Stifel Financial Corp (SF) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day and welcome to the Stifel Financial's second-quarter financial results conference call. Today's conference is being recorded.

美好的一天，歡迎參加 Stifel Financial 第二季財務業績電話會議。今天的會議正在錄製中。

At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Joel Jeffrey, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

這次，我想把會議交給投資者關係主管喬爾·傑弗裡(Joel Jeffrey)。請繼續。

Thank you, operator. I'd like to welcome everyone to Stifel Financial's second-quarter 2024 conference call. I'm joined on the call today by our Chairman and CEO, Ron Kruszewski; our Co-Presidents, Victor Nesi and Jim Zemlyak; and our CFO, Jim Marischen.

謝謝你，接線生。我歡迎大家參加 Stifel Financial 的 2024 年第二季電話會議。我們的董事長兼執行長 Ron Kruszewski 也參加了今天的電話會議。我們的聯合總裁 Victor Nesi 和 Jim Zemlyak；以及我們的財務長 Jim Marischen。

Earlier this morning, we issued an earnings release and posted a slide deck and financial supplement to our website, which can be found on the Investor Relations page at www.stifel.com. I would note that some of the numbers that we state throughout our presentation are presented on a non-GAAP basis, and I would refer to our reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP as disclosed in our press release.

今天早些時候，我們發布了收益報告，並在我們的網站上發布了幻燈片和財務補充資料，您可以在 www.stifel.com 的投資者關係頁面上找到這些內容。我要指出的是，我們在整個簡報中陳述的一些數字是在非公認會計原則的基礎上提出的，我會提到我們在新聞稿中披露的公認會計原則與非公認會計原則的調節。

I would also remind listeners to refer to our earnings release, financial supplement, and our slide presentation for information on forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures. This audio cast is copyrighted material of Stifel Financial and may not be duplicated, reproduced, or rebroadcast without the consent of Stifel Financial.

我還想提醒聽眾參考我們的收益發布、財務補充和幻燈片演示，以獲取有關前瞻性陳述和非公認會計原則措施的資訊。此音訊廣播是 Stifel Financial 受版權保護的資料，未經 Stifel Financial 同意，不得複製、轉載或轉播。

I will now turn the call over to our Chairman and CEO, Ron Kruszewski.

我現在將把電話轉給我們的董事長兼執行長 Ron Kruszewski。

Thanks, Joel. Good morning. Thanks to everyone for taking the time to listen to our second quarter 2024 earnings conference call. I'm pleased to be with my partners here this morning in New York and look forward to seeing them as well.

謝謝，喬爾。早安.感謝大家抽空收聽我們的 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。我很高興今天早上在紐約與我的合作夥伴在一起，並期待見到他們。

Stifel's strong results in the second quarter reflected our operating leverage as market conditions improved particularly in our institutional business. Stifel's second-quarter net revenue totaled $1.22 billion, up 16% from 2023, and represents the second best quarter in our history. All revenue line items showed improvement, except for our predicted decline in net interest income. Commissions and principal transactions increased 24% as a result of stronger client activity levels in both wealth management and our institutional growth.

Stifel 第二季度的強勁業績反映了我們的營運槓桿，因為市場狀況有所改善，尤其是我們的機構業務。Stifel 第二季淨收入總計 12.2 億美元，較 2023 年成長 16%，是我們歷史上第二好的季度。除我們預測的淨利息收入下降外，所有收入項目均有所改善。由於財富管理和機構成長的客戶活動水準增強，佣金和本金交易增加了 24%。

Investment banking increased 40% as advisory revenue was up 50% and capital raising rose 29%. Record asset management revenue was up 19%, reflecting organic growth and market appreciation. Net interest income declined $40 million or 14%. However, although NII decreased both quarterly and in the first half of the year, the declines were within our guidance.

投資銀行業務成長 40%，諮詢收入成長 50%，融資成長 29%。創紀錄的資產管理收入成長了 19%，反映了有機成長和市場升值。淨利息收入下降 4,000 萬美元，或 14%。然而，儘管NII在季度和上半年均有所下降，但降幅在我們的指引之內。

The efficiency of our diversified business model is illustrated by our second-quarter pre-tax margin of 21%, operating earnings per share of $1.60, which was a 33% increase from the prior year, as well as an annualized return on tangible common equity of 22%. We generated record first-half net revenue of nearly $2.4 billion, an increase of 10% as improving institutional revenue more than offset the predicted decline in NII.

我們多元化業務模式的效率體現在第二季稅前利潤率為 21%、每股營業利潤為 1.60 美元（較上年增長 33%）以及有形普通股年化回報率。我們上半年淨收入創歷史新高，接近 24 億美元，成長了 10%，因為機構收入的改善抵消了 NII 的預期下降。

Our consistent growth and significant cash generation also gives us increased financial flexibility. This is highlighted by our recent retirement of $500 million in senior notes. We raised the $500 million 10 years ago to support our bank growth strategy. However, our bank is now of the size and scale that it can more than fund its own growth, and therefore, in the current rate environment, we felt that retiring the debt made sense financially. The retirement of these notes not only reduces our long-term liability, but also eliminates $21 million in annual interest expense.

我們的持續成長和大量現金產生也提高了我們的財務靈活性。我們最近註銷了 5 億美元的高級票據，凸顯了這一點。10 年前，我們籌集了 5 億美元來支持我們的銀行成長策略。然而，我們銀行現在的規模和規模足以為其自身的成長提供資金，因此，在當前的利率環境下，我們認為償還債務在財務上是有意義的。這些票據的退役不僅減少了我們的長期負債，還消除了 2,100 萬美元的年度利息支出。

While comparisons to the prior year are informative, we also like to review our results next to Street consensus estimates, which we do apply, too. Our EPS of $1.60 was $0.06 cents higher than the Street estimate as net revenue came in above expectations by $34 million. Looking at the specific line items that drove our earnings beat, first, transactional revenue came in $14 million above expectations, primarily driven in fixed income. Investment banking came in $10 million above consensus on stronger advisory revenue.

雖然與前一年的比較提供了豐富的信息，但我們也希望根據華爾街的共識估計來回顧我們的結果，我們也確實應用了這一點。我們的每股收益為 1.60 美元，比華爾街的預期高出 0.06 美分，因為淨收入比預期高出 3,400 萬美元。看看推動我們獲利超出預期的具體項目，首先，交易收入比預期高出 1,400 萬美元，這主要是由固定收益推動的。投資銀行業務的諮詢收入比共識高出 1,000 萬美元。

I'd also note that underwriting revenue was stronger than the consensus as the environment for capital raising has improved. The only revenue item that we fell short of Street estimates was net interest income. However, NII still came within our guidance range. We stated on last quarter that we believe that NII may have hit a low point. And the modest incremental decline in the second quarter was the result of higher net interest margin, which I note is positive, but this was more than offset by a slight decline in interest earning assets.

我還想指出，隨著融資環境的改善，承保收入強於共識。我們唯一低於華爾街預期的收入項目是淨利息收入。然而，NII 仍然在我們的指導範圍內。我們在上個季度表示，我們認為 NII 可能已經觸及低點。第二季增量的小幅下降是淨利差上升的結果，我認為這是正面的，但這被生息資產的小幅下降所抵消。

On the expense side, we were essentially in line with the Street as our compensation ratio was 58%, same as consensus, while non-comp operating expenses totaled $260 million, $1 million above consensus. We've used slide 3 in recent earnings announcements to illustrate the benefits of our complementary businesses in various markets. Over the past five years, we've been able to offset much of the volatility of our institutional businesses with the stability of our fee-based businesses and our increased net interest income.

在費用方面，我們基本上與華爾街一致，因為我們的薪酬率為 58%，與共識相同，而非補償營運費用總計 2.6 億美元，比共識高出 100 萬美元。我們在最近的收益公告中使用了幻燈片 3 來說明我們在各個市場中的互補業務的優勢。在過去的五年裡，我們已經能夠透過收費業務的穩定性和淨利息收入的增加來抵消機構業務的大部分波動。

Looking at the most recent three quarters, you can see the rebound in institutional pre-tax income that now has helped counter the decline in net interest income. Putting this into context, in the first half of the year, our pre-tax income is up $58 million, as the improvement in institutional margins and growth in PCG revenues has more than offset the $85 million decline in NII. As we look forward, expected continued improvement in wealth management and institutional revenue will help.

看看最近三個季度，你可以看到機構稅前收入的反彈，現在有助於抵消淨利息收入的下降。考慮到這一點，今年上半年，我們的稅前收入增加了 5,800 萬美元，因為機構利潤率的改善和 PCG 收入的成長抵消了 NII 8,500 萬美元的下降。展望未來，財富管理和機構收入的預期持續改善將有所幫助。

But additionally, stable net interest income achieved by higher interest-earning assets should offset incremental cash sorting and result in higher pre-tax margins and return on tangible common equity. I know there are a lot of questions on sweep cash and advisory accounts for all firms. While Jim will address some of the specifics on how we view this at Stifel, et me just state that Stifel anticipated and prepared for this rate cycle, both on the asset side of our balance sheet as well as offering clients options for savings accounts, primarily our Smart Rate.

但此外，生息資產增加所帶來的穩定淨利息收入應該會抵銷增量現金分類，並帶來更高的稅前利潤率和有形普通股報酬率。我知道對於所有公司的現金和諮詢帳戶都有很多問題。雖然Jim 將闡述我們在Stifel 如何看待這個問題的一些具體細節，但我只是指出，Stifel 預計並為此利率週期做好準備，無論是在我們資產負債表的資產方面，還是為客戶提供儲蓄帳戶選項，主要是我們的智慧價格。

As such, we do not see a material impact relating to this matter. And to underscore this point, we are not changing our NII guidance for the remainder of this year. Before I turn the call over to Jim to discuss our financial results, I want to talk a little bit more about the long-term success of our global wealth management business.

因此，我們認為此事不會產生重大影響。為了強調這一點，我們不會改變今年剩餘時間內的 NII 指導。在我把電話轉給吉姆討論我們的財務表現之前，我想多談談我們全球財富管理業務的長期成功。

As I mentioned earlier, for the second consecutive year, Stifel was ranked number one in the employee segment of the J.D. Power US Financial Advisor Satisfaction Study. In addition to ranking first overall, Stifel is also ranked number one in three of six categories: leadership and culture, products and marketing, and operational support. The results of this survey further proves our core values of respecting our advisors and continually improving the advisor experience which in turn leads to better client experience. Focusing on these values enables people to continually attract and retain high-quality advisors to our platform, provide exceptional client service, and has been a foundation to our history of strong revenue growth.

正如我之前提到的，Stifel 連續第二年在 J.D. Power 美國財務顧問滿意度研究的員工部分排名第一。除了整體排名第一之外，Stifel 還在領導力和文化、產品和行銷以及營運支援這六個類別中的三個類別中排名第一。這項調查的結果進一步證明了我們尊重顧問並不斷改善顧問體驗的核心價值觀，從而帶來更好的客戶體驗。關注這些價值觀使人們能夠不斷吸引和留住高品質的顧問到我們的平台，提供卓越的客戶服務，並為我們強勁的收入成長歷史奠定了基礎。

With that, our CFO Jim Marischen will discuss our most recent quarter results.

接下來，我們的財務長 Jim Marischen 將討論我們最近的季度業績。

Thanks, Ron, and good morning, everyone.

謝謝羅恩，大家早安。

Look at the details of our second quarter results on slide 5. Our quarterly net revenue of over $1.2 billion was up 16% year on year. For the first half of the year, revenue of $2.38 billion was up 10%. The increase was driven by stronger client facilitation, advisory, trading, and underwriting revenue that was partially offset by lower net interest income. Our EPS in the second quarter was up 33% from the prior year and up 19% year to date. Higher revenues and a lower share count more than offset modest expense growth.

請查看投影片 5 上第二季業績的詳細資訊。我們的季度淨收入超過 12 億美元，年增 16%。今年上半年，營收達 23.8 億美元，成長 10%。這一增長是由客戶服務、諮詢、交易和承保收入的增強所推動的，但淨利息收入的下降部分抵消了這一增長。我們第二季的每股盈餘比去年同期成長了 33%，今年迄今成長了 19%。更高的收入和更少的份額足以抵消適度的支出成長。

Moving on to our segment results, global wealth management revenue was a record $801 million, and our pre-tax margins were more than 37% on record asset management revenue and strong growth in transactional revenue. We continue to add new advisors to our platform. During the quarter, we added a total of 42 advisors. This included 14 experienced advisors with trailing 12-month production of $12.2 million.

再來看我們的分部業績，全球財富管理收入達到創紀錄的 8.01 億美元，稅前利潤率超過 37%，資產管理收入創歷史新高，交易收入強勁成長。我們繼續為我們的平台添加新的顧問。本季度，我們總共增加了 42 位顧問。其中包括 14 位經驗豐富的顧問，過去 12 個月的產出為 1,220 萬美元。

We ended the quarter with record fee-based assets, total client assets of $180 billion and $474 billion respectively. The sequential increases were due to higher equity markets and organic growth as our net new assets grew in the low single digits. We highlight our longer-term growth drivers for our wealth management business on slide 7. We continue to be on track for our 22nd consecutive year of record revenue of our global wealth management business, as our recurring revenues continue to comprise the vast majority of this segment's revenue. Our recruiting continues to be solid as our commitment to the highest level of service for our advisors is once again recognized by J.D. Power.

本季末，我們的收費資產創歷史新高，客戶總資產分別為 1,800 億美元和 4,740 億美元。環比成長是由於股市上漲和有機成長，因為我們的淨新資產以較低的個位數成長。我們在投影片 7 上強調了財富管理業務的長期成長動力。我們的全球財富管理業務收入將繼續連續 22 年創紀錄，因為我們的經常性收入繼續佔該部門收入的絕大多數。我們的招募工作持續穩定，我們為顧問提供最高水準服務的承諾再次得到 J.D. Power 的認可。

On the next slide, I'll discuss our institutional group, where the improvement in market conditions that began towards the end of 2023 continued. Total revenue for the segment was $391 million in the quarter, up 41% year on year and year to date. Revenue of $742 million was up 22%, led by strong increases in capital raising and transactional revenue. Firm-wide, investment banking revenue totaled $233 million while both capital raising and advisory revenue increased sequentially and year on year.

在下一張投影片中，我將討論我們的機構群體，該群體的市場狀況自 2023 年底開始持續改善。該部門本季總營收為 3.91 億美元，年增 41%。在融資和交易收入強勁成長的帶動下，營收成長 22%，達 7.42 億美元。全公司範圍內，投資銀行業務收入總計 2.33 億美元，而融資和諮詢收入均環比和同比增長。

As expected, underwriting revenue continues to lead the rebound in investment banking. Equity underwriting of $48 million was up 19% from the first quarter and 59% over the same period in 2023 as healthcare and financials were strong contributors. Fixed income underwriting revenue increased 8% from 2Q '23 as improved public finance revenue helped to offset slower taxable issuance. We continue to be a leader in the municipal underwriting business as we rank number one in the number of negotiated transactions with nearly 15% market share.

如預期，承保收入持續引領投行業務反彈。由於醫療保健和金融領域的強勁貢獻，股票承銷額為 4,800 萬美元，較第一季成長 19%，較 2023 年同期成長 59%。由於公共財政收入的改善有助於抵消應稅發行放緩的影響，固定收益承保收入較 2023 年第二季度增長了 8%。我們持續維持市政承保業務的領先地位，協議交易數量排名第一，市佔率接近15%。

Advisory revenue was $131 million and was our strongest quarter since the first quarter in 2023 as we had solid results in our financials, gaming, and industrial verticals. Equity transactional revenue totaled $53 million, up 16% from the second quarter of 2023. We continue to gain traction in our electronic offerings as well as strong engagement with our high-touch trading and best-in-class research.

諮詢收入為 1.31 億美元，是自 2023 年第一季以來最強勁的季度，因為我們在金融、遊戲和工業垂直領域取得了堅實的業績。股權交易收入總計 5,300 萬美元，較 2023 年第二季成長 16%。我們繼續在電子產品方面獲得吸引力，並透過我們的高接觸交易和一流的研究進行強有力的參與。

Fixed income transactional revenue of $107 million was up 58% year on year, as our rate business continues to rebound from a very slow 2023, and activity in our corporate debt business remains solid. Additionally, we benefited from increased trading gains during the quarter.

固定收益交易收入為 1.07 億美元，年增 58%，因為我們的利率業務從 2023 年非常緩慢的情況中繼續反彈，而且我們的企業債務業務活動依然穩健。此外，我們也受惠於本季交易收益的增加。

On slide 9, I'll discuss our bank results and the recent industry focus on advisory sweep deposits. Net interest income of $251 million was in the lower half of our range as average interest earning asset levels declined by nearly $1 billion and more than offset the improvement in our bank NIM. The primary driver of the decline in interest earning assets was the decline in cash on our balance sheet. The increase in NIM was a result of increased loan yield and a decline in deposit costs.

在投影片 9 上，我將討論我們的銀行業績以及近期產業對諮詢性掃款存款的關注。淨利息收入 2.51 億美元位於我們範圍的下半部分，因為平均生息資產水準下降了近 10 億美元，並且遠遠抵消了我們銀行淨利差的改善。生息資產下降的主要原因是我們資產負債表上現金的減少。淨利差的增加是貸款收益率增加和存款成本下降的結果。

Given our expectations for modest cash sorting and higher interest earning assets, as well as the interest savings obtained by paying off the $500 million senior debt, we expect that NII in the third quarter will be in the $250 million to $260 million range.

考慮到我們對適度現金分類和更高生息資產的預期，以及透過償還 5 億美元優先債務而節省的利息，我們預計第三季的 NII 將在 2.5 億至 2.6 億美元之間。

Our credit metrics and reserve profile remain strong. The non-performing asset ratio stands at 29 basis points. Our credit loss provision totaled $3 million for the quarter. And our consolidated allowance to total loans ratio was 88 basis points, which was impacted by the growth in loan balances and fund banking, mortgage, and CNI.

我們的信用指標和儲備狀況仍然強勁。不良資產率為29個基點。本季我們的信用損失撥備總額為 300 萬美元。我們的綜合撥備與總貸款比率為88個基點，這是受到貸款餘額以及基金銀行、抵押貸款和CNI成長的影響。

Our balance sheet continues to be well capitalized. Tier 1 leverage capital increased 50 basis points sequentially to 11.1%. I'd also note that the unrealized losses in our bond portfolio continue to improve as credit spreads tightened in the CLO market.

我們的資產負債表仍然資本充足。一級槓桿資本較上月增加50個基點至11.1%。我還想指出，隨著 CLO 市場信用利差收緊，我們債券投資組合未實現的損失持續改善。

I also want to touch on the recent concerns regarding the potential for higher sweep deposit costs on advisory accounts. This has drawn significant interest as to the impact on the industry, and consequently, we felt it was important to address this issue as it relates to Stifel.

我還想談談最近對諮詢帳戶的清掃存款成本可能上升的擔憂。這引起了人們對行業影響的極大興趣，因此，我們認為解決這個與 Stifel 相關的問題非常重要。

Let me start by saying that Stifel has been at the forefront of industry trends for much of the cash sorting cycle. Our Smart Rate product was introduced before rates began to rise and offered clients a competitive savings account which resulted in the retention of client cash within Stifel. In addition, we positioned our balance sheet to insulate us from interest rate risk and provide acceptable risk-adjusted net interest margin. Before the onset of rate increases, Stifel's sweep deposits totaled approximately $28 billion. Today, Stifel has approximately $10 billion in sweep deposits and $16 billion of Smart Rate deposits.

首先我要說的是，在現金分類週期的大部分時間裡，Stifel 一直處於行業趨勢的前沿。我們的智慧利率產品是在利率開始上漲之前推出的，為客戶提供了一個有競爭力的儲蓄帳戶，從而將客戶現金保留在 Stifel 內。此外，我們的資產負債表定位是為了使我們免受利率風險，並提供可接受的風險調整後淨利差。在升息之前，Stifel 的存款總額約為 280 億美元。如今，Stifel 擁有約 100 億美元的流動存款和 160 億美元的智慧利率存款。

Said another way, 63% of Stifel's pre-rate cycle sweep deposits have sorted into Smart Rate. Additionally, I'd point to the growth in our ticketed money market fund and short-term treasury balances to highlight the additional cash alternatives that our advisors utilize to generate higher yields for their clients. Generally speaking, sweep deposits represent operational cash, as the average firm-wide balance per account is roughly $11,000.

換句話說，Stifel 63% 的利率前週期掃描存款已分類為智慧利率。此外，我想指出我們的票據貨幣市場基金和短期國債餘額的成長，以強調我們的顧問利用額外的現金替代方案為客戶創造更高的收益。一般來說，掃存存款代表營運現金，因為公司範圍內每個帳戶的平均餘額約為 11,000 美元。

On the other hand, Smart Rate is more representative f investment cash with an average account balance of $190,000. In terms of the sweep deposits within our advisory platform, the average deposit size is only $9,000 and represents 1.7% of fee-based assets, which we disclosed in our slide deck. We believe that given the relatively low percentage of sweep deposits maintained in our advisory accounts as compared to total fee-based assets in those accounts, our cash sweep product is being utilized as designed and intended, primarily as a source of account liquidity to pay fees and meet short-term cash needs.

另一方面，Smart Rate 對於平均帳戶餘額為 190,000 美元的投資現金更具代表性。就我們諮詢平台內的掃款存款而言，平均存款規模僅為 9,000 美元，佔收費資產的 1.7%，我們在幻燈片中披露了這一點。我們認為，鑑於我們的諮詢帳戶中維持的掃款存款佔這些帳戶中收費資產總額的比例相對較低，我們的現金掃款產品正在按設計和預期使用，主要作為支付費用的帳戶流動性來源並滿足短期現金需求。

Consequently, we believe that through our focused efforts to provide higher-yielding alternatives to our clients, we have mitigated much of the potential impact of this issue, and the incremental risks to Stifel are not material. To illustrate this, we are not changing our net interest income guidance.

因此，我們相信，透過我們集中努力為客戶提供更高收益的替代方案，我們已經減輕了這一問題的大部分潛在影響，並且 Stifel 的增量風險並不重大。為了說明這一點，我們不會改變淨利息收入指引。

On the next slide, we go through expenses. Comp-to-revenue ratio in the second quarter was 58% which was again at the high end of our full-year guidance we gave at the beginning of the year. I would note that during the quarter, we incurred nearly $10 million of severance costs tied to our efficiency initiatives and our international operations. Non-compensation operating expenses, excluding the credit loss provision and expenses related to investment banking transactions, totaled approximately $248 million. Non-comp OpEx as a percentage of revenue was 20.4%. The effective tax rate during the quarter came in at 25.8%.

在下一張投影片中，我們將詳細介紹費用。第二季的淨利率為 58%，這再次達到了我們年初給出的全年指引的最高值。我要指出的是，在本季度，我們因效率措施和國際業務而產生了近 1000 萬美元的遣散費。不計信用損失準備金和與投資銀行交易相關的費用，非補償性營運費用總計約為 2.48 億美元。非補償營運支出佔收入的百分比為 20.4%。本季的有效稅率為 25.8%。

Before I turn the call back over to Ron, let me discuss our capital position. On last quarter's call, we indicated the possibility of retiring $500 million of senior notes that were maturing in July given the growth in our bank and its ability to fund its growth. Last week, we paid off this debt. Given our conservative approach and the fact that this was the first time we've retired senior notes, we reduced our buyback activity in the quarter to ensure we had more than ample levels of excess liquidity.

在我把電話轉回給羅恩之前，讓我先討論一下我們的資本狀況。在上個季度的電話會議上，鑑於我們銀行的成長及其為其成長提供資金的能力，我們表示有可能收回 7 月到期的 5 億美元優先票據。上週，我們還清了這筆債務。鑑於我們的保守態度以及這是我們第一次註銷高級票據這一事實，我們減少了本季度的回購活動，以確保我們擁有充足的過剩流動性。

As a result, our share of purchases of 229,000 shares in the quarter was down significantly from the prior quarter. As of the end of the second quarter, we have approximately 11 million shares remaining on our authorization. We have more than $415 million of excess capital based on a 10% Tier 1 leverage target. Additionally, we continue to generate substantial amounts of excess cash, as illustrated by our second-quarter GAAP net income $156 million.

因此，本季我們購買的 229,000 股股票的份額較上一季大幅下降。截至第二季末，我們仍有約1,100萬股授權股票。基於 10% 的一級槓桿目標，我們擁有超過 4.15 億美元的超額資本。此外，我們繼續產生大量超額現金，第二季 GAAP 淨利潤 1.56 億美元就說明了這一點。

We remain focused on generating strong risk-adjusted returns when deploying capital and have done this through reinvesting in the business, making acquisitions, as well as through share repurchases. Absent any assumption for additional share repurchases and assuming a stable stock price, we'd expect the third quarter fully diluted share count to be 111 million shares.

我們仍然專注於在部署資本時產生強勁的風險調整回報，並透過對業務的再投資、收購以及股票回購來實現這一目標。在沒有任何額外股票回購的假設並假設股價穩定的情況下，我們預計第三季完全稀釋後的股票數量將為 1.11 億股。

And with that, let me turn the call back over to Ron.

接下來，讓我把電話轉回給羅恩。

Thanks, Jim. Let me conclude by talking about how we see the remainder of the year playing out and why we are optimistic about the future.

謝謝，吉姆。最後，我想談談我們對今年剩餘時間的看法以及為什麼我們對未來持樂觀態度。

Our annualized results for the first half of the year put us above the midpoint of our guidance and roughly in line with Street estimates for the full year. As I said last quarter, the outlook for the remainder of the year is certainly not without its risks. However, given the current trends we are seeing in the market and the operating leverage in our business, we believe that we are well positioned for a strong second half.

我們上半年的年化業績高於指引的中點，與華爾街對全年的預期大致一致。正如我上季度所說，今年剩餘時間的前景肯定並非沒有風險。然而，考慮到我們目前在市場上看到的趨勢以及我們業務的營運槓桿，我們相信我們已準備好迎接下半年的強勁成長。

Additionally, as we exit 2024, we believe that we will be on a trajectory to reach our near-term milestones of over $5 billion in annual revenue and $8 per share as well as our long-term milestone of $1 trillion in client assets and $10 billion in annual revenue. We have not changed our revenue guidance for 2024, but as you can see from the arrows on the right side of the slide, we believe that all of our revenue line items will at least match, if not exceed, our first half results as market conditions continue to improve. On the transactional side, wealth management is resilient, and our rates business continues to improve as banks are seeing more opportunities to trade their securities portfolios. In investment banking, our results so far this year have been driven by increased underwriting activities, both in equity and fixed income.

此外，隨著 2024 年的結束，我們相信我們將有望實現年收入超過 50 億美元和每股 8 美元的近期里程碑，以及客戶資產 1 兆美元和每股 10 美元的長期里程碑。元。我們沒有改變 2024 年的收入指引，但正如您從幻燈片右側的箭頭看到的那樣，我們相信我們所有的收入項目至少會與我們上半年的市場業績相匹配（如果不超過的話）條件繼續改善。在交易方面，財富管理具有彈性，隨著銀行看到更多的證券投資組合交易機會，我們的利率業務持續改善。在投資銀行業務方面，我們今年迄今的表現是由股票和固定收益承銷活動的增加所推動的。

As we look at the second half of the year, we anticipate continued solid results from capital raising but also increased performance from advisory as activity levels continue to improve and closings pick up. Given that most of our asset management revenue is priced off trailing quarter asset levels, we've essentially locked in three quarters of revenue for 2024. In terms of net interest income, as Jim articulated, we're maintaining our previous guidance for NII.

展望今年下半年，我們預計融資將繼續帶來穩健的業績，但隨著活動水準的持續改善和成交量的增加，諮詢業績也會有所提高。鑑於我們的大部分資產管理收入都是根據過去季度的資產水平定價的，因此我們基本上鎖定了 2024 年三個季度的收入。正如 Jim 所闡述的，就淨利息收入而言，我們維持先前對 NII 的指導。

On the expense side, we've narrowed the range for our compensation ratio guidance to reflect the conservatism that we've had in the first half of the year. While we are optimistic for the second half, we are still building back to our 2021 revenue levels, particularly in our institutional segment. As such, we've tightened our guidance to 57.5% to 58%, which still reflects our optimism for stronger revenue results in the second half of the year. In addition to our expectation for a strong second half, we should see some benefit from some of the efficiency initiatives we have implemented.

在費用方面，我們縮小了薪酬比率指引的範圍，以反映我們今年上半年的保守態度。雖然我們對下半年持樂觀態度，但我們仍在恢復到 2021 年的收入水平，特別是在我們的機構部門。因此，我們將指引收緊至 57.5% 至 58%，這仍然反映了我們對下半年營收業績強勁的樂觀態度。除了我們對下半年強勁的預期之外，我們還應該看到我們實施的一些效率措施帶來了一些好處。

As Jim mentioned, we took a $10 million severance charge in the quarter as we rightsize our international operations. While these decisions are never easy, we believe it puts our business on a stronger path towards improved profitability without impacting our revenue growth.

正如吉姆所提到的，我們在本季收取了 1000 萬美元的遣散費，以調整我們的國際業務規模。儘管這些決定絕非易事，但我們相信，這將使我們的業務走上一條更強有力的道路，提高盈利能力，同時又不會影響我們的收入成長。

Let me finish by saying that I am optimistic about the future of our business really as much as I've ever been. We've built a world-class diversified business that has proven its ability to generate strong returns despite ever-changing market conditions. Investments we've made have resulted in increased operating leverage, and the growth of our bank and asset management revenue has added to the stability of our results. Given the excess capital we generate, we'll continue to reinvest in our business and return capital to our shareholders with, as always, a focus on high-risk adjusted returns.

最後我要說的是，我對我們業務的未來一如既往地感到樂觀。我們建立了世界一流的多元化業務，並證明了其在不斷變化的市場條件下仍能產生強勁回報的能力。我們的投資提高了營運槓桿，銀行和資產管理收入的成長增加了我們績效的穩定性。鑑於我們產生的過剩資本，我們將繼續對我們的業務進行再投資，並向股東返還資本，並一如既往地關注高風險調整後的回報。

With that operator, please open up the lines for questions.

請透過該接線員開放提問線路。

Thank you. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝。（操作員說明）

Devin Ryan, Citizen's JMP.

Devin Ryan，公民 JMP。

First question is on some of the cash sorting commentary. Ron, you spoke about the potential for more cash sorting. I'm just curious, do you think we're close to the end with transactional cash at such low levels? And a little flavor on the difference between brokerage and fee base would be great. And then also, really appreciate the comments about the wirehouse moves over the past couple of weeks. I know you guys were probably getting questions there. Why do you think they did that? Was it a competitive move? Does it have any influence on Stifel at all?

第一個問題是關於一些現金分類的評論。羅恩，您談到了更多現金分類的潛力。我只是很好奇，您認為交易現金水準如此之低，我們已經接近尾聲了嗎？如果能稍微了解一下經紀業務和收費基礎之間的差異，那就太好了。另外，非常感謝過去幾週有關電線廠搬遷的評論。我知道你們可能有疑問。你認為他們為什麼要這麼做？這是一個競爭性的舉動嗎？它對斯蒂菲爾有任何影響嗎？

Well, let me take your last question first. I'm reading like you are what people are doing, and I frankly don't know what or why or exactly what they're doing. You read comments that not all advisory cash is eligible for higher rates. Look, I read into that, that means that their transactional or operational cash is not, it's part of the platform, so I read that. I read other ones where they're increasing the rate, but just up a little bit and not the high yield.

好吧，讓我先回答你的最後一個問題。我讀起來就像人們正在做的事情一樣，坦白說，我不知道他們在做什麼、為什麼或到底在做什麼。您讀到的評論是，並非所有諮詢現金都有資格獲得更高的利率。看，我讀到了這一點，這意味著他們的交易或營運現金不是平台的一部分，所以我讀到了這一點。我讀過其他的文章，他們提高了利率，但只是提高了一點點，而不是高收益率。

So there's a lot of questions I don't really know. I just know what we're doing and what we have been doing. What I would say as it relates to that though, generally speaking, Stifel has been higher. Our sweep deposits don't have a 0.01%. A lot of institutions still were at the very, very low end of paying on sweep deposits. And so I think that's where some of it's coming from. This pressure is people are really looking at it and say, wait a minute,0.01%? And so that's where I see some of it.

所以有很多問題我真的不知道。我只知道我們正在做什麼以及一直在做什麼。我想說的是，總的來說，斯蒂菲爾的水平更高。我們的掃存款沒有 0.01%。許多機構在支付掃款存款方面仍處於非常非常低的水平。所以我認為這就是其中一些的來源。這個壓力是人們真正看著它說的，等一下，0.01%？這就是我看到的一些情況。

But look, clients need the option to have alternatives for higher cash. We have to run our business and provide operational transactional cash, both in brokerage and advisory. That's what we've been doing. And we think that the products we put in place have largely mitigated what suddenly became a hot topic for you all to talk about.

但你看，客戶需要有其他選擇來獲得更高的現金。我們必須經營我們的業務並在經紀和諮詢方面提供營運交易現金。這就是我們一直在做的事情。我們認為，我們推出的產品在很大程度上緩解了突然成為大家談論的熱門話題的情況。

So as it relates to -- I think we've managed this correctly prior to this even coming up. But what you'll see, as Jim mentioned, is when you look at what's happened, really a $9,000 average account is the operational cash that moves all around with an account. Sometimes, bonds mature, and it's in sweep, and it moves, and it gets reallocated. Those are normal levels. In fact, I would say low levels of transactional cash because of the rate environment.

因此，我認為在這件事出現之前我們就已經正確地處理了這個問題。但正如 Jim 所提到的，當你觀察所發生的情況時，你會發現，平均 9,000 美元的帳戶實際上是隨帳戶流動的營運現金。有時，債券成熟了，它會被席捲，它會移動，它會被重新分配。這些都是正常水平。事實上，我想說的是，由於利率環境，交易現金水準較低。

And the metrics are very similar between brokerage and advisory. So I don't know that really answered all your questions. I took it in reverse, but, that's just how we look.

經紀業和諮詢業的指標非常相似。所以我不知道這是否真的回答了你所有的問題。我把它反過來了，但是，這就是我們的樣子。

I do have a question for Jim just on the balance sheet and just thinking about just potential growth in the balance sheet and appetite for new loans and maybe where you guys would want to lean in. It would just be great to get a little bit of an update on what you're seeing in the market, spreads, and then just the ability to expand the balance sheet into that market.

我確實有一個關於資產負債表的問題要問吉姆，我只想考慮資產負債表的潛在增長和對新貸款的興趣，以及你們可能想要依靠的地方。如果能夠了解您在市場上看到的情況、利差以及將資產負債表擴展到該市場的能力，那就太好了。

Yeah, no. So obviously we have the capacity to generate additional loans on our balance sheet. I think if you look at this quarter, we grew loans, a couple hundred million dollars. We grew investments in the normal categories we've talked about over the last several quarters. If you look at the growth in fund banking, you look at the growth at mortgage, you look at the growth in the CLO portfolio, all those categories continue to be attractive risk-adjusted returns for us.

是的，不。顯然，我們有能力在資產負債表上產生額外的貸款。我想如果你看看這個季度，我們增加了貸款，增加了數億美元。我們增加了過去幾個季度討論過的正常類別的投資。如果你看看基金銀行業務的成長，你看看抵押貸款的成長，你看看CLO投資組合的成長，所有這些類別對我們來說仍然具有有吸引力的風險調整回報。

And obviously, given the the capacity to fund that with our liquidity as well as the excess capital we're carrying, I think we're going to continue to see growth there. If you look at the current quarter, most of that growth didn't result in pure asset numbers coming up because we were carrying over $2 billion dollars of cash. So most of that was reallocating from cash into loans. So as you see going forward, as we bring on more deposits on balance sheet, that incremental pick-up will be even more as we grow the loan portfolio as well as CLOs.

顯然，考慮到我們有能力利用我們的流動性以及我們所擁有的過剩資本來為其提供資金，我認為我們將繼續看到那裡的成長。如果你看看當前季度，大部分成長並沒有帶來純粹的資產數字，因為我們持有超過 20 億美元的現金。因此，其中大部分是從現金重新分配到貸款。因此，正如你所看到的，隨著我們在資產負債表上增加更多存款，隨著我們擴大貸款組合和抵押貸款債券，增量回升將會更大。

I'll go back to you. I forgot one part of your first question, Devin, and I'll supplement it here. And that is that we have, and we've said it now for almost two and a half years that we were going to limit the growth in the balance sheet. And that was primarily because we didn't want to get in the position of not understanding the dynamics of cash sorting and getting in a position where we were generating loans and then suddenly looking at what we thought would be our perceived NIM being different than what we anticipated. Because as we know, it has been a highly volatile, not volatile, but straight up 500 basis points from zero.

我會回到你身邊。我忘記了你第一個問題的一部分，德文，我將在這裡補充。這就是我們已經說過的，而且我們已經說過將近兩年半了，我們將限制資產負債表的成長。這主要是因為我們不想陷入不了解現金分類動態的境地，不想陷入產生貸款的境地，然後突然發現我們所認為的淨息差與實際的淨息差有所不同。因為正如我們所知，它一直是高度波動的，不是波動的，而是從零直線上升了 500 個基點。

Today, our appetite to grow the balance sheet as it relates to that issue is increasing because, frankly, I see the cash sorting issue becoming less and less and less. Certainly, the prospect of a rate increase based on recent numbers appears to be significantly lower, I'm not gonna rule it out ever, but significantly lower. In fact, you'll see some rate decreases. I'm not in the camp that says it happens in September, yet overall, the stability of this dynamic has created an ability where we now are more confident about adding assets in a manner that we believe we can manage our risk and our net.

今天，我們對擴大與該問題相關的資產負債表的興趣正在增加，因為坦白說，我看到現金分類問題變得越來越少。當然，根據最近的數據，升息的前景似乎要低得多，我不會永遠排除這種可能性，但要低得多。事實上，您會看到利率下降。我不同意這種情況會在 9 月發生，但總體而言，這種動態的穩定性創造了一種能力，使我們現在更有信心以我們相信能夠管理風險和網路的方式增加資產。

Steven Chubak, Wolfe Research.

史蒂文‧丘巴克，沃爾夫研究中心。

Yeah, I really appreciate the thoughts on the sweep deposit dynamics, certainly the topic that you hear at the moment. One of the questions that we've been getting following your remarks is just folks trying to understand the competitiveness of the sweep offering in the context of, I guess, your overall offering to the advisor. Are you confident that a deficient sweep yield is not a competitive disadvantage, at least relative to the recent moves at the wires for Stifel. And just to put this issue, hopefully at least, to bed for the time being, are you comfortable maintaining sweep pricing does not expose you to potential regulatory scrutiny?

是的，我真的很欣賞關於掃款存款動態的想法，當然也是你現在聽到的話題。在您的言論之後，我們收到的問題之一是人們試圖在我猜想您向顧問提供的整體報價的背景下了解掃蕩報價的競爭力。您是否確信掃描收益率不足不會構成競爭劣勢，至少相對於最近 Stifel 的走勢而言是如此。為了暫時解決這個問題，希望至少能暫時解決這個問題，您是否願意維持全面定價不會讓您面臨潛在的監管審查？

Again, your last question first, not really sure of the regulatory aspects. We need to recognize there's a lot of differences. First of all, you've got a broad question that impacts brokerage, non-discretionary fee-based accounts, discretionary fee-based accounts. The long and the short of it is that we always have a lot of levers that we can pull as it relates to how we manage our platform for our various products. The wirehouses, for instance, charge account fees, and we don't. And they have had lower interest on generally speaking than we have.

再說一遍，首先是你的最後一個問題，不太確定監管方面的情況。我們需要認識到存在很多差異。首先，你有一個廣泛的問題，影響經紀業務、非全權委託收費帳戶、全權委託收費帳戶。總而言之，我們總是有很多可以利用的槓桿，因為這關係到我們如何管理各種產品的平台。例如，電信公司收取帳戶費用，而我們則不收取費用。一般來說，他們的興趣比我們低。

So look, are we competitive? Yes, we're competitive. We have to be competitive. We wouldn't be recruiting people. We wouldn't be getting clients if we're not competitive. So of course we're competitive, and we'll remain to be competitive.

那麼看看，我們有競爭力嗎？是的，我們有競爭力。我們必須具有競爭力。我們不會招募人員。如果我們沒有競爭力，我們就不會獲得客戶。因此，我們當然具有競爭力，而且我們將繼續保持競爭力。

And we offer a competitive product for our clients when you consider all of the things that go into the client's experience. So we're very, very confident. And this issue has been laser focused on something that we've been laser focused on for the last two and a half years.

當您考慮到客戶體驗的所有因素時，我們將為客戶提供有競爭力的產品。所以我們非常非常有信心。這個問題一直集中在我們過去兩年半以來一直高度關注的事情上。

And when you think of the competitiveness of the rates, if you look at some of the news reports from the larger peer that came out yesterday, the idea that they're moving certain accounts up to 2%, we're already offering 2% on our sweep program. And in terms of competitiveness, I think that's indicative of where we were already at, in addition to the number of products we have on our platform across alternatives, particularly money market mutual funds.

當你考慮利率的競爭力時，如果你看看昨天發布的較大同行的一些新聞報道，他們將某些帳戶的利率提高到 2%，我們已經提供了 2%在我們的掃蕩計劃中。就競爭力而言，我認為這表明了我們已經所處的位置，此外還有我們平台上跨替代產品（尤其是貨幣市場共同基金）的產品數量。

Stephen, one thing I'll just say that we don't have the issue on, and I'm not sure whether you've enlisted it as an issue, but we're not a platform offering our services to other parties as a platform. And I think that's an issue. And people say, well, there's no pressure on rates if you do that. Well, yes, there is because you can't be subsidizing platform fees through low interest rates as your only option. I point that out because we don't really have that issue, but that does seem to have gotten lost in some of the analysis, so to speak. So that's all I have to say about that.

史蒂芬，有一件事我只想說，我們沒有這個問題，我不確定你是否已將其列為一個問題，但我們不是一個向其他方提供服務的平台平台。我認為這是一個問題。人們說，如果這樣做的話，利率就不會有壓力。嗯，是的，這是因為你不能透過低利率作為唯一的選擇來補貼平台費用。我指出這一點是因為我們實際上並沒有這個問題，但可以這麼說，在一些分析中似乎確實迷失了這一點。這就是我要說的。

Understood. Okay, well, I'm sure others are going to have questions on this topic. So I'm just going to switch gears to slide 12, really helpful mark-to-market of the guidance. Shows consensus revenues are at least near the higher end of the range. The NII guidance unchanged. The comp ratio also near the higher end.

明白了。好吧，我相信其他人也會對這個話題有疑問。因此，我將切換到幻燈片 12，該指南對於按市場計價確實很有幫助。顯示共識收入至少接近該範圍的高端。NII 指引不變。補償比率也接近高端。

I was hoping you could just speak to the drivers of some upward pressure on comp. Is it simply due to mix? Are there other factors? And where are we in the journey of some of the COVID recruiting packages potentially rolling off in the coming years?

我希望你能和司機談談薪資上漲的壓力。只是因為混合嗎？還有其他因素嗎？未來幾年可能推出的一些新冠肺炎招聘計劃目前處於什麼階段？

COVID recruiting packages?

新冠肺炎招募包？

Yeah, just folks you hire during 2020, '21, where you are more aggressive in terms of lenient banker recruitment.

是的，只是你在 2020 年、21 年期間僱用的人，在銀行家招聘方面你更加積極。

Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were talking about wealth management. Well, I haven't heard COVID recruiting packages nor do I think we did that. We certainly didn't have a program for that. And I feel that we built into 2021 the issue, not even the issue, the opportunity is that we have a platform that supports significantly more revenue from an ability to generate revenue. We did $2.2 billion in that business, and we haven't materially changed staffing, so that answers the second question as well, is that the reason we're tightening our range a little bit is that we are on track as to where we think we will be.

哦，對不起。我以為你在談財富管理。嗯，我沒有聽說過新冠肺炎招聘計劃，我認為我們也沒有這樣做。我們當然沒有這方面的計劃。我覺得我們在 2021 年提出了這個問題，甚至不是問題，機會是我們擁有一個平台，可以透過創收能力來支持顯著增加的收入。我們在該業務上投入了22 億美元，並且我們沒有對人員配置進行實質性調整，因此這也回答了第二個問題，即我們稍微收緊我們的範圍的原因是我們正在走上我們認為的軌道我們會的。

We are rebuilding and retracing the decline. We went from $2.2 billion to $1.2 billion in revenue. And if you look at the annualized rates, we're retracing that back. We don't expect it to happen all this year. I don't really share all of the optimism of this being a hockey stick type recovery on that part of the business.

我們正在重建並扭轉頹勢。我們的收入從 22 億美元增加到 12 億美元。如果你看一下年化利率，我們就會回溯到這一點。我們預計今年全年都不會發生這種情況。我並不真正同意這部分業務的曲棍球棒式復甦的所有樂觀情緒。

And therefore, we're conservative in just narrowing our comp-to-revenue range which is kind of where we think we would be within that range if the year plays out as we see it here. Look, I think it's positive, not negative. We're maintaining our platform. We're generating high returns, high return on tangible capital equity, investing in our business, and doing so with a realistic view of the forward curve of improvement of business.

因此，我們在縮小我們的淨利潤與收入範圍方面持保守態度，我們認為，如果今年的情況如我們所見，我們將處於該範圍內。聽著，我認為這是積極的，而不是消極的。我們正在維護我們的平台。我們正在創造高回報，有形資本淨值的高回報，投資於我們的業務，並以現實的眼光看待業務改善的未來曲線。

I'd add to that a little bit. Obviously, NII plays a big role in the comp leverage either up or down, and we were able to hold 58% comp to revenue last year in a challenging environment for our institutional group, but upward sloping NII results. This year, for the first six months, NII is down $85 million year to date. So you think about that over the first six months, that equates to about 2 points of comp margin that we've absorbed and how we absorbed it.

我想補充一點。顯然，NII 在補償槓桿的上升或下降中發揮著重要作用，去年我們在機構集團充滿挑戰的環境中能夠保持 58% 的補償收入，但 NII 的結果呈上升趨勢。今年前六個月，NII 迄今已減少 8,500 萬美元。所以你想一下，在前六個月，這相當於我們吸收了大約 2 個百分點的利潤率以及我們如何吸收它。

Some of that is the rebound and the decrease in subsidy in other businesses. And so there's obviously a lot of moving factors here, but I think I'd point to the stability of a diversified business model and how we're able to not see material swings up in a number of different business environments.

其中一些是其他業務的反彈和補貼的減少。因此，這裡顯然有很多變化因素，但我想我會指出多元化商業模式的穩定性，以及我們如何能夠在許多不同的商業環境中看到材料波動。

And just I'm going to squeeze in one more quick one. Just what drove lower deposit costs quarter on quarter? Certainly encouraging to see, but just given the decline in sweep deposits was a bit tough to reconcile.

我要再快速地塞進一張。究竟是什麼推動存款成本逐季下降？當然令人鼓舞，但考慮到掃款存款的下降就有點難以調和。

Yeah, it was not related to sweep. It was all related to ICS type deposit or reciprocal type deposits that are higher costing deposits that we moved off balance sheet. We basically use more sweep deposits in the quarter, and so It's a couple basis points of change, but that's what drove that fluctuation on a sequential basis.

是的，這與掃蕩無關。這一切都與 ICS 類型存款或互惠類型存款有關，這些存款是我們從資產負債表中移出的成本較高的存款。我們基本上在本季度使用了更多的掃描存款，因此這是幾個基點的變化，但這就是推動連續波動的原因。

We have that flexibility to do that.

我們有足夠的靈活性來做到這一點。

Alex Blostein, Goldman Sachs.

亞歷克斯·布洛斯坦，高盛。

So staying on the topic of the weeks or week, I guess. First, just a clarification. So roughly the $3 billion of advisory sweep cash that you pointed to in the deck, you're saying you're already paying 2% rate on that, and ultimately, there's no plans to change that. But based on regulatory dynamics and how that evolves, you're thinking on that might evolve as well. Did I read the [answer right]

所以我想，還是停留在幾週或一週的主題吧。首先，澄清一下。因此，您在甲板上提到的大約 30 億美元的諮詢掃除現金，您說您已經為此支付了 2% 的利率，並且最終沒有計劃改變這一點。但根據監管動態及其演變方式，您認為這也可能會演變。我讀過嗎[回答正確]

Let me stop you there, Alex. I want to be sure if that's what you heard, that's not what I meant you to hear. What I said was that there's a portion of our sweep deposits that we view as operational cash, $9,000 in average balances. And our view of operational cash goes into our normal sweep tiering. It's our normal sweep product.

讓我阻止你，亞歷克斯。我想確定這是否是你聽到的，這不是我想讓你聽到的。我所說的是，我們的掃蕩存款中有一部分被我們視為營運現金，平均餘額為 9,000 美元。我們對營運現金的看法也體現在我們正常的掃描分層中。這是我們普通的掃地產品。

The highest rate of that tier is 2%, but not every balance is 2%. So let's be clear there. But we were already at where some people are saying they wanna go on rates. Our sweep deposit pays up to 2% for everything, including brokering.

該等級的最高稅率為 2%，但並非每個餘額都是 2%。所以讓我們明確一點。但我們已經處於一些人說他們想要繼續定價的情況​​。我們的掃一掃存款支付高達 2% 的一切費用，包括經紀業務。

Got it, okay, that's helpful clarification. So I guess just building on that. So while the balances are obviously small, and they're operational in nature as you described it, how does that insulate you guys and the industry from the fiduciary obligation under Reg BI, right, because operationally, it's having this transactional cash in Smart Rate deposit or money market fund. Is that different? Does that preclude the customer from performing some of their normal way investment activity?

明白了，好吧，這很有幫助。所以我想只是以此為基礎。因此，雖然餘額顯然很小，而且正如您所描述的那樣，它們本質上是可操作的，但這如何使您和整個行業免受Reg BI 下的信託義務的影響，對吧，因為在操作上，它在智能利率中擁有這些交易現金存款或貨幣市場基金。那有什麼不同嗎？這是否會妨礙客戶進行一些正常的投資活動？

I'm just trying to understand that like, is there a red line between small operational sweep on the fiduciary or not, right, and whether or not that could still fall under the Reg BI.

我只是想了解，對受託人的小規模營運掃描與否之間是否存在紅線，以及這是否仍然屬於《商業智慧》的管轄範圍。

Look, I'm cautious about ever making regulatory interpretation questions. I know that we need to have a reasonable platform, needs to be understood. Most advisory platforms will allocate a percentage, 2% to 3% to cash to pay fees and to have operational cash. That's part of the platform. That's very reasonable.

看，我對提出監管解釋問題持謹慎態度。我知道我們需要有一個合理的平台，需要被理解。大多數諮詢平台都會分配一定比例（2% 到 3%）的現金來支付費用和營運現金。這是平台的一部分。這是非常有道理的。

As long as it's understood, then that's just what we do, and there's nothing wrong with that. There is no law that says you have to have the highest rate or charge the lowest fee. I mean, let's just take this whole thesis and say that Reg BI says that the highest you can charge for advice is what the ETFs charge. That's not what it says, and we need to be reasonable. And the biggest driver for us is competitive.

只要明白了，那就是我們所做的，沒有錯。沒有法律規定您必須收取最高費率或收取最低費用。我的意思是，讓我們以整個論點為例，Reg BI 表示您可以收取的最高建議費是 ETF 的收費。事實並非如此，我們需要保持理性。對我們來說最大的驅動力是競爭。

It's the competitive -- putting a competitive product that we can grow client assets, and clients have a choice. And if you do not provide a competitive product, they leave. Certainly, if the advisors aren't happy, they would leave. So I think when you boil it all in, we're very comfortable with where we are.

這就是競爭－推出有競爭力的產品，我們可以增加客戶資產，並且客戶有選擇。如果你不能提供有競爭力的產品，他們就會離開。當然，如果顧問不滿意，他們就會離開。所以我認為，當你把一切都考慮在內時，我們對自己所處的位置感到非常滿意。

I got you. Great. Okay. Thank you for that. Let's maybe move on. Maybe just talk a little bit about recruiting environment. I know it has been a bit tougher for the industry as a whole over the last couple of quarters with perhaps more competition from some of the higher paying providers out there. If this whole cash dynamic results in more pressure relative to some of the more aggressively priced packages, particularly from some of the private firms, I guess, what opportunity, if at all, do you see for Stifel to lean into that market either from aggressively recruiting it perhaps a bit more or doing something inorganically?

我接到你了。偉大的。好的。謝謝你。也許我們可以繼續前進。也許只是談談招募環境。我知道，在過去的幾個季度中，整個行業的處境變得更加艱難，因為來自一些高薪提供者的競爭可能會更加激烈。如果整個現金動態導致相對於一些價格更激進的套餐（尤其是來自一些私營公司）的更大壓力，我想，您認為 Stifel 有什麼機會（如果有的話）從積極地進入該市場也許更多地招募它或無機地做一些事情？

Well, look, there's always dynamics that impact recruiting. They're ever-changing and always there. This is just one, it will change. Broadly speaking, I think that I've said for a long time that part of the competition was the migration from employee, advisor, full service to independent, that there was a lot of competition because, in my view, if you were supplementing from a platform perspective, you could supplement higher recruiting cost and maybe ongoing compensation by subsidizing it with very low options for client cash.

嗯，看，總是有影響招募的動態。它們不斷變化並且始終存在。這只是其中之一，以後還會改變。從廣義上講，我認為我已經說過很長一段時間，競爭的一部分是從員工、顧問、全方位服務到獨立的轉變，競爭非常激烈，因為在我看來，如果你從平台的角度來看，您可以透過以非常低的客戶現金選擇來補貼更高的招募成本，或許還可以補充持續的薪資。

As that dynamic changes, which I think it will change from the very low 0.01% to 0.04% for that platform, that will change the economics on that side of the industry, which we view will be beneficial to us, competitively speaking.

隨著這種動態變化，我認為該平台將從非常低的 0.01% 變為 0.04%，這將改變行業這一方面的經濟狀況，我們認為從競爭角度來看，這對我們有利。

Bill Katz, TD Cowen.

比爾·卡茨，TD·考恩。

I, too, have one more cash sweep and excuse the -- maybe the elementary nature of this question. If you were to look outside of transactional cash and the rest of the sweep cash under the fiduciary account, how did the yields stack up? I guess 2% for cash makes sense if you just sort of keeping it at idle, but when rates are around 5% or so, you have Smart Rate and fixed income and so forth, but does that put any kind of upward pressure either on third-party sweep yields or even sweep that sort of deposit, excuse me, that swept onto the bank? Just trying to get my hands around that a little bit better.

我也再次掃了現金，並原諒——也許是這個問題的基本性質。如果您將目光放在交易現金和信託帳戶下的其餘現金之外，收益率如何疊加？我想如果你只是閒置的話，2%的現金利率是有意義的，但是當利率在5%左右時，你就有智能利率和固定收益等等，但這是否會給你帶來任何形式的上行壓力？只是想讓我的手更好一點。

Bill, look, we tried to say that we put products in place to encourage cash sorting and to give those options. And we've watched 63% of our pre-rate cycle sweep deposits move into the higher yielding savings. And we've seen a tremendous increase in short-term treasuries, and we've seen an increase in ticketed money funds, all of which are part of the competitive dynamic. So as we look at it, if we would choose to raise yields, we'll do so with the eye of attracting more deposits that we feel that we can deploy on the asset side because we have a vast liquidity pool from deposits sitting off balance sheets.

比爾，聽著，我們試圖說我們推出的產品是為了鼓勵現金分類並提供這些選擇。我們發現 63% 的利率週期前存款轉入了較高收益的儲蓄。我們看到短期國債大幅增加，票據貨幣基金也增加，所有這些都是競爭動態的一部分。因此，在我們看來，如果我們選擇提高收益率，我們會著眼於吸引更多存款，我們認為我們可以將這些存款部署在資產方面，因為我們擁有龐大的流動性池，存款處於失衡狀態床單。

So one of the dynamics of increasing rates will be to attract more cash onto the platform, all things being equal. So I don't feel that -- look, I think that the regulatory aspects, but I do not all understand it. What I can't know what's going on inside the four walls of some of the firms that have dealt with this. But again, we believe we have a competitive fair product that we offer on a platform that is very fair when you consider all costs that go into it. And I'm comfortable.

因此，在所有條件相同的情況下，提高費率的動力之一將是吸引更多現金進入平台。所以我不這麼認為——看，我認為是監管方面的問題，但我並不完全理解它。我不知道一些處理過此事的公司的四面牆內發生了什麼事。但我們再次相信，我們在一個平台上提供具有競爭力的公平產品，當您考慮到其中的所有成本時，它是非常公平的。我很舒服。

So it's hard to answer your question. It's not elementary. It's actually very complex with multiple facets which is what I'm trying to convey here. And I think one of you all wrote something, I read something where experienced management teams know how to do this and know how to manage the businesses. I would like to think we're one of those management teams. We've been doing it a long time, and we've navigated through all kinds of market conditions and changes in the market and have gotten ahead of many of them, and I feel that's what we're targeting.

所以很難回答你的問題。這不是初級的。它實際上非常複雜，具有多個方面，這就是我在這裡想要傳達的內容。我想你們中的一個人都寫過一些東西，我讀過一些經驗豐富的管理團隊知道如何做到這一點並知道如何管理業務的東西。我想我們是這些管理團隊之一。我們已經這樣做了很長時間，我們已經經歷了各種市場條件和市場變化，並且已經領先於其中許多，我覺得這就是我們的目標。

Maybe one for Jim. Just in terms of capital priorities, now that the debt is behind you, your Tier 1 leverage ratio and capital ratios are very good, how should we think about maybe the pace of buyback from here? Maybe you could put that in percentage or maybe pay out a free cash flow and/or any priorities between de novo versus inorganic opportunities.

也許是給吉姆的。就資本優先順序而言，現在債務已經過去了，你的一級槓桿率和資本比率都非常好，我們該如何考慮接下來的回購節奏？也許你可以用百分比來表示，或者支付自由現金流和/或從頭機會與無機機會之間的任何優先事項。

Yeah, so as we mentioned on the call, we have $415 million of excess capital today. So the capacity has increased in terms of our ability to deploy capital in terms of the buyback. That said, the buyback is going to be price dependent, and it will not be linear. Obviously, we've talked a little bit about allocating some capital to bank growth within the loan portfolio. A lot of that can be done with just the capital generated in the bank.

是的，正如我們在電話會議中提到的，我們今天擁有 4.15 億美元的超額資本。因此，我們在回購方面部署資本的能力有所增強。也就是說，回購將取決於價格，並且不會是線性的。顯然，我們已經討論過在貸款組合中分配一些資本用於銀行成長。其中許多工作只需利用銀行產生的資本即可完成。

And so we don't have a formulaic process in terms of payouts or in terms of price. We will be opportunistic. And you may see capita increased over time, but we will be active in the buyback at some point in the future.

因此，我們在支付或價格方面沒有公式化的流程。我們會投機取巧。你可能會看到資本隨著時間的推移而增加，但我們將在未來的某個時候積極進行回購。

Brennan Hawken, UBS.

布倫南霍肯，瑞銀集團。

I'm going to take the same option that all my peers did and have my first question on sweeps. And Ron, though, I got to give you props. Two years ago, we spoke about this, and you actually flagged the risk about sweep and the potential for some risk here. So tip of the cap there first.

我將採取與所有同行相同的選擇，並提出關於掃描的第一個問題。不過，羅恩，我必須給你支持。兩年前，我們討論過這個問題，您實際上標記了掃描的風險以及這裡潛在的一些風險。所以先把蓋子的尖端放在那裡。

But on to my question. Sorry?

但關於我的問題。對不起？

No, thank you. We did talk about this, I remember, and the only thing I'd add to it is not only did we talk about it, but we put in products to deal with it. But thank you for remembering.

不，謝謝。我記得我們確實討論過這個問題，我唯一要補充的是，我們不僅討論了它，而且我們還推出了產品來處理它。但謝謝你還記得。

Yeah, yeah, of course. So you had flagged the Smart Rate offering, and certainly that's a compelling offering for your clients as evidenced by the take-up rates that you've seen. But it's my understanding that Smart Rate you know cannot be held in advisory accounts, and it's like a ticketed item sort of like a money market fund. So I'm not really sure I understand how that would address this issue particularly given the fact that excluding the one that we had a press report overnight, they haven't actually made any changes yet, seems to be doing a lesser action the other two wires and moved all advisory to a more compelling rate.

是的，是的，當然。因此，您已經標記了智慧費率產品，當然，這對您的客戶來說是一個有吸引力的產品，正如您所看到的使用率所證明的那樣。但據我了解，您所知道的智慧利率不能保存在諮詢帳戶中，它就像一種票據項目，有點像貨幣市場基金。因此，我不太確定我是否理解這將如何解決這個問題，特別是考慮到排除我們隔夜收到新聞報道的那一個這一事實，他們實際上還沒有做出任何改變，似乎對另一個採取了較少的行動兩根電報並將所有諮詢轉移到了更具說服力的速率。

It seems as though there's a distinction drawn between brokerage and advisory, and so therefore, this is really squarely a fiduciary issue. And in an employee model, the firm is a fiduciary. So how is it that you believe that the firm is putting the client's interest above their own and not maybe moving in a similar direction to some of these wires as far as the frictional cash not bothering to draw distinction when you have a fiduciary obligation?

經紀業務和諮詢業務之間似乎存在區別，因此，這確實是一個信託問題。在員工模型中，公司是受託人。那麼，您為何認為公司將客戶的利益置於自己的利益之上，並且可能不會朝著與其中一些電匯類似的方向發展，因為當您有信託義務時，摩擦現金不會費心去區分？

Look, you're conflating that fiduciary obligation is the lowest possible cost everywhere. It's reasonable. We have an obligation. We meet that obligation. You can take that to an extreme in terms of fees and everything else. The platform needs to be properly disclosed.

聽著，您混淆了信託義務在任何地方都是盡可能最低的成本。這是合理的。我們有義務。我們履行這項義務。您可以在費用和其他方面將其發揮到極致。該平台需要適當披露。

I'm not sure that I have read that all advisory cash has been adjusted. In fact, I've read that a lot of advisory cash is not eligible for the same. That's what I've read, which to me is this reservoir of cash used for operational and transaction, which is how the industry is based anyway. I don't really know how they've done that.

我不確定我是否已讀到所有諮詢現金都已調整。事實上，我讀到很多諮詢現金不符合同樣的資格。這就是我讀到的內容，對我來說，這是用於營運和交易的現金儲備，無論如何，這就是該行業的基礎。我真的不知道他們是怎麼做到的。

And again, there were press reports last night. suggests a large firm was not doing that. So again, it doesn't really -- I'm only trying to understand the competitive nature of this and making sure that we're competitive. And we are, all right? And that's the thing.

昨晚又有媒體報道。表明一家大公司沒有這樣做。再說一遍，這並不是真的——我只是想了解競爭的本質並確保我們具有競爭力。我們也是，好嗎？就是這樣。

Now as it relates to Smart Rate not an advisory account, that's one of the crazy things about some of these regulatory aspects. Smart Rate should be available, and we would love to offer it in advisory, but there's some arcane rules about that specific rule that prevent us from doing that. So what has happened instead, those move to money, those are in ticketed money funds.

現在，由於它與智慧利率相關，而不是諮詢帳戶，因此這是其中一些監管方面的瘋狂之處之一。智慧費率應該是可用的，我們很樂意在諮詢中提供它，但有一些關於該特定規則的神秘規則阻止我們這樣做。那麼，發生的事情是，那些轉向貨幣，那些進入票據貨幣基金。

But if we had our choice, we would be offering Smart Rate to our advisory accounts. We just can't, which is sort of ridiculous when we start thinking about our fiduciary obligation, yet we can't offer a great product.

但如果我們有選擇，我們會向我們的諮詢帳戶提供智慧利率。我們就是不能，當我們開始考慮我們的信託義務時，這有點荒謬，但我們無法提供出色的產品。

And the ticketed money funds are yielding roughly equivalent of what Smart Rate is. And what's interesting is the balance of ticketed money funds and advisory accounts is almost identical to the balance of advisory sweep cash accounts. So you can see some of that cash is already sorted over there as Ron indicated.

票據貨幣基金的收益率大致相當於智慧利率。有趣的是，票據貨幣基金和諮詢帳戶的餘額幾乎與諮詢現金帳戶的餘額相同。所以你可以看到一些現金已經在那裡分類，正如羅恩所說的那樣。

Look, these are very -- everyone that's asking questions, everyone, this is the first question. I'm sure it's going to be the first question on every call. I would just encourage you to look at the various aspects of this and understand the platform side, the fiduciary side, the brokerage side, all of which have implications. We have two of those three buckets that we have to deal with. And we feel that we have done so appropriately and competitively.

聽著，每個人都在問問題，每個人，這是第一個問題。我確信這將是每次通話的第一個問題。我只是鼓勵你看看這件事的各個方面，並了解平台方面、信託方面、經紀方面，所有這些都有影響。我們必須處理這三個桶子中的兩個。我們認為我們這樣做是適當且具競爭力的。

Great. But I fully appreciate the situation is very fluid, and we're getting data points very frequently. So thanks for providing your perspective on that. Shifting gears a little bit, I think, Jim, you had indicated that expectation for share count in the third quarter will be roughly flat with the end of period at 111 million. Does that mean that we should expect maybe limited buybacks in the third quarter even though the debt is already retired, maybe you want to rebuild cash, or am I misunderstanding?

偉大的。但我完全理解情況是非常不穩定的，而且我們非常頻繁地獲取數據點。因此，感謝您提供對此的看法。吉姆，我認為稍微換個方向，您曾表示對第三季股票數量的預期將與期末大致持平，為 1.11 億股。這是否意味著即使債務已經償還，我們應該預期第三季的回購可能有限，也許你想重建現金，還是我誤解了？

What we included in our prepared remarks assumes no change in stock price and no additional repurchases. That is not indicating what our plans are for repurchases. We've not said anything specific about what the buyback would look like. That's just to give you an idea of what the number would be absent those two fluctuations. And you could put your assumption in there.

我們在準備好的評論中所包含的內容假設股價沒有變化，也沒有額外的回購。這並不表示我們的回購計劃是什麼。我們還沒有具體說明回購的具體情況。這只是為了讓您了解如果沒有這兩次波動的話，這個數字會是多少。你可以把你的假設放在那裡。

Right. Jim gives you the same number he gives me, okay? He said that here's our base now, an increase in the share price will increase our diluted shares outside, decrease and then layer your stock purchases on it. So you can do the same thing that we do, okay? We start with a base of 111 million and the two variables that will impact that base our share repurchases and stock prices.

正確的。吉姆給你的號碼和他給我的號碼一樣，好嗎？他說現在這是我們的基地，股價上漲會增加我們外面稀釋的股票，減少然後分層購買股票。所以你可以做我們做的同樣的事情，好嗎？我們從 1.11 億的基數開始，以及將影​​響我們的股票回購和股價的兩個基數的變數。

(Operator Instructions) Chris Allen with Citi.

（操作員指示）花旗銀行的 Chris Allen。

Wanted to switch gears a little bit. I think we've talked about deposit rates enough at this point. Maybe if you could talk about the outlook for growth from here. You noted that cash sorting, the impact there is declining. Just wondering if there's any other constraining factors on loan growth from here? I know you've talked about in the past about aligning loans with deposit relationship with clients and kind of what's the appetite for loan growth going forward?

想要稍微改一下。我認為我們現在已經足夠討論存款利率了。也許您可以從這裡談談成長前景。您注意到現金分類的影響正在下降。只是想知道是否有其他限制貸款成長的因素？我知道您過去曾談到如何調整貸款與客戶的存款關係，以及未來貸款成長的需求是什麼？

I think that, no. I mean we -- I've always said we have tremendous demand for loans. One of the constraining factors has been the foundational basis of funding, which is deposits and cash sorting and our uncertainty with that and the forward yield curve and the inversion of the yield curve. And all of that boiled together, we said -- again, a couple of years ago, say, look, we're going to limit balance sheet growth here until we get a clearer picture of what we do on the asset side is properly -- has the proper foundation and how it's funded on the liability side.

我認為，不。我的意思是我們——我一直說我們對貸款有巨大的需求。限制因素之一是融資的基礎，即存款和現金分類以及我們對此的不確定性以及遠期殖利率曲線和殖利率曲線的反轉。所有這些都集中在一起，我們說過——幾年前，我們將限制資產負債表的增長，直到我們更清楚地了解我們在資產方面所做的事情是否正確—— - 擁有適當的基礎以及如何在負債方面提供資金。

We are getting past that point of being able to see, have some visibility into how we can build the balance sheet in a profitable risk-adjusted way, which is what we always talk about. And I would say today that, yes, we can grow. The constraining factor today, just to answer you, will be, if there is one, is that where the entire industry got into, I think, into a position of sort of running the balance sheet.

我們已經超越了能夠看到、了解如何以可獲利的風險調整方式建立資產負債表的階段，這就是我們總是談論的內容。今天我想說的是，是的，我們可以成長。今天，只是為了回答你，如果有的話，我認為整個行業都進入了運行資產負債表的位置。

If you were lending almost on a spread basis to variety of clients that might be the only relationship that you had was that, and you were doing it because you were washing deposits that you were looking to get build to rent income. We did a little bit of that as well and what -- but not a lot. But the constraining factor now is that we're not just a spread lender, we're a relationship lender. So when we're evaluating what we're putting on our balance sheet, it's going to have a lot more doors in term or, if you will, ability to do other business, whether it's in wealth or treasury or banking and all of those things that are an overall relationship.

如果你幾乎以利差的方式向各種客戶提供貸款，那麼你所擁有的唯一關係可能就是這樣，而你這樣做是因為你正在洗掉存款，而你希望將這些存款建立起來以賺取租金收入。我們也做了一些這樣的事情——但不是很多。但現在的限制因素是，我們不只是利差貸款人，我們還是關係貸款人。因此，當我們評估我們的資產負債表上的內容時，它將會有更多的機會，或者，如果你願意的話，有能力開展其他業務，無論是財富、國庫還是銀行業等等。一個整體的關係。

So that's just how we talk about it internally, and that's what I would say. But even that has a tremendous amount of ability for us to grow. The opportunities for growth is not a problem at all. It's us getting comfortable with the overall economic environment with which we're growing into.

這就是我們內部討論的方式，這就是我要說的。但即便如此，我們也有龐大的成長能力。成長機會根本不是問題。這是我們對我們正在成長的整體經濟環境感到滿意。

And when you think of some of those relationships, particularly with venture lending and fund banking, those produce additional deposits, as Ron talked about. Last quarter, those were up probably another $200 million. And the pace of that has picked up already in the third quarter. So we're seeing some of the fruits of the investments we've made there, and that's going to continue to provide another source of liquidity to fund overall balance sheet growth.

當你想到其中一些關係時，特別是與風險貸款和基金銀行業務的關係，正如羅恩所說，這些關係會產生額外的存款。上個季度，這一數字可能又增加了 2 億美元。第三季這步伐已經加快。因此，我們看到了我們在那裡進行的投資的一些成果，這將繼續提供另一個流動性來源，為整體資產負債表的成長提供資金。

And another one, just on a different topic. Just on FIC trading, any color on the marks during the quarter? And how are you thinking about the environment moving forward? We know credit trading activity slowed down a little bit, but rate trading outlook continues to look pretty robust from here.

還有另一則，只是關於不同的主題。就 FIC 交易而言，本季標記有任何顏色嗎？您如何看待未來的環境？我們知道信貸交易活動略有放緩，但利率交易前景看起來仍然相當強勁。

I think it's -- a lot of our rate's trading is correlated to bank balance sheet, and we see that activity of picking up for the same reasons that I talk about on the asset side of trying to know what the forward environment might look like that allows us to make decisions on the line. Same thing is directly related to what banks are doing in their portfolios and trying to understand how to reposition their portfolios. And the strategies around that, which is what we do.

我認為，我們的許多利率交易都與銀行資產負債表相關，我們看到這種活動的回升，其原因與我在資產方面談到的相同原因，即試圖了解未來環境可能會是什麼樣子使我們能夠在線做出決定。同樣的事情也與銀行在其投資組合中所做的事情以及試圖了解如何重新定位其投資組合直接相關。以及圍繞這一點的策略，這就是我們所做的。

We advise on that. We help on strategy, we help on interest rate risk, we help on how those portfolios are positioned and stress tests against various things. And what we see is that in 2023, I think a lot of people were very cautious, A, because of the outflow of deposits, uncertainty in the marketplace, and there was not a lot of trading going on, and we see that picking up and that trends expanding absent some big change in the economic environment. But the trend in that business is good.

我們對此提出建議。我們協助制定策略，幫助解決利率風險，幫助解決這些投資組合的定位以及針對各種因素的壓力測試。我們看到的是，在2023年，我認為很多人都非常謹慎，A，因為存款外流，市場不確定性，並且沒有大量交易進行，我們看到回升如果經濟環境沒有發生重大變化，這種趨勢就會擴大。但該業務的趨勢良好。

For sure. But I would highlight, historically, we do typically see a bit of a -- some seasonality in the third quarter. Some slowdown there, and then that's kind of picked back up in the fourth quarter. So as you're thinking of kind of your forward numbers, I would remind you to take that into consideration. And we did have some gains during the quarter that played into some of the results in 2Q as well. But just keep those things in mind as you look forward for the rest of the year.

一定。但我要強調的是，從歷史上看，我們通常會在第三季看到一些季節性因素。那裡有一些放緩，然後在第四季度有所回升。因此，當您考慮轉發號碼時，我會提醒您考慮這一點。我們在本季確實取得了一些成果，這也影響了第二季的一些業績。但在展望今年剩餘時間時，請記住這些事情。

I always count on my CFO to put quarterly parameters on my overall viewpoint of the marketplace.

我總是指望我的財務長根據我對市場的整體看法提出季度參數。

Thank you. It appears we have no further questions at this time. Mr. Kruszewski, I will turn the conference back to you for any additional or closing remarks.

謝謝。目前看來我們沒有其他問題了。Kruszewski 先生，我將把會議轉回給您，請您發表補充或結束語。

Well, thank you for pronouncing my name perfectly. And the -- what I would say is we're excited about the remainder of the year where we believe that, as uncertainty come off the table, the markets will continue to improve. We still see exit velocity into 2025. I think we are on our way to both our mid- and long-term milestones that we've talked about. And I look forward to reporting back to you after the third quarter this year. And thank you, everyone, for taking the time to listen to us, and we will sign off. Thank you.

好吧，謝謝你完美地發音了我的名字。我想說的是，我們對今年剩餘時間感到興奮，我們相信，隨著不確定性的消除，市場將繼續改善。我們仍然看到 2025 年的退出速度。我認為我們正在實現我們所討論的中長期里程碑。我期待今年第三季後向您報告。感謝大家花時間聆聽我們的發言，我們將結束。謝謝。

This concludes today's call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。