Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. BGC Group will begin shortly. Once again, we thank you for your patience. BGC Group's conference call will begin shortly. . . . Thank you for watching. Greetings and welcome to the BGC Group, Inc. third quarter 2026 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host. and Jason Chryssicas, Head of Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin.

Hello, everyone. This morning we issued BGC's financial results, which can be found at ir.bgcg.com. Any historical results provided on today's call compare only the current period with the prior year period, unless otherwise specified. All references on today's call to record or all-time high results are to BGC standalone financial results, excluding Newmark, prior to the spinoff in November 2018. We will be referring to our results on a non-GAAP basis, which include the terms adjusted earnings and adjusted EBITDA. Please refer to today's investor materials on our website for additional details on our financial results, relevant economic and industry statistics, and for complete and updated definitions of any non-GAAP terms, reconciliations of these items to the corresponding GAAP results, and how, when, and why management uses them. The outlook discussed today assumes no material acquisitions or dispositions. Our expectations are subject to change based on various macroeconomic, social, political, and or other factors. Information on this call contains forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements about our economic outlook and business. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause our actual results to differ from expectations. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. For information on factors that could cause actual results to differ from forward-looking statements and a complete discussion of risks and other factors that may impact these forward-looking statements, see our SEC filings including but not limited to the risk factors and disclosures within these documents. With that, I am now happy to turn the call over to John Abularrage, Co-Chief Executive Officer of BGC Group.

Thank you, Jason. Good morning and welcome to our third quarter 2026 conference call. With me today is my fellow co-chief executive officer, Sean Windeatt, along with our chief financial officer, Jason Hauf. We delivered record third quarter revenues of $833 million, up 13%, led by double-digit growth in ECS, rates, foreign exchange, and equities. This strong growth drove both GAAP and adjusted earnings to all-time highs for the third quarter and for the first nine months of the year. In addition to our record financial performance, we continue to develop technology that we believe will shape the future of our markets, from our first fully AI-brokered institutional trade to our prediction market partnership with Fanatics. In August, FMX listed the full U.S. Treasury futures curve, which drove volumes to new all-time highs in September. Last month, we hosted our first ever FMX Investor Day, We showcased FMX's growth strategy and the strength of its platform through panels with FMX leadership, market participants, and regulators. For those of you who could not join us, a replay is available online on our investor relations website. As we announced earlier this week, JP Aubin will become vice chairman and will step down as co-chief executive officer at year end. I would like to take a moment to personally thank JP. As Vice Chairman, we will continue to benefit from his experience as we drive the next phase of BGC's growth. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Sean to walk through our quarterly results in more detail.

Thank you, John. We delivered record third quarter revenues of $832.6 million, a 13% increase versus last year. with total brokerage revenues growing 14.8% to $772.8 million. ECS revenues grew by 18.8% to $287.1 million, driven by strong growth across our shipping, environmental, and crude oil businesses partially offset by lower refined product volumes. Rates revenues increased 12.4% to $219.6 million, reflecting higher volumes across G10 government bonds, inflation products, and emerging market rates. Foreign exchange revenues were up 13.9% to $121.5 million, primarily due to strong volume growth in emerging markets, G10 forwards, and our macro high business. Equities revenues grew by 28% to $77.3 million, reflecting strong growth across US and European equities and private markets. In September, we completed our first ever AI-brokered institutional trade in listed equity derivatives, using autonomous AI-powered systems to manage the trading workflow from price discovery through execution. Credit revenues decreased by 2.5% to $67.4 million due to lower emerging market and European credit volumes, partially offset by strong CVS activity. Data, network, and post-trade revenues grew by 21.2% to $36.1 million, excluding case, which we sold in the fourth quarter of 2025. Interest and dividend income, fees from related parties and other revenues decreased by 19.7% to $23.6 million due to the wind down of a non-core logistics business acquired as part of OTC and lower interest income. Now turning to Fenix. Fenix revenues increased by 13.3% to a third quarter record and many others. Fenix markets generated revenues of $145.1 million, an increase of 11.9% excluding case. This growth was driven by higher electronic trading volumes across rates and credit and increased Fenix market data revenues. Fenix growth platforms revenues grew by 39.8% to $36.2 million, primarily driven by FMX, Portfolio Match, and Lucera. FMX revenues increased by more than 35% to $30.5 million in the third quarter, driven by rates, FX, and market data. FMX UST generated record third quarter ADV of $83 billion and many more. In the past year, FMX has grown by 40% higher than last year and grew at more than double the rate of primary dealer treasury volumes. FMX UST's third quarter market share was 42%, up from 37% a year ago. FMX Futures Exchange delivered a record quarter with ADV of more than 80,000 contracts, nearly sevenfold higher than a year ago. reaching an average of 112,000 contracts per day in September, driven by increased client adoption and the listing of the full US Treasury futures curve in August. FMX FX average daily volume increased by 43% to $18.7 billion, driven by spot FX and NDFs, resulting in continued market share gains. Portfolio match ADV grew 34% to a third quarter record of $419 million, outpacing the broader credit market and resulting in another quarter of market share gains. Lucera, Fenix network business providing real-time trading infrastructure to the capital markets, generated record revenues which grew by 28% in the third quarter, driven by its foreign exchange and fixed income offerings. And with that, I'd now like to turn the call over to Jason.

Thank you, Sean. And hello, everyone. Turning to expenses. Compensation and employee benefits for adjusted earnings increased by 14.7%, reflecting higher commissionable revenues and product during the period. Non-compensation expenses for adjusted earnings increased by 4.3%, primarily due to increased selling and promotion, and commissions and floor brokerage expenses related to higher client activity. Moving on to our record third quarter adjusted earnings. Our pre-tax adjusted earnings grew by 20.9% to $187.5 million, representing a pre-tax incremental margin of 33.9%. Post-tax adjusted earnings increased by 17.5% to $165.9 million, resulting in post-tax adjusted earnings per share of 34 cents, 17.2% higher than last year. Adjusted EBITDA increased by 48.9% to $249.5 million. Turning to share count, BGC's fully diluted weighted average share count for adjusted earnings was 492.2 million shares during the period. 0.6% lower than last quarter. As of September 30th, our liquidity was $917.3 million compared with $979.1 million as of year end 2025. During the quarter, we received upgraded credit ratings from both Kroll and JCRA to BBB Plus and A-minus respectively due to the continued strong performance of our business. With that, I'd like to turn the call back to John to go over our fourth quarter outlook. Thank you, Jason.

I am pleased to provide the following guidance for the fourth quarter and full year 2026. We expect to generate revenues of between $805 and $865 million compared to $756.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2025. which at the midpoint of our guidance would represent 10% revenue growth for the fourth quarter and 18% revenue growth for the full year. We anticipate pre-tax adjusted earnings to be in the range of $178 to $196 million versus $161.3 million last year, which at the midpoint of guidance would represent 16% earnings growth for the fourth quarter and 23% earnings growth for the full year. We expect our adjusted earnings tax rate to be between 11% and 14% for the full year 2026. With that, operator, we would like to open the call for questions.

Thank you. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star 2 if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. Our first question comes from the line of Patrick Moley with Piper Sandler. Please proceed with your question.

Yes, good morning, guys. Thanks for taking the question. So I wanted to start on the leadership announcement from earlier this week with JP moving to vice chairman at year end. I was hoping you could walk us through how his responsibilities are going to be divided between the other, you know, co-CEOs. And then what is his day-to-day role going to look like going forward, particularly with the European dealer and client relationships that I know he's been very close to? And then bigger picture, and this one might be a little harder to answer, but you've run with three co-CEOs now since 2025. Do you think this is the right long-term structure from here with the two co-CEOs, or should we think about this as a step towards, you know, maybe a broader succession plan? Thanks. Thanks, Patrick.

This is Sean. Well, look, I think it's interesting, right? It's been pointed out to us on numerous occasions over the last few years that the three co-CEO construct was perhaps a little unusual. But despite that, I think our record results over the last two years speak for themselves. So it's really business as usual for John and myself going forward. And look, as we mentioned in the release, JP's new role as vice chairman will allow him to spend time on the markets and regions that he knows best, which is exactly what he's been doing in today today already. I mean, but actually, JP is actually sitting here opposite. I don't know if you wanted to say a couple of words, JP.

Sure. Thank you, Sean. Hey, Patrick, how are you? You know, I feel privileged, Patrick, that I will assume the role of vice chairman. It's an honor. So I look forward to working with Sean and John in my new role. helping to drive growth. You know, Patrick, one point. I'm certainly not retiring. And I'm sure you saw from the finding earlier this week.

And look, Patrick, I think, and then on the last point, which John and I sort of, it tickled us as we're looking across the room. As we started, the COCO constructors worked incredibly well for us. And as you also know, The firm has really two big features of the business. It's got the FMX business in the future and all of the new markets, which, as you know, John focuses a lot of time on. And then you've got outside of the US in Europe and Asia, which I focus on. And actually, the co-CEO model has worked incredibly well for us, hence our record results.

Thanks for that, and I would agree. Maybe just switching gears on ECS, it looks like growth reaccelerated to 19% or so, and I know you're following up on the tough comp from the second quarter. Sounds like crude came back with refined products being a drag. Could you help us think about how much of that reacceleration and growth is from just market normalization versus share gains and the OTC integration? and then with the moves that we've seen in crude here more recently, what are you seeing in the fourth quarter so far if you can share and what is baked into the guide in terms of ECS growth in the fourth quarter?

Thank you. So why don't I start that and then John will take over. Look, I think, remember, you're quite right that in Q2 it was an incredibly tough comp, right? But in Q3, what you saw was the strength of the breadth of our ECS business. So you saw excellent business in our shipping business, good growth there, offset slightly by weaker growth or by weaker performance in the refined products. But I think overall, what that shows you is that the breadth and scale of our ECS business You know, puts us in a great position to win in multiple market conditions. And that's what you saw in Q3. I mean, maybe, John, for Q4?

No, I mean, I would just reiterate what Sean has said. I mean, we're, you know, we are so diverse in the ECS offering now that one of the main drivers in Q3 was actually, you know, our biodiesel and our fats and greases business. So, you know, obviously, Sean and I saw that coming. So, it was... and, you know, a nice surprise for us. And as for Q4, you know, we benefit from uncertainty. And so with the uncertainty in the market now, you know, we would expect to go from strength to strength in the ECS business and see no reason to kind of change that opinion, Patrick.

All right, that's great color. And then if I could just sneak one last one in here. You mentioned the first fully AI-brokered trade Thank you. Sure. The way that Sean and I try to think about AI in general is not so much that it is another

and many more. So, you know, it's not a technology advancement that is going to change our business, but rather, you know, more along the lines of, you know, an AI revolution. We think it's going to affect every part of our business. We think that the fully brokered AI trade, as you know, was in Swissy. It is kind of who knew it would happen in listed products. But, you know, our view is it's going to affect every part of our business going forward. leaning into AI. And when you ask what asset class would be next, the answer is all asset classes will be next. And we will continue to push in this direction. And we fully believe that that is a conversation to be had with our clients on a daily basis in terms of their adoption and where they're thinking about it. And the only thing I'll say as a last point on that is we're also spending an incredible amount of time making sure that we do it safely for our clients and our investors.

and maybe Patrick just to add your last point in terms of in terms of compensation look the as markets become electronic that by definition over time compensation does reduce but that's not the importance I don't think here today what's important today is is getting the the adoption of of AI into our marketplace which as John said I think will will significantly increase the volumes of our business over time.

Okay, great. Thanks again, guys, and congrats on the quarter. Thanks. Thank you.

Thank you. Once again, as a reminder, if you'd like to join the question queue, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. Our next question comes from the line of Eli Aboud with Bank of America. Please proceed with your question.

Good morning. Thank you for taking my question. I wanted to start on the geopolitical backdrop. If the Iran war concludes soon, how do you anticipate that would affect activity levels in your ECS complex? I know there will likely be an immediate sugar high in volumes on the back of any news flow, but I'm more interested in whether you think the war concluding could create a more durable tailwind or headwind that could move the needle on 2027 ECS results.

I think what you've seen, and really it extends on from the question that Patrick asked, what you've seen because of the diverse nature of our ECS business, you've seen increased business in shipping, slightly decreased volumes in refined products, and one would assume that upon conclusion of the conflict, that could reverse. But the answer being, we are well positioned for either solution. So I don't think the continuation or the resolution changes necessarily the performance of our ECS business.

Got it. And then switching gears to the AI infrastructure ecosystem, Are you seeing new logos connect and trade with BGC for the first time from the likes of the hyperscalers, the neoclouds, and other firms in the AI ecosystem? And to the extent that you are, are they trading power, natural gas, and your existing product lineup, or are you already seeing uptake for compute derivatives?

What I would say is that We're certainly seeing more interest and more connectivity in the space, Eli. It is not a meaningful part of our business yet. But as you know, we view the compute opportunity as tremendous. And so we are onboarding and starting to work more and more with the neoclouds and the hyperscalers. We expect that to continue. And in terms of compute specifically, this is a nascent market. We are at the forefront of and many more.

The Compute asset class eventually becomes a listed market, or in your early conversations with hyperscalers and the neo-clouds, does it seem like the more interested and over-the-counter products, vehicles for trading compute?

My guess, and this is just my guess, is that it starts OTC and then you see it move along. But, you know, we're exploring both avenues in terms of You know, servicing these clients, but yeah, I think it'll start OTC and then we'll see it move to listed futures.

Got it. Thank you.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our question and answer session. I'll turn the floor back to Mr. Abularrage for any final comments.

Thanks very much. We appreciate all your time and we'll see you again in a quarter. Thank you. Thank you.

This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.