UP Fintech Holding Limited (the “Company”, a NASDAQ-listed company under the ticker “TIGR”, and all its subsidiaries and consolidated entities), a leading online brokerage firm focusing on global investors, today reported its unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2022. Total revenue in the first quarter was US$52.6 million. Non-GAAP net loss was US$1.9 million.
At the end of the first quarter, customer accounts totaled 1.9 million, and the number of customers with deposits increased to 703,500, an increase of 87.1% from the same quarter last year. The company’s net asset inflow was US$3.5 billion this quarter.
Mr Wu Tianhua, CEO and founder of UP Fintech commented, “despite challenges such as macroeconomic uncertainties and market volatility, we remain committed to creating value for our users and believe that our continuous investment in R&D will put us in a solid position to expand globally in the long run. For U.S securities, over 90% of cash equities and 70% of options contracts are self-cleared through our U.S subsidiaries. In our headquarters in Singapore, our flagship mobile trading App, Tiger Trade continued to lead the online brokerage market as the total number of registered accounts in Singapore now represents nearly 19% of Singapore’s population aged between 20 and 70. Meanwhile, we entered the Australian market, which serves as a robust springboard for the company’s further growth. By remaining at the forefront of technologies and related market trends, we look forward to becoming the go-to platform for one-stop global investment for many more global investors.”
Market Share in Singapore Markets reached 19%
In the first quarter, the company continues to deepen its presence in Singapore with local registered accounts increasing 15.1% Q-o-Q. The total number of registered accounts in Singapore now represents 19% of Singapore’s population aged between 20 and 70. While continuing to scale the user base in Singapore, with the number of average monthly active users reaching nearly 700,000 in the first quarter, the company maintains a high engagement level.
With strong R&D capabilities, the company now self-clears all of its clients’ Singaporean equities trades, as well as becoming one of the seventeen local agents who internally handle the entire process from trading and clearing to depository. This also allows the company to further improve order efficiency and expand account types to better serve clients in Singapore. In addition, the company has become a go-to trading platform for more options investors in Singapore. During the first quarter, the number of local options users at Tiger Trade increased by 65.8% year-over-year, and the percentage of accounts that hold options increased by 18.1% year-over-year.
Retail investors in Singapore are increasingly interested in funds and other wealth management products. In Q1, the number of local customers investing in the Fund Mall increased by 453.1% year-over-year, and the AUM of the Fund Mall increased by 579.8% year-over-year. Other than funds in HKD and USD currencies, the company has added 513 funds in SGD currencies to further meet the customers’ needs for asset allocation. By the end of the first quarter, local users holding SGD funds had increased, reflecting a 138.9% quarter-over-quarter increase and AUM increased by 56.6% quarter-over-quarter. The number of Cash Plus users increased by 39.0% quarter-over-quarter and AUM increased by 36.0% quarter-over-quarter.
While consolidating the leading position in Singapore against a challenging macro environment, the company officially entered the Australian market in March and has been growing steadily. Within just one month, Tiger Trade has been recognized by financial comparison site Mozo in the 2022 Experts Choice Awards, specifically in the Casual ASX Trader category, which looked at the best options for investors making small or infrequent trades on the Australian Stock Exchange. Tiger Trade also soared in popularity as it has quickly moved to the top 60 of the Apple Store ranking in terms of downloads of finance apps, delivering significant validation of its product competitiveness.
Wealth management business continues to grow steadily with AUM being doubled
Q1, commission income was US$30.5 million, a 2% increase from last quarter. UP Fintech continues to keep research and development at the core of the company, strengthening product offerings and optimizing services to meet customer needs. With options having increasingly risen in popularity, the company added more options features such as a comparison between implied volatility and historical volatility on individual stock pages, maximum buying and selling power, as well as optimizing the simulated trading experience for options.
The company also launched the sub-new stock feature, where customers can discover companies that were listed less than a year and showed their growth potential. A simulation tool that allows customers to calculate the probabilities for successfully subscribing to new shares in a HK IPO was also introduced this quarter. In addition, online subscription for international offerings was made available on Tiger Trade for HK IPO, helping high net worth customers to easily subscribe with one click.
At the end of the first quarter, the company’s Fund Mall business grew steadily. The AUM of the Fund Mall increased by 99.4% year-over-year and Cash Plus, the company’s idle cash management product, increased by 44% year-over-year in AUM.
Helping to fuel this growth is the company’s proactive investment in its R&D efforts. In the first quarter, the company optimized time efficiency for order confirmation for Clash Plus as funds transfer-in and out can be made as soon as T+0 day. Benefiting from a meticulous selection of funds and close partnerships with top global asset management firms, Fund Mall continues to provide customers with high-quality fund products. The average returns for the top ten funds increased 13.9% compared to the last quarter.
Ranked third in the U.S. IPO underwriting by deal count among brokerages
According to the company’s Q1 financial results, other revenues, which include revenue from investment banking and ESOP, reached US$5.1 million in Q1. The company remained steadfast in its commitment to strengthening corporate services such as investment bank businesses and has earned a reputation as an innovative digital investment banking leader in the past three years. During this quarter, the company participated in serval HK IPOs including Lepu Biopharma and AInnovation. The company also participated in 8 U.S. IPOs and served as an underwriter in 7 of these IPOs. According to third-party data, UP Fintech ranked third in the U.S. IPO underwriting by deal count among brokerages in the first quarter, reflecting the trust and confidence clients have in the company’s ability to meet fundraising needs under uncertain markets.
Leveraging its deep expertise in the tech industry, the company issued several research reports on topics such as Web3 and Coinbase. The company has also partnered with nearly 20 emerging companies from different industries including retail, SaaS and biomedicines, helping them to better attract global investors.
UP Fintech added 25 ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) clients in the first quarter with total clients now accumulated to 338. With one-stop services from plan design and implementation to execution and reporting, Tiger ESOP has become the go-to ESOP services provider for many pre-IPO and listed companies.
In this quarter, corporates such as Alibaba, WWF Singapore and Medlive joined the Tiger Community and opened enterprise accounts. The company also launched an investor QA function where global investors can directly ask companies questions on Tiger Trade and expect to receive a response from them. Leveraging a variety of innovative investor relations & PR services, the company continued to see corporates of all sizes and in all industries adopting the Tiger online community as their preferred platform to amplify global reach.
Safe Harbor Statement
This announcement contains forward−looking statements. These statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward−looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “may,” “might,” “aim,” “likely to,” “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates” and similar statements or expressions. Among other statements, the business outlook and quotations from management in this announcement, as well as the Company’s strategic and operational plans, contain forward−looking statements. The Company may also make written or oral forward−looking statements in its periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on Forms 20−F and 6−K, in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties, including the earnings conference call. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company’s beliefs and expectations, are forward−looking statements. Forward−looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward−looking statement, including but not limited to the following: the cooperation with Interactive Brokers LLC and Xiaomi Corporation and its affiliates; the Company’s ability to effectively implement its growth strategies; trends and competition in global financial markets; changes in the Company’s revenues and certain cost or expense accounting policies; the effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic; and governmental policies and regulations affecting the Company’s industry and general economic conditions in China, Singapore and other countries. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the Company’s filings with the SEC, including the Company’s annual report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC on April 28, 2022. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the Company’s filings with the SEC.
