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Commitments, Contingencies and Other
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments, Contingencies and Other
19. Commitments, Contingencies and Other

Legal and Regulatory Matters

The Company is party to certain claims, suits and complaints arising in the ordinary course of business.

On January 22, 2021, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation proposed that StockCross enter into a consent order related to StockCross and one of its registered representatives for activities that occurred prior to its acquisition by Siebert. The California proposed order seeks an aggregate amount of approximately $900,000 in relation to this matter. Based on the facts of the matter as well as historical resolutions, the Company does not believe that the matter will have a material impact on the Company’s financial statements.

As of December 31, 2020, all other legal matters are without merit or involve amounts which would not have a significant effect on the financial statements of the Company.

Overnight Financing
 
The Company has available lines of credit for short term overnight demand borrowing of up to $15 million with both BMO Harris Bank and Texas Capital Bank as of December 31, 2020. As of December 31, 2020, the Company had no outstanding loan balances with either institution. There are no commitment fees or other restrictions on the credit lines. MSCO utilizes customer or firm securities as a pledge for short-term borrowing needs.

The interest expense and the cash paid related to the utilization of these credit lines were both $18,000 and $29,000 for the year ended December 31, 2020 December 31, 2019, respectively. There were no fees associated with the utilization of these credit lines for the years ended December 31, 2020 or December 31, 2019.

General Contingencies

In the normal course of its business, the Company indemnifies and guarantees certain service providers against specified potential losses in connection with their acting as an agent of, or providing services to, the Company. The maximum potential amount of future payments that the Company could be required to make under these indemnifications cannot be estimated. However, the Company believes that it is unlikely it will have to make material payments under these arrangements and has not recorded any contingent liability in the financial statements for these indemnifications.

The Company provides representations and warranties to counterparties in connection with a variety of commercial transactions and occasionally indemnifies them against potential losses caused by the breach of those representations and warranties. The Company may also provide standard indemnifications to some counterparties to protect them in the event additional taxes are owed or payments are withheld, due either to a change in or adverse application of certain tax laws. These indemnifications generally are standard contractual terms and are entered into in the normal course of business. The maximum potential amount of future payments that the Company could be required to make under these indemnifications cannot be estimated. However, the Company believes that it is unlikely it will have to make material payments under these arrangements and has not recorded any contingent liability in the financial statements for these indemnifications.

The Company is self-insured with respect to employee health claims. The Company maintains stop-loss insurance for certain risks and has a health claim reinsurance limit capped at approximately $50,000 per employee. The estimated liability for self-insurance claims is initially recorded in the year in which the event of loss occurs and may be subsequently adjusted based upon new information and cost estimates. Reserves for losses represent estimates of reported losses and estimates of incurred but not reported losses based on past and current experience. Actual claims paid and settled may differ, perhaps significantly, from the provision for losses. This adds uncertainty to the estimated reserves for losses. Accordingly, it is at least possible that the ultimate settlement of losses may vary significantly from the amounts included in the financial statements.

As part of this plan, the Company recognized expenses of $1,308,000 and $876,000 for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

The Company had an accrual of $69,000 as of December 31, 2020, which represents the historical estimate of future claims to be recognized for claims incurred during the period.

The Company believes that its present insurance coverage and reserves are sufficient to cover currently estimated exposures, but there can be no assurance that the Company will not incur liabilities in excess of recorded reserves or in excess of its insurance limits.