Regulatory Requirements

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Regulated Operations [Abstract]

Regulatory Requirements

Regulatory requirements

The Company's U.S. broker dealer subsidiaries, Oppenheimer and Freedom, are subject to the uniform net capital requirements of the SEC under Rule 15c3-1 (the "Rule") promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Oppenheimer computes its net capital requirements under the alternative method provided for in the Rule which requires that Oppenheimer maintain net capital equal to two percent of aggregate customer-related debit items, as defined in SEC Rule 15c3-3. As of December 31, 2020, the net capital of Oppenheimer as calculated under the Rule was $274.5 million or 22.47% of Oppenheimer's aggregate debit items. This was $250.1 million in excess of the minimum required net capital at that date. Freedom computes its net capital requirement under the basic method provided for in the Rule, which requires that Freedom maintain net capital equal to the greater of $100,000 or 6-2/3% of aggregate indebtedness, as defined. As of December 31, 2020, Freedom had net capital of $4.9 million, which was $4.8 million in excess of the $100,000 required to be maintained at that date.

As of December 31, 2020, the capital required and held under the Capital Requirements Directive ("CRD IV") for Oppenheimer Europe Ltd. was as follows:

•Common Equity Tier 1 ratio 24.00% (required 4.5%);

•Tier 1 Capital ratio 24.00% (required 6.0%); and

•Total Capital ratio 32.00% (required 8.0%).

In December 2017, Oppenheimer Europe Ltd. received approval from the Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA") for a variation of permission to remove the limitation of "matched principal business" from the firm's scope of permitted businesses and become a "Full-Scope Prudential Sourcebook for Investment Firms (IFPRU) €730K" firm which was effective January 2018. In addition to the capital requirement under CRV IV above, Oppenheimer Europe Ltd. is required to maintain a minimum capital of EUR 730,000. As of December 31, 2020, Oppenheimer Europe Ltd. is in compliance with its regulatory requirements.

As of December 31, 2020, the regulatory capital of Oppenheimer Investments Asia Limited was $3.2 million, which was $2.8 million in excess of the $386,917 required to be maintained on that date. Oppenheimer Investments Asia Limited computes its regulatory capital pursuant to the requirements of the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong. As of December 31, 2020, Oppenheimer Investment Asia Limited was in compliance with its regulatory requirements.