filings.toolsItem 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk
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Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk
As a result of our operating activities, we are exposed to market risks such as foreign currency exchange rate risk, equity risk, credit risk, interest rate risk, and liquidity risk. We have implemented policies and procedures to measure, manage and monitor and report risk exposures, which are reviewed regularly by management and our Board of Directors.
Foreign Currency Exchange Rate Risk
Our operations in Europe, Canada and Asia are subject to increased currency translation risk as revenues and expenses are denominated in foreign currencies, primarily the British pound, Euro, Australian dollar, and Canadian dollar.
We also have de minimis exposure to other foreign currencies, including the Japanese Yen, Philippine Peso, Singapore dollar, and Hong Kong dollar.
For the year ended December 31, 2023, our exposure to foreign-denominated revenues less cost of revenues and expenses is presented by primary foreign currency in the following table (in millions, except percentages):
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| | | Year Ended | ||||||||||
| | | December 31, 2023 | | |||||||||
| | | British | | | | | | Australian | | |||
| | | Pounds (1) | | | Euros (1) | | | Dollars (1) | | |||
| Foreign denominated % of: | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Revenues less cost of revenues | | | 5.7 | % | | | 3.3 | % | | | 2.1 | % |
| Operating expenses | | | 8.9 | % | | | 6.6 | % | | | 4.8 | % |
| Impact of 10% adverse currency fluctuation on: | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Revenues less cost of revenues | | $ | 11.0 | | | $ | 6.4 | | | $ | 3.9 | |
| Operating expenses | | | 7.6 | | | | 5.7 | | | | 4.1 | |
| (1) | An average foreign exchange rate to the U.S. dollar for the period was used. See Item 7 (“Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”) for the table summarizing the changes in certain operational and financial metrics for more information. |
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Equity Risk
Our investment in European, Canadian, and Asia Pacific operations is exposed to volatility in currency exchange rates through translation of our net assets or equity to U.S. dollars. The assets and liabilities of our European businesses are denominated in British pounds or Euros. The assets and liabilities of our Canadian businesses are denominated in Canadian dollars. The assets and liabilities of our Asia Pacific businesses are denominated in Australian dollars, Japanese Yen, Singapore dollars, Hong Kong dollars, or Philippine Pesos. Fluctuations in currency exchange rates may create volatility in our reported results as we are required to translate foreign currency reported statements of financial condition and operational results into U.S. dollars for consolidated reporting. The translation of these non-U.S. dollar statements of financial condition into U.S. dollars for consolidated reporting results in a cumulative translation adjustment, which is recorded in accumulated other comprehensive income, net within stockholders' equity on our consolidated balance sheet.
Our primary exposure to this equity risk as of December 31, 2023 is presented by foreign currency in the following table (in millions):
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| | | British | | | | Canadian | |||
| | Pounds (1) | | Euros (1) | | Dollars (1) | ||||
| Net equity investment in Cboe Europe Equities and Derivatives, Cboe Clear Europe, and Cboe Canada | $ | 633.6 | | $ | 175.9 | | $ | 531.7 | |
| Impact on consolidated equity of a 10% adverse currency fluctuation | | 63.4 | | | 17.6 | | | 53.2 |
| (1) | Converted to U.S. dollars using the foreign exchange rate of British pounds per U.S. dollar, Euros per U.S. dollar, and Canadian dollars per U.S. dollar, respectively, as of December 31, 2023. |
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Credit Risk
We are exposed to credit risk from third parties, including customers, counterparties and clearing agents. These parties may default on their obligations due to bankruptcy, lack of liquidity, operational failure or other reasons. We limit our exposure to credit risk by considering such risk when selecting the counterparties with which we make investments and execute agreements.
We do not have counterparty credit risk with respect to trades matched on our exchanges in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. With respect to listed equities, we deliver matched trades of our customers to the NSCC without taking on counterparty risk for those trades. NSCC acts as a central counterparty on all equity transactions occurring on BZX, BYX, EDGX and EDGA and, as such, guarantees clearance and settlement of all of our matched equity trades. Similarly, with respect to U.S. listed equity options and futures, we deliver matched trades of our customers to the OCC, which acts as a central counterparty on all transactions occurring on Cboe Options, C2, BZX, EDGX and CFE and, as such, guarantees clearance and settlement of all of our matched options and futures trades. With respect to U.S. government securities transactions, we deliver matched trades to FICC’s GSD without taking on counterparty risk for those trades. FICC GSD acts as a central counterparty on all U.S. government securities transactions occurring on Cboe Fixed Income and, as
such, guarantees clearance and settlement of all of those matched trades. With respect to Canadian equities, we deliver matched trades of our customers to The Canadian Depository for Securities, which acts as a central counterparty on all transactions occurring on MATCHNow and, as such, guarantees clearance and settlement of all of our matched Canadian equities trades. The BIDS Trading ATS platform delivers matched trades to BOA, which delivers the matched trades to the NSCC. BOA guarantees the trade until one day after the trade date, after which time the NSCC provides a guarantee. Thus, BIDS Trading is potentially exposed to credit risk to the counterparty between the trade date and one day after the trade date in the event BOA fails. With respect to Australian equities and derivatives, we deliver matched trades of our customers to ASX Clear Pty Ltd and ASX Settlement Pty Ltd. ASX Clear Pty Ltd acts as a central counterparty on all transactions occurring on Cboe Australia and, as such, guarantees clearance and settlement on all of our matched trades in Australia. With respect to Japanese equities, we deliver matched trades of our customers to the Japanese Securities Clearing Corporation, which acts as a central counterparty on all transactions occurring on Cboe Japan and, as such, guarantees clearance and settlement on all of our matched trades in Japan.
With respect to orders Cboe Trading routes to other markets for execution on behalf of our customers, Cboe Trading is exposed to some counterparty credit risk in the case of failure to perform on the part of our clearing firms, Morgan Stanley or Wedbush. Morgan Stanley and Wedbush guarantee trades until one day after the trade date, after which time NSCC provides a guarantee. The BIDS Trading ATS platform delivers matched trades to BOA, which delivers the matched trades to the NSCC. Thus, Cboe Trading is potentially exposed to credit risk to the counterparty to a trade routed to another market center between the trade date and one day after the trade date in the event that Morgan Stanley or Wedbush fails. The BIDS Trading ATS platform is potentially exposed to counterparty credit risk on equities trades between the trade date and one day after the trade date in the event that BOA fails. We believe that any potential requirement for us to make payments under these guarantees is remote and accordingly, have not recorded any liability in the consolidated financial statements for these guarantees.
Historically, we have not incurred any liability due to a customer’s failure to satisfy its contractual obligations as counterparty to a system trade. Credit difficulties or insolvency, or the perceived possibility of credit difficulties or insolvency, of one or more larger or more visible market participants could also result in market-wide credit difficulties or other market disruptions.
We do not have counterparty credit risk with respect to institutional spot FX trades occurring on our platform because Cboe FX is not a counterparty to any FX transactions. All transactions occurring on our platform occur bilaterally between two banks or prime brokers as counterparties to the trade. While Cboe FX does not have direct counterparty risk, Cboe FX may suffer a decrease in transaction volume if a bank or prime broker experiences an event that causes other prime brokers to decrease or revoke the credit available to the prime broker experiencing the event. Therefore, Cboe FX may have risk that is related to the credit of the banks and prime brokers that trade FX on the Cboe FX platform.
We also have credit risk related to transaction fees that are billed in arrears to customers on a monthly basis. Our potential exposure to credit losses on these transactions is represented by the receivable balances in our balance sheet. Our customers are financial institutions whose ability to satisfy their contractual obligations may be impacted by volatile securities markets.
The Company is exposed to further credit and investment risk through our clearing operations. Cboe Clear Europe holds material amounts of clearing participant collateral, both cash and non-cash deposits, which are held or invested primarily to provide security of capital while minimizing credit risk as well as liquidity and market risks. Cboe Digital holds amounts of clearing participant collateral including cash and digital assets, which are held primarily to provide security of capital while minimizing credit risk as well as custody, valuation and market risks. The following is a summary of the risks associated with these deposits and how these risks are mitigated:
| ● | Credit Risk - The credit risk is predominantly in the event a clearing participant fails to meet a financial or contractual obligation and related to custodians and settlement banks. Cboe Clear Europe attempts to mitigate this risk through minimum participant requirements for clearing participants and monitoring their financial health. To cover potential loss to Cboe Clear Europe in the event of a clearing participant default, collateral is required from clearing participants. Besides potential defaults of clearing participants, the main credit risk faced by the clearinghouse is exposure to clearing participants when a trade fails to settle. To help mitigate this risk, a fail fee is charged to discourage late settlements. This fee covers Cboe Clear Europe’s costs but also acts as a deterrent as required by applicable settlement efficiency regulation. Cboe Clear Digital sets minimum financial requirements on custodian institutions and any clearing member that may expose the clearinghouse to credit risk. The financial strength of custodians and such clearing members are monitored routinely. Furthermore, Cboe Digital requires clearing members to post collateral (full or margined, depending on the product eligible for clearing) or other forms of financial guarantee and their trading activities are subject to pre-trade checks |
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| enforced by Cboe Digital Exchange and administered by Cboe Clear Digital. On June 5, 2023, the CFTC approved an amended order of registration for Cboe Clear Digital to clear digital asset futures on a margined basis for futures commission merchants. The new products launched January 12, 2024. As of December 31, 2023, Cboe Digital does not expect a material loss concerning credit risk on any member participant, custodian, or settlement bank. |
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| ● | Liquidity Risk - Liquidity risk is the risk Cboe Clear Europe may not be able to meet its payment obligations in the right currency, in the right place and at the right time. To help mitigate this risk, Cboe Clear Europe monitors its liquidity requirements closely and maintains funds and assets in a manner which attempt to minimize the risk of loss or delay in the access by the clearinghouse to such funds and assets. For example, holding funds with a central bank where possible or making only short-term investments serves to help reduce liquidity risks. Liquidity is mainly required for securities settlement. The payment and settlement obligations generally stem from the function of Cboe Clear Europe as a cash equity clearinghouse: shares are bought and sold by clearing participants on a trading platform or OTC, and netted to settle two days later. During the settlement the actual payment for and delivery of the shares take place, this process requires intraday liquidity. If counterparties, which receive shares against payment, are unable to settle, an overnight liquidity need arises. The overnight liquidity is typically very short term, and is usually limited to a few days. Cboe Clear Digital monitors its liquidity requirements closely and maintains funds and assets in a manner which attempt to minimize the risk of loss or delay in the access by the clearinghouse to such funds and assets. For example, only allowing highly liquid USD denominated assets to be posted as collateral. Cboe Clear Digital may not be able to meet its payment obligations in a timely manner in the event of delay in payment or default by a clearing member. |
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Cboe Clear Europe entered into a €1.25 billion committed syndicated multicurrency revolving and swingline credit facility that is available to be drawn by Cboe Clear Europe towards (a) financing unsettled amounts in connection with the settlement of transactions in securities and other items processed through Cboe Clear Europe’s clearing system and (b) financing any other liability or liquidity requirement of Cboe Clear Europe incurred in the operation of its clearing system, however we can give no assurance that this facility will be sufficient to meet all such obligations or sufficiently mitigate Cboe Clear Europe’s liquidity risk to meet its payment obligations when due.
| ● | Custody Risk – Cboe Digital holds customer digital clearing assets through accounts with third party custodians and, in the case of hot and warm wallets, through self-custody. Cboe Digital’s custody strategy is designed to maximize liquidity and efficient access to assets by making those assets readily available. Cboe Digital monitors its cash and the digital asset balances it maintains with custodians. Digital assets require control of one or more unique public and private keys relating to the local or online digital wallet in which the digital assets are held. The networks require one or more private keys relating to a digital wallet to authorize a spending transaction. If private keys are lost or destroyed, this could prevent the ability to transfer the corresponding digital asset. Security breaches, computer malware, and computer hacking attacks have been a prevalent concern in digital asset markets. Cboe Digital has committed to securely store digital assets it holds on behalf of users. As such, Cboe Digital may be liable to its users for losses arising from theft or loss of user private keys. Cboe Digital has no reason to believe it will incur any expense associated with such potential liability because (i) it has no known or historical experience of claims to use as a basis of measurement, (ii) it accounts for and continually verifies the amount of digital assets within its control, and (iii) it has established security around custodial private keys to minimize the risk of theft or loss. |
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| ● | Valuation Risk - Cboe Digital is exposed to risk with respect to digital asset prices and valuations which are largely based on the supply and demand for those digital assets in financial markets. Cboe Digital’s valuation governance framework includes numerous controls and other procedural safeguards that are intended to maximize the quality of fair value measurements. New products and valuation techniques are reviewed and approved by senior management. Cboe Digital’s valuation process for digital assets are fair value estimates that are also validated by the finance control function independently. Independent price verification is performed by finance control through benchmarking fair value estimates with observable market prices or other independent sources. Reasonably designed controls and governance framework are in place and are intended to help ensure quality third-party pricing sources were used. |
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| ● | Market Risk - Cboe Clear Europe is also exposed to market risk in the event that a clearing participant defaults and the market prices of the securities in its open positions have moved adversely so the clearinghouse can only close out the participant’s obligations at a loss. To help mitigate market risk, Cboe Clear Europe collects collateral on an end of day and intraday basis from clearing participants to cover for the probable loss during normal market conditions, together with contributions to the clearing fund to cover losses if a default occurred |
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| during extreme but plausible market conditions. Adverse movements in exchange rates affecting the value of obligations and collateral are factored into the calculation of the amount of collateral to be collected. To help ensure an orderly market, Cboe Digital maintains digital assets to support its clearing operations which may be subject to significant changes in value and therefore exposed to market risk with the fluctuation in market prices. Cboe Digital monitors this risk on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. The business model is such that Cboe Digital earns digital assets and at times may accumulate positions that are subject to market risk. Customer positions do have market risk based on daily activity and settlement prices. Cboe Clear Digital is also exposed to market risk in the event that a clearing participant defaults and the market prices of the securities in its open positions have moved adversely so the clearinghouse can only close out the participant’s obligations at a loss or the clearing participant has already realized trading losses in excess of the collateral at the time of default or the combination of the two. Cboe Clear Digital collects collateral on an end of day and intraday basis from clearing participants that are clearing margin eligible futures contracts. Cboe Clear Digital only allows collateral in USD at this time. Cboe Clear Digital maintains pre-funded resources to cover probable losses during normal market conditions due to default of clearing participants. Cboe Clear Digital clearing members clearing spot digital assets mostly operate on a fully funded basis. Cboe Clear Digital may allow certain well qualified members to trade in the spot market without fully funding their accounts. Cboe Clear Digital collects collateral from such members to cover probable losses under extreme but plausible market conditions as determined by Cboe Clear Digital. The adequacy of such collateral is routinely reviewed. |
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| ● | Investment Risk – Cboe Clear Europe as of December 31, 2023 held $834.6 million of clearing member margin deposits, clearing funds, and interoperability funds which are held or invested primarily to provide security of capital while minimizing credit, market and liquidity risks. Effective August 14, 2023, Cboe Clear Europe enacted changes in its rules, and is able to invest the cash collateral received in the form of interoperability fund deposits from clearing participants in certain investments, typically securities issued by pre-approved sovereign issuers and reverse repurchase agreements with overnight maturities. When investments are made in accordance with the policy, Cboe Clear Europe receives the amount of investment earnings and pays the clearing participants those earnings minus a set basis point cost of collateral. Cboe Clear Europe is able to direct the investment of the cash interoperability fund deposits received from the clearing participants within the program parameters and receive an economic benefit from those investments. See Note 14 (“Clearing Operations”) for more information. In the event that a sovereign government or reverse repurchase agreement counterparty defaults, the value we hold as collateral might not be sufficient to cover our capital requirements in the event of defaults. While Cboe Clear Europe seeks to achieve a reasonable rate of return which may generate interest income for clearing participants, Cboe Clear Europe is primarily concerned with preservation of capital and managing the risks associated with these deposits. As Cboe Clear Europe passes on interest revenues (minus costs) to the clearing members, this could include negative or reduced yield due to market conditions. While Cboe Clear Europe has policies and procedures that strive to help ensure that clearing participant collateral is protected, Cboe Clear Europe cannot absolutely assure that these measures and safeguards will be sufficient to protect margin deposits, clearing funds, and interoperability funds from a default or that we will not be materially and adversely affected in the event of a significant default. |
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On a regular basis, we review and evaluate changes in the status of our counterparties’ creditworthiness. Credit losses such as those described above could adversely affect our consolidated financial position and results of operations. Any such effects to date have been minimal.
Interest Rate Risk
We have exposure to market risk for changes in interest rates relating to our cash and cash equivalents, financial investments, and indebtedness. As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, our cash and cash equivalents and financial investments were $600.7 million and $524.4 million, respectively, of which $244.3 million and $226.1 million is held outside of the United States in various foreign subsidiaries in 2023 and 2022, respectively. The remaining cash and cash equivalents and financial investments are denominated in U.S. dollars. We do not use our investment portfolio for trading or other speculative purposes. Due to the nature of these investments, we have not been exposed to, nor do we anticipate being exposed to, material risks due to changes in interest rates, assuming no change in the amount or composition of our cash and cash equivalents and financial investments.
As of December 31, 2023, we had $1,439.2 million in outstanding debt, all of which relates to our Senior Notes, which bear interest at fixed interest rates. Changes in interest rates will have no impact on the interest we pay on fixed-rate obligations. We are also exposed to changes in interest rates as a result of borrowings under our Revolving Credit Agreement and the Cboe Clear Europe Credit Facility, as these facilities bear interest at fluctuating rates. As of December
31, 2023, there were no outstanding borrowings under our Revolving Credit Agreement or Cboe Clear Europe Credit Facility, respectively. See Note 12 (“Debt”) to the consolidated financial statements for a discussion of debt agreements.
Liquidity Risk
We are exposed to liquidity risk under certain circumstances in relation to the cross-acceleration and cross-default provisions within the Term Loan Agreement and the Revolving Credit Agreement as a result of the Company, as guarantor, entering into the Cboe Clear Europe Credit Facility. A default of the Facility may allow lenders to accelerate any related drawn amounts and may result in the acceleration of the Company’s other outstanding debt to which a cross-acceleration or cross-default provision applies, which may limit the Company’s liquidity, business and financing activities. See Note 12 (“Debt”) to the consolidated financial statements for a discussion of debt agreements.
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