老虎證券 (TIGR) 2020 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to UP Fintech Holding Limited Fourth Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) I must advise you that this conference is being recorded today, Friday, March 26, 2021.

女士們、先生們，感謝大家的支持，歡迎參加UP Fintech Holding Limited 2020年第四季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）我必須通知您，本次會議將於今天（2021 年 3 月 26 日星期五）進行錄製。

I'd now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Mr. Clark S. Soucy. Thank you. Please go ahead.

現在我想將會議交給今天的第一位發言者克拉克·S·蘇西先生。謝謝。請繼續。

Thank you, operator. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us for the call today. UP Fintech Holding Limited's fourth quarter 2020 earnings release was distributed earlier today and is available on our IR website at ir.itiger.com as well as GlobeNewswire services.

謝謝你，接線生。大家好，感謝您今天加入我們的電話會議。 UP Fintech Holding Limited 的 2020 年第四季收益報告於今天稍早發布，可在我們的投資者關係網站 ir.itiger.com 以及 GlobeNewswire 服務上取得。

On the call today from UP Fintech are Mr. Wu Tianhua, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Mr. John Zeng, Chief Financial Officer; Mr.Huang Lei, CEO of U.S. Tiger Securities; and [Mr. Kenny Zhao], our financial controller. Mr. Wu will give an overview of our business operations and discuss corporate highlights. Mr. Zeng will then discuss our financial results. They will both be available to answer your questions during the Q&A session that follows their remarks. Now let me cover the safe harbor.

今天，UP Fintech 董事長兼首席執行官吳天華先生參加了電話會議；曾約翰先生，財務長；美國老虎證券執行長黃磊先生；和[先生。趙肯尼]，我們的財務總監。吳先生將概述我們的業務運營並討論公司亮點。然後曾先生將討論我們的財務表現。他們將在發言後的問答環節回答您的問題。現在讓我來報道安全港。

The statements we are about to make contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. For more information about factors that could cause actual results to materially differ from those in the forward-looking statements, please refer to our Form 6-K furnished today, March 26, 2021, and our annual report on Form 20-F filed on April 29, 2020. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required under applicable law.

我們即將做出的聲明包含 1995 年美國私人證券訴訟改革法案含義內的前瞻性聲明。許多因素可能導致實際結果與任何前瞻性聲明中包含的結果有重大差異。有關可能導致實際結果與前瞻性陳述中的結果存在重大差異的因素的更多信息，請參閱我們今天（2021 年3 月26 日）提供的表格6-K 以及我們於4 月提交的表格20- F 年度報告2020 年 2 月 29 日。我們不承擔更新任何前瞻性聲明的義務，除非適用法律要求。

It is my pleasure to now introduce our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Wu. Mr. Wu will make remarks in Chinese, which will be followed by an English translation. Mr. Wu, please go ahead with your remarks.

我很高興現在介紹我們的董事長兼執行長吳先生。吳先生將以中文致辭，隨後將有英文翻譯。請吳先生發言。

[Interpreted] Good day, everyone, and I appreciate your attendance in Tiger Brokers Fourth Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call.

[解讀]大家好，非常感謝您參加老虎證券2020年第四季財報電話會議。

In the fourth quarter, our operating and financial metrics exhibited solid improvement due to a surge in new clients as well as enhancements to our platform and services. In the fourth quarter, total revenue was USD 47.2 million, 2.4x compared to that of the same period last year and a new all-time high. Tiger's operating efficiency and profitability continue to improve.

在第四季度，由於新客戶的激增以及我們平台和服務的增強，我們的營運和財務指標呈現出穩健的改善。第四季總營收為4,720萬美元，是去年同期的2.4倍，再創歷史新高。泰格的營運效率和獲利能力不斷提高。

Non-GAAP net income was $10.3 million in the fourth quarter, nearly 30x the non-GAAP net income in the same quarter last year. In addition, I'm pleased to report that we added 44,000 new funded accounts this quarter, nearly quadruple the number from the same period last year. Total funded accounts reached 259,000 by the end of 2020, more than double that of 2019. Growth in client assets was outstanding.

第四季非 GAAP 淨利為 1,030 萬美元，幾乎是去年同季非 GAAP 淨利的 30 倍。此外，我很高興地報告，本季我們新增了 44,000 個新資金帳戶，幾乎是去年同期的四倍。截至2020年底，資金帳戶總數達到25.9萬個，是2019年的兩倍多。客戶資產成長顯著。

Total account balance reached $16 billion, more than triple that of the fourth quarter of 2019 and 46.2% higher than the third quarter of 2020. Overall for 2020, total revenue was $138 million, more than double versus 2019. We were profitable for the first time on a yearly basis. Non-GAAP net income was $22.3 million in 2020, a big improvement from a non-GAAP loss of $1.8 million in 2019.

帳戶總餘額達到 160 億美元，是 2019 年第四季的三倍多，比 2020 年第三季成長 46.2%。2020 年整體營收為 1.38 億美元，是 2019 年的兩倍多。我們首次實現獲利每年的時間。 2020 年非 GAAP 淨利潤為 2,230 萬美元，較 2019 年非 GAAP 虧損 180 萬美元有了很大改善。

I would now like to take this opportunity to comment on 3 notable milestones in our development.

現在我想藉此機會談談我們發展中的三個值得注意的里程碑。

First and foremost, our internationalization strategy continues to progress nicely. Tiger Brokers now have subsidiaries and offices in the U.S., Australia, Singapore and New Zealand that possess a wide range of licenses that span brokerage, investment banking and asset management, among others.

首先，我們的國際化策略持續良好進展。老虎證券目前在美國、澳洲、新加坡和紐西蘭設有子公司和辦事處，擁有涵蓋經紀、投資銀行和資產管理等領域的廣泛執照。

In the fourth quarter, I am pleased to report that our expansion in the aforementioned overseas markets accelerated. International clients represented 40% of newly funded accounts. We expect that in 2021, we will add more than 350,000 funded accounts. International clients will comprise more than 50% of the new funded accounts.

在第四季度，我很高興地向大家報告，我們在上述海外市場的擴張加速了。國際客戶佔新增資金帳戶的 40%。我們預計到 2021 年，我們將增加超過 35 萬個資金帳戶。國際客戶將佔新增資金帳戶的 50% 以上。

Moving on, our investment banking and ESOP services continue to lead the market. We are committed to our growth strategy of leveraging Tiger's core brokerage business to generate synergies among ESOP, investment banking and internationalization.

展望未來，我們的投資銀行和員工持股計畫服務持續引領市場。我們致力於利用老虎的核心經紀業務在員工持股計畫、投資銀行和國際化之間產生協同效應的成長策略。

In 2020, in total, we participated in 26 Chinese ADR IPOs in the U.S. And in Q4, we participated in 8 listings, such as 17 Technology, iHuman Inc. and Yatsen Holding Limited. Recently, we also underwrote the secondary listings of Bilibili and Autohome in Hong Kong. I would like to express my appreciation to all of these companies for their trust at such an important time.

2020年，我們總共參與了26起中國ADR赴美IPO。第四季度，我們參與了17科技、洪恩科技、Yatsen Holding Limited等8起上市。近期，我們也承銷了嗶哩嗶哩、汽車之家在香港二次上市。我謹對所有這些公司在如此重要的時刻給予的信任表示感謝。

Reflecting on the development of our investment banking business. In just 2 years, we have become the #1 underwriter globally in terms of deal counts for Chinese ADR issuance.

對我們投資銀行業務發展的思考。在短短兩年內，我們已成為中國 ADR 發行交易數量全球第一的承銷商。

ESOP, our system for managing employee stock options, continues to grow at a rapid pace. In the past year, of the Chinese ADR issuance that listed in the U.S., over half chose to adopt our ESOP system, including popular issuers like Li Auto, Kingsoft Cloud and Yatsen Holding Limited, among others. The growth in adoption of our ESOP system accelerated as we added 35 clients in the fourth quarter for a cumulative total of 124 clients. We expect our ESOP system to maintain its leading position and foresee further increases in market share.

ESOP 是我們管理員工股票選擇權的系統，持續快速發展。過去一年，在美國上市的中國ADR發行中，超過一半選擇採用我們的員工持股計劃，包括理想汽車、金山雲、逸仙控股等熱門發行人。我們的 ESOP 系統的採用率加速成長，第四季度我們增加了 35 個客戶，客戶總數達到 124 個。我們預計我們的員工持股計畫將保持領先地位，並預計市場份額將進一步增加。

Finally, we continue to invest in developing our self-clearing capabilities. In July of 2019, when we acquired Marsco, a U.S. broker-dealer with over 30 years of self-clearing experience, we also acquired their clearing licenses. Our investment to transition to self-clearing remains a key milestone in our firm's development. We now have the technological and operational prowess to control every aspect of our brokerage system, from the front end to the back end.

最後，我們繼續投資發展我們的自我清算能力。 2019年7月，當我們收購擁有30多年自我清算經驗的美國經紀交易商Marsco時，也獲得了他們的清算牌照。我們向自我清算過渡的投資仍然是我們公司發展的一個重要里程碑。我們現在擁有技術和營運實力來控制我們經紀系統從前端到後端的各個方面。

Self-clearing has also created a competitive barrier for our firm due to its extensive technical, compliance and operational requirements. The percentage of clients having their U.S. cash equity trades self-cleared by Marsco continues to increase and at the end of the fourth quarter, reached over 20%. In addition, Marsco is conducting clearing for all new clients onboarded in the U.S.

由於其廣泛的技術、合規性和營運要求，自我清算也為我們公司創造了競爭障礙。由 Marsco 自行清算美國現金股票交易的客戶比例持續增加，截至第四季末已達 20% 以上。此外，Marsco 正在為所有在美國註冊的新客戶進行清算。

As I conclude my prepared remarks, I would like to thank the investors who participated in our convertible bond issuance for their support of our firm. In February '21 -- February 2021, we, in total, issued $65 million of convertible bonds. This capital will accelerate our international expansion as well as support further investments in our research and development capabilities.

在結束我準備好的演講時，我要感謝參與我們可轉換債券發行的投資者對我們公司的支持。 2021 年 2 月至 2021 年 2 月，我們總共發行了 6,500 萬美元的可轉換債券。這筆資金將加速我們的國際擴張，並支持我們對研發能力的進一步投資。

I would now like to invite our CFO, John, to summarize our financial performance.

現在我想邀請我們的財務長約翰總結一下我們的財務表現。

(foreign language) So let me go through our financial performance for the fourth quarter. All numbers are in USD.

（外語）那麼讓我回顧一下我們第四季的財務表現。所有數字均以美元為單位。

Total revenue were $47.2 million this quarter, increased 137% from the same quarter of last year. The increase was due to bigger user base as more people entrust us with their assets and more active market backdrop.

本季總營收為 4,720 萬美元，比去年同期成長 137%。這一增長是由於隨著越來越多的人將他們的資產委託給我們，以及更活躍的市場背景，用戶基礎更大了。

Within the total revenue, commission increased 245% from last year to reach $25.2 million. Interest-related income, which combines financing service fee and interest income, was $13.3 million, an increase of 53% from last year. Other revenue, mostly revenue from our investment banking business, increased 119% from last year to $8.7 million.

在總收入中，佣金比去年增長了 245%，達到 2,520 萬美元。利息相關收入（包括融資服務費和利息收入）為1,330萬美元，比去年增加53%。其他收入（主要來自投資銀行業務的收入）比去年增長 119%，達到 870 萬美元。

Interest expense increased to $4.3 million from $1.5 million last year as we have more consolidated account customers. Net revenue after interest expense was $43 million, an increase of 135% from the same quarter last year.

由於我們擁有更多的綜合帳戶客戶，利息支出從去年的 150 萬美元增加到 430 萬美元。扣除利息支出後的淨收入為 4,300 萬美元，比去年同期成長 135%。

Now on the cost. Execution and clearing expense were $4.2 million, increased 363% year-over-year due to increase in user base and more engaged trading activities. The increase in user base also increased communication and market data expense by 103% to $3.9 million. Employee compensation increased 47% to $15.5 million as we keep adding headcounts, especially in R&D and product to support our global expansion. As a result of headcount increase, our occupancy expense increased 12% to $1.3 million. SG&A also increased 70% to $4.8 million year-over-year. Marketing expenses were $6.5 million this quarter, an increase of 277% from same quarter last year. We will keep spending in branding and customer acquisition to accompany our internationalization.

現在談成本。由於用戶群的增加和交易活動的增加，執行和清算費用為 420 萬美元，年增 363%。用戶群的增加也使通訊和市場數據費用增加了 103%，達到 390 萬美元。隨著我們不斷增加員工人數，特別是在研發和產品方面以支持我們的全球擴張，員工薪酬增加了 47% 至 1,550 萬美元。由於員工人數增加，我們的入住費用增加了 12%，達到 130 萬美元。 SG&A 也較去年同期成長 70%，達到 480 萬美元。本季行銷費用為 650 萬美元，比去年同期成長 277%。我們將繼續在品牌建立和客戶獲取方面投入資金，以配合我們的國際化進程。

Total operating costs were $36.3 million, an increase of 90% from same quarter last year. As a result, our net income was $8.5 million this quarter. Non-GAAP net income, which excludes share-based compensation, was $10.3 million this quarter, 30x the non-GAAP net income in the same quarter of last year.

總營運成本為 3,630 萬美元，比去年同期成長 90%。結果，本季我們的淨利潤為 850 萬美元。本季非 GAAP 淨利（不含股權激勵）為 1,030 萬美元，是去年同季非 GAAP 淨利的 30 倍。

Now I have concluded our presentation. Operator, please open the line for Q&A. Thanks.

現在我的演講結束了。接線員，請開通問答線。謝謝。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Jacky Zuo from China Renaissance.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自華興資本的左傑。

I have 2 questions. Number one is about our guidance. I heard we expect 350,000 new paying users for this year. Just want to understand the drivers behind this guidance. What is the trend in the first quarter this year? And we also mentioned 50% of it will come from overseas markets. So can you give us more details in terms of breakdown of, like, Singapore, U.S. and other countries?

我有 2 個問題。第一是關於我們的指導。我聽說我們預計今年會有 35 萬新付費用戶。只是想了解指南背後的驅動因素。今年第一季的趨勢如何？我們也提到其中50%將來自海外市場。那麼您能否提供我們更多關於新加坡、美國和其他國家的詳細情況？

And second question is about our Singapore business. I saw that [Futu] actually entered Singapore in March. Do we expect some impact from this in terms of our growth? And how do we deal with intensifying competition in Singapore?

第二個問題是關於我們的新加坡業務。我看到【富途】其實在三月就進入了新加坡。我們預計這會對我們的成長產生一些影響嗎？我們如何應對新加坡日益激烈的競爭？

[Interpreted] Thanks, Jacky. So let me quickly translate Tianhua's answer for your first question. So let me put it this way, so traditionally Tiger's user mostly are onshore Chinese. So starting from last year, we started to onboard Singapore clients. So far, it's showing good results. So this year, we will expand in the U.S. and Australia. So on a high level, more geographic expansion. And our experience in Singapore give us the confidence to acquire more users this year.

[翻譯]謝謝，傑基。那我來快速翻譯一下天華對你第一個問題的回答。所以我這麼說吧，所以傳統上Tiger的用戶大多是在岸中國人。所以從去年開始，我們開始吸引新加坡客戶。到目前為止，它已顯示出良好的結果。因此，今年我們將在美國和澳洲擴張。因此，在更高的層面上，更多的地域擴張。我們在新加坡的經驗讓我們有信心今年獲得更多用戶。

So we understand investors are getting nervous recently about the market this year. So the 350,000 guidance is not based on our high-growth in 2020. Instead, we used 2019 data when market activity was much lower as our base case. So in 2019, each quarter, we add about like 42,000 customer accounts. So assuming U.S. and Australia will gradually reach that number this year, combining with Singapore, we feel pretty comfortable each quarter we will have at least 100,000 new customer accounts from offshore investors. And based on our experience, offshore clients have much higher customer account to funded account conversion, typically north of 60%. So this translates to around 60,000 funded accounts each quarter from offshore. And we are confident onshore clients and ESOP to also add another 20,000 to 30,000 funded account each quarter. So combining that, we feel pretty confident we can reach our guidance of 350,000 funded account this year.

因此，我們理解投資者最近對今年的市場感到緊張。因此，35萬的指導並不是基於我們2020年的高成長。相反，我們使用市場活動低得多的2019年數據作為我們的基本情境。因此，在 2019 年，每個季度我們都會增加約 42,000 個客戶帳戶。因此，假設美國和澳洲今年將逐漸達到這一數字，再加上新加坡，我們對每個季度將擁有至少 10 萬個來自海外投資者的新客戶帳戶感到非常滿意。根據我們的經驗，離岸客戶的客戶帳戶到資金帳戶的轉換率要高得多，通常超過 60%。因此，這意味著每個季度約有 60,000 個離岸資金帳戶。我們有信心境內客戶和員工持股計畫每季還會再增加 2 萬至 3 萬個資金帳戶。因此，綜合起來，我們非常有信心今年能夠達到 35 萬個資金帳戶的目標。

Okay. So regarding Singapore, so there will be some competition, but we don't think it's a zero-sum game because we feel the TAM in Singapore is still very big for us to grab. So if you look at Singapore's existing market, based on CDP data, there are about 1.3 million accounts that trade Singapore local stocks, and most of them still prefer to place order by phone. And this is a market we haven't really penetrated yet.

好的。所以對於新加坡來說，會有一些競爭，但我們不認為這是一個零和遊戲，因為我們覺得新加坡的 TAM 對我們來說仍然很大。所以如果你看看新加坡現有的市場，根據CDP的數據，大約有130萬個帳戶交易新加坡本地股票，其中大多數仍然更喜歡透過電話下單。這是一個我們還沒有真正滲透的市場。

So currently, Tiger, our focus is on the incremental market, the younger generation, the younger Singaporean, similar to our Chinese users who is more interested in U.S. or Hong Kong stock. And this incremental market is showing good momentum. So we will tap into the existing market by adding more local products on our platform such as fund mall and getting Singapore SGX self clearing license so we can provide better service and acquire more users from both market segments.

所以目前，Tiger，我們的重點是增量市場，年輕一代，年輕的新加坡人，類似我們中國用戶對美股或港股更感興趣。而這個增量市場正呈現出良好的動能。因此，我們將透過在我們的平台上添加更多本地產品（例如基金商城）並獲得新加坡新交所自助清算牌照來進軍現有市場，以便我們可以提供更好的服務並從兩個細分市場取得更多用戶。

Our next question comes from Zeyu Yao from CICC.

我們的下一個問題來自中金公司的姚澤宇。

(foreign language) I'm Zeyu Yao from CICC. Firstly, congratulation on the exciting results we have achieved. And I have 2 questions here. The first one is about our growing customers. We see a total of 44,000 funded accounts added in this quarter and the total paying customers has reached nearly 260,000 by 2020, and we also see the volatile market environment recently I'm wondering if it will be -- if it's the bear market since the second quarter. And what measures will we take on customer acquisition and how to increase the customer activeness?

（外語） 我是中金公司的姚澤宇。首先，恭喜我們所取得的令人興奮的成果。我這裡有兩個問題。第一個是關於我們不斷成長的客戶。我們看到本季總共增加了 44,000 個資金帳戶，到 2020 年付費客戶總數已達到近 260,000 個，而且我們還看到最近波動的市場環境，我想知道是否會 - 是否是自 2020 年以來的熊市第二季。我們在獲客方面將採取哪些措施，如何提升客戶活躍度？

And then the second question is regarding on our corporate business. In this quarter, we see a rapid growth of new ESOP clients with 35 newly added and existing -- most of our major competitors, which is management share more with us. That's why we have grown so rapidly on the ESOP in the recent years and which are our unique advantages.

第二個問題是關於我們的企業業務。在本季度，我們看到新的 ESOP 客戶快速成長，新增和現有客戶達 35 家，其中大部分是我們的主要競爭對手，即管理層與我們分享的更多。這就是我們近年來在員工持股計畫上發展如此迅速的原因，也是我們獨特的優勢。

[Interpreted] Okay. So Zeyu, thanks for your question. To answer your first one. So since our inception 7 years ago, we have experienced quite a few market volatility. So we have experienced on that. So in general, for our business, especially for the online brokerage business, we tend to have higher retention. So quarterly retention rate is around 98% throughout our operating history.

[解釋]好的。澤宇，謝謝你的提問。回答你的第一個。自七年前成立以來，我們經歷了相當多的市場波動。所以我們在這方面有經驗。所以總的來說，對於我們的業務，尤其是在線經紀業務，我們往往有較高的保留率。因此，在我們的營運歷史中，季度保留率約為 98%。

Now how do we increase user activities and keep the retention? So for the past year, we actually have been spending quite a resource to optimize our online community operation. So far, we have seen positive results. For example, our content consumer or content creators, in general, their retention rate will be 20% higher than rest of the users. Good content can also help users to make decision and increase trading activities. On average, content users, their trading activity will more than double.

那我們該如何增加用戶活躍度並保持留存呢？所以在過去的一年裡，我們實際上花費了相當多的資源來優化我們的線上社群運作。到目前為止，我們已經看到了積極的成果。例如我們的內容消費者或內容創作者，一般來說，他們的留存率會比其他用戶高20%。好的內容還可以幫助使用者做出決策，增加交易活躍度。平均而言，內容用戶的交易活動將增加一倍以上。

If you log on to Tiger community, you can see right now, our offshore clients, they are actually more engaging in our community. We have seen more and more English posts in our community, which is a good progress. And we think they will keep investing.

如果你登入Tiger社區，你現在可以看到，我們的離岸客戶，他們實際上更參與我們的社區。我們在社區中看到越來越多的英文帖子，這是一個很好的進步。我們認為他們會繼續投資。

And also for brokers business, volatility in certain extent is good for us. So for example, in first quarter last year, even during big collections, user engagements were still pretty high. We think throughout this year, given the media coverage and also the transparency of the information, we think the market volatility will continue.

對於經紀商業務來說，一定程度的波動也對我們有利。例如，去年第一季度，即使在大型收藏期間，用戶參與度仍然相當高。我們認為，今年全年，鑑於媒體報導以及資訊的透明度，我們認為市場波動將持續下去。

In the worst-case scenario, say, if it's a bear market, we also have more wealth management products for our users. For example, we added mutual fund automatic investment plan. We also have cash management product and our cash cost. So I think those wealth management product will help our users to manage their investment during bear markets.

最壞的情況，例如熊市，我們也有更多的理財產品給使用者。例如，我們增加了共同基金自動投資計畫。我們還有現金管理產品和現金成本。所以我認為這些理財產品將幫助我們的用戶在熊市期間管理他們的投資。

Okay. So regarding ESOP, we think the moat, actually, it's pretty high. You need a lot of knowhow to be able to be a good ESOP provider. So first of all, given a lot of our ESOP clients, they are international company. Now they have subsidiaries or employees from different countries, different regions. So I think as a service provider, ourself needs to be a global company to have the global platform to service their different region employees. So Tiger, we have licenses in Singapore, U.S., Australia. So we feel we are more capable to be customized and catered to the different needs of our ESOP clients. So that's the first point.

好的。因此，關於員工持股計劃，我們認為護城河實際上相當高。您需要大量的專業知識才能成為優秀的員工持股計畫提供者。首先，我們的許多員工持股計畫客戶都是國際公司。現在他們擁有來自不同國家、不同地區的子公司或員工。所以我認為作為一個服務提供者，我們自己需要成為一家全球化公司，擁有全球平台來服務不同地區的員工。 Tiger，我們在新加坡、美國、澳洲都有許可證。因此，我們認為我們更有能力進行客製化並滿足 ESOP 客戶的不同需求。這是第一點。

The second -- obviously, the second growth driver for our ESOP business is, as you can see from our past reports, so far, we have been generating good synergy between ESOP and our investment banking business. So we not only help company to get invested to raise funds, we also help them from the very beginning to help them manage the plan, to satisfy all the local regulations and also to help them go through the IPO process and to manage their plans when the stock options are vested. So the combination -- or I would say, the bundle of service between our ESOP and IPO has been showing really good results. And we are confident going forward this strategy will keep working and provide the best service for our clients.

第二個——顯然，我們員工持股計畫業務的第二個成長動力是，正如你從我們過去的報告中看到的那樣，到目前為止，我們在員工持股計畫和投資銀行業務之間一直在產生良好的協同效應。因此，我們不僅幫助公司進行投資籌集資金，我們還從一開始就幫助他們管理計劃，滿足所有當地法規，並幫助他們完成首次公開募股流程並在何時管理他們的計劃股票期權已歸屬。因此，我們的員工持股計畫和首次公開募股之間的結合——或者我想說的是，我們的員工持股計畫和首次公開募股之間的捆綁服務已經顯示出非常好的結果。我們相信，這項策略將繼續發揮作用，並為我們的客戶提供最好的服務。

Lastly is, now, ESOP is a pretty, I would say, complex business, and we are investing heavily in research and development and also acquire -- recruit talents to be the one-stop solution provider combining HR, tax, legal, compliance and our accounting expertise to make the ESOP management more efficient and user-friendly for our corporate users. Thank you.

最後，我想說的是，現在ESOP 是一項相當複雜的業務，我們在研發方面投入巨資，並收購、招募人才，成為集人力資源、稅務、法律、合規和管理於一體的一站式解決方案提供者。我們的會計專業知識使我們的企業用戶的員工持股計畫管理更加高效和用戶友好。謝謝。

(Operator Instructions) Next question comes from Hanyang Wang from 86Research.

（操作員說明）下一個問題來自86Research的Hanyang Wang。

(foreign language) I have 2 questions. The first one is regarding on the Hong Kong license. You mentioned to share the progress of our Hong Kong brokerage license application.

（外語）我有兩個問題。第一個是關於香港牌照。您提到分享我們香港經紀牌照申請的進度。

Second question is about our international business. So you mentioned the increase of the marketing expense was primarily due to global expansion. Could you share the acquisition cost per paying client in China, Hong Kong and overseas market and how we should look at the brokerage revenue contribution from the overseas market after 3 to 5 years?

第二個問題是關於我們的國際業務。所以你提到行銷費用的增加主要是因為全球擴張。您能否分享一下中國、香港和海外市場的每位付費客戶的獲取成本以及我們應該如何看待3到5年後海外市場的經紀收入貢獻？

And my third question is on the commission rate. So in my calculation, our commission would increase sequentially during the quarter. Any comment on that would be helpful.

我的第三個問題是關於佣金率。因此，根據我的計算，我們的佣金將在本季連續增加。對此的任何評論都會有幫助。

[Interpreted] So to answer your question on internationalization. So we are very committed and are optimistic about our global expansion strategy. Because, first of all, is my -- we see the global expansion strategy is a good way for us to increase the funded account, our customer account to funded account conversion. Like we mentioned earlier, a lot of those regions, the commercial rate can be more than 50%, sometimes 60%, 70%. So in this way, this will give us a big tailwind once we generate good customers offshore and build a good momentum. It can help us to reach over 1 million funded account customers in the near future. So our goal is to become a one-stop investment platform for global investors, no matter where they are based. So we are very committed to internationalization.

[解讀]那麼回答你關於國際化的問題。因此，我們非常堅定並對我們的全球擴張策略持樂觀態度。因為，首先，我們看到全球擴張策略是我們增加資金帳戶、我們的客戶帳戶到資金帳戶轉換的好方法。就像我們前面提到的，很多這樣的地區，商業化率可以達到50%以上，有時達到60%、70%。因此，一旦我們在海外產生了良好的客戶並建立了良好的勢頭，這將為我們帶來很大的推動力。它可以幫助我們在不久的將來接觸到超過 100 萬個資金帳戶客戶。因此，我們的目標是成為全球投資者的一站式投資平台，無論他們身在何處。所以我們非常致力於國際化。

And in addition to the operating data growth by internationalization, we feel by acquiring more investors offshore will also help us to generate better financial results for the company and for the shareholders. So that's your question on internationalization.

除了國際化帶來的營運數據成長之外，我們認為透過收購更多海外投資者也將幫助我們為公司和股東創造更好的財務表現。這就是你關於國際化的問題。

So on marketing, the customer acquisition. So if you look at our 2020 data, our customer acquisition cost is about, like, USD 100 per person. Okay? So this actually has came down from earlier, and I'd say, 2019 when our customer acquisition cost was about like USD 200 to USD 300. So the reason of the decrease is due to, of course, we are -- we have a better brand now and there are more natural traffic. And also, we are providing more comprehensive services to the users. So there are more users coming to our platform.

所以在行銷、客戶獲取方面。因此，如果您查看我們 2020 年的數據，您會發現我們的客戶獲取成本約為每人 100 美元。好的？所以這實際上比早些時候有所下降，我想說的是，2019 年我們的客戶獲取成本約為 200 美元到 300 美元。所以下降的原因當然是——我們有一個現在品牌更好了，自然流量也更多了。同時，我們也為用戶提供更全面的服務。所以有更多的用戶來到我們的平台。

Going forward, when we expand offshore, we think the customer acquisition costs will go up because, first of all, there might be other players we will be competing for the users. Second thing is if we go to a new market, it will take us some time to build up our brand. So at the very beginning, we will spend more to do more branding to increase our brand awareness. But through our past experience, we think all those marketing expense are well worth it. Because if you look at our customer payback period, it actually came down to just maybe one quarter. So if we go to new market, we will just make the same strategy to keep spending to our acquire users. So in the short term, I think opening data or build a bigger user base is more important for us. So we will keep spending once we get into the new markets.

展望未來，當我們向海外擴張時，我們認為客戶獲取成本將會上升，因為首先，我們可能會與其他參與者競爭用戶。第二件事是，如果我們進入一個新市場，我們需要一些時間來建立我們的品牌。所以一開始我們會花更多的錢做更多的品牌宣傳，以提高我們的品牌知名度。但根據我們過去的經驗，我們認為所有這些行銷費用都是值得的。因為如果你看看我們的客戶投資回收期，它實際上可能只有四分之一。因此，如果我們進入新市場，我們將採取相同的策略，繼續為我們的獲取用戶支出。所以短期來看，我認為開放資料或建立更大的用戶群對我們來說更重要。因此，一旦進入新市場，我們將繼續支出。

And for your take rates, yes. So the commission rate, if you calculate blended commission rates, go up a little bit versus last quarter on a quarter-over-quarter basis. But eventually, we haven't done any pricing change. Okay? So our pricing stay the same. For U.S., it's about like $0.01 per share, minimum [2.99]. And for Hong Kong, it's 2.9 bps for Hong Kong securities trading.

對於你的接受率來說，是的。因此，如果計算混合佣金率，佣金率會比上季較上季略有上升。但最終，我們並沒有進行任何定價調整。好的？所以我們的定價維持不變。對美國來說，每股價格約為 0.01 美元，最低 [2.99]。對香港來說，香港證券交易為2.9個基點。

And to answer your question on the Hong Kong license. So we have resubmitted our application to acquire a Hong Kong stockbroker earlier last month. And so we believe the application contains all the information required by SFC as a result of the discussion we initiated with them to confirm what was required. So the regulator may require further information from us, although, we believe we have given them a very comprehensive material. So, so far, they have not asked for any follow-up information. They may do so in due course, but so far, they haven't done that yet.

並回答你關於香港駕照的問題。因此，我們於上月初重新提交了收購一家香港股票經紀商的申請。因此，經過我們與證監會進行討論以確認所需資訊後，我們相信該申請包含了證監會要求的所有資訊。因此，監管機構可能會要求我們提供更多信息，但我們相信我們已經向他們提供了非常全面的材料。所以，到目前為止，他們還沒有要求任何後續資訊。他們可能會在適當的時候這樣做，但到目前為止，他們還沒有這樣做。

So typically, the application will take 6 to 12 weeks to process. Obviously, we cannot guarantee the outcome or timing, but we are as confident as we can be that we have filed everything the regulator reasonably needs to consider the application. Thanks.

因此，通常情況下，申請需要 6 至 12 週的時間來處理。顯然，我們無法保證結果或時間，但我們非常有信心，我們已經提交了監管機構考慮申請所需的一切合理資訊。謝謝。

(foreign language) A follow-up question on the tax benefit. What costs are tax benefits during the quarter?

（外語）關於稅收優惠的後續問題。本季的稅務優惠有哪些成本？

Yes. So Hanyang, we just break even for this year, right? So as every start-up when they break even, they -- before they were breakeven, they have huge losses before. So we have accumulated a lot of tax benefits. So once we started to break even, we'll be able to utilize those tax benefits for this quarter.

是的。那麼漢陽，今年我們才剛實現收支平衡，對嗎？因此，正如每個新創公司在實現收支平衡時一樣，在實現收支平衡之前，他們之前都曾遭受巨大損失。所以我們累積了很多稅收優惠。因此，一旦我們開始實現收支平衡，我們將能夠在本季利用這些稅收優惠。

We have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. I'll now turn the call back to presenters for closing remarks.

我們的問答環節已經結束。現在我將把電話轉回給演講者進行結束語。

I would like to thank everyone for joining our call today. I'm now closing the call on behalf of the management team here at UP Fintech. We do appreciate your participation in today's call. If you have any further questions, please reach out to our Investor Relations team. This concludes the call, and thank you very much for your time.

我要感謝大家今天加入我們的電話會議。現在我代表 UP Fintech 的管理團隊結束這通通話。我們非常感謝您參加今天的電話會議。如果您還有任何疑問，請聯絡我們的投資者關係團隊。通話到此結束，非常感謝您抽出寶貴的時間。

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may all disconnect.

謝謝。女士們、先生們，今天的會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。你們都可以斷開連線。

[Portions of this transcript that are marked [Interpreted] were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]

[本文字記錄中標記為[已翻譯]的部分是由現場通話中的口譯員朗讀的。]