Fintech
Futu Records US$292.3 Million Total Revenues for Fourth Quarter 2022, a YoY Increase of 42.3%
Moomoo’s parent company Futu Holdings Limited (Nasdaq: FUTU) (“Futu”, the “Company”), a leading tech-driven digital brokerage and wealth management platform, reported its unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter of 2022. The Company recorded US$292.3 million (HK$2.28 billion) total revenues and US$130 million (HK$1.01 billion) non-GAAP adjusted net income, representing a year-over-year increase of 42.3% and 90.2% respectively.
The Company recorded US$976 million (HK$7.61 billion) total revenues and US$401.4 million (HK$3.13 billion) non-GAAP adjusted net income for full year ended December 31, 2022.
Strategic highlights of the fourth quarter:
- As of quarter end, the total number of users of moomoo and its sister brand Futubull increased 12.7% year-over-year to 19.58 million.
- Total number of registered clients increased 17.5% year-over-year to 3.23 million.
- Total number of paying clients increased 19.5% year-over-year to 1.49 million.
- By the end of the fourth quarter, the total client assets amounted to US$53.5 billion (HK$417.5 billion). In Singapore, the total client assets increased by 45.4% year-over-year.
- The quarterly client retention rate remained high at 98%.
- Corporate services maintained strong momentum with ESOP clients totaling 638, an increase of 59% sequentially.
- According to a third-party data provider, Futu has participated in 41 IPO projects as their sponsor, bookrunner, underwriter, global coordinator or lead manager for Hong Kong listed companies, ranking first across the industry in 2022.
- Total client assets in Futu’s wealth management business achieved US$4.05 billion (HK$31.58 billion) in the fourth quarter, representing a 68% growth from the previous year. The company has collaborated with 73 world-renowned global financial institutions in offering diverse fund products to clients, with five new partners onboarded this quarter.
“In the fourth quarter of 2022, we focused on long-term globalization plans and sharpened our product and service offerings to meet various demands from investors of all kinds. The financial results for the fourth quarter reflect stable business operation and momentum in our wealth management business and corporate services,” said Mr. Leaf Hua Li, Futu’s Founder, Chairman, CEO and Chairman of the Technology Committee.
In November, the Company was pleased to announce that it was ranked 2nd on Fortune’s “100 Fastest-Growing Companies” list of 2022, thanks to its outstanding operational performance. Futu is the top-ranked financial company on the list (View Disclosures at the end).
Futu Becomes the Go-To Trading Platform Across Generations with a 14% Surge in Senior Investor Activity
As a pioneering fintech brokerage in Hong Kong, Futu has further strengthened its leading position by garnering higher recognition from investors of all ages in the fourth quarter. Its number of users continued to grow, representing 43% of the HK adult population [1] in Q4. Additionally, investors aged 45 and above showed increased activity, with a 14% increase of trading frequency as compared to the previous quarter.
Futubull, Futu’s proprietary one-stop digital financial services platform in Hong Kong, has made investing in various asset classes more accessible. In 2022, investors were able to subscribe to the Hong Kong SAR government’s Green Bond and Silver Bond through this platform, further cementing Futu’s position as a preferred bond subscription platform in Hong Kong.
Futu also participated in the flagship event of the fintech industry, FinTech Week 2022, in Hong Kong, where it showcased its innovative solutions for business development, corporate services, and product extension. In addition, the company organized an investment forum in November that was attended by experts from renowned partnered fund houses and other institutions, which was well-received by participants.
Moomoo Captures 25% of Market Share in Singapore
During the fourth quarter, moomoo, Futu’s overseas one-stop investment super app, deepened its market penetration in the Singapore market with its user number surpassing 25% of the local population aged between 20 to 70 [2].
With financial literacy slated to play a greater role in advancing financial inclusion, the Company is cognizant of rolling out a school-focused program, giving students first-hand exposure to digitalized investing and personal finance. In the fourth quarter, moomoo partnered with tertiary institutions namely National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Management University and Singapore University of Social Sciences to equip students with essential financial knowledge via seminars and workshops. Moomoo seeks to foster greater financial inclusion by imparting knowledge of personal finance, investing fundamentals and trading psychology, empowering the future pillars with a better financial and digital savviness for both personal and wealth growth.
To benefit the wider community, moomoo also engaged fund houses, asset management companies and other industry partners to conduct about 10 Lunch & Learn investing seminars and made all the course content available publicly.
Moomoo’s Pursuit of Technology Innovation Is Recognized by the Market
Moomoo continued to gain popularity in the US with its relentless efforts to drive technology innovation to transform investing experience. During the fourth quarter, the moomoo app launched new features, supporting bracket orders for Hong Kong and US listed stocks and Automated Customer Account Transfer Service (ACATS).
In December, moomoo received Benzinga’s 2022 Best Investment Research Tech Award (View Disclosures at the end). The award is in recognition of moomoo’s commitment to enabling smarter trading through its digital financial services platform with comprehensive data, strategic insights and advanced tools.
The brand kept its growth momentum with creative events. During the holiday season, moomoo launched the $60,000 Holiday Magic Sweepstakes campaign, which had attracted more than 12,000 US participants by December 14.
New Moomoo Features Continue to Help Diversify Australian Investors’ Portfolio
In the fourth quarter, moomoo Australia launched Hong Kong stock trading feature, enabling its clients to further diversify their portfolios. Investors can now trade AU, US and Hong Kong shares and ETFs on the one-stop platform, with full access to moomoo’s suite of professional-level analytics tools.
Moomoo Australia also introduced an Earnings Calendar feature in the fourth quarter. Investors can simply tap and follow to gain access to earnings information about US, Australia or Hong Kong SAR listed companies and A-share listed companies.
Wealth Management Business Reached a New Milestone with AUM Exceeding HK$30 Billion
Futu’s wealth management business AUM had reached $4.05 billion (HK$31.58 billion) by the end of the fourth quarter, an increase of 68% year-over-year. The AUM in mutual funds and alternative assets (incl. bonds) realized a year-over-year growth of 61% and 183% respectively.
In Singapore, the wealth management AUM increased by 64.2% from the previous quarter, with paying clients going up 75.1% sequentially. Moomoo added private investment funds and structured notes to its product offerings, further diversifying its product mix. The app also expanded its capability by enabling the rebalancing feature for model portfolios and a more comprehensive SmartSave feature, which helps investors to better manage their idle funds.
In Hong Kong, investors can trade US Treasuries via Futubull, with a minimum purchase amount of $1,000. Investors can also read weekly Market Outlook produced by Futu analysts to have a more in-depth understanding of the market.
Futu’s wealth management business continued to deepen its cooperation with more well-known global financial institutions. By the end of 2022, the business had partnered with 73 global financial institutions, including five new partners onboarded in the fourth quarter. In December, Futu’s wealth management platform Money Plus became the first distributor of a BlackRock fund in Hong Kong and successfully raised funds for a deal-by-deal private equity fund as its exclusive distributor.
Corporate Services Business Achieves Milestones in 2022
According to third-party financial data provider Wind, Futu has participated in 41 Hong Kong listed initial public offerings (IPOs) as their sponsor, bookrunner, underwriter, global coordinator or lead manager, ranking first across the industry in 2022. Meanwhile, Futu was entrusted by China Tourism Group Duty Free Corporation, Tianqi Lithium and CALB, the top three Hong Kong listed IPOs in terms of subscription amount in 2022, to be their corporate services provider.
Moomoo Financial Singapore Pte. Ltd (moomoo SG) took part in the IPO project of NoonTalk Media Limited as its sub placement agent, as well as acted as a participating dealer for the listing of UOBAM Ping An ChiNext ETF, and CSOP CSI STAR and CHINEXT 50 Index ETF.
Meanwhile, Futu’s employee stock ownership plan service debuted in Singapore, marking another milestone for the Company’s globalization strategy.
By the end of the fourth quarter, more than 1,500 investing institutions, financial media and listed companies had opened their Futu Page in Futu’s highly interactive community. More than 500 companies had joined the earnings season events offering over 900 live streams. Futu is also devoted to enhancing the communication between listed companies and investors by holding industry roundtables and reward-based discussions.
Building Social Accountability Through Engagements with Communities
Futu is committed to social responsibility. On its tenth anniversary, the Company partnered with Make-A-Wish International (MAW), the charity organization that helps fulfill the wishes of children diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. The Company, together with MAW, will bring joy and hope to eligible children from Singapore, Hong Kong SAR, the US and Australia.
In aid of the MAW Foundation, an additional fundraising virtual stock trading contest was held in Singapore, attracting over 15,000 participants. In Hong Kong, an offline charity fete was also organized by the Company to raise more funds, helping wish kids in need realize their dreams.
Futu encourages its employees to participate in their community through volunteer work. In Hong Kong SAR, around 100 people, including Futu staff and children, joined the beach clean-up volunteer activity in November.
Meanwhile, the Company continues pursuing the goal of empowering investors of all kinds with better financial literacy. By the end of the fourth quarter, the Company had rolled out more than 3,200 online courses in multiple languages, including 1,249 on moomoo. More than 480,000 users had taken investing courses on moomoo and Futu’s other platforms during the fourth quarter.
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[1] HK adult population refers to the 2022 year-end number reported by the Census and Statistics Department of the HKSAR government. |
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[2] Adults include locals aged 20 to 70; the adult population is from the Singapore Department of Statistics’ population data by H1 2022 |
Disclosures
Accolades are not indicative of future performance. Futu is not affiliated with Fortune. For more information, please visit https://fortune.com/franchise-list-page/methodology-fastest-growing-companies-2022
Accolades are not indicative of future performance. Moomoo Technologies Inc. is not affiliated with Benzinga. For additional information, please visit: https://www.benzinga.com/events/fintech-awards/winners/
Modern brands stake on influencer marketing, with 76% of users making a purchase after seeing a product on social media.The cryptocurrency industry is no exception to this trend. However, promoting crypto products through influencer marketing can be particularly challenging. Crypto influencers pose a significant risk to a brand’s reputation and ROI due to rampant scams. Approximately 80% of channels provide fake statistics, including followers counts and engagement metrics. Additionally, this niche is characterized by high CPMs, which can increase the risk of financial loss for brands.
In this article Nadia Bubennnikova, Head of agency Famesters, will explore the most important things to look for in crypto channels to find the perfect match for influencer marketing collaborations.
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Comments
There are several levels related to this point.
LEVEL 1
Analyze approximately 10 of the channel’s latest videos, looking through the comments to ensure they are not purchased from dubious sources. For example, such comments as “Yes sir, great video!”; “Thanks!”; “Love you man!”; “Quality content”, and others most certainly are bot-generated and should be avoided.
Just to compare:
LEVEL 2
Don’t rush to conclude that you’ve discovered the perfect crypto channel just because you’ve come across some logical comments that align with the video’s topic. This may seem controversial, but it’s important to dive deeper. When you encounter a channel with logical comments, ensure that they are unique and not duplicated under the description box. Some creators are smarter than just buying comments from the first link that Google shows you when you search “buy YouTube comments”. They generate topics, provide multiple examples, or upload lists of examples, all produced by AI. You can either manually review the comments or use a script to parse all the YouTube comments into an Excel file. Then, add a formula to highlight any duplicates.
LEVEL 3
It is also a must to check the names of the profiles that leave the comments: most of the bot-generated comments are easy to track: they will all have the usernames made of random symbols and numbers, random first and last name combinations, “Habibi”, etc. No profile pictures on all comments is also a red flag.
LEVEL 4
Another important factor to consider when assessing comment authenticity is the posting date. If all the comments were posted on the same day, it’s likely that the traffic was purchased.
2. Average views number per video
This is indeed one of the key metrics to consider when selecting an influencer for collaboration, regardless of the product type. What specific factors should we focus on?
First & foremost: the views dynamics on the channel. The most desirable type of YouTube channel in terms of views is one that maintains stable viewership across all of its videos. This stability serves as proof of an active and loyal audience genuinely interested in the creator’s content, unlike channels where views vary significantly from one video to another.
Many unauthentic crypto channels not only buy YouTube comments but also invest in increasing video views to create the impression of stability. So, what exactly should we look at in terms of views? Firstly, calculate the average number of views based on the ten latest videos. Then, compare this figure to the views of the most recent videos posted within the past week. If you notice that these new videos have nearly the same number of views as those posted a month or two ago, it’s a clear red flag. Typically, a YouTube channel experiences lower views on new videos, with the number increasing organically each day as the audience engages with the content. If you see a video posted just three days ago already garnering 30k views, matching the total views of older videos, it’s a sign of fraudulent traffic purchased to create the illusion of view stability.
3. Influencer’s channel statistics
The primary statistics of interest are region and demographic split, and sometimes the device types of the viewers.
LEVEL 1
When reviewing the shared statistics, the first step is to request a video screencast instead of a simple screenshot. This is because it takes more time to organically edit a video than a screenshot, making it harder to manipulate the statistics. If the creator refuses, step two (if only screenshots are provided) is to download them and check the file’s properties on your computer. Look for details such as whether it was created with Adobe Photoshop or the color profile, typically Adobe RGB, to determine if the screenshot has been edited.
LEVEL 2
After confirming the authenticity of the stats screenshot, it’s crucial to analyze the data. For instance, if you’re examining a channel conducted in Spanish with all videos filmed in the same language, it would raise concerns to find a significant audience from countries like India or Turkey. This discrepancy, where the audience doesn’t align with regions known for speaking the language, is a red flag.
If we’re considering an English-language crypto channel, it typically suggests an international audience, as English’s global use for quality educational content on niche topics like crypto. However, certain considerations apply. For instance, if an English-speaking channel shows a significant percentage of Polish viewers (15% to 30%) without any mention of the Polish language, it could indicate fake followers and views. However, if the channel’s creator is Polish, occasionally posts videos in Polish alongside English, and receives Polish comments, it’s important not to rush to conclusions.
Example of statistics
Wrapping up
These are the main factors to consider when selecting an influencer to promote your crypto product. Once you’ve launched the campaign, there are also some markers to show which creators did bring the authentic traffic and which used some tools to create the illusion of an active and engaged audience. While this may seem obvious, it’s still worth mentioning. After the video is posted, allow 5-7 days for it to accumulate a basic number of views, then check performance metrics such as views, clicks, click-through rate (CTR), signups, and conversion rate (CR) from clicks to signups.
If you overlooked some red flags when selecting crypto channels for your launch, you might find the following outcomes: channels with high views numbers and high CTRs, demonstrating the real interest of the audience, yet with remarkably low conversion rates. In the worst-case scenario, you might witness thousands of clicks resulting in zero to just a few signups. While this might suggest technical issues in other industries, in crypto campaigns it indicates that the creator engaged in the campaign not only bought fake views and comments but also link clicks. And this happens more often than you may realize.
Summing up, choosing the right crypto creator to promote your product is indeed a tricky job that requires a lot of resources to be put into the search process.
Author
Nadia Bubennikova, Head of agency at Famesters
The BIS, along with seven leading central banks and a cohort of private financial firms, has embarked on an ambitious venture known as Project Agorá.
Named after the Greek word for “marketplace,” this initiative stands at the forefront of exploring the potential of tokenisation to significantly enhance the operational efficiency of the monetary system worldwide.
Central to this pioneering project are the Bank of France (on behalf of the Eurosystem), the Bank of Japan, the Bank of Korea, the Bank of Mexico, the Swiss National Bank, the Bank of England, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. These institutions have joined forces under the banner of Project Agorá, in partnership with an extensive assembly of private financial entities convened by the Institute of International Finance (IIF).
At the heart of Project Agorá is the pursuit of integrating tokenised commercial bank deposits with tokenised wholesale central bank money within a unified, public-private programmable financial platform. By harnessing the advanced capabilities of smart contracts and programmability, the project aspires to unlock new transactional possibilities that were previously infeasible or impractical, thereby fostering novel opportunities that could benefit businesses and consumers alike.
The collaborative effort seeks to address and surmount a variety of structural inefficiencies that currently plague cross-border payments. These challenges include disparate legal, regulatory, and technical standards; varying operating hours and time zones; and the heightened complexity associated with conducting financial integrity checks (such as anti-money laundering and customer verification procedures), which are often redundantly executed across multiple stages of a single transaction due to the involvement of several intermediaries.
As a beacon of experimental and exploratory projects, the BIS Innovation Hub is committed to delivering public goods to the global central banking community through initiatives like Project Agorá. In line with this mission, the BIS will soon issue a call for expressions of interest from private financial institutions eager to contribute to this ground-breaking project. The IIF will facilitate the involvement of private sector participants, extending an invitation to regulated financial institutions representing each of the seven aforementioned currencies to partake in this transformative endeavour.
Source: fintech.globa
The post Central banks and the FinTech sector unite to change global payments space appeared first on HIPTHER Alerts.
TD Bank has inked a multi-year deal with Google Cloud as it looks to streamline the development and deployment of new products and services.
The deal will see the Canadian banking group integrate the vendor’s cloud services into a wider portion of its technology solutions portfolio, a move which TD expects will enable it “to respond quickly to changing customer expectations by rolling out new features, updates, or entirely new financial products at an accelerated pace”.
This marks an expansion of the already established relationship between TD Bank and Google Cloud after the group previously adopted the vendor’s Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) for TD Securities Automated Trading (TDSAT), the Chicago-based subsidiary of its investment banking unit, TD Securities.
TDSAT uses GKE for process automation and quantitative modelling across fixed income markets, resulting in the development of a “data-driven research platform” capable of processing large research workloads in trading.
Dan Bosman, SVP and CIO of TD Securities, claims the infrastructure has so far supported TDSAT with “compute-intensive quantitative analysis” while expanding the subsidiary’s “trading volumes and portfolio size”.
TD’s new partnership with Google Cloud will see the group attempt to replicate the same level of success across its entire portfolio.
Source: fintechfutures.com
The post TD Bank inks multi-year strategic partnership with Google Cloud appeared first on HIPTHER Alerts.
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