Futu Holdings Limited operates as a one-stop financial technology platform transforming the investing experience with its fully digitalized securities brokerage and wealth management product distribution services.
The company launched its business on the premise that no one should be precluded from investing on the basis of prohibitive transaction costs, or market inexperience. Technology permeates every part of the company’s business, allowing it to offer a redefined user experience built upon...
Futu Holdings Limited operates as a one-stop financial technology platform transforming the investing experience with its fully digitalized securities brokerage and wealth management product distribution services.
The company launched its business on the premise that no one should be precluded from investing on the basis of prohibitive transaction costs, or market inexperience. Technology permeates every part of the company’s business, allowing it to offer a redefined user experience built upon a secure, stable, agile, and scalable online platform.
The company operates its business mainly through Futu Securities, which is a HK SFC-regulated entity that holds the relevant licenses related to its securities brokerage and wealth management product distribution business.
Initially a securities brokerage service provider, the company is now an all-rounded online financial services platform, seamlessly integrating services and products, including trading, wealth management product distribution, market data and information, user community, investor education, and institutional and corporate services, with a focus on the online securities brokerage market. As an intuitive and easy-to-navigate platform, it served approximately 25.1 million users as of December 31, 2024. The company provides a comprehensive range of investment products, including equities and derivatives across major global exchanges, margin financing, and securities lending, as well as fund and bond investments, leveraging licenses, registrations, and memberships across Hong Kong, Singapore, the United States, Australia, Japan, Canada, Malaysia, and Europe. The company’s vibrant user community further engages its users and provides them with direct access to listed companies, fund houses, exchanges, media, and research institutions that have accounts in its user community through communication with their representatives. In addition, the company’s platform equips its users with the necessary investment knowledge for them to make informed investment decisions.
The company’s platform has attracted and gathered a vast base of high-quality users and clients, with the average client age of 38 and average funded account assets of around HK$310,000 on its platform as of December 31, 2024. The emerging affluent and tech-savvy population it primarily serves allows the company to pursue the massive opportunity in the digitalization of the securities brokerage and wealth management industry. It grows its client base mainly through word-of-mouth referrals, organic traffic, as well as online and offline marketing and promotional activities. The company attaches great importance to its marketing promotional efforts, which have become increasingly important during its international expansion.
The company has developed a proprietary and automated technology infrastructure encompassing every aspect of its business operation, from account opening, fund transfer, trading and investment, to risk management.
Platform
The company operates a leading technology-driven online securities brokerage and wealth management product distribution platform, which enables it to digitally deliver a wide range of products and services to its users and clients in an integrated way. It enables omni-terminal access to its platform from mobile phones, tablets, and computers, either through its purpose-built applications or internet browsers.
The company’s primary platform, Futubull, is mainly available to users based in Hong Kong and Mainland China. Futubull allows investors to trade securities across major exchanges in Hong Kong, the United States, Japan, and Singapore quickly and securely. Eligible investors can also trade qualified securities under Stock Connect listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange or the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Futubull provides investors with access to margin financing and securities lending as well.
As part of the company’s international expansion, it developed and launched moomoo, the international version of Futubull, first in the United States in 2018, later in Singapore in March 2021, and Australia in 2022. The company’s moomoo platform provides tailored services to clients in the United States, Singapore, and Australia through its local licensed entities, Moomoo Financial Inc., Moomoo Financial Singapore, and Moomoo Securities Australia, respectively. In October 2022, it launched moomoo in Japan, initially as a social media network and analytical platform for investors, providing services, including market data, financial news, paper trading, and an investment community to users in Japan through the company’s licensed entity, Moomoo Securities Japan, under local regulatory requirements. In September 2023, it launched its securities business in Japan, introducing U.S. equities trading to clients in Japan. The company has continued to expand its product offerings to its clients in Japan, who now have access to a broad suite of product capabilities, such as Japanese stock trading, tax-exempt Nippon Individual Savings Account (NISA) (Growth and Tsumitate), Japanese-domiciled mutual funds, and margin trading on U.S. stocks. The company’s global presence also grew in 2023 with its entry into two new markets, namely Malaysia and Canada. It launched the moomoo platform in Malaysia in May 2023, providing services, including market data, financial news, and paper trading. In February 2024, moomoo officially launched Malaysian and U.S. stocks trading in Malaysia. The company has seen robust growth momentum and received encouraging user feedback since its launch in Malaysia. The number of clients in Malaysia surpassed 100,000 within two months of launch. The moomoo platform made its debut in Canada in August 2023, providing services, such as market data and an investment community for investors. In the following month, it launched its brokerage business in Canada by enabling Canadian investors to trade U.S. stocks.
The company offers wealth management product distribution services through its Money Plus brand on its Futubull and moomoo platforms, where its clients have access to a suite of mutual funds, private funds, structured products, and bonds. In addition to its core investment offerings, the company also provides its users with a variety of value-added services designed to facilitate the investing process, including real-time stock quotes, market data and news, as well as an interactive user community where its users can exchange investment views and experiences. The company offers corporate services, such as IPO distribution, investor relations and marketing, as well as ESOP solution services. It provides institutional clients with market data, trading, reporting, and other financial value-added services needed for trading and portfolio management. The company also provides trust services to corporate clients.
The company’s platform is underpinned by a premier user experience. It provides completely online-based account-opening services. The company has streamlined the account opening, fund transfer, and trade execution processes on its platform to provide convenient and seamless investment experiences. In general, account opening on the company’s platform requires filling out an online application, which takes less than three minutes, followed by verification procedures facilitated by automated risk management systems. The company also provides easy-to-use fund transfer services facilitating swift deposit and withdrawal of funds, allowing for bank-to-brokerage fund transfers in as fast as a few seconds. In addition, it provides its users and clients with access to all of its products and services from a single profile on its platform.
The company serves both users and clients. Its ‘users’ access Futubull and moomoo through its mobile or desktop applications or its website with registered user accounts. The company’s ‘clients’ are its users who have brokerage accounts with it; and its ‘funded accounts’ are brokerage accounts with it that have a positive account balance. For clients with multiple funded accounts, the company attributes to their unique identity and counts once. Multiple funded accounts by one client are also counted as one funded account.
Services
The company provides its users and clients with a comprehensive set of services throughout their investing experience. Its core services include trade execution, margin financing, and securities lending, as well as wealth management product distribution. The company provides a variety of value-added services in addition to its core offerings, many of which are free of charge, to address its clients’ broader investment demands, as well as increase general client engagement. All the company’s services can be accessed through its platforms with a single profile across various terminals.
Retail Services
Account Opening and Fund Transfer
Account Opening
The company’s users and clients can access all of its products and services with a single profile created on its platform. Opening a brokerage account has historically been a time-consuming and paper-intensive process. The company’s clients can trade multiple products across various exchanges from a single universal account. Users can complete an account opening application online in as little as three minutes on its platform.
For investors who are residents in Hong Kong and other overseas markets where the company operates, the two steps involved in opening brokerage accounts with it is set forth below:
Step 1: Online application: Users of the company’s Futubull or moomoo platform, either through its mobile or desktop application, can click an embedded link to submit an online account opening application by following simple instructions. Users are required to submit personal information, employment history, financial conditions, source of funds, and other related information. Users must also read and consent to a standard client agreement and other required documents and review a disclaimer audio, which discloses trading risks presented by its licensed personnel.
Step 2: Verification procedures. Upon receiving a completed online application, the company’s automated risk management system will proceed to verify the applicant’s identity. It automatically uses the information provided by the user to perform know-your-client and anti-money laundering screening. If a user’s application passes the screening and/or complies with applicable laws, regulations, and procedures, the user is approved for a brokerage account. When it discovers errors or inconsistencies during its examination of the applications, a second tier of review may require the users to go through a few additional steps to authenticate their identities or verify their credentials.
For residents in Hong Kong, the prospective client can choose to complete such procedures either online or offline.
Online: A prospective client is required to submit a copy of his or her Hong Kong photo identification, Hong Kong residential address proof, and other relevant identification documents, link the brokerage account to be opened with his or her personal bank account opened with a qualified bank in Hong Kong or other eligible jurisdictions, and transfer a minimum of HK$10,000 or US$1,500 into the brokerage account from that personal bank account, or mail to the company a cheque in such amount together with relevant identification documents. Once the prospective client’s bank account information and other submitted documents match the information submitted during the online application, the online identification verification will be completed, and the brokerage account will be automatically opened.
Offline: A prospective client is required to meet a member of the company’s verification team and conduct the abovementioned verification process with paper copies of critical documents.
The vast majority of the company’s clients have opened accounts with it online.
Corporates and institutions that would like to open an account with the company is required to satisfy its counterparty risk requirements, such as providing a deed of guarantee. In addition, it performs its due diligence procedures (including but not limited to, obtaining and verifying its identity and its ultimate beneficial owner, and conducting background checks and client risk assessments) in accordance with the anti-money laundering guidelines issued and updated by the HK SFC and MAS from time to time. After the client is onboarded, the company monitors their transactions and conducts due diligence on an ongoing basis.
Fund Transfer
The company provides timely and free fund transfer services to its clients, enabling them to capture fast-moving investment opportunities. It supports various fund transfer methods for payment of Hong Kong dollar, U.S. dollar, offshore RMB, Singapore dollar, Australian dollar, Japanese Yen, Malaysian Ringgit, and Canadian dollar. For payment from Hong Kong bank accounts, the company supports fund transfer via electronic direct debit authentication (eDDA), bank-securities account transfer, fast payment system (FPS), internet banking, ATM/over-the-counter transfer, and cheque. For payment from bank accounts of other overseas regions, it supports fund transfer via ACH, wire transfer, telegraphic transfer, direct debit authentication (DDA), and/or other local payment apps. In particular, bank-to-brokerage fund transfers can be completed in as fast as a few seconds, and are normally completed within five minutes. The company does not allow payment from PRC bank accounts, and it does not provide the service of currency conversion from Renminbi to other currencies. For cash withdrawals, the company does not charge its clients any withdrawal fees from their brokerage accounts.
As the technologies and practices in connection with online brokerage account opening services are in the early stages of development, the company is subject to evolving laws, regulations, guidelines, and other regulatory requirements with respect to its online account opening procedures.
Trading Execution
The company provides easy-to-use trade execution services, allowing its clients to trade securities, such as stocks, ETFs, warrants, options, and futures, across different markets. It serves clients from different countries and regions through its licensed subsidiaries in the markets where it operates:
Hong Kong: The company operates its securities brokerage business in Hong Kong through Futu Securities, its wholly-owned subsidiary incorporated in Hong Kong. It has been licensed by the HK SFC to carry out securities dealing and has become a participant of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as a licensed broker since 2012. The company also cooperates with CCASS to provide clearing and execution services for its brokerage business involving securities listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and stocks qualified under Stock Connect listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange or the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. In 2024, Futu Securities uplifted its Type 1 License with HK SFC to provide virtual asset dealing services.
Singapore: The company carries out its operations in Singapore through its Singapore-incorporated subsidiary, Moomoo Financial Singapore, a licensed corporation registered with the Monetary Authority of Singapore with the Capital Markets Services License.
The U.S.: The company carries out its operations in the U.S. through its U.S.-incorporated subsidiaries, including Moomoo Financial Inc., a licensed broker-dealer in the U.S., and Futu Clearing Inc., a licensed provider of clearing and settlement services for securities transactions in the U.S. financial markets through the Depositary Trust Clearing Corporation and its subsidiaries.
Australia: The company carries out its operations in Australia through its Australia-incorporated subsidiary, Moomoo Securities Australia, which holds an Australian Financial Services License granted and regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
Japan: The company carries out its operations in Japan through its Japan-incorporated subsidiary, Moomoo Securities Japan, a licensed corporation registered with the Financial Services Agency.
Canada: The company carries out its operations in Canada through its Canada-incorporated subsidiary, Moomoo Financial Canada, a dealer member of CIRO and CIPF.
Malaysia: The company carries out its operations in Malaysia through its Malaysia-incorporated subsidiary, Moomoo Securities Malaysia, a licensed corporation regulated by Securities Commission Malaysia.
The company provides comprehensive order types to meet its clients’ different trading strategies, including limit/market order, auction limit/market order, odd-lot order, stop loss limit/market order, touch limit/market order, trailing stop loss limit/market order, and TWAP (time-weighted average price)/VWAP (volume-weighted average price) order. It continues to innovate on product offerings to meet diversified needs and lower investment barriers. The company offers odd lots trading for Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore stocks. It also provides fractional shares trading for eligible U.S. stocks or ETFs, which allows clients to invest in U.S. shares using either a specified cash amount or fractional shares, with as little as five dollars. The company is the first online broker in Hong Kong to offer access to eligible U.S. stocks and ETFs trading 24 hours a day, five days a week, and later expanded such capability to other international markets as well, thereby enhancing the flexibility and accessibility of U.S. stock trading for its clients in Asia. In addition, the company provides API services that allow clients to trade through its platform using their own programs.
The company aggregates orders simultaneously and forms trading instructions, which are subsequently delivered to respective exchanges. Funds or securities are then transferred to or from the company’s accounts upon settlement, which it then further remits back to the relevant brokerage accounts, after deducting the fees for its securities brokerage services, and are normally settled within two business days.
Prior to using the company’s platform for the first time, its users and clients are required to accept its standard general terms and conditions, which set out the key terms to its operations, and include other provisions, such as anti-money laundering and data privacy.
As a licensed securities broker in Hong Kong with integration into the trading systems of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and CCASS, the company can independently manage all steps involved in processing securities transactions, including order confirmation, receipt, settlement, delivery, dividend collection, and record-keeping, for securities listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, including stocks, ETFs, warrants, options, futures, callable bull/bear contracts, and stocks under Stock Connect listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange or the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The company also provides new share subscription and proprietary grey market trading services (also known as dark pool trading services) for IPOs on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Additionally, it has throttling controllers connected to the trading system of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, allowing it to execute a large number of trading transactions simultaneously and respond quickly to sudden surges in order volumes. As of December 31, 2024, the company was capable of processing more than 1,000 Hong Kong-listed securities trades per second.
For securities listed on major exchanges in Canada and Australia, the company aggregates trade instructions from clients and collaborates with qualified third-party clearing brokers for execution, settlement, and clearing. In most cases, the agreements it enters into with such third-party clearing brokers are for an indefinite term, charging a tiered commission rate which they deduct directly from the company’s account with them. The company executes, self-clears, and settles trades for securities listed on major U.S. stock exchanges, Singapore exchange, and Bursa Malaysia.
From the company’s clients’ perspective, the trading process is seamless as it handles all client communications and touchpoints, including delivery and receipt of funds. The company intends to further enhance its self-clearing coverage and continue to develop its self-clearing business. It also provides new share subscription services in relation to selected IPOs on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq Stock Market, Singapore Exchange, and Bursa Malaysia.
In August 2024, the company launched crypto trading services through collaboration with licensed third-party exchanges for its clients in Hong Kong and Singapore. As of December 31, 2024, non-professional investors in Hong Kong could trade four cryptocurrencies, while professional investors can trade 18 cryptocurrencies. In Singapore, clients can trade six cryptocurrencies. The company charges a competitive crypto trading commission rate compared to most of its online broker peers. It pays third-party exchanges commission fees as its costs. The company provides real-time market data for cryptocurrencies.
The company executes its clients’ orders by routing to third-party exchanges, which clear and act as custodians of the cryptocurrency assets. All clients’ cryptocurrencies are held in qualified hot and cold storage facilities located in Hong Kong and Singapore. The company has implemented control measures to ensure that crypto trading services are not provided to users and clients based in jurisdictions where cryptocurrency trading is restricted or prohibited, such as Mainland China.
Margin Financing and Securities Lending Services
The company provides real-time and cross-market securities-backed financing to clients. The company’s margin financing and securities lending services have grown rapidly since introduction, reflecting its ability to cross-sell, and its clients’ receptivity to sophisticated investing services.
Margin Financing
The company offers margin financing services in all markets it operates. All financing extended to the company’s clients is secured by acceptable securities pledged to it. The company’s trading system can automatically pledge cross-market assets so that the value in a client’s brokerage account, which may include cash in different currencies and acceptable securities listed on different markets, will be aggregated when calculating the value of the client’s collateral based on real-time market foreign exchange rates. This provides significant efficiencies, as it eliminates the costs and procedures involved in cross-market currency translation or exchange.
The company’s clients are eligible for margin financing services when they hold securities that are acceptable as pledges to it in their accounts. The credit line for each eligible client is determined based on the value of the securities of his or her brokerage account. The company’s eligible clients need to open margin financing accounts with it to enjoy such services. The eligible clients need to confirm the use of margin financing services when the funds in their accounts are not sufficient to purchase the desired securities, and there is still sufficient balance in their credit lines.
A list of securities acceptable as collateral to the company and their respective margin ratios are regularly updated and shared with its clients.
When the company launched its margin financing business, it financed mostly from its own working capital and shareholder loans. The company has since diversified the funding source of its margin financing through collaboration with its long-term independent third-party financial institution partners, which are all licensed banks or securities firms in the jurisdictions where it operates. The company combines collateral from its clients into portfolios and pledges the portfolios to financial institutions for excess liquidity.
Securities Lending
For clients who trade securities listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and major exchanges in the U.S., the company offers a securities lending service, which allows its clients to pursue short-selling strategies. The company launched its securities lending services for U.S.-listed securities in February 2017, and for Hong Kong-listed securities in December 2020. To borrow securities, its clients must pledge cash or acceptable securities from their brokerage accounts with it.
In October 2019, the company launched the Stock Yield Enhancement Program with a third-party brokerage company, allowing clients to earn interest on their U.S. securities positions by lending to such third-party brokerage company. The company’s clients can choose to opt in and out of the program at any time. When clients choose to participate in the program, the company transfers their U.S. securities positions into a stock yield enhancement program account with the third-party brokerage company. Any interest income earned from these securities borrowed from its clients is split among the third-party brokerage company, the client, and the company on a monthly basis, after the company receives payment from the third-party brokerage company. As of December 31, 2024, the company offered its Stock Yield Enhancement Program primarily with its U.S. subsidiary, Futu Clearing Inc., with the remainder conducted in cooperation with a third-party brokerage company.
Wealth Management Product Distribution Services
The company offers online wealth management product distribution services under the Money Plus brand through its Futubull and moomoo platforms, which provide its clients with access to mutual funds, private funds, bonds, structured products, and other wealth management products, catering to their different investment targets and risk preferences. The company’s income generated from wealth management product distribution services is mainly categorized as other income in its financial statements.
Mutual Funds: The company selectively works with established fund houses to distribute their fund products, including money market, fixed income, equity, balanced, and commodity fund products. In addition, the company’s clients can opt to automatically invest idle cash in their accounts to money market funds to earn interest, which can be redeemed upon trading. The company’s clients can also choose to rebalance their fund allocation manually or automatically according to portfolio changes made by selected portfolio managers. The company currently charges zero subscription fees from its clients, and shares management fees based on negotiated commercial terms with the fund houses that provide mutual fund products, generally on a non-exclusive basis, such agreements being effective for an indefinite period.
Private Funds: In June 2020, the company began to offer private funds on Futubull, covering strategies, such as equity long/short, credits, private equity, and real estate, to professional investors only. In 2023, the company began to offer private funds on moomoo to accredited investors in Singapore as well. Clients can view private funds information and make purchases on Futubull and moomoo. Usually, subscription or redemption of private fund products can be made on a periodical basis. Clients can register an order on the platform, which records the order information but does not immediately make the subscription or redemption of the fund products. The subscription or redemption only happens after the deadline for the subscription or redemption of the private fund products has passed. The company collects client orders and submits them to the corresponding fund houses after the deadline of the subscription or redemption of the private fund products. After the fund houses confirm the subscription or redemption orders, for the subscription orders, the company will confirm the shares of funds to the clients, and for the redemption orders, it will confirm the net asset value and transfer the amount to the clients’ accounts after receiving the proceeds from the fund houses. The company charges a subscription fee on the private funds in most cases, which will be deducted from clients’ accounts. Along with the subscription payment, the company shares management fees and, in some cases, incentive fees with the fund houses.
Structured Products: In June 2022, the company started to offer structured products on Futubull. In 2024, it extended its capabilities to provide structured products on moomoo to accredited investors in Singapore as well. As of December 31, 2024, the company offered a variety of structured notes, including Decu, Sharkfin, FCN, and the U.S. treasury reverse convertible notes to professional investors. These types of notes usually have certain fundraising periods when clients can subscribe for the notes, and the company will aggregate and place the orders to the issuers after the fundraising period. Also, clients can customize the notes in terms of structures, knock-out barriers, coupons, and all other variables.
Bond Trading: The company launched its bond trading services on Futubull and moomoo for fixed income securities in September 2020 and February 2023, respectively. For bond trading, the company charges the individual funded account a fixed commission rate based on the trading volume, a platform service fee per transaction, and an annualized fee on settlement as custodian. The company does not charge bond issuers any fees.
Cash Sweep: The company started to offer cash sweep services to Moomoo Financial Inc. clients in November 2021 per their consent. Cash sweep services automatically deposit a client’s idle U.S. dollar cash into interest-earning bank accounts maintained by the company every working day. This service allows clients to earn interest income on their idle cash, while such cash remains available for trading, as the cash deposited in the bank (‘swept cash’) can be redeemed upon trading. When clients’ idle cash (including swept cash) is greater in amount than the swept cash, the difference will be transferred from the securities account to the bank, and when the idle cash is smaller in amount than the swept cash, the difference will be automatically withdrawn from the bank to the securities account. In terms of fund flow, the company opens corporate accounts with banks to deposit clients’ idle cash at floating or fixed interest rates. The company provides its cash sweep clients with interest income at certain interest rates, and the difference between interest income earned on its corporate accounts opened with banks and the clients’ interest income the company pays to them at pre-agreed interest rates, after deducting service fees, becomes the company’s income.
Robo Advisor: The company launched an ETF-based robo-advisory service in Hong Kong and Singapore, which provides investment solutions tailored to clients’ risk profiles and preferences, extending the company’s capabilities from fund selection to ETF investing for optimized asset allocation. The service analyzes individual client profiles to recommend optimized portfolio strategies with automated rebalancing. In addition to trading commissions, the company charges clients advisory fees for subscribing to the service.
The company may enter into distribution or sub-distribution agreements with fund houses or other distributors and issuers to offer funds and structured products. Fund houses or third-party platforms and issuers appoint the company to distribute relevant fund products and pay commissions to it according to the terms of such agreements. At the same time, the company is expected to comply with the terms specifying sales behavior in the distribution agreement. The company does not disclose client information to the fund houses it collaborates with, and executes transactions solely through its own aggregated accounts. The company’s clients complete the entire transaction, access updated transaction records, and monitor changes in positions through its Futubull and moomoo platforms. The relevant fund management fees are charged by the funds, and are reflected in the net asset value of the funds.
As of December 31, 2024, 684,103 clients held the company’s wealth management products with client assets. As of December 31, 2024, the company established partnerships with 100 reputable asset management companies. It offered a broad suite of fund product selections for its clients on Futubull and moomoo. In addition, to promote the concept of ESG investment to its customers, as of December 31, 2024, the company listed 28 ESG funds on the Futubull and moomoo platforms.
Market Data and Information Services
The company further enhances the investing experience with market data and information services, such as news and powerful analytical tools, providing clients with a data-rich foundation to simplify the investment decision-making process.
Market Data
The company provides real-time stock quotes across equity markets in Hong Kong, Mainland China, the United States, Singapore, Australia, Japan, Canada, and Malaysia. The company’s Hong Kong Level II stock quotes are free for all Mainland China-based clients, and for a monthly fee for clients based elsewhere. The company began to provide free Hong Kong Level I stock quotes for all clients based outside of Mainland China in 2023. Additionally, it offers free real-time Level II market data for dozens of cryptocurrencies. The company also offers a variety of advanced stock quote services to its clients, for which it charges a monthly fee.
The company provides a number of advanced and intuitive tools which allow its users and clients to customize the manner in which they monitor the capital markets. For instance, they can filter the broader market across a range of criteria, including industry, valuation, trading volume, and price volatility over a certain period of time.
On an individual company basis, the company’s users and clients can review and track detailed fundamental and technical analyses, including recent transaction details, such as trading volumes by major brokers, historical and current valuations, analyst ratings and target prices, operating and financial metrics, compiled news, and other company-specific content.
For each mutual fund, the company’s users and clients can monitor fund performances, review detailed quantitative analyses, read compiled news and fund-specific content, and understand fund basics, such as duration, top holdings, and geographic and industry concentrations.
Information Services
The company distills investment information and trends into engaging, accessible, and diversified content, guiding investors along their investing experience and helping to simplify the decision-making process. The company’s information services generally include real-time news alerts, earnings releases and corporate announcements, topical industry or company-level deep dives, and proprietary data flows, such as IPO pipeline that the company compiled from external sources. The company’s information services are provided to the users free of charge.
The company aggregates and curates its content through its internal content creation team and its collaboration with third-party resources, including leading international news agencies and market centers. It delivers its content across different formats, including short-form news, graphics, and extensive articles. Content is grouped by animated tags that facilitate easy searches and allow its users and clients to customize information feeds.
User Community
The company broadens its reach and promotes the exchange of information through NiuNiu/Moo Community, its social network services on Futubull and moomoo platforms, which have embedded social media tools to create a network centered around users. This user community reduces information asymmetry, supports the discovery of investment opportunities, facilitates investment decision-making, and establishes a sense of camaraderie among its users.
On NiuNiu/Moo Community, the company provides a variety of interactive tools and free content, including:
Courses: The company provides its users with necessary investment knowledge through pre-recorded videos and graphical presentations on financial terminology, investment products, and other investment-related topics, leveraging both its in-house and external resources.
Live Broadcasts: The company’s users can watch live broadcasts hosted by enterprise clients, such as listed companies and fund houses. Live broadcasts include earnings results, product launches and promotions, as well as investor Q&A sessions, which can be later replayed on demand; and
Forum: The company’s clients can post and share their trading history, investment views, and market insights, and interact with each other.
The company has fostered a vibrant NiuNiu/Moo Community, which serves as an open forum for users to share insights, ask questions, and exchange ideas, thereby enabling its users to maintain a strong sense of belonging. Specifically, NiuNiu/Moo Community offers the following unique features:
Participant diversity: The company’s users can interact directly with other users, company executives, and analysts within the investing community;
Extensive content: The company’s content ranges from investing basics to sophisticated analytical guides for professional investors;
Lively and dynamic delivery: All the company’s content is designed for digital consumption and delivered through multiple media formats, such as short-form videos, recorded online lessons, chat rooms, live broadcasts, and presentation slides; and
Feedback channel: The company uses NiuNiu/Moo Community as an important source of feedback, which guides it to continue to optimize its product and service offerings.
As of December 31, 2024, over 1,800 enterprises, including public and private companies, fund houses, exchanges, KOLs, and media and research institutions, held accounts in its user community. During 2024, on average, the company had an aggregate of approximately 188,000 UGCs (user-generated content) generated on NiuNiu/Moo Community each trading day, which included a multitude of posts, comments, and other interactive reactions to social media content. The company continuously finds ways to enhance the quality of content within its ecosystem.
Institutional and Corporate Services
The company provides value-added corporate services, which primarily include IPO distribution, investor relations and marketing, and ESOP solution services. As of December 31, 2024, the company had 482 IPO distribution and investor relations clients, as well as 758 ESOP solutions clients.
The company provides institutional clients with market data, trading, reporting, and other financial value-added services needed for trading and portfolio management. It also provides trust services to corporate clients.
IPO Distribution
The company has acted as the underwriter on 119 IPOs during 2024, including a number of landmark Hong Kong IPOs, such as those of Midea, Mao Geping, and Horizon Robotics. The year of 2024 marked the company’s third consecutive year of being the underwriter with the highest number of Hong Kong IPOs.
The company promotes global offerings through multiple channels, including targeted push notifications and professional investor roadshows, and keeps the lead underwriters updated on the orders placed with it on a daily basis. After the book-building process, the company will make reasonable allocations to investors who have placed orders with it in accordance with allocation results and the requirements of the relevant stock exchanges. After the listing, the company’s underwriting fees will be settled based on the underwriting fee rates and its underwriting results.
In addition, the company also provides retail marketing services for Hong Kong and U.S. IPO clients after the commencement of Hong Kong and U.S. public offerings through push notifications and deal information displays on its platform.
Investor Relations and Marketing
The company provides a wide range of investor relations and marketing tools and services to help companies manage their ongoing relationships with shareholders and market their brand. Through creating a corporate account on NiuNiu/Moo Community, the company’s corporate clients can livestream their earnings release and product launch campaigns, post business milestones and advertisements, and interact directly with its users. Therefore, the company’s platform provides a direct channel for its corporate clients to communicate with their existing and prospective investors and increase their brand and product awareness.
The company enters into marketing agreements with its corporate clients, normally on a fixed-term basis, and charges fees for promotional events based on negotiated commercial terms, taking into account market fee rates and the services provided. The company provides flexibility to its clients in terms of settlement, allowing them to make payments before or after the relevant event, or in installments.
ESOP Solution Services
The company provides one-stop ESOP solution services to help its corporate clients with their ESOP administration, including the granting, vesting, exercise, and settlement of the stock awards. In addition, the company collaborates with other professional third parties to provide relevant tax planning and withholding services. Under the company’s ESOP solution service agreements, it provides clients with instruction manuals, maintains and updates its system periodically, and backs up its clients’ data, and usually charges its clients quarterly based on the level of services they require, together with miscellaneous fees, such as management and system implementation fees. If the customer has other needs, such as training, the company will make a separate quotation and enter into a supplementary agreement with the client for the required service. The service will be delivered after the clients’ payments upon receiving the company’s invoice.
The ESOP solution has emerged as a signature corporate service of the company. As of December 31, 2024, the company had 758 ESOP solutions clients.
Institutional Services
The company provides tailored trading solutions to meet various needs of institutional clients, including family offices, external asset managers, brokers, banks, and hedge funds.
Trust Services
The company launched its trust services in Hong Kong in March 2021 to provide employee benefit trust and family trust solutions, encompassing company formation, trust establishment, and trust management. The company charges one-off trust establishment fees and annual administrative fees for its trust services in accordance with the trust service agreements signed with its clients in Hong Kong.
With the Monetary Authority of Singapore, or the MAS granting the company’s Trust Business License in April 2022, the company officially launched its trust company service offerings in Singapore. The services that the company offers include the setup and administration of family trusts, employee benefit trusts, and family offices. For the aforementioned services, the company charges a one-off setup fee and an ongoing administration fee.
Stock-Pledged Loan Services
One of the company’s subsidiaries in Hong Kong, Futu Lending Limited, also holds a money lenders license issued by the licensing court under the Money Lenders Ordinance, which allows it to provide loans to its clients in its ordinary course of business. The company provides limited stock-pledged loan services to its selected clients on a case-by-case basis.
Users and Clients
The company’s users engage Futubull and moomoo by downloading its mobile or desktop applications, or visiting its website, and registering a user account. Users are able to receive market data, technical analysis, and other information services, and engage in its community free of charge. The number of its users is determined based on the user accounts registered with Futubull and moomoo.
The company’s clients are defined as users with brokerage accounts with it, and funded accounts are defined as brokerage accounts with it that have a positive account balance. As of December 31, 2024, the average age of the company’s clients with funded accounts was 38, which is also representative of the demographics of its user base.
Institutional and Corporate Clients
The company’s institutional and corporate clients are those who have used any of its institutional and corporate services, respectively. The company’s client base has been expanding since it started to provide such services.
The company’s corporate clients actively contribute to its user community by delivering timely product and business updates to its users, thereby breaking down information asymmetry and providing bases for investment decisions.
User and Client Acquisition
The company grows its client base mainly through word-of-mouth referrals, and online and offline marketing and promotional activities.
User and Client Support
The company has developed its proprietary and customized customer service system to connect its users and clients with its customer service staff and technology experts directly through online chat or customer service hotline around the clock. The company’s customer service representatives receive regular training regarding its platform and services, as well as critical communication skills, such as managing client complaints. Users can also post feedback and suggestions on NiuNiu/Moo Community, tagging its official accounts, product managers, or even its chief executive officer, which the company will strive to respond to promptly.
The company also proactively seeks user and client feedback. For example, it initiates online communications and activities on major social media platforms and the company’s NiuNiu/Moo Community to seek feedback from its users and clients. The company reaches out to its clients to discuss their experience with its platform and solicit ways in which it can improve. The company also provides its institutional and corporate clients with similar services, where it has dedicated customer service teams to attend to any issues its institutional or corporate clients may encounter, striving to respond as soon as possible.
Sales and Marketing
Word-of-mouth referrals
The company grows its client base through word-of-mouth referrals, thanks to its premier user experience alongside diversified financial products and services it offers, and high client loyalty. As a result of the company’s high brand awareness, it has benefited from significant organic traffic.
Online and offline marketing and promotional activities
The company cooperates with external marketing channels for user and client acquisition. For example, it purchases keyword search services on search engines for marketing purposes, posts promotional videos on popular video-sharing sites, hosts online seminars and lectures, and periodically sends e-mails and messages to the company’s users about its latest services and events. In addition, the company also conducts offline advertising via outdoor bulletin boards, magazines, campus promotions, and television commercials, which plays an important role in generating brand exposure.
The company also conducts promotions and marketing campaigns on its platform from time to time, such as offering free commissions to clients who open brokerage accounts with it within a certain period of time. The company has a marketing committee responsible for formulating its monthly marketing and brand promotion strategies and guiding its dedicated marketing team for strategy implementation. The company has a skilled and dedicated marketing team that is familiar with, and in sync with, ever-changing market trends and preferences.
Data Security and Privacy
The company has established a comprehensive security system, Futu Monolith Safety Protection System, or FMSPS, to provide industry-leading protection of information related to its clients, their accounts, and their transactions with the support of its network situational awareness and risk management system. FMSPS has obtained ISO27001 Information Securities Management System Certification. The company’s official website is equipped with a 2048-bit EV certificate, and all data transmissions are completed through encrypted channels.
Intellectual Property
As of December 31, 2024, the company owned over 140 registered copyrights in China. The company also maintains trademark registrations worldwide, including over 560 in Mainland China, over 180 in Hong Kong, over 90 in the United States, over 130 in Singapore, over 90 in Japan, over 80 in Australia, over 30 in Canada, and over 880 in other countries and regions. As of December 31, 2024, the company had over 280 patents granted in China, and over 65 patents in other countries and regions. As of December 31, 2024, the company had registered over 480 domain names.
Regulation
Futu Securities has been registered as a Mandatory Provident Fund Intermediary with the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority in Hong Kong since August 2020.
Moomoo Financial Inc. is registered as a broker-dealer with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, and is a member in good standing with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), authorized to conduct business as an introducing broker in compliance with SEC and FINRA rules.
Futu Clearing Inc. is also registered with the SEC as a broker-dealer and is a member in good standing with FINRA, as well as a member of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), with the capacity to provide clearing services in the United States.
Moomoo Technologies Inc. (previous name: Moomoo Inc.) operates the international version of the company’s trading platform primarily for the U.S. and Singapore retail investors.
In October 2020, Moomoo Financial Singapore Pte. Ltd., or Moomoo Financial Singapore, the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary in Singapore, obtained the Capital Markets Services License (CMSL) from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
In November 2021, the company acquired 100% of the issued share capital of an Australian company and renamed it Moomoo Securities Australia, which became the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary. Moomoo Securities Australia holds an Australian Financial Services License (AFSL).
In June 2022, the company acquired 100% of the issued share capital of a Japanese company and renamed it Moomoo Securities Japan Co., Ltd., or Moomoo Securities Japan, which became the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary. Moomoo Securities Japan holds the Financial Instruments Business Operators (FIBO) license in Japan. Moomoo Securities Japan is also a member of the Japan Securities Dealers Association (JSDA), Japan Investment Advisers Association (JIAA), as well as a member of the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Osaka Exchange.
In November 2021, the company established Moomoo Securities Malaysia, a wholly-owned subsidiary in Malaysia. Moomoo Securities Malaysia holds the Capital Markets Services License granted by the Securities Commission Malaysia.
In September 2023, the company launched its online securities business in Canada through its subsidiary Moomoo Financial Canada, a dealer member of the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) and Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF).
Research and Development
The company’s research and development expenses were HK$1,493.6 million (US$192.3 million) in 2024.
History
Futu Holdings Limited was founded in 2007. The company was incorporated in 2014.
