Company: COHN
Filing Date: 2025-03-12
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001437749-25-007158
Chunk: 275

Company: Cohen & Co Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-03-12
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 275
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 declined. Further, we expect that competition will increase over time, resulting in continued margin pressure. These challenges have materially adversely affected our Capital Markets segment’s results of operations and may continue to do so.

We continue to focus on improving the performance of our Capital Markets segment, which could place additional demands on our resources and increase our expenses. Improving the performance of our Capital Markets segment will depend on, among other things, our ability to successfully identify groups and individuals to join our firm and our ability to successfully grow our existing business lines and platforms and opportunistically expand into other complementary business areas. Generally, it may take more than a year for us to determine whether we have successfully integrated new individuals, and lines of business and capabilities into our operations. During that time, we may incur significant expenses and expend significant time and resources toward training, integration and business development. If we are unable to hire and retain senior management or other qualified personnel, such as salespeople, investment bankers, and traders, we will not be able to grow our business and our financial results may be materially and adversely affected.

There can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully improve the operations of our Capital Markets segment, and any failure to do so could have a material adverse effect on our ability to generate revenue and control expenses.

Our gestation repo business serves a narrow market and is likely subject to highly volatile demand.

We operate a matched gestation repo program.  Gestation repo involves entering into repo and reverse repo transactions where the underlying collateral security represents a pool of newly issued mortgages.  Our reverse repo counterparties are mortgage originators.  This type of financing would only be of interest to mortgage originators.  Therefore, demand for gestation repo financing is narrow and volumes will therefore be more volatile. 

Mortgage and U.S. Housing Market-Related Risks

In recent years, our mortgage group has become an increasingly important component of our Capital Markets segment and the Company overall.  The mortgage group primarily earns revenue by providing hedging execution, securities financing, and trade execution services to mortgage originators and other investors in mortgage backed securities.  Therefore, this group’s revenue is highly dependent on the volume of mortgage originations in the U.S. Origination activity is highly sensitive to interest rates, the U.S. job market, housing starts, sale activity of existing housing stock, as well as the general health of the U.S. economy.  In addition, any new regulation that impacts U.S. government agency mortgage backed security