Leases

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

4. 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 condensed 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 its executive management team and many administrative functions for the Firm as well as its 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 93 retail branch offices in the United States as well as offices in London, England, St. Helier, Isle of Jersey, Geneva, Switzerland, Frankfurt, Germany, Tel Aviv, Israel and Hong Kong, China.

The Company is constantly assessing its needs for office space and, on a rolling basis, has many leases that expire in any given year. Given the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Company is assessing its future real estate needs and in many cases is reducing its office space required as leases come up for renewal.

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 does 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 September 30, 2020, the Company had right-of-use operating lease assets of $154.7 million (net of accumulated amortization of $43.9 million) which are comprised of real estate leases of $152.0 million (net of accumulated amortization of $40.6 million) and equipment leases of $2.7 million (net of accumulated amortization of $3.3 million). As of September 30, 2020, the Company had operating lease liabilities of $195.3 million which are comprised of real estate lease liabilities of $192.6 million and equipment lease liabilities of $2.7 million. As of September 30, 2020, the Company had 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 had no finance leases or embedded leases as of September 30, 2020.

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 September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019:


	As of
	September 30, 2020	December 31, 2019

Weighted average remaining lease term (in years)	8.01	8.31
Weighted average discount rate	7.46%	7.89%

The following table presents operating lease costs recognized for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019 which are included in occupancy and equipment costs on the condensed consolidated income statements:


(Expressed in thousands)
	For the Three Months Ended September 30,				For the Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2020		2019		2020		2019
Operating lease costs:
Real estate leases - Right-of-use lease asset amortization	$	5,862	$	5,696	$	17,326	$	17,740
Real estate leases - Interest expense	3,720		4,145		11,475		11,792
Equipment leases - Right-of-use lease asset amortization	473		462		1,421		1,401
Equipment leases - Interest expense	48		57		153		171

The maturities of lease liabilities as of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019 are as follows:


(Expressed in thousands)
	As of
	September 30, 2020		December 31, 2019
2020	$	10,171	$	42,585
2021	39,729		37,531
2022	35,707		33,416
2023	32,819		31,187
2024	28,604		27,234
After 2025	115,290		108,098
Total lease payments	$	262,320	$	280,051
Less interest	(66,972)		(76,911)
Present value of lease liabilities	$	195,348	$	203,140

As of September 30, 2020, the Company had $6.5 million of additional operating leases that have not yet commenced ($11.1 million as of December 31, 2019).