Commitments and Contingencies |
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Jun. 30, 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Commitments and Contingencies | COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES Service and Development Contracts The Company is party to certain long-term contracts for systems and services that enable back-office trade processing and clearing for its product and service offerings. Guarantees The Company occasionally enters into contracts that contingently require it to indemnify certain parties against third-party claims. The terms of these obligations vary and, because a maximum obligation is not explicitly stated, the Company has determined that it is not possible to make an estimate of the amount that it could be obligated to pay under such contracts. LPL Financial provides guarantees to securities clearing houses and exchanges under their standard membership agreements, which require a member to guarantee the performance of other members. Under these agreements, if a member becomes unable to satisfy its obligations to the clearing houses and exchanges, all other members would be required to meet any shortfall. The Company’s liability under these arrangements is not quantifiable and could exceed the cash and securities it has posted as collateral. However, the potential requirement for the Company to make payments under these agreements is remote. Accordingly, no liability has been recognized for these transactions. Loan Commitments From time to time, LPL Financial makes loans to advisors and institutions, primarily to newly recruited advisors and institutions to assist in the transition process, which may be forgivable. Due to timing differences, LPL Financial may make commitments to issue such loans prior to actually funding them. These commitments are generally contingent upon certain events occurring, including the advisor or institution joining LPL Financial. LPL Financial had no significant unfunded loan commitments at June 30, 2025 or December 31, 2024. Legal and Regulatory Matters The Company is subject to extensive regulation and supervision by U.S. federal and state agencies and various self-regulatory organizations. The Company and its advisors periodically engage with such agencies and organizations, in the context of examinations or otherwise, to respond to inquiries, informational requests and investigations. From time to time, such engagements result in regulatory complaints or other matters, the resolution of which has in the past and may in the future include fines, customer restitution and other remediation. Assessing the probability of a loss occurring and the timing and amount of any loss related to a legal proceeding or regulatory matter is inherently difficult. While the Company exercises significant and complex judgments to make certain estimates presented in its condensed consolidated financial statements, there are particular uncertainties and complexities involved when assessing the potential outcomes of legal proceedings and regulatory matters. The Company’s assessment process considers a variety of factors and assumptions, which may include: the procedural status of the matter and any recent developments; prior experience and the experience of others in similar matters; the size and nature of potential exposures; available defenses; the progress of fact discovery; the opinions of counsel and experts; or the potential opportunities for settlement and the status of any settlement discussions. The Company monitors these factors and assumptions for new developments and re-assesses the likelihood that a loss will occur and the estimated range or amount of loss, if those amounts can be reasonably determined. The Company has established an accrual for those legal proceedings and regulatory matters for which a loss is both probable and the amount can be reasonably estimated. In February 2023, the Company received a request for information from the SEC in connection with an investigation of certain elements of the Company’s Anti-Money Laundering compliance program. In 2024, the SEC proposed a resolution, under which the Company would pay an $18.0 million civil monetary penalty. As a result, the Company recorded $18.0 million in other expense in the consolidated statements of income for the year ended December 31, 2024. The Company reached a settlement with the staff of the SEC and paid the civil monetary penalty in January 2025. In July 2024, putative class action lawsuits were filed against LPL Financial in federal district court alleging certain violations of law in connection with its cash sweep programs. The Company intends to defend vigorously against the lawsuits. In August 2024, the Company received a request for information from the SEC regarding certain elements of the Company’s cash management program for corporate advisory accounts. The Company has been cooperating with the request. Third-Party Insurance The Company maintains third-party insurance coverage for certain potential legal proceedings, including those involving certain client claims. With respect to such client claims, the estimated losses on many of the pending matters are less than the applicable deductibles of the insurance policies. Self-Insurance The Company has self-insurance for certain potential liabilities through its captive insurance subsidiary. Liabilities associated with the risks that are retained by the Company are not discounted and are estimated by considering, in part, historical claims experience, severity factors, and actuarial assumptions and estimates. The estimated accruals for these potential liabilities could be significantly affected if future occurrences and claims differ from such assumptions and historical trends, so there are particular complexities and uncertainties involved when assessing the adequacy of loss reserves for potential liabilities that are self-insured. Self-insurance liabilities are included in accounts payable and accrued liabilities in the condensed consolidated statements of financial condition. Self-insurance related charges are included in other expense in the condensed consolidated statements of income. The following table provides a reconciliation of the beginning and ending balances of self-insurance liabilities for the periods presented (in thousands):
Other Commitments As of June 30, 2025, the Company had approximately $642.2 million of client margin loans that were collateralized with securities having a fair value of approximately $899.1 million that LPL Financial can repledge, loan or sell. Of these securities, approximately $507.6 million were client-owned securities pledged to the Options Clearing Corporation as collateral to secure client obligations related to options positions. As of June 30, 2025, there were no restrictions that materially limited the Company’s ability to repledge, loan or sell the remaining $391.5 million of client collateral. Investment securities on the condensed consolidated statements of financial condition include $10.0 million and $8.5 million of trading securities pledged to the Options Clearing Corporation at June 30, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively, and $24.9 million and $20.0 million of trading securities pledged to the National Securities Clearing Corporation at June 30, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively.
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