Company: WTFCN
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001015328-25-000093
Chunk: 256

Company: WINTRUST FINANCIAL CORP
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 7
Chunk 256
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 generated and the cost of funds allocated to the business unit. Profitability of financing both commercial and life insurance premiums is also meaningfully impacted by leveraging 

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information technology systems, maintaining operational efficiency and increasing average loan size, each of which allows us to expand our loan volume without significant capital investment.     

Wealth Management

Through our wealth management segment, we offer a full range of wealth management services through four separate subsidiaries (WPT, Wintrust Investments, GLA and CDEC): trust and investment services, tax-deferred like-kind exchange services, asset management solutions, and securities brokerage services. 

The primary drivers of profitability of the wealth management business can be associated with the level of commission received related to the trading performed by the brokerage customers for their accounts and the amount of assets under management in which the unit receives a management fee for advisory, administrative and custodial services. As such, revenues are influenced by a rise or fall in the debt and equity markets and the resulting increase or decrease in the value of our client accounts on which our fees are based. The commissions received by the brokerage unit are not as directly influenced by the directionality of the debt and equity markets but rather the desire of our customers to engage in trading based on their particular situations and outlooks of the market or particular stocks and bonds.

Financial Regulatory Reform

Our business is heavily regulated and supervised by federal agencies, state agencies and the federal & provincial governments of Canada.  Both the scope of the laws and regulations and the intensity of the supervision to which our business is subject have increased in recent years, initially in response to the financial crisis, and more recently in light of other factors such as the regional banking uncertainty in early 2023, technological updates, and market changes. Many of these changes have occurred as a result of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”) and its implementing regulations, most of which are now in place. We expect that our business will remain subject to extensive regulation and supervision. 

The exact impact of the changing regulatory environment on our business and operations depends upon legislative or regulatory changes to reform the financial regulatory framework and the actions of our competitors, customers, and other market participants.  Legislative and regulatory changes could have a significant impact on us by, for example, requiring us to change our business practices; requiring us to meet more stringent capital, liquidity and leverage ratio requirements; limiting our ability to pursue business opportunities; imposing additional costs and compliance obligations on us; limiting fees we can charge for services