2024-03-14 Futu Holdings Ltd (FUTU) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript
Futu Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:FUTU) Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call March 14, 2024 7:30 AM ET
Futu Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:FUTU) 2023 年第四季度收益电话会议 美国东部时间 2024 年 3 月 14 日上午 7:30
Company Participants 公司参与者
Daniel Yuan - Chief of Staff & Head, IR
Daniel Yuan - 办公室主任兼投资者关系负责人
Leaf Hua Li - Chairman, CEO & Founder
Leaf Hua Li - 主席、首席执行官兼创始人
Arthur Chen - CFO Arthur Chen - 首席财务官
Robin Xu - SVP Robin Xu - 高级副总裁
Conference Call Participants
电话会议与会者
Cindy Wang - China Renaissance Securities
Cindy Wang - 华兴证券
Chiyao Huang - Morgan Stanley
Chiyao Huang - 摩根士丹利
Yu Fan - CICC 于凡 - CICC
Leon Qi - Daiwa Capital Markets
Leon Qi - 大和资本市场
Emma Xu - Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Emma Xu - 美银美林
Peter Zhang - JPMorgan Peter Zhang - 摩根大通
Operator 操作员
Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Futu Holdings Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. Today's conference call is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time.
女士们、先生们，大家好。欢迎参加富途控股 2023 年第四季度及全年财报电话会议。[今天的电话会议正在录音］今天的电话会议正在录音。如果您有任何异议，现在可以挂断电话。
I would now like to turn the conference over to your host for today's conference call, Daniel Yuan, Chief of Staff to CEO and Head of IR at Futu. Please go ahead, sir.
现在请今天电话会议的主持人，富途公司首席执行官办公室主任兼投资者关系部主管丹尼尔-袁（Daniel Yuan）发言。请继续，先生。
Daniel Yuan 丹尼尔-袁
Thanks, operator, and thank you all for joining us today to discuss our fourth-quarter and full-year 2023 earnings results. Joining me on the call today are Mr. Leaf Li, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Arthur Chen, Chief Financial Officer; and Robin Xu, Senior Vice President.
谢谢，接线员，感谢大家今天参加我们的会议，讨论我们的第四季度和 2023 年全年财报。今天和我一起参加电话会议的有董事长兼首席执行官李亚鹏先生、首席财务官陈亚瑟先生和高级副总裁徐彦斌先生。
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. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. We caution you that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. For more information about the potential risks and uncertainties, please refer to the company's filings with the SEC, including its annual report.
需要提醒的是，今天的电话会议可能包含前瞻性陈述，这些陈述代表了公司对未来事件的看法，而未来事件的性质并不确定，也不在公司的控制范围之内。前瞻性陈述涉及固有风险和不确定性。我们提醒您，一些重要因素可能导致实际结果与任何前瞻性声明中的内容存在实质性差异。有关潜在风险和不确定性的更多信息，请参阅公司向美国证券交易委员会提交的文件，包括年度报告。
With that I will now turn the call over to Leaf. Leaf will make his comments in Chinese, and I will translate.
现在我把电话交给利夫。利夫将用中文发表他的意见，我会进行翻译。
Leaf Hua Li 叶华丽
Thank you all for joining our earnings call today. In the fourth quarter, we added over 59,000 paying clients. Our total paying clients as of year-end reached over $1.7 million, representing 15% growth year over year and exceeding our guidance. This was due to level four for tissue valves goes up by volume versus on total volume of business.
感谢大家参加我们今天的财报电话会议。第四季度，我们新增了 59,000 多名付费客户。截至年底，我们的付费客户总数超过 170 万，同比增长 15%，超过了我们的指导目标。这是由于组织瓣膜的四级业务量与总业务量相比有所增长。
客户数的增长速度完不如IBKR，IBKR接近30%。
Client acquisition in Singapore has sustained high growth into the fourth quarter. Money market funds continue to garner significant client interest amid high interest rate and market volatility. In December, we became the first and only distributor of Fullerton Fund Management Singapore-dollar-denominated money market funds, the only T+0 Singapore dollar money market funds for retail investors in Singapore.
进入第四季度，新加坡的客户获取量持续高速增长。在高利率和市场波动的情况下，货币市场基金继续获得客户的极大兴趣。12 月，我们成为富登基金管理公司（Fullerton Fund Management）新加坡元货币市场基金的第一家也是唯一一家分销商，这是新加坡唯一一家面向零售投资者的 T+0 新加坡元货币市场基金。
We continue to gain user mindshare in Japan with our rich market information, comprehensive market data, and interactive social community. In the fourth quarter, the average daily downloads of moomoo app in Japan ranked top three among all brokers and surpassed those of Nomura and Matsui Securities according to data.ai. With the recording remarkable gains and hitting new highs, client acquisition in Japan also showed a notable sequential increase in the first quarter.
我们凭借丰富的市场信息、全面的市场数据和互动的社交社区，不断赢得日本用户的青睐。根据 data.ai 的数据，第四季度 moomoo 应用在日本的日均下载量在所有经纪商中排名前三，超过了野村证券和松井证券。第一季度，moomoo 在日本的客户获取量也出现了显著的连续增长，并创下了新高。
日本不太可能成为股市活跃的市场，moomoo在日本市场的成绩值得肯定。
We continue to streamline the account opening process to reduce leakage in the conversion funnel and focused on R&D for key investment products. We launched a growth account in December that will soon roll out Japan equities trading. Our clients in Hong Kong and Singapore will also have access to Japan stock trading in the second quarter.
我们继续简化开户流程，减少转换漏斗中的流失，并专注于主要投资产品的研发。我们在 12 月推出了增长账户，不久将推出日本股票交易。我们在香港和新加坡的客户也将在第二季度参与日本股票交易。
Client acquisition in Hong Kong slowed down due to sluggish market sentiments. We have rebounded in the first quarter along with the recovery of the Hong Kong stock market. In the US, we continue to prioritize client quality over quantity with the average asset balance of new paying clients in their first quarter of onboarding, increasing by over 30% compared to the last quarter. In Australia, we focused on cultivating brand equity and adding new products, including cash management.
由于市场情绪低迷，香港的客户拓展速度放缓。随着香港股市的复苏，我们在第一季度的客户拓展速度有所回升。在美国，我们继续优先考虑客户质量而非数量，第一季度新付费客户的平均资产余额比上一季度增加了 30%以上。在澳大利亚，我们重点培养品牌资产，并增加新产品，包括现金管理产品。
On February 26, we launched brokerage business in Malaysia and gained significant traction. Over 30,000 clients flocked to our platform within one week of the official launch, representing the fastest growth in any of our international markets. We managed to generate high brand awareness in Malaysia from the outset thanks to our rapid share gain in Singapore over the past three years.
2 月 26 日，我们在马来西亚推出了经纪业务，并获得了显著的发展。在正式推出一周内，就有超过 30,000 名客户涌入我们的平台，是我们所有国际市场中增长最快的。得益于过去三年在新加坡的快速增长，我们从一开始就在马来西亚建立了较高的品牌知名度。
华人比较多的市场。
We observed robust paying client growth across all markets this year. In fact, we attracted more paying clients and net asset inflows in the first two months this year than the entire fourth quarter. Given the strong momentum year to date, we are guiding for a 350,000 net new paying clients in 2024.
今年，我们观察到所有市场的付费客户都在强劲增长。事实上，我们在今年前两个月吸引的付费客户和净资产流入超过了整个第四季度。鉴于今年迄今为止的强劲势头，我们预计 2024 年的净新增付费客户将达到 350,000 人。
Total client assets increased by 16% year over year and 4% quarter over quarter to HKD486 billion. The sequential increase was largely due to robust net asset inflow across all regions and the market appreciation of our clients' US stockholding. In Singapore, total client assets and average client assets posted sequential increase of 25% and 17%, respectively. Average client assets was over SGD17,000 due to strong inflows across cohorts. As we continue to build brand equity, moomoo gained traction among high-net-worth clients in Singapore.
客户资产总额同比增长 16%，环比增长 4%，达到 4,860 亿港元。连续增长的主要原因是所有地区的净资产流入强劲，以及客户持有的美国股票在市场上升值。在新加坡，客户资产总额和客户平均资产分别连续增长 25% 和 17%。由于各组别的资金流入强劲，客户平均资产超过了 17,000 新元。随着我们不断建立品牌资产，moomoo 在新加坡的高净值客户中获得了巨大的吸引力。
相比于信用卡，券商对应资产能力，信用卡对应消费能力，有钱才能消费，现实中券商的成长不一定好于信用卡，但是从当下出发，两者的确定性是有区别的。
As of quarter end, margin financing and securities lending balance increased marginally by 2% quarter over quarter. While we saw an uptick in security funding balance for US stocks margin financing balance declined as clients unwound their positions.
截至本季度末，保证金融资和证券借贷余额较上季度小幅增长 2%。由于客户平仓，美股保证金融资余额有所下降。
Total trading volume was HKD957 billion, down 12% year over year and quarter over quarter. In the fourth quarter, Hong Kong and US stock trading volume were down 13% and 12% sequentially. Weak sentiments around Hong Kong equities and lower turnover in US tech stocks dragged total trading volume. Our share gains in the derivatives market and Hong Kong was a bright spot. Hong Kong futures and options trading at 8.5% and 14.7% market share in the fourth quarter respectively.
总交易量为 9,570 亿港元，同比和环比均下降 12%。第四季度，港股和美股交易量分别环比下降 13% 和 12%。香港股市情绪疲弱，美国科技股成交量下降，拖累了总交易量。我们在衍生品市场和香港市场的份额增长是一个亮点。第四季度，香港期货和期权交易的市场份额分别为 8.5%和 14.7%。
有可能是诈骗式收费的结果。
Total client assets in wealth management increased by 82% year over year and 11% quarter over quarter to HKD58 billion, accounting for 12% of total client assets. Clients increased their allocation in money market funds and US treasury bills to harvest high yields. Total bond holdings as a result increased by over 60% quarter over quarter. We continue to enrich our structured products by onboarding the accumulator nodes, a product that allow clients to sell their stock positions out of premium.
财富管理客户资产总额同比增长 82%，环比增长 11%，达到 580 亿港元，占客户资产总额的 12%。客户增加了货币市场基金和美国国库券的配置，以获取高收益。因此，债券总持有量按季增长超过 60%。我們繼續豐富結構性產品，推出累計結點（accumulator nodes）產品，讓客戶可在溢價後出售股票持倉。
这种产品弄不好给自己找来更多的麻烦，国内很多银行因为代销理财产品弄出很多事情，有这个问题的很难改变。
Our enterprise business had 414 IPO distribution and IR clients, up 24% year over year. In the fourth quarter, we acted as joint book runners for several high-profile Hong Kong IPOs, including those of J&T Express and UBTech. We underwrote 37 Hong Kong IPOs in 2023 and ranked first among all brokers according to Wind.
我们的企业业务拥有 414 家首次公开募股发行和投资者关系客户，同比增长 24%。第四季度，我们担任了几家备受瞩目的香港 IPO 的联席簿记管理人，其中包括极兔和优必达。我们在 2023 年承销了 37 宗香港首次公开招股，在所有券商中排名第一（根据 Wind 数据）。
Next, I'd like to invite our CFO, Arthur to discuss our financial performance.
接下来，我想请我们的首席财务官阿瑟谈谈我们的财务业绩。
Arthur Chen
Thank you, Leaf and Daniel. Before going through our financial performance, I'd like to give you an update on our latest share repurchase program announced on March 11, 2022. As of December 31, 2023, the expiration date of the program, we have repurchased an aggregate of $11 billion ADS with approximately USD365 million total repurchase amount in open market transactions. We have put in place a new share repurchase program, which approved and authorized us to repurchase up to USD500 million of ADS before December 31, 2025.
谢谢你们，利夫和丹尼尔。在介绍我们的财务业绩之前，我想向大家介绍一下我们在 2022 年 3 月 11 日宣布的最新股票回购计划的最新情况。截至 2023 年 12 月 31 日，也就是该计划的到期日，我们在公开市场交易中累计回购了 110 亿的美国存托凭证，回购总额约为 3.65 亿美元。我们已经实施了一项新的股票回购计划，该计划批准并授权我们在 2025 年 12 月 31 日之前回购不超过 5 亿美元的美国存托凭证。
赚来的钱全部花掉，如果有不确定这是很好的策略。
Now please allow me to walk you through our financial performance. All numbers Hong Kong dollars unless otherwise noted. Total revenue was $2.4 billion, up 4% from $2.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022. We ended 2023 with full-year revenue growing 31% to $10 billion. Brokerage commission and handling charge income were $904 million, a decrease of 14% year over year and 10% QoQ. The decrease was mainly driven by lower trading volumes.
现在，请允许我向大家介绍一下我们的财务业绩。除非另有说明，所有数字均为港币。总收入为 24 亿港币，比 2022 年第四季度的 23 亿增长了 4%。截至 2023 年年底，我们的全年收入增长了 31%，达到 100 亿港币。经纪佣金和手续费收入为 9.04 亿，同比减少 14%，环比减少 10%。减少的主要原因是交易量下降。
Interest income was $1.3 billion, up 17% year over year and down 11% QoQ. The year-over-year increase was mainly driven by higher interest income from client cash deposits due to higher benchmark interest rate and higher margin financing income due to an increase in daily average margin balance. The Q-over-Q decrease was mostly driven by the lower interest income from clients' cash deposits due to a decrease in daily average client cash balance.
利息收入为 13 亿，同比增长 17%，环比下降 11%。同比增长的主要原因是基准利率上调导致客户现金存款利息收入增加，以及日均保证金余额增加导致保证金融资收入增加。季度环比下降的主要原因是客户每日平均现金余额下降，导致客户现金存款利息收入减少。
Other income was $137 million, up 46% year over year and a largely flat QoQ. The year-over-year increase was primary attribute to higher fund distribution income, partially offset by lower enterprise public relationship service income and underwriting fee income. Our total cost of $433 million, an increase of 27% from $342 million in the fourth quarter of 2022.
其他收入为 1.37 亿，同比增长 46%，环比基本持平。同比增长的主要原因是基金发行收入增加，但部分被企业公共关系服务收入和承销费收入的减少所抵消。我们的总成本为 4.33 亿，比 2022 年第四季度的 3.42 亿增加了 27%。
Brokerage commission and handling charge expenses were $59 million, down 8% year over year and 6% Q-over-Q. The decrease was roughly in line with our decrease of our brokerage commission and handling charge income, partially offset by the cost of migrating our SGX equities to our self-clearing system.
经纪佣金和手续费支出为 5,900 万，同比下降 8%，环比下降 6%。这一下降与经纪佣金和手续费收入的下降基本一致，但部分降幅被将新交所股票迁移到自我结算系统的成本所抵消。
Interest expenses were $271 million, up 49% year-over-year and down 6% Q-over-Q. The year-over-year increase was driven by higher interest expenses associated with our securities borrowing and lending business and the higher margin financing interest expenses. The Q-over-Q decrease was mostly due to lower interest expenses associated with our security borrowing and the lending business, partially offset by higher margin financing interest expenses.
利息支出为 2.71 亿，同比增长 49%，环比下降 6%。同比增长的原因是与我们的证券借贷业务相关的利息支出增加，以及融资利息支出的利润率提高。季度环比下降的主要原因是与证券借款和借贷业务相关的利息支出减少，其中一部分被利差较高的融资利息支出所抵消。
Processing and servicing costs was $104 million, up 7% year over year and 21% Q-over-Q. The increase was largely due to higher product service fee for new markets and higher system usage fees. As a result, our total gross profit was $1.9 billion, largely flat year over year. Gross margin was 81.7% as compared to 85% in the fourth quarter of 2022.
处理和服务成本为 1.04 亿，同比增长 7%，环比增长 21%。成本增加的主要原因是新市场的产品服务费和系统使用费增加。因此，我们的总毛利润为 19 亿，同比基本持平。毛利率为 81.7%，而 2022 年第四季度为 85%。
Operating expenses was up 12% year over year and 3% Q-over-Q, so $916 million. R&D expenses were $363 million, up 9% year over year and 1% Q-over-Q. The year-over-year increase was mainly due to increasing R&D headcount as we continue to support new product offerings in international markets.
运营支出为 9.16 亿，同比增长 12%，环比增长 3%。研发费用为 3.63 亿，同比增长 9%，环比增长 1%。同比增长的主要原因是，我们继续支持在国际市场上推出新产品，因此研发人员数量有所增加。
Selling and marketing expenses was $182 million, up 19% year over year and down 14% Q-over-Q. The year-over-year increase was due to a 41% year-over-year increase in net new paying clients, partially offset by lower customer acquisition costs. And the Q-over-Q decrease was due to fewer net new clients and lower customer acquisition costs.
销售和营销费用为 1.82 亿，同比增长 19%，环比下降 14%。同比增长的原因是净新增付费客户数同比增长了 41%，其中一部分被较低的客户获取成本所抵消。而季度环比下降则是由于净新客户减少和客户获取成本降低。
G&A expenses were $370 million, up 12% year-over-year and 15% Q-over-Q. The increase was primary due to a increase in headcount for general and administrative personnel, partially offset by lower professional service fees. As a result, income from operations decreased 9% year over year and 22% Q-over-Q to $1 billion. Operating margin declined to 43.1% from 49.1% in the fourth quarter of 2022, mostly due to operating deleverage.
一般及行政费用为 3.7 亿，同比增长 12%，环比增长 15%。费用增加的主要原因是一般及行政人员的人数增加，但专业服务费的减少部分抵消了费用的增加。因此，运营收入同比下降 9%，环比下降 22%，降至 10 亿。运营利润率从 2022 年第四季度的 49.1% 下降到 43.1%，主要原因是运营去杠杆化。
Our net income decreased by 9% year over year and 20% Q-over-Q to $876 million. Net income margin shrank to 36.9% in the fourth quarter as compared to 42% in the same quarter last year. Among our international business, Singapore was the first to achieve breakeven on a quarterly basis even with apportioned cost from headquarter. As client assets continued to grow, we believe the unit economics in Singapore will maintain an upward trajectory.
第四季度净利润为 8.76 亿，同比下降 9%，环比下降 20%。第四季度的净利润率从去年同期的 42% 下降到 36.9%。在我们的国际业务中，即使从总部分摊成本，新加坡也是第一个实现季度收支平衡的国家。随着客户资产的持续增长，我们相信新加坡的单位经济效益将保持上升趋势。
That concludes our prepared remarks. We'd now like to open the call to questions. Operator, please go ahead. Thank you.
我们准备的发言到此结束。现在请大家提问。接线员，请说。谢谢。
Question-and-Answer Session
问答环节
Operator 操作员
[Operator Instructions]. First question today is from Cindy Wang from China Renaissance.
[接线员指示]今天的第一个问题来自华兴资本的 Cindy Wang。
Cindy Wang
Thanks for taking my call. And I have two question. First one is what's your progress of improving accounts opening process in Japan? And could you provide more color on new paying client acquisition in fourth quarter last year versus first quarter of this year so far in Japan? And when would you expect to launch Japan stock trading?
谢谢你接听我的电话我有两个问题。第一个问题是，你们在日本改进开户流程的进展如何？你们能否提供更多关于去年第四季度与今年第一季度日本新付费客户获取情况的信息？你们预计何时推出日本股票交易？
And the second question is regarding to the new paying client. So we see the new paying client target of 350,000 in 2024. It's very impressive. Could you break down by key markets, including like Hong Kong, Singapore, US, Japan, et cetera? Thank you.
第二个问题是关于新付费客户的。我们看到 2024 年的新付费客户目标是 35 万。这非常令人印象深刻。您能否按主要市场（包括香港、新加坡、美国、日本等）进行细分？谢谢。
Arthur Chen
Thank you, Cindy. I will take your second question first and will leave the first question to my colleague, Daniel. In terms of our new targets for 2024, the contributions from Singapore, Hong Kong and the Australians -- these existing markets absolute terms should be similar to last year. So the incremental growth drivers mainly come from certain new markets we enter into this year and recently in the fourth quarter last year, such as Japan, Canada and Malaysia. Thank you.
谢谢你，辛迪。我先回答你的第二个问题，第一个问题交给我的同事丹尼尔。关于我们 2024 年的新目标，新加坡、香港和澳大利亚的贡献 -- 这些现有市场的绝对值应该与去年相似。因此，增长动力主要来自于我们今年进入的某些新市场，以及最近在去年第四季度进入的市场，如日本、加拿大和马来西亚。谢谢。
Daniel Yuan 丹尼尔-袁
Hi, Cindy. This is Daniel, and I'll take your question on Japan. So in the fourth quarter, we continued to optimize their account opening process and to integrate the redundant processes and pages in that process, and to iterate on the key friction points. And we have seen, therefore, a very meaningful increase in the conversion rate from users to registered clients to paying clients.
你好，辛迪。我是丹尼尔，我来回答你关于日本的问题。在第四季度，我们继续优化他们的开户流程，整合流程中的冗余流程和页面，并对关键摩擦点进行反复改进。因此，我们看到，从用户到注册客户再到付费客户的转化率有了非常有意义的提高。
But in comparison to other international markets, there is still a lot of room for improvement in that conversion number and to continue to optimize that account opening golden process will be a key priority for us this year. And in terms of Japan, equities trading, yes, we are planning to roll out the Japan equities trading to our Japan clients by the end of March. And then in April or May, we're going to roll out Japan equities trading to our clients in Hong Kong and Singapore. Thank you.
但与其他国际市场相比，转换率仍有很大的提升空间，继续优化黄金开户流程将是我们今年的重点工作。就日本股票交易而言，是的，我们计划在 3 月底之前向日本客户推出日本股票交易。然后在 4 月或 5 月，我们将向香港和新加坡的客户推出日本股票交易。谢谢。
Operator 操作员
Thank you. Next question today is from Chiyao Huang from Morgan Stanley.
谢谢。今天的下一个问题来自摩根士丹利的 Chiyao Huang。
Chiyao Huang
My question is on Singapore. So what was roughly the client number and client asset contribution on the overall firm basis? And also wonder what's the strategy in Singapore for 2024, and how's the competitive landscape change in Singapore? And also what's the risk appetite evolving for Singapore clients in '24, given the US market still performing quite well? Are we the trading more stocks? Thank you.
我的问题是关于新加坡的。公司整体的客户数量和客户资产贡献大概是多少？我还想知道，2024 年新加坡的战略是什么，新加坡的竞争格局会发生怎样的变化？另外，鉴于美国市场仍然表现良好，24 年新加坡客户的风险偏好有何变化？我们是否会交易更多股票？谢谢。
Arthur Chen
Thank you, Chiyao. My colleagues, Robin will answer this question for you.
谢谢你，Chiyao。我的同事，罗宾将为你回答这个问题。
Robin Xu 徐彦
In the fourth quarter, the Singapore recorded very steady client growth and contributed about 30% of our total net new clients for the entire quarter. And thanks to the continued net asset inflow of our existing clients and the higher quality new clients, the total client assets and average client assets in Singapore reported 25% and 17% sequential growth, respectively. And the total client assets over reported sequential increase for every single quarter since we launched the business.
第四季度，新加坡的客户增长非常稳定，约占整个季度新客户净总数的 30%。得益于现有客户和优质新客户的持续净资产流入，新加坡的客户总资产和客户平均资产分别实现了 25% 和 17% 的连续增长。自我们开展业务以来，每个季度的客户总资产都连续增长。
这个增长速度仍然赶不上IBKR。
And average client assets have been on an upward trajectory for six consecutive quarters. And as at the end of last year, average client assets in Singapore was over SGD17,000. And we believe that as we continue to enhance our brand awareness to diversify and enrich our product offerings and to improve our client services, moomoo will continue to attract more high-net-worth individuals.
客户平均资产已连续六个季度呈上升趋势。截至去年年底，新加坡客户的平均资产已超过 1.7 万新元。我们相信，随着我们不断提高品牌知名度，丰富产品种类，改善客户服务，moomoo 将继续吸引更多的高净值人士。
And we've also seen the unit economics in Singapore to continue to improve in the past two years. And taking into account the costs from the headquarters to support Singapore, the Singapore subsidiary was breakeven for the first time during the fourth quarter, and we have some very good growth year to date.
在过去两年里，我们也看到新加坡的单位经济效益持续改善。考虑到总部支持新加坡的成本，新加坡子公司在第四季度首次实现了盈亏平衡，而且我们今年迄今为止取得了非常好的增长。
And in terms of clients' risk appetite -- so during the past rate hike cycle, we started to promote our Cash Plus product, which is the money market fund product. And we continue to cross-sell on different investment products based on our clients' risk appetite. And this year, we have seen very strong traction in US equities among our Singapore clients. Thank you.
就客户的风险偏好而言，在过去的加息周期中，我们开始推广我们的 "现金增值 "产品，即货币市场基金产品。我们将继续根据客户的风险偏好，交叉销售不同的投资产品。今年，我们在新加坡客户中看到了美国股票市场非常强劲的发展势头。谢谢。
Operator 操作员
Next question today is from Yu Fan from CICC
今天的下一个问题来自 CICC 的 Yu Fan
Yu Fan 于凡
My first question is regarding the blended commission rate. We see the commission rate increase this quarter. So what's the reason behind? And the second question is about the CAC. So we see the CAC decrease along with quarter. So what's the reason behind? And how do you view the future trend of the CAC?
我的第一个问题是关于混合佣金率的。我们看到本季度的佣金率有所上升。这背后的原因是什么？第二个问题是关于 CAC 的。我们看到 CAC 随季度下降。这背后的原因是什么？您如何看待 CAC 的未来趋势？
Arthur Chen
Thank you. I will take these two questions. For commission rate, the combined take rate is almost on a Q-o-Q basis, slightly up because of the product mixture and more contributions from our -- the virtual products.
谢谢。我将回答这两个问题。关于佣金率，由于产品的混合和我们虚拟产品的更多贡献，综合佣金率几乎按季度略有上升。
And then for the CAC, we further optimized our different marketing campaigns channels to control and even decrease our CAC, which -- they are a very strong result in the fourth quarter. And then looking forward and based on the year-to-date situations, we do expect this year, CAC number will decrease compared with last year, hopefully by 10% to 20% year-on-year basis. Thank you.
在 CAC 方面，我们进一步优化了不同的营销活动渠道，以控制甚至降低 CAC，这在第四季度取得了非常显著的效果。展望未来，根据年初至今的情况，我们预计今年的 CAC 数量将比去年有所下降，希望同比下降 10% 至 20%。谢谢。
CAC（Customer Acquisition Cost）指获客成本。
Operator 操作员
Thank you. Next question today is from Emma Xu from Bank of America Securities.
谢谢。今天的下一个问题来自美银证券的 Emma Xu。
Emma Xu 艾玛-徐
So I have two questions. The first one is about the client quality in other international markets. You mentioned earlier about the positive progress in Singapore client quality, but how about other international market? Do you also see improvement in the average client asset? And for your Hong Kong market, with you are penetrating into the mass market, how will the client profile and average client assets change?
我有两个问题。第一个问题是关于其他国际市场的客户质量。你刚才提到新加坡的客户质量取得了积极进展，那么其他国际市场呢？你们是否也看到了客户平均资产的改善？至于香港市场，随着你们向大众市场渗透，客户情况和客户平均资产会有什么变化？
And the second question is about your trading velocity and trading volume. The trading velocity declined to a record low in fourth quarter, and it is quite understandable that the Hong Kong trading velocity declined due to the weak market. However, US market actually performed quite well in the fourth quarter, but your US trading volume also declined. So how should we think about the connection between the market performance and your trading velocity? Do we see a notable rebound of your trading velocity in the first quarter?
第二个问题是关于你们的交易速度和交易量。第四季度的交易速度降到了历史最低点，由于市场疲软，香港的交易速度下降是可以理解的。然而，美国市场在第四季度的表现其实相当不错，但你们在美国的交易量也有所下降。那么，我们应该如何看待市场表现与贵公司交易速度之间的联系呢？我们是否会看到贵公司的交易速度在第一季度出现明显反弹？
Arthur Chen
Thank you. I will take your second question first and leave the first question to my colleagues, Daniel. In terms of trading velocity, you're right. The trading velocity stungs in Hong Kong and the US in the fourth quarter. Despite the US stock performed very well in the fourth quarter, but it remains a very strong continuous uptrend for the whole quarters. So most of our clients actually use a buy-and-hold strategy to enjoy the rallies. And the implied volatility in the US markets in the fourth quarter actually went down compared with third quarters.
谢谢。我先回答你的第二个问题，第一个问题留给我的同事丹尼尔。关于交易速度，你说得对。第四季度，香港和美国的交易速度有所放缓。尽管美股在第四季度表现非常好，但整个季度仍然保持着非常强劲的持续上升趋势。因此，我们的大多数客户实际上都采用买入并持有的策略来享受涨势。与第三季度相比，第四季度美国市场的隐含波动率实际上有所下降。
So the trading velocities decreased -- actually, based on our observations is in line with a lot of other US discount brokers' operating matrix as well. Then in the first quarter this year so far, we have seen a very healthy pickup, not only in the US but also in Hong Kong in terms of the trading volume and also the trading velocity. Thank you.
因此，根据我们的观察，交易速度的下降实际上与许多其他美国折扣经纪商的运营模式一致。今年第一季度到目前为止，我们看到交易量和交易速度都有了非常健康的回升，不仅是在美国，在香港也是如此。谢谢。
Daniel Yuan 丹尼尔-袁
Thank you, Emma. This is Daniel, and I will take your question on decline quality in international markets. Actually, we have seen an improvement in average AUM, not only in Singapore, but also in our other international markets, including the US, Australia and Japan, mostly because unlike some of our other peers, I think, Futu really cares about quality growth. And net inflow of AUM is a key KPI -- very important KPI for all of our marketing teams across different international regions.
谢谢你，艾玛。我是丹尼尔，我来回答你关于国际市场下滑质量的问题。事实上，我们看到平均资产管理规模有所改善，不仅是新加坡，其他国际市场也是如此，包括美国、澳大利亚和日本。资产管理净流入是一项重要的关键业绩指标，对于我们在不同国际地区的所有营销团队来说都是非常重要的关键业绩指标。
And in the fourth quarter, we have seen very strong AUM inflows despite weak market sentiments and in the first two months this year, as Leaf mentioned in his opening remarks, we have a higher net asset inflow in the first two months of this year than the entire fourth quarter combined. And actually, over one-third of that net asset inflow comes from international markets. And so we'll expect a continued upward trajectory in our client assets across international markets.
今年前两个月，正如利夫在开场白中提到的，我们今年前两个月的净资产流入量比整个第四季度的总和还要高。实际上，超过三分之一的净资产流入来自国际市场。因此，我们预计国际市场的客户资产将继续呈上升趋势。
And for Hong Kong, in the past couple of quarters, we continue to attract older clients, especially with our off-line store. And we have seen that these clients typically have higher average assets. But because of the large base effect, these new clients didn't change the overall client profile much in Hong Kong. Thank you.
在香港，过去几个季度，我们继续吸引年长客户，尤其是我们的线下门店。我们发现，这些客户的平均资产通常较高。但由于基数大的影响，这些新客户并没有对香港的整体客户情况产生太大的变化。谢谢。
Operator 操作员
Thank you. Next question today is from Leon Qi from Daiwa.
谢谢。今天的下一个问题由来自大和的 Leon Qi 提出。
Leon Qi
Thanks for taking my questions. This is Leon Qi. I want to ask two questions today. Firstly, is on our Hong Kong marketing and client acquisition strategy. We've just now management shared a lot of details on Singapore, but I'm interested in Hong Kong now. Given we have a increasing number of client base -- paying client base now, with management's view that going forward it will be increasingly more difficult for us to acquire new customers.
感谢您接受我的提问。我是 Leon Qi。我今天想问两个问题。首先是关于我们在香港的营销和客户获取策略。刚才管理层分享了很多关于新加坡的细节，但我现在对香港很感兴趣。鉴于我们现在的客户群--付费客户群--越来越多，管理层认为未来我们将越来越难获得新客户。
Are we considering gradually shifting our focus from the number of customers into average AUM or the quality of our customers? We do appreciate the new customer guidance that management talked about just now -- that Hong Kong new customers' guidance 2024 would be similar to 2023.
我们是否考虑逐步将重点从客户数量转移到平均资产管理规模或客户质量上？我们很欣赏管理层刚才谈到的新客户指导意见，即 2024 年香港新客户指导意见将与 2023 年类似。
Second question is on self-clearing in US stocks. May I confirm that all of our trades in US has already been self-cleared. In addition to the positive impact on our net interest income, do we see any improvements in terms of our trading execution efficiencies by using self-clearing. Wondering if we can make any comparisons with our competitors in the US, such as Interactive Brokers, et cetera. Thank you very much.
第二个问题是关于美股的自我清算。请允许我确认，我们在美国的所有交易都已经进行了自我清算。除了对我们的净利息收入产生积极影响外，使用自我清算是否会提高我们的交易执行效率。不知道我们能否与我们在美国的竞争对手，如 Interactive Brokers 等进行比较。非常感谢。
Arthur Chen
Thank you, Leon. I'll Leaf to take the first question, and I will answer the second one.
谢谢你，莱昂。我先回答第一个问题，然后再回答第二个问题。
Leaf Hua Li 叶华丽
The Hong Kong market is our home base, and in 2023, we continue to maintain very high penetration among the younger clients. And we also steadily improved our penetration into clients from other age groups. As of the end of Q4, our paying client penetration among the adults aged 35 to 55 in Hong Kong was over 10%.
香港市场是我们的大本营，在 2023 年，我们将继续在年轻客户中保持很高的渗透率。同时，我们对其他年龄段客户的渗透率也在稳步提高。截至第四季度末，我们在香港 35 至 55 岁成年人中的付费客户渗透率超过了 10%。
And in Hong Kong, our goal is to achieve high-quality growth, and we focus on acquiring high-quality clients and also focus on attracting net asset inflow from existing clients. That's why during Q4 and also in the past where market sentiments were weak, we continued to see very robust net asset inflow from Hong Kong. And going forward, we'll leverage our comprehensive product offerings and have different operational strategies for clients with different asset analysis and different investment needs. And we'll very closely track the net asset inflow trend in Hong Kong. Thank you.
在香港，我们的目标是实现高质量的增长，我们专注于获取高质量的客户，也专注于吸引现有客户的净资产流入。这就是为什么在第四季度，以及在过去市场情绪疲软的时候，我们仍能看到来自香港的资产净流入非常强劲的原因。展望未来，我们将利用我们全面的产品服务，针对不同资产分析和不同投资需求的客户制定不同的运营策略。我们将密切跟踪香港的资产净流入趋势。谢谢。
Arthur Chen
And for the second question, you're right, we have already largely complete the US self-clearing so far. And I think actually the positive contributions from this migration will continue thanks to the increase the client access cohort and also the contribution from the new markets such as Japan and Malaysia.
关于第二个问题，你说得对，到目前为止，我们已经基本完成了美国的自我清算。我认为，由于客户群的增加，以及日本和马来西亚等新市场的贡献，这种迁移带来的积极贡献将继续下去。
不一定是好事。
And in terms of the operating efficiency, definitely after the self-clearing capabilities, our service downtimes versus before has been meaningfully decreased and also the trading execution in terms of the reporting et cetera, will be more smooth. Thank you.
就运营效率而言，在具备自我清算功能后，我们的服务停机时间肯定会比以前显著减少，而且在报告等方面的交易执行也会更加顺畅。谢谢。
Operator 操作员
Thank you. [Operator Instructions]. Next question today is from Peter Zhang from JPMorgan.
谢谢[接线员指示]下一个问题来自摩根大通的 Peter Zhang。
Peter Zhang 彼得-张
My first question is about the interest income. We noticed that your interest income had been decreased sequentially in first quarter. We wish to understand what's the fourth quarter trend for clients idle cash and Futu's deposit rates? And also, I wish to understand what's the trend in first quarter for clients idle cash balance.
我的第一个问题是关于利息收入的。我们注意到贵公司第一季度的利息收入连续下降。我们希望了解第四季度客户闲置现金和富途存款利率的趋势如何？另外，我还想了解第一季度客户闲置现金余额的趋势如何？
My second question is about the operating expense. I wish to understand what is Futu's plan for the headcount increase in 2024 and what's management's guidance for Futu's operating expense increase of, say, cost of income ratio trends? Thank you.
我的第二个问题是关于营业费用的。我想了解富途公司在 2024 年增加员工人数的计划是什么，管理层对富途公司运营费用增长的指导是什么，比如说，收入成本比率的趋势是什么？谢谢。
Arthur Chen
Thank you, Peter. I will take these two questions for four idle cash. Roughly idle cash account for 10% to 15% of our total client assets in the past quarter and also the similar situation happened in the first quarter so far. And the decrease of the interest revenue in the fourth quarter, as I mentioned in the in the opening remarks, is mainly due to the decrease of the average balance decrease for the security borrowing and the lending despite if you see the balance sheet date, the margin and the security lending balance was higher than that in the third quarter.
谢谢你，彼得。我将就四个闲置现金问题回答这两个问题。上一季度，闲置现金约占我们客户资产总额的 10%至 15%，第一季度到目前为止也出现了类似的情况。第四季度利息收入的减少，正如我在开场白中提到的，主要是由于证券借贷平均余额的减少，尽管如果你看到资产负债表日期，保证金和证券借贷余额高于第三季度。
Then for your second half questions, in terms of headcounts, we are looking for mid to high single-digit headcount growth. Mainly will be deployed following international market expansion and further enhance our R&D capabilities.
关于下半年的问题，就员工人数而言，我们希望员工人数能有中高个位数的增长。主要将部署在国际市场拓展和进一步加强研发能力方面。
Unfortunately, we do not have a cost income ratio guidance. Given the nature of our business, our revenue is very volatile. It is very difficult to predict due to the market volatility. So we were more focusing on the people side of given this is one of the largest cost components for our overall cost structure. Thank you.
遗憾的是，我们没有成本收入比指导。鉴于我们的业务性质，我们的收入非常不稳定。由于市场波动，很难预测。因此，我们更关注人员方面，因为这是我们整体成本结构中最大的成本组成部分之一。谢谢。
Operator 操作员
Thank you. And this does conclude the question-and-answer session. So at this time, I would like to hand the conference back to Daniel Yuan for closing remarks. Thank you.
谢谢。问答环节到此结束。现在，我请 Daniel Yuan 致闭幕词。谢谢。
Daniel Yuan 丹尼尔-袁
That concludes our call today. On behalf of the Futu management team, I would like to thank you for joining us today. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or any of our Investor Relations representatives. Thank you and goodbye.
今天的电话会议到此结束。我谨代表富途公司管理团队感谢您参加今天的会议。如果您还有其他问题，请随时联系我或我们的投资者关系代表。谢谢大家，再见。
Operator 操作员
Thank you and this does conclude today's conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.
谢谢，今天的电话会议到此结束。感谢各位的参与，现在可以挂断电话。
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