2024-01-16 Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (IBKR) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript
Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript January 16, 2024 4:30 PM ET
互动经纪集团股份有限公司（纳斯达克：IBKR）2023 年第四季度收益电话会议记录 2024 年 1 月 16 日 下午 4:30 ET
Company Participants 公司参与者
Nancy Stuebe - Director of IR
南希·斯图贝 - 投资者关系总监
Paul Brody - CFO
保罗·布罗迪 - 首席财务官
Milan Galik - President, CEO & Director
米兰·加利克 - 总裁，首席执行官兼董事
Thomas Peterffy - Chairman
Thomas Peterffy - 主席
Conference Call Participants
电话会议参与者
James Yaro - Goldman Sachs
詹姆斯·亚罗 - 高盛
Craig Siegenthaler - Bank of America Merrill Lynch
克雷格·西根塔勒 - 美国银行美林证券
Benjamin Budish - Barclays
本杰明·布迪什 - 巴克莱
Brennan Hawken - UBS
布伦南·霍肯 - 瑞银 UBS
Daniel Fannon - Jefferies
丹尼尔·范农 - 杰富瑞
Kyle Voigt - KBW
凯尔·福格 - KBW
Chris Allen - Citi
克里斯·艾伦 - 花旗
Patrick Moley - Piper Sandler
帕特里克·莫利 - 派普桑德勒
Operator 操作员
Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Interactive Brokers Group Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Nancy Stuebe, Director of Investor Relations.
大家好，感谢您的耐心等候。欢迎参加第四季度 2023 年度盈利电话会议。【操作员指示】请注意，今天的会议正在录音。现在我想将会议交给今天的发言人，投资者关系总监南希·斯图贝。
Nancy Stuebe 南希·斯图贝
Good afternoon, happy new year, and thank you for joining us for our fourth quarter 2023 earnings call. Thomas is on the call, and asked me to present his comments on the business. Also joining us today are Milan Galik, our CEO, and Paul Brody, our CFO. After prepared remarks, we will have a Q&A.
下午好，新年快乐，感谢您参加我们 2023 年第四季度收益电话会议。Thomas 正在通话中，并要求我代表他就业务发表意见。今天与我们一起的还有我们的首席执行官 Milan Galik 和我们的首席财务官 Paul Brody。在准备好的发言后，我们将进行问答环节。
As a reminder, today’s call may include forward-looking statements, which represent the company’s belief regarding future events, which by their nature, are not certain and are outside of the company’s control. Our actual results and financial condition may differ, possibly materially, from what is indicated in these forward-looking statements. We ask that you refer to the disclaimers in our press release. You should also review a description of risk factors contained in our financial reports filed with the SEC.
作为提醒，今天的电话可能包含前瞻性声明，这些声明代表公司对未来事件的信念，这些事件的性质是不确定的，并且超出了公司的控制范围。我们的实际结果和财务状况可能与这些前瞻性声明中所示的情况有实质性差异。我们要求您参考我们新闻稿中的免责声明。您还应该查阅我们向美国证券交易委员会提交的财务报告中包含的风险因素描述。
In 2023, we added over 470,000 net new accounts. Our client equity at year-end was up 39% to $426 billion, an increase of over $100 billion from last year. We earned over $4 billion in net revenues and over $3 billion in pretax income, both for the first time. Our pretax margin was 71% for the full year – by far, the highest in the industry: in fact, very few public companies in any industry have that kind of profit margin. If market conditions continue as they are, even with the three interest rate cuts predicted, I see no reason why we wouldn’t be able to maintain pretax margin at the 70% level.
在 2023 年，我们新增了超过 47 万个净新账户。年末客户权益增长了 39%，达到 4260 亿美元，比去年增加了超过 1000 亿美元。我们净收入超过 40 亿美元，税前收入超过 30 亿美元，这两项指标都是首次。我们全年税前利润率为 71%，远远高于行业平均水平：事实上，在任何行业中，很少有公开公司拥有这种利润率。如果市场条件继续保持不变，即使有预测的三次降息，我认为我们完全有能力将税前利润率维持在 70%水平。
We saw stronger markets in 2023, with the same focus on options and on the Magnificent Seven stock names that we have seen for a year now. We see options being actively traded both traditionally as a means to offset risk, and as standalone zero day to expiry.
我们看到 2023 年市场更加强劲，依然专注于期权和我们已经看到一年的七大热门股票名称。我们看到期权被积极交易，传统上作为规避风险的手段，也作为独立的零到期日交易。
Regarding interest rates, we are not willing to argue with the market. If the market believes that long-term rates will be under 4%, we don’t think it’s our business to dispute it. However, there are several long-term trends that, in my opinion, call for higher inflation and higher rates in the long run.
关于利率，我们不愿与市场争论。如果市场认为长期利率将低于 4％，我们不认为我们有争议的必要。然而，有几个长期趋势，在我看来，需要长期内更高的通货膨胀和更高的利率。
First is deglobalization. Over the past few decades, where goods are manufactured has been re- allocated around the globe, often far from consumers as containerization reduced shipping expenses, and manufacturing went where it’s cheapest. Prices of some goods were driven down 50% to 90%. But now, as we have been predicting, geopolitical uncertainty has driven transportation costs up, with insurance for transport rising every day as vessels are attacked and routes become unsafe. To start producing closer to consumers, where labor is often more expensive, means higher costs and prices.
首先是去全球化。在过去的几十年里，商品的制造地点已经重新分配到全球各地，往往远离消费者，因为集装箱化降低了运输成本，制造业转移到了成本最低的地方。一些商品的价格下降了 50%至 90%。但现在，正如我们一直预测的那样，地缘政治的不确定性推高了运输成本，随着船只遭受袭击和航线变得不安全，运输保险费用每天都在上涨。开始更接近消费者生产，劳动力成本往往更昂贵，意味着更高的成本和价格。
Second is demographics. For the most part, skilled labor is produced in developed countries, like the US and Europe, and to some extent in Asia. Population growth, however, is occurring in those countries where skilled labor is not produced. Birth rates and population growth have dramatically reversed in developed countries to decreasing instead of growing, meaning that skilled labor will cost more and more over time.
其次是人口统计。在很大程度上，熟练劳动力是在发达国家，如美国和欧洲，以及在亚洲的某种程度上产生的。然而，人口增长却发生在那些不产生熟练劳动力的国家。在发达国家，出生率和人口增长已经发生了戏剧性的逆转，从增长转为减少，这意味着随着时间的推移，熟练劳动力的成本将越来越高。
Third are deficits, deficits contribute to inflation, as interest payments get funded through deficit spending, which then means bigger deficits and higher interest, which gets added onto the deficit, on and on, so it is unclear to me how inflation can substantially decrease as the deficit grows.
第三是赤字，赤字会导致通货膨胀，因为利息支付是通过赤字支出获得资金的，这意味着更大的赤字和更高的利息，这又会增加赤字，如此循环往复，所以我不清楚赤字增加时通货膨胀如何会大幅减少。
Fourth, the ever-increasing demand for spending on environmental projects will continue to become more and more expensive.
第四，对环境项目支出需求不断增加，将继续变得越来越昂贵。
Combining these factors, it is hard to see how inflation will subside over the long term, even if in the next several months it may ameliorate somewhat. These trends are inescapable, and while you may see long term rates at 4% for now, they could go back to 5%, 6%, 7% or more as costs, deficit spending and the national debt keep increasing.
结合这些因素，很难看到通货膨胀在长期内会消退，即使在接下来的几个月内可能会有所缓解。这些趋势是不可避免的，虽然目前你可能看到长期利率为 4%，但随着成本、赤字支出和国债不断增加，这些利率可能会回到 5%、6%、7%甚至更高。
Turning to our business, our client accounts and client equity grew fastest in Europe and Asia as more and more people worldwide want to access international markets, invest in securities they feel offer the most upside regardless of what type of security it is or where it is traded, and hold what they perceive as “safer” currencies.
转向我们的业务，随着全球越来越多的人希望进入国际市场，在欧洲和亚洲，我们的客户账户和客户权益增长最快，投资于他们认为具有最大上涨空间的证券，无论是何种类型的证券，或者在何处交易，持有他们认为“更安全”的货币。
In 2023, individuals saw the fastest account growth among our five client segments, and the second highest commission and net interest growth.
2023 年，个人客户群是我们五大客户群中账户增长最快的，佣金和净利息增长排名第二。
Proprietary traders had the fastest client equity and commission growth. Introducing brokers had the highest net interest growth, followed by individuals and financial advisors – all well over 50%.
专有交易员的客户权益和佣金增长速度最快。介绍经纪人的净利息增长率最高，其次是个人和财务顾问，均超过 50%。
While we saw growth in hedge fund accounts and significantly higher client equity, they showed a smaller increase in commission and interest activity than our proprietary traders or individuals. This is likely due to so many funds holding the same Magnificent Seven names, but as many of you are on the call maybe you can expand on this.
尽管我们看到对冲基金账户增长和客户权益显著增加，但其佣金和利息活动的增长幅度比我们的专有交易员或个人要小。这可能是因为许多基金持有相同的七巨头股票，但既然你们中的许多人都在电话会议上，也许你们可以对此进行进一步讨论。
We had one of our busiest years ever of programming. During 2023, we added a wide range of features and capabilities including those for financial advisors; and enhanced IBKR Mobile, Portfolio Analyst, our CRM, and Student Training Lab, plus added comprehensive new content at our Traders Academy, Quant Blog, and Traders Insight.
我们经历了有史以来最繁忙的一年编程。在 2023 年，我们增加了广泛的功能和能力，包括针对金融顾问的功能；并增强了 IBKR Mobile、Portfolio Analyst、我们的 CRM 和学生培训实验室，还在我们的交易员学院、量化博客和交易员洞察中添加了全面的新内容。
Our new “Discover” tool lets you see technical insights using actionable analysis and alerts, with a Market Buzz bubble map to identify the companies most in the news, allowing clients to go more in-depth with analytics and sentiment, and has proven quite popular.
我们的新“发现”工具让您通过可操作的分析和警报查看技术见解，配备了市场热点气泡地图，以识别新闻中最受关注的公司，让客户能够更深入地进行分析和情绪分析，已被证明非常受欢迎。
For our long-short hedge fund and proprietary trading clients, we added features like a Securities Lending dashboard, which gives an expanded universe of securities lending data like borrower and lender depth, among other items.
对于我们的多空对冲基金和自营交易客户，我们增加了诸如证券借贷仪表板之类的功能，该仪表板提供了扩展的证券借贷数据，如借方和贷方深度等其他项目。
For financial advisors, we are significantly less expensive than competitors. To give an idea of the “value-add” we offer to financial advisors, when an advisor buys a mutual fund for his or her clients at Interactive Brokers, we charge a maximum of $14.95 for the entire trade, and nothing for allocating the mutual fund among any number of clients after the trade. In contrast, competitors charge $45, per account, to allocate a trade. Our biggest issue is that FAs do not believe us when we tell them they can save thousands of dollars each time they update their customers’ portfolios!
对于财务顾问来说，我们的价格比竞争对手便宜得多。为了让财务顾问了解我们提供的“增值”，当顾问为他或她的客户购买共同基金时，我们最多收取整个交易的 14.95 美元，而在交易后为任意数量的客户分配共同基金则不收取任何费用。相比之下，竞争对手每个账户收取 45 美元来分配交易。我们最大的问题是，财务顾问不相信我们告诉他们，每次更新客户投资组合时都可以节省数千美元！
For our option traders who do not absolutely need an immediate fill, we built a facility to trade at the mid-price against our marketable order-flow. Option orders in frequently-traded options have a very good chance of being filled within a few minutes. A growing percentage of our options order flow gets successfully executed through this facility. This is in addition to our similar facility for equities, which we have had for some time now and which we continue to build. As we onboard more and more institutional clients, we get more and more liquidity in our ATS, especially for institutions willing to rest orders for a brief period of time.
对于我们的期权交易者，如果不是绝对需要立即成交，我们建立了一个设施，可以根据我们的可成交订单流在中间价格交易。在经常交易的期权中，期权订单有很大机会在几分钟内成交。我们越来越多的期权订单流通过这个设施成功执行。除了我们长期拥有并继续建设的股票类似设施外。随着我们吸纳越来越多的机构客户，我们的 ATS 中的流动性也越来越多，尤其是愿意将订单暂时挂起一段时间的机构。
Ultimately, we believe that the most a broker can do for its customers who trade frequently is to give them the best possible execution prices. This has always been the most important consideration as we have developed our platform over the years.
最终，我们相信经纪人为那些经常交易的客户所能做的最重要的事情就是为他们提供最优执行价格。多年来，这一直是我们开发平台时最重要的考虑因素。
In 2024, we have another active year of programming projects planned, and you will see further upgrades to our platform with more features and capabilities. We are also adding new countries where our clients can trade. I will not say more to avoid tipping off our competitors!
在 2024 年，我们计划了另一个充满活力的编程项目年度，并将看到我们平台的进一步升级，增加更多功能和能力。我们还将添加新的国家，让我们的客户进行交易。我不会多说，以避免泄露给我们的竞争对手！
Finally, we are well aware that we have now reached $14 billion in equity on our balance sheet. We are considering possible opportunities in the space that would help us grow the business. Our public float is small, so we are unlikely to buy back shares, and personally speaking I would hope that an opportunity presents itself, as raising the dividend is not something I think helps a company grow in the long run.
最后，我们清楚地意识到，我们现在在资产负债表上的股本已达到 140 亿美元。我们正在考虑在这一领域可能出现的机会，以帮助我们发展业务。我们的公开流通股较少，因此不太可能回购股份，就我个人而言，我希望会出现机会，因为我认为提高股息并不会帮助公司长期增长。
There is much to look forward to. The Interactive Brokers platform is built with the purpose of bringing investors and marketplaces together to interact with each other, all over the world, optimizing the allocation of capital and resources. It is our job to educate current and beginning investors, to develop the best tools and capabilities to facilitate their investing journey. We are as busy programming as we’ve ever been. This, and our much lower cost structure, is what sets us apart, and will continue to do so in the years ahead.
我们有很多期待。交互经纪平台的建设目的是将投资者和市场联系在一起，让他们在全球范围内互动，优化资本和资源的配置。我们的工作是教育现有和初入市场的投资者，开发最佳工具和能力，促进他们的投资之旅。我们正忙于编程，正如以往一样。这一点，以及我们更低的成本结构，是我们的独特之处，并将在未来继续如此。
With that, I will turn the call over to Paul Brody. Paul?
随着这一点，我将把电话交给保罗·布罗迪。保罗？
Paul Brody 保罗·布罗迪
Thank you, Nancy. Good afternoon, everybody and thanks for joining the call. I’ll review the fourth quarter results, and then we’ll open it up for questions.
谢谢，南希。大家下午好，感谢大家参与电话会议。我将回顾第四季度的业绩，然后我们将开始提问环节。
Starting with our Revenue items on page 3 of the release, we are pleased with our financial results this quarter, roughly matching the record adjusted net revenues and pretax income of the prior quarter. And for the full year 2023, we achieved record results in every major financial measure.
从我们在发布文件第 3 页的收入项目开始，我们对本季度的财务业绩感到满意，大致与上一季度的调整净收入和税前收入创纪录的水平相匹配。至于 2023 年全年，我们在每个主要财务指标上均取得了创纪录的业绩。
Commissions rose versus last year’s fourth quarter, reaching $348 million. For the full year, commissions were $1.4 billion, up 3% from 2022. In 2023, we saw higher trading volumes in options and futures, coming from our large base of sophisticated and active traders, investors and advisors.
佣金与去年第四季度相比上升，达到 3.48 亿美元。全年佣金为 14 亿美元，比 2022 年增长 3%。2023 年，我们看到期权和期货交易量增加，来自我们庞大的高级活跃交易员、投资者和顾问群体。
Net interest income of $730 million for the quarter, and a record $2.8 billion for the year, reflected a risk-on environment that led to steadily higher margin lending as well as higher yields on our margin loans and segregated cash portfolio. This was partially offset by the higher interest paid to our customers on their cash balances, as Interactive Brokers passes through to them all rate hikes above the first 50 basis points on their qualified funds, which differentiates us in an environment where many competitors pay little to nothing to their customers.
本季度净利息收入为 7.3 亿美元，年度创纪录的 28 亿美元，反映出风险偏好环境导致保证金贷款和隔离现金组合收益率稳步提高。这在一定程度上被我们支付给客户的现金余额利息所抵消，因为互动经纪将超过首个 50 个基点的利率上调全部传递给他们的合格资金，这使我们在许多竞争对手向客户几乎不支付任何费用的环境中有所区别。
Other fees and services generated $55 million for the quarter and $197 million for the year. The increase from the prior year quarter was driven by the risk-on positioning of customers, which led to a rise in risk exposure fees to $17 million, as well as higher FDIC sweeps fees, which rose to $6 million this quarter. Market data fees of $17 million and exchange liquidity payments of $8 million were the other factors in this category.
其他费用和服务为本季度贡献了 5500 万美元，全年为 1.97 亿美元。与去年同期相比的增长主要是由客户的风险偏好驱动，导致风险敞口费增至 1700 万美元，以及更高的 FDIC 扫描费，本季度增至 600 万美元。市场数据费用为 1700 万美元，交易所流动性支付为 800 万美元是该类别的其他因素。
Other income includes gains and losses on our investments, our currency diversification strategy, and principal transactions. Note that many of these non-core items are excluded in our adjusted earnings. Without these excluded items, other income was $16 million for both the quarter and the full year.
其他收入包括我们的投资收益和损失、货币多元化策略以及主要交易。请注意，许多这些非核心项目在我们调整后的收益中被排除。在排除这些项目后，本季度和全年的其他收入均为 1600 万美元。
Turning to expenses, Execution, Clearing and Distribution costs were $100 million in the quarter, and $386 million for the year, up versus last year primarily due to higher volumes in options and futures, which carry higher fees.
转向费用方面，执行、结算和分配成本在本季度为 1 亿美元，全年为 3.86 亿美元，较去年增加，主要是由于期权和期货交易量增加，这些交易收取更高的费用。
As a percent of commission revenues, Execution & Clearing costs were 23% in the fourth quarter for a Gross Transactional Profit margin of 77%, unchanged from last quarter. We calculate this by excluding from "Execution & Clearing” $20 million of costs, predominantly market data, without a direct commission revenue component.
作为佣金收入的百分比，第四季度的执行和结算成本占 23%，毛交易利润率为 77%，与上一季度持平。我们通过从“执行和结算”中排除 2,000 万美元的成本（主要是市场数据，没有直接的佣金收入组成部分）来计算这一比例。
Compensation & Benefits expense was $136 million for the quarter, for a ratio of Compensation expense to Adjusted Net Revenues of 12%, unchanged from last year. For the year, this ratio was also 12%, down from 14% in 2022. We are always focused on expense discipline while improving our strong top line. Our headcount at year-end was 2,932.
本季度的薪酬与福利支出为 1.36 亿美元，薪酬支出与调整后净收入的比率为 12%，与去年持平。全年来看，这一比率也为 12%，低于 2022 年的 14%。我们始终专注于控制支出，同时提升强劲的收入。年末我们的员工总数为 2,932 人。
G&A expenses were $45 million, down from the year-ago quarter. For the full year, recall that 2023’s number is inflated due to a previously-disclosed regulatory settlement in the second quarter. Without that, full year G&A would have been even with 2022.
管理和行政费用为 4500 万美元，低于去年同期。回顾整个年度，2023 年的数字因第二季度先前披露的监管和解而被夸大。如果没有这个因素，整个年度的管理和行政费用将与 2022 年持平。
Our pretax margin was 72% for the quarter and 71% for the year. Automation and expense control, along with thoughtful management of our balance sheet, remain our key means of maintaining high margins, while we invest in the future of our business.
我们的税前利润率本季度为 72%，全年为 71%。自动化和费用控制，以及谨慎管理我们的资产负债表，仍然是保持高利润率的关键手段，同时我们也在投资我们业务的未来。
Income Taxes of $77 million reflects the sum of the public company’s $45 million and the operating companies’ $32 million.
所得税为 7700 万美元，反映了上市公司的 4500 万美元和运营公司的 3200 万美元之和。
The public company’s taxes included a decrease in the deferred tax asset, which reflects an annual remeasurement of future tax benefits. Together with some other items, these had an $8 million impact on income taxes. Removing these one-time non-cash items, the public company’s adjusted effective tax rate was 17.9%, within its usual range.
上市公司的税收包括递延税款资产的减少，反映了未来税收收益的年度重新计量。连同其他一些项目，这些对所得税产生了 800 万美元的影响。除去这些一次性非现金项目，上市公司的调整后有效税率为 17.9%，在其通常范围内。
For the year, taxes of $257 million are the sum of the public company’s $142 million and the operating companies’ $115 million.
今年，税款为 2.57 亿美元，其中上市公司为 1.42 亿美元，运营公司为 1.15 亿美元。
Moving to our balance sheet on page 5 of the Release, our total assets ended the year 12% higher at $128 billion, with growth driven by higher customer cash and margin loan balances from both new and existing customers. We maintain a balance sheet geared towards supporting our growing business and providing sufficient financial resources during volatile markets. We have no long-term debt.
转至我们发布的第 5 页的资产负债表，我们的总资产在年底增长了 12%，达到 1280 亿美元，增长主要来自于新老客户的现金和保证金贷款余额增加。我们的资产负债表旨在支持不断增长的业务，并在市场波动时提供充足的财务资源。我们没有长期债务。
Our ample capital base is deployed primarily in running our current business and our liquidity positions us to support our customers during periods of high market stress. It also helps us win new business, by showing the strength and depth of our balance sheet to current and prospective clients and partners.
我们充裕的资本主要用于经营我们目前的业务，我们的流动性使我们能够在市场压力较大时支持我们的客户。这也有助于我们赢得新业务，向现有和潜在客户和合作伙伴展示我们资产负债表的实力和深度。
In our operating data, on pages 6 and 7, our contract volumes in options for all customers rose 21% over the prior-year quarter, well above industry growth. Futures contract volumes rose 4%, while stock share volume declined for us as it did across the industry. For the full year, options and futures contract volumes rose 12% and 1%, respectively.
在我们的运营数据中，第 6 页和第 7 页，我们所有客户期权合约交易量较去年同期增长了 21%，远高于行业增长。期货合约交易量增长了 4%，而股票交易量在我们这里下降，就像整个行业一样。就全年而言，期权和期货合约交易量分别增长了 12%和 1%。
The decrease in stock share volume was largely attributable to lower trading in pink sheet and other very low-priced stocks. The notional value of brokerage shares traded, however, was up in most markets, particularly in the US, as clients gravitated to larger, higher quality names.
股票股份交易量的减少主要归因于粉红单和其他价格非常低的股票交易减少。然而，经纪股票交易的名义价值在大多数市场上有所增加，特别是在美国，因为客户转向更大、更高质量的股票。
On page 7, you can see that total Customer DARTs were 1.9 million trades per day, up 2% from the prior year and reflecting a more risk-on period for investors. Commission per Cleared Commissionable Order of $3.19 was up slightly from last year, driven by increases in futures volume and average trade size. Options contributed higher volume but a lower average trade size, and stock trade volume and average trade size both declined.
在第 7 页，您可以看到客户总 DARTs 为每天 190 万笔交易，比去年同期增长 2%，反映了投资者更愿意承担风险的时期。每笔清算佣金订单的佣金为 3.19 美元，略高于去年，主要受期货交易量和平均交易规模的增加推动。期权交易量增加，但平均交易规模较低，股票交易量和平均交易规模均下降。
Page 8 shows our Net Interest Margin numbers. Total GAAP net interest income was $730 million for the quarter, up 29%, and $2.8 billion for the year, up 68%. Our net interest income as displayed in our NIM, was $9 million higher, or $739 million, as we include income here that for GAAP purposes is classified as other fees or other income, but that we feel is more appropriately considered interest.
第 8 页显示了我们的净利差数字。本季度总 GAAP 净利息收入为 7.3 亿美元，增长 29％，全年为 28 亿美元，增长 68％。我们的净利息收入在我们的 NIM 中显示为 9 百万美元更高，或 7.39 亿美元，因为我们在这里包括了根据 GAAP 目的分类为其他费用或其他收入的收入，但我们认为更恰当地将其视为利息。
These results reflect strength in margin loan and segregated cash interest, partially offset by higher interest expense on customer cash balances.
这些结果反映了保证金贷款和隔离现金利息的强劲，部分抵消了客户现金余额利息支出的增加。
Most central banks around the world, including the Federal Reserve, held interest rates steady this quarter, with only Australia increasing its benchmark rate slightly.
全球大多数央行，包括美联储，在本季度保持利率稳定，只有澳大利亚略微提高了其基准利率。
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates four times over the year, raising the average US Fed funds rate for the fourth quarter to 5.33% from 3.65% the prior year. Our segregated cash interest income rose 67% on a 4% increase in average balances, while margin loan interest rose by 50% on a 9% increase in average balances.
美联储在一年内四次加息，将第四季度美国联邦基金利率从去年的 3.65%提高至 5.33%。我们的分离现金利息收入在平均余额增加 4%的情况下增长了 67%，而保证金贷款利息在平均余额增加 9%的情况下增长了 50%。
The average duration of our portfolio remained at under 30 days. With the US dollar yield curve inverting further over the fourth quarter, we have been maximizing what we earn by capturing higher short-term yields, rather than accept the significantly lower yields of longer maturities. In this rate environment, this strategy allows us to maintain a relatively tight maturity match with the rate we pay our customers.
我们投资组合的平均持续期仍然保持在 30 天以下。随着美元收益率曲线在第四季度进一步倒挂，我们一直在通过获取更高的短期收益来最大化我们的收益，而不是接受较低的长期到期收益。在这种利率环境下，这种策略使我们能够与我们向客户支付的利率保持相对紧密的到期匹配。
Securities lending net interest has not been as strong as in prior quarters for two main reasons. First, overall customer demand for shorting stocks has fallen. There were fewer “hard to borrow” names industry-wide which, with the market’s low volatility, are the drivers of securities lending.
证券借贷净利息之所以不如之前季度强劲，主要有两个原因。首先，客户对做空股票的整体需求下降了。整个行业中“难以借入”的股票名称减少，而市场低波动性是证券借贷的推动因素。
Second, as we have noted on previous calls, higher average interest rates versus prior periods means more of what we earn from securities lending is classified as interest on “segregated cash”.
其次，正如我们在之前的通话中指出的那样，与之前时期相比较高的平均利率意味着我们从证券借贷中获得的收入更多地被归类为“隔离现金”的利息。
To more accurately compare our securities lending revenue with the year-ago quarter, we estimate that if the interest earned on this cash collateral fell under “Securities Borrowed and Loaned”, it would have been $18 million higher, or $61 million.
为了更准确地比较我们的证券借贷收入与去年同期，我们估计如果这笔现金抵押品所赚取的利息归入“借入和借出证券”，那么它将高出 1800 万美元，达到 6100 万美元。
Interest on Customer Credit Balances, the interest we pay to our customers on the cash in their accounts, rose on both higher rates in nearly all currencies and higher balances from new account growth. As we have noted many times in the past, the high interest rates we pay on customer cash – currently 4.83% on qualified US dollar balances – is a significant driver of new customers. Fully rate-sensitive balances were about $18 billion this quarter.
客户信用余额利息，我们支付给客户的现金账户上的利息，在几乎所有货币的利率上升以及新账户增长带来的更高余额上升。正如我们过去多次指出的那样，我们支付给客户现金的高利率 - 目前合格美元余额为 4.83％ - 是吸引新客户的重要推动因素。本季度完全利率敏感的余额约为 180 亿美元。
Now, for our estimates of the impact of changes in rates. Given market expectations of rate cuts in 2024, we estimate the effect of such changes in the Fed Funds rate to be a $56 million reduction in annual net interest income for each 25-basis point decrease in the benchmark.
现在，关于利率变化对影响的估计。鉴于市场对 2024 年降息的预期，我们估计联邦基金利率变化对每个基准利率下降 25 个基点的影响为每年净利息收入减少 5600 万美元。
Note that our starting point for these estimates is year-end, with the Fed Funds effective rate at 5.33%, and average balances as of December 31st. Any growth in our balance sheet and interest- earning assets would reduce this impact.
请注意，我们对这些估计的起点是年底，联邦基金有效利率为 5.33%，平均余额截至 12 月 31 日。我们资产负债表和利息收入资产的任何增长都会减少这种影响。
About 25% of our customer cash balances is not in US dollars, so estimates of a US rate change exclude those currencies. We estimate the effect of decreases in all the relevant non-USD benchmark rates would further reduce annual net interest income by $18 to $20 million for each 25-basis point decrease in those benchmarks.
我们大约 25%的客户现金余额不是以美元计价，因此对美国利率变化的估计不包括这些货币。我们估计所有相关非美元基准利率下降的影响将进一步使每个基准点下降的年净利息收入减少 1800 万至 2000 万美元。
In conclusion, we had a financially strong quarter to close out a record year in net revenues and pretax margin, reflecting our continued ability to grow our customer base and deliver on our core value proposition to customers while scaling the business. This highlights the attractiveness of our strategy – automating as much of the brokerage business as possible and expanding what we offer while minimizing what we charge.
总的来说，我们度过了一个财务强劲的季度，为收入和税前利润率创下了纪录年的完美收官，这反映了我们持续增长客户群体并实现核心价值主张的能力，同时扩大业务规模。这突显了我们战略的吸引力——尽可能自动化经纪业务，并扩大我们提供的服务，同时最大限度地减少收费。
And with that, we’d like to open it up for questions.
随着这一点，我们想开放提问。
Question-and-Answer Session
问答环节
Operator 操作员
[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from James Yaro with Goldman Sachs.
【操作员指示】我们的第一个问题来自高盛的詹姆斯·亚罗。
James Yaro 詹姆斯·亚罗
I’d like to start with your outlook for deploying your excess capital. Maybe you could just speak to how you think about the balance between organic investment and inorganic growth. And then perhaps if you could just speak to the timeline over which you might contemplate that inorganic growth and what sort of businesses you might be looking for?
我想先从您部署多余资本的展望开始。也许您可以谈谈您如何看待有机投资和非有机增长之间的平衡。然后，也许您可以谈谈您可能考虑进行非有机增长的时间表，以及您可能寻找哪些类型的企业？
Milan Galik 米兰·加利克
So, as you know, we have significant cash reserves, significant amount of capital that we could deploy and would like to deploy. We have been looking for possible acquisition targets. They are all in our industry. They tend to be brokers who are less efficient than we are. We have closely looked at a number of them. We either find the price to be too high for acquisition or find that the acquisition would represent a very significant amount of work in terms of the integration. So, so far we have not found any target that we would actively go after. But we hope that that will change in the future.
所以，正如您所知，我们拥有大量的现金储备，大量的资本可以用于投资，也希望投资。我们一直在寻找可能的收购目标。它们都在我们的行业内。它们往往是比我们效率低的经纪人。我们已经仔细研究了其中一些。我们要么觉得收购价格太高，要么发现收购将在整合方面需要大量工作。到目前为止，我们还没有找到任何我们愿意积极追求的目标。但我们希望未来会有所改变。
James Yaro 詹姆斯·亚罗
Okay. That’s very helpful. Maybe if we could just touch quickly on the prime brokerage and prop trading opportunity. Maybe if you could just speak to where you see– where you are in the growth ramp for prime. And what do you think the business could look like on your platform over the next few years? You have talked about adding new hedge funds, both the small and large. So maybe you could just speak about when you talk to those clients, what attracts the larger hedge funds to your platform?
好的。这非常有帮助。也许我们可以简要谈一下主要经纪和自营交易的机会。也许您可以谈一下您认为主要经纪增长曲线的位置。未来几年内，您认为您的平台业务可能会是什么样子？您已经谈到要增加新的对冲基金，无论是小型还是大型。也许您可以谈一下当您与这些客户交谈时，是什么吸引了大型对冲基金来到您的平台？
Milan Galik 米兰·加利克
Interactive Brokers has been successful in attracting smaller hedge funds. These are typically the hedge funds that the bigger primes declined to do business with because of the higher cost structure that they have. And then what we find is as the hedge funds get bigger, they start to look around and consider these larger competitors of ours. We would obviously like to reverse that trend, but it’s not going to be easy.
交互经纪成功吸引了规模较小的对冲基金。这些通常是那些较大的主要对冲基金拒绝合作的对冲基金，因为它们具有更高的成本结构。然后我们发现，随着对冲基金规模的扩大，它们开始四处寻找并考虑我们这些更大的竞争对手。我们显然希望扭转这一趋势，但这并不容易。
Part of the problem that we are dealing with is that the large primes are banks that have been in business for 100 years or more and they have created a very significant brand recognition. That is what we are up against. So, we hope that the significant amount of capital that we have on our balance sheet will be attractive for the manager that looks at our large competitors, they will consider us because they will walk away with the belief that their assets are safe with us.
我们正在处理的问题之一是，大型银行是已经经营了 100 年或更长时间的银行，它们已经建立了非常显著的品牌认知。这就是我们所面临的挑战。因此，我们希望我们资产负债表上的大量资本对于审视我们的大型竞争对手的经理是有吸引力的，他们会考虑我们，因为他们会确信他们的资产与我们在一起是安全的。
Operator 操作员
Our next question comes from Craig Siegenthaler with Bank of America.
我们下一个问题来自美国银行的 Craig Siegenthaler。
Craig Siegenthaler 克雷格·西根塔勒
We wanted your perspective on the potential money in motion in the active trader segment. So, your biggest active trader competitor will be integrating into a larger financial services firm in a few months. And I’m wondering if you think this is an opportunity for IBKR to pick up share in the active trader segment.
我们希望听听您对活跃交易者领域资金流动潜力的看法。因此，您最大的活跃交易者竞争对手将在几个月内整合到一个更大的金融服务公司中。我想知道您是否认为这是 IBKR 在活跃交易者领域获得份额的机会。
Milan Galik 米兰·加利克
Are we talking about thinkorswim and Schwab?
我们在谈论 thinkorswim 和 Schwab 吗？
Craig Siegenthaler 克雷格·西根塔勒
Yes. 是的。
Milan Galik 米兰·加利克
So, to my knowledge, the thinkorswim platform is going to be made available to the active traders on the Schwab platform. So, I would not necessarily see this as an opportunity for the accounts to move from Schwab to Interactive Brokers, but you might have heard something different. I’m not sure.
据我所知，thinkorswim 平台将向施瓦布平台上的活跃交易者开放。因此，我不一定认为这是一个让账户从施瓦布转移到互动经纪公司的机会，但你可能听说了一些不同的消息。我不确定。
Craig Siegenthaler 克雷格·西根塔勒
Okay. For my follow-up, can you provide us your outlook for margin loan balances? Are we at a point where you think they can start to grow?
好的。接下来，请问您能否提供一下您对保证金贷款余额的展望？您认为我们是否已经到了可以开始增长的时候？
Milan Galik 米兰·加利克
Well, the margin loan balances are somewhat related to the interest rates, how expensive it is to put the margin positions on. They also depend on the market opportunities that are in the market. So, the higher the volatility, the greater these balances tend to be. As the number of accounts is growing, that should also increase the margin balances. So, I’m optimistic that they will increase over time.
嗯，保证金贷款余额与利率有一定关系，放置保证金头寸的成本有多高。它们还取决于市场中存在的机会。因此，波动性越高，这些余额往往越大。随着账户数量的增长，保证金余额也应该增加。因此，我对它们会随时间增加持乐观态度。
Operator 操作员
One moment for questions. Our next question comes from Benjamin Budish with Barclays.
稍等片刻，有问题。我们下一个问题来自巴克莱的本杰明·布迪什。
Benjamin Budish 本杰明·布迪什
You made the comment earlier in the prepared remarks about the 70% margin for this year, and I think earlier at a public appearance, you talked about sort of high single-digit operating expense growth for the year. Can you maybe talk about what that means for the top line? How do you think about sort of the interplay between lower rates potentially impacting net interest income, maybe this is offset by higher commissions. We’ve seen cash balances come up a little bit. How do you think about those two– sort of the interplay between those two and how that could evolve over the year and perhaps how you think about that a little bit longer term? I know in the past, you’ve sort of commented well, the margin could maybe in the low 60s to high 60s. It sounds like there’s a little bit more confidence on that 70% mark. So just curious of your thoughts there.
您在准备好的讲话中提到了今年的 70%利润率，我记得您之前在公开露面时提到了全年高个位数的营业费用增长。您能否谈谈这对收入的影响？您如何看待低利率可能影响净利息收入，也许这会被更高的佣金所抵消。我们看到现金余额有所增加。您如何看待这两者之间的相互作用，以及这在今年内可能如何演变，也许您对此有一些更长期的想法？我知道在过去，您曾表示利润率可能在低 60%到高 60%之间。听起来对 70%的标志更有信心。只是想了解您的想法。
Thomas Peterffy 托马斯·彼得菲
So, I think it’s going to be a race -- a dead heat -- between lower interest rates, reducing our earnings and higher– more activity increasing our earnings. So that’s how I see it.
所以，我认为这将是一场比赛--一场胶着的比赛--低利率、减少我们的收入和更高的活动增加我们的收入之间的比赛。这就是我的看法。
Benjamin Budish 本杰明·布迪什
Got it. And maybe any– last year, you sort of gave us an early look on the account– expected account growth into ‘23. I understand your position on the introducing brokers at this point, but any thoughts on what to expect this year or sort of 20% the right way to think about it? Any potentially large partners onboarding that might come on at any point?
明白了。也许去年，您提前让我们看了一下账户预期增长到'23 年。我理解您目前对介绍经纪人的立场，但对于今年或者说 20%是否是正确的增长预期，您有什么想法？是否有任何可能会随时加入的潜在大型合作伙伴？
Milan Galik 米兰·加利克
Well, I think the best piece of guidance we can give you is that you can look at how we have been growing over time and you can sort of jump to your own conclusions as to how that is going to look. The mix of the business, the various segments of the business that we have -- individual clients, introducing brokers, hedge funds, prop trading firms, financial advisers -- It’s not obvious to me how that makes you change over time. So, I would expect roughly the same growth numbers for the next year.
嗯，我认为我们能给你的最好建议是，你可以看看我们随着时间的推移是如何增长的，然后你可以得出自己的结论。我们的业务组合，我们拥有的各个业务部门——个人客户、介绍经纪人、对冲基金、专业交易公司、财务顾问——对我来说并不明显会随时间而改变。因此，我预计明年的增长数字大致相同。
Operator 操作员
Our next question comes from Brennan Hawken with UBS.
我们下一个问题来自瑞银的布伦南·霍肯。
Brennan Hawken 布伦南·霍肯
Thomas, you just talked about this sort of briefly, but I’m curious if you drill down into it a little bit in more detail. So— and how we should be thinking about the offsets? And obviously, there’s a $56 million impact for each 25-basis point rate cut. But how do you think about lower rates and how that translates into volumes and commissions and higher cash balances and margin loans?
Thomas，你刚才简要提到了这一点，但我想更详细地探讨一下。那么，我们应该如何考虑抵消因素呢？显然，每降低 25 个基点的利率将带来 5600 万美元的影响。但你如何看待较低的利率如何转化为交易量、佣金、更高的现金余额和保证金贷款？
Like how do you anticipate that interplay to actually develop?
你如何预期这种互动实际上会发展？
Thomas Peterffy 托马斯·彼得菲
So, I expect rates to be cut by 75 basis points in the course of the year. As you heard, our interest income would come down by $300 million— actually $304 million, if you extrapolate what Paul said putting US dollar deposits and foreign deposits together. So, if we come down by three- quarters that will be $220 million—about $230 million. And I think that— I mean, look— I believe that our earnings increased due to the continuing increasing activity and increasing number of accounts and new accounts being onboarded will outstrip that. But I can’t promise you that, it’s just what I think. So, I do believe that on balance, our earnings in 2024 will be higher than they were in 2023.
因此，我预计利率在今年将下调 75 个基点。正如您所听到的，我们的利息收入将减少 3 亿美元—实际上是 3.04 亿美元，如果您根据保罗所说的将美元存款和外币存款合并起来进行推算。因此，如果我们下降四分之三，那将是 2.2 亿美元—大约 2.3 亿美元。我认为—我是说，看—我相信我们的收入增加是由于持续增加的活动和增加的账户数量以及新账户的接入将超过这一部分。但我不能向您保证，这只是我的看法。因此，我相信总体上，我们 2024 年的收入将高于 2023 年。
Brennan Hawken 布伦南·霍肯
Okay. And then when we think about the margin balances, the margin balances continue to show good growth. How much of the growth in margin balances coming from new accounts, right?
好的。然后当我们考虑保证金余额时，保证金余额继续显示良好增长。保证金余额增长中有多少来自新账户？
And therefore, that doesn’t really have to do with any change in risk appetite in the existing customer base versus new accounts that are coming on and growing the margin organically?
因此，这实际上与现有客户群的风险偏好是否发生变化以及新客户账户的增长以及有机边际的增长无关？
Thomas Peterffy 托马斯·彼得菲
We slice and dice our accounts in many ways, but we don’t look at new accounts versus old accounts, sorry.
我们以多种方式对我们的账户进行分析，但我们没有比较新账户和旧账户，抱歉。
Brennan Hawken 布伦南·霍肯
Fair enough. Maybe let me try and say it another way. The increase in the margin balances that we’ve been seeing here recently, do you believe that this growth is sustainable?
公平的。也许让我换个方式来说。我们最近看到的保证金余额增加，您认为这种增长是可持续的吗？
Thomas Peterffy 托马斯·彼得菲
Of course. Look, we are the least expensive provider of margin loans to—especially to retail customers, but also to institutional traders.
当然。看，我们是提供保证金贷款最便宜的供应商，尤其是给零售客户，也给机构交易员。
Operator 操作员
Our next question comes from Dan Fannon with Jefferies.
我们下一个问题来自 Jefferies 的 Dan Fannon。
Daniel Fannon 丹尼尔·范农
My question is on sec lending and the outlook there, understanding that hard to borrowers have declined. But are you seeing replacement through other— options, futures, that behavior is changing? Or as you think about markets normalizing, engagement picking up, but we should see a natural pickup in the demand for sec lending?
我的问题是关于证券借贷和展望，了解到难以借款人数量下降。但您是否看到通过其他方式进行替代——期权、期货，行为是否在改变？或者当您考虑市场正常化、参与增加时，我们是否应该看到证券借贷需求自然增加？
Paul Brody 保罗·布罗迪
So, there’s two things at work there, really. There’s the baseline of what are the general shorts in the marketplace, which have been down and those are not under our control, but when things get more volatile, maybe more stocks get more interesting, look over valued and the shorts go up.
所以，实际上有两件事在起作用。市场上的一般空头头寸是基准，这些头寸已经下降，这些不在我们的控制范围内，但当事情变得更加波动时，也许更多的股票变得更有趣，看起来被高估了，空头头寸增加。
And then what really drives the P&L there is that particular stocks get very hot for a while. The demand outstrips the supply for borrowing those stocks because the shorts go up. And the rates go very high on those, and we make much more money lending them as do our customers when they are signed up for our fully paid lending program, and they get generally about half of what we earn by lending to the Street. So, it’s very opportunity-driven. The best we can do is what we’ve been doing for years. We’ve developed really expert systems at managing that inventory and trying to maximize the profitability when the opportunities come up.
然后真正推动损益表的是某些特定股票一段时间内变得非常热门。需求超过了借入这些股票的供应，因为做空交易增加了。这些股票的利率也会飙升，我们通过出借这些股票赚取的钱比我们的客户在完全支付出借计划中签约时赚取的要多得多，他们通常能获得我们向市场出借所赚利润的大约一半。因此，这是非常机会驱动的。我们能做的最好的就是多年来一直在做的事情。我们已经开发了非常专业的系统来管理库存，并在机会出现时努力最大化盈利能力。
Milan Galik 米兰·加利克
Maybe as the IPO space becomes more active, there are going to be some overpriced stocks trading out there with relatively small float and that could act as an increase of this activity.
也许随着 IPO 市场变得更加活跃，会有一些定价过高的股票在市场上交易，这些股票的流通量相对较小，可能会促使市场活动增加。
Daniel Fannon 丹尼尔·范农
Understood. That’s helpful. And then just a follow-up on the inorganic discussion. Could we maybe put some financial metrics around what you guys would be looking to get in terms of returns. Obviously, your pretax margins are, as you mentioned, industry-high. So the ability to make—to replicate that through M&A is probably very difficult. But— just is there a return threshold, accretion, other kind of financial measures that we could think about as the bogeys for an inorganic transaction.
明白了。这很有帮助。然后就有关非有机讨论的跟进。我们是否可以大致确定一些财务指标，以便了解您们希望获得的回报。显然，您们的税前利润率如您所提及的那样，是行业最高的。因此，通过并购复制这一点的能力可能非常困难。但是，是否有一个回报门槛、增值、或其他财务指标，我们可以将其作为非有机交易的目标呢。
Milan Galik 米兰·加利克
Well, so there are various factors that we take into consideration. Number one would be how big the acquisition is, how much of our capital would we have to spend. Obviously, we would not want to spend our energy on something too small. And at the same time, we would be too worried about getting into something very large.
嗯，我们考虑的因素有很多。首先是收购规模有多大，我们需要花费多少资本。显然，我们不想把精力花在太小的事情上。同时，我们也会担心涉足太大的项目。
We would look at what is the overlap between the financial services company we are looking at acquiring with what we are currently offering to our clients. How much synergies can we recognize. The amount of work that we would have to do to integrate the acquired company systems with ours. So, all these things are closely looked at apart from the pricing structure that the to-be acquired company has.
我们将研究我们正在考虑收购的金融服务公司与我们目前为客户提供的服务之间的重叠部分。我们能够认可多少协同效应。我们将不得不做多少工作来整合收购公司的系统与我们的系统。因此，除了待收购公司的定价结构之外，所有这些事情都会被仔细考虑。
In other words, how much would we have to adjust, the commissions and interest they charge. Would the revenues significantly change if the company becomes associated with Interactive Brokers? So, there is a whole bunch of different factors that we that we look at, and we have done that a number of times. We have gotten close to two purchases, in both of the cases, we were not able to agree on the price with the target.
换句话说，我们需要调整多少，他们收取的佣金和利息。如果公司与交互经纪公司有关，收入会发生显著变化吗？因此，有许多不同的因素，我们已经多次考虑过。我们已经接近两次收购，在这两种情况下，我们都无法就目标价格达成一致。
Operator 操作员
One moment for questions. Our next question comes from Kyle Voigt with KBW.
问题环节。我们的下一个问题来自 KBW 的 Kyle Voigt。
Kyle Voigt 凯尔·福格
First question is on expenses. If we exclude the $45 million, I think, one-time expense that was realized in the second quarter of 2023, I’m calculating that your fixed expense growth was roughly 12% for full year 2023. Is that the best run rate expense growth rate that we should be thinking about for 2024 as well? And if we get into an environment where the Fed is significantly cutting interest rates, would that expense growth trajectory change at all in order to maintain that 70% pretax margin that you mentioned in your prepared remarks?
第一个问题是关于费用。如果我们排除 2023 年第二季度实现的 4500 万美元一次性费用，我认为，您的固定费用增长在 2023 年全年大约为 12%。这是我们应该考虑 2024 年的最佳费用增长率吗？如果我们进入一个联邦储备局大幅降息的环境，为了保持您在准备好的讲话中提到的 70%税前利润率，这种费用增长轨迹会发生变化吗？
Milan Galik 米兰·加利克
So, 70% profit margin would get somewhat affected by the decrease in interest rates. You have already heard a little earlier, Paul Brody talking about the impact of the quarter percent cut on our net interest income. However, as Thomas alluded to, we hope that the commission income would offset these decreases in net interest income. So probably the revenue wouldn’t change.
因此，70%的利润率会受到利率下降的影响。您可能早些听到保罗·布罗迪谈到四分之一的降息对我们的净利息收入的影响。然而，正如托马斯所暗示的，我们希望佣金收入能够抵消净利息收入的减少。因此，收入可能不会改变。
What we have to pay very close attention to is our expenses. We have a very significant headcount—there is 2,900 employees working for the company. We have recently, over the past several years, we have had to increase the compensation every year because of the significant inflation, that inflation may stay with us, which would mean that we could expect the compensation expense to increase next year as well. And this is something that we really need to pay attention to. We would like to keep the headcount the same, if possible. But obviously, that could change. If we ever see that we are falling behind in customer service, we would have to adjust. But with the advances in, for example, AI, we hope that we can keep this number steady.
我们必须非常密切关注的是我们的开支。我们有一个非常庞大的员工人数——公司有 2,900 名员工在工作。最近几年来，由于显著的通货膨胀，我们不得不每年增加薪酬，这种通货膨胀可能会持续下去，这意味着我们可能预计明年的薪酬支出也会增加。这是我们真正需要关注的事情。我们希望能保持员工人数不变，如果可能的话。但显然，情况可能会改变。如果我们发现在客户服务方面落后，我们将不得不做出调整。但是，例如人工智能的进步，我们希望能保持这一数字稳定。
Kyle Voigt 凯尔·福格
Understood. Then just a follow-up, just going back to the M&A discussion. I think now you have over $10 billion of excess regulatory capital. But historically, you wanted to keep some of that as an additional cushion above the regulatory minimums to support the prime brokerage business. I guess when we’re thinking about potential acquisition sizes that you are evaluating, I guess, how much of that $10 billion excess regulatory capital could theoretically be deployed for M&A? And anything you could share with respect to general size of assets that you’re looking at relative to this excess capital level.
明白了。那么接下来的问题，回到并购讨论上。我认为现在您拥有超过 100 亿美元的过剩监管资本。但从历史上看，您希望保留其中一部分作为额外的垫底，超过监管最低要求，以支持首席经纪业务。我想，当我们考虑您正在评估的潜在收购规模时，您认为这 100 亿美元的过剩监管资本中理论上可以用于并购的有多少？您能否就您正在考虑的资产规模相对于这一过剩资本水平分享一些信息。
Milan Galik 米兰·加利克
Well, I would not necessarily look at $10 billion excess as the guidance towards the size of acquisitions we would be willing to make. It would be most likely the case that the acquired company would be paid for as a mix of stock and cash so we would not use up all the cash. We like to have a strong balance sheet. We have seen what happened to Robinhood a few years ago. We have seen what happened to Knight Trading -- I don’t know whether you remember them -- more than a decade ago. We like the safety that comes with a strong balance sheet. So, we would not want to spend anywhere near to the entire excess capital that we have.
嗯，我不一定会把 100 亿美元的过剩资金视为我们愿意进行收购的规模指引。被收购公司很可能会以股票和现金的组合支付，因此我们不会用完所有现金。我们喜欢拥有强大的资产负债表。我们已经看到了几年前罗宾汉发生的事情。我们也看到了 Knight Trading 发生的事情——我不知道你是否还记得——十多年前。我们喜欢强大资产负债表所带来的安全感。因此，我们不希望花费我们拥有的全部过剩资本的大部分。
Operator 操作员
[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Chris Allen with Citi, may proceed.
【操作员指示】我们下一个问题来自花旗的 Chris Allen，请提问。
Chris Allen 克里斯·艾伦
Just have a couple of follow-ups. Just on the M&A discussion, the targets you’re looking at — any preference from a regional perspective or a product or a capability perspective that you’re looking at? Or is it more just about efficiencies?
只是有几个后续问题。关于并购讨论，您正在考虑的目标——从区域角度、产品角度或能力角度是否有偏好？还是更多关注效率？
Milan Galik 米兰·加利克
It’s about efficiencies. There is no preference. We are a global company, so it really doesn’t matter where.
这是关于效率的问题。没有偏好。我们是一家全球公司，所以地点并不重要。
Chris Allen 克里斯·艾伦
And then obviously, headcount has increased at healthy levels, which has driven some of the compensation increases. What’s the outlook for hiring going forward? Do you need to continue to hire at a healthy pace to expand internationally in other areas? And what’s the pressure in terms of compensation from a competitive dynamic?
然后显然，员工人数以健康的速度增加，这推动了一些薪酬的增加。未来招聘的前景如何？您是否需要继续以健康的速度招聘，以在其他领域扩展国际业务？在竞争动态方面，薪酬方面的压力是多少？
Milan Galik 米兰·加利克
So we are of the view that we are sufficiently staffed on the technology staff. As far as the customer service is concerned, we are paying very close attention to our metrics— the abandoned calls, calls in queue, wait times. They have looked sufficiently healthy that we are running at the levels that we are comfortable with. If, all of a sudden, we receive either by acquisitions or by organic growth, significantly higher number of accounts, we may have to adjust but we are trying to counteract it as much as possible by automating the customer service as much as possible.
因此，我们认为技术人员的人手已经足够。就客户服务而言，我们非常关注我们的指标——未接来电、排队电话、等待时间。它们看起来足够健康，我们的运营水平让我们感到满意。如果突然之间，我们通过收购或有机增长获得了大量账户，我们可能需要做出调整，但我们正在尽可能多地通过自动化客户服务来抵消这种影响。
And I could probably say similar things about the surveillance employees and operators that we have. There are hundreds of them that we currently employ. We constantly work on making the tools that they use more efficient, so that even if the market activity picks up and number of accounts increases, we would like to be able to operate with the same level of staffing as we currently do.
我可能也可以说类似的话，关于我们拥有的监控员工和操作员。我们目前雇佣了数百名员工。我们不断努力使他们使用的工具更加高效，这样即使市场活动增加，账户数量增加，我们也希望能够以目前的人员水平运作。
Operator 操作员
One moment for questions. Our next question comes from Patrick Moley with Piper Sandler.
问题时间。我们下一个问题来自 Piper Sandler 的 Patrick Moley。
Patrick Moley 帕特里克·莫利
I was just hoping to get your thoughts on the recent spot Bitcoin ETF approval. What impact, if any, it’s had on your business? Maybe any sort of behavioral shifts you’re seeing among your customer base and how you think you’re positioned, I guess, in overall crypto digital asset space going forward?
我只是希望听听您对最近现货比特币 ETF 批准的看法。它对您的业务产生了什么影响，如果有的话？也许您在客户群体中看到了任何行为变化，以及您认为自己在未来整体加密数字资产领域的定位如何？
Milan Galik 米兰·加利克
So, we were one of the firms and maybe the only broker that was making these 11 ETFs available on their platform on Day One. Our customers immediately started trading these ETFs. Obviously, this is going to make the cryptocurrency investing more mainstream, because the investors that were reluctant to jump into this space before, having these ETFs in existence made that easier for them. So I think they are going to— the cryptocurrencies are going to become a portion of a great number of investors’ portfolios out there. As to what it’s going to mean to our investors, our customers, it’s hard to tell. As you know, our clientele tends to be a little bit more active, more sophisticated. I think some of them will recognize the opportunity to trade the cryptocurrency itself as well as the ETF on our platform. There may be some arbitrage opportunities that develop. I think it’s too early to tell how it will play out.
因此，我们是少数公司之一，也许是唯一一家经纪商，在第一天就在他们的平台上提供这 11 只 ETF。我们的客户立即开始交易这些 ETF。显然，这将使加密货币投资更加主流，因为之前不愿涉足这一领域的投资者，现在有了这些 ETF，这对他们来说更容易了。因此，我认为加密货币将成为许多投资者投资组合的一部分。至于这对我们的投资者、客户意味着什么，很难说。正如您所知，我们的客户群体倾向于更加活跃、更加复杂。我认为其中一些人会意识到在我们的平台上交易加密货币本身以及 ETF 的机会。可能会出现一些套利机会。我认为现在还为时过早，无法预测事态将如何发展。
Operator 操作员
I would now like to turn the call back over to Nancy Stuebe for any closing remarks.
我现在想把电话交回给南希·斯图贝，以便她做任何结束的讲话。
Nancy Stuebe 南希·斯图贝
Thank you, everyone, for participating today. As a reminder, this call will be available for replay on our website, and we will also be posting a clean version of our transcript on the site tomorrow. Thank you again, and we will talk to you next quarter end.
谢谢大家今天的参与。提醒一下，本次通话将在我们的网站上提供重播，明天我们还将在网站上发布干净版本的文字记录。再次感谢，我们下个季度末再与您交流。
Operator 操作员
Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.
感谢您的参与。您现在可以断开连接。
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