Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. - Annual Report: 2020 (Form 10-K)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the year ended December 31, 2020

Commission File Number: 001-33440

INTERACTIVE BROKERS GROUP, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

One Pickwick Plaza

Greenwich, Connecticut 06830

(Address of principal executive office)

(203) 618-5800

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the securities act. Yes x No o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the act. Yes o No x

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes x No o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes x No o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer”, “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management's assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its

audit report. Yes x No o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes o No x

The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was approximately $3,155,276,668 computed by reference to the $41.77 closing sale price of the common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, on June 30, 2020, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter.

As of February 25, 2021, there were 90,780,441 shares of the issuer’s Class A common stock, par value $0.01 per share, outstanding and 100 shares of the issuer’s Class B common stock, par value $0.01 per share, outstanding.

Documents Incorporated by Reference: Portions of Registrant’s definitive proxy statement for its 2021 annual meeting of shareholders are incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K.

ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2020

Table of Contents

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

We have included or incorporated by reference in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and from time to time our management may make statements that may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are not historical facts, but instead represent only our beliefs regarding future events, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside our control. These statements include statements other than historical information or statements of current condition and may relate to our future plans and objectives and results, among other things, and may also include our belief regarding the effect of various legal proceedings, as set forth under “Legal Proceedings and Regulatory Matters” in Part I, Item 3 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, as well as statements about the objectives and effectiveness of our liquidity policies, statements about trends in or growth opportunities for our businesses, included in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Part II, Item 7 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. By identifying these statements for you in this manner, we are alerting you to the possibility that our actual results may differ, possibly materially, from the anticipated results indicated in these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from those in the forward-looking statements include, among others, those discussed below and under “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Part II, Item 7 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, expressed or implied, in these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the following:

general economic conditions in the markets where we operate;

increased industry competition and downward pressures on electronic brokerage commissions and on bid/offer spreads in the remaining market making business we operate;

risks inherent to the electronic brokerage and market making businesses;

implied versus actual price volatility levels of the products in which we continue to make markets;

the general level of interest rates;

failure to protect or enforce our intellectual property rights in our proprietary technology;

our ability to keep up with rapid technological change;

system failures, cyber security threats and other disruptions;

non-performance of third-party vendors;

conflicts of interest and other risks due to our ownership and holding company structure;

the loss of key executives and failure to recruit and retain qualified personnel;

the risks associated with the expansion of our business;

our possible inability to integrate any businesses we acquire;

the impact of accounting standards issued but not yet adopted;

compliance with laws and regulations, including those relating to the securities industry;

the impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (“COVID-19”) pandemic and the measures implemented to contain the spread of the virus; and

other factors discussed under “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K or elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

PART I

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

Overview

Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (“IBG, Inc.” or the “Company”) is an automated global electronic broker. We custody and service accounts for hedge and mutual funds, exchange traded funds (“ETFs”), registered investment advisors, proprietary trading groups, introducing brokers and individual investors. We specialize in routing orders while striving to achieve best executions and processing trades in stocks, options, futures, foreign exchange instruments (“forex”), bonds, mutual funds and ETFs on more than 135 electronic exchanges and market centers around the world. In the United States of America (“U.S.”), we conduct our business primarily from our headquarters in Greenwich, Connecticut, and from Chicago, Illinois. Abroad, we conduct our business through offices located in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Hungary, India, China (Hong Kong and Shanghai), Japan, Singapore, and Australia. As of December 31, 2020, we had 2,033 employees worldwide.

IBG, Inc. is a holding company whose primary asset is the ownership of approximately 21.8% of the membership interests of IBG LLC, the current holding company for our businesses. IBG, Inc. is the sole managing member of IBG LLC.

When we use the terms “we,” “us,” and “our,” we mean IBG, Inc. and its subsidiaries (including IBG LLC). Unless otherwise indicated, the terms “common stock” and “IBKR shares” refer to the Class A common stock of IBG, Inc.

We are a successor to the market making business founded by our Chairman, Mr. Thomas Peterffy, on the floor of the American Stock Exchange in 1977. Since our inception, we have focused on developing proprietary software to automate broker-dealer functions. During that time, we have been a pioneer in developing and applying technology as a financial intermediary to increase liquidity and transparency in the capital markets in which we operate. The proliferation of electronic exchanges since the early 1990s has provided us with the opportunity to integrate our software with an increasing number of exchanges and market centers to create one automatically functioning, computerized platform that requires minimal human intervention. Over four decades of developing our automated trading platforms and our automation of many middle and back office functions have allowed us to become one of the lowest cost providers of broker-dealer services and significantly increase the volume of trades we handle.

Our internet address is www.interactivebrokers.com and the investor relations section of our website is located at www.interactivebrokers.com/ir. We make available free of charge, on or through the investor relations section of our website, this Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as well as proxy statements, registration statements, prospectus supplements, and Section 16 filings for our directors and officers, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The SEC maintains an internet site, www.sec.gov, that contains annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy and information statements and other information that issuers file electronically with the SEC. Our electronic SEC filings are made available to the public on the SEC’s internet site. In addition, posted on our website are our Bylaws, our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation, charters for the Audit Committee, Compensation Committee and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of our board of directors, our Accounting Matters Complaint Policy, our Whistle Blower Hotline, our Corporate Governance Guidelines and our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics governing our directors, officers and employees. Within the time periods required by SEC and the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC’s Global Select Market (“Nasdaq”), we will post on our website any amendment to the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics and any waiver applicable to any executive officer, director or senior financial officer. In addition, our website includes information concerning purchases and sales of our equity securities by our executive officers and directors, as well as disclosure relating to certain non-GAAP financial measures, if any, (as defined in Regulation G) promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) that we may make public orally, telephonically, by webcast, by broadcast or by similar means from time to time.

Our Investor Relations Department can be contacted at Interactive Brokers Group, Inc., Two Pickwick Plaza, Greenwich, Connecticut 06830, Attn: Investor Relations, e-mail: investor-relations@interactivebrokers.com.

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Our Organizational Structure and Overview of Recapitalization Transactions

The graphic below illustrates our current ownership structure and reflects current ownership percentages. The graphic below does not display the subsidiaries of IBG LLC.

Our primary assets are our ownership of approximately 21.8% of the membership interests of IBG LLC, the current holding company for our businesses, and our controlling interest and related contractual rights as the sole managing member of IBG LLC. The remaining approximately 78.2% of IBG LLC membership interests are held by IBG Holdings LLC (“Holdings”), a holding company that is owned directly and indirectly by our founder and Chairman, Mr. Thomas Peterffy and his affiliates, management and other employees of IBG LLC, and certain other members. The IBG LLC membership interests held by Holdings will be subject to purchase by us over time in connection with offerings by us of shares of our common stock.

The table below presents the amount of IBG LLC membership interests held by IBG, Inc. and Holdings as of December 31, 2020.

Purchases of IBG LLC membership interests, held by Holdings, by the Company are governed by the exchange agreement among us, IBG LLC, Holdings and the historical members of IBG LLC, (the “Exchange Agreement”), a copy of which was filed as an exhibit to our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2009 and filed with the SEC on November 9, 2009. The Exchange Agreement, as amended June 6, 2012, provides that the Company may facilitate the redemption by Holdings of interests held by its members through the issuance of shares of common stock through a public offering in exchange for the interests in IBG LLC being redeemed by Holdings. Periodically since June 2011, with the consent of Holdings and the Company (on its own behalf and acting as the sole managing member of IBG LLC), IBG LLC has agreed to redeem certain membership interests from Holdings through the sale of common stock and to distribute the proceeds of such sale to the beneficial owners of such membership interests. From 2011 through 2020, the Company issued 28,127,765 shares of common stock (with a fair value of $1,115 million) to Holdings in exchange for an equivalent number of shares of member interests in IBG LLC.

Nature of Operations

As an electronic broker, we execute, clear and settle trades globally for both institutional and individual customers. Capitalizing on our proprietary technology, our systems provide our customers with the capability to monitor multiple markets around the world simultaneously and to execute trades electronically in these markets at a low cost in multiple products and currencies from a single trading account. We offer our customers access to all classes of tradable, primarily exchange-listed products, including stocks, options, futures, forex, bonds, mutual funds and ETFs traded on more than 135 electronic exchanges and market centers in 33 countries and in 25 currencies seamlessly around the world. The emerging complexity of multiple market centers has provided us with the opportunity to build and continually adapt our order routing software to secure excellent trade execution prices.

Since the launching of our electronic brokerage business in 1993, we have grown to over 1.07 million institutional and individual brokerage customers. We provide our customers with what we believe to be one of the most effective and efficient electronic brokerage platforms in the industry.

We are able to provide our customers with high-speed trade execution at low commission rates, in large part because of our proprietary technology. As a result of our advanced electronic brokerage platform, we attract sophisticated and active investors.

No single customer represented more than 1% of our commissions in 2020.

Our key product offerings include:

IBKR Pro^SM is the traditional IBKR service designed for sophisticated investors. IBKR Pro^SM offers the lowest cost access to stocks, options, futures, forex, bonds, mutual funds and ETFs on over 135 electronic exchanges and market centers in 33 countries.

IBKR Lite^SM provides unlimited commission-free trades on U.S. exchange-listed stocks and ETFs as well as low cost access to global markets without required account minimums or inactivity fees to participating U.S. customers. IBKR Lite^SM was designed to meet the needs of investors who are seeking a simple, commission-free way to trade U.S. exchange-listed stocks and ETFs and do not wish to consider our efforts to obtain greater price improvement through our IB SmartRouting^SM system.

IBKR Integrated Investment Account - From a single point of entry in one IBKR Integrated Investment Account our customers are able to transact in 25 currencies, across multiple classes of tradable, primarily exchange-listed products traded on more than 135 electronic exchanges and market centers in 33 countries around the world seamlessly. Our offering features a suite of cash management services, including:

Interactive Brokers Debit Mastercard^® - Interactive Brokers Debit Mastercard^® allows customers to spend and borrow directly against their account at lower interest rates than credit cards, personal loans and home equity lines of credit, with no monthly minimum payments and no late fees. Customers can use their card to make purchases and ATM withdrawals anywhere Debit Mastercard^®1 is accepted around the world.

Bill Pay – Our Bill Pay program allows customers to make electronic or check payments to almost any company or individual in the U.S. The service can be configured for one-time or recurring payments and permits customers to schedule future payments.

Direct Deposit and Mobile Check Deposit – Our Direct Deposit program allows customers to automatically deposit paychecks, pension distributions and other recurring payments to their (non-retirement) brokerage account with us. In addition, U.S. customers can use our Mobile Check Deposit to directly deposit checks drawn on a U.S. bank.

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¹ Debit Mastercard is a trademark registered to Mastercard International Incorporated Corporation, Delaware, 2000 Purchase Street, Purchase, New York 10577-2405.

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Insured Bank Deposit Sweep Program - Our Insured Bank Deposit Sweep Program provides eligible customers with up to $2,500,000 of Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) insurance on their eligible cash balances in addition to the existing $250,000 Securities Investor Protection Corporation (“SIPC”) coverage for total coverage of $2,750,000. Customers continue earning the same competitive interest rates currently applied to cash held in their brokerage accounts with us. We sweep each participating customer’s eligible cash balances daily to one or more banks, up to $246,500 per bank, allowing for the accrual of interest and keeping within the FDIC protected threshold. Cash balances above $2,750,000 remain subject to safeguarding under the SEC's Customer Protection Rule 15c3-3.

Investors’ Marketplace^SM - The Investors’ Marketplace^SM is an expansion of our Money Manager Marketplace and our Hedge Fund Capital Introduction program. This program is the first electronic meeting place that brings together individual investors, financial advisors, money managers, fund managers, research analysts, technology providers, business developers and administrators, allowing them to interact to form connections and conduct business.

Mutual Fund Marketplace – The Mutual Fund Marketplace offers our customers access to more than 37,000 no-load mutual funds worldwide, including over 8,300 no-transaction-fee funds from more than 380 fund families.

Bonds Marketplace – The Bonds Marketplace allows customers to search for the best yields from a vast universe of bonds from issuers in the Americas, Europe and Asia. We provide direct market access at a low cost to a wide array of corporate, government and municipal securities. Our customers obtain competitive bids and offers with low, transparent commissions and no hidden mark-ups.

Fractional Trading – Fractional Trading allows customers to buy and sell using either a specified cash amount or fractional shares, which are stock units that amount to less than one full share. This functionality allows customers to purchase as little as $1.00 of almost any U.S. stock, experiment with trading and investing without committing substantial sums of money, and learn about building and rebalancing diversified portfolios.

For all customers, our platform offers:

Low Costs - We provide our customers with among the industry’s lowest overall transaction costs in two ways. First, we offer among the lowest execution, commission and financing costs in the industry. Second, our IBKR Pro^SM customers benefit from our advanced routing of orders designed to achieve the best available trade price.

IB SmartRouting^SM – IB SmartRouting^SM retains control of the customer’s order, continuously searches for the best available price and, unlike most other routers, dynamically routes and re-routes all or parts of a customer’s order to achieve optimal execution and among the lowest execution and commission costs in the industry. To highlight the quality of our price executions, we publish on our website independent measurements performed by a third-party provider of transaction analysis to illustrate our net price improvement for commissionable trades versus the industry. We also offer Transaction Cost Analysis reporting to allow customers to track execution performance using multiple criteria. Our IBKR Pro^SM customers benefit from our advanced order routing technology for all trades, while our IBKR Lite^SM customers benefit from this technology for their trades in products not eligible for IBKR Lite^SM.
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Automated Risk Controls - Throughout the trading day, we calculate margin requirements for each of our customers on a real-time basis across all product classes and across all currencies. Our customers are alerted to approaching margin violations and if a customer’s equity falls below what is required to support that customer’s margin, we attempt to automatically liquidate positions on a real-time basis to bring the customer’s account into margin compliance. This is done to protect us, as well as the customer, from excessive losses.

Flexible and Customizable System - Our platform is designed to provide an efficient customer experience, beginning with a highly automated account opening process and ending with a fast trade execution and reporting. Our sophisticated interface provides interactive real-time views of account balances, positions, profits or losses, buying power and “what-if” scenarios to enable our customers to more easily make informed investment decisions and trade effectively. Our system is configured to remember the user’s preferences and is specifically designed for multi-screen systems. When away from their main workstations, customers are able to access their accounts through our IBKR Mobile platforms for a seamless experience.

Securities Financing Services - We offer a suite of automated Stock Borrow and Lending tools, including our depth of availability, transparent rates, global reach and dedicated service representatives. Our Stock Yield Enhancement Program allows our customers to lend their fully-paid stock shares to us in exchange for cash collateral. In turn, we lend these stocks in exchange for collateral and earn stock lending fees. We pay our customers a rebate on the cash collateral generally equal to 50% of the income we earn from lending the shares. This allows customers holding fully-paid long stock positions to enhance their returns.
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Trade Desk - We offer broker-assisted trading through our block trade desk, which is ideal when customers are away from their computer, and through our corporate bond desk, for times when large customer orders need access to more liquidity than is currently available electronically.

IBKR Campus – IBKR Campus helps customers learn about the markets, products and tools available through our platforms. IBKR Campus offers self-directed courses at the Traders’ Academy, live and recorded webinars, our Traders’ Insight market commentary blog, the IBKR Quant Blog, and our Student Trading Lab, which lets educators bring real-world trading experiences to their classroom.

Promotional offerings include:

IBKR Refer A Friend Program – Under the Refer A Friend program, we allow existing customers to refer friends and family to IBKR. The referring customer can earn a flat fee payment of $200 while the new customer can receive up to $1,000 in IBKR stock. The specific program details and eligibility requirements are described on our website.

Analytical offerings on our platform include:

IB Risk Navigator^SM – We offer free to all customers our real-time market risk management platform that unifies exposure across multiple asset classes around the globe. The system is capable of identifying overexposure to risk by starting at the portfolio level and drilling down into successively greater detail within multiple report views. Report data is updated every ten seconds or upon changes to portfolio composition. Predefined reports allow the summarization of a portfolio from different risk perspectives, providing views of Exposure, Value at Risk (“VaR”), Delta, Gamma, Vega and Theta, profit and loss and position quantity measures. The system also offers the customer the ability to modify positions through “what-if” scenarios that show hypothetical changes to the risk profile.

PortfolioAnalyst – Our PortfolioAnalyst reporting tool is designed to allow customers to evaluate the performance of their portfolio by creating and saving reports based on a set of measurement criteria and optionally comparing their data to selected industry benchmarks. PortfolioAnalyst also allows customers to link their investment, checking, savings, annuity, incentive plans and credit card accounts to understand their consolidated financial state and plan for the future.

Mutual Fund/ETF Parser – The Parser categorizes the individual component stocks within mutual funds and ETFs, giving an accurate, granular picture of the overall exposure to asset classes, industry sectors and companies.

Portfolio Builder – Portfolio Builder allows our customers to set up an investment strategy based on research and rankings from top buy-side providers and fundamental data; use filters to define the universe of equities that will comprise their strategy and back-test their strategy using up to three years of historical performance; work in hypothetical mode to adjust the strategy until the historical performance meets their standards; and, with the click of a button, let the system create the orders to invest in a strategy and track its performance in their portfolio.

Environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) Tools

ESG Scores – ESG scores from Refinitiv give customers a new set of tools for making investment decisions based on more than just financial factors. Companies are scored along several dimensions, such as reducing emissions and supporting human rights, and customers can easily see how companies rank both overall and on each dimension.

Impact Dashboard – The Impact Dashboard allows customers to evaluate and invest in companies that align with their values. Customers can select the values they care about from a list ranging from clean air to consumer safety and racial equality, and measure how both individual securities and their overall portfolio measure up against their criteria.

Interactive Analytics^SM and IB Option Analytics^SM – We offer our customers state-of-the-art tools, which include a customizable trading platform, advanced analytic tools and over 100 sophisticated order types and algorithms. We also provide a real-time option analytics window which displays values that reflect the rate of change of an option’s price with respect to a unit change in each of a number of risk dimensions.

Probability Lab^® (Patent Pending) – The Probability Lab^® provides customers with an intuitive, visual method to analyze market participants’ future stock price forecasts based on current option prices. This tool compares a customer’s stock price forecast versus that of the market and scans the entire option universe for the highest Sharpe ratio multi-leg option strategies that take advantage of the customer’s forecast.

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Goal Tracker - Interactive Advisors' Goal Tracker projects the hypothetical performance of a portfolio and monitors how likely it is the portfolio might achieve the goal. Customers can adjust inputs, such as monthly contribution amount, goal target date, or the cost or outflow associated with the goal, to estimate the likelihood of achieving a goal.

We cater to various customer groups with specific service needs.

For advisors, we offer:

Greenwich Compliance – Greenwich Advisor Compliance Services (“Greenwich Compliance") offers direct expert registration and start-up compliance services, as well as answers to basic day-to-day compliance questions for experienced investors and traders looking to start their own investment advisor firms. Greenwich Compliance professionals have regulatory and industry experience, and can help investment advisors trading on our brokerage platform meet their registration and compliance needs.

Model Portfolios – Model Portfolios offer advisors an efficient and time-saving approach to investing customer assets. They allow advisors to create groupings of financial instruments based on specific investment themes, and then invest customer funds into these models.

IBKR Allocation Order Tool – The IBKR Allocation Order Tool streamlines the creation, execution and allocation of group orders. The tool provides advisors with a single screen to enter trade allocations quickly across many customer accounts, advisors or strategies; allocate total quantity or cash quantity for user-specified values proportionally or equally; and modify orders or allocations on the fly.

ESG Impact Profile - The ESG Impact Profile helps advisors understand customer preferences for socially responsible and impact investing. Advisors’ customers can select personal investment criteria from thirteen impact values and principles and exclude investments based on ten categories.

IBKR Client Risk Profile – IBKR Client Risk Profile is designed to help advisors determine the most suitable investments for their customers, based on each customer’s risk tolerance. This information is collected through a custom-designed questionnaire. Advisors can view the scores through the Advisor Portal and create custom pre-trade allocation groups and profiles in TWS to place orders and allocate trades for customers with similar risk profiles.

For introducing brokers and advisors, we offer:

White Branding – Our large financial advisor and broker-dealer customers may “white brand” our trading interface, account management and reports with their firm’s identity. Broker-dealer customers can also select from among our modular functionalities, such as order routing, trade reporting or clearing, on specific products or exchanges where they may not have up-to-date technology, in order to offer to their customers a complete global range of services and products.

For customers looking for online advisory services, we offer:

Interactive Advisors – Interactive Advisors recruits registered financial advisors, vets them, analyzes their investment track records, and groups them by their risk profile. Investors who are interested in having their individual accounts robo-traded are grouped by their risk and return preferences. Investors can assign their accounts to be traded by one or more advisors. Interactive Advisors also offers our customers Smart Beta Portfolios which combine the benefits of actively managed fund stock selection techniques with passive ETFs low cost automation to provide broad market exposure and potentially higher returns, as well as Socially Responsible Investing.

Technology

Our proprietary technology is the key to our success. We believe that integrating our system with electronic exchanges and market centers worldwide results in transparency, liquidity and efficiencies of scale. Together with the IB SmartRouting^SM system and our low execution costs, this approach reduces overall transaction costs to our IBKR Pro^SM customers and, in turn, increases our transaction volume and profits (customers who elect to use our IBKR Lite^SM offering do not take advantage of our IB SmartRouting^SM technology). Over the past four decades, we have developed an integrated trading system and communications network and have positioned our company as an efficient conduit for the global flow of risk capital across asset and product classes on electronic exchanges around the world, permitting us to have one of the lowest cost structures in the industry. We believe that developing, maintaining and continuing to enhance our proprietary technology provides us and our customers with the competitive advantage of being able to adapt quickly to the changing environment of our industry and to take advantage of opportunities presented by new exchanges, products, pricing mechanisms or regulatory changes before our competitors.

Our proprietary technology infrastructure enables us to provide our customers with the ability to execute trades at among the lowest execution costs in the industry for comparable services. Customer trades are both automatically captured and reported in real time in our system. Our customers trade on more than 135 electronic exchanges and market centers in 33 countries around the world. These exchanges and market centers are all partially or fully electronic, meaning that a customer can buy or sell a product traded on that exchange via an electronic link from his or her computer or mobile device through our system to the exchange. We offer our products and services through a global communications network that is designed to provide secure, reliable and timely access to the most current market information. We provide our customers with a variety of means to connect to our brokerage systems, including cross connects, dedicated point-to-point data lines, extranets, virtual private networks and the Internet.

Specifically, our customers receive worldwide electronic access through our Trader Workstation (our real-time Java-based trading platform), our proprietary Application Programming Interface (“API”), our IBKR Mobile app, our browser-based IB WebTrader^SM, our customer-portal-based Quick Trade or industry standard Financial Information Exchange (“FIX”) connectivity. Customers who want a professional quality trading application with a sophisticated user interface utilize our Trader Workstation, which can be accessed through a desktop or variety of mobile devices. Customers interested in developing programmatic trading in Python, Java, C++, .NET (C#), ActiveX and Excel technologies utilize our API. Large institutions with FIX infrastructure prefer to use our FIX solution for seamless integration of their existing order gathering and reporting applications.

While many brokerages, including some online brokerages, rely on manual procedures to execute many day-to-day functions, we employ proprietary technology to automate, or otherwise facilitate, many of the following functions:

account opening process;

order routing and best execution;

seamless trading across all types of securities, futures and currencies around the world from one account;

order types and analytical tools offered to customers;

securities lending and short stock availability;

delivery of customer information, such as confirmations, customizable real-time account statements and audit trails;

compliance;

customer service; and

risk management through automated real-time credit management of all new orders and margin monitoring.

Research and Development

One of our core strengths is our expertise in the rapid development and deployment of automated technology for the financial markets. Our core software technology is developed internally, and we do not generally rely on outside vendors for software development or maintenance. To achieve optimal performance from our systems and in response to changing market conditions, we are continuously rewriting and upgrading our software. Use of the best available technology not only improves our performance but also helps us attract and retain talented developers. Our software development costs are relatively low because the employees who oversee the development of the software are often the same employees who design the application, evaluate its performance, and participate along with our quality assurance professionals in our robust quality assurance testing procedures. The involvement of our developers in each of these processes enables us to add features and further refine our software rapidly.

Our internally-developed, fully integrated trading and risk management systems are unique and transact across all product classes. These systems have the flexibility to assimilate new exchanges and new product classes without compromising transaction speed or fault tolerance. Fault tolerance, or the ability to maintain system performance despite exchange malfunctions or hardware failures, is crucial to ensuring best executions for our customers. Our systems are designed to detect exchange malfunctions and quickly take corrective actions by re-routing pending orders when possible.

Our company is technology-focused, and our management team is hands-on and technology-savvy. Most members of the management team participate in algorithm design and supervise the creation of detailed specifications for new applications. The development queue is prioritized and highly disciplined. Progress on programming initiatives is generally tracked on a bi-weekly basis by the steering and other committees consisting of senior executives. This enables us to prioritize key initiatives and achieve rapid results. All new

business involves a software development project. We generally do not engage in any business that we cannot automate and incorporate into our platform prior to entering into the business.

The rapid software development and deployment cycle is achieved by our ability to leverage a highly integrated, object-oriented development environment. The software code is modular, with each object providing a specific function and being reusable in multiple applications. New software releases are tracked and tested with proprietary automated testing tools. We are not hindered by disparate and often limiting legacy systems assembled through acquisitions. Virtually all of our software has been developed and maintained with a unified purpose.

For over four decades, we have built and continuously refined our automated and integrated, real-time systems for world-wide trading, risk management, clearing and cash management, among others. We have also assembled a proprietary connectivity network between us and exchanges and market centers around the world. Efficiency and speed in performing prescribed functions are always crucial requirements for our systems. As a result, our systems are able to assimilate market data, disseminate market prices to customers and update risk management information in real time, across tradable products in all available product classes.

Risk Management Activities

The core of our risk management philosophy is the utilization of our fully integrated computer systems to perform critical risk-management activities on a real-time basis. Our integrated risk management seeks to ensure that each customer’s positions are continuously credit checked and brought into compliance if equity falls short of margin requirements, curtailing bad debt losses.

We calculate margin requirements for each of our customers on a real-time basis across all product classes (stocks, options, futures, forex, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, and other financial instruments) and across all currencies. Recognizing that our customers are experienced investors, we expect our customers to manage their positions proactively and we provide tools to facilitate our customers’ position management. However, if a customer’s equity falls below what is required to support that customer’s margin, we will automatically liquidate positions on a real-time basis to bring the customer’s account into margin compliance. We do this to protect us, as well as the customer, from excessive losses. These systems further contribute to our low-cost structure. The entire credit management process is automated.

As a safeguard, all liquidations are displayed on custom built liquidation monitoring screens that are part of the toolset our risk management professionals use to minimize market exposure and our technical staff uses to monitor performance of our systems at all times the markets around the world are open. In the event our systems absorb erroneous market data from exchanges, which prompts liquidations, our risk specialists have the capability to halt liquidations that meet specific criteria. The liquidation halt function is highly restricted.

Our customer interface includes color coding on the account screen and pop-up warning messages to notify customers that they are approaching their margin limits. This feature allows customers to take action, such as entering margin reducing trades, to avoid having us liquidate their positions. These tools and real-time margining aid our customers in understanding their trading risk at any moment of the day and help us maintain low commissions.

We actively manage our global currency exposure on a continuous basis by maintaining our equity in a basket of currencies we call the GLOBAL. We define the GLOBAL as consisting of fractions of a U.S. dollar, Euro, Japanese yen, British pound, Swiss franc, Chinese renminbi, Indian rupee, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar and Hong Kong dollar. The currencies comprising the GLOBAL and their relative proportions can change over time. Additional information regarding our currency diversification strategy is set forth in “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk” in Part II, Item 7A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

With respect to our remaining market making activities, we employ certain hedging and risk management techniques to protect us from a severe market dislocation. Our risk management policies are developed and implemented by our steering committee, which is chaired by our Chief Executive Officer and comprised of senior executives of our various operating subsidiaries. The strategy of our remaining market making activities is to calculate quotes a few seconds ahead of the market and execute small trades at a tiny but favorable differential as a result. This strategy is made possible by our proprietary pricing model, which evaluates and monitors the risks inherent in our portfolio, assimilates market data and reevaluates the outstanding quotes in our portfolio many times per second. Our model automatically rebalances our positions throughout each trading day to manage risk exposures on our options and futures positions and the underlying securities, and will price the increased risk that a position would add to the overall portfolio into the bid and offer prices we post. Under risk management policies implemented and monitored primarily through our computer systems, reports to management, including risk profiles, profit and loss analysis and trading performance, are prepared on a real-time basis as well as daily and periodical bases. Although our remaining market making activities are completely automated, the trading process and our risk are monitored by a team of individuals who, in real-time, observe various risk parameters of our consolidated positions. Our assets and liabilities are marked-to-market daily for financial reporting purposes and re-valued continuously throughout the trading day for risk management and asset/liability management purposes.

Operational Controls

We have automated the full cycle of controls surrounding our businesses. Key automated controls include the following:

Our technical operations team continuously monitors our network and the proper functioning of each of our nodes (exchanges and market centers, internet service providers (“ISPs”), leased customer lines and our own data centers) around the world.

Our real-time credit manager software provides pre and post-execution controls by:

testing every customer order to ensure that the customer’s account holds enough equity to support the execution of the order, rejecting the order if equity is insufficient or directing the order to an execution destination without delay if equity is sufficient; and

continuously updating a customer account’s equity and margin requirements and, if the account’s equity falls below its minimum margin requirements, automatically issuing liquidating orders in a smart sequence designed to minimize the impact on the account’s equity.

Our clearing system captures trades in real-time and performs automated reconciliation of trades and positions, corporate action processing, customer account transfer, options exercise, securities lending and inventory management, allowing us to effectively manage operational risk.

Our accounting system operates with automated data feeds from clearing and banking systems, allowing us to produce financial statements for all parts of our business every day by mid-day on the day following trade date.

Software developed to interface with the accounting and market making systems performs daily profit and loss reconciliations, which provide tight financial controls over our remaining market making activities.

Our market making system continuously evaluates securities and futures products in which we provide bid and offer quotes and changes our bids and offers in such a way as to maintain an overall hedge and a low-risk profile. The speed of communicating with exchanges and market centers is maximized through continuous software and network engineering maintenance, thereby allowing us to achieve real-time controls over market exposure.

Transaction Processing

Our transaction processing is automated over the full life cycle of a trade. Our fully automated IB SmartRouting^SM system searches for the best possible combination of prices available at the time a customer order is placed and immediately seeks to execute that order electronically or send it where the order has the highest possibility of execution at the best price. Our market making software generates and disseminates to the exchanges and market centers, in which we still operate, continuous bid and offer quotes on tradable, exchange-listed products.

At the moment a trade is executed, our systems capture and deliver this information back to the source, either to the customer via the brokerage system or the market making system, in most cases within a fraction of a second. Simultaneously, the trade record is written into our clearing system, where it flows through a chain of control accounts that allow us to reconcile trades, positions and money until the final settlement occurs. Our integrated software tracks other important activities, such as dividends, corporate actions, options exercises, securities lending, margining, risk management and funds receipt and disbursement.

IB SmartRouting^SM

IB SmartRouting^SM searches for the best destination price in view of the displayed prices, sizes and accumulated statistical information about the behavior of market centers at the time an order is placed, and IB SmartRouting^SM immediately seeks to execute that order electronically. Unlike other smart routers, IB SmartRouting^SM never relinquishes control of the order, and constantly searches for the best price. It continuously evaluates fast-changing market conditions and dynamically re-routes all or parts of the order seeking to achieve optimal execution. For example, for U.S. options, IB SmartRouting^SM can represent each leg of a spread order independently, if needed, and in that event enters each leg at the best possible venue. IB SmartRouting Autorecovery^SM re-routes a customer’s U.S. options order in the case of an exchange malfunction, and we absorb the risk of double executions. In addition, IB SmartRouting^SM checks each new order to see if it could be executed against any of its pending orders. As the system gains more users, this feature becomes more important for customers in a world of multiple exchanges, market centers and penny priced orders because it increases the possibility of best executions for our customers ahead of customers of other brokers. As a result of this feature, our customers have a greater chance of executing limit orders and can do so sooner than those who use other routers.

Clearing and Margining

Our activities in the U.S. are entirely self-cleared. We are a clearing member of OCC (formerly known as the Options Clearing Corporation), the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Clearing House, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation and ICE Clear U.S. In addition, we are fully or partially self-cleared in Canada, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, France, Germany, Belgium, Austria, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, India, Hong Kong, Japan, and Australia.

Customers

We currently service over 1.07 million cleared customer accounts and have customers residing in over 200 countries and territories around the world. Our target customer is one who requires the latest in trading technology and worldwide access, and who expects low overall transaction costs. Our customers are mainly comprised of individuals, trading desk professionals, electronic retail brokers, hedge funds, mutual funds, financial advisors, proprietary trading firms, and introducing brokers and banks that require global access.

Our customers primarily fall into two groups based on services provided: cleared customers which are the majority of our customers, and non-cleared customers, the latter also known as trade execution customers.

Cleared Customers: We provide trade execution and clearing services to our cleared customers who are generally attracted to our low commissions, low financing rates, high interest paid (when available) and best price execution (or, under our IBKR Lite^SM offering, commission-free trades). Our cleared customers include institutional and individual traders and investors, hedge funds, financial advisors and introducing brokers.

Trade Execution Customers: We offer trade execution for customers who choose to clear with another prime broker or a custodian bank; these customers take advantage of our low commissions for trade execution as well as our best price execution. Our non-cleared customers include online brokers and the customer trading units of commercial banks. These customers are attracted by our IB SmartRouting^SM technology as well as our direct access to stock, options, futures, forex, bond, mutual fund and ETFs markets worldwide.

Human Capital

As of December 31, 2020, we had 2,033 full-time employees worldwide. Our goal is to attract, develop and retain key employees to achieve our strategic objectives. We offer a comprehensive benefits program, including stock incentives, to all of our employees and design our compensation programs to attract, retain and motivate employees. We believe that our relations with our employees are good. Our employees are not covered by any collective bargaining agreements.

We take pride in our technology-focused company culture and embrace it as one of our fundamental strengths. We continually improve our technology and we minimize corporate hierarchy to facilitate efficient communication among employees. We have assembled what we believe is a highly talented team and we expect to continue to provide significant rewards for our employees who provide substantial value to us and the world’s financial markets.

Competition

The market for electronic brokerage services is rapidly evolving and highly competitive. We believe that we fit neither within the definition of a traditional retail broker nor that of a traditional prime broker nor that of an investment advisor custodian. Our primary competitors, both in the U.S. and abroad, include the prime brokerage and electronic brokerage arms of major commercial and investment banks and brokers, and large online retail brokers, whose offerings target professional and other active traders. Since our inception, we have been driven to transforming the electronic brokerage business through innovation, with software development, product improvement, expansion of products and geographies, and management focus dedicated to this mission. In contrast, the electronic brokerage activities of many of our competitors are relatively insignificant within the totality of their firms’ businesses.

Regulation

Our securities and derivatives businesses are extensively regulated by U.S. federal and state regulators, foreign regulatory agencies, numerous exchanges and self-regulatory organizations of which our subsidiaries are members. In the current era of heightened regulation of financial institutions, we expect to incur increasing compliance costs, along with the industry as a whole. Our approach has been to build many of our regulatory and compliance functions into our integrated order routing, custodial, customer onboarding, transaction processing, and market making systems.

Overview

As registered U.S. broker-dealers, Interactive Brokers LLC (“IB LLC”), Timber Hill LLC and Interactive Brokers Corp. are subject to the rules and regulations of the Exchange Act, and as members of various exchanges, we are also subject to such exchanges’ rules and requirements. Additionally, IB LLC is subject to the Commodity Exchange Act and rules promulgated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) and the various commodity exchanges of which it is a member. We are also subject to the requirements of various self-regulatory organizations such as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) and the National Futures Association (“NFA”). Our foreign subsidiaries are similarly regulated under the laws and institutional frameworks of the countries in which they operate.

U.S. broker-dealers and futures commission merchants are subject to laws, rules and regulations that cover all aspects of the securities and derivatives business, including:

sales methods;

“know your customer” requirements;

trade practices;

use and safekeeping of customers’ funds and securities;

capital structure;

risk management;

record-keeping;

financing of customers’ purchases; and

conduct of directors, officers and employees.

In addition, the businesses that we may conduct are limited by our arrangements with and our oversight by regulators. Participation in new business lines, including trading of new products or participation on new exchanges or in new countries often requires governmental and/or exchange approvals, which may take significant time and resources. As a result, we may be prevented from entering new businesses that may be profitable in a timely manner, or at all.

As certain of our subsidiaries are members of FINRA, we are subject to certain regulations regarding changes in control of our ownership. FINRA Rule 1017 generally provides that FINRA approval must be obtained in connection with any transaction resulting in a change in control of a member firm. FINRA defines control as ownership of 25% or more of the firm’s equity by a single entity or person and would include a change in control of a parent company. As a result of these regulations, our future efforts to sell shares or raise additional capital may be delayed or prohibited by FINRA.

Net Capital Rule

The SEC, FINRA, CFTC and various other regulatory agencies within the U.S. have stringent rules and regulations with respect to the maintenance of specific levels of net capital by regulated entities. Generally, a broker-dealer’s capital is its net worth plus qualified subordinated debt less deductions for certain types of assets. The Net Capital Rule requires that at least a minimum part of a broker-dealer’s assets be maintained in a relatively liquid form.

If these net capital rules are changed or expanded, or if there is an unusually large charge against our net capital, our operations that require the intensive use of capital would be limited. A large operating loss or charge against our net capital could adversely affect our ability to expand or even maintain these current levels of business, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

The U.S. regulators impose rules that require notification when net capital falls below certain predefined criteria. These rules also dictate the ratio of debt-to-equity in the regulatory capital composition of a broker-dealer, and constrain the ability of a broker-dealer to expand its business under certain circumstances. If a firm fails to maintain the required net capital, it may be subject to suspension or revocation of registration by the applicable regulatory agency, and suspension or expulsion by these regulators could ultimately lead to the firm’s liquidation. Additionally, the Net Capital Rule and certain FINRA rules impose requirements that may have the effect of prohibiting a broker-dealer from distributing or withdrawing capital and requiring prior notice to U.S. regulators and approval from FINRA for certain capital withdrawals.

Our foreign subsidiaries are similarly regulated with regard to capital requirements in support of their brokerage activities.

As of December 31, 2020, aggregate excess regulatory capital for all of the operating subsidiaries was $6.8 billion.

IB LLC is subject to the Uniform Net Capital Rule (Rule 15c3-1) under the Exchange Act and to the CFTC’s minimum financial requirements (Regulation 1.17) under the Commodities Exchange Act. Additionally, Interactive Brokers Canada Inc. (“IBC”) is subject to the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (“IIROC”) risk adjusted capital requirement; Interactive Brokers (U.K.) Limited (“IBUK”) is subject to the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) financial resources requirement; Interactive Brokers Ireland Limited (“IBIE”) is subject to the Central Bank of Ireland (“CBI”) financial resources requirement; Interactive Brokers Luxembourg SARL (“IBLUX”) is subject to the Luxembourg Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (“CSSF”) financial resources requirement; IBKR Financial Services AG (“IBKRFS”) is subject to the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (“FINMA”) eligible equity requirement; Interactive Brokers Central Europe Zrt. (“IBCE”) is subject to the Hungarian National Bank (“MNB”) financial resource requirement; Interactive Brokers (India) Private Limited (“IBI”) is subject to the National Stock Exchange of India net capital requirements; Interactive Brokers Hong Kong Limited (“IBHK”) is subject to the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (“SFC”) financial resource requirement; Interactive Brokers Securities Japan, Inc. (“IBSJ”) is subject to the Japanese Financial Services Agency (“FSA”) capital requirements; Interactive Brokers Singapore Pte. Ltd. (“IBSG”) is subject to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (“MAS”) capital requirements; and Interactive Brokers Australia Pty Limited (“IBA”) is subject to the Australian Securities Exchange (“ASX”) liquid capital requirement.

The table below summarizes capital, capital requirements and excess regulatory capital as of December 31, 2020.

As of December 31, 2020, all of the operating subsidiaries were in compliance with their respective regulatory capital requirements. For additional information regarding our net capital requirements see Note 16 – “Regulatory Requirements” to the audited consolidated financial statements in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Protection of Customer Assets

To conduct customer activities, IB LLC is obligated under rules mandated by its primary regulators, the SEC and the CFTC, to segregate cash or qualified securities belonging to customers. In accordance with the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, IB LLC is required to maintain separate bank accounts for the exclusive benefit of customers. In accordance with the Commodity Exchange Act, IB LLC is required to segregate all monies, securities and property received from commodities customers in specially designated accounts. IBC, IBUK, IBIE, IBLUX, IBCE, IBI, IBHK, IBSJ, IBSG and IBA are subject to similar requirements within their respective jurisdictions.

To further enhance the protection of our customers’ assets, since 2011 IB LLC has been performing daily (i.e., instead of the required weekly) customer reserve computations along with daily adjustments of the money set aside in safekeeping for our customers.

Supervision and Compliance

Our Compliance Department supports and seeks to ensure proper operations of our business in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements. The philosophy of the Compliance Department, and the Company as a whole, is to build automated systems to try to minimize manual steps in the compliance process and then to augment these systems with experienced staff members who apply their judgment where needed. We have built automated systems to handle wide-ranging compliance issues such as trade and audit trail reporting, financial operations reporting, enforcement of short sale rules, enforcement of margin rules and pattern day trading restrictions, review of employee correspondence, archival of required records, execution quality and order routing reports, approval and documentation of new customer accounts, surveillance of customer trading for market manipulation or abuse or violations of exchange rules, and anti-money laundering and anti-fraud surveillance. Our automated operations and automated compliance systems provide substantial efficiencies to our Compliance Department. As part of this continuing effort, we have implemented a new case management and surveillance system, and increased our Compliance staffing over the past several years to meet the growing regulatory burdens faced by all industry participants.

Our electronic brokerage subsidiaries have Chief Compliance Officers who report to the Chief Executive Officer or business head for their subsidiary, and to the Global Chief Regulatory Officer (or regional Compliance Head). In the U.S., the Chief Compliance Officer and certain other senior staff members are FINRA and NFA registered principals with supervisory responsibility over the compliance aspects of our businesses. Similar roles are undertaken by staff in certain non-U.S. locations as well. Staff members in the Compliance Department and in other departments are also registered with FINRA, NFA or other regulatory organizations.

Patriot Act and Increased Anti-Money Laundering (“AML”) and “Know Your Customer” Obligations

Registered broker-dealers traditionally have been subject to a variety of rules that require that they “know their customers” and monitor their customers’ transactions for suspicious activities. Under the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (the “USA Patriot Act”), broker-dealers are subject to even more stringent requirements. Likewise, the SEC, CFTC, foreign regulators, and the various exchanges and self-regulatory organizations, of which our operating subsidiaries are members, have passed numerous AML and customer due diligence rules. Significant criminal and civil penalties can be imposed for violations of the USA Patriot Act, and significant fines and regulatory penalties can also be imposed for violations of other governmental and self-regulatory organization AML rules.

As required by the USA Patriot Act and other rules, we have established comprehensive anti-money laundering and customer identification procedures, designated AML Compliance Officers for each electronic brokerage subsidiary, trained our employees and conducted independent audits of our programs. Our anti-money laundering screening is conducted using a mix of automated and manual reviews and has been structured to comply with regulations in various jurisdictions. We collect required information through our new account opening process and screen accounts against databases for the purposes of identity verification and for review of potential negative information and appearance on government lists, including the Office of Foreign Assets and Control, Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons lists and several other global or non-U.S. sanction lists. Additionally, we have designed and implemented restrictions to prevent certain types of high-risk activity, including potentially manipulative patterns of trading or higher risk patterns of money movement. We generate and review a sophisticated suite of surveillance reports and queues to identify potential money laundering, market manipulation or abuse, fraud and other suspicious activities.

Dodd-Frank Reform Act

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act imposes strict reporting and disclosure requirements on the financial services industry. We maintain a robust system for evidence of our supervisory review of controls over financial reporting and management monitors accounting and regulatory rulemaking developments for their potential effect on our financial statements and internal controls over financial reporting.

Business Continuity Planning

Federal regulators and industry self-regulatory organizations have passed a series of rules in the past several years requiring regulated firms to maintain business continuity plans that describe what actions firms would take in the event of a disaster (such as a fire, natural disaster or terrorist incident) that might significantly disrupt operations. We have developed business continuity plans that describe steps that we and our employees would take in the event of various scenarios. We have built backup capabilities for key operations performed at our regional offices in North America, Europe and Asia that would be utilized in the event of a significant outage at our main data center or primary office locations. In addition, we have strengthened our technical infrastructure and have built redundancy of systems so that certain operations can be handled from multiple offices or remotely. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have substantially enhanced this infrastructure and our remote access capabilities so that most employees, including all with critical job functions, can work remotely. We continually evaluate opportunities to further our business continuity planning efforts.

Foreign Regulation

Our international subsidiaries are subject to extensive regulation in the various jurisdictions where they have operations. The most significant of our international subsidiaries are: IBC, registered to do business in Canada as an investment dealer; IBUK, registered to do business in the U.K. as a broker; IBIE, registered in Ireland as an investment firm; IBLUX, registered to do business in Luxembourg as an investment firm; IBKRFS, registered to do business in Switzerland as a securities dealer; IBCE, registered in Hungary as an investment firm; IBI, registered to do business in India as a stock broker; IBHK, registered to do business in Hong Kong as a securities dealer; IBSJ, registered in Japan as a financial instruments firm; IBSG, registered in Singapore as a capital markets firm; and IBA, registered to do business in Australia as a securities dealer and futures broker. See the “Net Capital” section above in this Item 1, for regulatory requirements related to our foreign subsidiaries.

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Executive Officers and Directors of Interactive Brokers Group, Inc.

The table below presents the names, ages and positions of our current directors and executive officers as of December 31, 2020.

Thomas Peterffy - Mr. Peterffy has been at the forefront of applying computer technology to automate trading and brokerage functions since he emigrated from Hungary to the United States in 1965. In 1977, after purchasing a seat on the American Stock Exchange and trading as an individual marker maker in equity options, Mr. Peterffy was among the first to apply a computerized mathematical model to continuously value equity option prices. By 1986, Mr. Peterffy developed and employed a fully integrated, automated market making system for stocks, options and futures. As this pioneering system extended around the globe, online brokerage functions were added and, in 1993, Interactive Brokers was formed.

Milan Galik - Mr. Galik joined us in 1990 as a software developer and has served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Company since October 2019. Mr. Galik has also served as President of the Company and IBG LLC since October 2014. Mr. Galik served as Senior Vice President, Software Development of IBG LLC from October 2003 to October 2014. In addition, Mr. Galik has served as Vice President of Timber Hill LLC since April 1998 and serves as a member of the board of directors of the Boston Options Exchange. Mr. Galik received a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from the Technical University of Budapest in 1990.

Earl H. Nemser - Mr. Nemser has been our Vice Chairman since November 2006. Mr. Nemser has been the Vice Chairman of the Company since 1988 and also serves as a director and/or officer for various subsidiaries of IBG LLC. Mr. Nemser serves as an Independent Advisor to the law firm Dechert LLP. Mr. Nemser served as Special Counsel to Dechert LLP from January 2005 to October 2018. Prior to such time Mr. Nemser served as Partner at the law firms of Swidler Berlin Shereff Friedman, LLP from 1995 to December 2004 and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP prior to 1995. Mr. Nemser received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from New York University in 1967 and a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from Boston University School of Law in 1970.

Paul J. Brody - Mr. Brody has been our Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary since November 2006. Mr. Brody joined the Company in 1987 and has served as Chief Financial Officer of IBG LLC since December 2003. Mr. Brody serves as a director and/or officer for various subsidiaries of IBG LLC. From 2005 to 2012, Mr. Brody served as a director, and for a portion of the time as member Vice Chairman, of The Options Clearing Corporation, of which Interactive Brokers LLC and Timber Hill LLC are members. Mr. Brody also served as a director of Quadriserv Inc., an electronic securities lending platform provider, from 2009 to 2015. Mr. Brody received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Cornell University in 1982.

Thomas A. Frank - Dr. Frank joined us in 1985 and has served since July 1999 as Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Interactive Brokers LLC. In addition, Dr. Frank has served as Vice President of Timber Hill LLC since December 1990. Dr. Frank has served as a director of The Options Clearing Corporation, since 2015. Dr. Frank received a Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1985.

Lawrence E. Harris - Dr. Harris has been a director since July 2007. Dr. Harris is a professor of Finance and Business Economics at the University of Southern California, where he holds the Fred V. Keenan Chair in Finance at the Marshall School of Business. Dr. Harris also serves as trustee of the Clipper Fund, director of the Selected Funds, and as the research coordinator of the Institute for Quantitative Research in Finance. Dr. Harris formerly served as Chief Economist of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Dr. Harris earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago, and is a CFA charterholder. Dr. Harris is an expert in the economics of securities market microstructure and the uses of transactions data in financial research. Dr. Harris has written extensively about trading rules, transaction costs, index markets, and market regulation. Dr. Harris is also the author of the widely respected textbook Trading and Exchanges: Market Microstructure for Practitioners.

Gary Katz – Mr. Katz has been a director since January 2017. Mr. Katz was the President and Chief Executive Officer of the International Securities Exchange (“ISE”) and a co-founder of ISE. Mr. Katz was one of the principal developers of the unique options market structure – an auction market on an electronic platform – used by all three options exchanges; ISE, ISE Gemini and ISE Mercury and was named as inventor or co-inventor on six patents that the ISE received or applied for relating to its proprietary trading system and technology. Mr. Katz served on the Executive Board of Eurex and on the Board of Directors of The Options Clearing Corporation and chaired the Board’s newly formed technology committee. Mr. Katz also served on the Board of Directors of Direct Edge. Mr. Katz graduated from New York University with a master’s degree in Statistics with Distinction and a bachelor’s degree from Queens College. Mr. Katz is currently chairman of the board of Farmer's Pantry LLC, a start-up in the consumer goods industry and also serves on the board of STRS, LLC, a start-up in the financial industry meeting the unique needs of credit card issuers and merchants.

John M. Damgard - Mr. Damgard has been a director since December 2018. Mr. Damgard served as President of the Futures Industry Association (“FIA”) from 1982 to 2013 and was a founder, past president and a member of the board of the Institute for Financial Markets. Prior to joining FIA in 1982, Mr. Damgard directed the Washington office of ACLI International, a leading commodity merchant firm active in cash and futures markets worldwide. Mr. Damgard served as Deputy Assistant and Acting Assistant Secretary of Agriculture and was responsible for the major marketing and regulatory functions at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”). While at the USDA, Mr. Damgard led the Administration’s efforts during the creation of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a new independent regulatory agency. Mr. Damgard studied at the University of Virginia for two years and received a B.A. from Knox College in 1964 with a major in Political Science and a minor in Economics.

Philip Uhde - Mr. Uhde, is a private investor. In 2012 Mr. Uhde founded, and from 2012 through 2020 he managed, Echinus Partners, an approximately $1.5 billion investment partnership making concentrated, long-term investments in the public markets. Mr. Uhde has led many investments in financial services companies, including Moody’s, S&P Global, Fimalac (Fitch), Visa, Mercadolibre, Guidewire and IBG, Inc. Prior to founding Echinus Partners, Mr. Uhde was a member of the investment team at SPO Partners, an investment partnership founded in 1969. Before that Mr. Uhde was an analyst at Sloane Robinson, an emerging markets hedge fund. Mr. Uhde received a BA in Economics and East Asian Studies from Yale University in 2008. During the course of his ownership of IBKR, Mr. Uhde has made in-depth studies into various aspects of the Company’s business with numerous recommendations to management.

William Peterffy - Mr. William Peterffy is the Chair of the Investment Committee of the Peterffy Foundation where he oversees its investment portfolio. Mr. William Peterffy joined IBG LLC in 2019 to lead its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) efforts. Mr. William Peterffy joined the Company’s Board of Directors as an observer in 2019. Mr. William Peterffy is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Collective Heritage Institute (commonly known as Bioneers) and focuses his efforts on sustainability issues. Prior to joining IBG LLC, Mr. William Peterffy worked as an investment analyst within the hedge fund industry. As a result of these professional and other experiences, Mr. William Peterffy possesses particular knowledge and experience in ESG issues and provides diversity of viewpoint to the Board by virtue of his experience that strengthens the Board’s collective knowledge, capabilities and experience. Mr. William Peterffy is the son of our Chairman, Mr. Thomas Peterffy.

Nicole Yuen - Ms. Yuen is a seasoned investment banker with more than 20 years of experience. Ms. Yuen most recently served as Managing Director, Head of Equities – North Asia and Vice Chairman – Greater China for Credit Suisse. During Ms. Yuen’s 6-year tenure, she led the build-out of Credit Suisse’s brokerage business in mainland China and oversaw the bank’s equities business in North Asia. Ms. Yuen is a non-executive director of Aberdeen New Dawn Investment Trust PLC.

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

We face a variety of risks that are substantial and inherent in our businesses, including market, liquidity, credit, operational, legal and regulatory. In addition to the risks identified elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the following risk factors apply to our business results of operations and financial condition:

Risks Related to Our Company Structure

Future sales of our common stock in the public market could lower our stock price, and any additional capital raised by us through the sale of equity or convertible securities may dilute your ownership in us.

The members of Holdings have the right to cause the redemption of their Holdings membership interests over time in connection with offerings of shares of our common stock. We intend to sell additional shares of common stock in public offerings in the future, which may include offerings of our common stock to finance future purchases of IBG LLC membership interests which, in turn, will finance corresponding redemptions of Holdings membership interests. These offerings and related transactions are anticipated to occur at least annually into the future. The size and occurrence of these offerings may be affected by market conditions. We may also issue additional shares of common stock or convertible debt securities to finance future acquisitions or business combinations. We currently have approximately 91 million outstanding shares of common stock. Assuming no anti-dilution adjustments based on combinations or

divisions of our common stock, the offerings referred to above could result in the issuance by us of up to an additional approximately 326 million shares of common stock. It is possible, however, that such shares could be issued in one or a few large transactions.

We cannot predict the size of future issuances of our common stock or the effect, if any, that future issuances and sales of shares of our common stock may have on the market price of our common stock. Sales of substantial amounts of our common stock (including shares issued in connection with an acquisition), or the perception that such sales could occur, may cause the market price of our common stock to decline.

Control by Mr. Thomas Peterffy of a majority of the combined voting power of our common stock may give rise to conflicts of interests and could discourage a change of control that other stockholders may favor, which could negatively affect our stock price, and adversely affect stockholders in other ways.

Mr. Thomas Peterffy, our founder and Chairman, and his affiliates beneficially own approximately 89.6% of the economic interests and all of the voting interests in Holdings, which owns all of our Class B common stock, representing approximately 78.2% of the combined voting power of all classes of our voting stock. As a result, Mr. Thomas Peterffy has the ability to elect all of the members of our board of directors and thereby to control our management and affairs, including determinations with respect to acquisitions, dispositions, material expansions or contractions of our business, entry into new lines of business, borrowings, issuances of common stock or other securities, and the declaration and payment of dividends on our common stock. In addition, Mr. Thomas Peterffy is able to determine the outcome of all matters requiring stockholder approval and will be able to cause or prevent a change of control of our company or a change in the composition of our board of directors and could preclude any unsolicited acquisition of our company. The concentration of ownership could discourage potential takeover attempts that other stockholders may favor and could deprive stockholders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their common stock as part of a sale of our company and this may adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

Moreover, because of Mr. Thomas Peterffy’s substantial ownership, we are eligible to be and are, treated as a “controlled company” for purposes of the Nasdaq Marketplace Rules. As a result, we are not required by Nasdaq to have a majority of independent directors or to maintain Compensation and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committees composed entirely of independent directors to continue to list the shares of our common stock on Nasdaq. Our Compensation Committee is comprised of Messrs. Thomas Peterffy (Chairman of the Compensation Committee) and Earl H. Nemser (our Vice Chairman). Mr. Thomas Peterffy’s membership on the Compensation Committee may give rise to conflicts of interests in that Mr. Thomas Peterffy is able to influence all matters relating to executive compensation, including his own compensation.

We are dependent on IBG LLC to distribute cash to us in amounts sufficient to pay our tax liabilities and other expenses.

We are a holding company and our primary assets are our approximately 21.8% equity interest in IBG LLC and our controlling interest and related rights as the sole managing member of IBG LLC and, as such, we operate and control all of the business and affairs of IBG LLC and are able to consolidate IBG LLC’s financial results into our financial statements. We have no independent means of generating revenues. IBG LLC is treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes and, as such, is not subject to U.S. federal income tax. Instead, its taxable income is allocated on a pro rata basis to Holdings and us. Accordingly, we incur income taxes on our proportionate share of the net taxable income of IBG LLC, and also incur expenses related to our operations. We intend to cause IBG LLC to distribute cash to its members in amounts at least equal to that necessary to cover their tax liabilities, if any, with respect to the earnings of IBG LLC. To the extent we need funds to pay such taxes, or for any other purpose, and IBG LLC is unable to provide such funds, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are required to pay Holdings for the benefit relating to additional tax depreciation or amortization deductions we claim as a result of the tax basis step-up our subsidiaries received in connection with our initial public offering (“IPO”) and certain subsequent redemptions of Holdings membership interests.

In connection with our IPO, we purchased interests in IBG LLC from Holdings for cash. In connection with redemptions of Holdings membership interests, we acquired additional interests in IBG LLC by issuing shares of Class A common stock in exchange for an equivalent number of shares of member interests in IBG LLC (the “Redemptions”). In addition, IBG LLC membership interests held by Holdings may be sold in the future to us and financed by our issuances of shares of our common stock. The initial purchase and the Redemptions did, and the subsequent purchases may, result in increases in the tax basis of the tangible and intangible assets of IBG LLC and its subsidiaries that otherwise would not have been available. Such increase will be approximately equal to the amount by which our stock price at the time of the purchase exceeds the income tax basis of the assets of IBG LLC underlying the IBG LLC interests acquired by us. These increases in tax basis will result in increased deductions in computing our taxable income and resulting tax savings for us generally over the 15 year period which commenced with the initial purchase. We have agreed to pay 85% of these tax savings, if any, to Holdings as they are realized as additional consideration for the IBG LLC interests that we acquire, with the balance to be retained by us.

As a result of the IPO and the Redemptions by Holdings, the increase in the tax basis attributable to our interest in IBG LLC is $1.6 billion. The tax savings that we would actually realize as a result of this increase in tax basis likely would be significantly less than this amount multiplied by our effective tax rate due to a number of factors, including the allocation of a portion of the increase in tax basis to foreign or non-depreciable fixed assets, the impact of the increase in the tax basis on our ability to use foreign tax credits and the rules relating to the amortization of intangible assets, for example. Based on facts and assumptions as of December 31, 2020, including that subsequent purchases of IBG LLC interests will occur in fully taxable transactions, the potential tax basis increase resulting from the historical and future purchases of the IBG LLC interests held by Holdings could be as much as $11.2 billion. The actual increase in tax basis depends, among other factors, upon the price of shares of our common stock at the time of the purchase and the extent to which such purchases are taxable and, as a result, could differ materially from this amount. Our ability to achieve benefits from any such increase, and the amount of the payments to be made under the Tax Receivable Agreement, depends upon a number of factors, as discussed above, including the timing and amount of our future income.

The tax basis increase of $11.2 billion assumes that (a) all remaining IBG LLC membership interests held by Holdings are purchased by us in one or more taxable transactions and (b) such purchases in the future are made at prices that reflect the closing share price as of December 31, 2020.

If the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) successfully challenges the tax basis increase, under certain circumstances, we could be required to make payments to Holdings under the Tax Receivable Agreement in excess of our cash tax savings.

Certain provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may prevent efforts by our stockholders to change our direction or management.

Provisions contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation could make it more difficult for a third-party to acquire us, even if doing so might be beneficial to our stockholders. For example, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes our board of directors to determine the rights, preferences, privileges and restrictions of unissued series of preferred stock, without any vote or action by our stockholders. We could issue a series of preferred stock that could impede the completion of a merger, tender offer or other takeover attempt. These provisions may discourage potential acquisition proposals and may delay, deter or prevent a change of control of us, including through transactions, and, in particular, unsolicited transactions, that some or all of our stockholders might consider to be desirable. As a result, efforts by our stockholders to change our direction or management may be unsuccessful.

Risks Related to Our Business

Our business may be harmed by global events beyond our control, including overall slowdowns in securities trading.

Like other brokerage and financial services firms, our business and profitability are directly affected by elements that are beyond our control, such as economic and political conditions, broad trends in business and finance, changes in volume of securities and futures transactions, changes in the markets in which such transactions occur and changes in how such transactions are processed. A weakness in equity markets, such as a slowdown causing reduction in trading volume in U.S. or foreign securities and derivatives, has historically resulted in reduced transaction revenues and would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business could be harmed by a systemic market event.

Some market participants could be overleveraged. In case of sudden, large price movements, such market participants may not be able to meet their obligations to brokers who, in turn, may not be able to meet their obligations to their counterparties. As a result, the financial system or a portion thereof could collapse, and the impact of such an event could be catastrophic to our business.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures implemented to contain the spread of the virus may have a material adverse impact on our business and results of operations.

In March 2020, the World Health Organization recognized the outbreak of COVID-19 caused by a novel strain of the coronavirus as a pandemic. The pandemic affects all countries in which we operate. The response of governments and societies to the COVID-19 pandemic, which includes temporary closures of certain businesses; social distancing; travel restrictions, “shelter in place” and other governmental regulations; and reduced consumer spending due to job losses, has significantly impacted volatility in the financial, commodities and energy markets, and general economic conditions. These measures may have negatively impacted businesses, market participants, our counterparties and customers, and the global economy and could continue to do so for a prolonged period of time.

Our net interest income and profitability could be negatively affected by lower benchmark interest rates caused by central banks lowering target benchmark rates in an attempt to buffer their economies from the uncertainties around the COVID-19 pandemic. 

A substantial portion of our employees have been impacted by local COVID-19 restrictions and have been working remotely. As a result, any disruption to our information technology systems, including from cyber incidents, could have a material adverse effect on our business. We have taken measures to maintain the health and safety of our employees, but widespread illness could negatively affect staffing levels within certain functions or locations. In addition, our ability to recruit, hire and onboard employees could be negatively impacted by COVID-19 restrictions.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our future financial results could be significant but currently cannot be quantified, as it will depend on numerous evolving factors that cannot be accurately predicted, including, but not limited to, the duration and spread of the pandemic; its impact on our customers, employees and vendors; governmental regulations in response to the pandemic; and the overall impact of the pandemic on the economy and society, among other factors. Any of these events, alone or in combination with others, could exacerbate many of the risk factors discussed or incorporated by reference herein and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our future success will depend on our response to the demand for new services, products and technologies.

The demand for our services that rely on electronic communications gateways, is characterized by:

rapid technological change;

changing customer demands;

the need to enhance existing services and products or introduce new services and products; and

evolving industry standards.

New services, products and technologies may render our existing services, products and technologies less competitive. Our future success will depend, in part, on our ability to respond to the demand for new services, products and technologies on a timely and cost-effective basis and to adapt to technological advancements and changing standards to address the increasingly sophisticated requirements and varied needs of our customers and prospective customers. We cannot assure you that we will be successful in developing, introducing or marketing new services, products and technologies. In addition, we may experience difficulties that could delay or prevent the successful development, introduction or marketing of these services and products, and our new service and product enhancements may not achieve market acceptance. Any failure on our part to anticipate or respond adequately to technological advancements, customer requirements or changing industry standards, or any significant delays in the development, introduction or availability of new services, products or enhancements could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our reliance on our computer software could cause us great financial harm in the event of any disruption or corruption of our computer software. We may experience technology failures while developing our software.

We rely on our computer software to receive and properly process internal and external data. Any disruption in the proper functioning of our software due to, for example, erroneous or corrupted data, or cyber-attacks, may cause us to make erroneous trades or suspend our services and could cause us great financial harm. To maintain our competitive advantage, our software is under continuous development. As we identify and enhance our software, there is risk that software failures may occur and result in service interruptions and have other unintended consequences.

We depend on our proprietary technology, and our future results may be impacted if we cannot maintain technological superiority in our industry.

Our success in the past has largely been attributable to our sophisticated proprietary technology that has taken many years to develop. We have benefited from the fact that the type of proprietary technology equivalent to that which we employ has not been widely available to our competitors. If our technology becomes more widely available to our current or future competitors for any reason, our operating results may be adversely affected. Additionally, adoption or development of similar or more advanced technologies by our competitors may require that we devote substantial resources to the development of more advanced technology to remain competitive. The markets in which we compete are characterized by rapidly changing technology, evolving industry standards and changing trading systems, practices and techniques. Although we have been at the forefront of many of these developments in the past, we may not be able to keep up with these rapid changes in the future, develop new technology, realize a return on amounts invested in developing new technologies or remain competitive in the future.

The loss of our key employees would materially adversely affect our business.

Our key executives have substantial experience and have made significant contributions to our business, and our continued success is dependent upon the retention of our key management executives, as well as the services provided by our staff of trading system, technology and programming specialists and a number of other key managerial, marketing, planning, financial, technical and operations personnel. The loss of such key personnel could have a material adverse effect on our business. Growth in our business is dependent, to a large degree, on our ability to retain and attract such employees.

We may not pay dividends on our common stock at any time in the foreseeable future.

As a holding company for our interest in IBG LLC, we will be dependent upon the ability of IBG LLC to generate earnings and cash flows and distribute them to us so that we may pay any dividends to our stockholders. To the extent (if any) that we have excess cash, any decision to declare and pay dividends in the future will be made at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on, among other things, our results of operations, financial conditions, cash requirement, contractual restrictions and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant. Since the second quarter of 2011, we have declared and paid a quarterly cash dividend of $0.10 per share. Although not required, we currently intend to pay quarterly dividends of $0.10 per share to our common stockholders for the foreseeable future.

Our future efforts to sell shares or raise additional capital may be delayed or prohibited by regulations.

As certain of our subsidiaries are members of FINRA, we are subject to certain regulations regarding changes in control of our ownership. FINRA Rule 1017 generally provides that FINRA approval must be obtained in connection with any transaction resulting in a change in control of a member firm. FINRA defines control as ownership of 25% or more of the firm’s equity by a single entity or person and would include a change in control of a parent company. IBC, IBUK, IBIE, IBLUX, IBKRFS, IBCE, IBHK, and IBSG are subject to similar change in control regulations promulgated by the IIROC in Canada, the FCA in the United Kingdom, the CBI in Ireland, the CSSF in Luxembourg, the FINMA in Switzerland, the MNB in Hungary, the SFC in Hong Kong, and the MAS in Singapore, respectively. As a result of these regulations, our future efforts to sell shares or raise additional capital may be delayed or prohibited. We may be subject to similar restrictions in other jurisdictions in which we operate.

Regulatory and legal uncertainties could harm our business.

The securities and derivatives businesses are heavily regulated. Firms in financial service industries have been subject to an increasingly regulated environment over recent years, and penalties and fines sought by regulatory authorities have increased accordingly. Our broker-dealer subsidiaries are subject to regulations in the U.S. and abroad covering all aspects of their business. Regulatory bodies include, in the U.S., the SEC, FINRA, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Chicago Board Options Exchange, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the CFTC, and the NFA; in Canada, the IIROC and various Canadian securities commissions; in the United Kingdom, the FCA; in Ireland, the CBI; in Luxembourg, the CSSF; in Switzerland, the FINMA; in Hungary; the MNB; in India, the Securities and Exchange Board of India; in Hong Kong, the SFC; in Japan, the Financial Supervisory Agency and the Japan Securities Dealers Association; in Singapore, the MAS; and in Australia, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission. Our mode of operation and profitability may be directly affected by additional legislation changes in rules promulgated by various domestic and foreign government agencies and self-regulatory organizations that oversee our businesses, and changes in the interpretation or enforcement of existing laws and rules, including the potential imposition of transaction taxes. Noncompliance with applicable laws or regulations could result in sanctions being levied against us, including fines and censures, suspension or expulsion from a certain jurisdiction or market or the revocation or limitation of licenses. Noncompliance with applicable laws or regulations could adversely affect our reputation, prospects, revenues and earnings. In addition, changes in current laws or regulations or in governmental policies could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to regulatory oversight and examination by numerous governmental and self-regulatory authorities. As announced on August 10, 2020, we agreed to settle certain matters related to our historical anti-money laundering and Bank Secrecy Act practices and procedures with FINRA, the SEC and the CFTC. As part of the settlements, we agreed to pay penalties of $15 million to FINRA, $11.5 million to the SEC and $11.5 million to the CFTC, plus approximately $700,000 in disgorgement. In addition, we agreed to continue the retention of an independent consultant to review the implementation of our enhanced compliance practices and procedures. We are also cooperating with a United States Department of Justice inquiry concerning these matters, and while its outcome cannot be predicted, we do not believe that the resolution of this inquiry is likely to have a materially adverse effect on our financial results.

Domestic and foreign stock exchanges, other self-regulatory organizations and state and foreign securities commissions can censure, fine, issue cease-and-desist orders, suspend or expel a broker-dealer or any of its officers or employees. Our ability to comply with all applicable laws and rules is largely dependent on our internal systems to ensure compliance, as well as our ability to attract and retain qualified compliance personnel. We could be subject to disciplinary or other actions in the future due to claimed noncompliance, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. To continue to operate and to

expand our services internationally, we may have to comply with the regulatory controls of each country in which we conduct, or intend to conduct business, the requirements of which may not be clearly defined. The varying compliance requirements of these different regulatory jurisdictions, which are often unclear, may limit our ability to continue existing international operations and further expand internationally.

Our direct market access clearing and non-clearing brokerage operations face intense competition.

With respect to our direct market access brokerage business, the market for electronic and interactive bidding, offering and trading services in connection with equities, options and futures is rapidly evolving and intensely competitive. We expect competition to continue and intensify in the future. Our current and potential future competition principally comes from five categories of competitors:

prime brokers who, in an effort to satisfy the demands of their customers for hands-on electronic trading facilities, universal access to markets, smart routing, better trading tools, lower commissions and financing rates, have embarked upon building such facilities and product enhancements;

direct market access and online options and futures firms, and online equity brokers;

zero commission brokers, while technically not offering direct market access, who use simplified interfaces and a limited product offering to attract new market participants;

software development firms and vendors who create global trading networks and analytical tools and make them available to brokers; and

traditional brokers.

In addition, we compete with financial institutions, mutual fund sponsors and other organizations, many of which provide online, direct market access or other investing services. A number of brokers provide our technology and execution services to their customers, and these brokers will become our competitors if they develop their own technology. Some of our competitors in this area have greater name recognition, longer operating histories and significantly greater financial, technical, marketing and other resources than we have and offer a wider range of services and financial products than we do. Some of our competitors may also have an ability to charge lower or zero commissions. We cannot assure you that we will be able to compete effectively or efficiently with current or future competitors. These increasing levels of competition in the online trading industry could significantly harm this aspect of our business.

We are subject to potential losses as a result of our clearing and execution activities.

As a clearing member firm providing financing services to certain of our brokerage customers, we are ultimately responsible for their financial performance in connection with various securities and derivatives transactions. Our clearing operations require a commitment of our capital and, despite safeguards implemented by our software, involve risks of losses due to the potential failure of our customers to perform their obligations under these transactions. If our customers default on their obligations, we remain financially liable for such obligations, and although these obligations are collateralized, we are subject to market risk in the liquidation of customer collateral to satisfy those obligations. There can be no assurance that our risk management procedures will be adequate. Any liability arising from clearing operations could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

As a clearing member firm of securities and derivatives clearing houses in the U.S. and abroad, we are also exposed to clearing member credit risk. Securities and derivatives clearing houses require member firms to deposit cash, stock and/or government securities for margin requirements and to clearing funds. If a clearing member defaults in its obligations to the clearing house in an amount larger than its own margin and clearing fund deposits, the shortfall is absorbed pro rata from the deposits of the other clearing members. Many clearing houses of which we are members also have the authority to assess their members for additional funds if the clearing fund is depleted. A large clearing member default could result in a substantial cost to us if we are required to pay such assessments.

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We are exposed to risks associated with our international operations.

During 2020, approximately 29% of our net revenues were generated by our operating subsidiaries outside the U.S. We are exposed to risks and uncertainties inherent in doing business in international markets, particularly in the heavily regulated brokerage industry. Such risks and uncertainties include political, economic and financial instability; unexpected changes in regulatory requirements, tariffs and other trade barriers; exchange rate fluctuations; applicable currency controls; and difficulties in staffing, including reliance on newly hired local experts, and managing foreign operations. These risks could cause a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We do not have fully redundant systems. System failures could harm our business.

If our systems fail to perform, we could experience unanticipated disruptions in operations, slower response times or decreased customer service and customer satisfaction. Our ability to facilitate transactions successfully and provide high quality customer service also depends on the efficient and uninterrupted operation of our computer and communications hardware and software systems. Our service has experienced periodic system interruptions, which we believe will continue to occur from time to time. Our systems and operations also are potentially vulnerable to damage or interruption from human error, cyber-attacks, natural disasters, power loss, telecommunication failures, break-ins, sabotage, computer viruses, intentional acts of vandalism and similar events. We do not have fully redundant systems, and our formal business continuity plan does not include restoration of all services. Our backup services are currently limited to U.S. markets. We currently have limited separate backup facilities dedicated to our non-U.S. operations. It is our intention to provide for and progressively deploy backup facilities for our global facilities over time. In addition, we do not carry business interruption insurance to compensate for losses that could occur to the extent not required. Any system failure that causes an interruption in our service or decreases the responsiveness of our service could impair our reputation, damage our brand name and materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Failure of third-party systems on which we rely could adversely affect our business.

We rely on certain third-party computer systems or third-party service providers, including clearing systems, exchange systems, banking systems, Internet service, co-location facilities, communications facilities and other facilities. Any interruption in these third-party services, or deterioration in their performance, could be disruptive to our business. If our arrangement with any third-party is terminated, we may not be able to find an alternative source of systems support on a timely basis or on commercially reasonable terms. This could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Internet-related issues may reduce or slow the growth in the use of our services in the future.

Critical issues concerning the commercial use of the Internet, such as ease of access, security, privacy, reliability, cost, and quality of service, remain unresolved and may adversely impact the growth of Internet use. If Internet usage continues to increase rapidly, the Internet infrastructure may not be able to support the demands placed on it by this growth, and its performance and reliability may decline. Although our larger institutional customers use leased data lines to communicate with us, our ability to increase the speed with which we provide services to consumers and to increase the scope and quality of such services is limited by and dependent upon the speed and reliability of our customers’ access to the Internet, which is beyond our control. If periods of decreased performance, outages or delays on the Internet occur frequently or other critical issues concerning the Internet are not resolved, overall Internet usage or usage of our web based products could increase more slowly or decline, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our computer infrastructure may be vulnerable to security breaches. Any such problems could jeopardize confidential information transmitted over the Internet, cause interruptions in our operations or cause us to have liability to third persons.

Our computer infrastructure is potentially vulnerable to physical or electronic computer break-ins, cyber-attacks, viruses and similar disruptive problems and security breaches. Any such problems or security breaches could cause us to have liability to one or more third parties, including our customers, and disrupt our operations. A party able to circumvent our security measures could misappropriate proprietary information or customer information, jeopardize the confidential nature of information transmitted over the Internet or cause interruptions in our operations. Concerns over the security of Internet transactions and the privacy of users could also inhibit the growth of the Internet or the electronic brokerage industry in general, particularly as a means of conducting commercial transactions. To the extent that our activities involve the storage and transmission of proprietary information such as personal financial information, security breaches could expose us to a risk of financial loss, litigation and other liabilities. Our estimated annual losses from reimbursements to customers whose accounts have been negatively affected by unauthorized access have historically been less than $500,000 annually and were significantly reduced since the widespread introduction of our Secure Login System. Our current insurance program may protect us against some, but not all, of such losses. Any of these events, particularly if they (individually or in the aggregate) result in a loss of confidence in our company or electronic brokerage firms in general, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights or may be prevented from using intellectual property necessary for our business.

We rely primarily on trade secret, contract, copyright, patent and trademark laws to protect our proprietary technology. It is possible that third parties may copy or otherwise obtain and use our proprietary technology without authorization or otherwise infringe on our rights. We may also face claims of infringement that could interfere with our ability to use technology that is material to our business operations.

In the future, we may have to rely on litigation to enforce our intellectual property rights, protect our trade secrets, determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others or defend against claims of infringement or invalidity. Any such litigation, whether successful or unsuccessful, could result in substantial costs and the diversion of resources and the attention of management, any of which could negatively affect our business.

We are subject to risks relating to litigation and potential securities laws liability.

We are exposed to substantial risks of liability under federal and state securities laws, other federal and state laws and court decisions, as well as rules and regulations promulgated by the SEC, the CFTC, the Federal Reserve, state securities regulators, self-regulatory organizations and foreign regulatory agencies. We are also subject to the risk of litigation and claims that may be without merit. We could incur significant legal expenses in defending ourselves against and resolving lawsuits or claims. An adverse resolution of any future lawsuits or claims against us could result in a negative perception of the Company and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. See “Legal Proceedings and Regulatory Matters” in Part I, Item 3 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

We are subject to counterparty risk whereby defaults by parties with whom we do business can have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In our electronic brokerage business, our customer margin credit exposure is to a great extent mitigated by our policy of automatically evaluating each account throughout the trading day and closing out positions automatically for accounts that are found to be under-margined. While this methodology is effective in most situations, it may not be effective in situations in which no liquid market exists for the relevant securities or commodities or in which, for any reason, automatic liquidation for certain accounts has been disabled. If no liquid market exists or automatic liquidation has been disabled, we are subject to risks inherent in extending credit, especially during periods of rapidly declining markets. Any loss or expense incurred due to defaults by our customers in failing to repay margin loans or to maintain adequate collateral for these loans would cause harm to our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Any future acquisitions may result in significant transaction expenses, integration and consolidation risks and risks associated with entering new markets, and we may be unable to profitably operate our consolidated company.

Although our growth strategy has not focused historically on acquisitions, we may in the future engage in evaluations of potential acquisitions and new businesses. We may not have the financial resources necessary to consummate any acquisitions in the future or the ability to obtain the necessary funds on satisfactory terms. Any future acquisitions may result in significant transaction expenses and risks associated with entering new markets in addition to integration and consolidation risks. Because acquisitions historically have not been a core part of our growth strategy, we have little experience in successfully utilizing acquisitions. We may not have sufficient management, financial and other resources to integrate any such future acquisitions or to successfully operate new businesses and we may be unable to profitably operate our expanded company.

Because our revenues and profitability depend on trading volume, they are prone to significant fluctuations and are difficult to predict.

Our revenues are dependent on the level of trading activity on securities and derivatives exchanges in the U.S. and abroad. In the past, our revenues and operating results have varied significantly from period to period primarily due to movements and trends in the underlying markets and to fluctuations in trading levels. As a result, period to period comparisons of our revenues and operating results may not be meaningful, and future revenues and profitability may be subject to significant fluctuations or declines.

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We may incur material trading losses from our market making activities.

A portion of our revenues and operating profits is derived from our trading as principal in our role as a market maker. We may incur trading losses relating to these activities since each primarily involves the purchase or sale of securities for our own account. In any period, we may incur trading losses in a significant number of securities for a variety of reasons including:

price changes in securities;

lack of liquidity in securities in which we have positions; and

the required performance of our market making obligations.

These risks may limit or restrict our ability to either resell securities we purchased or to repurchase securities we sold. In addition, we may experience difficulty borrowing securities to make delivery to purchasers to whom we sold short, or lenders from whom we have borrowed. From time to time, we have large position concentrations in securities of a single issuer or issuers engaged in a specific industry or traded in a particular market. Such a concentration could result in higher trading losses than would occur if our positions and activities were less concentrated.

In our role as a market maker, we attempt to derive a profit from the difference between the prices at which we buy and sell, or sell and buy, securities. However, competitive forces often require us to match the quotes other market makers display and to hold varying amounts of securities in inventory. By having to maintain inventory positions, we are subjected to a high degree of risk. We cannot assure you that we will be able to manage such risk successfully or that we will not experience significant losses from such activities, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Reduced spreads in securities pricing, levels of trading activity and trading through market makers could harm our business.

Computer-generated buy/sell programs and other technological advances and regulatory changes in the marketplace may continue to tighten spreads on securities transactions. Tighter spreads and increased competition could make our remaining market making activities less profitable.

We may incur losses in our market making activities in the event of failures of our proprietary pricing model.

Our market making activities are substantially dependent on the accuracy of our proprietary pricing mathematical model, which continuously evaluates and monitors the risks inherent in our portfolio, assimilates market data and reevaluates our outstanding quotes many times per second. Our model is designed to automatically rebalance our positions throughout the trading day to manage risk exposures on our positions in options, futures and the underlying securities. In the event of a flaw in our pricing model and/or a failure in the related software, our pricing model may lead to unexpected and/or unprofitable trades, which may result in material trading losses.

The valuation of the financial instruments we hold may result in large and occasionally anomalous swings in the value of our positions and in our earnings in any period.

The market prices of our long and short positions are reflected on our books at closing prices which are typically the last trade price before the official close of the primary exchange on which each such security trades. If prices of derivatives and their underlying securities close out of alignment, there may be large and occasionally anomalous swings in the value of our positions daily and, accordingly, in our earnings in any period. This is especially true on the last business day of each calendar quarter.

We are exposed to losses due to lack of perfect information.

As market makers, we provide liquidity by buying from sellers and selling to buyers. Quite often, we trade with others who have different information than we do, and as a result, we may accumulate unfavorable positions preceding large price movements in companies. Should the frequency or magnitude of these events increase, our losses will likely increase correspondingly.

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Rules governing designated market makers may require us to make unprofitable trades or prevent us from making profitable trades.

Designated market makers are granted certain rights and have certain obligations to “make a market” in a particular security. They agree to specific obligations to maintain a fair and orderly market. In acting as a designated market maker, we are subjected to a high degree of risk by having to support an orderly market. In this role, we may at times be required to make trades that adversely affect our profitability. In addition, we may at times be unable to trade for our own account in circumstances in which it may be to our advantage to trade, and we may be obligated to act as a principal when buyers or sellers outnumber each other. In those instances, we may take a position counter to the market, buying or selling securities to support an orderly market. Additionally, the rules of the markets which govern our activities as a designated market maker are subject to change. If these rules are made more stringent, our trading revenues and profits as a designated market maker could be adversely affected.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

Our headquarters are located in Greenwich, Connecticut. We lease office and data center facilities in 25 cities throughout the world where we conduct our operations as set forth below. We believe our present facilities, together with our current options to extend lease terms, are adequate for our current needs.

The table below presents certain information with respect to our leased facilities as of December 31, 2020.

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ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS AND REGULATORY MATTERS

The securities and commodities industry is highly regulated and many aspects of our business involve substantial risk of liability. In past years, there has been an increasing incidence of litigation involving the brokerage industry, including class action suits that generally seek substantial damages, including in some cases punitive damages. Compliance and trading problems that are reported to federal, state and provincial regulators, exchanges or other self-regulatory organizations by dissatisfied customers are investigated by such regulatory bodies, and, if pursued by such regulatory body or such customers, may rise to the level of arbitration or disciplinary action. We are also subject to periodic regulatory audits and inspections.

Like other brokerage firms, we have been named as a defendant in lawsuits and from time to time we have been threatened with, or named as a defendant in arbitrations and administrative proceedings. We may in the future become involved in additional litigation or regulatory proceedings in the ordinary course of our business, including litigation or regulatory proceedings that could be material to our business.

For more information regarding pending and threatened legal actions and proceedings see Note 14 - “Commitments, Contingencies, and Guarantees” to the consolidated financial statements in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Pending Regulatory Inquiries

Our businesses are heavily regulated by state, federal and foreign regulatory agencies as well as numerous exchanges and self-regulatory organizations. Most of our companies are regulated under some or all of the following: state securities laws, U.S. and foreign securities, commodities and financial services laws and the rules of the more than 120 exchanges, market centers and self-regulatory organizations of which one or more of our companies may be members. In the current era of heightened regulatory scrutiny of financial institutions, we have incurred increased compliance costs, along with the industry as a whole. Increased regulation also creates increased barriers to entry. We have built and continue to build human and automated infrastructure in light of increasing regulatory scrutiny, which provides us with a possible advantage over potential newcomers to the business.

We receive many regulatory inquiries each year in addition to being subject to frequent regulatory examinations. The great majority of these inquiries do not lead to fines or any further action against us. We are currently the subject of regulatory inquiries regarding subjects including, but not limited to: audit trail reporting, trade reporting, best execution and order execution procedures, short sales, margin lending, anti-money laundering or potentially manipulative trading by customers, procedures for accounts managed by independent financial advisors or referred by third parties, technology development practices, record-keeping, business continuity planning and other topics of recent regulatory interest. The Company has procedures for evaluating whether potential regulatory fines are probable, estimable and material and for updating its contingency reserves and disclosures accordingly. In the current climate, we expect to pay significant and increasing regulatory fines on various topics on an ongoing basis, as other regulated financial services businesses do. The amount of any fines, and when and if they will be incurred, typically is impossible to predict given the nature of the regulatory process.

‎ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

PART II

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY; RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Common Stock Information

Interactive Brokers Group Inc.’s Class A common stock trades under the symbol “IBKR” on Nasdaq. As of February 19, 2020, there were 23 holders of record, which does not reflect those shares held beneficially or those shares held in “street” name. Accordingly, the number of beneficial owners of our common stock exceeds this number

Dividends and Other Restrictions

We currently intend to pay quarterly dividends of $0.10 per share to our common stockholders for the foreseeable future.

Stockholder Return Performance Graph

The graph below compares cumulative total stockholder return on our common stock, the S&P 500 Index and the Nasdaq Financial-100 Index from December 31, 2015 to December 31, 2020. The comparison assumes $100 was invested on December 31, 2015 in our common stock and each of the foregoing indices and assumes reinvestment of dividends before consideration of income taxes.

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The Nasdaq Financial-100 Index includes 100 of the largest domestic and international financial securities listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market based on market capitalization. They include companies classified according to the Industry Classification Benchmark as Financials, which are included within the Nasdaq Bank, Nasdaq Insurance, and Nasdaq Other Finance Indexes.

The S&P 500 Index includes 500 large cap common stocks actively traded in the U.S. The stocks included in the S&P 500 are those of large publicly held companies that trade on either of the two largest American stock markets, the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.

The stock performance depicted in the graph above is not to be relied upon as indicative of future performance. The stock performance graph shall not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any of our filings under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act, except to the extent that we specifically incorporate the same by reference, nor shall it be deemed to be “soliciting material” or to be “filed” with the SEC or subject to Regulations 14A or 14C or to the liabilities of Section 18 of the Exchange Act.

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Use of Proceeds

On July 27, 2020, the Company filed a Prospectus Supplement on Form 424B (File Number 333-240121) with the SEC to register up to 990,000 shares of common stock, offering the opportunity for eligible persons to receive awards in the form of an offer to receive such shares by participating in one or more promotions that are designed to attract new customers to the Company’s brokerage platform, increase assets held with the Company’s brokerage business and enhance customer loyalty.

On August 20, 2020 and October 30, 2020, the Company filed a Prospectus Supplement on Form 424B5 with the SEC to issue 1,000,000 shares and 11,710,608 shares, respectively, of common stock (with a fair value of $52 million and $557 million, respectively) in exchange for an equivalent number of shares of member interests in IBG LLC. The acquired shares were distributed in-kind to the members of Holdings who elected to redeem a portion of their Holdings membership interests.

Mr. Thomas Peterffy and his affiliates elected to redeem 10,000,000 Holdings shares and received 10,000,000 shares of our common stock as part of this redemption. These common shares are being sold daily in open market transactions pursuant to, and subject to the limitations in, one or more Rule 10b5-1 plans and SEC Rule 144. It is expected that Mr. Thomas Peterffy and his affiliates will effectuate future redemptions of Holdings shares and continue selling our common stock at a rate of approximately 20,000 shares per trading day on a going forward basis, although that cannot be assured.

As a consequence of these redemption transactions, and distribution of shares to employees, IBG, Inc.’s interest in IBG LLC has increased to approximately 21.8%, with Holdings owning the remaining 78.2% as of December 31, 2020. The redemptions also resulted in an increase in the Holdings interest held by Mr. Thomas Peterffy and his affiliates from approximately 84.6% at the IPO to approximately 89.6% as of December 31, 2020. See Note 4 – “Equity and Earnings per Share” and Note 10 – “Employee Incentive Plans” to the financial statements in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Securities Authorized for Issuance under Equity Compensation Plans

The table below presents information about shares of common stock available for future awards under all the Company’s equity compensation plans as of December 31, 2020. The Company has not made grants of common stock outside of its equity compensation plans.

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(1)Amount represents restricted stock units available for future issuance of grants under the Company’s amended 2007 Stock Incentive Plan.
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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and the related notes in Part II, Item 8, of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. In addition to historical information, the following discussion also contains forward-looking statements that include risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including those set forth under the heading “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Business Overview

We are an automated global electronic broker. We custody and service accounts for hedge and mutual funds, ETFs, registered investment advisers, proprietary trading groups, introducing brokers and individual investors. We specialize in routing orders and executing and processing trades in stocks, options, futures, forex, bonds, mutual funds and ETFs on more than 135 electronic exchanges and market centers in 33 countries and in 25 currencies seamlessly around the world.

As an electronic broker, we execute, clear and settle trades globally for both institutional and individual customers. Capitalizing on our proprietary technology, our systems provide our customers with the capability to monitor multiple markets around the world simultaneously and to execute trades electronically in these markets at a low cost, in multiple products and currencies from a single trading account. The emerging complexity of multiple market centers has provided us with the opportunity to build and continuously adapt our order routing software to secure excellent execution prices.

Since our inception in 1977, we have focused on developing proprietary software to automate broker-dealer functions. The proliferation of electronic exchanges and market centers over the last three decades has allowed us to integrate our software with an increasing number of trading venues into one automatically functioning, computerized platform that requires minimal human intervention.

Our customer base is diverse with respect to geography and segments. Currently, approximately 76% of our customers reside outside the U.S. in over 200 countries and territories, and over 50% of new customers come from outside the U.S. Approximately 64% of our customers’ equity is in institutional accounts such as hedge funds, financial advisors, proprietary trading desks and introducing brokers. Specialized products and services that we have developed are successfully attracting these accounts. For example, we offer prime brokerage services, including financing and securities lending to hedge funds; our model portfolio technology and automated share allocation and rebalancing tools are particularly attractive to financial advisors; and our trading platform, global access and low pricing attract introducing brokers.

COVID-19 Pandemic

In March 2020, the World Health Organization recognized the outbreak of the COVID-19 caused by a novel strain of the coronavirus as a pandemic. The pandemic affects all countries in which we operate. The response of governments and societies to the COVID-19 pandemic, which includes temporary closures of certain businesses; social distancing; travel restrictions, “shelter in place” and other governmental regulations; and reduced consumer spending due to job losses, has significantly impacted market volatility in the financial, commodities and energy markets, and general economic conditions.

The COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated unprecedented market conditions with equally unprecedented social and community challenges. Amid these challenges:

The Company is committed to ensuring the highest levels of service to its customers so they can effectively manage their assets, portfolios and risks. The Company’s technical infrastructure has withstood the challenges presented by the extraordinary volatility and increased market volume.

The Company can run its business from alternate office locations and/or remotely if a Company office must temporarily close due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As announced on April 9, 2020, during the second quarter of 2020 the Company donated $5 million to assist efforts to provide food and support for people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States as well as to advance medical solutions.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company’s financial results for 2020 can be summarized as follows: (1) higher commission revenue due to increased trading activity and a higher rate of customer accounts opened during this period; and (2) lower net interest income resulting from lower benchmark interest rates.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company’s future financial results could be significant but currently cannot be quantified, as it will depend on numerous evolving factors that currently cannot be accurately predicted, including, but not limited to, the duration and spread of the pandemic; its impact on our customers, employees and vendors; governmental actions in response to the pandemic; and the overall impact of the pandemic in the economy and society; among other factors. Any of these events could have a materially adverse effect on the Company’s financial results.

Business Environment

2020 was a unique year, as the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, together with unpredictable geopolitical events, created great uncertainty and volatility in the world’s financial markets.

U.S. market volatility rose in 2020 over the prior year, with particularly high volatility in the first half of the year as the pandemic took hold. Fears about economic collapse were especially strong in the first quarter of 2020, as global markets fell and the S&P 500 declined 20%.

Central banks turned to monetary easing to buffer their national economies from a pandemic-induced downturn. In March, the U.S. Federal Reserve adopted a near-zero interest rate policy and other countries maintained or reduced rates to zero and below.

Following on the heels of the initial panic was a worldwide surge of interest in financial markets, particularly equity markets, as people following stay-at-home guidelines opened brokerage accounts for investing and trading. Equity market indices, which had fallen in the first quarter as the scope of the pandemic became known, responded to this surge in new participants and most indices rose over the remainder of the year. North American and Asian markets recovered more strongly than those in Europe, which may have been negatively affected by the final negotiations around Brexit.

A more active trading environment worldwide coincided with higher volatility, with the average Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index (“VIX^®”) up 89% in the fourth quarter of 2020, compared to the year-ago quarter. Among our customer base, volatility is highly correlated with customer trading activity across product types. In 2020, higher volatility, in combination with strong customer account growth, led to significant increases in trading volume. The resulting boost to commission revenues was tempered by a decline in net interest income. Lower benchmark interest rates, though they reduced the rate of interest paid on customer cash to zero in most currencies, also reduced the rates we earned on margin lending and gave us fewer opportunities to earn net interest income on fully interest-sensitive balances.

In this environment, with near-zero interest rates and rising asset values in actively-trading markets, customer account growth was robust. Total customer accounts increased 56% in 2020 to over 1.07 million. Inflows from new and existing customers, combined with rising securities prices that generally lifted customers’ investment values, led to customer equity growth of 66% to $288.6 billion. Institutional customers, such as hedge funds, mutual funds, introducing brokers, proprietary trading groups and financial advisors, comprised approximately 43% of total accounts and approximately 64% of total customer equity at the end of 2020. Customers seek out our superior technology and execution capabilities, global market access, and low costs, as well as our securities finance services, including margin lending and short sale support.

The following is a summary of the key profit drivers that affect our business and how they compared to 2019:

Global trading volumes. According to data received from exchanges, volumes in exchange-listed equity-based options rose by approximately 93% in the U.S. for the year ended December 31, 2020, compared to 2019, while U.S. equities volumes increased by 103% and exchange-listed futures increased by 31%. See the “Trading Volumes and Brokerage Statistics” section below in this Item 7 for additional details regarding our trade volumes, contract and share volumes, and brokerage statistics.

Volatility. Based on the VIX^®, average U.S. market volatility rose to 29.2 in 2020, up 89% from the average of 15.4 in 2019. Higher volatility tends to improve our electronic brokerage performance because it generally corresponds to stronger trading volumes. In 2020, as the VIX maintained elevated levels for most of the year, we saw the impact on both customer trading activity, which more than doubled, and our commissions revenue, which rose 58%.

Interest Rates. The U.S. Federal Reserve reduced the target federal funds rate to near-zero in March of 2020, mirroring rates in most other currencies, which generally ranged from near-zero to negative. Decreases in benchmark rates can lead to lower net interest income and a narrower net interest margin. As our margin balances are tied to benchmark rates, declining U.S. interest rates reduce the interest we receive on our U.S. dollar customer margin balances. Falling rates also reduce the interest we earn on our segregated cash, the majority of which is invested in U.S. government securities and related instruments. Partially offsetting these factors in 2020 were higher average customer credit balances, up 28%, higher average margin lending, up 9%, reduced interest expense due to lower rates, and strong securities lending activity and other financing activities. In total, our net interest income fell 19% compared to 2019.

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Currency fluctuations. As a global electronic broker trading on exchanges around the world in multiple currencies, we are exposed to foreign currency risk. We actively manage this exposure by keeping our net worth in proportion to a defined basket of 10 currencies we call the “GLOBAL” to diversify our risk and to align our hedging strategy with the currencies that we use in our business. Because we report our financial results in U.S. dollars, the change in the value of the GLOBAL versus the U.S. dollar affects our earnings. During 2020 the value of the GLOBAL, as measured in U.S. dollars, increased 1.45% compared to its value as of December 31, 2019. A discussion of our approach for managing foreign currency exposure is contained in Part II, Item 7A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K entitled “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk.”

Financial Overview

In the fourth quarter of 2019, we introduced the reporting of non-GAAP financial measures, which excludes certain items that may not be indicative of our core operating results and business outlook. We believe these non-GAAP financial measures may be useful in evaluating the operating performance of our business and provide a better comparison of our results in the current period to those in prior and future periods. See the “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” section below in this Item 7 for additional details.

Pursuant to the requirements of Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 280, “Segment Reporting,” we performed a quantitative and a qualitative assessment of our business and determined that our remaining market making activities no longer support our reporting of separate business segments. Accordingly, effective the first quarter of 2020, we discontinued the reporting of separate business segments. Since our decision to wind down our market making activities, management has continued to shift its focus to growing and strengthening our electronic brokerage business. We believe the elimination of segment reporting aligns our financial reporting with our business strategy and management’s focus on the electronic brokerage business. The remaining market making activity is now reported as a component of “principal transactions,” which is included in other income in the consolidated statements of comprehensive income.

Effective the first quarter of 2020, we also changed the presentation of our consolidated statements of comprehensive income to better align with our business strategy. Previously reported amounts have been adjusted to conform with the new presentation. See “Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income and Operating Business Segment Presentation Changes” in Note 2 – “Significant Accounting Policies” to the consolidated financial statements in Part II, Item 8 of this annual report on Form 10-K.

Diluted earnings per share were $2.42 for the year ended December 31, 2020 (“current year”), compared to diluted earnings per share of $2.10 for the year ended December 31, 2019 (“prior year”). Adjusted diluted earnings per share were $2.49 for the current year, compared to adjusted diluted earnings per share of $2.27 for the prior year. The calculation of diluted earnings per share is detailed in Note 4 – “Equity and Earnings Per Share” to the audited consolidated financial statements, in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

For the current year, our net revenues were $2,218 million and income before income taxes was $1,256 million, compared to net revenues of $1,937 million and income before income taxes of $1,157 million in the prior year. Adjusted net revenues were $2,204 million and adjusted income before income taxes was $1,346 million, compared to adjusted net revenues of $1,984 million and adjusted income before income taxes of $1,246 million in the prior year.

The financial highlights for the current year were:

Commission revenue showed strong growth, increasing $406 million, or 58%, from the prior year on higher customer trading volume within an active trading environment worldwide.

Net interest income decreased $211 million, or 19%, from the prior year as the average federal funds effective rate, which, in part, drives the rates we earn on our interest-earning assets, decreased to an average of 0.38% from 2.16% in the prior year.

Other income increased $52 million from the prior year. This increase was mainly comprised of (1) $41 million related to our currency diversification strategy, which lost $19 million in the current year compared to a loss of $60 million in the prior year; (2) $35 million related to our strategic investment in Up Fintech Holding Limited (“Tiger Brokers”), which increased to a $44 million mark-to-market gain in the current year from a $9 million mark-to-market gain in the prior year; partially offset by (3) $16 million related to our principal trading activities which gained $40 million in the current year compared to $56 million in the prior year; and (4) a $13 million impairment loss on our investment in OneChicago Exchange, as it ceased operations, during the current year.

Pretax profit margin was 57% for the current year, down from 60% in the prior year. Adjusted pretax profit margin for the current year was 61%, down from 63% in the prior year.

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In connection with our currency diversification strategy as of December 31, 2020, approximately 27% of our equity was denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. In the current year, our currency diversification strategy increased our comprehensive earnings by $105 million (compared to a decrease of $36 million in the prior year), as the U.S. dollar value of the GLOBAL increased by approximately 1.45%, compared to its value as of December 31, 2019. The effects of our currency diversification strategy are reported as (1) a component of other income (loss of $19 million) in the consolidated statements of comprehensive income and (2) other comprehensive income (“OCI”) (gain of $124 million) in the consolidated statements of financial condition and the consolidated statements of comprehensive income. The full effect of the GLOBAL is captured in comprehensive income.

West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil Event

On April 20, 2020 the energy markets exhibited extraordinary price activity in the New York Mercantile Exchange ("NYMEX") West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures contract. The price of the May 2020 physically-settled futures contract dropped to an unprecedented negative price. This price was the basis for determining the settlement price for cash-settled futures contracts traded on the CME Globex and also for a separate, expiring cash-settled futures contract listed on the Intercontinental Exchange Europe ("ICE Europe"). Several of the Company’s customers held long positions in these CME and ICE Europe contracts, and as a result they incurred losses, including losses in excess of the equity in their accounts. The Company fulfilled the required variation margin settlements with the respective clearinghouses on behalf of its customers. The Company subsequently compensated certain affected customers in connection with their losses resulting from the contracts settling at a price below zero. As a result, the Company recognized an aggregate loss of approximately $104 million, of which $103 million is included in general and administrative expenses and $1 million in customer bad debt expense in the consolidated statements of comprehensive income.

Certain Trends and Uncertainties

We believe that our current operations may be favorably or unfavorably impacted by the following trends that may affect our financial condition and results of operations:

The COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated unprecedented market conditions with equally unprecedented social and community challenges. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company’s future financial results could be significant but currently cannot be quantified, as it will depend on numerous evolving factors that currently cannot be accurately predicted, including, but not limited to the duration and spread of the pandemic; its impact on our customers, employees and vendors; governmental regulations in response to the pandemic; and the overall impact of the pandemic on the economy and society; among other factors.

Retail participation in the equity markets has fluctuated over the past few years due to investor sentiment, market conditions and a variety of other factors. Retail transaction volumes may not be sustainable and are not predictable.

Additional consolidation among market centers may adversely affect the value of our IB SmartRouting^SM software.

Benchmark interest rates have fluctuated over the past years due to economic conditions. Changes in interest rates may not be predictable.

Fiscal and/or monetary policy may change and impact the financial services business and securities markets.

Price competition among broker-dealers may continue to intensify.

Scrutiny of equity and options market makers, hedge funds, and soft dollar and payment for order flow practices by regulatory and legislative authorities has increased. New legislation or modifications to existing regulations and rules could occur in the future.

Our remaining market making activities will continue to be impacted by market structure changes, market conditions, the level of automation of competitors, and the relationship between actual and implied volatility in the equities markets.

See “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a discussion of other risks that may affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Results of Operations

The table below presents our consolidated results of operations for the periods indicated. The period-to-period comparisons below of financial results are not necessarily indicative of future results.

The table below presents our consolidated results of operations as a percent of our total net revenues for the periods indicated.

Year Ended December 31, 2020 (“current year”) compared to the Year Ended December 31, 2019 (“prior year”)

Net Revenues

Total net revenues, for the current year, increased $281 million, or 15%, compared to the prior year, to $2,218 million. The increase in net revenues was primarily due to higher commissions, other fees and services, and other income partially offset by lower net interest income.

Commissions

We earn commissions from our cleared customers for whom we act as an executing and clearing broker and from our non-cleared customers for whom we act as an execution-only broker. We have a commission structure that allows customers to choose between an all-inclusive fixed, or “bundled”, rate and a tiered, or “unbundled”, rate that offers lower commissions for high volume customers. For “unbundled” commissions, we pass through regulatory and exchange fees separately from our commissions, adding transparency to our fee structure. Commissions also include payments for order flow income received from IBKR Lite^SM liquidity providers. Our commissions are geographically diversified. In 2020, 2019, and 2018 we generated 29%, 33%, and 32%, respectively, of commissions from operations conducted internationally.

Commissions, for the current year, increased $406 million, or 58%, compared to the prior year, to $1,112 million, driven by significantly higher customer trading volumes in options, futures and stocks. Total customer options and futures contract and stock share volumes increased 67%, 30%, and 97%, respectively, compared to the prior year. The increase in customer trading volumes across all product types was in line with the active trading environment worldwide in the current year as compared to the prior year. Total DARTs for cleared and execution-only customers, for the current year, increased 115% to 1.79 million compared to 833 thousand for the prior year. DARTs for cleared customers, i.e., customers for whom we execute trades, as well as, clear and carry positions, for the current year, increased 113% to 1.59 million, compared to 748 thousand for the prior year. Average commission per commissionable order for cleared customers, for the current year, decreased 24% to $2.78, compared to $3.67 for the prior year, reflecting smaller average order sizes in stocks, options, futures and foreign exchange as well as some effect from higher exchange rebates passed through to our customers. Smaller trade sizes are often seen in high volatility periods, as traders choose to risk less per trade in fast-moving markets.

Other Fees and Services

The Company earns fee income on services provided to customers, which includes market data fees, risk exposure fees, minimum activity fees, payments for order flow from exchange-mandated programs, and other fees and services charged to customers.

Other fees and services, for the current year, increased $34 million, or 24%, compared to the prior year, to $175 million, driven by a $21 million increase in IPO-related fee income, a $16 million increase in market data fee income, and a $6 million increase in payments for order flow income from options exchange-mandated programs, partially offset by a $4 million decrease in FDIC Insured Bank Deposit Sweep Program fee income, and a $4 million decrease in risk exposure fee income.

Other Income

Other income consists of foreign exchange gains (losses) from our currency diversification strategy, gains (losses) from principal transactions, gains (losses) from our equity method investments, and other revenue not directly attributable to our core business offerings. A discussion of our approach to managing foreign currency exposure is contained in Part II, Item 7A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K entitled “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk.”

Other income, for the current year, increased $52 million, compared to the prior year, to $59 million. This increase was mainly comprised of (1) $41 million related to our currency diversification strategy, which lost $19 million in the current year compared to a loss of $60 million in the prior year; and (2) $35 million related to our strategic investment in Tiger Brokers, which increased to a $44 million mark-to-market gain in the current year from a $9 million mark-to-market gain in the prior year; partially offset by (3) $16 million related to our principal trading activities which gained $40 million in the current year compared to $56 million in the prior year; and (4) a $13 million impairment loss on our investment in OneChicago Exchange, as it ceased operations, during the current year.

Interest Income and Interest Expense

We earn interest on margin lending to customers secured by marketable securities these customers hold with us; from our investments in U.S. and foreign government securities; from borrowing and lending securities; and on deposits (in positive interest rate currencies) with banks. We pay interest on cash balances (in sufficiently positive interest rate currencies) customers hold with us; for borrowing and lending securities; and on our borrowings.

Net interest income (interest income less interest expense), for the current year, decreased $211 million, or 19%, compared to the prior year, to $872 million. The decrease in net interest income was driven by lower benchmark interest rates.

Net interest income on customer balances, for the current year, decreased $239 million, compared to the prior year, driven by a decrease in the average federal funds effective rate to 0.38% from 2.16% in the prior year, partially offset by a $14.9 billion increase in average customer credit balances, a portion of which were invested in interest-bearing U.S. government securities and a $2.5 billion increase in average customer margin loans. See the “Business Environment” section above in this Item 7 for a further discussion about the change in interest rates in the current year.

We earn income on securities loaned and borrowed to support customer long and short stock holdings in margin accounts. In addition, our Stock Yield Enhancement Program provides an opportunity for customers with fully-paid stock to allow us to lend it out. We pay customers a rebate on the cash collateral generally equal to 50% of the income we earn from lending the shares. We place cash collateral securing the loans in the customer’s account.

In the current year, average securities borrowed increased 8%, to $4.2 billion and average securities loaned increased 39%, to $5.7 billion, compared to the prior year. Net interest earned from securities lending is affected by the level of demand for securities positions held by our customers. During the current year, net interest earned from securities lending transactions increased $86 million, or 33%, compared to the prior year. It should be noted that securities lending transactions entered into to support customer activity may produce interest income (expense) that is offset by interest expense (income) related to customer balances.

The Company measures return on interest-earning assets using net interest margin (“NIM”). NIM is computed by dividing the annualized net interest income by the average interest-earning assets for the period. Interest-earning assets consist of cash and securities segregated for regulatory purposes (including U.S. government securities and securities purchased under agreements to resell), customer margin loans, securities borrowed, other interest-earning assets (solely firm assets) and customer cash balances swept into FDIC-insured banks as part of our Insured Bank Deposit Sweep Program. Interest-bearing liabilities consist of customer credit balances, securities loaned, and other interest-bearing liabilities.

Yields are generally a reflection of benchmark interest rates in each currency in which the Company and its customers hold cash balances. Because a substantial portion of customer cash and margin loans are denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, changes in U.S. benchmark interest rates do not impact the total amount of segregated cash and securities, customer margin loans and customer credit balances. Furthermore, because interest is paid only on eligible cash credit balances (i.e., balances over $10 thousand

or equivalent, in securities accounts with over $100 thousand in equity, and in smaller accounts at reduced rates), changes in benchmark interest rates are not passed through to the total amount of customer credit balances. Finally, the Company’s policies with respect to currencies with negative interest rates impact the yields on segregated cash and customer credit balances as effective interest rates in those currencies fluctuate.

Generally, as benchmark interest rates rise, a larger portion of the interest earned on securities lending transactions is reported as net interest income on “Segregated cash and securities, net” instead of “Securities borrowed and loaned, net” because interest earned on cash collateral held in specially designated bank accounts for the benefit of customers, in accordance with the U.S. customer protection rules, increases.

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The table below presents net interest income information corresponding to interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities for the periods indicated.

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(1)Represents the average amount of customer cash swept into FDIC-insured banks as part of our Insured Bank Deposit Sweep Program. This item is not recorded in the Company's consolidated statements of financial condition. Income derived from program deposits is reported in other net interest income in the table above.
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(2)Interest income and interest expense on customer margin loans and customer credit balances, respectively, are calculated on daily cash balances within each customer’s account on a net basis, which may result in an offset of balances across multiple account segments (e.g., between securities and commodities segments).
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(3)Includes income from financial instruments which has the same characteristics as interest, but is reported in other fees and services and other income in the Company’s consolidated statements of comprehensive income. For the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019, and 2018 $21 million, $15 million and $8 million were reported in other fees and services, respectively. For the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019, and 2018, $5 million, $19 million and $21 million were reported in other income, respectively.

Non-Interest Expenses

Non-interest expenses, for the current year, increased $182 million, or 23%, compared to the prior year, to $962 million, mainly due to a $124 million increase in general and administrative expenses; a $42 million increase in execution, clearing and distribution fees; and a $37 million increase in employee compensation and benefits expenses partially offset by; a $31 million decrease in customer bad debt expense. As a percentage of total net revenues, non-interest expenses were 43% for the current year and 40% for the prior year.

Execution, Clearing and Distribution Fees

Execution, clearing and distribution fees include the costs of executing and clearing trades, net of liquidity rebates received from various exchanges and market centers, as well as regulatory fees and market data fees. Execution fees are paid primarily to electronic exchanges and market centers on which we trade. Clearing fees are paid to clearing houses and clearing agents. Market data fees are paid to third parties to receive streaming price quotes and related information.

Execution, clearing and distribution fees, for the current year, increased $42 million, or 17%, compared to the prior year, to $293 million, driven by higher trade volumes as customer options and futures contract and stock share volumes increased 67%, 30%, and 97%, respectively, compared to the prior year. Execution and clearings fees did not increase in line with trading volumes for several

reasons including, product mix and greater rebates received from exchanges on orders that add liquidity, though these rebates partially offset commission revenues.

Employee Compensation and Benefits

Employee compensation and benefits include salaries, bonuses and other incentive compensation plans, group insurance, contributions to benefit programs and other related employee costs.

Employee compensation and benefits expenses, for the current year, increased $37 million, or 13%, compared to the prior year, to $325 million, associated with a 20% increase in the average number of employees to 1,823, for the current year, compared to 1,523 for the prior year. We continued to add staff in customer service, compliance, and software development. As we continue to grow, our focus on automation has allowed us to maintain a relatively small staff. As a percentage of total net revenues, employee compensation and benefits expenses were 15% for both the current year and the prior year.

Occupancy, Depreciation and Amortization

Occupancy expenses consist primarily of rental payments on office and data center leases and related occupancy costs, such as utilities. Depreciation and amortization expenses result from the depreciation of fixed assets, such as computing and communications hardware, as well as amortization of leasehold improvements and capitalized in-house software development.

Occupancy, depreciation and amortization expenses, for the current year, increased $9 million, or 15%, compared to the prior year, to $69 million, mainly due to higher costs related to the expansion of our physical space for both offices and data centers. As a percentage of total net revenues, occupancy, depreciation and amortization expenses were 3% for both the current year and the prior year.