Company: SFB
Filing Date: 2025-02-26
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000950170-25-027702
Chunk: 52

Company: STIFEL FINANCIAL CORP
Filing Date: 2025-02-26
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 52
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 whether or not true, may also harm our reputation. The speed and pervasiveness with which information can be disseminated through these channels, in particular social media, may magnify risk relating to negative publicity. Further, failures at other large financial institutions or other market participants, regardless of whether they relate to our activities, could lead to a general loss of customer confidence in financial institutions that could negatively affect us, including harming the market perception of the financial system in general.

Our ability to attract and retain senior professionals, qualified financial advisors, and other associates is critical to the continued success of our business. Our ability to recruit, serve, and retain our clients depends on the reputation, judgment, leadership, business generation capabilities, and skills of our client-serving professionals, members of our executive team, as well as associates who support revenue-generating professionals and their clients. To compete effectively, we must attract, develop, and retain qualified professionals, including successful financial advisors, investment bankers, trading professionals, portfolio managers, and other revenue-producing or specialized support personnel. Further, effective management succession planning is important for the continued success of our company. Competitive pressures we experience, or inadequate management succession planning, could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and liquidity. 

The labor market remains competitive, and we face competition for talent across all aspects of our business, as well as competition with non-traditional firms, such as technology companies. Employers are developing a wide variety of offerings to attract talent, including but not limited to, increasing compensation, enhancing health and wellness solutions, and providing workplace flexibility. These can be important factors in a current associate’s decision to leave us as well as in a prospective associate’s decision to join us. As competition for skilled professionals remains intense, we may have to devote significant resources to attract and retain qualified personnel, which could negatively affect earnings.

Specifically within the financial industry, employers are increasingly offering guaranteed contracts, upfront payments, and increased compensation. Our financial results may be adversely affected by the costs we incur in connection with any loans or other incentives we may offer to newly recruited financial advisors and other key personnel. If we were to lose the services of any of our financial advisors, investment bankers, senior equity research analysts, sales and trading professionals, asset managers, or executive officers to a competitor or otherwise, we may not be able to retain valuable relationships and some of our clients could choose to use the services of a competitor instead of our services. If we are unable to retain our senior professionals or recruit