Regulatory Requirements

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

Regulatory Capital

As registered broker-dealers with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), Cowen and Company, ATM Execution and Westminster are subject to the Uniform Net Capital Rule 15c3-1, "SEA Rule 15c3-1," under the Securities Exchange Act ("SEA") of 1934, which requires the maintenance of minimum net capital. Each registered broker-dealer has elected to compute net capital under the alternative method permitted by that rule.

The Company acquired Portico, a registered broker-dealer on December 16, 2021. As a result of the acquisition, Portico's net assets were transferred into Cowen and Company. The Company applied to withdraw Portico's status as a FINRA registered broker-dealer on December 20, 2021 which was approved by the SEC on February 18, 2022.

Under the alternative method, Cowen and Company's minimum net capital requirement, as defined in (a)(4) of SEA Rule 15c3-1, is equal to the greater of $1.5 million or 2% of aggregate debits arising from customer transactions. ATM Execution, and Westminster are required to maintain minimum net capital, as defined in (a)(1)(ii) of SEA Rule 15c3-1, equal to the greater of $250,000 or 2% of aggregate debits arising from customer transactions. Advances to affiliates, repayment of borrowings, distributions, dividend payments, and other equity withdrawals are subject to certain notification and other provisions of SEA Rule 15c3-1 and other regulatory bodies.

Cowen and Company is also subject to certain net capital rule requirements under the Regulation 1.17 of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") under Commodities Exchange Act (“CEA”) as an introducing broker. Under Regulation 1.17, Cowen and Company is required to maintain net capital equal to or in excess of $45,000 or the amount of net capital required by SEA Rule 15c3-1, whichever is greater. Additionally, as an options clearing member of the Options Clearing Corporation ("OCC") under OCC Rule 302, Cowen and Company is required to maintain net capital equal to the greater of $2.0

million or 2% of aggregate debit items. At March 31, 2022, Cowen and Company had $397.2 million of net capital in excess of its minimum requirements under SEA Rule 15c3-1.

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) was signed into law on July 21, 2010. The Dodd-Frank Act contains provisions that require the registration of all swap dealers, major swap participants, security-based swap dealers, and/or major security-based swap participants. Cowen Financial Products, Ltd ("Cowen Financial Products") registered only with the SEC with an effective date of November 1, 2021 as a securities-based swap dealer and is not using models to compute its net capital. Under the rules there is a minimum net capital requirement for, among others, an entity that acts as a dealer in security-based swaps, which is the greater of $20 million or 2% of risk margin amount The risk margin amount means the sum of (i) the total initial margin required to be maintained by the SEC securities-based swaps dealer at each clearing agency with respect to securities-based swaps transactions cleared for securities-based swap customers and (ii) the total initial margin amount calculated by the SEC securities-based swaps dealer swaps dealer with respect to non-cleared securities-based swaps under SEC rules. At March 31, 2022, Cowen Financial Products had $16.7 million of net capital in excess of its minimum requirements under SEA Rule 18a-1.

Cowen International Ltd and Cowen Execution Ltd are subject to the capital requirements of the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA"), as defined, and must exceed the minimum capital requirement set forth by the FCA. On 1 January 2022, the FCA adopted the Investment Firms Prudential Regime ("IFPR"). This is a new prudential regime which applies to MiFID investment firms authorized and regulated by the FCA in the UK. The IFPR refocuses prudential requirements and expectations away from the risks firms face, to also consider and look to manage the potential harm firms can pose to consumers and markets. Cowen International Ltd and Cowen Execution Ltd will both be designated as Class 2 firms under the new regime and will have a minimum capital requirement equal to the higher of; the Permanent minimum capital requirement, their respective Fixed Overhead requirement, and their Risk Responsive Computation ("K-factors").

Cowen Asia, a previously established entity, was re-registered with regulatory approval on May 17, 2019. Cowen Asia is subject to the financial resources requirements of the Securities and Futures Commission ("SFC") of Hong Kong. Financial Resources must exceed the Total Financial Resources requirement of the SFC.

As of March 31, 2022, the regulatory net capital, minimum net capital requirement and excess net capital of U.S. regulated broker dealers and swap dealer together with the equivalent of capital requirements and compliance information for foreign broker dealers registered with the FCA and the SFC are presented as follows:


Subsidiary	Net Capital		Minimum Net Capital Requirement		Excess Net Capital
	(dollars in thousands)
Cowen and Company	$	406,557	$	9,343	$	397,214
ATM Execution	$	7,880	$	250	$	7,630
Westminster	$	19,521	$	250	$	19,271
Cowen Financial Products	$	36,658	$	20,000	$	16,658
Cowen International Ltd (a)	$	51,109	$	25,735	$	25,374
Cowen Execution Ltd (a)	$	17,900	$	5,075	$	12,825
Cowen Asia (a)	$	2,045	$	383	$	1,662

(a)The equivalent of Net Capital under FCA rules is referred as “capital resources” and under SFC rules is referred as “net liquid capital.” The equivalent of Minimum Net Capital Requirement under FCA rules is referred as “minimum capital resources requirement and under SFC rules is referred as “net liquid capital requirement."

Customer Protection

The Company's U.S. broker-dealers must also comply with the customer protection provisions under SEA Rule 15c3-3 which requires a computation of a reserve requirement for customer and maintenance of a deposit of cash or securities into a special reserve bank account for the exclusive benefit of customers; or claim an exemption pursuant to subparagraphs (k)(2)(i) or (k)(2)(ii) of that rule. Firms can rely on more than one exemption.

ATM Execution claims the (k)(2)(ii) exemption with regard to all of their customer accounts and transactions that are introduced on a fully-disclosed basis to their clearing agents for clearing, settlement and custody. Westminster claims the (k)(2)(i) exemption with regard to customer transactions and balances that are cleared, settled and custodied in bank accounts designated as Special Accounts for the Exclusive Benefit of Customers ("Special Bank Accounts"). Westminster also claims exemption for other business activities that are not covered under (k)(2)(i) contemplated by Footnote 74 of the SEC Release No. 34-70073 adopting amendments to 17 C.F.R. § 240.17a-5 for receiving transaction-based compensation in return for providing commission management services.

In accordance with the requirements of SEA Rule 15c3-3, Cowen and Company may be required to deposit in a Special Reserve Account cash or acceptable qualified securities for the exclusive benefit of customers. As of March 31, 2022, Cowen and Company had segregated approximately $51.8 million of cash to satisfy the customer reserve provision of SEA Rule 15c3-3.

As a clearing and carrying broker-dealer, Cowen and Company is required to compute a reserve requirement for proprietary accounts of broker-dealers ("PAB"), as defined in SEA Rule 15c3-3. Cowen and Company conducts PAB reserve computations in order to determine the amount it is required to deposit in its PAB Reserve Bank Accounts pursuant to SEA Rule 15c3-3. This allows each correspondent firm that uses Cowen and Company as its clearing broker-dealer to classify its PAB account assets held at Cowen and Company as allowable assets in the correspondent's net capital calculation. At March 31, 2022, Cowen and Company had $71.7 million of cash on deposit in PAB Reserve Bank Accounts. Cowen and Company and ATM Execution also maintain certain assets in PAB accounts held at their respective clearing brokers. Each treats its assets held in those PAB accounts at the respective clearing brokers as allowable assets for net capital purposes.

Cowen Financial Products, as a registered securities based swap dealer, claims Rule 18a-4(f) exemption under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Act”) with regard to its swap counterparties on the basis that it has provided sufficient notice to its swap counterparties of their respective rights to require segregation of funds or other property used to secure uncleared security based swaps pursuant to section 3E(f)(1)(A)-(B) of the Act (15 U.S.C. 78c-5(f)(1)(A)). Any margin collateral received and held by the security based swap dealer with respect to uncleared security based swaps will not be subject to a segregation requirement. The notice outlines how a claim of those swap counterparties for the collateral would be treated in a bankruptcy or other formal liquidation proceeding of the security-based swap dealer.

Other Regulatory Requirements

Cowen Insurance Co and Cowen Re are individually required to maintain a solvency capital ratio as calculated by relevant European Commission directives and local regulatory rules in Malta and Luxembourg, respectively. Each company's individual solvency capital ratio calculated at the end of each quarter must exceed a minimum requirement. As of December 31, 2021, the last testing date for Cowen Re and Cowen Insurance Co, the solvency capital ratios of both Cowen Insurance Co and Cowen Re were in excess of the minimum requirements.

Based on minimum capital and surplus requirements pursuant to the laws of the state of New York that apply to captive insurance companies, RCG Insurance Company, Cowen's captive insurance company incorporated and licensed in the state of New York, was required to maintain capital and surplus of approximately $0.3 million as of March 31, 2022. RCG Insurance Company’s capital and surplus as of March 31, 2022 totaled $6.0 million.