Noah Holdings - Earnings Call - Q2 2025

Transcript

Speaker 1

I would now like to turn the conference over to Doreen Chew, Senior Investor Relations Director. Please go ahead.

Speaker 3

Thank you. Good morning and good afternoon, and welcome to Noah Holdings Limited's second quarter and half year 2025 earnings conference call. Joining me today, we have Ms. Wang Jingbo, the Co-Founder and Chair Lady, Mr. Zhe Yin, Co-Founder, Director and CEO, and also Mr. Grant Peng, CFO. Mr. Yin will begin with an overview of our recent business highlights, followed by Mr. Peng, who will discuss our financial and operational results. They will all be available to take your questions in the Q&A section that follows. Please note that the discussion today will contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those in our forward-looking statements.

Potential risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to those outlined in our public filings with the SEC and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Noah Holdings Limited does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required under applicable law. With that, I would now like to pass the call over to Zhe. Mr. Yin, please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Okay, good morning to everyone, and thank you for joining Noah Holdings Limited's second quarter 2025 earnings conference call. 2025年二季度, 全球金融市场波动剧烈, 特朗普政府出台新的关税政策, 地缘政治风险从背景音乐变成了主旋律, 得益于诺亚上半年CIO报告的前瞻性。诺亚的客户在二季度取得了较好的投资业绩, 截止二季度末, 诺亚的黑卡客户中累计实现盈利的客户占比超过95%。经过几年的国际拓展, 我们完成了全球产品矩阵的搭建, VC/PE基金、另类信贷基金、基建基金、对冲基金、全球公募基金、港美股结构化产品以及资产传承方面的保险、信托、身份规划等传承方案均以端到端完成。凭借一站式的配置能力和专业的研判, 助力客户筑牢资产的压仓石, 在不确定环境中持续增强财富韧性。很高兴向大家汇报诺亚在二季度取得了良好的经营成果, 我们的净收入达到¥630 million, 经营利润同比上升20.2%。Non-GAAP净利润同比大幅增长78.2%, 环比增长12%, 达到¥190 million。上半年总基净收入¥1.24 billion, Non-GAAP净利润¥360 million。更重要的是, 我们的收入结构进一步的优化了, 投资类产品贡献的收入进一步增加, 募集费中投资类产品的占比上升至近年新高, 超过30%。在净利业务方面, 我们的策略是聚焦提升理财师的激励, 激活休眠客户以及拓展新的客户。在境外业务则重点扩张前台理财师队伍和本地新客户量。我们在上半年新增合格投资者的客户数是627名。我们持续进行了内部的调整和优化, 各个BO都要求推动从产品到销售的自闭环建设。同时, 我们通过客户服务推动交叉销售, 从而带动了客户整体活跃度的持续提升。我们坚持平台与能力建设的投入, 通过AI服务理财师和客户提升客户的满意度, 逐步完善各个Booking Center和数字化平台的建设。在客户触达、产品集成、数字化的支持和合规风控方面实现跨境协同, 为公司未来可持续发展打下坚实的基础。接下来, 我将以各个BO的

Speaker 3

In the second quarter of 2025, global financial markets experienced significant volatility, with the Trump administration's tariff policies and geopolitical risks moving from background noise to center stage. Leveraging the forward-looking insights from Noah's CIO report for the first half of the year, our clients achieved strong investment returns, with over 95% of our black card clients realizing cumulative gains by the end of the quarter. After several years of developing and expanding our overseas business, we have established a comprehensive robo-product matrix, including VC/PE funds, private credit funds, infrastructure funds, hedge funds, robo-mutual funds, Hong Kong and U.S. equity structured products, and wealth inheritance solutions such as insurance, trusts, and residency planning. These diverse offerings have all been fully integrated, providing clients with wealth allocation capabilities and investment expertise needed to solidify their asset base and enhance wealth resilience amid uncertainty.

We are pleased to report a strong operational and financial performance during the second quarter. Net revenues reached $630 million, with income from operations increasing by 20.2% year over year, and non-GAAP net income surged 78.2% year over year, and 12% sequentially to $189 million. Net revenues for the first half of 2025 were $1.2 billion, generating non-GAAP net income of $358 million. Our revenue mix continues to increase, driven by growing investment product revenue. Specifically, one-time commissions from investment products have reached the highest point in recent years, making up over 30% of one-time commissions revenue.

Speaker 4

increase in fundraising and income for overseas business.

Speaker 3

Okay, Doreen, please. Domestically, our strategy remains focused on enhancing relationship management incentives, reactivating dormant clients, and acquiring new clients. Overseas, we continue to extend our relationship management teams and grow our local client base. In the first half, we added 627 new qualified investors as clients. We continue to make progress in optimizing our internal organization, with each business unit building an end-to-end process that spans from product development to sales. In addition, we are driving cross-selling activities through enhanced client service and increasing overall client activity and engagement. We remain committed to investing in our platform and capabilities, leveraging AI to empower relationship managers and clients while boosting client satisfaction. Concurrently, we are advancing the development of our booking centers and digital platforms to enhance cross-border synergies for client outreach, product integration, digital infrastructure, and risk controls, laying a solid foundation for sustainable world future growth.

I will now dive into the performance and operations of each business unit. Net revenues from overseas reached $297 million in the second quarter, accounting for 47.1% of total net revenue, with net revenues from overseas investment products continuing to generate solid growth. Our team of overseas relationship managers expanded to 162 by the end of the quarter, a year-on-year increase of 34.5%. The ongoing enhancements to our capacities and deepening expertise drove strong investment returns for clients during the quarter, supporting solid growth in both overseas transaction value and net revenues.

Speaker 4

year-over-year. Among them, the number of active clients exceeded 3,600, a year-over-year increase of 12.5%.

Speaker 3

Net revenues from overseas wealth management were $129 million during the quarter, down 14.1% year on year, due primarily to our ongoing strategic focus on investment products, which resulted in a decline in revenue contribution from the distribution of insurance products. Overseas AUA grew 6.6% year over year to $9.1 billion, and now accounts for 27.6% of total AUA, primarily driven by increase in distribution of private equity funds. Transaction value of USD denominated private market products in the first half of the year increased by 70.3% compared to the same period last year, reaching $765 million. Within USD private secondary products, transaction value of hedge funds and structured products more than doubled year on year to $424 million.

We continue to expand and deepen our relationship with reputable product and investment partners globally, and have now become rapidly one of the top three distribution channels in Asia for flagship products from leading GPs such as Eris and Hamilton Link. As for the second quarter, the number of registered overseas clients now exceeds 15,900, a year-on-year increase of 13%, with the number of active clients now over 3,600, a year-on-year increase of 12.5%.

Speaker 4

have generated over RMB 20 million in revenue, bringing new blood to client acquisition.

Speaker 3

Net revenues from overseas asset management during the second quarter were RMB 108 million, up 11.5% year over year, driven primarily by growth in AUM and recurring service fees. Overseas AUM was $5.8 billion, up 7.4% year over year and accounting for 28.5% of total AUM. Net revenues from overseas insurance and comprehensive services during the quarter were RMB 59 million, an increase of 91% year over year. The Hong Kong insurance market remains highly competitive. However, our quoted big clients' large policies, strategy, and cost-effective customized products for major clients are delivering strong results in this environment, with average overseas insurance policy size continuing to increase. Additionally, Glory's team of commission-only brokers and external channels has already generated over RMB 20 million in revenue, injecting such vitality into new client acquisitions.

Speaker 4

quarter, a year-over-year decrease of 38.7%, due to our slowing down the launch of domestic insurance products.

Speaker 3

Net revenues from mainland China during the quarter were RMB 333 million, a year-on-year decrease of 1.3%, but a sequential increase of 7.2%. The recovery in the Asia market this year has driven a substantial improvement in the performance of our domestic business. Renminbi-denominated private secondary products continue to gain strong growth momentum in the second quarter, which partially offset a decline in recurring service fees from existing renminbi private equity products. Notably, the rebound in the Asia market increased investor confidence in the secondary market and is fueling growth in our domestic public securities business. Net revenues from domestic public securities during the quarter were RMB 132 million, a year-over-year increase of 12.8%. Transaction value of renminbi-denominated secondary products continued their strong momentum, with transaction values for private secondary products in the first half of the year reaching RMB 6.1 billion, a significant year-over-year increase of 185.3%.

The rebound in the Asia market provides a favorable environment for renminbi-denominated secondary products, enabling us to achieve continued breakthroughs in this business. Net revenues from domestic asset management during the quarter were RMB 177 million, down 10.6%. This was due to lower recurring service fees from existing renminbi-denominated private equity products. In the primary market, Gopher Asset Management focuses on facilitating exits and distribution of assets managed by the funds, where it records RMB 800 million in exits related to private equity products. Net revenues from domestic insurance during the quarter were RMB 716 million, a year-over-year decrease of 38.7%. This was a result of our strategic decision to reduce the promotion of domestic insurance products.

Speaker 4

experience and reduced operating costs. Facing the great opportunity of Chinese enterprises going global, we look forward to having Noah's Ark wherever there are Chinese people.

Speaker 3

Looking ahead to the second half of the year, we will focus our efforts on the following three strategic priorities. First, we will concentrate on high-net-worth clients and actively expand our customer base. We are proactively entering mature financial markets such as the United States, Canada, and Japan to serve global Chinese clients. In these established markets, we will adopt a business partner cooperation model to attract more talents and broaden our client base. Our positioning is clear: to be a wealth management platform dedicated to serving global Chinese high-net-worth investors. Second, we will continue to enrich our global product offerings across various categories to meet the diverse needs of our clients. A robust product portfolio enables us to provide more competitive investment solutions. In the primary markets, we will expand our ecosystem partnership to develop customized investment solutions and exclusive opportunities.

In the secondary markets, leveraging our global investment research capabilities, we will carefully select high-quality strategies from top-tier managers to enhance our ability to deliver robust asset allocation solutions. We will also actively explore new opportunities in digital assets, pushing the boundaries of wealth and asset management to provide clients with a more comprehensive and cutting-edge investment experience. Today, we are also pleased to announce that we have selected Coinbase Asset Management as a strategic partner to establish our list of stablecoin yield funds. We shall expand our digital asset-related product lines and collaborate with licensed, compliant institutions to capture opportunities in this rapidly growing emerging asset class. This initiative aims to open new growth engines for our clients. Global asset allocation strategies will future expansion opportunities in compliant digital asset fund management. Third, we remain committed to enhancing operational efficiency while pursuing growth.

We continue to integrate AI across our operations to empower Relationship Managers, clients, and middle and back office staff. These initiatives have significantly improved the client experience and reduced operational costs. Amidst the vast opportunities presented by the global expansion of Chinese enterprise, we aspire to have Noah's Ark present wherever there are Chinese clients around the world.

Speaker 4

接下来, 我也请CFO潘青为大家详细介绍集团整体的财务表现。谢谢大家。

Speaker 3

I will now pass over to our CFO, Grant Peng, to go over our financials in more detail. Thank you all.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Sandar. Warm greetings to everyone joining us today. I'm very excited to announce our financial performance in the second quarter of 2025 that reflects steady progress and resilience across our operations. Supported by revenue growth, disciplined cost management, and investment income, we achieved non-GAAP net profit RMB 189 million. This represented 78.2% year-over-year growth and a 12% sequential increase. For the first half of 2025, non-GAAP net income totaled RMB 358 million, a 33.9% year-over-year increase. More importantly, management is very encouraged by the structural improvements in our operations this quarter. We achieved substantial growth in revenues related to investment products, with a 92% year-over-year increase and a 30.6% sequential rise in that category. Driven by clients' more uplifting investment sentiment, it also is attributed to a wider selection of quality investment solutions that we provided to our clients, both onshore and offshore.

In terms of transaction values, RMB-denominated products recorded a 35.0% year-over-year growth and an 8.3% sequential increase, while USD-denominated products grew 5.2% year-over-year and 3.8% sequentially. As a result, our total transaction values reached RMB 17 billion, reflecting a 17.7% year-over-year increase and a 5.4% sequential rise. For the first half, commissions from investment products grew by 95.9% year-over-year, with transaction values for RMB-denominated private secondary products stood out, growing by 185.3% year-over-year to RMB 6.1 billion. Similarly, USD private secondary products, excluding cash management products, grew by an impressive 282.2% year-over-year to USD 424 million, despite volatility in U.S. equity markets. In this context, one-time commissions contributed RMB 155 million in the second quarter, marking a 14% year-over-year increase. Recurring service fees and performance-based income remained steady at RMB 406 million and RMB 23 million, respectively.

Total net revenue reached RMB 630 million for the quarter, reflecting a 2.2% year-over-year increase and a 2.4% sequential growth. Breaking revenue down by region, overseas net revenues continue to drive growth, recording RMB 601 million in the first half of 2025. Not only did it account for 48.3% of total net revenues in the first half of the year, but over 85% of newly generated revenue was originated from offshore products. In the meantime, we continue to stay conscious of costs and expenses. Total operating costs and expenses for the first half were RMB 897 million, down 11.2% year-over-year. Key reductions were achieved in managing a more optimal headcount structure while maintaining investments in the growth area. Total OpEx, excluding total compensation and benefits, declined by 9.3% year-over-year.

This efficiency enabled us to achieve an operating profit of RMB 347 million for the first half, up 35.8% year-over-year, with an operating profit margin of 27.9% compared to 20.2% in the same period last year. For the second quarter, operating profit was RMB 161 million, with an operating margin of 25.6%. Net income for the first half was RMB 322 million, representing a 39.4% year-over-year increase, despite the booking of about RMB 40 million in withholding taxes related to dividends distributed during this period. As of June 30, 2025, total AUM stood at RMB 145.1 billion, reflecting some pressure from redemptions of RMB denominated products. However, USD denominated AUM grew by 7.4% year-over-year to $5.8 billion, while USD denominated AUA increased by 6.6% year-over-year to $9.1 billion, demonstrating our ability to continue to capture shares of client USD investment allocations.

At the end of the second quarter, our overseas new client base continued to grow, with the number of overseas registered clients increasing by 13% year-over-year and 4.2% sequentially. The total number of overseas diamond and black heart clients now exceeds 1,640. Overseas active clients reached 3,650, up 12.5% year-over-year and 7.9% sequentially. Notably, we saw meaningful growth in our new golden clients that are qualified investors, or qualified professional investors by definition, increased by 627% within the first six months of this year. Although it takes time for brand new clients to mature into the core client group, namely black and diamond clients, we're very confident that with a continuous global expanding mindset, the company is steadily gaining new market share worldwide. Our balance sheet remains sound. As of June 30, 2025, combined cash and short-term investments totaled RMB 5.4 billion, and we continue to carry zero interest-bearing liability.

Additionally, net investment gains for the quarter exceeded RMB 60 million, reflecting the realization of potentials from our past strategic investors. In closing, the second quarter of 2025 represents a meaningful step forward for our business in the right direction, marking an important milestone of restructuring efforts and confirming the positive impact. Enhancing shareholder returns remains our priority, and I'm pleased to share that we have returned over RMB 1.8 billion cumulatively to shareholders through dividend payments and share buybacks for the past three years. The board and management are committed to disciplined capital distributions to our shareholders in the long run. Moreover, with a book value per ADR of $18.35 per share, we believe that the current share price still remains undervalued, offering shareholders an attractive opportunity. Looking ahead, we remain focused on enhancing shareholder value, driving sustainable growth, and achieving long-term success.

Thank you, shareholders, for your trust and support. We'll now open the floor for questions.

Speaker 1

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on your touch-tone phone. If you are using a speaker phone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star, then two. At this time, we will pause for a moment to assemble our roster. Our first question today will come from Helen Li of UBS. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

感谢管理层给我这个提问的机会。我是UBS Helen。首先是恭喜二季度取得亮眼的业绩, 然后我这边有两个问题。第一个问题是有关咱们刚才提到的这个稳定币的一个基金, 就是能不能就是在给我们分享更多, 就比如说推出这个稳定币基金背后的一些考量, 然后这个稳定币基金它的一个管理费大概是一个什么情况, 然后客户对这部分啊这种基金的一个购买的一个意愿情况, 然后除了这个稳定币基金以外, 咱们以后在加密货币基金方面还有一些什么样的一些战略的一个布局的一个计划, 这个是我的第一个问题。然后我的第二个问题是因为我们其实看到二季度客户的对投资类产品的需求恢复得非常快, 那目前咱们从内部就是向客户推荐产品的一个how to的角度, 就目前是推荐他们配置一些什么样的产品啊, 然后其次就是客户现在就是对于这些风险产品的一些偏好怎么样, 就尤其是比如说像对境内和境外的这样一些投资类产品, 他们现在是一个什么样的偏好, 然后另外的话就是您是否觉得啊这部分非常强劲的增长会持续到今年的三季度和四季度。 Let me translate my question. This is Helen from UBS. I've got two questions. The first is, could you please provide more details on the private credit stablecoin yield fund, including the strategic considerations behind the team, the management fee structure, and client interest in such products? Additionally, are there any other plans in the cryptocurrency field besides the stablecoin yield fund? My second question is, what's the CIO how to regarding client asset allocation? How would you describe the current client investment appetite, particularly the demand for offshore products compared to onshore products? Do you anticipate a strong growth momentum in investment product distribution to continue into the third and fourth quarters? Thank you.

Speaker 4

allocations. Doreen, why don't you translate the first question first.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Sander. This is our first cooperation in the market to launch this stablecoin yield fund. As we mentioned in our CIO report, indeed, from last year to this year, in our CIO report, we have been emphasizing the importance for our clients to distribute their assets in stablecoin, this new asset class, for two years now. That's why we have been proud to announce that we've been partnered with Coinbase Asset Management to launch our first fund. Having said that, we still emphasize the prudency that we need to maintain being a wealth management company. That's why the partner we've chosen this time is Coinbase Asset Management. In terms of the fee structure, we would just say it's the same as any other investment products we have been distributing to our clients. There's not much special between the different types of products.

Speaker 4

our capabilities overseas continue to improve, I believe we can serve more clients' needs in this area.

Speaker 3

Regarding your questions about the investment products that clients may have a high interest, with this we have seen in the first two quarters this year, we saw that clients are having more interest in deploying the asset and wealth into investment products. The reason behind this, we believe that in the previous years during 2020 to 2022, because of the geopolitical situation and other noises in the market, investors become more cautious, but they have also learned as well. After a few years of learning, adapting to the current environment, we believe that clients are now more confident and clear about what they should buy and they still need to deploy the asset because after all, wealth management should be a long-term planning instead of just a very defensive investment or very short-term investment. When clients' incentive is going upward, domestically, mainly strengthened also by the Asian market.

Being a very prudent organization, we have been also observing the secondary markets in China if it's an overheat in the moment because it's been driven by money flows, obviously. However, overseas, we've seen more options. Particularly, we have seen the opportunity among the overseas Chinese because they got wealth in the overseas market, but they may not get as good service as they could have in the domestic market. Particularly, they may lack information in different investment products. What Noah's been doing, we partner with all these prominent GPs globally, and we've been trying to provide more information to our clients when they are trying to deploy their asset. As we've emphasized in our CIO report, it's always about a balance between growth, return, and the risks. We will always follow our principle as listed in CIO report.

That is the investment triangle that we try to use different assets to balance risk and return. Particularly, the new theme that we have introduced to this round in CIO report is a deflation caused by technology. We believe that that's the major reason why we have been advising our clients to invest in AI or Coinbase Asset Management-related investment products.

Speaker 5

我补充两点吧，一点就是在加密货币世界还是风险很大的，所以合规可能成为一个最主要的这个关键词吧。我们的作为传统金融的一个财富管理者，我们坚持的就是合规和创新，就两个点。这次是跟Circle跟Coinbase Asset Management合作的一个私募基金，我们认为也符合我们刚才谈到的CIO报告的一个策略，就是我们希望我们传统的这些财富管理的客户可能有1%到3%到5%的资产可以配置在加密世界。诺亚呢，希望成为一个合规的桥梁，我们选择的这个合规的至少是目前在全球都公认的两个合规的公司，我觉得这个对我们来讲和我们的客户来讲都是非常重要的。诺亚希望成为这个桥梁。我们也不仅仅是这一个产品，我们接下来规划了一系列的产品，会随着这个客户对于这个资产类别的熟悉程度逐步的退出。

Speaker 3

From our Chair Lady, she emphasized that in this world, we must emphasize that the risk could still be very high. That's why, being a responsible wealth management company, we've been emphasizing compliance while we are looking at innovation. This round, we've chosen the partner which has been agreed on their compliance standard. As mentioned in the CIO report, we have been suggesting our clients invest around 1% to 5% of their total assets to be in the Coinbase Asset Management-related products. Most importantly, we believe that Noah could be the bridge to provide compliant products in this area. Last but not least, not only this one product that we launched that I just mentioned, going forward, we will continue to study and are going to launch more related products depending on our client needs.

We believe that by time, they will learn more about this asset class and they should have more demand in this area.

Speaker 2

Helene, do we answer your question?

Speaker 5

非常清楚, 谢谢。

Speaker 2

好, 谢谢 Helene, 那我们下一个问题吧。 Next question, please.

Speaker 1

Our next question today will come from Peter Zhang of JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

Speaker 0

感谢管理层给我提问的机会, 我是摩根大通的 Peter。首先也恭喜诺亚取得了非常亮眼的业绩。那我这边有两个问题, 第一个问题我还是想请教一下, 就是我们三季度看到的趋势是怎么样, 因为我们也观察到最近几周国内的投资情绪也非常旺盛。我们想了解在诺亚的平台上投资者的投资热情, 还有我们理财产品的销售在三季度的趋势如何和二季度对比是一个怎么样的情况。然后我第二个问题想问一下, 就是我们海外扩张, 管理层在业绩会上也提到, 就是我们对于美国、日本、加拿大都有一定的扩张计划。我想请教一下我们现在的进展如何, 展望下半年和明年, 在这些地区有没有什么, 就是进展, 我们可以去期待。管理层觉得这些地区在未来何时可以给我们贡献更加 meaningful 的客户的增长和收入的贡献。另外我也想请教, 当我们有这样的海外扩张的计划时, 对我们的运营成本的未来的趋势如何展望。我做一下翻译。 Thanks for giving me the question, giving me the opportunity to ask the question. This is Peter from JPMorgan. I have two questions. First is we wish to understand what's the third quarter operating trend for Noah. We have seen there's a strong pickup in domestic investment sentiment lately. We wish to understand what Noah has observed about the investment sentiment on your platform and the wealth management products transaction volume trend in third quarter quarter to date and how this is compared to the second quarter. My second question is about the overseas expansion. We noticed that many of you have mentioned the plan to expand into the U.S., Canada, and Japan.

We wish to understand how the progress so far and what to expect in the second half of this year and the next year. When do you expect this new market can meaningfully contribute to your current growth and revenues? We also wish to understand how this overseas expansion plan will have an impact on our operating expense trend going forward. Thank you.

Speaker 4

support, but more importantly, we need to maintain a rational mindset, provide ongoing education for clients, help them see the differences among various strategies, and create a more balanced portfolio allocation. This is the guidance we provide to our clients.

Speaker 3

Regarding your question about the investment sentiment moving forward to the fourth quarter, yes, we have to say that during different clients, different events that we've been organizing, when we met with clients, we have seen strong interest from them. Unlike in the previous period, they would be more prudent and prefer lower risk return or lower risk products. We have seen that because of the Asian market and also because of the U.S. interest rate environment, they are now showing more interest in investing in different types of investment products. Also, when we talk to clients, one of the reflections that we've been collecting is that we've been able to provide more and more diversified products with different GPs. That's because we have set up the product center in the U.S., and that's what we've been able to contact and have connection with more reputable GPs from globally.

That's why we've been able to provide a better product matrix to our clients. However, we must emphasize that being a wealth management company, or what the core of wealth management should be, is long-term return. It's not about any short-term environment changes or clients' feelings about the market or any sentiment-driven investment. Internally, we emphasize long-term return instead of just selling products according to market sentiment.

Speaker 5

好, 那我分享一下我们的全球战略。我觉得经过三年的这个运行吧, 就是可以说是出海吧, 我觉得我们海外战略是非常清楚了。前三年的阶段呢, 我们完成了这个全球的产品矩阵的建设, 把这个产品的丰富度我想是一个财富管理机构非常非常重要的一个点。那下一个阶段呢, 就是我们的定位。我觉得在全球过程中的话, 国际的财富管理私人银行品牌很多, 但是在多个司法地区统一为华人提供财富管理的品牌是没有的。那我觉得这个是诺亚最重要的定位, 就是服务全球华人。我们在国内可能有14亿华人, 在海外有6,000万华人, 我们可以为他们服务。我们跟他们是比较明确的这个, 就是也有相同的文化, 也有一些信任的壁垒。我觉得这个客户的基础是非常明确的, 比如说在新加坡、在日本、在加拿大, 我们都已经有很多诺亚的客户可能迁徙出去了。第二就是在我们在当地跟他们互动的过程中是有深度信任的。那我们接下来的话, 我们也已经开始就是能够为他们提供服务。那我们的运营模式也比较清晰了, 我们在香港、新加坡, 在美国我们是Booking Center, 我们会为他们就是可以开户, 然后他们可以在我们这儿来直接接受财富管理的服务。在不是Booking Center的地方, 比如说日本、加拿大、澳洲, 那么我们就是Olive Asset Management, 然后我们可以通过除了服务当地的华人的作为LP以外, 我们通过当地的一些可以覆盖华人的IFA来触达他们, 然后也会有一些机构客户。在这个点上我们也在越来越清晰的过程中了。我觉得在下一个五年我们是在全球华人客群中建立新制的, 而我们的这个资产管理的增长飞轮的话, 我们现目前看来还是非常有信心的, 市场容量、客户基础都很大, 而且我们跟他们有天然的这种连接。

Speaker 3

Regarding our global strategy, as mentioned by Chair Lady, we have been developing our overseas markets over the last three years. What we've been achieving must be the product matrix. Being a wealth management company, this is one of the very important criteria that we have already achieved. The next steps, we will say, are more about branding. When we talk about branding, what we've seen is that we serve Chinese globally. That is currently, we don't see much of other organizations being able to serve Chinese across different legal jurisdictions. We believe that is going to be our very committed target going forward. In terms of the strategic planning, we have three booking centers in the U.S., Hong Kong, and Singapore.

Also, for the non-booking centers such as Japan and Canada that we have already mentioned previously, it's going to be the asset management for the clients using the Olive's link. We believe that Noah's strength is we have trust with our clients. With this trust, we have seen that some of our clients from domestic markets are already moving to overseas markets. That should be our strong client base when we're developing our overseas market.

Speaker 2

Okay, so I'll take the third question on OpEx, Peter. We basically have reached a stage of a rather comfortable structure in terms of frontline and mid-back office. I think we're pretty much after a couple of years of transition period, we're actually pretty comfortable with the mix of frontline and mid-back office. Secondly, also the balance between fixed salary and also variable costs, both onshore and offshore. We're probably looking to maintain that structure, obviously not excluding some short-term spikes when we, as Chair Lady and CEO Zhe Yin mentioned, with international expansion, we'll probably get on new talents in new markets or new business segments. I think overall, the big picture, comp and benefits-wise, we're pretty comfortable. In terms of selling and marketing expenses, obviously, we have seasonality. We typically are a little bit slower after Spring Festival than summer vacation.

We have traditionally busier schedules coming up in the third quarter, obviously towards the end of the year as well. I think on the annual basis, I'm also pretty comfortable in terms of maintaining a similar range of operating margin. Peter, does that answer your question?

Speaker 5

That's very clear. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Okay, thanks.

Speaker 1

If you would like to ask a question, please press star and then one. The next question will come from Xian Zhong Zhen of CICC. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

the company's cash balance remains high at $3.8 billion. Do you have any dividends plan? I'll translate my question. I have two questions. The first one is, are there operating expenses decreased over 80% year over year, and income from equity in affiliates increases to over $47 million? These changes affect the net income. Could you please explain the reason behind and the future change? The second question is, the cash balance remains high at $3.8 billion. Do you have any dividends plan? Thank you.

Speaker 2

Sure, Ms. Xian. I'll take the question for the two fluctuations. Basically, the overall impact, especially the $47 million, actually comes from some of the strategic investment portions that we have as the co-GP investment in the past. Some of the companies actually became successfully listed. The total market value in the fund actually has a markup. That quarter, we have a pretty positive impact. Hopefully, it doesn't reflect in the future. It seems that from the company's current performance, we're optimistic that we'll maintain a rather strong performance and obviously feedback to our balance sheet and P&L. In terms of dividend scheme, I think the only thing I can say on behalf of the management board, as we have mentioned.

Speaker 1

the earnings release, we were very committed to returning some of the obviously operational results to our shareholders, and we have cumulatively distributed a rather large amount, I think probably ranking very, very high in Chinese ADR companies, that cumulatively ¥1.8 billion to our shareholders, and obviously another full payout of 2024's net profits. I believe that in 2025, obviously I can't say this prematurely, but you know we're pretty confident that we probably will be returning or distributing our profit operational results to our shareholders on a very similar scale this year, at least in the foreseeable future.

Speaker 3

Thank you, very clear.

Speaker 4

Thank you.

Speaker 2

At this time, we will conclude our question and answer session, and I'd like to turn the conference back over to management for any closing remarks.

Speaker 1

Zhe, anything to add? Okay.

Speaker 4

No, we're all set.

Speaker 1

Thank you very much.

Speaker 4

好的, 好, 谢谢 Zhe Yin.

Speaker 1

Thank you very much, everybody, and hope to hear from you in the subsequent calls. Thanks.

Speaker 3

Thanks, everyone, and do feel free to contact the IR team if you have any further questions. We will be conducting NDRs every few weeks, so feel free to reach out if you want to talk to any of us. Thank you very much for today.

Speaker 2

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation, and you may now disconnect your line.