Nature Of Operations And Basis Of Presentation

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2017

Organization Consolidation And Presentation Of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Nature Of Operations And Basis Of Presentation

NOTE 1 – Nature of Operations and Basis of Presentation

Nature of Operations

Stifel Financial Corp. (the “Company”), through its wholly owned subsidiaries, is principally engaged in retail brokerage; securities trading; investment banking; investment advisory; retail, consumer, and commercial banking; and related financial services. We have offices throughout the United States and Europe. Our major geographic area of concentration is throughout the United States, with a growing presence in Europe. Our company’s principal customers are individual investors, corporations, municipalities, and institutions.

On January 3, 2017, the Company completed the acquisition of City Financial Corporation and its wholly owned subsidiary, City Securities Corporation (“City Securities”), an independent investment bank focused primarily on offering wealth management and public finance services across the Midwest. The acquisition was funded with cash from operations and common stock.

Basis of Presentation

The consolidated financial statements include Stifel Financial Corp. and its wholly owned subsidiaries, principally Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated (“Stifel”), Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc., and Stifel Bank & Trust (“Stifel Bank”). All material intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated. Unless otherwise indicated, the terms “we,” “us,” “our,” or “our company” in this report refer to Stifel Financial Corp. and its wholly owned subsidiaries.

We have prepared the accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Pursuant to these rules and regulations, we have omitted certain information and footnote disclosures we normally include in our annual consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. In management’s opinion, we have made all adjustments (consisting only of normal, recurring adjustments, except as otherwise noted) necessary to fairly present our financial position, results of operations and cash flows. Our interim period operating results do not necessarily indicate the results that may be expected for any other interim period or for the full fiscal year. These financial statements and accompanying notes should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016 on file with the SEC.

Certain amounts from prior periods have been reclassified to conform to the current period’s presentation. During the first quarter of 2017, we adopted Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2016-09, Compensation - Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting. Amounts previously reported for the quarter ended March 31, 2016 have been restated as required upon adoption of the ASU. See Note 2 for further discussion.

There have been no material changes in our significant accounting policies, as compared to the significant accounting policies described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016, with the exception of the new guidance on stock-based compensation.