UP Fintech Holding Limited (NASDAQ:TIGR) Q4 2024 Earnings Conference Call March 18, 2025 8:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Aaron Li - Head, IR
Wu Tianhua - Chairman and CEO
John Zeng - CFO
Conference Call Participants
Cindy Wang - China Renaissance
Emma Xu - Bank of America Securities
Hua Fan - CICC
Operator
主持人
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the UP Fintech Holding Limited Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. There will be a presentation, followed by a question-and-answer session. I must advise you that this conference is being recorded today, March 18, 2025.
女士们、先生们，感谢您的耐心等待，欢迎参加UP Fintech Holding Limited 2024年第四季度及全年业绩电话会议。现阶段，所有参会者均处于只听模式。会议将包括一场演示，随后进行问答环节。我必须通知您，本次会议于2025年3月18日进行录音。
I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Mr. Aaron Li, the Head of Investor Relations. Thank you. Please go ahead.
现在，我将会议交给今天的第一位发言人——投资者关系主管Aaron Li先生。谢谢，请继续。
Aaron Li
Thank you, Operator. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us for the call today. UP Fintech Holding Limited's fourth quarter and full year 2024 earnings release was distributed earlier today and is available on our IR website at ir.itigerup.com, as well as GlobeNewswire services.
谢谢，主持人。大家好，感谢您今天参加本次电话会议。UP Fintech Holding Limited 2024年第四季度及全年业绩发布已于今日早些时候发布，您可在我们的投资者关系网站ir.itigerup.com及GlobeNewswire平台上查阅。
On the call today from UP Fintech are Mr. Wu Tianhua, Chairman and CEO; Mr. John Zeng, our CFO; Mr. Huang Lei, CEO of U.S. Tiger Securities; and Mr. Kenny Zhao, our Financial Controller.
今天参加电话会议的UP Fintech代表有董事长兼首席执行官吴天华先生；首席财务官John Zeng先生；美国虎证券首席执行官黄磊先生；以及财务总监Kenny Zhao先生。
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.
吴先生将概述我们的业务运营并讨论公司亮点。随后，Zeng先生将讲解我们的财务业绩。他们将在其发言后的问答环节中回答您的问题。
Now, let me cover the safe harbor. 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.
现在，请允许我进行免责声明说明。我们接下来发表的声明包含符合1995年美国私人证券诉讼改革法案定义的前瞻性陈述。诸多因素可能导致实际结果与任何前瞻性陈述中的内容存在重大差异。
For more information about factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, please refer to our Form 6-K furnished today, March 18, 2025, and our annual report on 20-F filed on April 22, 2024. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement except as required under applicable law.
有关可能导致实际结果与前瞻性陈述内容存在重大差异的因素的更多信息，请参阅我们今天（2025年3月18日）提供的6-K表格及我们于2024年4月22日提交的20-F年报。除非适用法律要求，我们无义务更新任何前瞻性陈述。
It is my pleasure to now introduce our Chairman and CEO, Mr. Wu. Mr. Wu will make remarks in Chinese, which will be followed by English translation. Mr. Wu, please go ahead with your remarks.
现在，我很荣幸地介绍我们的董事长兼首席执行官吴先生。吴先生将用中文发表讲话，随后提供英文翻译。吴先生，请开始您的发言。
Wu Tianhua
Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining Tiger Brokers fourth quarter and full year 2024 earnings conference call.
大家好，感谢您参加虎证券2024年第四季度及全年业绩电话会议。
In the fourth quarter, driven by expanded client base, comprehensive product offerings and active market environment in the U.S. and Hong Kong, our financial and operating results both grew substantially. Our total revenue for the quarter was US$124.1 million, making a 22.8% increase quarter-over-quarter and a 77.3% increase year-over-year. Both commission and interest income hit record highs, growing by 35.8% and 16.3% respectively compared to the previous quarter.
在第四季度，由于客户群体扩大、产品线全面以及美国和香港市场环境活跃，我们的财务和运营业绩均实现了显著增长。本季度总收入为1.241亿美元，环比增长22.8%，同比增长77.3%。佣金和利息收入均创下历史新高，分别较上一季度增长35.8%和16.3%。
For the full year, total revenue reached US$391.5 million, a 43.7% increase from 2023. We are also pleased to report a significant improvement in profitability for 2024 with GAAP net income reaching US$60.7 million and non-GAAP net income reaching US$70.5 million, up 86.5% and 65% respectively from 2023.
全年总收入达到3.915亿美元，比2023年增长43.7%。我们还很高兴地报告，2024年的盈利能力有了显著改善，根据GAAP标准净利润达到6070万美元，非GAAP净利润达到7050万美元，分别比2023年增长86.5%和65%。
In the fourth quarter, GAAP and non-GAAP net profit were US$28.1 million and US$30.5 million respectively, reflecting a 58% and 51.7% increase quarter-over-quarter. We are excited to see record highs in both revenue and profit for Q4 and the full year of 2024. Additionally, our non-GAAP net profit margin increased from 20% in the third quarter to 25% in the fourth quarter.
在第四季度，GAAP净利润和非GAAP净利润分别为2810万美元和3050万美元，环比增长分别为58%和51.7%。我们对2024年第四季度及全年收入和利润均创历史新高感到非常振奋。此外，我们的非GAAP净利润率由第三季度的20%提升至第四季度的25%。
In the fourth quarter, we added 59,200 newly funded accounts, a 17.2% increase from the previous quarter. For the full year, the total number of newly funded accounts reached 187,400, surpassing our annual target of 150,000. By the end of 2024, the total number of funding accounts reached 1.09 million up 20.7% year-over-year.
在第四季度，我们新增了59,200个资金账户，比上一季度增长了17.2%。全年新增资金账户总数达到187,400个，超过了15万个的年度目标。截至2024年底，资金账户总数达到109万个，同比增长20.7%。
Year-to-date, we continue to see strong paying client growth. We target up far 150,000 new funded clients in 2025, while prioritizing user quality. In terms of total client assets, net asset inflows remained strong at US$1.1 billion for the quarter, with approximately 80% coming from retail users. Although slightly impacted by mark-to-market losses, total client assets grew by 2.4% quarter-over-quarter and 36.4% year-over-year, reaching US$41.7 billion.
截至目前，我们持续看到付费客户数量显著增长。我们计划在2025年新增至少150,000个资金客户，同时优先考虑用户质量。在总客户资产方面，本季度净资产流入仍保持强劲，达到11亿美元，其中约80%来自散户用户。尽管受到按市值计价损失的轻微影响，总客户资产环比增长2.4%，同比增长36.4%，达到417亿美元。
Notably, client assets in Hong Kong increased by about 50% quarter-over-quarter, growing 6x compared to the end of 2023, making Hong Kong our third largest market in terms of client assets.
值得注意的是，香港的客户资产环比增长约50%，与2023年底相比增长了6倍，使香港成为我们客户资产排名第三的市场。
Additionally, we are pleased to see that over the past three years, despite shift in market cycle and investor sentiment, we've achieved strong organic growth. The total number of funded accounts and total client assets have increased at a CAGR of 17.5% and 34.7% respectively. These results highlight the tremendous growth potential in the market that we've entered and the trust our users have placed from time to time across different regions.
此外，我们很高兴地看到，尽管过去三年市场周期和投资者情绪发生了变化，我们仍实现了强劲的有机增长。资金账户总数和客户资产总额的年复合增长率分别达到了17.5%和34.7%。这些成果凸显了我们所进入市场的巨大增长潜力以及各地区用户持续给予我们的信任。
We keep optimizing product features and expanding licenses to enhance user experience. Following Tiger Brokers Hong Kong Type 1 license uplift, our cryptocurrency platform, YAX Hong Kong, received license from Hong Kong SFC for Type 1 and Type 7. This officially makes us a licensed virtual asset trading platform in Hong Kong.
我们不断优化产品功能并扩展牌照，以提升用户体验。继老虎证券香港一级牌照升级后，我们的加密货币平台YAX Hong Kong已获得香港证监会的一级和七类牌照，这正式使我们成为香港持牌的虚拟资产交易平台。
Recently, we officially upgraded our AI investment assistant, TigerGPT to TigerAI and integrated with leading AI models, making us the first brokerage platform globally to incorporate this technology.
最近，我们正式将AI投资助手TigerGPT升级为TigerAI，并与领先的AI模型整合，使我们成为全球首个采用该技术的券商平台。
This upgrade boost our intelligence investment assistant experience in two dimensions, deep logical deduction and financial data integration, enabling it to analyze market shape more clearly and interpret investment opportunities more effectively, empowering both retail investors and experienced professionals to make more informed decision in complex market conditions, ultimately driving long term investment value.
此次升级在深度逻辑推理和金融数据整合两个层面提升了我们的智能投资助手体验，使其能更清晰地分析市场形态，更有效地解读投资机会，从而帮助散户和资深专业人士在复杂的市场环境下做出更明智的决策，最终推动长期投资价值的增长。
Our 2B business continues to perform well. In investment banking business, we underwrote a total of 14 U.S. and Hong Kong IPOs in the fourth quarter, including Mao Geping Company, Pony AI Inc. and WeRide Inc., bringing the total number of U. S. and Hong Kong IPOs underwritten for the year to 44.
我们的2B业务持续表现良好。在投行业务方面，我们在第四季度承销了共计14个美国和香港的IPO，包括茂戈平公司、Pony AI Inc.和WeRide Inc.，使全年承销的美国和香港IPO总数达到44个。
In our ESOP business, we added 16 new clients in the fourth quarter bringing the total number of ESOP clients served to 613 as of the end of 2024.
在我们的员工持股计划（ESOP）业务中，第四季度新增了16位新客户，截至2024年底，服务的ESOP客户总数达到613家。
Now I'd like to invite our CFO, John to go over our financials.
现在，我邀请我们的首席财务官John对财务情况进行详细介绍。
John Zeng
Great. Thanks, Tianhua and Aaron.
太好了，谢谢，天华和Aaron。
Let me go through our financial performance for the fourth quarter. All numbers are in U.S. dollars. Total revenue were $124.1 million this quarter increase of 22.8% quarter-over-quarter and 77% year-over-year. Both commission income and interest income increased on a quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year basis.
让我来介绍我们第四季度的财务表现。所有数字均以美元计，本季度总收入为1.241亿美元，环比增长22.8%，同比增长77%。佣金收入和利息收入均实现了环比和同比增长。
Full year total revenue were $391.5 million, increased 44% compared to last year. Both quarterly and full year top line reached an all-time high in our operating history. Cash equities take rate was 6.9 bps this quarter increased from 6.4 bps last quarter as trading volumes were less concentrated in higher value names.
全年总收入达到3.915亿美元，比去年增长44%。无论是季度还是全年，我们的营业收入均创下了历史新高。本季度现金股票成交费率为6.9个基点，高于上季度的6.4个基点，因为交易量在高价值股票上的集中度较低。
Within commission revenue about 70% comes from cash equities, 30% from options and the rest comes from futures and other products.
在佣金收入中，约70%来自现金股票，30%来自期权，其余部分则来自期货及其他产品。
Now on cost, interest expense was $16.7 million, increased by 5% from the same quarter of last year due to the increase in margin financing and securities lending activities. Execution and clearing expense were $6.1 million, increased 172% from the same quarter of last year primarily due to an increase in our trading volume.
转到成本方面，利息费用为1670万美元，较去年同期增长5%，原因是保证金融资和证券借贷活动的增加。执行及清算费用为610万美元，较去年同期增长172%，主要是由于我们的交易量增加所致。
Employee compensation and benefits expense were $37.2 million, an increase of 41% year-over-year due to an increase of global headcounts. Occupancy depreciation and amortization expense slightly decreased 2% to $2.1 million. Communication and market data expense were $11.8 million, an increase of 38% year-over-year due to the increase in user base and IT related services.
员工薪酬及福利费用为3720万美元，同比上涨41%，原因是全球员工人数增加。场所折旧及摊销费用略降2%，至210万美元。通讯和市场数据费用为1180万美元，同比上涨38%，这主要得益于用户基础和IT相关服务的增长。
Marketing expense were $9.5 million this quarter increased 64% year-over-year as we increased marketing spending under a more favorable market backdrop.
本季度市场营销费用为950万美元，同比上涨64%，因为在更有利的市场环境下我们加大了营销投入。
General and administrative expense were $6.4 million, a decrease of 12% year-over-year due to a decrease in professional service fees. Total operating costs were $73.1 million, an increase of 39% from the same quarter of last year.
行政及管理费用为640万美元，同比下降12%，原因是专业服务费用减少。总运营成本为7310万美元，比去年同期增长39%。
As a result, in the fourth quarter GAAP net income was $28.1 million. Non-GAAP net income was $30.5 million, increased 58% and 52% quarter-over-quarter respectively. For the full year of 2024, total GAAP net income was $60.7 million and non-GAAP net income was $78.5 million also an all-time high and increased 87% and 65% with respectively compared to last year.
因此，第四季度按照GAAP计算的净利润为2810万美元，非GAAP净利润为3050万美元，环比分别增长了58%和52%。2024全年，GAAP净利润达到6070万美元，非GAAP净利润达到7850万美元，同样创下历史新高，较去年分别增长87%和65%。
Now I have concluded our presentation. Operator, please open the line for Q&A. Thanks.
现在，我的报告到此结束。主持人，请开启问答环节。谢谢。
Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
主持人
[Operator Instructions] We will now take our first question from the line of Cindy Wang from China Renaissance. Please ask your question, Cindy.
【主持人指示】现在我们将接听来自中国 Renaissance 的 Cindy Wang 的第一个提问。请提问，Cindy。
Cindy Wang
Thanks for taking my question and congrats for the great fourth quarter results. So my question is first one, in 2025 you are targeting to acquire 150,000 new founding clients, which is the same as 2024 guidance. However, new funded clients you acquired in 2024 was much higher than the guidance. So how do we race through these guidance again in 2025, and the mixed contribution from each market? The second question is, could you give us new funded clients' breakdown by regional in fourth quarter? Thank you.
感谢您接受我的提问，并祝贺第四季度取得的优异成绩。我的第一个问题是，2025年你们目标获取15万个新资金客户，这与2024年的指引一致。但实际上，2024年你们新增的资金客户远高于指引。那么，2025年你们如何再次突破这一指引，以及各个市场的贡献比例如何分布？第二个问题是，能否提供第四季度各地区新增资金客户的具体分布情况？谢谢。
John Zeng
Okay. I'll translate for the first part. So in 2025, our focus on customer acquisition will prioritize user quality and ROI. We plan to expand our effort to acquire high net worth user base, rather than just pursuing user number growth. Therefore, we are setting a target of 150,000 newly funded users maintaining the same level as in 2024. However, we do expect to see the improvement in customer quality metrics, such as the average grant assets of the ARPU for this new user in 2025.
好的。我先翻译第一个部分。2025年，我们在客户获取上将优先关注用户质量和投资回报率。我们计划加大力度获取高净值用户群，而不仅仅是追求用户数量的增长。因此，我们将新增资金用户的目标设定为15万个，与2024年保持相同水平。但我们预计将看到客户质量指标的改善，例如2025年新用户的平均授权资产和每用户平均收入（ARPU）。
Regarding the regional mix, we anticipate that the overall situation will pretty much in line with the actual breakdown in 2024 with Greater China region being the primary contributor. And in 2025, while ensuring the quality of new users, we have higher expectation for growth in Hong Kong and U.S. market, and we will consider increasing our marketing input if the market condition is favorable.
关于区域构成，我们预计整体情况将基本与2024年的实际分布相符，其中大中华区将是主要贡献者。而在2025年，在确保新用户质量的前提下，我们对香港和美国市场的增长抱有更高的期望，并将在市场条件有利时考虑增加营销投入。
Well, in the Q4 about 60% of new funded users came from Singapore and Southeast Asia, about 25% were from Greater China area, well around 10% from Australia and New Zealand market, and the remaining 5% came from the U.S. market. Thank you.
另外，在第四季度，大约60%的新增资金用户来自新加坡及东南亚地区，约25%来自大中华区，约10%来自澳大利亚和新西兰市场，其余5%来自美国市场。谢谢。
Aaron Li
And operator, please move on to the next question.
主持人，请继续接下一个问题。
Operator
主持人
Thank you. We will now take our next question from the line of Emma Xu from Bank of America Securities. Please ask your question, Emma.
谢谢。现在我们将接听来自美国银行证券的Emma Xu的下一题。请提问，Emma。
Emma Xu
So the first question is that, your compensation expenses have risen more than anticipated, and while there has been a notable increase in the effective tax rate sequentially. And the second question is, what are the first quarter run rate for your AUC, the pace of new funded clients and trading volume, and what's your thoughts on recent volatilities in the U.S. market on your business?
我的第一个问题是，你们的薪酬费用上升超出了预期，同时有效税率环比显著提高。第二个问题是，你们第一季度的总客户资产（AUC）运行情况、新增资金客户的增速以及交易量如何？对于近期美国市场波动对业务的影响，你们怎么看？
Wu Tianhua
吴天华
So the rise in labor cost is mainly due to - we added extra employee incentive at the end of the year, which increased the year-end bonus accrual. The effective tax rate increased from 14% in the third quarter to 25% in the fourth quarter, primarily due to the increase in profit coming from the U.S. market, where tax rate is relatively higher. A couple of reasons.
劳动成本上升主要原因是——我们在年底增加了额外的员工激励，导致年终奖金计提增加。有效税率由第三季度的14%上升到第四季度的25%，主要是由于来自美国市场的利润增长，而美国的税率相对较高。有几个原因。
First, the market was very active in the fourth quarter, which benefited the margin financing and securities lending activities, nicely increased in local interest income quarter-over-quarter. Another reason is related to U.S. treasury bonds. For calculating tax, the income from T-bonds is only realized after maturity. So in Q4, we had several T-bonds matured, contributing to the increase in profit from the U.S.
首先，第四季度市场非常活跃，这有利于保证金融资和证券借贷活动，带动了本地利息收入环比大幅上升。另一个原因与美国国债有关。根据税务计算，国债收益仅在到期后才实现。因此，在第四季度，我们有几笔国债到期，促成了美国市场利润的增加。
John Zeng
Okay. I'll translate. So year-to-date, we have seen a solid sequential increase in total client assets, thanks primarily to strong net asset inflows. Specifically, net asset inflow year-to-date has already exceeded the number in the second half of 2024. While there have been some ups and downs in the U.S. stock market, we are still looking at a mark-to-market gain in general.
好的，我来翻译。截止目前，由于净资产流入强劲，我们看到总客户资产呈稳步环比增长。具体来说，今年至今的净资产流入已超过了2024年下半年的水平。尽管美国股市波动起伏，我们总体上仍在实现按市值计价的收益。
Plus the number of new users is growing rapidly, keeping up the momentum we noticed in the second half of 2024. In terms of trading volume, it has been quite active in both Hong Kong and the U.S. market this year so far. So the trading volume for Hong Kong stock has already exceeded what we saw in the fourth quarter of last year. This has balanced out the impact of the recent volatility in the U.S. market.
此外，新用户数量迅速增长，保持了我们在2024年下半年注意到的势头。在交易量方面，今年迄今为止，香港和美国市场都非常活跃。因此，香港股票的交易量已经超过了去年第四季度的水平，这平衡了近期美国市场波动的影响。
So overall - the overall trading volume has remained steady, versus the fourth quarter of last year. Recent in March, the U.S. stock market has experienced some volatility, due to the various factors like tariff, geopolitical issues and uncertainty in price risk costs. From our perspective, as a broker-dealer, we value more on velocity. We believe that some volatility triggered by economic, or political events, or headline news actually drive trading volume.
总体来看，总体交易量与去年第四季度相比保持稳定。今年三月，美国股市由于关税、地缘政治问题和价格风险不确定性等多种因素出现了一些波动。从我们的角度来看，作为一家经纪交易商，我们更看重交易速度。我们认为，由经济、政治事件或头条新闻引发的一些波动实际上会推动交易量的增长。
In the first three weeks of March, the average daily trading volume on our platform, for both Hong Kong and U.S. cash equity, has been higher than what we saw in the first two months of this year, and in the Q4 of last year. Thank you, Emma.
在三月的前三周，我们平台上香港和美国现金股票的平均日交易量均高于今年前两个月以及去年第四季度的水平。谢谢，Emma。
Aaron Li
And operator, please move on to the next question.
主持人，请继续接下一个问题。
Operator
主持人
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Hua Fan from CICC. Please ask your question, Hua.
谢谢。接下来问题来自中金公司的范华，请提问，范华。
Hua Fan
范华
And I have two questions here. This is Hua Fan from CICC, and I have two questions here. The first one is about crypto. Since we have gained the VATP license, how will the license contribute to our growth in the crypto sector? And also, would you please give more color on our crypto development in the Hong Kong market in Q4? And the second question is, about the interest income. We see the micro finance and securities lending balance remained flat in Q4. But given the rate cut cycle, the interest income Q-on-Q grew at a double-digit pace, and way faster than the interest expense growth pace. So what causes this inconsistent trend?
我有两个问题。我是中金公司的范华，我有两个问题。第一个问题关于加密货币。既然我们已经获得了VATP牌照，该牌照将如何推动我们在加密货币领域的增长？另外，请问能否详细介绍一下我们在第四季度香港市场的加密货币发展情况？第二个问题是关于利息收入。我们看到第四季度小额融资和证券借贷余额保持平稳，但在降息周期下，利息收入环比实现了两位数增长，远快于利息费用的增长。那么这种不一致的趋势是由什么原因造成的？
Wu Tianhua
吴天华
So in terms of VATP, we got the Hong Kong SFC Type 1 and Type 7 license before Chinese New Year. So this officially make us a licensed virtual asset trading platform in Hong Kong. With those license, we can now legally offer spot trading and custody service for major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether, as well as tokenized assets. By integrating our crypto service with our broker-dealer entity.
关于VATP方面，我们在春节前获得了香港证监会的一级和七类牌照，这正式使我们成为香港的持牌虚拟资产交易平台。凭借这些牌照，我们现在可以合法地提供比特币、以太坊等主要加密货币以及代币化资产的现货交易和托管服务，通过将我们的加密货币服务与我们的经纪交易实体整合，
We can create an ecosystem combining Web2 and Web3 assets. Our goal is to become the bridge between traditional finance and cryptocurrency. Also an update on our Hong Kong business, is my client assets have continued to grow, increasing nearly 50% quarter-over-quarter, and about six times year-over-year. Hong Kong market has been quite active since fourth quarter.
我们可以构建一个结合Web2和Web3资产的生态系统。我们的目标是成为传统金融与加密货币之间的桥梁。另外，关于香港业务的最新情况是，我的客户资产持续增长，环比增长近50%，同比增长约6倍，自第四季度以来，香港市场一直非常活跃。
So the trading volume of Hong Kong shares, has increased from 10% of our total trading volume to about 15%. Commission income from Hong Kong shares has increased by over 160% quarter-over-quarter. Tiger Broker Hong Kong has achieved breakeven in the fourth quarter, thanks to a significant rise in both commission and interest income, with interest income doubling from the previous quarter.
因此，香港股票的交易量已从我们总交易量的10%上升至约15%，来自香港股票的佣金收入环比增长超过160%。老虎证券香港在第四季度实现了盈亏平衡，这得益于佣金和利息收入的显著增长，其中利息收入较上一季度翻倍。
Looking ahead, we will keep investing in Hong Kong, to drive the growth. In terms of customer acquisition, we continue to focus on attracting high-quality users and maintaining a strong ROI. In the fourth quarter, newly funded users had an average net asset inflow of over US$30,000, the highest among all markets. Average client asset in Hong Kong is around US$20,000, also the highest among our overseas markets. ARPU from Hong Kong user is also double of the group average. Thank you.
展望未来，我们将继续投资香港以推动增长。在客户获取方面，我们始终专注于吸引高质量用户并保持强劲的投资回报率。在第四季度，新资金用户的平均净资产流入超过3万美元，是所有市场中最高的；香港市场的平均客户资产约为2万美元，也是海外市场中最高的；此外，香港用户的每用户平均收入（ARPU）也达到了集团平均水平的两倍。谢谢。
John Zeng
So although the margin financing balance as a whole remained flat quarter-over-quarter, but there was a notable shift in the mix in the fourth quarter. High-yield segments such as margin and hard-to-borrow securities lending, we saw an increase in balance, compared to the previous quarter, while the balance for lower-yield business like treasury management experienced quarter-over-quarter decrease.
尽管整体保证金融资余额环比保持平稳，但第四季度的组合结构发生了显著变化。高收益部分，如保证金和难借证券借贷的余额较上一季度有所增加，而低收益业务如资金管理的余额则环比下降。
This shift contributed to a higher return on our bottom line. In addition, interest income rose by 16% quarter-over-quarter, significantly outpacing the increase in interest expense for a few reasons. Number one is we negotiate better rate terms, with local banks that helped increase our idle cash interest. The second is the market has been active and volatile, increasing demand in security lending market, also increased margin activities for U.S. and Hong Kong trading. Thanks.
这一变化使我们的净收益率提高。此外，利息收入环比增长16%，远远超过了利息费用的增长，其原因有几个：第一，我们与当地银行协商了更优惠的利率条款，从而提高了闲置现金的利息收入；第二，市场活跃且波动性加大，推动了证券借贷市场需求的增长，同时也增加了美国和香港交易中的保证金活动。谢谢。
Aaron Li
Okay. Operator, let's proceed.
好的。主持人，请继续下一题。
Operator
I'm showing no further questions. I'd now like to turn the conference back to Aaron for closing comments.
我这边没有更多问题了，现在把会议交还给Aaron做结束发言。
Aaron Li
Thank you. I'd like to thank everyone for joining our call today. I'm now closing the call on behalf of the management team here at Tiger. 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. Thank you.
谢谢大家参加今天的电话会议。我现在代表虎证券管理团队结束本次电话会议。非常感谢各位的参与。如果您有任何进一步的问题，请联系投资者关系团队。会议到此结束，非常感谢您的宝贵时间。谢谢。
Wu Tianhua
Thank you.
谢谢。
John Zeng
Thank you.
谢谢。
Operator
Thank you. Well, thank you very much for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.
谢谢。非常感谢大家参加今天的电话会议。会议到此结束，您现在可以断开连接。