# iFAST Corporation Ltd. — 1H 2026 Half-Year Results Presentation

Event: 1H 2026 Half-Year Financial Results Webcast Presentation & Analyst Briefing
Date: 25 July 2026
Issuer: iFAST Corporation Ltd. (SGX:AIY)
Provenance: automated speech recognition (asr) of the issuer's public webcast recording
Source recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp_uSP-ne2I
Official record: https://www.ifastcorp.com/ifastcorp/investor-relations/
Presenters: Lim Chung Chun (Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer), Alex Leung Kin Shing (Group Chief Financial Officer)
Words: ~9,570

> Machine transcript via automated speech recognition (ASR) of iFAST Corporation Ltd.'s public webcast recording (1H 2026 Half-Year Financial Results Webcast Presentation & Analyst Briefing, 25 July 2026). Spoken words are transcribed verbatim as delivered, with human post-review for company-specific terms and figures. There is no speaker attribution: the source recording carries no diarisation, so cues are shown as timestamp and text only; timestamps refer to the recording. Not a company publication. iFAST Corporation Ltd.'s own investor relations page (https://www.ifastcorp.com/ifastcorp/investor-relations/) is the authoritative record. Copyright in the briefing rests with iFAST Corporation Ltd.; contact contact@smidresearch.com for corrections or removal.

---

[00:03] Hi everyone, welcome to IFAS Corporation's second quarter of the year, and first half of the year, the results presentation. Today from the IFAS team, we have Chongqiu, our Group CEO, Terrence, our Group CFO, as well as members from our Finance and Corporate Commigations team. So I am JP, I'm from the Corporate Commigations team at IFAS. So what I'll do today is I'll run through the key summary and the business updates and Terrence, our group CFO, will give more colors and details on the group's financial results before we all proceed to our Q&A. So in our key summary, I think we've seen a strong growth across the board for IFAS in second quarter of 2026. So if you look at some of the key numbers we've shared here. So total revenue was at $162.04 million. That's 34.8% higher year on year. Net profit was up 35% year on year to $29.85 million.

[01:08] EBITDA was up 32.7% year on year to $48.89 million. So all these numbers are for second quarter of this year. Group AUA reached a record new high of $36.13 billion. That's 32.8% higher compared to last year. In terms of the net inflows trend, we've continued to see good momentum. So net inflows for second quarter was at $1.31 billion. That's 2.2% year on payroll. And regarding dividend, so our second interim dividend for FY2026 is at 3 cents per ordinary share. that's 50% higher compared to last year. So we've seen increased profitability driven by growth across various divisions. So firstly, robust growth in AUA across the wealth management platforms in the group. Secondly, we've also seen record profit before tax at our bank division, IFAUS Global Bank in the UK. And we've also seen growth from our Hong Kong E-Pension Division. So for the Hong Kong E-Pension Division, an important milestone has been crossed in April of this year. So all 12 trustees and a total of 24 schemes have been successfully onboarded to the Hong Kong pension platform. So as mentioned just now, I thought the bank saw higher and record pre-tax profit of $1.9 million in second quarter of this year. That's a year on year growth of 174.5%. And the bank has continued to build on its first full year of profitability that we saw last year. In terms of the customer accounts, they have increased by over 50% year on year to more than 1.5 million accounts as of end of June, 2026. So as I mentioned, for second interim dividend for FY2026, the directors declared a dividend of three cents per share, and so that's 50% higher compared to last year. And for full year of FY2026, directors expect to propose a total dividend of 12 cents per share or higher, which represents a 43% increase compared to FY 2025. So this is actually an increase compared to the previous guidance given, which was at 10.5 cents per share or higher. And we communicated that previously in April. So as the group's overall profitability increases and the group's shareholder equity continues to grow, the directors are comfortable with increasing the dividend payout ratios gradually. We'll talk a bit more about that in the business update later. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the group expects 2026 to see healthy growth rates in revenues and profitability. The group is embracing AI to achieve the various objectives while having a lower group headcount. So overall group headcount has peaked in the middle of 2026 and is expected to be at a lower level at the end of 2028 as we work on achieving the various objectives that we have communicated in IFAR's 3-year plan. So this will pave the way towards improving profit margins from next year onwards. So looking at our group AUA trend, so we saw record AUA level of $36.13 billion. So So that's 32.8% higher year on year, and also represents a robust 10.7% Q on Q growth. So both the B2B and the B2C divisions have seen a strong year on year growth in their respective EUA. So B2B still continues to contribute about 65% of total group EUA, with the remaining 35% coming from our B2C division. The other interesting thing to note is that record high AUAs was observed across all the various geographical segments. In terms of the AUAs breakdown by markets, so we can see that Singapore continues to be the core market with a contribution of about 69%, followed by Malaysia and Hong Kong at about 11 plus percent each, and others which is made up of China and UK. In terms of products, Unit Trust remain the largest product contributor at 55% roughly, followed by stocks and ETFs and bonds as well as cash account and deposits.

[05:40] In terms of the various products, they also saw a strong year-on-year growth, whether it's across Unit Trust, stocks and ETFs as well as cash account and deposits.

[05:52] So I'll be going through the business updates where we're touching on a couple of key main points before getting Terrence to share more on the financial results. So I think in April of this year, we talked about IFOS three year plan. There are six strategic pillars in that plan and management team had given more colors on those six pillars in April of this year. So for this quarter, what we wanted to do was to see whether any of the pillars have seen any progress. And on this slide, we wanted to highlight these three points starting firstly for Vision 2030, where we're talking about EUA target of $100 billion by 2030, which represents a K-year of 25.6% over the next five years. So we wanted to also share that as you've noticed, EUA trends remain very strong. So we saw the 32.8% year-on-year growth in EUA. So we will continue to work towards building a truly global business with our digital banking and well-management platforms. and we intend of course to continue delivering value for clients and partners worldwide. The second pillar that we updated just now as well is the e-pension. So we've seen that milestone that has been crossed in April of this year. So all trustees as well as their respective schemes have been successfully onboarded. We will continue to focus on improving our service quality and operational efficiency. On the third point here, so we communicated I think last quarter that we We expect to see group account thinking. So we are confirming that group account has ticked as of this quarter's update. We will continue to adopt AI across the various business units and also improving profit margins supported by operating leverage. We will expect that to be observed from 2027 onwards. And regarding group account, we expect that to be at a lower level by end of 2028. So on the next slide, so a reiteration of the various pillars, the six key points of how the management team is looking at the free land and the longer term trajectory for the company. So I won't go through that because we have updated free of opinions already. On the next slide for the individual markets updates. So as mentioned just now, all markets recorded record high EUA levels across Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, China, and the UK. In terms of the various business divisions, I think, you know, we've been Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and China. They've also seen strong and robust AUA growth rates where there's B2B, B2C, or our IFAS global markets division. For the profit and net revenue trends, robust growth for the key world management centers of Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. We continue to observe the losses in our China operation narrowing. And the UK, as I mentioned just now as well, so record quarterly profit in the second quarter of this year.

[08:55] Regarding net inflows, so they stood at $1.31 billion in second quarter of this year, bringing our first half 2026 net inflows to $2.56 billion. That's 15% higher compared to last year. We also see a very strong momentum regarding our key product, which is unit trust. So subscriptions were very strong in second quarter of this year at $3.67 billion. So that brings our first half 2026 number to $7 billion for UT subscription that's 52% higher compared to last year. So we won't spend a bit of time talking about the bank as well because we've seen the latest progress from the bank. So record profit in second queue at $1.92 million. that's 174% higher year on year. So first half profit for the bank is at $2.61 million, that's 53% higher year on year. So for the bank, we also saw customer deposits reaching a record high level of $1.8 billion as of end of second quarter. So that's 25% higher year on year. So we wanted to just go back to how the bank has progressed with the deposit taking business, which was launched in April, 2023. So in the last three years or so, the AUA has progressed, the deposit amount has reached a record high level, as I said, and also interest, net interest revenue growth continues to grow strongly. So we saw net interest revenue grow by 37.9% year on year. The other division in the bank that's also seen a good growth momentum is actually the B2B business, which we call the business banking division. So I think in recent quarters, we have been seeing stronger business account openings and increased usage of the various services that the bank provides to its customers. And the third point here is really to just go back to how with the deposit taking business, with a growth in customer deposits, the net interest revenue has exceeded the non-interest commission and fee income that comes from the remittance business, which we call EZ-remit. So I think for easy remittance volumes were actually higher in the first half of this year, near or near, but the revenue per transaction figures have moderated compared to a year ago, because a year ago, the revenue per transaction numbers were actually higher than normal. I think in previous quarters, our group, CFO, had also talked about that. So the last point in the business update here is regarding the management team's outlook for the dividend updates. So I think in terms of the approach, as the group's profitability continues to improve and our shareholders equity grows, so the directors are comfortable with gradually increasing the dividend payouts while maintaining flexibility to support future growth opportunities, capital requirements and also business needs. So regarding the dividend trends, so in first half of 2026, the dividend payout ratio was at 28.9% compared to 26.3% in the first half of last year. So the directors expect to propose a total dividend of 12 cents per share for this year, which is at least 43% higher year on year. Regarding the long-term payout direction, the directors believe there may be scope to actually gradually increase the dividend payout will be issued to 40% as the group's shareholders equity moves closer to $1 billion. The next couple of slides are a repeat of what I've shared. So I won't be really going through about the details, essentially second interim dividend, $0.03. So that's 50% higher compared to last year. And regarding the dividend schedule on the last slide here. So the payment date will be 20th of August. So I'll now invite parents, our Group CFO to run through some of the key financial results. Thanks JP, and very good morning to everyone. Yeah, so for the financial results, I'm not gonna run through every line, otherwise you'll never get the Q&A. So just wanna take you through a couple of just key highlights from the latest quarter of results. So I think you heard earlier from JP that I think we've had a very strong growth demonstrated in the wealth management divisions. I think we're at record high AUAs across all the geographies. And of course, that very strong momentum has continued from the first quarter to the second quarter. And we have also recorded very strong growth in net revenue. That's also flowed down to the bottom line, also demonstrating, I think, in excess of 30 plus percent year-on-year increases in both revenue as well as in profit. The other highlight, probably, on the OPEC side, which is something that we had a lot of questions on recently. So I think on the OPEC side, I think to try to give you some color in terms of what we expect to happen. I think one of the items mentioned earlier by JP was that the hit count has peaked. I think we did mention that we expect the account to peak in the middle of this year. So if you look at the operating expenses line for second quarter, I think we're still seeing quite strong increases on a year-on-year basis, but of course there is more to return quite a bit from the first quarter. So I think some of that base effects are kind of coming off. But more importantly, I think on a QLQ basis, you're actually seeing a bit of a flat lining of expenses as well. I think OPEX across the group was up something like about 2 or 2.2% QLQ. So I think that's something that we expect to make more progress on as we talk about head count related to 2028 being lower, as well as some of the margin expansion we expect to see weighing the 2027. I think related to this, so the other observation on the operating leverage, I think this is something that we would expect to show or demonstrate as a wealth platform that scales up with AUA and of course as net revenue increases we then expect to see some of that flowing through the PBT margins. So I think you will see a slide on the PBT margins where that number, at least on the headline side doesn't really show up but it kind of, it's also because we have this very sizeable business in the Hong Kong side of things on on the E-Pension division. So of course, on the PBT margins, if you were to look at individual geographies, I think you will then very clearly see that for the likes of Singapore, Malaysia, even for the UK, which is actually a deposit taking business, you will see that actually we have made quite good progress on the PBT margins in those markets. Of course, Hong Kong has its own specific nuances because of that E-Pension project. And of course, we have talked about the hit count just a very PPP earlier on, right? So I think these are some of the key highlights from the financial results. Not wanting to go through all the key numbers for each type, but I guess just wanna point to perhaps get on the ROE side as well, right? So this is on slide 24. I think we continue to generate or demonstrate very high levels of ROE. So 27.2%, even for a business that has a bank within the ecosystem. So just as a reminder, we make in excess of 95% of our net revenue coming from a fee-based income sources. So the net interest income at the bank is still currently just over 5% of the overall net revenue.

[16:36] So moving on to the geographical segments on slide 25. So I think you can clearly see the strength in the wealth management divisions, Singapore, Malaysia, even Hong Kong was just continuing to demonstrate very good growth year on year. The kind of an unusual number there for Malaysia. I think Malaysia demonstrated really strong growth in the second quarter. So I just wanted to highlight also that there was a bit of a benefit from some IT development revenue that has come in Malaysia. But even if you take that out, then I think Malaysia wealth management, standalone also demonstrated where we could grow. Just want to point you to the tax expense line, just as a reminder that since the bank became profitable, I think we have started recognizing a deferred tax asset at the UK bank entity. So we have continued to recognize that. And therefore, you can see that the tax expenses have not grown as quickly as the growth in PBT. So this is really the deferred tax asset that we have started to recognize, actually since the fourth quarter of 2020 to be fine. So just moving on very quickly to the last slide, this section was like 28. So again, this is the different geographies demonstrating very good progress. Just want to point you to the UK line. So that the UK line has a bit of a lower rate of growth there. You can see on the net revenue side. So that plus 3.8%, actually this is a combination of very good growth on the deposit taking business. So we saw over 36% growth in net interest income at the bank. Of course, on the easy remit division, which was actually the largest business within the bank, but it's now a smaller part of the bank's net revenue contributor. So this actually, this business actually experienced higher than normal margins in the year ago period. So I think you will see some of that coming off in the third quarter and beyond, but based on the second quarter's number, If you compare that on a year-on-year basis, you're still seeing a bit of a decrease even though transaction volumes are actually higher. So you put that together, you're actually looking at not a very strong growth number for net revenue, but actually that kind of, it's not a true representation of the underlying business trend. So I just wanted to make those points before we move on to the Q&A.

[19:01] Thanks, Terrence. So we'll now move on to the Q&A segment. So as always, we have attendees here at the board room

[19:12] as well as those who have joined us virtually. So for those virtual attendees, feel free to raise hand or type your questions in the chat box and we will cover your questions in this section. So does anyone wanna maybe start the Q&A session? Yes, Roger. I would like to ask about Hong Kong, also sector. So how are you going to recognize the AOA or administrative based? Also business. We are at this point in time, I think for you to pay back hand of this year. So you see the contribution of all of the So, you know, it's only like 11 plus billion. Does that mean like also the market share will be very long?

[20:37] Okay, referring to the projection that we will see now that we've entered the previous question.

[20:47] We have put in assumptions that are quite conservative

[20:54] in our opinion.

[20:56] So we essentially look at our existing management platform. Then we also come in and we basically assume some growth, but generally speaking, we didn't assume a big growth on the wholesale side. So as we mentioned, this is a scenario that we put up. It's not actually a projection, not a target, but we basically paid a possible scenario for how those numbers could actually be arrived at, assuming you get the payment. And on the payments side, I will really receive the payment licensing in the last year. It's almost a year, but you haven't launched. So we are going to launch it. We expect to launch it in the fourth quarter of this year. So we have been preparing and and working internally and so on, all the official logistic, and everything else. And then NANSPMAT, the founder is the owner of, he's also the owner of I-FAST, I-WANCH, Rob Rigg, he's a NANSPMAT in offline space. So NANSPMAT. NANSPMAT, no, he's not,

[22:14] he's not a real leader, but I-FAST,

[22:18] NANSPMAT partner with I-FAST, in application for the digital bank license in Malaysia. So that's a major relationship that we have. But they are not, they do own a small stake in IFAW as a shareholder.

[22:35] But yeah, operation only, not measurable. When you expect to receive payment license in Singapore or Hong Kong?

[22:46] Singapore, yeah, we have been applying And we are hoping to make a more progress, you know,

[22:59] by some currently everything that we do. Hong Kong, we don't have a immediate timeline.

[23:09] For the Chinese, are we still targeting the next year?

[23:17] We are in the need of everything.

[23:24] That's where we are. And for the first time, this IFS pension, is it more like cost-centered? Or can you expect any revenue from there? It is an internal segment of the business that provides support to Hong Kong, the EFPF business. I think we'd better give a chance to other people. Yes, I think we have. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, everyone. Also, I think previously you mentioned that you already were going to be one for Tracity. How would you onboard any update of that and whether you know the action? We definitely haven't officially started to contribute. As I mentioned earlier, we are targeting onboard the PMTC. is physical systems. So now it's still just one? Basically, preparing behind the scenes. And this whole thing has been delayed because of the onboarding of the MPF project. So I'm a big priority for the whole industry. That's why there is a position to delay someone. But now the whole onboarding has happened But the EFPF then carried the targeting of the market. And maybe on my part, Global Bank, you know, India has been a lot of news about China's option of shutting them down and direct use. Even though there are issues last Friday, and the banks are already in the market, which I think is a key piece. And I think, you know, we are hearing feedback from some kind of that they see IFAS Global Bank being featured on sale or through quite the question. So can you comment on that and how it will impact some of the growth projections? of the new country. Your question is, can you repeat a question? Given that there's a lot of Chinese offshore law claim down, and I guess it's also part of the business given that you can't just mention the self-official and things like that. And how it will affect that different billion target. And I think he's in the top. Hopefully, in terms of contribution from the Chinese residents to our overall deposit of the bank, it was actually quite a small percentage currently. I think online you probably see some of this, you know, command activities and so on because it is a service that a lot of Chinese residents want some actual engine services. It's something that they would like to actually have. Because of that, there's actually quite a bit of discussion. Yeah, I think in terms of the actual contribution to us, you know, it's not today, it's not a percentage. And more importantly, on an ongoing basis, it's about doing a business that doesn't violate the regulations. I think the IFAS Global Bank caters to the single school. Actually want to match their money option. And let us, some actually official regulations officially allow

[27:09] some deposits to be sent, you know, from the Chinese bank overseas, and that's within the limits of 50,000 US dollars per cent a year. And yeah, you know, we don't go beyond any official limits and and so on. So that made the case then to see that.

[27:35] Another question on trade receivables. It has been higher than what has been observed last year. Has any of this got into the cash received from the PMPM projects being delayed?

[27:49] Yeah, I think this question, because we typically have a lot of discussions on trade receivables. I think previously the main item inside there as you will see from our financials which we have already split up in the first quarter was actually the margin financing receivables bid. So I think once you take that out you can really see that impact from the what is essentially a new business to us. I think we're quite on the last few brokers to get into margin financing. Of course, yeah, that line has grown quite strongly. I think the rest of the three receivables, other than the BAU that we have from the traditional wealth business, I think of course the Hong Kong project that we have done, or we're still working on, does have an element of a receivables position. So that of course, as the business has scaled up, of course we have revenue growing as well, that has also grown. But I just want to mention earlier, I think there's this division we also talked about, which is the easy remit division. So this division is actually a remittance business. It is also a pre-funded business, because that's the nature of how remittance works. So I think on this part, earlier I think we made the comment that, while we have seen some declines in the margins on the business, we are actually executing more remittance transaction volumes. So with that, I think you can also see there's been some addition of working capital. So on the working capital side, actually adds to the receivables position by nature of how the differences are accounted for. So actually that has also been a contributor to that increase. So I think it's a combination of all these different businesses. And yeah, so I just wanted to give some color on the trade receivables.

[29:33] I gather that the AOA is up by 33%. To what degree is the increase in AOA due to revaluation versus organic new customer money. The AO, changes in AO is essentially a function of the net inflow and market impact. So these are essentially the two components and if you look at the net inflow which is a number that we release and record them and then use yeah we just do the sums and you you to find that the rest are essentially changes in market impact. Okay. The guidance on HICOM decrease till 2028 can give us a sense of in terms of percentage of the total carbonable cost and also the nature of the HICOM decrease, how much you really need to pay out so-called termination, rationalization related expenses versus natural rolling off of the contract. I think firstly we're not looking at a huge percentage in terms of reduction. I think we're making the point really is that last five, ten years we have been growing, last five years particularly, they can't grow quite significantly. So as we grow, then expenses continue to grow. And that growth was fundamentally sharp in the last two years as we're preparing for the And as that happened, then well mentioned side. So, you know, we have a more liberal foreign policy. But given that the most difficult part of the group process in terms of execution has happened, then we feel that it's room for us to essentially gradually reduce the number. So while we see that we're big, we are not looking at a very sharp reduction.

[31:46] That's the first point. Second point is actually we're not doing any retrenchment.

[31:53] I think the group that I've personally mentioned on my phone is that we generally have no retrenchment. We expect that headcount reduction will happen solely through the fact that some of the opposition or contract basis so as that expire then we will review. Secondly, sexual registration. I think every year there's a certain level of resignations, natural registration and this time that happens, we take the chance to review the number. And over time, then that will also achieve a certain reduction that we are giving. I know that in today's world, businesses generally look at retrenchment as something that is by and parcel of business, or even a good thing quite frankly, because we have the time to reward management when they announced that they are retrenching. But I thought we believe that management of the accounts should be determined properly. And that is part of the required things that ensure that we have a certain corporate culture allow us to really grow well in the numbers. I'm sure. I guess the beginning of the US link, not the beginning of me. So that means on the line, I go, it's there. It was the upgrade, it was launched.

[33:34] So that is something that, yeah, so we, yeah, first couple of years we were waiting for the licensing and so on and last year, you know, it was approved. And then in the last nine months, we have been basically getting ready to be testing. and so on. So internally we have started to start to route some of our transactions with high-fast U.S. securities directly. So that has started to happen this month in the graduate basis, but it's not something that we are trying to rush in a big way. We are making

[34:22] everything is fully tested very well for the part of the transaction go through. But yeah, essentially, yes, it's starting to actually drop transactions through that and

[34:37] expect that activity going forward happens a lot more. Having said that, I also want to remind showing that we are not actually trying to other US customers. This is more a link that allows us to directly access the US exchanges without having to go through another program. And they will put us in a position that is, they will also be more competitive over time was doing additionally, there was also a possibility of having different kind of business for us. Yeah, yeah, we're done. Okay, a couple of questions on Hong Kong side. So as you were mentioning, also, what will happen towards the end of the year. So then the way of roughly 3 billion or so that we're expecting would that come into the second half, or would that be pushed into So if the timetable is as per the latest target and expectation, then we expect that the EUA will add on to the number of other energy. Even though the actual revenue contribution, we don't expect to see too much of it. And then next on Hong Kong, in terms of the PBT, given the first half performance and second half, even if we assume it to be flat year on year, so still on a full year basis would be about 11% growth, which is in line with the guidance that has been given about a double digit growth. But is that how we should be thinking about Hong Kong Senate, that kind of assumptions of 11% growth year on year? PBT. I suppose that's the possible way of looking at it. We have indicated that we expect our target for how come to see double digit growth this year compared last year in terms of profitability. So that target remains the target that we've indicated. Thanks, Miguel. Yeah, we have another question. Mr. Lam, what is the biggest risk facing the business at the moment? Well, I would say that we have gone through quite a bit. And we have gone through a difficult time last one, two years, especially as we are onboarding the EMPS project. I think for a while, the EMPS project onboarding was seen by the industry players, something and they will be a breeze. But I think that has gone through the most difficult part and going forward is about continuing to improve the service level and so on.

[38:07] From where we are, I suppose some of the normal risk in terms of operational risk, IT risk, et cetera, remains and so on. And yeah, there's something that of course we continue to look on strengthening and so on. The other reason that typically is something that most people were thinking about would be the fact that we now operate as a bank. So previously, we as a group, we have a business model that doesn't require a big financial that is a cash generated. But given that now we own a bank within the group, so you start to see that profile of the group start to shift somewhat. It's a business whereby the balance sheet starts to expand and then bank level that requires capital start to move up as well. And I think there's some banks that are not managed well in terms of the balance sheet. And when that happens, then that introduced an element of risk to the group. So for us, we are very mindful that for a bank, if we think the bank in the wrong direction, then that itself introduce quite a bit of risk to the group itself, which is why right from D1, we always emphasize that we take a business model for the bank a business model for the bank that actually tries to minimize balance sheet risk. We don't learn to risky customers and so on. We basically have a business model for the bank that ensures our time balance sheet remains very liquid and the assets that we own actually high quality, essentially mainly sovereign bond, Bank of England deposits as well as investment grid bond, which the bank investment grid bond will be the main one. So the reason that if we go off track from what will be the right path, so I think it's something that we're always mindful about.

[40:36] And so if we continue to manage it in a better manner, then I think the race will be something that will be manageable. Yeah, we'll take one last question from our physical attendees before we move to our online attendees. There's the questions are piling up. Thank you. Just a question on the operation in China. So can you share with us what is the momentum currently in terms of number of accounts? should we be at the end of this year? Number of accounts and what type of customers?

[41:09] In terms of segmentation, should you be with us?

[41:14] I think the China business is a business where if you look at the numbers in recent quarter,

[41:24] the growth is there. The growth is actually be in percentage terms are growing quite well. Having said that, it remains a small percentage of the group's business.

[41:38] It is business that we expect to continue to grow.

[41:43] And yeah, we hope to get to a point,

[41:49] not too far away where we actually start to hit the pretty open level. The exact number of accounts and so on, we don't separately break it down but it is a significant percentage of the accounts that we actually have. And yeah, so that's something that yeah, we'll continue to, we believe we'll continue to track in the right direction. The growth is still there. The growth is still there. Thank you. Sure. I think Jayden, Macquarie, raise hand. Jayden, can you hear us? I can, can you hear me okay? Yes, we can hear you. Great, yeah, thank you so much for the opportunity. I have a few follow-up questions. So just on the Hong Kong revenues, I know that you report it on a combined basis, but if you look at page 19, I think the total revenue for this quarter was lower than last quarter. Now we noted that obviously the AUA in Hong Kong has gone up, but can you be sort of clear on what the driver was as to why revenues were sequentially lower? Was it from wealth or was it from the contract or was it from something else? That was my first question. Yeah, I'll take this question. So, yeah, so Jaden, as you know, I think the wealth numbers you can see, I think they're quite strong across the box. So that includes Hong Kong and the growth of AUA and so on. So yeah, I think you can clearly see it's not related to the Hong Kong wealth business. But I think in terms of how we think about the E-Pension, business, the revenue recognition. I think we did see some uplift from the very high onboarding rates. We went from a sort of a lower rate to a higher rate, I think in the fourth quarter and also in the first quarter. So I think that has come up a bit in the second quarter because now we are operating at a more steady state type of revenue recognition process. But of course, as what we have been trying to communicate, it is still a very high level of revenue that we recognize. So I think you're not seeing any material change in revenue recognition, I think overall put together the wealth business, there is a bit of a flat lining that you can see on a Q and Q basis on that measure. That's very clear. Thanks Terrence, I had a couple more questions. So I think before you mentioned about the desire to have the contract labor sort of rolling off naturally, right as the terms come to an end, would you be able to share with us roughly what the terms are for the typical contracts you do have staff helping you out with the project. I'm just trying to get a sense of how soon we'd start to see things materially roll off or if it's going to take still some time. Thanks. For us, the majority of our staff are essentially still permanent staff, but there is a certain percentage there's some contract, it could be one year, two year contract. And yeah, the exact number and percentage is something that we may manage on an ongoing basis. But we expect that, yeah, yeah, the way the terms are, and we will be able to gradually manage them, you know, the overall group income over next couple of years. As I mentioned, we're not looking at a big sudden reduction and so on. It's something that in line with normal good practice, we always ensure that things are managed in a manner that allow us to contribute to all the processes very well. Thank you for that. And then my final question is just on the bank. You made some comments before talking about how the liquidity is managed prudently. I just wanted to get a sense on sort of how you manage the liquid assets. If I look in the annual report for the bank, about a third of the investments, if you like, are in instruments that are B1 to BAA3. Can I just confirm these are to corporates and not to the Bank of England or other central banks? And how do you sort of manage the credit risk for this, given that you're sort of not really set up to do lending, right? just sort of look at managing liquidity as such. Just wanted to understand on this particular point as it's come up as a question with some investors recently. Thanks.

[46:21] Maybe I'll answer this part. So if it's on the investment side of things, then it will be on the bond side. So these are all liquid. I think in terms of liquidity, you know, it's a T plus one, T plus two type of instrument. So it's not lending any sub-investment with individuals or companies on a bilateral basis, these are all securities.

[46:48] Okay, thank you so much Terrence, thanks very much. Okay, thanks Jayden, we'll go through some of the questions we have in the chat box. So I think we'll take these two questions from Manu. So, quite high level, so first which segments of your business do you see offering the fastest rate of growth going forward? So if I broadly Look at the group business in three different segments. One is the, you know, our Commonwealth Management business, you know, as an investment platform for these years. Two would be the bank,

[47:32] and three would be the e-pension power business. So if I look at,

[47:39] yeah, all three segments, I'll expect, yeah, all three segments to grow further, but if I were to rank in terms of the order, in terms of percentage growth rate, I would say that probably the bank will grow at a faster percentage, mainly because firstly, it starts from a low base. If you look at the current level of the bank for us, at a deposit level of 1.8 billion signal. In the banking context, it's actually still a very small number relative to the opportunity that we're looking at relative to the potential that we can see given our overall ecosystem and business model, we are expecting that that can have a higher percentage growth rate for us. I would say that the well-matched platform itself will continue to have a real robust growth rate. So that's why the two parts together, we are continuing to essentially see that we are getting to achieve 100 billion U.A. by 2020. And Mano's other question, I think you talked about risk just now, but his other question which segment or geography worries you the most in terms of possible setbacks?

[49:16] I think every segment has its own

[49:21] consideration. Every segment has its own level of race and the race is a bit

[49:31] different in nature in different segments. But as I noted earlier, I think that the banking business is something that is relatively new to the group and we are mindful that we need to manage it in a way where we don't take too much of a balance and risk. And as long as we go down the path, then I would say that we are quite comfortable with the employees of the business. Other than that would be the operational race, IT race and so on. That is an ongoing thing, ongoing process. It's something that internally we have to keep improving, we have to keep strengthening our overall management of the business. So these are things that will keep me awake every night, but there are some people in the group that can come awake every night because of all these different considerations. Thanks, Rachun. So we have a few questions related to the net inflows trends. So I think we had this one from King Chua prior to the results call. So he sent these questions. So the IFAS global bank deposits are up by about $200 million to $1.8 billion. So what are the drivers behind the increase in IFAS global banks' EUA? Is it one-off? Do you think it's sustainable? Yeah, I'll say that if you look at IFAS global banks' deposit trend, you'll find that two Two years ago, between one to two years ago,

[51:27] the growth rate was actually quite low cost. But sometimes second half, last year, it did enter into a period where the deposit growth actually slowed down somewhat.

[51:42] And recently, that momentum start to improve again.

[51:51] And I suppose the part of the reason why

[51:56] deposit group slow during the second half of last year was firstly because there were some changes in interest rate environment, meaning interest rates were generally declining last year.

[52:12] And at the point when we are trying to build the overall size of the bank, And then you have an environment of generally declining interest rate, and then we, along the way, were also adjusting the interest rate downwards as well. That actually led to some slowdown in momentum. So that was one reason. The other reason was the fact that, yeah, as our markets were doing well and so on, we did see some money moving to the oil fashion platform some of the business. So that was the reason why the momentum slowed down somewhat in the second half of last year and maybe early this year. But in recent times, we're starting to see some improvements in the momentum. That momentum is being seen in both the capital banking business as well as the banking business, a business banking segment that we use are called digital transaction banking. So that momentum on the business banking has picked up as more of our corporate customers started to use us for our payment services and so on. Yeah, so those momentum that we, improved momentum that we saw in recent times, we expect that they should continue as we move into the second half and then beyond. So that's where things take current. So that will probably be the targeting for faster piece of growth than what we've seen in the first half of this year. And the other question is, are you seeing a noticeable increase in net inflow in the Singapore market and maybe I'll just link it up to the other question from Kelvin. Has I first had implodes been affected by the recent regulatory penalties on food to untie?

[54:26] Yeah, make implode for us has been quite robust. So far this year and I think the recent months is where we continuously will be robust. I think after some announcement from the China side

[54:50] in June, I think, I would say that for us overall momentum has continued to be strong. Thank you, Lai, so far has been a strong month in terms of net influence. So the overall business for us continues to receive the good momentum. The net inflow, I think the question about net inflow in Singapore, I think the Singapore platform has seen a strong net inflow. Some of that does move into Singapore equity. We have seen some improved momentum in the last few quarters. The net imploder actually goes into all the various asset processes. Just a couple more questions online. One question from Reggie, which is, there's been a significant increase in customer accounts. Can you give some information where these new customers are coming from? Are they from the bank, the website and why the huge increase on you? The customer accounts, the biggest increase comes from the web management platform. In the bank site, we have seen some improvement in the make-turns. I think in terms of the overall increase, the bigger proportions still come from the overall web management side of the business. side of the business that includes from the B2B side of the platform business, both B2B and B2C. I think on the B2B side of the platform business, in recent times we have some certain business partners that have seen quite a very strong growth in the company and they have has accelerated the increase in the customer account number for us in the last six months particularly. Yeah, just two questions on Tse-Tong. So the first one is regarding the incorporation of IHAS corporate EU holdings in Ireland, any significance or strategic plans to highlight here? We announce that because we need to announce. But I suppose as a group, when it comes to our business, one of the questions that I've been asked about in the past is, do we see ourselves as banking to other markets when it comes to the banking business? today our bank license is in UK. So my answer has been that, given that we operate our business increasingly on truly global business model, we don't think that we need to have too many banking licenses. But having said that, we feel that there's still certain jurisdiction jurisdiction where we want to at some point in time in the future work towards being delivered a banking license. And yeah, so the two that we mentioned was one is actually somewhere in European Union.

[58:46] We, given that EU and UK are just next to each other,

[58:54] there's quite a good level of synergy, especially when it comes to the business banking part of things, and given that, you know, we have a banking license in one country in European Union that has the potential to look at it on a whole new role. So that's the reason why we start to take the step of starting the possibility of getting some banking license

[59:21] somewhere in the youth in the future. So the process has started, this will incorporate the entity. But we'd like to say that we expect this to be a process that takes some time. typically, bank license doesn't get acquired in a very short time. It's a long process in terms of the path towards getting there. So it's a process that we've started, but you can't, you should have an expectation that you can take a couple of years before you get to something tangible. And yeah, and the other jurisdiction that we talk about in terms of potentially trying to have a banking license, sometime in the future would be back in our headquarters, Singapore. Again, there is something that we're not sure how long it will take. We haven't formally started this, but at the back of our long term planning, it's five years. So that we feel that there's something that we should try to at some point.

[01:00:34] Okay. Just one last question before we go back to our attendees here. So congrats on the results. Higher DPS guidance is good news to shareholders. So what prompted this big revision upwards and DPS guidance so quickly after the initial guidance, only if this has to do with fundamental earning strength and visibility, tracking stronger than we had expected at the time of the prior guidance or any other reasons regarding this change.

[01:01:09] So if you look at what we have been doing in terms of impedance beyond ratio So in the last couple of years, you'll notice that we have been paying about 25% of our earnings as dividends. And that has been a ratio that we have been using, and that's a ratio that we continue to use when we were recommending the first quarter dividend. As we progress and as we look forward and as we see our overall earnings and share this equity continue to grow and then we do more detailed projection for the future in terms of what we expect for profitability, cash flow and balance sheet projection over the next three to five years. Then we feel that we are comfortable gradually raising the Dymptom-P out ratio. It doesn't have to just stay at 25%. So if you look at the first half of this year, based on what we are recommending, what we have declared or proposed, it works out to about 30% in terms of Dymptom-P out ratio. So it's a number that were comfortable for this year. And there's a reason why we've decided to declare a higher dividend. And we feel that since there's a position that we have deepened, after deeper analysis internally and so on, then we should be stating our policy for this year in terms of dividend right now. And that's what we're doing. Any more questions from our attendees here in the boardroom? Just one question about how side of things can start to contribute in the audience. Yeah, it's not contributing. So it goes into the net influence for the group, just EUD. And so that's a good part of the business that started and we expect that to continue to contribute more. Having said that, of course, it's not a huge percentage of the overall distance of the group or outcome at this point in time. But it is an area that we expect to continue to grow. Do you mind if that's the AOA? The AOA goes into our group AOA. We did mention at the end of last year, it was about 70 million Singapore dollars. So I think that number you can tell is not very large. And I think we have made some progress since then, but it's not a number that we would like to come back and update. I think also it's probably the one that will have a bit more of a material impact. So I think that's the one that we've been providing a bit more color on.

[01:04:35] Just want to just want to remind me again how much the AUA, the IGB deposits being contributed. That's the IGB deposit contributions.

[01:04:50] Yes, for the IGB we've disclosed that the amount is $1.81 billion, $6.0 million as of fully registered as the AUA. Yes. So just to conclude on the EMPI business, so the way we should think about it, its revenue is relatively flat, maybe it comes down a bit because the onboarding related revenue stream starts to decline, but cost is also rolling up, hence overall PBT should still be growing on an absolute basis, is that the way we should be thinking about it. If you look at, I think quarter to quarter sometimes there are some you know a slight

[01:05:33] fluctuation because on a year basis we expect that to continue to grow this year as a home and then going forward we expect to see some growth as well in revenue just that for the Yeah, MPF is not going to be a huge percentage. But causes an area that we can look at so that overall probability can continue to be healthy. There's some growth. Again, not a huge percentage on the MPF on its own. Yeah, but they can together in all the different measures we're taking for the pension as a whole and a group. Then I think that the increase efficiency in those costs can actually kick in the strong. Next please. Maybe we'll just wrap up, Deb, with one last question that we have online. Oh, okay. Okay, I think you have one. Yeah, just one last question on the bank, actually. So if you look at the past few quarters, we see that the net interest revenue has, as you've highlighted also, is net interest revenue has been exceeding the non-interest side of the bank. So is this how you expect it going forward as well? Yes. Because when we acquired the bank, the main business of the bank was essentially the easier it was. and the bank will require it. They didn't have a strategy of trying to build the deposit base. They see the deposit as a working habitat that support the easy remain business. But since we acquired the business model, have been enhancing the personal banking, so the business working, which will attract more deposits and grow the net interest income. So, yeah, so in previous quarters, you see some overall fluctuations in revenue profitability values because the easier remit business tend to be a bit more volatile on the bottom quarter basis. But as we move forward, even the net interest margin is becoming more important than the easier-emitted business. And even the business banking and personal banking itself

[01:08:12] will bring across some not-interest income, pre-income on its own as well. So on the overall basis, then I think you should see a better consistency in terms of growth as we move on. So that's the reason. Now we are at 1.8 billion, 8.0 billion, targeting 15 billion by 2030. As we make this progression, we are currently investing the bank's second financial products. We are expecting business banking eventually to make a bigger percentage of the overall bank contribution. Otherwise, the regulators will say that you are a bank but you are not helping business activities, because of the level of businesses, and mainly collecting the positive and investing in financial products, do you have such concerns?

[01:09:11] That is not something to our understanding, there's a concern for regulators. I think regulators primarily as a starting point, you're most concerned about safety. Safety of the bank, safety of customer deposit, robustness of our overall business model. And even we are not lending to SMEs and so on.

[01:09:44] It doesn't mean that we're contributing because quite a bit of the deposit goes into Bank of England goes in the government bond and it goes into buying investment with all the other banks. So that in itself will bring about his own

[01:10:03] yeah, benefit to the UK economy. Yeah.

[01:10:10] Yeah, so all in I would say that we don't think that's too much of a reason or regulated because priority is safety. Okay, one last question online from Edward. I think going back to your reply, Chongqing, so what's the business strategy for future banking licenses?

[01:10:34] I suppose we are talking about what's our strategy once we get the license

[01:10:42] in the additional jurisdiction that we are aiming about. A bit too early to discuss this topic in detail, but I will say that the overall direction will probably not change in a big way. We're essentially in well management and Eastern banking platform. But even when we do get additional licenses in other jurisdictions, you will focus in those areas. Okay. There are no more questions. I think we can answer this. Yeah. This is our speaker. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.