Segment information

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2024

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Segment information

Segment information

The Company has determined its reportable segments based on the Company's method of internal reporting, which disaggregates its retail business by branch and its proprietary and investment banking businesses by product. The Company’s chief operating decision maker (“CODM”) is the chief executive officer.

The CODM evaluates the performance of the Company’s reportable segments based on their year-over-year revenue and pre-tax profit or loss and uses this measure to allocate resources (including employee, financial and/or capital resources), largely in conjunction with monthly and/or quarterly reviews of segment financial performance. The CODM also uses segment profit or loss in evaluating the incentive and other compensation of segment employees as well as capital investment for facilities and information technology development.

Effective in the fourth quarter of 2024, the Company combined the former Private Client and Asset Management business segments to form the Wealth Management segment. The revised segment structure is aligned with how the CODM and senior management view the performance and operations of our retail focused business. Our Capital Markets and Corporate/Other segments were not impacted by these changes. To provide historical information on a basis consistent with the revised segment presentation, the Company recast prior period segment results.

The Company's reportable segments are:

Wealth Management — includes commissions and fee income earned on assets under management ("AUM"), net interest earnings on client margin loans and cash balances, fees from money market funds, custodian fees, net contributions from stock loan activities and financing activities, and direct expenses;

Capital Markets — includes investment banking, institutional equities sales, trading, and research, taxable fixed income sales, trading, and research, public finance and municipal trading, as well as the Company's operations in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Israel, and direct expenses associated with this segment.

The Company does not allocate costs associated with certain infrastructure support groups that are centrally managed for its reportable segments. These areas include, but are not limited to, legal, compliance, operations, accounting, and internal audit. Costs associated with these groups are separately reported in a Corporate/Other category and primarily include compensation and benefits. The costs of certain centralized or shared functions are allocated based on methodologies that reflect utilization. The Company also includes activities associated with BondWave, LLC in Corporate/Other.

The tables below present information about the Company’s reported segment revenues, segment pre-tax income or loss, compensation expenses, and other segment items for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022. There are no adjustments or reconciling items for any of the years presented. Asset information by reportable segment is not reported, since the Company does not produce such information for internal use by the CODM.

(Expressed in thousands)
	For the Years Ended December 31, 2024
	Wealth Management	Capital markets	Corporate/Other	Total
Revenue	$972,052	$447,579	$12,865	$1,432,496
Less :
Compensation Expenses	514,227	323,612	98,974	936,813
Other Segment Items(1)	192,086	163,563	34,277	389,926
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)	$265,739	$(39,596)	$(120,386)	$105,757

(1) Other segment items include communication and technology expenses, occupancy and equipment costs, clearing and exchange fees, interest and other expenses.

(Expressed in thousands)
	For the Years Ended December 31, 2023
	Wealth Management	Capital markets	Corporate/Other	Total
Revenue	$890,187	$345,897	$12,741	$1,248,825
Less :
Compensation Expenses	424,031	269,330	89,035	782,396
Other Segment Items(1)	247,621	139,528	32,510	419,659
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)	$218,535	$(62,961)	$(108,804)	$46,770

(1) Other segment items include communication and technology expenses, occupancy and equipment costs, clearing and exchange fees, interest and other expenses.

(Expressed in thousands)
	For the Years Ended December 31, 2022
	Wealth management	Capital markets	Corporate/Other	Total
Revenue	$774,922	$337,821	$(1,802)	$1,110,941
Less :
Compensation Expenses	401,932	260,974	77,921	740,827
Other Segment Items(1)	194,987	102,543	27,030	324,560
Pre-Tax Income (Loss)	$178,003	$(25,696)	$(106,753)	$45,554

(1) Other segment items include communication and technology expenses, occupancy and equipment costs, clearing and exchange fees, interest and other expenses.        

Revenue, classified by the major geographic areas in which it was earned for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022 was as follows:

(Expressed in thousands)
	For the Years Ended December 31,
	2024		2023		2022
Americas	$	1,376,254	$	1,199,558	$	1,058,188
Europe/Middle East	52,513		46,490		47,080
Asia	3,729		2,777		5,673
Total	$	1,432,496	$	1,248,825	$	1,110,941