Futu - Q3 2023

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Futu Holdings Third Quarter 2023 Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After management's prepared remarks, there will be a Q&A session. Today's conference call is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. 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.

Daniel Yuan (Chief of Staff to CEO and Head of IR)

Thanks, operator, and thank you for joining us today to discuss our third quarter 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. 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 involving inherent risks and uncertainties. We caution you that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those containing any forward-looking statements. For more information about the potential risks and uncertainties, please refer to the company's filings with the SEC, including its annual report on Form 20-F. So with that, I will now turn the call over to Leaf.

Leaf will make his comments in Chinese, and I will translate.

Leaf Hua Li (Founder, Chairman, and CEO)

Thank you all for joining today. In the third quarter, we acquired around 65,000 paying clients, a 12% sequential increase. Our total paying clients reached 1.65 million, up 14% year-over-year. Three quarters into 2023, we have exceeded our full year guidance by acquiring over 163,000 paying clients. Third quarter, Hong Kong market contributed over 40% of new paying clients. This acceleration in client acquisition was driven by the relief rally in the first half of the quarter and successful marketing around the government's Green Bond and Silver Bond issuances in the second half. These two bond offerings attracted allocation-driven clients to our platform. In late July, we opened the first offline store in Hong Kong to raise brand awareness, assist clients with account opening, demonstrate advanced product features, and address inquiries regarding our products and services.

Through this offline store, we managed to attract middle-aged and senior clients at a lower customer acquisition cost. In fact, clients aged 55 and above contributed over 50% of paying clients acquired through the offline store in the third quarter. In Singapore, we launched successful marketing campaigns to promote our cash management product, Cash Plus, thereby growing our paying clients by 35% year-over-year. We continued to observe improvement in client quality in the U.S. as net asset inflow of new paying clients trended higher. In September, we officially launched our brokerage business in Japan and Canada, now offering clients access to U.S. stock trading in Japan and U.S. and Canadian stock trading in Canada. During the early innings of market launch, we will remain focused on refining our account opening golden process, expanding trading products, and honing our brand positioning and marketing messages.

Despite bearish sentiments across global equity markets, we recorded another quarter of over 98% paying client retention rate. We continued to expand our product offerings in existing markets. In Singapore, we launched fractional share feature, which lowered the investment barrier for new individual investors. In Hong Kong and the US, we enhanced our options trading capabilities and launched an options trading platform with integrated risk management features supporting options traders to close positions on options contracts that are about to expire with different expiration dates and strike prices, which greatly enhances the flexibility of options strategies.

We continue to enrich trading product offerings across markets. In Singapore, we launched fractional shares for U.S. stocks and ETFs to enhance accessibility for novice investors. We optimized our product for active options traders by introducing Multi-leg Options Rollover Strategy in Hong Kong and the U.S. This trading function gives options traders flexibility to roll contracts near expiration to a later date at different strike prices.

Client total assets reached HKD 468 billion, up 27% year-over-year. Despite the market pullback bringing negative impact to client position market value, benefiting from strong client net inflows, client total assets remained stable quarter-over-quarter. Worth mentioning is that, with the continuous improvement of new client quality, Singapore clients' total assets realized double-digit quarter-over-quarter growth for the fifth consecutive quarter. Compared to the clients with assets acquired last quarter, the average asset balance of new clients with assets in Singapore this quarter grew 20% quarter-over-quarter.

Total client assets increased by 27% year-over-year to HKD 468 billion. While the market pullback dragged the valuation of our client's stock holdings, total client assets remained stable quarter-over-quarter due to robust net asset inflow. Notably, total client assets in Singapore achieved double-digit sequential growth for the fifth consecutive quarter, which was partially driven by higher new asset quality. The average asset balance of new paying clients in Singapore was 20% higher than the prior quarter.

客户在市场波动加剧的情况下，交易更加活跃，推动总交易量在第三季度反弹至1.1万亿HKD，环比增长14%，其中美股交易量占比75%。美股科技七巨头的交易量攀升，带动美股交易量环比增长19%。由于客户对杠杆ETF的交易热情有所上升，港股交易量环比增长5%，融资融券余额环比小幅下降4%，这主要是由于部分客户对一些美股明星科技股的空头仓位进行了平仓。

Trading volume in the third quarter rebounded as clients traded more actively amid heightened volatility. Total trading volume increased by 14% sequentially to HKD 1.1 trillion, of which U.S. stock trading constituted around 75%. Higher trading turnover of the Magnificent Seven stocks led U.S. stock trading volume to grow by 19% quarter-over-quarter. Hong Kong stock trading volume increased by 5% sequentially, mainly driven by rising trading interests and Leveraged and Inverse ETFs. Margin financing and securities lending balance slipped 4% quarter-over-quarter as some clients unwound their bets against popular U.S. technology names.

The total assets of wealth management clients were HKD 52 billion, up 100% year-over-year and up 19% quarter-over-quarter. In the third quarter, US Treasury yields remained high, driving customer bond asset balances up 87% quarter-over-quarter. In Hong Kong, with increasing macroeconomic uncertainty, high-net-worth clients' risk appetite has declined, thus structured products are highly popular. Driven by such products, private placement product balances increased 52% quarter-over-quarter. In Singapore, the number of holders of wealth management products increased 3x year-over-year, and the average holding size also improved compared to the same period last year, which drove the total assets of wealth management clients up 5x year-over-year. In the third quarter, we further enriched the product categories in the Singapore market, launching structured products and Singapore government bonds.

Total client assets in wealth management grew to HKD 52 billion as of quarter end, up 100% year-over-year and 19% quarter-over-quarter. In the third quarter, client assets and bonds increased by 87% sequentially as U.S. Treasury bills maintained high yields. In Hong Kong, structured notes were met with high demands from high-net-worth clients as their risk appetite abated amid macro uncertainties. As a result, private loan balance grew by 52% quarter-over-quarter. In Singapore, total client assets and wealth management increased fivefold year-over-year, driven by tripling of wealth management clients and higher average asset balance. In the third quarter, we further expanded our product portfolio in Singapore by introducing structured notes and SGS bonds.

As of the end of the third quarter, we have 391 IPO distribution and investment relationship clients, a year-over-year increase of 30%. In the third quarter, we, as joint bookrunners, participated in multiple large Hong Kong IPOs, including Tuhu Car, Fourth Paradigm and Keep. At the same time, we participated in all Hong Kong IPOs of companies with a market value greater than HKD 10 billion at the end of the third quarter. According to Wind data statistics, in the first three quarters, we, as a dealer, participated in 26 Hong Kong IPO projects, ranking first among all securities firms.

We have 391 IPO distribution and IR clients as of quarter-end, up 30% year-over-year. In the third quarter, we acted as joint book runners of several high-profile Hong Kong IPOs, including those of Tuhu Car, Fourth Paradigm, and Keep. We also participated in the Hong Kong IPOs of all companies with market capitalization over HKD 10 billion by the end of quarter. In the first three quarters, we underwrote 26 Hong Kong IPOs and ranked first among all Hong Kong brokers, according to Wind.

接下来有请我们的首席财务官 Arthur 介绍我们的财务表现。

Next, I'd like to invite our CFO, Arthur, to discuss our financial performance.

Arthur Chen (CFO)

Thank you, Leaf and Daniel. Now, please allow me to walk you through our financial performance in the third quarter. All the numbers are in Hong Kong dollar, unless otherwise noted. Total revenue was HKD 2.7 billion, up 36% from HKD 1.9 billion in the third quarter of 2022. Brokerage commission and handling charge income was HKD 1 billion, an increase of 5% year-over-year and 6% Q-over-Q. Higher contributions from derivative trading lift the blended commission rate from 8.8 basis points in the third quarter last year to 9.3 basis points this quarter. Interest income was HKD 1.5 billion, an increase of 71% year-over-year and 7% Q-over-Q. The sequential increase was mainly driven by higher interest rates on clients' cash deposits, partially offset by lower cash balance.

Other income was $137 million, up 28% year-over-year and 8% Q-over-Q. The increase was largely due to higher fund distribution income. Our total costs were $437 million, an increase of 101% from $218 million in the third quarter of 2022. Brokerage commission and handling charge expenses were $63 million, down 24% year-over-year and fourteen percent Q-over-Q. The expenses didn't move in tandem with brokerage commission and handling charge income, mainly due to cost saving from our U.S. self-clearing business. Interest expenses were $289 million, up 546% year-over-year, and 31% Q-over-Q. The year-over-year and the Q-over-Q increase were both driven by higher interest expenses associated with our securities lending business.

Processing and servicing costs were HKD 86 million, down 6% year-over-year and 13% Q-over-Q. The year-over-year decrease was mainly due to savings from cloud service fee as a result of system optimization, and the Q-over-Q decrease was mainly due to lower system usage fee. As a result, total gross profit was HKD 2.2 billion, an increase of 28% from HKD 1.7 billion in the third quarter of 2022. Gross margin was 84%, as compared with 89% in the third quarter of 2022. Operating expenses was up 17% year-over-year and 5% Q-over-Q to HKD 893 million. R&D expenses were HKD 360 million, up 15% year-over-year, and down marginally by 1% Q-over-Q.

The year-over-year increase was mainly due to higher R&D headcount, as we continue to upgrade our infrastructure, roll out new products and features, and customize products for international markets. Selling and marketing expenses were HKD 212 million, down 10% year-over-year and up 21% quarter-over-quarter. The expenses declined year-over-year due to lower customer acquisition costs, and the quarter-over-quarter increase was primarily driven by accelerated paying client growth. General and administrative expenses were HKD 322 million, up 52% year-over-year and 3% quarter-over-quarter. The rise was primarily due to an increase in headcount for general administrative personnel to support our international markets. As a result, our net income increased by 45% year-over-year, and it declined by 3% quarter-over-quarter to HKD 1.1 billion.

Net income margin expanded to 41% from 39% in the same quarter last year, mainly due to strong revenue growth and the lower selling and marketing expenses. That conclude our prepared remarks. We'd now like to open the call to questions. Operator, please go ahead.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. If you are on a speakerphone, please pick up your handset to ask your question. The first question comes from the line of Leon Qi with Daiwa. Please go ahead.

Leon Qi (Executive Director and Head of Asia Financials and FinTech Research)

Hi, thanks for taking my question.

谢谢管理层给我这个提问的机会，我是Daiwa的Leon Qi。想请教管理层两个问题，第一是我们这个新市场，刚才管理层也讲到了，我们展业的两个新市场，日本和加拿大，特别是在日本这一边，虽然说时间还比较短，我不知道我们管理层有没有观察到一些这个early indicator，比如说在我们的，这个客户行为上面，他们的这个交易频率，他们take margin的这个比例，他们去交易的这些具体产品，不知道和我们在其他市场的这个客户，这些客户行为是不是有不同？另外呢，就是我们获客成本上面，这个有没有什么不同？这个unit economics，麻烦管理层跟我们介绍一下。那另一个呢，就是关于我们的财富管理这一边，当然我们也看到这个AUM的增长是非常迅速，管理层刚才讲到，这个获客可能是增长的一个比较主要的因素。当然，在现在的这个美元利率环境之下，这个我们也可以理解，获客增速比较高。当然，如果展望得稍微长一点，就是我们这个cross整个interest rate cycle里面，可能管理层觉得是哪一样类型的-...

除了货基之外，非货基产品能够占到多大比例吧，以及了解一下我们现在的货基的这个take rate，大概是怎么样的水平。好，那我用英文翻译一下。Thanks management for taking my questions, this is Leon from Daiwa. My first question is regarding our new markets, especially in Japan. We understand we just launched in Japan in late September. I'm interested in the user behavior in terms of our Japan new clients.

Does management see any early indicators in terms of the trading velocities, margin lending penetration and the specific trading products that our Japanese clients are being engaged in? Is there any significant differences in terms of these metrics for customers in Japan versus other markets?

And also, I'm interested to know the customer acquisition cost for us in Japan. So appreciate any color on the unit economics in Japan. And my second question is on wealth management. We do appreciate the very rapid growth of our AUM in wealth management, and per management introduction just now, money market fund is a major reason behind that. So, I'm sure this is partly because of the high US interest rates, but if we look at it from a cross-interest rate cycle perspective, how much proportion does management expect the non-money market fund products to contribute in our overall wealth management AUM? And also, what is our take rate on money market fund now? Thank you very much.

Arthur Chen (CFO)

Thank you, Leo. Let my colleague Daniel answer the first question first, and I will answer the second question. Thank you.

Daniel Yuan (Chief of Staff to CEO and Head of IR)

Sure. So unfortunately, we now only offer U.S. cash equities trading to our Japanese clients. So it's, you know, we don't have margin, we don't have Japanese stock trading, so we only have data for client behavior on U.S. stock trading.

And so far, the turnover of US stock trading is not so different from what we've seen in other markets. That being said, we have a very aggressive and ambitious product roadmap for next year, and some of the products that I mentioned that we don't support now will be rolled out in the next couple of quarters. And in terms of client acquisition cost, because we are coming from a small base of clients, whereas we have a lot of fixed costs for like setting up markets, setting up like offices in Japan and hiring marketing personnel. So obviously, our CAC for this quarter and next quarter in Japan will be higher than our group average.

But over time, as we increase the number of clients in Japan, the CAC will gradually come down. And so far, we have no reason to believe that the CAC in Japan would be higher than what we've seen in other markets. And just to give you some other colors and updates on our Japan business, we now have slightly over 400,000 users on our platform, and overall, users have been very active, and we observe that on average, during the trading days, our DAU to user ratio is close to 20%, which is the highest among all the markets we are currently in. And user growth, along with paying client growth, will be our key priorities for next year. Thank you.

Arthur Chen (CFO)

Okay, for the second question regarding the wealth management, I think the key for us to do this kind of business is to engage the client and focus on the long-term values of the clients. Therefore, we do not put too emphasis on the near-term monetizations. But having said that, the take rate for these in the money market funds is essentially just similar to our other products, such as equity products or fixed income products.

I think, you know, we have already established a very comprehensive matrix in terms of the product offerings in our Dasheng Taipu. For instance, besides the money market fund, we also have the equity products, fixed income products. In particular, as Leaf mentioned in the opening remarks, we have launched a free floating interest floating rate note FCN product in the past two quarters and record a very strong growth. We think these products will further diversify our clients as allocations and help them to navigate different interest cycles down the line.

Leon Qi (Executive Director and Head of Asia Financials and FinTech Research)

Thank you very much for your color, Arthur and Daniel.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Chiyao Huang with MS. Please go ahead.

Chiyao Huang (Equity Research Analyst)

谢谢管理层给我提问的机会。我有两个问题想请教管理层：第一个是关于这个，刚才管理层也提到这个 idle cash，环比有所减少，想请问这主要的原因是什么？咱们是否看到这个客户有一些存量的资金，他逐渐从这个 cash 放到了一些货币基金等等一些产品。另外跟着想请教一下，这个咱们新的这个客户入金里面的这个比例，股—放在股票和这个基金大概是一个什么样的比例？这是第一个问题。第二个问题想请管理层，大概地谈一下，这个，因为我们看到日本市场现在基本上也是最近进入了这个零佣金的时代，所以，所以这个从，下个季度开始，咱们可能从明年，明年初开始推出这个日股之后，怎么去面对这样，去设计自己的这个策略，去应对这样的一个竞争环境，以及长期来看，这个，从去 monetize 的角度来看的话，我们还有哪些别的的一些办法？是否会考虑在日本再发展一些别的的一些这种 monetize 的能力，包括这个财富管理、资产管理，或者是一些 trading，或者是外汇等等这些相关的能力。这是第二个问题，谢谢！然后我简单地翻译一下。

The first question is on the idle cash, and we saw some sequential decline in idle cash. So just wondering what's the reason for that? And if we are seeing some of the existing clients are shifting their cash to mutual funds or other products. And also a related question is for the new inflow of client AUM, what's roughly the proportion between stocks and other investment products such as mutual funds? And second question is, can management talk about the strategy in Japan as we are seeing some local brokers are offering zero commission already. So what's our competitive strategy there? And what's the thinking about the future monetization? Would we be considering, you know, building more comprehensive financial offerings and capabilities in Japan in order to improve the monetization over time?

Thank you.

Arthur Chen (CFO)

好的，我来回答第一个问题，然后第二个问题由我的同事Daniel来回答。那，关于我们这个季度的闲置资金，占比下降的原因，主要是因为客户在本季度买入了比较多的，一些股票的一些资产啊，特别是这个美股的这个资产，在这个季度末的那个时间。那么少量的这个资金呢，也是因为购买基金而减少的。那只要你刚才问到的这个，大概我们新的这个客户进来的这个资产的这个配置呢，大概在股票的这个仓位大概在70%左右，财富管理的这个仓位大概在10%左右，那么剩余的，大概有20%左右是配置在这个，闲置的这个资金的。In terms of your first question, the idle cash decrease was primarily due to our clients shift their cash positions to more equities, stocks, especially on the US stock assets at the quarter end.

Also the partial reason is because, you know, some clients allocated more on the wealth management products during the quarter end as well. In terms of the new clients' inflows, the allocations among cash, stock and also the wealth management, roughly, you know, stock positions account for 70%, and the wealth management products account for 10%, and the remaining belongs to the idle cash. Thank you.

Daniel Yuan (Chief of Staff to CEO and Head of IR)

Chiyao, I'll take your second question on our monetization strategy in Japan. Yes, as you mentioned, we have seen a couple leading brokers in Japan gone to zero commission for Japanese stock trading, and we have reasons to believe that other brokers in Japan will probably follow suit. So well, no one's gonna make money from Japanese equities trading, but US stock trading is still quite profitable. SBI and Rakuten, for example, charge 45 basis points for US stock trading. We tend to price more aggressively than these incumbents, but we still expect to make very decent margins on US stock trading. And as of the end of last year, we have seen that there are 2.3 million US stock investors in Japan. That's relatively low compared to Japanese stock investors, but that has been growing pretty fast.

As of the end of 2019, there were about 1 million U.S. stock investors. So over the past four years, it has more than doubled. And besides U.S. stock trading commission, we also intend to monetize over margin financing and foreign exchange fees. We observe that Japanese investors really like to trade on margin, and we have seen that in, for the industry, average number, like around 50% of their trades are placed with margin. So that's gonna be a key revenue driver. And then for FX charges, we understand that in order to compensate for zero commission for Japanese stock trading, all of the brokers in Japan charge pretty hefty fees for FX.

So as the trading volume of U.S. stock trading on our platform grows, we also expect FX revenue to make a meaningful contribution. Thank you.

Chiyao Huang (Equity Research Analyst)

Thank you very much.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Cindy Wang with China Renaissance. Please go ahead.

Cindy Wang (Equity Research Analyst)

嗯，好，谢谢各位提供这个提问的机会，那我这边有两个问题想请教。第一个问题是关于日本市场的，那想了解一下目前的一个开发路径的进度。那管理层有说到，就是说现在，日本的用户大概有400,000吧，那不知道这个转换到路径用户数据的比例大概有多少？那路径用户数据给我们从，月环比的角度来看的话，是否逐渐在提升当中？然后第二个问题的话，是想请教一下，关于，最近有，有这个报道指出，就是富途控股的子公司有去申请这个虚拟资产交易平台的牌照，那可不可以跟我们说一下关于预计这个牌照的申请进度，然后以及就这个虚拟资产的这一块，目前的工作进度如何？是不是我们一拿到牌照之后就可以上线交易的功能？那我很快的翻译一下我的，问题。Thanks, thanks for taking my question.

So I have two questions. First one is related to Japan market. Can you share the cover of Japan's new paying clients progress? What's the conversion rate from registered users to paying clients? And have you seen new paying clients increasing month-over-month? Second question is for the Futu subsidiary applying for digital assets trading platform in Hong Kong. What is the progress with that? And what is your preparation work for digital assets trading platform? Would you be able to launch trading functions immediately once your license is approved? Thank you.

Arthur Chen (CFO)

...Thank you, Cindy. I want, I will answer your second question first, and my colleague Daniel will answer your question regarding to Japan. 有关香港的虚拟资产的这个牌照，我们注意到从去年开始，香港政府包括香港的监管机构，在积极地推动数字经济Web3的生态圈的一个发展，他们希望把香港打造成一个国际虚拟资产的一个中心。那么在过去，几个季度里面，我们对于香港的监管政策的动态，包括行业的一个趋势，进行了一个深入的一个研究，并希望能够积极去参与，这样的一个，牌照的一个申请的一个工作。那么依照SFC的香港SFC的这个监管的要求，我们也是于上周已经提交了，虚拟资产交易平台经营者的这样的一个牌照的申请。PantherTrade是富途集团下面的一个全资的这个子公司，那么它已经提交了相应的一个申请，我们预计整个的一个原则性的一个批复，需要大概6-9个月左右的时间，会拿到一个原则性的批复。如果我们在第一批能够拿到牌照的话。那目前对于未来的这个牌照获取以后如何去这个展业，目前我们还在做积极的一个相应的准备。那么从牌照的经营的范围里，是包含相应的这个交易的一个功能。We, we echo the, the Web3 policies advocated by the Hong Kong government, who want to build up Hong Kong as a Web3, Web3 global centers. In the past several quarters, we carefully study the policies and the regulations issued by Hong Kong SFC. PantherTrade, a wholly-owned subsidiary within Futu Group, submitted VATP license application to Hong Kong SFC last month, and we expect, the whole application process may take at least 6-9 months.

When, if we have the luck to get approval in principle. We have not form a very concrete business plans afterwards. We will continue to modify this content in the next couple of quarters, and hopefully we can give some new updates in next Q2 or Q3. Thank you.

Daniel Yuan (Chief of Staff to CEO and Head of IR)

谢谢Cindy。我来take第一个你关于日本的问题。目前在日本市场，我们从用户到开户客户，然后从开户客户到入金客户的转化率都要比我们其他的国际市场要低一些。我们觉得主要目前有两个原因吧。第一个原因是可能在我们开户的这个黄金流程上，我们觉得还是有一些friction points的。因为目前在日本证券行业的后台，还是涉及了不少体验参差的一些外包的系统，我们为了尽快可以给客户提供这个开户的能力，其实采用了一些行业通行的安排，这个对用户体验是有一定的负面影响的。我们未来一段时间会重点去优化开户入金的这个黄金流程，然后在之后几个季度逐渐将这个流程中的一些外包的环节替代为我们自研的这个系统。另外一个，我们觉得，造成这个转化率偏低的原因是，就是我们品类上的一些缺失吧。目前像刚才提到的，只上线了美股正股的交易，我们预计明年一季度可以上线日股的交易和这个NISA账户的能力。虽然我们相信富途的这个美股交易能力在日本的市场中是遥遥领先的，但是目前在日本，日股依旧是本地投资者非常重要的一个交易的标的。我们是希望我们之后，在当地市场推广的时候，品类也是比较完善的。所以根据我们对目前用户的一些调研，我们理解这个也是，阻碍部分客户，部分用户在我们这开户入金的一个原因吧。 I'm gonna translate for myself. So right now in Japan, the user to client conversion rate as well as the client to paying client conversion rate, are both lower than what we have observed in other international markets. And we think there are two main reasons behind it. Number one is that our account opening golden process still has a number of friction points. So far, the mid to back office in the Japan brokerage industry are still characterized by a lot of outsourced systems that have really unsatisfactory user experience. And in order to start account opening soon, we leverage some of these outsourced systems, which really have a negative impact on our user experience, and thus impacted the conversion rate from account opening to asset deposits. And in next couple of quarters, we plan to invest into our account opening process and gradually replace these outsourced systems with our proprietary system. And the second reason behind this low conversion rate so far is the lack of key trading products. And as mentioned earlier, we now only offer US cash equities trading to Japan users. And in the first quarter of next year, we plan to launch a Japanese stock trading as well as NISA account. Although we are really confident that Futu's US stock trading capabilities leads our Japanese peers by a very wide margin. In Japan, Japanese stock investing is still very, very popular, and we understand, based on our user survey, that the lack of, you know, Japanese equity trading is a key reason that prevents them from opening accounts with us. Thank you.

Arthur Chen (CFO)

Mr. Wang, are you... Ms. Wang, are you done with your question?

Cindy Wang (Equity Research Analyst)

Yes.

Arthur Chen (CFO)

Yeah, I am done.

Cindy Wang (Equity Research Analyst)

It's all clear. Thank you.

Arthur Chen (CFO)

Thank you. A reminder to all the participants that you may press star and one to ask a question. Next question comes from the line of Peter Zhang with JP Morgan. Please go ahead.

Peter Zhang (Equity Research Analyst)

...谢谢管理层给我提供的机会。我对于日本这边我还是有一个 follow up 的问题，我想问一下，在未来有没有机会，就是我们香港或者新加坡的用户可以，去交易日股，就在我们的 product pipeline 上有没有这个考虑？然后第二个问题是，就是这个季度交易的那个，佣金费率环比有所下降，我想问一下背后的原因以及未来的趋势会如何？Okay, let me do the translation.

My first question is a follow up question regarding the Japan product line. I wish to understand, going forward, will the clients in Futu's clients in Hong Kong or Singapore market be allowed to trade Japan stock? Is this product in your product pipeline? My second question is regarding the blended commission fee. We notice that the blended fee commission fee rate decline sequentially in third quarter and we wish to understand what's the reason behind and what will be the trend going forward? Thank you.

Arthur Chen (CFO)

好的，谢谢Peter，我来回答你的这两个问题。第一个是有关这个日本的股票交易会不会这个功能在其他的这些市场里面提供。那我们的答案是确定的，而且这已经在我们的相应的产品排期的这个相应的一个管线里面。我相信这个对于日本以外的其他的的一些交易者的获取，包括他们的留存，以及对于我们的收入，都会有一个非常正面的一个帮助。那么第二个问题，有关于我们的三季度的佣金费率的一个环比的小幅的一个下降。这个原因呢，我们在之前其实好几个季度我们也有解释过，主要的原因是，我们的美股交易的收费，是有两种不同的收费套餐，一种呢是按照百分比来收取，还有一种呢是按照股票的数量来收取。所以呢，客户在每个季度交易的股票的面值，交易的大面值的股票跟小面值股票的，一个比例，会影响到我们一个综合的一个佣金费率这样的一个影响在这个里面。所以这个季度的佣金费率的环比的小幅的一个下降，也是因为市场的一个原因在这个里面。那么展望，未来的一个情况，我们目前对于整体的一个综合佣金费率的一个稳定，还是保持一个比较乐观的一个状态。Regarding two questions, number one is for the Japan stock trading offering to the markets outside of Japan, our answer is definitely it would be a yes, and it has already been in our product pipelines.

Hopefully we can launch the US, the Japan stock trading to our clients in Hong Kong, in Singapore, in the near future. We do think this kind of product offering will further helpful to our client engagement in these markets, and also increase the client's participation in our platform, and also our top line will also be benefit arising from that.

Regarding the blended commission rate fluctuation as we elaborate to the market several quarters, it is mainly due to the client's trading behaviors, because our U.S. stock trading commissions do have different menu, price menus, and one menu is actually not based on the percentage of the trading volume, but on the number of the shares. So, when people trade, these big blue chips or these, you know, OTC stocks, the combination will have the implications on the blended commission rate as well. In the third quarter, the fluctuation is mainly because of that. And going forward, we think, you know, the blended commission rate if we take out these trading patterns, reasons, can maintain stable in the near future. Thank you.

Peter Zhang (Equity Research Analyst)

谢谢，非常，非常，非常清楚。

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Li Wan with BOCOM International. Please go ahead.

Li Wan (Equity Research Analyst)

感谢给我提问的机会。我想请教一个关于利息收入的问题，就是整个今年您收入的增长就是利息收入贡献比较大，那能否就是给我们拆解一下，就是，比如说融资融券和，银行存款的贡献分别是什么？然后如果明年美联储降息的话，会对我们收入的增速是一个怎样的一个影响？哦，我翻译一下，Can you give us a breakdown of interest income and what will be the impact from Fed's rate cut next year?

Thank you。

Arthur Chen (CFO)

好的，关于利息收入的这个问题我来回答一下。整体我们的这个利息收入里面，客户的闲置资金的这个利息收入的占比，贡献在今年的这个占比贡献是要高于融资融券的，这个利息的一个收入的。那么往前看，我们觉得整个的美联储，减息的一个速度，会是一个非常缓慢的一个状态。那么同时呢，在美联储减息的时候，虽然我们的利息收入会受到一定负面的一个影响，但是联储的这个减息在同一个情况下也会刺激整体的一个资本市场的一个活跃，活跃的一个程度。那从以往去看，在减息的这个周期里面，客户的一个参与市场的一个交易的一个活跃度，包括一个交易量，都会有一个相应的一个上升。在一定程度上，交易收入的一个上升会弥补掉我们的，客户的 一个闲置，利息收入的一个下降，在这个里面。...

In terms of the interest income, yesterday, the interest revenues contributed from the client idle cash is much bigger than the interest income derived from the margin lending and the securities lending business. And going forward, we do not think, you know, the Fed's rate cut will be very, will, will be very fast. And in circumstances when the rate cut, normally it would be helpful to the trading volumes for the whole capital markets for our clients as well. Therefore, we do think the trading revenues arising from this rate cut will largely offset the potential idle cash revenue decrease. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Miss Wan, are you done with the question?

Li Wan (Equity Research Analyst)

Yes, thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Emma Xu with BofA Securities. Please go ahead. Please, go ahead, Miss Xu. Miss Xu, if you have muted from your end, please unmute yourself, and you can go ahead with the question. Miss Xu, can you go ahead with the question? Miss Emma Xu, can you go ahead with your question?

Daniel Yuan (Chief of Staff to CEO and Head of IR)

Well, it seems that Emma is not here tonight. So, operator, do you have any further questions on the line?

Operator (participant)

There are no more questions. So I will now hand the call back over to Mr. Yuan for closing comments. Thank you.

Daniel Yuan (Chief of Staff to CEO and Head of IR)

Sure. Yeah. So 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.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. This concludes our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.