多個指標上都看到了這一點，包括保證金貸款成長、活動率和交易、隨著帳戶成長加速的有機成長。因此，我只是想知道，如果市場繼續復甦，您對個人投資者業務的預期有多大。我們假設 2021 年不會再次重複，但 [2023]（公司在電話會議後更正）可能是下限。那麼有什麼參考點會有幫助嗎？

It's very hard for me to speculate as to how it's going to continue. What we see is increasing engagement of what you would call retail traders in the options markets. And they have become more comfortable with the options. They recognize how flexible of a financial instrument an option is. You can use it to trade on leverage. You can use it to generate income. You can use it to speculate. And as Paul have mentioned a little earlier, we had seen significant growth in the options volume. So that, I think, is going to continue, and the public will get more and more comfortable with the financial instrument.

我很難推測它會如何繼續。我們看到的是期權市場中散戶交易者的參與度不斷增加。他們對這些選擇變得更加滿意。他們認識到期權作為金融工具的靈活性。您可以使用它進行槓桿交易。您可以用它來產生收入。你可以用它來推測。正如保羅之前提到的，我們看到期權數量顯著增長。因此，我認為這種情況將會持續下去，大眾將會越來越適應這種金融工具。

As to are we going to see the same levels of volume and account growth as we've seen at the beginning of the pandemic? Probably not. If you remember, that was a very different world for a few months. The markets dropped very significantly, and there was a lot of volatility in the market. Everybody was closed at home. There was not that much to do other than watching Netflix shows and open brokerage accounts and start trading, which was then followed by the meme stock mania. So, I do not expect something like this to happen anytime soon.

至於我們是否會看到與疫情開始時相同的交易量和帳戶成長水準？可能不會。如果你還記得的話，那幾個月裡那是一個非常不同的世界。市場下跌幅度非常大，市場波動很大。大家都關在家裡。除了觀看 Netflix 節目、開設經紀帳戶並開始交易之外，沒有什麼可做的，隨後就是迷因股票狂熱。因此，我預計類似的事情不會很快發生。

And our next question comes from Benjamin Budish from Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的本傑明·布迪什。

Maybe one for Paul. You mentioned in your prepared remarks that you were sort of leaning into the shorter end of the curve, given the inversion in the yield curve. I just wanted to check, that sounds pretty consistent with your previously communicated approach to risk management. But is there anything to read there? Like if the yield curve were to invert and maybe given the knowledge you have of your customer base or the behavior you've observed, does that suggest that at some point in the future, you might be comfortable sort of extending the duration? Or should we assume maybe a more consistent, very, very low risk management approach to the balance sheet?

也許是給保羅的。您在準備好的發言中提到，考慮到殖利率曲線的倒掛，您有點傾向於曲線的較短一端。我只是想檢查一下，這聽起來與您之前傳達的風險管理方法非常一致。但那裡有什麼可讀的嗎？就像如果殖利率曲線反轉，並且考慮到您對客戶群的了解或您觀察到的行為，這是否表明在未來的某個時刻，您可能會願意延長期限？還是我們應該假設對資產負債表採取更一致、非常非常低的風險管理方法？

Well, I'm responsible for the investment of these monies. So -- and this is Thomas. As long as the yield curve remains inverted, we are going to stay with our current profile. And at the time when that changes, we will consider extending our maturity depending upon the circumstances.

嗯，我負責這些錢的投資。所以——這是托馬斯。只要殖利率曲線保持倒掛，我們就將維持目前的狀況。當情況改變時，我們會根據情況考慮延長成熟度。

Okay. Appreciate that. And then maybe one, just another kind of follow-up to Craig's question on the dividend. I know there's a lot of focus on M&A. And if supposedly, nothing were to materialize, would you consider, in the future, a more like dividend growth -- more of a dividend growth cadence? Or are you kind of more hopeful on M&A? Just sort of curious how you're thinking about like the range of outcomes. It sounds like the $0.25 is more fixed rather than like a 15% payout ratio. But I'm wondering if that would sort of change or could it potentially change in the future?

好的。感謝。然後也許是一個，只是克雷格關於股息問題的另一個後續行動。我知道人們非常關注併購。如果假設什麼都沒有實現，你會考慮在未來，更像是股息成長——更像是股息成長節奏嗎？還是您對併購更有希望？只是有點好奇你是如何思考結果範圍的。聽起來 0.25 美元更固定，而不是 15% 的支付率。但我想知道這是否會改變或將來可能會改變嗎？

So if you look at it, it took a number of years to raise the dividend from $0.10 to $0.25. So I'm not saying that it's going to take us another decade to do the same, but we will remain nimble. Capital situation is very important to us. The fortress balance sheet is something that we really enjoy. We believe that it attracts the institutional clients. They see a healthy company despite that we do not have 150 year-long history like some of our big competitors in the hedge fund space. We believe that this rock-solid capital position is attractive to the investors and clients. So we would like to maintain it. So this $1 per year dividend, I think, strikes a good balance. So for now, I think this is it.

因此，如果你仔細觀察，你會發現股息從 0.10 美元提高到 0.25 美元花了很多年的時間。因此，我並不是說我們需要再花十年時間才能做到同樣的事情，但我們將保持靈活性。資本狀況對我們來說非常重要。堡壘資產負債表是我們真正喜歡的東西。我們相信它會吸引機構客戶。儘管我們不像對沖基金領域的一些大競爭對手那樣擁有 150 年的歷史，但他們看到的是一家健康的公司。我們相信這種堅如磐石的資本狀況對投資者和客戶具有吸引力。所以我們想維護它。所以我認為每年1美元的股息達到了很好的平衡。所以現在，我想就是這樣了。

And our next question comes from James Yaro from Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的詹姆斯·亞羅。

My first one's on account growth. Accounts grew 25% year-on-year in the first quarter, and I found the comments on the fact that you're working with a number of i-brokers to potentially onboard on the platform over time, quite interesting. In light of this, maybe you could just comment on how sustainable you view this recent account growth? And maybe if not, maybe you could just break down what customer types or geographies are driving the stronger growth versus a few quarters ago.

我的第一個是帳戶增長。第一季的帳戶年增了 25%，我發現有關你們正在與許多網路經紀商合作，隨著時間的推移可能加入該平台這一事實的評論非常有趣。有鑑於此，也許您可以評論一下您認為最近的帳戶增長有多可持續？也許如果沒有，也許您可以分解哪些客戶類型或地理位置推動了與幾個季度前相比更強勁的成長。

The strongest segment in terms of number of new accounts was the individual accounts, just like what happened in the last quarter of last year. After that, it was the introducing brokers. Now introducing brokers are a very important segment because they help us attract accounts in their local jurisdictions that may be less sophisticated accounts than the ones that come to us directly. We think this is very sustainable. We continue to add tools to our platform. We have a pipeline of introducing brokers that has around 2 to 3 dozen different companies integrating with us as we speak.

就新帳戶數量而言，最強勁的部分是個人帳戶，就像去年最後一個季度的情況一樣。之後就是介紹經紀人了。現在介紹經紀商是一個非常重要的部分，因為他們幫助我們吸引當地司法管轄區的帳戶，這些帳戶可能不如直接向我們提供的帳戶複雜。我們認為這是非常永續的。我們繼續為我們的平台添加工具。我們有一個介紹經紀商的管道，在我們發言時，大約有 2 到 3 打不同的公司與我們整合。

We have been talking about the 2 larger introducing brokers for a while. So we have already announced that the first one of them has been with us and is happily trading, and the second one has finally started operations. They are starting slowly with one single geographical location in the Middle East. They have opened a few dozen accounts so far. They are in the so-called 'Friends and Family' mode, but they're going to be ramping it up. And what we are hoping to do with this global bank -- one of the top 10 global banks out there-- what we're hoping to do is we are hoping to integrate with them fast going forward, so that new countries can be added.

我們談論兩家較大的介紹經紀商已經有一段時間了。所以我們已經宣布，第一個已經和我們在一起並且正在愉快地交易，第二個終於開始運作了。他們從中東的一個地理位置緩慢起步。到目前為止，他們已經開設了幾十個帳戶。他們處於所謂的「朋友和家人」模式，但他們將加強。我們希望與這家全球銀行（全球十大銀行之一）合作，希望能夠快速與他們整合，以便能夠添加新的國家。

Now what I have to do here is manage your expectations somewhat. We are dealing with a wealth management branch of a multinational bank that is basically starting a new business of attracting self-traders. So we are not talking about migrating a large number of accounts. But what we are hoping for is a healthy new business for this global bank that is going to be then gradually onboarding new accounts to us.

現在我要做的就是在某種程度上管理你的期望。我們正在與一家跨國銀行的財富管理分行打交道，該分行基本上正在進行一項吸引自營交易者的新業務。所以我們不是在談論遷移大量帳戶。但我們希望這家全球銀行能夠開展健康的新業務，然後逐步為我們開設新帳戶。

Okay. That's very clear. Maybe just on securities lending. Activity there continues to be somewhat subdued across the industry as well as for you. Maybe just your views on what gets this part of the business going.

好的。這非常清楚。也許只是證券借貸。整個行業以及您的活動仍然有些低迷。也許只是您對這部分業務的發展的看法。

Paul, would you like to take this one?

保羅，你想買這個嗎？

Yes. Sure. So as usual, there's a baseline that grows as our customer base grows. Having said that, that baseline on the short side has been retreating over the last quite a number of months now, across the industry. There's less interest in shorting stock. So that's on the one side. And then on the other, really, where we do quite well in lending stocks that are in great demand, is sure to drive that as well because we can only lend it to other people who are going short. So that tends to go down.

是的。當然。因此，像往常一樣，隨著我們客戶群的成長，基準也會隨之成長。話雖如此，過去幾個月整個產業的空頭基準一直在回落。人們對做空股票的興趣越來越少。這是一方面。另一方面，實際上，我們在藉貸需求旺盛的股票方面做得很好，也肯定會推動這一趨勢，因為我們只能把它藉給其他做空的人。所以這個數字往往會下降。

And we've built great tools for recognizing what the rates should be and taking advantage of them to the best we can. But there are only so many opportunities out there in the market. And there really haven't been any extremely hot stocks, if you will, very high hard-to-borrow rate stocks. And that drives the business as well. So those will come and go. And when they show up, we have the tools to make the most of it.

我們已經建立了出色的工具來識別利率應該是多少，並盡我們所能地利用它們。但市場上的機會就這麼多。如果你願意的話，確實沒有任何非常熱門的股票，也沒有非常高的難以藉利率的股票。這也推動了業務發展。所以這些會來來去去。當它們出現時，我們就有了充分利用它們的工具。

And our next question comes from Dan Fannon from Jefferies LLC.

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

Just was curious in the quarter how many introducing brokers were onboarded to the platform. And then if you could talk about the 2 to 3 dozen, you clearly have some of the large -- you mentioned some large global banks, but maybe just the average size as we think about that opportunity that's in the pipeline currently.

只是很好奇本季有多少介紹經紀商加入了這個平台。然後，如果你能談論 2 到 3 打，你顯然有一些大型銀行——你提到了一些大型全球銀行，但也許只是平均規模，因為我們考慮了目前正在醞釀的機會。

So the 2 or 3 dozens are integrations, in general. They may be a large financial adviser who have decided to interface with us electronically or they could be introducing brokers. The sizes vary. We typically get introducing brokers that are just starting off. And from time to time, we get an introducing broker that decided to change their prime brokers. In Asia, we have just gotten online a couple of virtual banks. We have finished the integration of the large global bank that I mentioned a few minutes ago. We have an SEC-registered adviser that integrated with us and went online. And then we have many, many in the funnel at various stages. Some of them are still trying to figure out what the best way for them to integrate with us is while others are busy integrating and then the third group is already doing some test trades.

所以一般來說，2 到 3 打是整合。他們可能是一家大型財務顧問，決定以電子方式與我們聯繫，也可能是介紹經紀人。尺寸各不相同。我們通常會介紹剛起步的經紀人。有時，我們會遇到一位介紹經紀人決定更換其主要經紀人。在亞洲，我們剛剛上線了幾家虛擬銀行。我們已經完成了我幾分鐘前提到的大型全球銀行的整合。我們有一位在 SEC 註冊的顧問，與我們整合並上線。然後我們在各個階段的漏斗中有很多很多。他們中的一些人仍在試圖找出與我們整合的最佳方式是什麼，而其他人則忙於整合，然後第三組已經在進行一些測試交易。

Just for more clarity, if I may add. Many of these brokers open omnibus accounts. So it doesn't necessarily show up as a large number of new accounts because an omnibus broker basically gives us one account while he may have hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands accounts on his end. But we obviously get all the trading volume.

只是為了更清楚，我可以補充一下。其中許多經紀人開設綜合帳戶。因此，它不一定會顯示為大量新帳戶，因為綜合經紀商基本上只給我們一個帳戶，而他可能擁有數百、數千、數萬或數十萬個帳戶。但我們顯然得到了所有的交易量。

Understood. And then just as a follow-up, another question on capital. You talked about excess capital. We know there's regulatory capital. Then there's what you want to maintain as a buffer to keep the fortress balance sheet. Can you talk about what is excess as we think about not only dividend and M&A in terms of what we -- is potentially for use on an inorganic or capital return?

明白了。作為後續，另一個關於資本的問題。您談到了過剩資本。我們知道有監管資本。然後，您需要保留一些內容作為緩衝區，以保持堡壘的資產負債表。您能否談談什麼是過剩，因為我們不僅考慮股息和併購，還考慮了我們可能用於無機或資本回報的內容？

So I would say around $6 billion of the capital is the excess that is not necessary to run the business. So that gives you some idea of what the number is. Now are we trying to go out there and spend it fast like a drunken sailor? Of course not. But we are carefully looking at the opportunities that come our way. And to tell you the truth, it's -- we find it difficult. The rule of thumb is that more than 70% of the acquisitions out there do not deliver the promised value. We do not have a lot of experience in the M&A space, so we are extra diligent. And although we were very close to do 2 very large acquisitions, in the end, we were not able to agree on a price. So this trend can continue, but I am hopeful that we will be able to do an acquisition and speed up the organic growth of accounts.

所以我想說，大約 60 億美元的資本是營運業務所不需要的多餘資金。這樣您就可以了解這個數字是多少。現在我們是否想像醉酒的水手一樣出去快速消費？當然不是。但我們正在仔細尋找我們遇到的機會。說實話，我們發現這很困難。經驗法則是，超過 70% 的收購沒有實現承諾的價值。我們在併購領域沒有太多經驗，所以我們格外勤奮。儘管我們非常接近進行兩次非常大的收購，但最終我們未能就價格達成協議。因此，這種趨勢可以持續下去，但我希望我們能夠進行收購並加快帳戶的有機成長。

And our next question comes from Patrick Moley from Piper Sandler.

我們的下一個問題來自 Piper Sandler 的 Patrick Moley。

Thomas, I just caught your interview on CNBC before the call here. It sounded like you didn't think margin loans could really go much higher from here, it sounds like, I think you said historically, maybe the jump that we've seen recently might be an indication that balances are a little bit overextended. So just hoping you could maybe just provide some more color there, how we should think about margin loan growth trajectory in the short term and whether those comments are any sort of indication that -- of what you've seen in April.

托馬斯，我剛剛在電話會議之前在 CNBC 上看到了你的採訪。聽起來你不認為保證金貸款真的會從這裡走高，聽起來，我認為你從歷史上說過，也許我們最近看到的跳躍可能表明餘額有點過度擴張。因此，希望您能提供更多的信息，我們應該如何考慮短期保證金貸款增長軌跡，以及這些評論是否表明您在四月份所看到的情況。

Let me put it this way. I hope that they're not going much higher because I'm a nervous Nellie. When margin loans shoot up, that always is followed by a quick collapse in the market. That's my almost 50-year experience.

讓我這樣說吧。我希望他們不會走得太高，因為我是一個緊張的內莉。當保證金貸款激增時，隨之而來的總是市場的迅速崩潰。這是我近50年的經驗。

Okay. All right. That's helpful. And then, I guess, just as a follow-up. You recently unveiled the IBKR Desktop offering. I was hoping you could talk just about what you think that platform offers and what it can mean for account growth going forward.

好的。好的。這很有幫助。然後，我想，就像後續行動一樣。您最近推出了 IBKR 桌面產品。我希望您能談談您認為該平台提供的功能以及它對未來帳戶成長的意義。

Well, perhaps I can give you a little bit of a history first. We created the broker to attract and cater to professional traders-- highly sophisticated accounts. We have developed the desktop-- the original desktop, TWS, for them. We have been adding features to it very fast over the last 20-plus years. So we have a very mature platform that has all the capabilities a professional trader of any kind could wish for.

好吧，也許我可以先給你介紹一下歷史。我們創建經紀商是為了吸引和迎合專業交易者——高度複雜的帳戶。我們為他們開發了桌面－原始桌面TWS。在過去 20 多年裡，我們一直在快速地為其添加功能。因此，我們擁有一個非常成熟的平台，擁有任何類型的專業交易者所希望的所有功能。

Now we made that platform available to everybody because our systems are highly scalable. We are very happy to take on accounts of any size. Over time, we have learned that some of the clients find the platform overwhelming. So we have added a web platform. We have added 2 different types of mobile trader-- a sophisticated one and a less sophisticated one. But the flagship platform is still there, generates a lot of business, but it is getting somewhat older. It has been online for longer than a couple of decades.

現在我們讓每個人都可以使用該平台，因為我們的系統具有高度可擴展性。我們非常樂意接受任何規模的客戶。隨著時間的推移，我們了解到一些客戶發現該平台令人難以承受。所以我們新增了一個網路平台。我們增加了兩種不同類型的行動交易程序——一種是複雜的，一種是不太複雜的。但旗艦平台仍然存在，產生了大量業務，但它變得有些老舊了。它已經上線了幾十年了。

So we decided to build a brand new one, a brand new desktop, which is going to be -- which is simpler than the original one. It has a reduced functionality set. It does not cater to all sorts of professional traders, but the account holder that it has in mind is the active trader. So that is what that new desktop Trader Workstation is meant to be used by. It went online this first quarter. We continue to add functionality to it. We will continue to do so going forward, but we will try to remain disciplined so that we do not over-clutter it with features that are not frequently used.

因此，我們決定建立一個全新的桌面，一個全新的桌面，它將比原來的桌面更簡單。它的功能集有所減少。它並不迎合所有類型的專業交易者，但它所考慮的帳戶持有人是活躍交易者。這就是新的桌面交易工作站的用途。它於第一季上線。我們繼續為其添加功能。我們將繼續這樣做，但我們將盡力保持紀律，以免我們不經常使用的功能使其變得過於混亂。

The feedback that we're getting from our clients is very good. We are on very -- we talk to them often. We grade the platform in terms of usability-- how easy it is to find features on it, how easy it is to trade on it. So we look at these grades all the time and adjust as necessary. And we are getting questions already for the professional accounts and from i-brokers when we are going to make the platform available to them, which I consider to be a very good sign because that was not originally the plan but there is already demand for it. So I'm so far very happy with how the platform is performing.

我們從客戶那裡得到的回饋非常好。我們經常與他們交談。我們根據可用性對平台進行評分——在平台上找到功能的難易度、在平台上進行交易的難易程度。因此，我們一直關注這些成績並根據需要進行調整。當我們準備向專業帳戶和網路經紀商提供該平台時，我們已經收到了來自他們的問題，我認為這是一個非常好的跡象，因為這不是最初的計劃，但已經有需求了。所以到目前為止，我對平台的表現非常滿意。

And our next question comes from Chris Allen from Citi.

我們的下一個問題來自花旗銀行的克里斯艾倫。

Maybe I wanted to touch on the hedge fund client base. You noted establishing a high-touch PB service. I'm just wondering, did that require additional hiring for that client segment? What kind of progress are you making in terms of kind of moving up some of the tables you talked about in the past? And any additional areas of growth to further penetrate that client segment?

也許我想談談對沖基金客戶群。您提到建立了高接觸度 PB 服務。我只是想知道，這是否需要為該客戶群額外招募？在提升您過去談到的一些表格方面，您取得了哪些進展？還有其他成長領域可以進一步滲透該客戶群嗎？

So this is brand new. We have really just announced it towards the end of last week, and we have notified accounts, the 30 or so hedge funds that we have on the platform. We have invited them into this new service-- high-touch prime brokerage service. The goal, obviously, is to attract hedge funds that are larger than, let's say, $100 million of equity, or to keep on our platform the ones that started small, but they have reached the assets level that would allow them to go to one of our larger competitors.

所以這是全新的。我們實際上是在上週末才宣布這一消息的，並且我們已經通知了平台上大約 30 家對沖基金的帳戶。我們邀請他們加入這項新服務—高接觸性的主經紀商服務。顯然，我們的目標是吸引超過 1 億美元的對沖基金，或將那些規模較小但已達到資產水準的對沖基金保留在我們的平台上。

So we have done -- we have had a lot of discussions with the hedge funds with some of the professionals at the prime brokerage space, and we have learned what the hedge funds -- the larger hedge funds expect of their prime broker. And the number one thing that they expect is the white glove or a high-touch service. So that is what this offering is. The eligible hedge fund will have a single point of contact and will receive elevated service from Interactive Brokers. As part of this service, we are establishing a 24x5 global outsourced trading desk for these clients. These clients will get access to subject matter experts from various supporting functional groups: compliance, risk, funds and banking, securities, finance and others. So we believe that they will find what they usually expect from the large competing brokers. So this was the first step that we are taking here. And over time, we will see how well it's working.

因此，我們已經與對沖基金以及大宗經紀領域的一些專業人士進行了很多討論，我們了解了對沖基金——較大的對沖基金對其大宗經紀商的期望。他們期望的第一件事是白手套或高接觸服務。這就是這個產品的意義。符合資格的對沖基金將有一個單一的聯繫點，並將獲得盈透證券的優質服務。作為這項服務的一部分，我們正在為這些客戶建立一個 24x5 全球外包交易台。這些客戶將能夠接觸來自各個支援職能部門的主題專家：合規、風險、基金和銀行、證券、金融等。因此，我們相信他們會從大型競爭經紀商那裡找到他們通常期望的東西。這是我們在這裡採取的第一步。隨著時間的推移，我們將看到它的效果如何。

Understood. And then maybe one additional quick question. Last quarter, you mentioned looking at efficiency opportunities in areas such as surveillance and customer service. Wondering if you made any progress on those fronts? Any other areas you can wring out some efficiencies moving forward, which, I mean, obviously, given your margin, it's -- you're already incredibly efficient. So it's asking a lot a little bit, but just any color on that would be great.

明白了。然後也許還有一個簡單的問題。上個季度，您提到在監控和客戶服務等領域尋找提高效率的機會。想知道您在這些方面是否取得了任何進展？在任何其他領域，你都可以提高效率，我的意思是，顯然，考慮到你的利潤，你已經非常有效率了。所以要求有點高，但只要有任何顏色就可以了。

We are continuously working on our electronic surveillance. As a broker, it is our obligation to surveil the trading activities and the movement of cash. We built our systems in-house even though a lot of our competitors use third-party software. We looked at a few different third-party software packages that are available. We found them too expensive and not really suitable for us because our business is global--so that is why we decided a few years ago to build our own. And the system generates alerts, and the alerts are serviced by human operators, which deem the alert either false positive or true positive. And if the alert points to a problem, then they either file a report with the regulator or they act according to the script that we have given to them. We have a significant number of operators that use the system. And our goal is not to add more as the number of accounts increases, as the volumes increase and as the cash moves increase. So that is the goal. And now how we're going about it is continuously improving the platform, reducing the number of false positives, deploying some artificial intelligence techniques. So that is what we have been doing for the past year or so.

我們正在不斷致力於電子監控。作為經紀人，我們有義務監督交易活動和現金流動。儘管我們的許多競爭對手使用第三方軟體，但我們還是在內部建立了系統。我們研究了一些可用的不同第三方軟體包。我們發現它們太貴了，而且不太適合我們，因為我們的業務是全球性的——所以這就是為什麼我們幾年前決定建立自己的。系統會產生警報，警報由操作員處理，操作員認為警報是誤報或真報。如果警報指出存在問題，那麼他們要么向監管機構提交報告，要么根據我們提供給他們的腳本採取行動。我們有大量運營商使用該系統。我們的目標不是隨著帳戶數量的增加、交易量的增加以及現金流動的增加而增加更多。這就是目標。現在我們要做的就是不斷改進平台，減少誤報數量，部署一些人工智慧技術。這就是我們過去一年左右一直在做的事情。

Similarly, on customer service, our goal is not to have to grow the employees that work for the customer service department in proportion with the number of new accounts that we add. Now how are we exactly accomplishing that is-- that we are making the service self-service. We are trying to reduce the number of phone calls our customer service department receives, the number of chats, the number of tickets by making it very easy or much easier for our clients to find self-help through the platform that we give them. And here, again, we are using various techniques. Lately, we have dabbled into generative AI, and we are seeing good results. But this is a process that will continue, that we will always be working on.

同樣，在客戶服務方面，我們的目標不是必須按照我們新增的新帳戶數量的比例來增加客戶服務部門的員工人數。現在我們到底如何實現這一目標——我們正在使服務成為自助服務。我們正在努力減少我們的客戶服務部門接到的電話數量、聊天數量、票證數量，讓我們的客戶透過我們提供的平台非常容易或更容易找到自助服務。在這裡，我們再次使用各種技術。最近，我們涉足生成式人工智慧，並看到了良好的結果。但這是一個將持續下去的過程，我們將一直致力於這個過程。

And our next question comes from Kyle Voigt from KBW.

我們的下一個問題來自 KBW 的 Kyle Voigt。

Milan, maybe just a follow-up on that prior question on efficiency. You noted harnessing AI potentially in the customer service side. I guess, any progress here in terms of are you rolling out new generative AI bots? Is that part of the -- and is that really just to help your customer service reps? Or is that directly going to be deployed to end users that are on the platform-- retail users on the platform?

米蘭，也許只是之前關於效率問題的後續。您提到了在客戶服務方面可能利用人工智慧。我想，你們在推出新的生成人工智慧機器人方面有什麼進展嗎？這是——這真的只是為了幫助您的客戶服務代表嗎？或是直接部署到平台上的最終用戶——平台上的零售用戶？

And then on the revenue side, as it pertains to AI, is that being utilized by any of your clients at all in trading or deploying trading strategies? I'm just wondering if you think there could be a real revenue opportunity here as well.

然後在收入方面，因為它與人工智慧有關，您的任何客戶是否在交易或部署交易策略時使用了它？我只是想知道您是否認為這裡也可能有真正的收入機會。

The first question was about who uses the AI capabilities that we have developed for customer service-- it is both our customer service representatives as well as our clients. When they ask the question through our platform, we map the question that is in natural language into the most suitable set of documents that have the ability to answer that question. And then we apply some generative AI algorithms to the set of documents that we find, and we return an answer to the client. And something similar happens inside when the customer service representatives of Interactive Brokers use the system.

第一個問題是誰使用我們為客戶服務開發的人工智慧功能——既是我們的客戶服務代表，也是我們的客戶。當他們透過我們的平台提出問題時，我們會將自然語言的問題映射到能夠回答該問題的最合適的文檔集中。然後我們將一些生成式人工智慧演算法應用於我們找到的一組文檔，並向客戶返回答案。當盈透證券的客戶服務代表使用該系統時，內部也會發生類似的情況。

Now as far as the trading using the AI, we do not yet have anything available for our clients in terms of the platform utilizing the AI. But we have discussions in-house, and we have some, I believe, good ideas that we're going to be working on going forward.

現在就使用人工智慧進行交易而言，我們還沒有任何可用的人工智慧平台。但我們進行了內部討論，我相信我們有一些很好的想法，我們將繼續努力前進。

Understood. And then just -- just a follow-up on the expenses as well. You noted the headcount has slowed partially due to what you kind of just laid out. It's only up 2% or 3% year-on-year. It sounds like you're going to try to hold that roughly flattish or at least at a slower level looking forward. But when we think about compensation, it looks like that's up 10% in the first quarter. I think fixed expenses were up roughly 17% year-on-year. So I guess, given some of the new initiatives like this high-touch prime brokerage offering, should we expect this divergence in kind of fixed expense growth versus the headcount growth to persist at least over the next few quarters?

明白了。然後只是——只是費用的後續行動。您指出，由於您剛剛制定的計劃，員工人數已經放緩。年比僅成長2%或3%。聽起來你會嘗試保持大致平坦或至少在展望未來時保持較慢的水平。但當我們考慮薪資時，第一季似乎成長了 10%。我認為固定費用年增約 17%。因此，我想，考慮到一些新舉措，例如這種高接觸性的主要經紀業務，我們是否應該預期固定費用增長與員工人數增長的這種差異至少在未來幾個季度會持續存在？

So the headcount growth is easier to keep in check. In terms of compensation, we have to deal with a couple of different factors. One of them is inflation. Their lives are getting more expensive, and we have to pay our employees more. And also the talent, the really good talent is getting more expensive. There are lots of tech and financial companies out there fighting for good talent, and we need to make sure that we keep the employees with Interactive Brokers, and we are able to attract the new ones. And the recent historical trend has been such that the prices of the human resources have been going up.

因此，員工人數的成長更容易受到控制。在薪酬方面，我們必須處理幾個不同的因素。其中之一是通貨膨脹。他們的生活越來越貴，我們必須給員工更高的薪水。還有人才，真正優秀的人才越來越貴。有許多科技和金融公司都在爭取優秀人才，我們需要確保留住盈透證券的員工，並且能夠吸引新員工。最近的歷史趨勢是人力資源的價格不斷上漲。

(Operator Instructions) And our next question comes from Macrae Sykes from GAMCO.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自 GAMCO 的 Macrae Sykes。

I just -- it goes without saying, I think Rich Repetto was a great addition to the Board. I've long admired his work in the industry.

我只是——不言而喻，我認為里奇·雷佩托 (Rich Repetto) 是董事會的重要補充。我長期以來一直欽佩他在該行業的工作。

My question is around the impact of 0-day options on the marketplace. I can understand they're really good for liquidity and choice. But is there a potential to kind of burn out investors, given the obvious churn?

我的問題是關於 0day 選擇權對市場的影響。我可以理解它們對於流動性和選擇確實有好處。但考慮到明顯的流失情況，是否有可能讓投資人精疲力盡？

Well, every great tool can be misused and requires some amount of responsibility, if you will. The same can be said about 1-day options. Now what Thomas usually says, when facing a question about 0-day options, is that we have always had them. When you think back when only the monthly options were tradable on the expiration date, those options were 0-day options. Then the exchanges started listing weekly options, and then we had this event of an option becoming a 0-day option more frequently. And now we have them every day. So it is not something that came out of nowhere. It's just -- there is a lot more of it available now.

好吧，如果你願意的話，每一個偉大的工具都可能被濫用，並且需要一定的責任。一日期權也是如此。現在，當面對有關 0day 選擇權的問題時，托馬斯通常會說，我們一直都有它們。回想一下，當時只有月度選擇權在到期日可以交易，這些選擇權就是 0 天選擇權。然後交易所開始每週列出期權，然後我們就更頻繁地看到期權成為 0day 期權的事件。現在我們每天都有它們。所以它並不是憑空出現的。只是——現在有更多可用的東西。

These options -- CBOE has recently issued a document justifying their existence and reiterating their power and their use. And they have referred to the ability to hedge quickly, the ability to get into a position that is sensitive to a market move very quickly. So there is -- it is a good powerful tool. But as I have started my paragraph, my answer, it can be misused.

這些選項——芝加哥期權交易所最近發布了一份文件，證明它們的存在並重申它們的權力和用途。他們也提到了快速對沖的能力，以及快速建立對市場趨勢敏感的部位的能力。所以，它是一個非常強大的工具。但當我開始我的段落、我的回答時，它可能會被濫用。

And on the prime brokerage revenue, understand the balances, trading. Are there any ancillary kind of fee revenues that would go with this high-touch service? Or is it just bundled in terms of using the platform?

並對主經紀商收入、餘額、交易情況進行了解。這種高接觸性服務是否有任何輔助費用收入？或只是與平台的使用捆綁在一起？

This is mostly about convenience, especially when you look at the global outsourced trading desk. We found that some hedge funds would like to take advantage of our ability to provide global products to them. They do not want to be up and trading at their desk 24 hours a day, and they would welcome an opportunity to give us an order during the day -- during the American day, to work an order during Asian hours in Asian markets. That is what we're trying to outsource.

這主要是為了方便，尤其是當您查看全球外包交易台時。我們發現一些對沖基金希望利用我們向他們提供全球產品的能力。他們不想一天 24 小時在辦公桌前交易，他們希望有機會在白天（美國交易日）給我們下訂單，在亞洲市場的亞洲時段處理訂單。這就是我們正在嘗試外包的事情。

So obviously, we're going to charge a little more for that type of trading than the fully electronic self-trading, but it really is about the convenience. It is about attracting larger funds and keeping around the ones that started small but grew big.

顯然，我們會對這種類型的交易收取比完全電子化自助交易更高的費用，但這確實是為了方便。它是為了吸引更大的資金，並保留那些從小規模開始發展壯大的資金。

And our next question comes from Brennan Hawken from UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的布倫南·霍肯。

My questions have been asked.

我的問題已經被問到了。

And our follow-up question comes from Craig Siegenthaler from Bank of America.

我們的後續問題來自美國銀行的克雷格·西根塔勒。

So Kyle asked a similar question, but let me ask it in a different way. On AI, do you think artificial intelligence could be a driver of the next leg of volume growth and potentially be a commission accelerator? And I'm curious how your clients are using AI to trade automatically today.

所以凱爾問了類似的問題，但讓我以不同的方式問。在人工智慧方面，您認為人工智慧可能成為下一階段銷售成長的驅動力，並有可能成為佣金加速器嗎？我很好奇您的客戶今天如何使用人工智慧進行自動交易。

Can it act as an accelerator? It absolutely can in the long run. Today, for a typical investor, it takes a while to decide what kind of a trade they want to do. There is usually some research involved, either fundamental or some technical analysis. Imagine in the future, you will have an AI engine available to you that is going to be able to quickly answer your questions, quickly do analysis for you, even recommend opportunities that you normally don't look at. So I believe that is going to accelerate the trading in the future.

可以起到加速器的作用嗎？長遠來看絕對可以。如今，對於一個典型的投資者來說，需要一段時間才能決定他們想要進行什麼樣的交易。通常涉及一些研究，要么是基本面分析，要么是一些技術分析。想像一下，在未來，你將擁有一個可用的人工智慧引擎，它能夠快速回答你的問題，快速為你進行分析，甚至推薦你通常不會看的機會。所以我相信這將加速未來的交易。

And as to your other question, how are our traders, our trading clients using the AI today? Maybe they have their own tools. But at the moment, we are not offering any AI-based trading tools to them. But in the future, we're planning to.

至於你的另一個問題，我們的交易者、我們的交易客戶今天如何使用人工智慧？也許他們有自己的工具。但目前，我們還沒有向他們提供任何基於人工智慧的交易工具。但在未來，我們計劃這樣做。

Great. And I actually just have one more follow-up on 0DTE SPX. This became a really big product last year. I'm just wondering if you can talk about which of your client segments you're seeing the highest penetration rate of 0DTE?

偉大的。事實上，我還有另一篇關於 0DTE SPX 的後續文章。去年這成為了一個非常大的產品。我只是想知道您能否談談您認為 0DTE 滲透率最高的客戶群是哪些？

I have to tell you the truth, we do not look at it from the point of view of which client segment trades them the most for a very simple reason. It does not make a lot of difference to us. We charge our public transparent commission to all segments the same way. So for that reason, we are not really focusing on that.

我必須告訴你真相，出於非常簡單的原因，我們不會從哪個客戶群交易最多的角度來看這個問題。這對我們來說沒有多大區別。我們以同樣的方式向所有部門收取公開透明的佣金。因此，出於這個原因，我們並沒有真正關注這一點。

But I would tell you that just from reading newspapers out there, the 0-dated options, they became a phenomenon that is participated on by the retail clients. So I would say it's both the professionals and the retail.

但我想告訴你，光是閱讀報紙，零日期選擇權就成為零售客戶參與的現象。所以我想說，這既是專業人士的事，也是零售業的事。

And a follow-up is Kyle Voigt from KBW.

後續行動是來自 KBW 的 Kyle Voigt。

Just a modeling follow-up for Paul. When we look on an adjusted basis, the other income line of $31 million came in higher than expected. Was that increase, in that line specifically, mostly driven by better market-making activity?

只是保羅的模特兒後續。當我們考慮調整後的基礎上時，其他收入線 3,100 萬美元高於預期。具體而言，這一成長主要是由更好的做市活動所推動的嗎？

And then in the footnotes, I also believe you disclosed there was roughly $9 million of interest-like income that flowed through that line specifically. That is included in your NII walk, but it ends up in an other income bucket on the income statement. Is that just interest income on capital that's deployed for the market-making business? Or is that being generated by something else?

然後在腳註中，我還相信您披露了大約 900 萬美元的利息收入專門通過該線流動。這包含在您的 NII 步行中，但最終會出現在損益表上的其他收入桶中。這只是用於做市業務的資本利息收入嗎？還是由其他東西產生的？

Right. So the second question first. Yes, it's a shift. Sometimes we invest our house capital in instruments that don't generate interest from a GAAP accounting standpoint, and they end up being reported in other income. So yes, to that point.

正確的。所以先說第二個問題。是的，這是一個轉變。有時，我們將自有資本投資於從公認會計準則會計角度來看不會產生利息的工具，而它們最終會在其他收入中報告。所以是的，就這一點而言。

And also yes to trading activities produced a better result this year than certainly in last year's quarter and somewhat better than in the fourth quarter as well. So we're not unhappy with our very small remaining market-making operations.

而且，今年的交易活動產生的結果肯定比去年季度好，也比第四季好一些。因此，我們對剩下的非常小的做市業務並沒有不滿意。

And is that operation mostly focused in the U.S. or internationally? Can you just remind us what that has kind of exposure to for modeling?

該業務主要集中在美國還是國際範圍內？可以提醒我們一下模特兒接觸到的是什麼嗎？

Yes. We operate [outside the U.S.] (corrected by company after the call)

是的。我們在[美國境外]營運（電話後由公司更正）

And I am showing no further questions. I would now like to turn the call back over to Nancy Stuebe for closing remarks.

我沒有提出任何進一步的問題。現在，我想將電話轉回給南希·斯圖貝 (Nancy Stuebe)，讓其致閉幕詞。

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.

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，明天我們也會在網站上發布乾淨版本的文字記錄。

Thank you, again, and we will talk to you next quarter-end.

再次感謝您，我們將在下個季度末與您交談。

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

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。

And thank you.

謝謝你。