(Yicai) Aug. 27 -- UP Fintech Holding, known as Tiger Brokers, and Futu Holding highlighted their respective internationalization strategies and achievements for last quarter, with Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong emerging as the primary sources of new clients and capital, in what were their first financial reports after hefty penalties for illegally giving Chinese mainland investors access to overseas stock trading by China’s securities watchdog.

Tiger Brokers’ revenue reached a record high of USD182 million in the three months ended June 30, rising 31 percent from a year earlier and 18 percent from the first quarter, the firm reported yesterday. Based on non-generally accepted accounting principles, its net profit jumped 20 percent to USD42.8 million quarter on quarter, excluding the impact of the fine that it counted toward its first-quarter earnings.

Futu’s second-quarter revenue rose 36 percent to HKD7.2 billion (USD918 million) from a year earlier, while its non-GAAP net profit surged five times to HKD3.7 billion. Malaysia was the primary source of newly funded accounts for the third straight quarter, closely followed by Hong Kong and Singapore, Chairman and Chief Executive Leaf Hua Li noted.

On May 22, the China Securities Regulatory Commission announced that Tiger Brokers and Futu do not have licenses for operating securities brokerage services or margin financing services, but had been marketing and providing securities-related services within China for profit, resulting in combined fines of more than CNY2.3 billion (USD342.1 million).

Tiger Brokers’ trading turnover and number of orders at its Singapore headquarters surged 92 percent and 46 percent, respectively, from a year ago, it noted. Its US stock trading value more than doubled quarter over quarter, while the number of accounts trading US stock options surged 69 percent year over year.

In Hong Kong, Tiger Brokers’ client assets rose 30 percent from the first quarter, while the number of active trading accounts soared 132 percent and that of trading orders 71 percent year on year. Trading of US stock options soared 231 percent from a year ago, while that of underlying US and Hong Kong stocks surged 192 percent and 197 percent, respectively.

The number of registered users on Futu’s Futubull and Moomoo apps reached about 31.25 million as of June 30, with 6.64 million total accounts, up 15 percent and 27 percent, respectively, from a year earlier, the company pointed out. Asset-backed client numbers climbed 34 percent to 3.84 million, while client assets on the platform surged 44 percent to about HKD1.4 trillion (USD178.4 billion).

Tiger Brokers and Futu recorded the CSRC fines as subsequent events in their first-quarter earnings reports, with the former noting that its fine was around CNY411 million (USD61 million).

Futu reported first-quarter net profit plunged 61 percent to just HKD831 million (USD106 million) from a year ago, while revenue and gross profit rose 25 percent and 29 percent, respectively. The company made a provision of HKD2.1 billion for its CNY1.9 billion penalty from the CSRC.

Shares of [NASDAQ: TIGR] ended 0.1 percent lower at USD5.46 apiece in New York yesterday. Futu’s stock [NASDAQ: FUTU] rose 1.4 percent to USD127.34.

Editor: Martin Kadiev