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Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) today reported monthly volumes for December 2020, as well as quarterly volumes, estimated revenue capture, number of listings and index statistics for the quarter ended December 31, 2020 on its investor relations website.
A data sheet showing the monthly volumes and quarterly capture rates can be found at:
http://ir.nasdaq.com/financials/volume-statistics.
Updated Expense Guidance:
Trading volume in certain asset classes and assets under management in licensed ETPs set new quarterly records, while the number of Nasdaq IPOs in the quarter set a multi-decade high, resulting in higher than expected revenues in the fourth quarter of 2020. These higher revenues coupled with the impact of changes in foreign exchange rates were the primary drivers of incremental expenses of $20 million, reflecting increases in performance-linked compensation and other variable expenses.
In addition, during the fourth quarter of 2020, we updated our review and refined our plans across our large-scale post-trade clearing implementation projects, in part due to the logistical implications of COVID-19. As a result, a single customer implementation project is now expected to have costs that exceed revenues by $25 million over the remainder of the term of the contract (approximately 13 years), which, under the accounting rules, requires a reserve to be established to reflect the expected loss.
As a result, Nasdaq expects 2020 non-GAAP operating expenses to exceed the high end of its prior 2020 guidance range by approximately $45 million1.
1The increase of approximately $45 million will be included in GAAP operating expenses.
