SEI Investments Co (SEIC) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the Q4 2024 SEI earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

大家好，歡迎參加 2024 年第四季 SEI 收益電話會議。（操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄音。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker, Mr. Brad Burke, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在，我想將會議交給發言人、投資者關係主管布拉德·伯克先生。請繼續。

Thank you, and welcome, everyone. We appreciate you joining us today for our fourth quarter 2024 earnings call. On the call, we have Ryan Hickey, SEI's Chief Executive Officer; Sean Denham, Chief Financial Officer; and members of our executive management team, Jay Cipriano, Sandy Ewing, Paul Klauder, Michael Lane, Phil McCabe, Mike Peterson, Sneha Shah, and Sanjay Sharma.

謝謝大家，歡迎大家。感謝您今天參加我們的 2024 年第四季財報電話會議。參加電話會議的有 SEI 的執行長 Ryan Hickey； Sean Denham，財務長；以及我們的執行管理團隊成員 Jay Cipriano、Sandy Ewing、Paul Klauder、Michael Lane、Phil McCabe、Mike Peterson、Sneha Shah 和 Sanjay Sharma。

Before we begin, I would like to point out that our earnings press release and the presentation that will accompany today's call can be found under the Investor Relations section of our website at seic.com. This call is being webcast live, and a replay will be available on the Events and Webcast page of our website.

在我們開始之前，我想指出的是，我們的收益新聞稿和今天電話會議的簡報可以在我們網站 seic.com 的投資者關係部分找到。本次電話會議將進行網路直播，重播將在我們網站的活動和網路直播頁面上提供。

We would like to remind you that during today's presentation and in our responses to your questions, we have and will make certain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. Please refer to our notices regarding forward-looking statements that appear in today's presentation slides and in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We do not undertake to update any of our forward-looking statements.

我們想提醒您，在今天的演示中以及在回答您的問題時，我們已經並將繼續做出某些前瞻性陳述，這些陳述受風險和不確定性的影響，可能會導致實際結果大不相同。請參閱我們今天的簡報幻燈片和我們提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件中關於前瞻性陳述的通知。我們不承諾更新任何前瞻性陳述。

With that, please turn to slide 3 as I turn the call to our CEO, Ryan Hicke. Ryan?

說完這些，請翻到投影片 3，我將把電話轉給我們的執行長 Ryan Hicke。瑞安？

Thank you, Brad, and good afternoon, everyone. I know you've heard me use this quote before, but it's worth repeating. Anything that happens once may never happen again, but anything that happens twice can surely happen a third time. Sales events for Q4 2024 were $38 million, with $28 million net recurring. We also posted $1.19 of EPS for the quarter.

謝謝你，布拉德，大家下午好。我知道您以前聽過我引用這句話，但值得重複一遍。發生一次的事情可能不會再發生，但發生兩次的事情肯定會發生第三次。2024 年第四季的銷售活動金額為 3,800 萬美元，其中淨經常性銷售額為 2,800 萬美元。我們也公佈了本季的每股收益 1.19 美元。

This is the second consecutive quarter where SEI has realized significant growth in net sales events. We have made meaningful and consistent progress over the last 18 months, and we are surgically focused on maintaining and growing this momentum.

這是SEI連續第二季實現淨銷售活動大幅成長。在過去的 18 個月裡，我們取得了有意義且持續的進展，我們專注於維持和發展這一勢頭。

For the full year, net sales events reached nearly $130 million, with nearly $100 million recurring. SEI net events for 2024 were nearly 60% higher than what we achieved in 2023 and almost double what we did in 2022. Most importantly, similar to last quarter, there isn't a single client or win driving these results, and we have not changed our pricing or value propositions. The sales are broad-based across the organization coming from existing and new clients, both in the US and globally.

全年淨銷售額達近 1.3 億美元，其中經常性銷售額近 1 億美元。2024 年的 SEI 淨事件比我們 2023 年實現的淨事件高出近 60%，幾乎是 2022 年的兩倍。最重要的是，與上一季類似，沒有一個客戶或勝利推動這些結果，我們也沒有改變我們的定價或價值主張。銷售範圍廣泛，來自美國和全球的現有客戶和新客戶。

And while the third quarter benefited from some delays in the first half of the year, the fourth quarter did not benefit from delays or a pull forward from 2025.

儘管第三季受益於上半年的一些延遲，但第四季並未受益於延遲或從 2025 年提前。

SEI has real momentum and increased confidence across the entire workforce. Our 5,000 employees have embraced a true enterprise-first mindset, putting in the time and energy to ignite our momentum. Because of their efforts and our strong financial performance during the year, we determined with the Board's unanimous approval that a one-time increase to our 2024 incentive compensation was appropriate.

SEI 擁有真正的發展勢頭，整個勞動力隊伍的信心不斷增強。我們的 5,000 名員工真正秉持了企業優先的思維方式，投入了時間和精力來激發我們的發展動力。由於他們的努力以及我們今年強勁的財務表現，我們在董事會的一致批准下決定一次性增加 2024 年的激勵薪酬是合適的。

We're confident that this is a decision that is in our company's best interest. Maybe not the optimal decision of only trying to maximize earnings per share in a single quarter, but we were still able to post impressive earnings growth in the fourth quarter while rewarding our employees.

我們確信這個決定符合我們公司的最佳利益。僅僅試圖在一個季度內實現每股收益最大化可能不是最佳決策，但我們仍然能夠在第四季度實現令人矚目的收益成長，同時獎勵我們的員工。

EPS reached $4.41 for the full year, growing 27% versus 2023. Last quarter, we called out a handful of one-time items that benefited us. This quarter, we saw the opposite, with an approximate $0.02 headwind from incentive compensation and some other items affecting comparability that Sean will talk through in greater detail.

全年每股收益達 4.41 美元，較 2023 年成長 27%。上個季度，我們列出了一些對我們有利的一次性項目。本季度，我們看到的情況正好相反，激勵薪酬和一些影響可比性的其他項目帶來了約 0.02 美元的阻力，Sean 將對此進行更詳細的討論。

Absent these items, our EPS would have achieved solid growth against both the prior year and prior quarter. Again, the growth drivers are broad-based and every single business unit realized revenue growth, operating profit growth and margin growth relative to the fourth quarter of last year.

如果沒有這些項目，我們的每股盈餘將比去年同期和上一季穩健成長。再次，成長動力基礎廣泛，每個業務部門都實現了收入成長、營業利潤成長和利潤率成長（與去年第四季相比）。

However, we also continue to see some challenges in the quarter. Our institutional business saw asset outflows due to some expected planned terminations, and LSV also experienced net outflows due to the structural pressures facing almost every single active asset manager. The core of our business remains very strong, and we've been able to mostly offset these challenges and continue to post strong net sales and earnings growth, but we still have a lot of work to do.

然而，我們在本季也繼續看到一些挑戰。由於一些預期的計劃終止，我們的機構業務出現了資產流出，而由於幾乎每位主動資產管理者都面臨著結構性壓力，LSV 也出現了淨流出。我們的業務核心仍然非常強勁，我們已經能夠基本抵消這些挑戰，並繼續實現強勁的淨銷售額和盈利增長，但我們仍有許多工作要做。

In total, our $1.6 trillion in assets under management and assets under administration are nearly flat with the prior quarter despite a modest headwind from capital markets. We're continuing to see strong demand for alternative investment products, particularly in the investment managers business and our intermediary businesses.

總體而言，儘管資本市場面臨一定阻力，但我們管理的資產和管理的資產總額仍達到 1.6 兆美元，與上一季基本持平。我們繼續看到對另類投資產品的強勁需求，特別是在投資經理業務和中介業務中。

Strategically, we look to 2025 to really drive continued change across our operating model and aligning our capabilities more effectively with how clients and prospects want to engage and consume our services. We are relentlessly focused on allocating capital where we see the strongest growth opportunities. And we have been very deliberate and consistent in where we have been investing, including expanding our global footprint of our investment managers business, and focusing resources on regional and community banks in our private banking segment. We are seeing those investments pay off.

從策略上講，我們期待 2025 年真正推動我們整個營運模式的持續變革，並更有效地使我們的能力與客戶和潛在客戶希望參與和使用我們服務的方式保持一致。我們始終專注於將資本配置在我們認為最強勁的成長機會上。我們在投資領域一直非常謹慎和一致，包括擴大我們投資管理業務的全球影響力，並將資源集中在私人銀行部門的地區和社區銀行。我們看到這些投資獲得了回報。

We are going to continue to invest in our infrastructure, our scale, client experience, our people, and our global regulatory and compliance capabilities. Outside of the US, our regulated subsidiaries are subject to a high level of supervisory engagement. In particular, our UK subsidiary continues to engage with our UK regulator in the process we disclosed in our Q3 10-Q to implement measures to meet the regulators' expectations for a firm of our size and complexity that will enable us to continue driving the growth of our UK business effectively.

我們將繼續投資於我們的基礎設施、我們的規模、客戶體驗、我們的員工以及我們的全球監管和合規能力。在美國以外，我們受監管的子公司受到嚴格監管。特別是，我們的英國子公司繼續與英國監管機構合作，按照我們在第三季 10-Q 中揭露的流程實施措施，滿足監管機構對我們這種規模和複雜程度的公司的期望，使我們能夠繼續有效地推動英國業務的成長。

The momentum you've seen in the last few quarters is not just a hot hand. We see real underlying improvement in our business, in our sales, and in the discussions we're having with our clients. As we look at our pipelines and strategic growth initiatives, we are focused on continuing these trends.

你在過去幾個季度中看到的勢頭不僅僅是熱手。我們看到我們的業務、銷售以及與客戶的討論都出現了真正的潛在改善。當我們審視我們的產品線和策略性成長計畫時，我們專注於延續這些趨勢。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Sean.

說完這些，我會把電話轉給肖恩。

Thank you, Ryan. Please turn to slide 4. Our EPS of $1.19 in the quarter represents a 31% increase from the prior year with a positive contribution from all of SEI's business units. The fundamental earnings of the business also improved on a sequential basis. We did have some items in the quarter that affect the comparison.

謝謝你，瑞安。請翻到幻燈片 4。本季我們的每股收益為 1.19 美元，較上年增長 31%，這得益於 SEI 所有業務部門的積極貢獻。該業務的基本盈利也比上一季有所改善。本季確實有一些項目影響了比較。

The first is a $0.04 impact from the increased incentive compensation that Ryan noted earlier. In recognition of our employees enabling the record results achieved in the year.

第一個是 Ryan 之前提到的增加激勵薪酬所帶來的 0.04 美元的影響。表彰我們的員工在這一年中取得的創紀錄的業績。

We also saw a $0.05 impact from the timing around stock compensation plans. Our option plans vest contingent upon achieving certain EPS thresholds. As a result of the strong EPS growth achieved during the year, we recognized an increased level of stock expense in the quarter. These were offset by a $0.02 benefit from foreign exchange gains and a $0.05 benefit from a lower tax rate from options exercised during the quarter as well as our year-end provision estimates. Absent these items, SEI would have achieved EPS growth on both an annual and sequential basis.

我們也看到股票薪酬計劃的時間表產生了 0.05 美元的影響。我們的選擇權計畫的歸屬取決於是否達到一定的每股盈餘門檻。由於年內實現了強勁的每股盈餘成長，我們確認本季的股票費用有所增加。這些收益被本季行使的選擇權帶來的 0.02 美元外匯收益和 0.05 美元較低稅率收益以及我們的年終撥備估計所抵銷。如果沒有這些項目，SEI 的年度和連續每股收益都會實現成長。

Turning to our business unit financial performance on slide 5. Each of our business units realized both revenue and operating profit growth over the prior year. Growth in our private banking and investment managers businesses has been supported by the strong sales events we have achieved during the year.

第 5 頁是關於我們業務部門的財務表現。我們各業務部門的收入和營業利潤都比上年增長。我們今年的強勁銷售活動推動了私人銀行和投資經理業務的成長。

In addition to the new client wins, growth has been driven by improved client retention, especially in our private banking business and growth within our existing client base, most notably in investment managers.

除了贏得新客戶之外，客戶保留率的提高也推動了成長，尤其是我們的私人銀行業務，以及現有客戶群的成長，最明顯的是投資經理的成長。

Results in our investment advisors business was supported by a full-quarter benefit from our integrated cash program, which contributed just over $20 million to the fourth quarter, a more than $10 million increase over the third quarter. We do expect to benefit from our cash program to moderate during 2025 as clients continue to explore alternative cash options we make available and the short-term interest rates are expected to decrease.

我們的投資顧問業務的業績受到我們綜合現金計劃全季度收益的支持，該計劃為第四季度貢獻了 2000 多萬美元，比第三季度增加了 1000 多萬美元。我們確實預計，2025 年我們的現金計劃將有所受益，因為客戶將繼續探索我們提供的替代現金選擇，短期利率預計將下降。

Additionally, I would highlight that our institutional team has made enormous efforts to offset structural headwinds from our corporate DB plan terminations. This is having a measurable impact. The 1% year-over-year revenue growth in the fourth quarter represents a marked improvement from the first half of 2024, where revenue declined by more than 4% against the first half of 2023.

此外，我想強調的是，我們的機構團隊已經做出了巨大的努力來抵消企業 DB 計劃終止帶來的結構性阻力。此舉正在產生顯著的影響。第四季營收年增 1%，較 2024 年上半年有明顯改善，而 2024 年上半年的營收較 2023 年上半年下降了 4% 以上。

Slide 6 illustrates the changes in our operating margins for our business units and the progression of our operating margin for the entire company. We are pleased with our margin performance in Q4 compared to both the prior year and the prior quarter. The items I noted earlier had a combined 210-basis-point negative impact to consolidated margins in the quarter.

投影片 6 展示了我們各業務部門的營業利潤率的變化以及整個公司的營業利潤率的進展。與去年同期和上一季相比，我們對第四季的利潤率表現感到滿意。我之前提到的這些項目對本季的綜合利潤率總共產生了 210 個基點的負面影響。

Across business units, the impact was nearly 3% for private banking, 1.5% for investment managers, 1% for investment advisers, and 2% for institutional investors. Excluding these items, our consolidated operating margins improved relative to the prior year and the prior quarter, reflecting SEI's continued cost discipline and cost leverage against healthy revenue growth.

縱觀各個業務部門，私人銀行業務受到的影響接近 3%，投資經理受到的影響為 1.5%，投資顧問受到的影響為 1%，機構投資者受到的影響為 2%。除這些項目外，我們的綜合營業利潤率較上年和上一季度有所提高，反映了 SEI 持續的成本約束和成本槓桿作用，以實現健康的收入成長。

I want to specifically discuss private banking, where we had seen the most dramatic benefit from improving margins as of late. Recall that our third-quarter private banking margins were benefited by approximately 1.5% due to some onetime items. Combined with nearly 300-basis-point impact from incentive comp -- incentive and stock compensation in the fourth quarter, we continue to see steady profitability improvement in this business unit.

我想特別討論一下私人銀行業務，最近我們看到私人銀行業務利潤率的提高為其帶來了最顯著的效益。回想一下，由於一些一次性項目，我們第三季的私人銀行利潤率上漲了約 1.5%。加上第四季度激勵性薪酬（激勵和股票薪酬）帶來的近 300 個基點的影響，我們繼續看到該業務部門的盈利能力穩步改善。

Turning to slide 7. SEI had another outstanding quarter for sales events, which totaled $38 million. While lower than last year -- last quarter's record result, I'd remind you of the comments we made during our last earnings call. We did benefit in the third quarter with sales events that were delayed in the first half of the year. The third quarter benefited from approximately $7 million of sales events that were delayed.

翻到第 7 張投影片。SEI 又一個季度的銷售活動表現優異，總額達 3,800 萬美元。雖然低於去年（上個季度的創紀錄業績），但我還是想提醒大家我們在上次財報電話會議上所發表的評論。由於上半年推遲的銷售活動，我們確實在第三季受益。第三季受惠於約 700 萬美元的延遲銷售活動。

The fourth quarter received no such benefit, making the sales event outcome all the more impressive.

第四季並未獲得這樣的好處，因此銷售活動的結果更加令人印象深刻。

Net events in the quarter were led by our Private Banking and Investment Managers businesses. Within Private Banking, regional and community banks were a notable contributor to fourth quarter sales events. Our shift towards an enterprise mindset is also demonstrating results.

本季的淨事件由我們的私人銀行和投資經理業務主導。在私人銀行業務中，地區銀行和社區銀行對第四季度的銷售活動做出了顯著貢獻。我們向企業思維的轉變也正在取得成果。

Our strategic partnership with Close Brothers, which we announced in November, is an excellent example of a true enterprise-wide partnership where we are providing our SWP platform, professional services, and IT managed services. This win was highly contested in SEI's ability to offer the full capabilities of our firm provided to be the differentiating factor in our success.

我們在 11 月宣布與 Close Brothers 建立策略合作夥伴關係，這是真正的企業範圍合作夥伴關係的絕佳範例，我們將為企業提供 SWP 平台、專業服務和 IT 託管服務。這場勝利之所以備受爭議，是因為SEI 有能力提供我們公司的全部能力，而這也是我們成功的關鍵因素。

Our investment managers sales events came from a balanced mix of traditional, alternatives, and global clients. The solutions and operating model are really resonating with our clients, and we're seeing significant traction especially with our global and private credit offerings. We continue to observe a convergence between private and public markets. SEI is one of the few administrators that can effectively service both globally.

我們的投資經理的銷售活動來自傳統、另類和全球客戶的均衡組合。這些解決方案和營運模式確實引起了客戶的共鳴，我們看到了顯著的吸引力，尤其是在我們的全球和私人信貸產品方面。我們持續觀察私人市場和公開市場之間的整合。SEI 是少數能夠在全球範圍內有效提供服務的管理者之一。

We also continue to invest in our operational footprint with the enhancements we made to our global offering and leadership team in Luxembourg. We expect our competitive differentiation to continue to increase going forward. Our strong fourth-quarter results were only partially offset by losses in our institutional business, driven by planned terminations Ryan noted earlier.

我們也將繼續投資於我們的營運足跡，增強我們的全球服務和盧森堡的領導團隊。我們預計未來我們的競爭差異化將繼續增強。我們強勁的第四季度業績僅被機構業務的損失部分抵消，而機構業務的損失是由於 Ryan 先前指出的計劃終止而導致的。

I want to highlight that we are -- while our accelerating sales events in the second half of the year are an outstanding outcome for our business. They may slightly pressure margins in the near term. As we win new business, we must augment our teams and the associated costs ahead of onboarding a client on time and on budget. As a result, the expense hits the income statement before revenue.

我想強調的是，我們下半年加速的銷售活動對我們的業務來說是一個非常突出的成果。短期內它們可能會對利潤率造成輕微壓力。當我們贏得新業務時，我們必須擴充我們的團隊並增加相關成本，以便按時按預算接納客戶。因此，費用在收入之前就計入了損益表。

Turning to slide 8. We had healthy growth in assets during 2024 for both AUM and AUA. In the fourth quarter, investment managers continue to realize growth in assets driven by the strength of our alternatives business as managers deploy capital.

翻到幻燈片 8。2024年，我們的 AUM 和 AUA 資產均實現了健康成長。第四季度，隨著投資經理人部署資本，受另類投資業務強勁推動，投資經理繼續實現資產成長。

Beyond investment managers, assets declined in the fourth quarter due to a combination of market valuation and net outflows. The decline in our AUM for advisers was mostly offset by growth in platform assets. Our Advisers business has been able to retain strategic oversight of client portfolios where we continue to earn an overlay fee, even if those clients migrate to third-party passive funds and ETFs.

除投資經理外，由於市場估值和淨流出雙重影響，第四季度資產下降。我們的顧問資產管理規模的下降大部分被平台資產的成長所抵銷。我們的顧問業務能夠保留對客戶投資組合的策略監督，即使這些客戶轉向第三方被動基金和 ETF，我們仍能繼續賺取覆蓋費用。

Within institutional, we had a couple of large plan terminations, which more than offset nice wins against robust competition in the quarter. While we continue to view planned terminations as a structural headwind, the impact to the fourth quarter was larger than normal due to the timing of planned terminations combined with lower market valuations.

在機構內部，我們終止了幾項大型計劃，但這遠遠抵消了我們在本季度激烈的競爭中所取得的良好勝利。儘管我們仍將計劃終止視為結構性不利因素，但由於計劃終止的時間表加上較低的市場估值，對第四季度的影響比正常情況要大。

Our LSV investment also experienced net outflows and, to a lesser extent, market depreciation from a decline in Global Value indices in the fourth quarter. It's important to remember that LSV is an actively managed global value-oriented asset manager. Client outflows have been entirely due to changing asset allocations or active to passive transitions. We have not seen LSV losing business to other active value managers.

我們的 LSV 投資也經歷了淨流出，並且由於第四季度全球價值指數的下跌，市場貶值（但程度較小）。重要的是要記住，LSV 是一家積極管理的全球價值導向資產管理公司。客戶資金流出完全是由於資產配置的變化，或主動轉向被動的轉變。我們尚未看到 LSV 的業務被其他主動價值管理者搶走。

While long-term performance from LSV remains strong on both a three-year and five-year basis, we would expect performance fees to moderate from 2024 levels which totaled $21 million for SEI share.

雖然 LSV 的長期業績在三年和五年期內都保持強勁，但我們預計績效費用將從 2024 年的水準（SEI 股份總計 2,100 萬美元）下降。

Before concluding, I want to touch on capital allocation on slide 9. During the fourth quarter, SEI repurchased $259 million in stock and increased our semiannual dividend by $0.03, representing a 6.5% increase. Stock repurchases in Q4, the highest amount of repurchase in SEI's history, were supported by strong free cash flow in the back half of the year.

在結束之前，我想談談第 9 張投影片上的資本配置。第四季度，SEI 回購了價值 2.59 億美元的股票，並將半年股息增加 0.03 美元，增幅為 6.5%。第四季的股票回購是 SEI 史上最高的回購額，這得益於下半年強勁的自由現金流。

Total capital returns to shareholders through either share repurchases or dividends totaled $620 million for the full year, representing nearly 6% of our year-end market cap.

全年透過股票回購或股利向股東提供的總資本回報總計 6.2 億美元，占我們年末市值的近 6%。

We also announced the acquisition of Whitefield in December for approximately $29 million in cash plus a contingent earn-out. Whitefield will be reported in our Investment Advisers segment, and we expect it to resonate across business units. The integration of Whitefield's Tax-Smart technology with our investment, technology and evolving multicustody capabilities will deliver the industry's first fully bundled unaged solution.

我們也於 12 月宣布以約 2,900 萬美元現金外加一筆或有收益收購 Whitefield。懷特菲爾德將在我們的投資顧問部門中進行報道，我們預計它將引起各個業務部門的共鳴。Whitefield 的 Tax-Smart 技術與我們的投資、技術和不斷發展的多重託管能力相結合，將提供業界第一個完全捆綁的無期限解決方案。

Notwithstanding our significant capital deployment during the year, SEI ended the fourth quarter with a pristine balance sheet, no long-term debt and a significant liquidity in the form of $840 million cash balance and $325 million undrawn revolver.

儘管我們在今年進行了大量的資本部署，但 SEI 在第四季度結束時仍擁有完美的資產負債表，沒有長期債務，並且擁有 8.4 億美元現金餘額和 3.25 億美元未提取循環信貸額度等大量流動性。

Before turning the call over for questions, I want to reiterate Ryan's opening comments. We are running this company and showing up in the market differently. We are investing in the areas of our business that are core to the best-in-class products and services we provide our clients. we are driving the next level of momentum that we believe is unleashing long-lasting growth potential.

在開始提問之前，我想重申瑞安的開場白。我們正在經營這家公司，並以不同的方式出現在市場上。我們投資的業務領域對於向客戶提供一流的產品和服務至關重要。我們正在推動新一輪發展勢頭，相信這將釋放出持久的成長潛力。

The shift to an enterprise mindset is powerful, and we're excited for what's ahead in 2025.

企業思維的轉變非常強大，我們對 2025 年的未來充滿期待。

With that, operator, please open the call for questions.

接線員，請打開電話回答問題。

(Operator Instructions) Owen Lau, Oppenheimer.

（操作員指令）Owen Lau，Oppenheimer。

So first of all, thank you for creating the slide. It helps investors understand the story better. So I really appreciate it. For my question, could you please talk about the sales environment? Net sales were strong, $38 million in the fourth quarter. I'm wondering the driver of that growth.

首先感謝您製作這張投影片。它可以幫助投資者更好地理解這個故事。所以我真的很感激。對於我的問題，您能談談銷售環境嗎？淨銷售額強勁，第四季達到 3800 萬美元。我想知道這種成長的動力是什麼。

I know you touched on this a little bit on your prepared remarks, but how much of that comes from pricing existing and new clients? And how do you see the sales outlook in 2025?

我知道您在準備好的演講中稍微談到了這一點，但其中有多少來自於現有客戶和新客戶的定價？您如何看待2025年的銷售前景？

Owen, happy new year, my friend. Thanks for the question. I can let some others provide some color. So I'll try to break it down in a couple of ways. So if you look at the sales events in Q4, we had a really nice mix of new logos and the new names and continued growth from existing clients.

歐文，新年快樂，我的朋友。謝謝你的提問。我可以讓其他人提供一些顏色。因此我將嘗試用幾種方法來分解它。因此，如果您查看第四季度的銷售活動，您會發現我們確實將新標誌和新名稱進行了很好的組合，並且現有客戶的業績持續增長。

But I think even more exciting, as Sean mentioned, it was broad-based across the units, but also broad-based domestically and globally. We saw some nice traction in our non-US markets, especially in IMS and banking. I mean I can't reiterate this any more clearly than I have in the last two calls.

但我認為更令人興奮的是，正如肖恩所提到的那樣，它不僅在各個部門都有廣泛的基礎，而且在國內和全球都有廣泛的基礎。我們在美國以外的市場看到了一些良好的發展勢頭，尤其是在 IMS 和銀行業。我的意思是，我無法比在過去兩次通話中更清楚地重申這一點。

We're not changing our pricing, Owen. We have remained extremely consistent, confident and convicted about the value proposition, but equally said, we're continuing to really lean into two fundamental areas that I think are driving continued sales.

我們不會改變我們的定價，歐文。我們對價值主張始終保持一致、自信和堅定，但同樣地，我們仍將真正傾向於我認為推動持續銷售的兩個基本領域。

One, making sure we are meeting and exceeding client expectations wherever possible, and also one thing we believe is a competitive differentiator for us is when these firms are making these decisions, these are critical strategic decisions for their business growth. And they're relying on us to deliver on time, on budget, and that is a hallmark and a principle that we hold really dear.

一是確保我們盡可能滿足並超越客戶的期望，同時我們認為我們的競爭優勢之一是，當這些公司做出這些決策時，這些決策對於他們的業務成長至關重要。他們依靠我們按時、按預算交付，這是我們真正珍惜的標誌和原則。

And I think the blast radius of that reputation is continuing to expand and firms are looking to engage with us because of the confidence they have not just in our capabilities and our solutions, but they know that we pride ourselves on our delivery and ongoing client service.

我認為這種聲譽的影響範圍正在不斷擴大，各大公司都希望與我們合作，因為他們不僅對我們的能力和解決方案有信心，而且他們知道我們為我們的交付和持續的客戶服務感到自豪。

I would also say the reason I opened the call with the way I open the call, we don't give guidance, as you know, but we feel really, really positive about the level of engagement we have in the market, the breadth of activity we have in the market, our sales pipelines.

我還想說，我以這種方式開啟電話會議的原因是，如你所知，我們不提供指導，但我們對我們在市場上的參與程度、我們在市場上的活動廣度以及我們的銷售管道感到非常非常積極。

And we mentioned in the call last time with Michael Lane joining kind of reignite and reignition, if you will, of our asset management base businesses. So that's a lot for one question. All the unit leaders are in the room, if you want to unpack any of that.

我們在上次電話會議中提到，邁克爾·萊恩 (Michael Lane) 的加入可以重新點燃我們的資產管理基礎業務。對於這個問題來說，已經夠多了。如果您想解答任何問題，所有單位領導都在房間裡。

Aidan Hall, KBW.

艾丹·霍爾（Aidan Hall），KBW。

Great. Maybe just want to start, Sean, on the near-term margin comment about the pressure expected associated with, obviously, strong net sales events. It's a good problem to have. But any way to put a finer point on that, whether at the firm level or segment level, how long before the upfront associated expenses kind of lap the revenue associated with that business coming in? Just trying to think about the margin profile in '25 as it relates to '24?

偉大的。肖恩，也許我只是想從近期利潤率評論開始，該評論預計顯然與強勁的淨銷售事件相關的壓力。這是個好問題。但有沒有辦法更詳細地說明這一點，無論是在公司層面還是在細分市場層面，前期相關費用多久才能超過與該業務相關的收入？只是想思考一下 25 年的利潤率狀況與 24 年有何關係？

Sure. Nice to hear from you, Aidan. Thanks for the question. So we need to make certain investments in costs prior to onboarding those clients. I know you're aware of that.

當然。很高興收到你的來信，艾丹。謝謝你的提問。因此，我們需要在接納這些客戶之前進行一定的成本投資。我知道你已經意識到了這一點。

We are still very, very confident in our margins to continue margin expansion in '25, just like every year, we are not making short-term decisions. We're making investments for the long term. We're not here just to hit certain earnings targets that may be external or for that matter.

我們仍然對我們的利潤率非常有信心，相信在25年利潤率會繼續擴大，就像每年一樣，我們不會做出短期決策。我們正在進行長期投資。我們在這裡不只是為了達到某些外部的或與此相關的獲利目標。

So sales typically, depending on the business. From a sales event in Sanjay's business, we'll take anywhere from 3 months to 18 months or probably closer to 6 months to 18 months to bring that revenue online. With that comes upfront cost that we have to get to onboard those clients, same with Phil's business. Phil's business is more from three months, it can go allay up to 18 months, but maybe think closer to a year. So increasing headcount, making sure we have the right quality in place, the right leverage in place to onboard that client.

因此銷售額通常取決於業務。從 Sanjay 的業務中的銷售活動來看，我們需要 3 個月到 18 個月的時間，或者可能接近 6 個月到 18 個月的時間來實現線上收入。這就需要我們支付前期成本來吸引這些客戶，Phil 的業務也是如此。Phil 的業務期限一般為 3 個月以上，最長可達 18 個月，但或許更接近一年。因此，我們要增加員工數量，確保我們擁有適當的品質和適當的槓桿來吸引客戶。

We don't build massive teams. We try to do more of a little bit more of a just in time if you think about that model.

我們不組建龐大的團隊。如果你考慮這個模型的話，我們會嘗試做更多更及時的事情。

So we bring in expense slightly ahead of when those sales events are coming online and then when we expect the revenue to hit. So we do have certain expenses that we're going to have in 2025 in order to keep up with our infrastructure. So that's how I think I would answer that question.

因此，我們在銷售活動開始前和預計收入達到前會稍微提前計算費用。因此，為了跟上我們的基礎設施，我們在 2025 年確實會產生一定的開支。所以我想我會這樣回答這個問題。

Okay. No, that's helpful. Maybe just one for Michael. I know last earnings call, caught you only a month or two into the job and give some high-level thoughts about the opportunity and the asset management based businesses. Just curious if you had any more tangible takeaways now a quarter further into the seat about how you're thinking about the largest opportunities for these segments?

好的。不，這很有幫助。對麥可來說也許只有一個。我知道上次財報電話會議，你上任才一兩個月，我對機會和基於資產管理的業務有一些高層的看法。我只是好奇，在經歷了四分之一的任期之後，您是否還有更切實的收穫，關於您如何看待這些領域的最大機會？

Absolutely. In the last earnings call, we spoke about how we would be looking for ways to consolidate areas of overlap and free up dollars to invest in new distribution opportunities. We have started that process. We had project teams created to come back with proposals for areas that we have overlap between different business units. We are now in the process of exploring how we're going to repurpose those areas of savings into new markets.

絕對地。在上次財報電話會議上，我們談到如何尋找方法整合重疊領域並釋放資金來投資新的分銷機會。我們已經啟動這一進程。我們特別成立了專案團隊，針對不同業務部門重疊的領域提出建議。我們目前正在探索如何將這些儲蓄領域重新定位到新的市場。

And when you look at the business that we have available to us with the existing product line, and the existing people that we have within the organization. We believe that there are tremendous opportunities for us to use the scale of our banking business, where we have $7 trillion running on our wealth platform and bringing that to the most scaled being the largest, most successful firms out there that we have not actually brought that to, both from a technology custody and an investment perspective. Whether that be in a model allocation or even in some of those relationships, it will be an individual fund opportunity for us.

當您查看我們現有產品線所提供的業務以及我們組織內現有的人員。我們相信，我們有巨大的機會利用我們的銀行業務規模，我們的財富平台上有 7 兆美元的資產，並將其帶給規模最大、最成功的公司，而我們實際上還沒有將這些資產帶給這些公司，無論是從技術託管還是投資的角度來看。無論是在模型分配中，還是在某些關係中，這對我們來說都是一個個人基金機會。

And so we are deep in that process right now of looking at the areas of consolidation, looking at the areas of new investment in new businesses using the areas of consolidation to fund that. And what I've been very impressed to be quite honest with you, is the collaboration across the different business units to bring that all together.

因此，我們目前正深入研究整合領域，研究利用整合領域為新業務提供資金的新投資領域。坦白說，令我印象深刻的是不同業務部門之間通力合作，將所有一切整合在一起。

Jeff Schmitt, William Blair.

傑夫施密特、威廉布萊爾。

So private banks obviously continues to do really well -- do you think you can keep growing that business in the double digits, I guess now that comparisons are going to be a lot tougher? And any details you can give on client retention improvements in that business over the last year or two would be helpful, too.

因此，私人銀行顯然繼續表現良好——您認為私人銀行業務能夠繼續保持兩位數的成長嗎？而且，如果您能提供過去一兩年內該業務在客戶保留率方面的改善情況的詳細信息，也將很有幫助。

Jeff, hope you're doing well. I'll turn that one over to Sanjay. I think the good news is I hope we've answered this question consistently every quarter. So I'll let Sanjay continue unpack what we're doing with banking and why we expect to maintain that momentum.

傑夫，希望你一切都好。我將把這個交給桑傑。我認為好消息是，我希望我們每個季度都能一致地回答這個問題。因此，我將讓桑傑繼續闡述我們在銀行業所做的事情以及為什麼我們預計會保持這種勢頭。

First of all, that's a great question. Thank you, Jeff. If you look at private banking, our strategy has been very consistent over the last eight-plus quarters. We have seen that growth through an existing clients that happens by improving our engagement with the clients. So our clients, they are trusting on us and they are outsourcing that across basis.

首先，這是一個很好的問題。謝謝你，傑夫。如果你看看私人銀行業務，你會發現我們的策略在過去八個多季度一直非常一致。我們透過現有客戶看到了成長，而這種成長是透過改善我們與客戶的互動而實現的。所以我們的客戶信任我們並且他們將其外包給我們。

In that process, we are building good credibility with our client base. And we are seeing consistently we -- our client retention is very high. And that is enabling us to grow through our existing client base. And that's where you are seeing that the new services or new segments expansion initiatives we have launched, for example, services digital onboarding now.

在此過程中，我們正在與客戶群建立良好的信譽。我們始終看到，我們的客戶保留率非常高。這使我們能夠透過現有的客戶群實現成長。這就是您所看到的我們推出的新服務或新領域擴展計劃，例如現在的數位入職服務。

Through those, we are able to grow our footprint with existing client base. So that's a really good growth engine. The second part is you look at then we focused on segment-specific growth initiative. Be it on our global markets, be it on the regional community bank segment and then we started a small bank in a city as well. And there's is a very laser-focused initiative in terms of what solution is needed for those segments.

透過這些，我們能夠在現有客戶群中擴大我們的影響力。這是一個非常好的成長引擎。第二部分是我們專注於特定領域的成長計劃。無論是在全球市場，或是區域社區銀行領域，我們也在一個城市開設了一家小型銀行。並且針對這些領域需要什麼解決方案，有一個非常集中的措施。

And we have invested significantly in terms of, as Ryan called out earlier, that we are absolutely certain about that. We have to make sure we don't provide adverse experience on or impact our clients business as part of their on-boarding process.

正如 Ryan 之前所說，我們已經投入了大量資金，我們對此絕對有信心。我們必須確保在客戶入職過程中不會為客戶帶來不良體驗或影響客戶業務。

So delivery certainty, delivery experience, delivery excellence, those are absolute requirement for us. So that's why you could see that we are going through those segment-specific sales strategies. So those two, I would say, those two go pillars that are really helping us. And as I called out, the reason why invested in Professional Services was so that we can help our clients to focus on growing their business while they can rely on us to manage that oral transformation journey.

因此，交付確定性、交付經驗、交付卓越性，這些對我們來說都是絕對的要求。這就是為什麼你會看到我們正在實施那些針對特定細分市場的銷售策略。所以我想說，這兩個是真正幫助我們的支柱。正如我所說，我們投資專業服務的原因是為了幫助我們的客戶專注於發展他們的業務，同時他們可以依靠我們來管理口腔轉型之旅。

Ryan, Sean, do you want to add anything?

瑞安 (Ryan)、肖恩 (Sean)，你們還有什麼要補充嗎？

Okay. Great. And then a question on capital management and share buybacks. I think were a record in the quarter. Does this signal a shift in your strategy there? Or is there a potential that we may see you look to do more M&A in 2025 if activity kind of picks up there? I mean, obviously, you have a ton of dry powder for that, too.

好的。偉大的。然後是關於資本管理和股票回購的問題。我認為本季創下了紀錄。這是否預示著你們的戰略發生了轉變？或者，如果活動有所回升，我們是否有可能看到您在 2025 年尋求進行更多的併購？我的意思是，顯然你也有大量乾粉可以用於此。

Yes. So I was expecting that question, especially after the buybacks and repurchases in Q4. So I mean, how we're thinking about it, we are just like we have every single quarter -- we're looking at what our cash balances, what available cash is our free cash flow is. And in Q4, we saw a significant increase in Q4, especially early Q4. A lot of these repurchases occurred more in the December time frame.

是的。所以我預料到了這個問題，特別是在第四季的回購和回購之後。所以我的意思是，我們是如何考慮這個問題的，就像我們每季所做的那樣——我們正在查看我們的現金餘額、可用現金和自由現金流是多少。在第四季度，我們看到第四季度，尤其是第四季初的顯著成長。很多回購都發生在 12 月。

I've done an analysis in Q1 on what we think the buyback will be for Q1. And so I don't think we're taking a long-term view of this. We do see a very good return on our capital.

我對第一季的回購情況進行了分析。因此我認為我們並沒有從長遠角度看待這個問題。我們的資本確實獲得了非常好的回報。

When we think about economic value added and return on invested capital, we do believe this is a good use of our capital. And as a result, will we accelerate that? Maybe. But I think we continue to look at what our cash needs, our capital needs are. And it really it's more on a quarter-by-quarter decision.

當我們考慮經濟增加價值和投資資本回報時，我們確實相信這是對我們資本的良好利用。那麼，我們會加速這一進程嗎？或許。但我認為我們會繼續關注我們的現金需求和資本需求。事實上，這更多的是基於逐季度做出的決定。

Ryan Kenny, Morgan Stanley.

摩根士丹利的瑞安肯尼。

So first, just on the incentive comp. I appreciate you breaking it out in terms of the impact by segment. Should we think of that as a one-off? Or if we get strong net sales next year as well? Could that also come with elevated incentive comp in 4Q '25?

首先，只討論激勵補償。我很感激您按照細分市場的影響對其進行了分類。我們是否應該將其視為一次性事件？或者明年我們的淨銷售額也會很強勁？這是否也會伴隨 25 年第四季激勵薪資的提高？

So, Ryan, we're thinking about that currently as a one-off. The shift from going to a vertical strategy to a horizontal strategy is something the entire organization embraced. The great fiscal year that we had as a leadership team, as Ryan mentioned, the Board unanimously approved that. But we are thinking about that really as a one-off. And so we will look at that on a year-by-year basis, but we're not expecting really a shift or a recurrence of that necessarily.

所以，Ryan，我們目前正在考慮將此作為一次性事件。從垂直策略到水平策略的轉變是整個組織所接受的。正如 Ryan 所提到的那樣，我們領導團隊度過了一個偉大的財政年度，董事會一致批准了這一點。但我們確實認為這只是一次性事件。因此，我們將逐年關注這種情況，但我們並不期望這種情況真的會改變或再次發生。

But I would add to that, Ryan. Sean is absolutely right. It's certainly a one-off in respect to expense, but we hope it's not a one-off in terms of the Board and executive management team feeling empowered and compelled to reward the workforce for record sales and record earnings results.

但是我想補充一點，瑞安。肖恩完全正確。從費用方面來說，這當然是一次性的，但我們希望，從董事會和執行管理團隊感到有權力和有義務獎勵員工實現創紀錄的銷售額和盈利結果的角度來看，這不是一次性的。

That's helpful. And then separately on alternative servicing I know it's a growth area for you, and you laid that out in the prepared remarks. How should we think about how big alternative servicing is as a percentage of the IMS segment. If there are any stats you could share in terms of percent of revenues or percent of assets? And what really differentiates your product there?

這很有幫助。然後分別討論替代服務，我知道這是您的一個成長領域，並且您在準備好的評論中闡述了這一點。我們應該如何看待替代服務在 IMS 部分中所佔的百分比。您能分享一些有關收入百分比或資產百分比的統計數據嗎？那麼你們的產品真正與眾不同之處是什麼呢？

Yes, I can take that. So Thanks, Ryan. A couple of things real quick. Normally, the alternatives business, if you include the global component of it is about 70% of our revenue. So that's approximately the number, and I think it's growing based upon industry tailwinds.

是的，我可以接受。所以謝謝你，瑞安。很快有幾件事。通常，如果算上全球部分，替代品業務約占我們收入的 70%。這就是大概的數字，我認為它會根據行業的順風而成長。

We talked in the last call about globalization, retail alternatives, private assets, especially private credit and the convergence of public and private markets. So it's a pretty significant and growing component of that business, but we expect the traditional side to grow as well as they launch alternative products and as alternative clients are going into traditional market for distribution.

我們在上次電話會議中討論了全球化、零售替代品、私人資產，特別是私人信貸以及公共和私人市場的整合。因此，這是該業務中相當重要且不斷增長的組成部分，但我們預計，隨著他們推出替代產品以及替代客戶進入傳統市場進行分銷，傳統業務也會成長。

So hopefully, that answers your question. Anything to add?

希望這能回答你的問題。還有什麼要補充嗎？

I think the only thing to add, Phil, which we called out in the call is that we made investments in 2023 and 2024 to expand our footprint with frontline talent globally, especially in the European markets. And as we have spoken about before, we will continue to invest.

菲爾，我認為唯一需要補充的是，我們在電話會議中提到，我們在 2023 年和 2024 年進行了投資，以擴大我們在全球，尤其是在歐洲市場的一線人才影響力。正如我們之前所說，我們將繼續投資。

And to Jeff's question on the M&A front, there are areas we're always kind of considering and contemplate strategically to expand our footprint to service US and non-US clients that are growing their footprint.

對於傑夫關於併購方面的問題，我們一直在策略性地考慮和思考一些領域，以擴大我們的業務範圍，為正在擴大業務範圍的美國和非美國客戶提供服務。

And I'll add something to that very quickly. So our international team had the best quarter that they've ever had and the best year that they've ever had. So the investments that we made over the last couple of years are bearing fruit. We're getting larger clients over there, which should lead to more future cross-sell. So it's really looking bright over there.

我會很快補充一些內容。因此，我們的國際團隊度過了有史以來最好的一個季度，也度過了有史以來最好的一年。因此，我們過去幾年的投資正在取得成果。我們在那裡獲得了更大的客戶，這將帶來未來更多的交叉銷售。那邊看起來確實很明亮。

And was something we focus on over the last couple of years, and our Lux offering is really strong. I think we're the seventh largest private asset administrator in that space, and we've only been there for two or three years.

這是我們過去幾年關注的重點，我們的 Lux 產品非常強大。我認為我們是該領域第七大私人資產管理公司，而且我們在該領域才成立兩三年。

Owen Lau, Oppenheimer.

歐文劉、奧本海默。

Could you please talk about the progress of your integrated cash program? I think the balance at around $2.4 billion in the fourth quarter, is there any room to expand it further? And again, what is your outlook for this program in 2025?

能談談你們綜合現金計畫的進度嗎？我認為第四季的餘額在24億美元左右，還有進一步擴大的空間嗎？那麼，您對 2025 年該計劃的展望是什麼？

Owen, it's Paul. So we ended the quarter at about $2.4 billion. We exited the quarter just a little shy of $2.4 billion, but a lot of volatility during the quarter because what hits FDIC first are the fees that we pay to advisers, which averaged about $180 million per quarter and any disbursement. So the average balance during the quarter was about $2.18 billion. And we think as we move into 2025 something closer to around 2, maybe 2.1 as a more realistic target on a normalized run rate.

歐文，我是保羅。因此，本季結束時我們的營收約為 24 億美元。本季結束時，我們的利潤略低於 24 億美元，但本季波動很大，因為對 FDIC 造成衝擊最大的是我們支付給顧問的費用，平均每季約為 1.8 億美元，此外還有任何支出。因此本季的平均餘額約為 21.8 億美元。我們認為，隨著進入 2025 年，標準化運行率的目標將更接近 2，甚至 2.1，這是一個更現實的目標。

As we get cash flow into the business, cash flow will matriculate to the FDIC program. But we don't see another kind of conversion that we're going to be doing. We think we have an appropriate level of diversification with other money fund options that advisers have and the right disclosures in place.

當我們將現金流投入業務時，現金流將納入 FDIC 計劃。但我們並沒有看到我們將要進行的另一種類型的轉換。我們認為，透過顧問提供的其他貨幣基金選擇，我們實現了適當的多樣化，並進行了正確的揭露。

So we think from a modeling perspective, somewhere between 2% to 2.1% is probably a fair number to model on a go-forward basis. And we saw the rates did move today. So our net yield is about 380 basis points presently on the program.

因此，我們認為從建模的角度來看，2% 到 2.1% 之間可能是未來建模的合理數字。我們看到今天利率確實有所變動。因此，我們目前的淨收益率約為 380 個基點。

Got it. That's very helpful. And then on institutional investors, could you please talk about the unusually but expect large impact on the terminations? What were the drivers of that? And is it one-off or something that could happen more frequently in the future?

知道了。這非常有幫助。然後關於機構投資者，您能否談談終止合約所造成的不同尋常但預計巨大的影響？造成這種情況的因素是什麼？這是一次性事件嗎？

Owen, this is Jay. Thanks for the question. As we've talked about the headwinds with -- in the defined benefit space. Currently, we talk quite a bit with our clients. And when we're over that 110%, 115% funding rate, some clients make the decision to annuitize.

歐文，這是傑伊。謝謝你的提問。正如我們所討論的在確定福利空間中的不利因素。目前，我們與客戶進行了相當多的交流。當我們的融資率超過 110%、115% 時，有些客戶就會決定年金化。

In this case, we had some clients we were talking to. It's very difficult to predict the timing of our client based on their own individual business needs when they'll make the decision to annuitize, but in this place, clients did decide to annuitize at that time and it hit us in the fourth quarter. We'd expect the headwinds in defined benefit space to persist through 2025.

在這種情況下，我們正在與一些客戶進行交談。根據客戶本身的業務需求，我們很難預測他們何時會做出年金化決定，但在這種情況下，客戶確實在那時決定了年金化，並在第四季度對我們造成了影響。我們預計，固定收益領域的不利因素將持續到 2025 年。

Rates continue to be elevated and based off of recent comments, we don't know when they'll fall. And it's advantageous to the plans in these higher rate environments to hit a higher funding status and explore opportunities to move that liability off their balance sheet.

利率持續上升，而且根據最近的評論，我們不知道利率何時會下降。在這些高利率環境下，計劃獲得更高的融資狀況並探索將負債從資產負債表轉移的機會是有利的。

So it's difficult to predict the timing when a plan will do it. But in this environment, we do expect to continue to hit those headwinds in 2025.

因此很難預測計劃何時能夠實現。但在這種環境下，我們預期 2025 年仍將繼續遭遇這些阻力。

Patrick O'Shaughnessy, Raymond James.

派崔克‧奧肖納西、雷蒙德‧詹姆斯。

Just one question from me. I want to follow up on the discussion around retention within private banks. One of the historical challenges in that segment was big negative events from client cancellations or recontracting events. We haven't seen a lot of those big downside risks or downside events in recent quarters. Have you guys been lucky? Or have you been good?

我只想問一個問題。我想跟進有關私人銀行內部保留的討論。該領域的歷史挑戰之一是客戶取消或重新簽約事件帶來的重大負面事件。最近幾季我們並沒有看到太多這樣的重大下行風險或下行事件。你們有福氣嗎？或者說你過得還好嗎？

Patrick, I'd answer that. So we have not been lucky. I think we have been much more aggressive in ongoing engagement with our client base. Sanjay has not just been personally present, his entire team, I think, is just extremely active in the market. I think we are leveling up at a higher level of organizations and engaging more of the executives and decision makers of those firms.

派崔克，我來回答這個問題。因此我們的運氣並不好。我認為我們在與客戶群的持續合作中一直採取更積極的姿態。我認為，桑傑不僅親自出席，他的整個團隊在市場上也非常活躍。我認為我們正在提升組織的更高層次，並讓更多的公司主管和決策者參與其中。

We are expanding and exposing, I think, a broader set of capabilities from SCI beyond just like our solutions and products, I think they get access more to our people and our culture in that resonates. But I'll let Sanjay provide a little more color, but this is one I would say, definitely not been look. This has been real hard work and something we think is sustainable.

我認為，我們正在擴展和展示 SCI 的更廣泛的功能，而不僅僅是我們的解決方案和產品，我認為他們可以更多地接觸我們的員工和我們的文化。但是我會讓桑傑提供更多的顏色，但我想說的是，這絕對不是人們所看到的顏色。這是一項真正艱苦的工作，但我們認為這是可持續的。

I think you got it all. I'll just add 1 more thing. Sean, you called it out earlier.

我想你已經了解了一切。我只想補充一點。肖恩，你剛才說了。

The major difference we've made now is enterprise mindset. I would think about the print banks. The wealth management, they are consuming many, many services, not just what we are providing in our banking unit. So that's what we expose to our client base. And that really helped us with the retention states.

我們現在最大的改變就是企業思維。我會考慮印刷銀行。在財富管理方面，他們消費著許多服務，而不僅僅是我們銀行部門所提供的服務。這就是我們向客戶群展示的內容。這確實幫助我們提高了保留狀態。

The other thing is when you look at the retention, our engagement and the bet on the operations side, be it on technology side, being on the business side. So they are seeing SEI as a true partner and we are on the table where they are defining their next year strategy. The questions we are exchanging now is, okay, where you want to see your business in the next three to five years' timeframe.

另一件事是當你看保留率、我們的參與度和在營運方面的投入時，無論是在技術方面，還是在業務方面。因此，他們將 SEI 視為真正的合作夥伴，我們正在與他們一起制定明年的策略。我們現在正在交換的問題是，您希望在未來三到五年內看到您的業務發展到什麼程度。

I think about value of these banks, they are going through a and we are helping them to onboard that business very efficiently. So they are truly now experiencing the power of SEI enterprise, and that has been a major game changer.

我考慮這些銀行的價值，他們正在經歷一場變革，我們正在幫助他們非常有效地開展這項業務。因此，他們現在真正體驗到了 SEI 企業的強大力量，這是一個重大的遊戲規則改變者。

Another thing, which again, I'm going to call out is the professional services. SEI professional services are really helping our existing client base because they are reaching out to other third-party consulting companies and they're teaching them their business. They're teaching them our platforms and our capabilities to deliver those services.

我要再次強調的另一件事是專業服務。SEI 專業服務確實幫助了我們現有的客戶群，因為他們正在聯繫其他第三方諮詢公司並教導他們業務。他們正在向他們傳授我們的平台和提供這些服務的能力。

That's what was happening in prior time. But now they are relying more and more on SEI to deliver those services. And that is really helping us to grow our footprint through existing client base and employee in some.

這就是之前發生的事情。但現在他們越來越依賴 SEI 來提供這些服務。這確實幫助我們透過現有的客戶群和員工擴大了我們的業務範圍。

I think the only thing I'd add, and maybe it's a great way to almost close there's two positions you can occupy with your client base. You can be a vendor or a strategic partner. I would love to tell you we occupy the latter with every single one of our clients, but that's our aspiration. And I think we allowed ourselves to get put in the vendor bucket for a lot of our banking clients for many years, and Sanjay and the team have done a marvelous job of repositioning and moving SEI from that space, Patrick, into more of that strategic partner category.

我認為我唯一要補充的是，這也許是一種很好的方法，可以幾乎消除您在客戶群中可以佔據的兩個職位。您可以成為供應商或策略合作夥伴。我想告訴您，我們與每位客戶都達成了後者的目標，但這是我們的願望。我認為，多年來，我們一直把自己置於許多銀行客戶的供應商地位，而桑杰和他的團隊出色地完成了重新定位的工作，帕特里克，將 SEI 從那個領域轉變為更多的戰略合作夥伴類別。

Aidan Hall, KBW.

艾丹·霍爾（Aidan Hall），KBW。

Great. Maybe just staying on the topic, Sanjay, I wanted to get your thoughts on how you think SEI is positioned for bank M&A or the potential consolidation of banks here in the US over the next couple of years.

偉大的。也許只是繼續這個話題，桑傑，我想聽聽你對 SEI 在銀行併購或未來幾年美國銀行潛在合併中的定位的看法。

See some puts and takes with the opportunity for new business as some of your larger regional banking clients acquire down cap for scale, but at that smaller cap level or the relationships there? It seems like potentially more of a risk or maybe opportunity for investment contracts coming under review. So how would you kind of characterize that trend over the next couple of years?

當您的一些較大的區域性銀行客戶為了擴大規模而降低資本時，您是否看到了新業務機會中的一些利弊，但是處於較小的資本水平或那裡的關係？對於正在接受審查的投資合約來說，這似乎更像是一種風險，但也可能是一種機會。那麼您如何描述未來幾年的趨勢呢？

No, that's a great question, Adam. If you look at in the industry right now, I see that M&A traffic is increasing, and that is presenting two opportunities for us. Let's take it in some opportunity, which is our existing client is acquiring somebody else. Great opportunity for us.

不，這是一個很好的問題，亞當。如果你看一下現在的產業，我發現併購流量正在增加，這為我們提供了兩個機會。讓我們抓住一些機會，那就是我們現有的客戶正在收購其他客戶。這對我們來說是絕佳的機會。

We are helping. We have done many such see projects in the past. And we are helping in terms of oral technology transfer basins, operations retaliation and onboarding that business to our platform. We are really good experience in that. And we are seeing good many such opportunities in play as we speak.

我們正在提供協助。我們過去做過許多這樣的專案。我們正在口腔技術轉移盆地、營運報復以及將該業務納入我們的平台方面提供協助。我們在這方面確實有豐富的經驗。我們正在談論並看到許多這樣的機會正在發生。

The second opportunity is that our existing client is getting acquired by somebody else who is not on our platform. I like that opportunity because now I can further grow our business.

第二個機會是，我們現有的客戶正被不在我們平台上的其他人收購。我喜歡這個機會，因為現在我可以進一步發展我們的業務。

I'm thinking about a scenario because our existing client base is solid. They're referenceable, they like the partnership. And now, when they're moving -- getting acquired by somebody else, that presents an opportunity that I can go now and convince the acquiring party to come on our platform. So I see this as a very positive thing for C.

我正在考慮一種場景，因為我們現有的客戶群非常穩固。他們很有參考價值，他們喜歡這種合作關係。現在，當他們被別人收購時，這就提供了一個機會，我可以說服收購者加入我們的平台。所以我認為這對 C 來說是一件非常正面的事情。

Sean, Ryan, do you want to add anything further?

肖恩 (Sean)、瑞安 (Ryan)，你們還有什麼要補充嗎？

I'll throw a question. I don't know the number. I know you do off the top of your head. But our attrition rate on those clients where we were historically a lot higher as a result of everything you just said is somewhere around somewhere around there. 1%, I thought Yes.

我來提出一個問題。我不知道電話號碼。我知道您已經想通了。但是，正如您剛才所說的，我們歷史上對這些客戶的流失率要高得多，目前大概是在那裡。1%我認為是的。

That's the number I thought. I likely losing risk fully so that we could go back to the client and bring them back I mean attrition rate is amazing in mono. Thank you, Sam.

我就是這麼想的。我可能會完全失去風險，這樣我們就可以回到客戶身邊並把他們帶回來，我的意思是單聲道的流失率是驚人的。謝謝你，山姆。

I'm showing no further questions in the queue at this time. I would now like to turn the call over to management for any closing remarks.

目前隊列中沒有其他問題。現在，我想將電話轉給管理階層，請他們做最後發言。

I just want to thank everybody for taking the time. And actually, the level of engagement today has been fantastic. We really appreciate the breadth of the questions we enjoy it. And it does feel like the SEI momentum and story is resonating, and we're focused on what we need to do to continue to maintain and grow that.

我只是想感謝大家抽出時間。事實上，今天的參與程度非常高。我們非常欣賞我們喜歡的問題的廣度。而且確實感覺到 SEI 的勢頭和故事正在引起共鳴，我們專注於我們需要做的事情以繼續保持和發展這種勢頭。

Happy New Year to everybody. We look forward to seeing everyone in person and wish you a good evening.

祝大家新年快樂。我們期待與大家見面，並祝大家晚上愉快。

Thank you, all, for participating. This concludes today's program. You may now disconnect.

謝謝大家的參與。今天的節目到此結束。您現在可以斷開連線。