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Segment Analysis
3 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2011
Segment Analysis [Abstract]  
Segment Reporting Disclosure [Text Block]
Segment Analysis
The Company reports its operating segments based on services provided to customers. The Company’s activities are divided into the following five functional areas:
Commodity and Risk Management Services
Foreign Exchange
Securities
Clearing and Execution Services
Other
Commodity and Risk Management Services (C&RM)
The Company serves its commercial customers through its force of approximately 168 risk management consultants with a high value added service that differentiates us from other competitors and maximizes the opportunity to retain customers. The Integrated Risk Management Program ("IRMP®") involves providing customers with commodity risk management consulting services that are designed to develop a customized long term hedging program to help them mitigate their exposure to commodity price risk and maximize the amount and certainty of their operating profits. Customers are assisted in the execution of their hedging strategies through the Company’s exchange-traded futures and options clearing and execution operations and through access to more customized alternatives provided by the OTC trading desk. Generally, customers direct their own trading activity and risk management consultants do not have discretionary authority to transact trades on behalf of customers. When transacting OTC contracts with customers, the Company may offset the customer’s transaction simultaneously with one of its trading counterparties. Alternatively, the OTC trade desk will accept a customer transaction and offset that transaction with a similar but not identical position on the exchange.
In addition, the Company provides a full range of trading and hedging capabilities to select producers, consumers, recyclers and investors in both precious and base metals, as well as certain other related commodities. This includes acting as a Category One ring dealing member of the LME, providing execution, clearing and advisory services in exchange traded futures and OTC products. Acting as a principal, the Company commits its own capital to buy and sell the metals on a spot and forward basis.
The Company records its physical commodities revenues on a gross basis. Operating revenues and losses from the Company’s commodities derivatives activities are included within ‘trading gains’ in the condensed consolidated income statements. Inventory for the commodities business is valued at the lower of cost or fair value under the provisions of the Inventory Topic of the ASC. The Company generally mitigates the price risk associated with commodities held in inventory through the use of derivatives. The Company does not elect hedge accounting under U.S. GAAP in accounting for this price risk mitigation. In such situations, unrealized gains in inventory are not recognized under U.S. GAAP, but unrealized gains and losses in related derivative positions are recognized under U.S. GAAP. As a result, the Company’s reported earnings from commodities trading may be subject to significant volatility when calculated under U.S. GAAP.
Foreign Exchange
The Company provides treasury, global payment and foreign exchange services to financial institutions, multi-national corporations, government organizations and charitable organizations as well as assisting commercial customers with the execution of foreign exchange hedging strategies. The Company transacts in over 130 currencies and specializes in smaller, more difficult emerging markets where there is limited liquidity. In addition, the Company executes trades based on the foreign currency flows inherent in the Company’s existing business activities. The Company primarily acts as a principal in buying and selling foreign currencies on a spot basis. The Company derives revenue from the difference between the purchase and sale prices.
The Company also provides spot foreign currency trading for a customer base of eligible contract participants and high net worth retail customers as well as operating a proprietary foreign exchange desk which arbitrages the futures and cash markets.
Securities
Through INTL Trading, the Company acts as a wholesale market maker in select foreign securities including unlisted ADRs and foreign ordinary shares. INTL Trading provides execution and liquidity to national broker-dealers, regional broker-dealers and institutional investors.
The Company also originates, structures and places a wide array of emerging market debt instruments in the international and domestic capital markets. These instruments include complex asset backed securities, unsecured bond and loan issues, negotiable notes and other trade-related debt instruments used in cross-border trade finance. On occasions the Company may invest its own capital in debt instruments before selling them. It also actively trades in a variety of international debt instruments.
Clearing and Execution Services (CES)
The Company seeks to provide competitive and efficient clearing and execution of exchange-traded futures and options for the institutional and professional trader market segments. Through its platform, customer orders are accepted and directed to the appropriate exchange for execution. The Company then facilitates the clearing of customers’ transactions. Clearing involves the matching of customers’ trades with the exchange, the collection and management of margin deposits to support the transactions, and the accounting and reporting of the transactions to customers. The Company seeks to leverage its capabilities and capacity by offering facilities management or outsourcing solutions to other FCMs.
Other
This segment consists of the Company’s asset management and commodity financing and facilitation business. The asset management revenues include fees, commissions and other revenues received by the Company for management of third party assets and investment gains or losses on the Company’s investments in funds and proprietary accounts managed either by the Company’s investment managers or by independent investment managers.
The Company operates a commodity financing and facilitation business which provides financing to commercial commodity-related companies against physical inventories, including grain, lumber, meats, energy products and renewable fuels. Sale and repurchase agreements are used to purchase commodities evidenced by warehouse receipts, subject to a simultaneous agreement to sell such commodities back to the original seller at a later date. These transactions are accounted for as product financing arrangements, and accordingly no commodity inventory, purchases or sales are recorded. Additionally, the Company, as a principal, engages in physical purchase and sale transactions related to inputs to the renewable fuels and feed ingredient industries.
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The total revenues reported combine gross revenues for the physical commodities business and net revenues for all other businesses. In order to reflect the way that the Company’s management views the results, the tables below also reflect the segment contribution to ‘operating revenues’, which is shown on the face of the condensed consolidated income statements and which is calculated by deducting physical commodities cost of sales from total revenues.
Segment data includes the profitability measure of net contribution by segment. Net contribution is one of the key measures used by management to assess the performance of each segment and for decisions regarding the allocation of the Company’s resources. Net contribution is calculated as revenue less direct cost of sales, clearing and related expenses, variable compensation, introducing broker commissions and interest expense. Variable compensation paid to risk management consultants / traders generally represents a fixed percentage of an amount equal to revenues generated, and in some cases, revenues produced less clearing and related charges, base salaries and an overhead allocation.
Segment data also includes segment income which is calculated as net contribution less non-variable direct expenses of the segment. These non-variable direct expenses include trader base compensation and benefits, operational employee compensation and benefits, communication and data services, business development, professional fees, bad debt expense and other direct expenses.
Inter-segment revenues, charges, receivables and payables are eliminated upon consolidation, except revenues and costs related to foreign currency transactions undertaken on an arm’s length basis by the foreign exchange trading business for the securities business. The foreign exchange trading business competes for this business as it does for any other business. If its rates are not competitive, the securities businesses buy or sell their foreign currency through other market counterparties.
To conform to the current presentation of the information concerning the Company's operating segments, the Company has reclassified $1.1 million, for the three months ended December 31, 2010, of costs not allocated to operating segments as non-variable direct segment costs, impacting reported net segment income. On a recurring basis, the Company sweeps excess cash from certain operating segments to a centralized corporate treasury function in exchange for an intercompany receivable asset. The intercompany receivable asset is eliminated during consolidation, and therefore this practice may impact reported total assets between segments.
Information concerning operations in these segments of business is shown in accordance with the Segment Reporting Topic of the ASC as follows:
 
Three Months Ended December 31,
(in millions)
2011
 
2010
Total revenues:
 
 
 
Commodity and Risk Management Services
$
17,202.0

 
$
16,223.9

Foreign Exchange
17.9

 
14.5

Securities
9.9

 
7.9

Clearing and Execution Services
17.7

 
17.1

Other
45.2

 
7.1

Corporate unallocated
(2.3
)
 
0.3

Total
$
17,290.4

 
$
16,270.8

Operating revenues (loss):
 
 
 
Commodity and Risk Management Services
$
50.0

 
$
54.1

Foreign Exchange
17.9

 
14.5

Securities
9.9

 
7.9

Clearing and Execution Services
17.7

 
17.1

Other
3.1

 
2.8

Corporate unallocated
(2.3
)
 
0.3

Total
$
96.3

 
$
96.7

Net contribution:
 
 
 
(Revenues less cost of sales, clearing and related expenses, variable bonus compensation, introducing broker commissions and interest expense):
 
 
 
Commodity and Risk Management Services
$
29.8

 
$
27.7

Foreign Exchange
11.7

 
9.0

Securities
4.5

 
4.5

Clearing and Execution Services
2.5

 
3.3

Other
2.1

 
1.7

Total
$
50.6

 
$
46.2

Net segment income (loss):
 
 
 
(Net contribution less non-variable direct segment costs):
 
 
 
Commodity and Risk Management Services
$
13.1

 
$
13.6

Foreign Exchange
9.0

 
6.9

Securities
1.1

 
1.2

Clearing and Execution Services
(0.1
)
 
2.1

Other
0.8

 
0.8

Total
$
23.9

 
$
24.6

Reconciliation of segment income to income from continuing operations, before tax:
 
 
 
Net segment income
$
23.9

 
$
24.6

Costs not allocated to operating segments
24.6

 
18.7

(Loss) income from continuing operations, before tax
$
(0.7
)
 
$
5.9

 
 
 
 
(in millions)
As of December 31, 2011
 
As of September 30, 2011
Total assets:
 
 
 
Commodity and Risk Management Services
$
1,077.2

 
$
1,540.8

Foreign Exchange
142.0

 
146.1

Securities
64.8

 
104.8

Clearing and Execution Services
984.6

 
734.4

Other
41.4

 
43.4

Corporate unallocated
104.8

 
66.2

Total
$
2,414.8

 
$
2,635.7