TD Ameritrade 2018 Annual Report

13 Our brokerage operations have exposure to liquidity risk. Maintaining adequate liquidity is crucial to our brokerage operations, including key functions such as transaction settlement and margin lending. We are subject to cash deposit and collateral requirements with clearinghouses such as the DTCC and the OCC, which may fluctuate significantly from time to time based on the nature and size of our clients' trading activity. Our liquidity needs to support interest-earning assets are primarily met by client cash balances or financing created from our securities lending activities. A reduction of funds available from these sources may require us to seek other potentially more expensive forms of financing, such as borrowings on our revolving credit facilities. Our liquidity could be constrained if we are unable to obtain financing on acceptable terms, or at all, due to a variety of unforeseen market disruptions. Inability to meet our funding needs on a timely basis would have a material adverse effect on our business. We are exposed to credit risk with clients and counterparties. We extend margin credit and leverage to clients, which are collateralized by client cash and securities. We also borrow and lend securities in connection with our broker-dealer business. A significant portion of our net revenues is derived from interest onmargin loans. By permitting clients to purchase securities onmargin and exercise leverage with options and futures positions, we are subject to risks inherent in extending credit, especially during periods of rapidly declining markets in which the value of the collateral held by us could fall below the amount of a client's indebtedness. In addition, in accordance with regulatory guidelines, we collateralize borrowings of securities by depositing cash or securities with lenders. Sharp changes in market values of substantial amounts of securities and the failure by parties to the borrowing transactions to honor their commitments could have a material adverse effect on our revenues and profitability. We also engage in financial transactions with counterparties, including securities sold under agreements to repurchase, that expose us to credit losses in the event counterparties cannot meet their obligations. Our clearing operations expose us to liability for errors in clearing functions. Our broker-dealer subsidiary, TDAC, provides clearing and execution services for our securities brokerage business. Clearing and execution services include the confirmation, receipt, settlement and delivery functions involved in securities transactions. Clearing brokers also assume direct responsibility for the possession or control of client securities and other assets and the clearing of client securities transactions. However, clearing brokers also must rely on third-party clearing organizations, such as the DTCC and the OCC, in settling client securities transactions. Clearing securities firms, such as TDAC, are subject to substantially more regulatory control and examination than introducing brokers that rely on others to perform clearing functions. Errors in performing clearing functions, including clerical and other errors related to the handling of funds and securities held by us on behalf of clients, could lead to regulatory fines and civil penalties as well as losses and liability in related legal proceedings brought by clients and others. A default by a large financial institution could adversely affect financial markets. The commercial soundness of many financial institutions may be closely interrelated as a result of credit, trading, clearing or other relationships among the institutions. For example, increased centralization of trading activities through particular clearing houses, central agents or exchanges is occurring. This is driven by market forces and by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the "Dodd-Frank Act") and similar laws in other jurisdictions, and it may increase our concentration of risk with respect to these entities. As a result, concerns about, or a default or threatened default by, one institution could lead to significant market-wide liquidity and credit problems, losses or defaults by other institutions. This is sometimes referred to as "systemic risk" and may adversely affect financial intermediaries, such as clearing houses, clearing agencies, exchanges, banks and securities firms, with which we interact on a daily basis, and therefore could have a material adverse effect on our business. Systems failures, delays and capacity constraints could harm our business. We receive and process trade orders through a variety of electronic channels, including the Internet, mobile trading applications and our interactive voice response system. These methods of trading are heavily dependent on the integrity of the electronic systems supporting them. Our systems and operations are vulnerable to damage or interruption from human error, natural disasters, power loss, computer viruses, distributed denial of service