13. Credit Risk

In the normal course of business the Company, as agent, executes transactions with, and on behalf of, other brokers and dealers. If the agency transactions do not settle because of failure to perform by either counterparty, the Company may be obligated to discharge the obligation of the non-performing party and, as a result, may incur a loss if the market value of the security is different from the contract amount of the transaction.

A substantial number of the Company's transactions are collateralized and executed with, and on behalf of, a limited number of broker-dealers. The Company's exposure to credit risk associated with the nonperformance of these clients in fulfilling their contractual obligations pursuant to securities transactions can be directly impacted by volatile trading markets which may impair the clients' ability to satisfy their obligations to the Company.

From time to time, the Company enters into agreements to repurchase to facilitate the clearance of securities. Credit exposure related to these agreements to repurchase, including the risk related to a decline in market value of collateral (pledged or received), is managed by entering into agreements to repurchase with overnight or short-term maturity dates and only entering into repurchase transactions with netting members of the Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (“FICC”). The FICC requires dealer netting members to maintain a minimum of $25 million in equity capital and $10 million in excess net capital. The FICC operates a continuous net settlement system, whereby as trades are submitted and compared the FICC becomes the counterparty. The FICC also marks to market collateral on a daily basis, requiring member firms to pay or receive margin amounts as part of their daily funds settlement.

The Company does not expect nonperformance by counterparties in the above situations. However, the Company's policy is to monitor its market exposure and counterparty risk. In addition, the Company has a policy of reviewing, as considered necessary, the credit standing of each counterparty with which it conducts business.

Allowance for Credit Losses

The Company may be exposed to credit risk regarding its receivables, which are primarily receivables from financial institutions, including investment managers and broker-dealers. At March 31, 2020, the Company maintained an allowance for credit losses of $0.2 million with regard to these receivables. At December 31, 2019, the allowance for doubtful accounts was $0.2 million.

The Company maintains an allowance for credit losses based upon an estimate of the amount of potential credit losses in existing accounts receivable, as determined from a review of aging schedules, past due balances, historical collection experience and other specific account data. Careful analysis of the financial condition of our counterparties is also performed. The Company has evaluated its loss assumptions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and determined the current estimate of expected credit losses remains reasonable due to continued strong collections and no deterioration in our accounts receivable aging.

Account balances are pooled based on the following risk characteristics:

Geographic location

Transaction fee type (billing type)

Legal entity

Write-Offs

Account balances aged greater than 360 days are reserved to the allowance for credit losses. Once determined uncollectable, aged balances are written off as credit loss expense. This determination is based on careful analysis of individual receivables and aging schedules, which are disaggregated based on the risk characteristics described above. Based on current policy, this generally occurs when the receivable hits 360 days past due.

The following table presents the activity in the allowance for credit losses for accounts receivable for the period ended March 31, 2020 (in thousands):


	Amount
Beginning balance, prior to adoption of ASC 326 - December 31, 2019	$	195
Current-period provision for expected credit losses		62
Write-offs charged against the allowance		(33)
Recoveries collected		(74)
Ending balance - March 31, 2020	$	150