S&P Global Ratings has reaffirmed Futu Holdings' investment-grade credit rating, an endorsement that arrives while its share price sits at roughly half the level it reached late last year.

The firm kept Futu's long-term issuer credit rating at BBB- with a stable outlook, the company said today (Tuesday). Futu and its subsidiaries carry a stand-alone credit profile of "BBB."

The decision follows by less than two weeks a proposed penalty from Chinese regulators that wiped out about a quarter of Futu's market value in a single session and pushed reported quarterly profit well below where it stood a year ago.

Rating Holds While the Stock Trades Far Below Its Peak

According to S&P, Futu holds a strong market position in Hong Kong, and its push into new geographies should help cushion the planned wind-down of its mainland China business over the next two years.

The agency called the company's capitalization very strong and a key support for its creditworthiness, and said Futu should keep an adequate funding profile as it expands.

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• Futu Quarterly Profit Jumps 144% as Hong Kong Trading Explodes

Investors have been less generous. Futu shares trade around $103, down roughly 50% from the peak above $200 they reached late in 2025, when the broker posted a 144% jump in third-quarter profit on the back of booming Hong Kong trading.

The stock has not clawed back the ground it lost on May 22, when it fell about 27.5% as the penalty news broke.

It now changes hands well below its main moving averages, with the 50-day line sitting under the 200-day line, a configuration chart watchers read as a downtrend that has yet to turn.

A Record Quarter Undercut by a One-Time Charge

For all the pressure on the stock, the business itself kept growing. Futu's first-quarter results showed revenue up 24.7% year-over-year to HK$5.86 billion (US$746.9 million), with total trading volume hitting a record HK$4.15 trillion.

Net income told a different story, falling 61.2% to HK$831 million (US$106 million). Almost all of that drop traces to the proposed penalty, which Futu booked in full as a subsequent event under U.S. accounting rules.

Take the charge out and the picture flips. The company said net income would have been about HK$2.92 billion without it, while operating income, which excludes the fine, rose 31.5% to HK$3.53 billion as the operating margin widened to 60.3% from 57.2%.

"This amount does not impact our business fundamentals or financial stability," Chief Financial Officer Arthur Yu Chen said, adding that the company stays "focused on long-term growth across international markets."

Futu added 225,000 net new funded accounts in the quarter, lifting the total 34.3% to 3.59 million, and Chief Executive Leaf Hua Li said the broker is tracking toward its full-year target of 800,000 net new funded accounts. Client assets climbed 47.2% to HK$1.22 trillion.

Beijing's Crackdown Reaches Beyond Futu

The penalty is the sharpest move yet in a campaign that has shadowed cross-border brokers for years. The China Securities Regulatory Commission and its Shenzhen bureau allege that Futu entities in the mainland and Hong Kong ran securities, fund and futures businesses without the required licenses.

The proposed sanction totals about RMB1.85 billion, made up of roughly RMB470 million in confiscated gains and RMB1.38 billion in fines, plus a personal fine for founder and CEO Li Hua.

Existing mainland clients face a two-year wind-down during which they can only sell or withdraw, and Futu has said mainland accounts make up about 13% of its funded total.

Futu is not alone. On the same day, regulators signaled similar action against a New Zealand unit of Tiger Brokers, run by UP Fintech Holding, and a Hong Kong entity of Longbridge Securities.

The CSRC first flagged Futu and UP Fintech over unlicensed mainland activity back in 2022, when it ordered them to stop taking new mainland clients.

The regulator has framed the latest step as part of a wider effort to rein in offshore platforms serving mainland investors, saying the unlicensed cross-border activity disrupted market order and warranted tougher enforcement.