Discontinued Operations

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Discontinued Operations and Disposal Groups [Abstract]

Discontinued Operations

Discontinued Operations

The subsidiaries acquired through the LaBranche acquisition (see Note 2) meet the criteria of discontinued operations under US GAAP because the operations and cash flows of these subsidiaries can be clearly distinguished, operationally and for financial reporting purposes, from the rest of the Company. As a result of the subsidiaries not meeting the Company's expectations as to their results of operations and not generating positive cash flows, the Company decided, during the fourth quarter, to exit the business operated by these subsidiaries. The subsidiaries comprised of market making operations for exchange traded funds in the US, Europe and Asia which were included in the broker-dealer segment. The results of operations and cash flows will be eliminated from the Company's ongoing operations and the Company will have no continuing involvement in these operations. Therefore, the Company reported the results of operations related to these subsidiaries in discontinued operations.

The results of operations, which include certain direct nonrecurring costs, such as intangible asset impairments (see Note 10), leasehold improvement write offs (see Note 9) and severance payments, related to the Company's discontinued operations are summarized below:

	For the Period June 28, 2011 through December 31, 2011
	(dollars in thousands)
Total revenues, net of interest expense	$	2,899
Loss from discontinued operations	(24,075		)
Income tax expense/(benefit)	(429		)
Loss from discontinued operations, net of taxes	(23,646		)