Liabilities Subordinated to Claims of General Creditors

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Subordinated Borrowings [Abstract]

Subordinated Borrowings Disclosure [Text Block]

NOTE 16 – Liabilities Subordinated to Claims of General Creditors

Stifel Nicolaus maintains a deferred compensation plan for its financial advisors who achieve certain levels of production, whereby a certain percentage of their earnings are deferred as defined by the plan, a portion of which is deferred in stock units and the balance into optional investment choices.. We obtained approval from Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA") and its predecessor, the New York Stock Exchange, to subordinate the liability for future payments for the portion of compensation that is not deferred in stock units. Required annual payments, as of December 31, 2011, are as follows (in thousands):

Distribution – January 31,	Plan year	Total
2012	2006		1,638
2013	2007		2,188
2014	2008		3,131
		$	6,957

The subordinated liabilities are subject to cash subordination agreements approved by FINRA and, therefore, are included in our computation of net capital under the SEC's Uniform Net Capital Rule. We have estimated the fair value of the liability to be $6.7 million as of December 31, 2011.