Leases

In the first quarter of 2019, the Company adopted ASU 2016-02, "Leases". The ASU requires the recognition of a right-of use asset and lease liability on the consolidated balance sheet by lessees for those leases classified as operating leases under previous guidance. The Company elected the modified retrospective method which did not result in a cumulative-effect adjustment at the date of adoption.

The Company and its subsidiaries have operating leases for office space and equipment expiring at various dates through 2034. The Company leases its corporate headquarters at 85 Broad Street, New York, New York which houses their executive management team and many administrative functions for the firm as well as their research, trading, investment banking, and asset management divisions and an office in Troy, Michigan, which among other things, houses its payroll and human resources departments. In addition, the Company has 94 retail branch offices in the United States as well as offices in London, England, St. Helier, Jersey, Geneva, Switzerland, Frankfurt, Germany, Tel Aviv, Israel and Hong Kong, China.

The majority of the leases are held by the Company's subsidiary, Viner Finance Inc., which is a consolidated subsidiary and 100% owned by the Company.

Leases with an initial term of 12 months or less are not recorded on the balance sheet; the Company recognizes lease expense for these leases on a straight-line basis over the lease term. Most leases include an option to renew and the exercise of lease renewal options is at our sole discretion. The Company did not include the renewal options as part of the right of use assets and liabilities.

The depreciable life of assets and leasehold improvements is limited by the expected lease term. Our lease agreements do not contain any material residual value guarantees or material restrictive covenants.

As of March 31, 2019, the Company has right of use operating lease assets of 171.2 million (net of accumulated amortization of $6.8 million) which are comprised of real estate leases of $168.2 million (net of accumulated amortization of $6.3 million) and equipment leases of $3.0 million (net of accumulated amortization of $465,000). As of March 31, 2019, the Company has operating lease liabilities of 213.0 million which are comprised of real estate lease liabilities of $210.0 million and equipment lease liabilities of $3.0 million. As of March 31, 2019, the Company has not made any cash payments for amounts included in the measurement of operating lease liabilities or right of use assets obtained in exchange for operating lease obligations. The Company has no finance leases or embedded leases as of March 31, 2019.

As most of our leases do not provide an implicit rate, we use our incremental borrowing rate based on the information available at commencement date in determining the present value of lease payments. The Company used the incremental borrowing rate on January 1, 2019 for operating leases that commenced prior to that date. The Company used the incremental borrowing rate as of the lease commencement date for the operating leases commenced subsequent to January 1, 2019.

The following table presents the weighted average lease term and weighted average discount rate for our operating leases as of March 31, 2019:



	As of March 31, 2019

Weighted average remaining lease term (years)	8.76
Weighted average discount rate	7.94	%

The following table presents operating lease costs recognized for the three months ended March 31, 2019 which are included in occupancy and equipment costs on the condensed consolidated income statement:



(Expressed in thousands)	For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2019

Operating lease cost:
Real estate leases - Right-of-use lease asset amortization	$	6,332
Real estate leases - Interest expense	3,443
Equipment leases - Right-of-use lease asset amortization	465
Equipment leases - Interest expense	57

The maturities of lease liabilities as of March 31, 2019 are as follows:



(Expressed in thousands)	As of March 31, 2019

2019	$	30,178
2020	40,151
2021	35,049
2022	31,503
2023	29,766
After 2024	134,299
Total lease payments	$	300,946
Less interest	(87,976		)
Present value of lease liabilities	$	212,970

As of March 31, 2019, the Company has additional operating leases that have not yet commenced of $11.9 million. These operating leases will commence between April 1, 2019 and December 31, 2019 with lease terms of 2 years to 13 years.

In November 2016, the SEC issued a no action letter related to the treatment of operating leases under SEC Rule 15c3-1 (the “Rule”) in the context of the adoption of ASU 2016-2, “Leases” which provided relief, if certain conditions are met, to broker-dealers in the net capital treatment of operating lease assets which would otherwise be treated as a non-allowable assets. The application of this guidance resulted in no additional charges to net capital for operating leases during the first quarter of 2019.