I will now hand you over to your host, Jonathan Berger, to begin today's conference. Thank you.
Thank you. Good morning, everybody, and thank you for joining Flowtrader's 4th quarter and full year 2020 results call. As you'll no doubt already see, we released our results first thing this morning. I'm joined here on the call by Flowtrader's CEO, Dennis Dykstra as well as Chief Trading Officer, Volker Jolek, who will run through the results presentation. Afterwards, I'm happy to take any questions you may have.
Before we begin, let me draw your attention to the disclaimer on Page 2. Please be advised that if you continue to listen to this presentation, you are bound by this disclaimer. Also, please note the results we will disclose in this presentation are unaudited. With the formalities out of the way, I would now like to hand over to Dennis for his opening remarks.
Thanks, Jonathan. Good morning and thank you all for joining this call where we will provide additional color on our Q4 and full year 2020 results. As perhaps was not immediately visible from the monthly market data published on our website, Q4 saw heightened levels of market activity on the back Of the U. S. Elections and COVID developments.
Crucially, this saw strategic reallocations by investors The corresponding true in and outflows. ETP market value traded for 2020 as a whole was 48% higher Then in 2019, as the markets and investors reacted to economic, political and social events throughout the year. Indeed, the entire ETP ecosystem demonstrated considerable resilience throughout 2020. Talking about 2020, I would like, on behalf of the management board, also like to take the opportunity to pay a big tribute To the professionalism, resilience and loyalty of all our colleagues globally this past year during exceptional and challenging circumstances, Everyone and I really mean everyone has contributed to the considerable operational and strategic achievements and successes Over the past year, 2020 saw record ETP value traded versus last year, Which in itself was a record for our business. The growth in our ETP value traded outperformed the broader market both in Q4 and in 2020 As we gain market share, this once again is a statement of our market presence and leading global footprint.
Consequently, the market environment along with Flowtrader's pricing knowledge, hedging and risk management capabilities Translated into a net trading income of $130,300,000 in the Q4 of 20.20 compared to $78,300,000 in the Q3 of 2020 $46,100,000 in the Q4 of 2019. This contributed to a record year for Flowtraders by some distance with a net trading income of €933,400,000 And we saw clear outperformance in all regions and across all our asset classes. We demonstrated strong operational leverage With an EBITDA margin of 69% in the Q1 with an EBITDA of €90,500,000 It is worth noting that this does reflect the positive impact of the accounting treatment for the variable remuneration transplant. I will cover this in greater detail later. Overall for 2020 EBITDA was 586,600,000 With a margin of 63%.
The Q4 2020 net profit amounted to €66,200,000 with an earnings per share €1.48 Ultimately, we've recorded a net profit for 2020 of €464,500,000 with an earnings per share €10.26 Taking all of this into account, Flowtraders proposes a final dividend For 2020 of €2.5 implying a €6.5 total dividend for the full year 2020 and a 63% payout This will be paid shortly after our 2021 AGM. It is also worth highlighting once again that our business and operation functioned As normal during the Q4, following the continued activation of our business continuity plan and we were able to continuously provide liquidity and pricing to the financial markets on a global basis. Despite the strong operational focus required Through much of 2020, we also have continued to execute our growth strategy in terms of broadening our ETP footprint as well as enhancing coverage Fixed income, crypto and currency trading. The investments we have made in growing our non ETP activities are starting to pay off and are positively contributing to the top line. Now let's take a closer look at the market developments As well as a deeper dive into Flowtrader's performance and accomplishments.
Firstly, we will review recent ETP market dynamics on the next slide. As shown on the top left hand side of this slide, ETP market value traded was essentially flat Implied volatility also remained broadly flat quarter on quarter. However, this quarter trend marks the evident spikes seen in November. Moreover, realized volatility across multiple asset class increased throughout. Accordingly, we saw market Velocity increasing in EMEA and APAC with U.
S. Remaining flat. From an ETP asset under management perspective, We again saw significant increases in fixed income, ESG and commodity ETFs. As a key part of the ETP ecosystem, Flowtraders facilitated trading in these ETP asset classes. In summary, it is fair to say that the outlook for ETPs remains very strong.
Now I will hand over to Fokker, who will review our Afrotrader's regional performance in greater detail on the next slide.
Thank you, Dennis, and good morning all. On this slide, we present an overview of some of the key performance indicators For the Q4 and for the full year 2020 on a regional basis. As Dennis mentioned earlier, we have seen strong performance in Q4. I10's market activity and the disciplined execution of Flowtrader's growth strategy resulted in meaningful growth In ETP value traded and in the NTI of Q4. In Europe, we reinforce our position as the leading liquidity provider in Peace both on and off exchange by gaining market share in EMEA year on year.
We also took the number one position off exchange in fixed income ETFs are now both top position in XT, fixed income and commodity ETPs as well. There was Strong trading performance not only in the core E2P business, but also positive DTI contributions from non E2P trading as recent investments are paying off. Moreover, much of the activity in the quarter occurred during European trading hours, which aided our performance in the region. Positive proof points around trading other asset classes include our continued presence as a top 3 market maker on major FX ECMs in spot metals. We are also the number one market maker in cryptocurrency ETPs in Europe, active on 15 exchanges globally, providing 20 fourseven liquidity as well as being leading spot OTC liquidity provider.
Moving to the Americas. There was an improved trading performance with continued market share gains With flow traded ETP value traded materially outperforming market ETP value traded in Q4. We also gained Market share overall in the Americas in 2020. There was also further expansion of the counterparty base, which we successfully onboarded Where we successfully onboarded 2 large institutional counterparties in Q4. Lastly, we supported the global growth of the The ecosystem by expanding our footprint in Latin America.
Lastly, with respect to APAC, this region saw the largest Regional percentage increase in ETP value traded in 2020 with record volumes across numerous exchanges. There was also strong growth in off exchange, Both in terms of number of counterparties and value traded through the trading of global products in the APAC time zone. Flow Traders Altar strengthened its partnerships in the region with key stakeholders. This includes a partnership With the Hong Kong Exchange to be the lead market maker in their MCI futures and a number of new successful ETF listings across the region. I will now hand over to Dennis for the next slide where we cover the cost base and greater detail.
Thanks, Holkert. The main drivers of the 8% year on year increase and indeed a 7% quarter on quarter increase in fixed operational expenses Related to technology investments to support diversification initiatives and efficiency improvements as well as the impact of new hires. We have incurred €3,400,000 of additional one off expenses in the Q3, which relates to the ongoing activation of the business continuity plan and a further donation to our foundation. In total, we incurred $11,400,000 of 1 off Expenses for the full year. Our headcount increased by 8% versus the end of 2019 with a focus on technology and development hires To support growth in product coverage, asset classes and the trading platforms we are active on.
We have also seen positive impact of the accounting treatment of the new share plan on the Q4 2020 and full year 2020 EBITDA margins. It is evident that the business has demonstrated a high degree of operational leverage. In order to accelerate diversification and support Ever increasing growth in product coverage, asset classes and trading platforms, we have revised guidance to a maximum growth in fixed operating expenses Of about 15% for 2021. On the next slide, I will explain The new updated reliable remuneration share plan. We have updated our remuneration policy For all staff to further align with current and also future regulatory requirements as well as to create additional alignment of employees with Other stakeholders.
It is important to note that the variable remuneration pool remains at 35% of our operational profit. As you can see on the left hand side of the page, we have introduced share based compensation along with deferral periods. This plan replaces the FCID which has been in operation previously. There is a different accounting treatment under IFRS for this plan given a greater proportion of reliable remuneration is awarded to shares And the fact that share award expenses are deferred to future years along with the service condition. On the right hand side of the page, You can see how the off balance sheet share commitments reduce the theoretical variable renumeration pool based on 35% Of the operational profit.
Accordingly, the post expenses line items including EBITDA, Net profit and EPS have been flattered in the full year 2020. Now I will take a closer look At Flowtrader's capital position on the next slide. We show our required core Tier 1 capital levels from the top left And part of the slide. After accounting for the final dividend, Flowtrader's capital buffers have remained strong and remained comfortably Above our requirements under CRR, our own fund requirement increased 280,000,000 At the end of December from 181 at the end of September. This reflects higher level of trading.
We had a CET1 of €438,000,000 at the end of December 2020, which is net of the proposed final dividend and announced share repurchase plan. On the top right hand side of the slide, you can see that our solvency ratio with the prime brokers at December 31st Decreased compared to the end of the 3rd quarter, reflecting the $772,000,000 of accumulated trading capital as well as overall trading activity levels. Again, we are comfortably above our private broker requirements. Looking forward, IFRS IFD comes into force due this year. Our IFRS IFRS impact expectations remain unchanged.
There should be some capital relief given that incoming requirements should be more tailored to FlowTracker's specific risk profile. This relief is anticipated to be partially offset by new business activities. Considering all these developments, Flowtraners has set the 2020 final dividend of €2.5 per share implying €6.5 total dividend for the full year 2020 and a 63 The cash return to shareholders since IPO now amounts to 13.58 euros including the 2020 final dividend and the share buyback. Now I will hand over to Volker again to discuss our strategy And medium term growth focus areas.
Thank you, Dennis. Our growth Focus areas remain very much as we outlined at the time of our Q2 results. Developments during the past year have further confirmed our growth strategy And the pace of change with respect to electronification of training has only intensified. Speaking to enlarge, our global E2B footprint Means that we can align ourselves with the continuing structural growth in passive investments. This has been particularly evident in fixed income
And ESG,
which has seen strong growth over recent quarters and has translated into increased trading activity in those areas. Moreover, the attractiveness of P2Ps for investors, both retail and institutional remains as strong as ever. Our goal is to remain market leader in Europe and seek to be top 3 in the U. S. And APAC.
In terms of enhancing our coverage of fixed income, We want to build on the fact that fixed income is the fastest growing E2P asset class by becoming the global top 3 liquidity provider in fixed income E2Ps. This will be done through promoting and driving market electrification, which will create a more level playing field. From a currency trading perspective, We are leveraging our global infrastructure to provide liquidity to currency pools and counterparties. Our aim is to be a top 15 FX liquidity provider on Euromoney. We want to grow commodities by leveraging our top 5 rank on ECNs for spot metals.
Lastly, we will further develop our crypto business By unlocking additional liquidity pools and maintaining our number one market make a position in crypto ETPs. These growth focus areas Have the ultimate goal of driving structural NTI growth. Now I will turn to the final slide of the presentation and review our strategic progress in 2020 And focus items for 2021. As Dennis mentioned earlier in the presentation, Despite the strong operational focus, which was necessary in 2020, we have nonetheless made good progress in all three focus areas. Non ECP trading activities made a positive NTR contribution in Q4 and will deliver additional progress during 2021.
In 2020, Flowtraders built our leading global E2P liquidity provider position and grew our presence in all regions. We also increased the value traded in all regions and we traded with more counterparties on a large array of venues. In 2021, we will focus on further expansion of our counterparty base as well as increasing and deepening product coverage And connecting additional countries and venues. We have enhanced coverage of fixed income in the past year We're expanding our infrastructure, broadening our brand broker setup as well as increasing our market share in fixed income ETFs. Focus for 2021 on further enhancing our pricing capabilities as well as accessing more liquidity and increasing volumes.
From a currency commodities and crypto perspective, We are now consistently trading more than €5,000,000,000 a day. We have also upgraded our technology suite and we have expanded our time share coverages as well as I spot metals trading, where we are now among the top 3 market makers on major 21, we're building bilateral connectivity, expanding trading hours, increasing product coverage and broadening our prime broker base. I will now hand
back
the call to Johnson.
Thanks, Volker. This now concludes the formal part of our presentation. Would now like
to open up the floor for
any questions you may have. Operator?
We have our first question coming from the line of Albert from ING Bank. Albert, you're unmuted. Please go ahead.
Yes. Good morning all. I hope you can hear me well. It's Albert Plouff from ING. Yes, first of all, of course, congratulations on the But I believe a record Q4 and clearly a record year.
My first question is basically maybe not surprisingly On current trading, can you say anything on, let's say, what you've experienced so far in January? And is it somewhat similar to probably November, December? Because I guess, October in the quarter was still pretty much similar to the 3rd Quarter. And yes, how much of the positive drivers, let's say, in the later part of Q4, do you think could be even recurring going into 2021 in general? And my second Question is related to, let's say, the capital return decision.
You Proposed a nice round of €2.5 final dividend, which is a nice number and a nice yield. But yes, if I'm a little bit Yes, you could say the overpayout ratio is 63% lower than you did in the past. So to understand a bit your thinking around this Should I read into that decision also that you want to keep the capital inside the firm as you actually see good trading momentum continuing, so a bit Related to the first question. Thank you.
Thank you for the question. So I can answer on the current trading. We're not going to do a lot of comments on our activities there. Obviously, you can look at the statistics in the market where in Q4 of last year, The market volumes in November were slightly higher than in December October. And if you compare those to January, It's a short part of the quarter, but it is slightly more constant Over the days and then maybe you could see in Q4.
But yes, that's on the trading activities, I'm not going to comment.
Yes. Kind of adding to Fokker's comments, we did see kind of the first payoff Over the non ETP trading in the Q4 in Q4 last year as well. So And also they're starting to yield on all the investments we've done in the past. So yes, almost naturally we expect that to continue. On your second question about the capital and the dividend, 2020 has kind of shown and confirmed that a strong kind of capital base both from a regulatory and a trading capital perspective Thus yield, the 63 payout ratio is well above The dividend policy of 50%.
So our thinking is and confirming kind of Our philosophy is that any excess capital will be returned. Part of it is via dividends, part of it is via share buybacks. We've seen that a strong capital base is important. So we want to retain parts to facilitate Growth and also with IFD, IFR or new capital requirements Coming into force later this year, which are almost finalized. So there are still some uncertainties.
Although we do expect it to be slightly Our marketly favorable is not set in stone. So it might feel a bit as a bit conservative. But again, it is there to support our trading and to make sure we do not get in problem with any kind of Uncertainties are kind of surprises.
Okay. Thank you. Maybe I understand you do not want to comment on current trading, but maybe
a bit more general, let's say,
What we're seeing basically in Q4, the sector rotation with in and outflows and I think a lot of creation redemption activity that It has been helpful. But understand a little bit what happened with the whole kind of social media driven short squeezes, the Robinhood and then the Reddit How would that help FlowTrade? Is that really something that you can benefit exceptionally from? Or Is this the kind of flow, which I believe is not necessarily clearly the retail flow that you're handling? But in general, I guess, Should have had a positive impact, so maybe a bit more general comment on that to be but I'll be very specific, of course, on January itself.
So one thing that there are always strange things happening in the market, which impact The products that can be in any asset class as well, whereas every year we see a couple of extraordinary movements happening and there are We're covering every different underlying asset class. So we are used to trading in exceptional situations. In the case of these small caps, if you look at the total ETP space, for instance, the weight of these small caps It's not huge. So they were obviously these products were part of a couple of ETPs and with a small percent of Wait, so they moved as well. So it does if there is movement in any financial product, It leads to more volatility, which is a good thing for our business model.
But we are not Fully, I recall that our focus is not small caps in U. S. To a very high extent. So they are part of product we trade indeed, but we don't have a huge retail operation on the single stocks. So if you're looking for that then well, I don't think that there is a lot
Thank you,
Alpert. We have our next question coming from the line of Lotte Timmamps from ABN AMRO. Please go ahead.
Good morning. First a question on Europe's results. We saw that Europe MTI was very strong. In the press release, you have stated partly was explained by non ETP products. Could you give some color or even a ballpark number of what Share of ETP products and other asset classes was?
And what can we conclude that this partly drove the higher implied revenue capture And which asset classes were specifically strong in Q4? Thank you.
Hi, Jonathan, is the line unmuted?
Sorry, we had to mute the bit and all.
No problem.
So The European outperformance, obviously, the some of the Defense, during the last half year, so the U. S. Elections, for instance, they had A very long effect. So already starting early in the year, you saw people positioning themselves Based on what the expected of the election outcomes would have impact on set of policies there that build up during the year And that intensified during October and the move towards November. So that impacted those activities.
And what we saw in the last 2 months actually, there was a lot of Activity going on in the European hours, but that makes the outperformance of the European office explain to some extent. On the other hand, it's not only about equity movements. So we have diversification projects going, which are centralized Usually often in Europe as well. The volatility in other Asset classes, as for instance, crypto and a bit of FX that also impacts obviously The difference between the fixed type of models and the MTI we have. So if you look at the revenue capture Just linking to the implied volatility, yes, that model, the more we diversify, it becomes More difficult to maintain.
Does that answer your question?
Yes, a bit. But could you also say like What kind of share of the NTI it's roughly been? Is it significant? Or is it below 5%? Or Can you say anything about that?
I'm not going to comment on the exact numbers. It is growing as we wanted to grow. So it's I'm not going to give an exact percentage and I think that
Thank you. We have our next question coming from the line of Michael Werner from UBS. Michael, please go ahead.
Thank you and congrats on the results. Just a couple of quick questions, if you don't mind. Just looking back on Q4, I was just wondering you. If you can provide a little bit more color as to how important the month of November was in terms of your NTI generation During Q4, particularly as we had the U. S.
Presidential election as well as the vaccine related news coming out in a very short Time from at
the beginning of that month.
And then second, you noted that your goal is to be a top 3 player In the U. S. And APAC, what does that mean from a market share perspective? What would it require in terms of market share For flow traders to be a top 3 player either in the U. S.
Or in APAC. And then finally, we saw a bit of a Higher tax rate in Q4, is this kind of related to kind of change in the accounting treatment of your share plan? Or can you provide a little bit of guidance 21. Thank you.
On the distribution of the NTI, over the quarter, we're focusing on the long term growth and we're looking at KPIs on our activities and they're increasing On a steady basis, and then based on the volatility, there is more opportunity in a lot of the strategies. So the growth has been consistent over the year if you look at the KPIs, Which we correct for market performance as well. So it's relative performance and they've seen steady growth. So obviously with more volumes And more volatility, our market model that also leads to an increased NPI as well, But the growth has been consistent. And on the market share part, Obviously, the market share figure on itself is not per se saying everything.
So what we we have some more detailed Constraints to, for instance, the market share, it also is broken down per segment internally on which products Cover us. So there is some deeper breakdown. What top three means is the full coverage of the whole range. It's On and off exchange specific coverage, if you look at the RFQ platforms, we want to be top 2 ranked, Top 1, hopefully, but in some segments, top 2. So if you look at a different Ways on the performance, we've identified a couple of sub KPIs and then sort of the rough top three Means actually top 2 OTC and in some products Top 1 on the change, some products more difficult or not really our core strength.
So that's broken down. So top 3 is the whole range?
Kind of a weighted average.
And then on the tax Question?
Yes. So the tax rate indeed has gone up a bit. That has to do with the tax deductibility of Schwerpfelands, Especially here in
the Netherlands.
So and also there, there's a cumulative effect Thank you for Q4 numbers, but we don't see any necessity to kind of change guidance of an effective tax rate change Going forward, so it remains at 20%.
Thank you. And can I just ask a quick follow-up on the market share and the top three question? Absolutely noted, understands kind of the weighted average approach. Do you have a bit of a range as to where you currently sit In the U. S.
And in Asia Pac, are you a top 5, are you a top 10 player right now in those regions? Thank you.
So for instance, on the OTC part, we are top 3 and We are slightly better ranked on fixed income side and on the equity side. It's mostly because of all those one to one products Well, the competition is different. So on the equity side, Market share probably on exchange probably around 2%. And there's still some growth there, So both in the coverage of the we don't have 100% coverage yet. So we're building that out To all the products as well, but also in the products we already covered, we can still increase a bit.
The main KPI there is not the market share percentage, but we have some more specific ones, which will lead to a higher market share. And in APAC, it's a scattered market there. So it's also Different type of metrics per market, we want to cover all markets. So It's a bit depending on the local countries what exactly our spot is. Some of them were number 1, already are number 1, but to be good in the whole range, that's why we said more or less top 3.
But that means for a lot of countries, number 1 as well. Excellent. Well, thank you very much. Very helpful.
Thank you, Michael. We have our next question coming from the line of Martin Price from Jefferies. Martin, please go ahead.
Good morning, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. I've got 2 actually. The first, just a follow-up question on APAC. I think historically quite a lot of flow in the market has been dominated by local banks.
So I just wonder if you could comment on The extent to which you're now seeing flow migrating to sort of more pre trade transparent venues such as our RQ facilities? And then the second question is on regulation. Clearly, in the U. S. At the moment, there's growing focus on the practice of payment for order flow.
Well, I appreciate this doesn't affect you guys directly. It's not something you do, but I'd just be interested in your views on how you see regulation of that practice evolving And how this could potentially impact your competitive position in the U. S. Over the longer term? Thank you.
Coming back on your Hey, Patrick, question.
I think we always have been in our strong vocal kind of proponents of kind of transparent, open and Open and fair markets. So also for the OTC markets in Europe, we've seen RFQ or kind of electronic OTC trading Even transformed into a regulated trading on MTFs. I think the whole ecosystem benefited Significantly from it, so both the issuers, investors and also the platforms. So and that's also something we see Being adopted both in APAC and in the U. S.
So as you can imagine, that's favorable for us. We are a very dominant independent liquidity provider in these index products covering all Underlying asset classes, issuers, global listings, so that's something that's favorable, but it needs time For a kind of region or country to kind of adopt to these Kind of new way of executing their training. So it is growing. It's becoming more electrified. We also see some exchanges kind of Adopting and embracing these developments, so that's positive.
Coming back to the second question, the payment for order flow. Again, we are in favor of Open, transparent, kind of equal access level playing fields. We do not engage in Payment for order flow in the U. S. Markets at the moment, well, I don't have a specific or we don't have a specific View or comment on it.
Until it damages or hurts kind of the whole ecosystem, Yes, I think that's where we that's where You're right. Great. That's helpful. Thanks, Dennis.
Thank you, Martin. We have last question in the queue. Our next question comes from the line of Gregory Simpson from Exane BNP Paribas. Gregory, please go ahead.
Hi, morning. Thanks for taking my question. Congrats on the results. A few from my end. The first was, I guess, the change in remuneration policy accounting maybe means your reported earnings Could become more volatile.
So I was wondering if you were thinking about changing the current dividend policy and then maybe setting A floor level of dividend, for example, just any thoughts there. The second question was in the You mentioned an aspiration of being top 2, I think, in OTC and onboarding 2 of the top 20 Institutional counterparties in the quarter, just wondering how many of the kind of top 20 do you have connected now? Is there Kind of more to go for or most kind of connected as things stand. And then just lastly, It looks like there's been quite significant growth in fixed income ETPs and you have big aspirations to Grow your market share there. Does it have a very different kind of hedging process, That kind of asset class because I would guess that a lot of the kind of underlying are potentially A lot less liquid than, say, in equity EVP.
So any thoughts around the kind of hedging process and market potential kind of market risks That would be great. Thank you.
Thanks, Gregory. So the first question on
kind of the change in Remuneration policy and kind of related reporting of earnings, it's not per se a big change The renumerization policy itself because we always incentivized our employees to be a shareholder, But it's more about the mechanics. So now as opposed to incentivizing people significantly to buy shares, we are Part of the remuneration is in actual shares or share like instruments and the accounting treatment is different. So Going forward, we will take this into account in how we present our earnings to kind of also take Into account the impact from previous years or future years like we kind of tried in the presentation as well. And that's kind of Not correlated with the dividend policy, right. So there the dividend policy remains the same, taking into account kind of a fully Loaded 35% income statement and there at least 50%.
And there again Also we kind of historically have paid out more about U. S. And kind of The OTC counterparts we've onboarded. As said, we've added another 2. We have A very significant part of the 20%, but there's or the top 20%, but there's still a few out there Who don't use our liquidity yet, which I think they should, but again these are not kind of Overnight processes, so there are also the onboarding kind of the fine tuning The pricing and liquidity takes a bit.
So onboarding and kind of actually having the benefit, There's kind of a period between the 2. So we added another 2. And Hopefully, and I know I'm confident that we will add more. So we have a good coverage, but there's still, I would say more than half of the OTC trading we need to onboard. So I think that's kind of a A lot of growth there.
And your last question about the hedging of
the fixed income piece is probably your. Yes. You actually explained the reasoning behind our strategy in your question because The quality of your fixed income ETF pricing is very dependent on the price discovery and the liquidity of the bonds We're underneath. So you need to know where these trade. You need to have the possibility to hedge yourself.
So we're adding more liquidity pools and better Understanding of where these products trade, it becomes importantly maybe even essential to be Top market player in the ETPs. So that's exactly what we're doing. So we're trying to connect to as much liquidity as we can To improve these processes, so it will indeed affect the hedging to add better. It also Create new opportunities in these products because that leads to a higher quality pricing and execution as well. That's indeed what we're doing.
Great. Thank you.
Thank you. We have one last Question coming from the line of Fernande Borr from Degroof Petercam. Fernande, please go ahead.
Yes, good morning. It's Svananth Boer following in from Michael Duhr. Just one question on this change in remuneration Accounting, this €58,000,000 is that does that mean also that actually the first three quarters have to be corrected? This kind of accrual during the year that you had made a correction in Q4?
Not per se, because also there part of the old F SIP was Of balance already. So I think it was in the 1st 3 quarters kind of 32%. But there was kind of a catch up in Q4 with the impact Of the change from F SIP towards kind of the current remuneration policy. But I think we can come back to with kind of the exact Kind of change in impact.
Okay. Because it was, let's say, a plus €58,000,000 and then the FCIP's correction was minus €3,000,000 if I read your presentation correctly.
That's previous years.
Okay. Sorry for that. Not my main company.
And then you had a question for Mike. Michael should have prepared you better than this.
Yes. I
will We were quite busy this morning. Then the other part was his question also on this cryptocurrencies in Europe. I believe you were not willing to give an exact number
of a ballpark
range on Volumes, etcetera. But do you believe this is sustainable? And what does it mean for risk going forward on this kind of asset trading?
So what we've seen in the Q4 is there has been an increased Interest from institutional investors in these products and also from regulators who are starting to be more Open to creating regulation around it. So there was a lot of inflow in the ETPs and in some of the funds as well. And this also drove prices up. So this trend, Hopefully, it will continue, right, because the more regulated this gets, the better as well. It gets more transparent and fair as well.
So these prices, yes, so the Bitcoin went up from, is it 15 to 30 and now 40. So That shows the momentum that this asset class has. We are market maker in All the listings on the regulated exchanges, so in Europe, there are a lot of listings already and new ones coming up. So we are supporting those on exchange and off exchange as well for the professional counterparties that want to trade those. So So, there's a good vibe around it.
So that's a good thing to see. We are Very adaptive to new developments around these kind of things. So we're supporting that. So we hope that this will continue.
Okay. Thank you so much.
Thank you. There are no further questions in the queue. So I will hand it back to the host for closing. Thank you.
Thank you. I'd like to thank all
the analysts for participating in today's call. Please note we'll host our next call with you guys when we release our Q2 and H1 2021 results in July. Further details will follow in due course. And as a reminder, our Q1 trading update is scheduled to be released on the 21st April 2021. This now ends the call.
Thanks again. Have a good day and of course stay safe.
Thank you for joining today's call.