Quarterlytics / Financial Services / Financial - Capital Markets / Virtu Financial

Virtu Financial

virt · NASDAQ Financial Services
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Ticker virt
Exchange NASDAQ
Sector Financial Services
Industry Financial - Capital Markets
Employees 201-500
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FY2020 Annual Report · Virtu Financial
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2020 
Annual 
Report

Rising to the challenge

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A message from our CEO

People-first culture

Our numbers

About Virtu

Global financial services

Corporate information

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A MESSAGE FROM OUR CEO

2020 was a year like no other.   
The global pandemic not only disrupted 
life as we know it, but it also brought 
unprecedented and rapid change. 

One cannot prepare our annual letter to 
shareholders without reflecting on the pandemic 
that has impacted us all, brought hardship on 
so many families and communities, and has had 
such a profound impact on the global economy. 
Our thoughts and prayers remain with all those 
impacted, as well as with our great healthcare 
professionals and first responders doing so much 
to alleviate the suffering. 

As life-saving vaccines become more prevalent, 
we are optimistic that there are better days ahead. 
At Virtu, the past year has created opportunities 
to witness the very best in each other. Virtu 
teammates responded in extraordinary ways 
and demonstrated their excellent ability to 
adapt, innovate and creatively problem-solve 
while supporting a safe work environment and 
giving back. Using our advanced technology, our 
experience in global markets and the expertise 
of our exceptional people, we were able to pivot 
and make timely and critical enhancements to 
our products and services—meeting evolving 
client need across the globe amidst record market 
volume and volatility. 

Virtu enters 2021 better positioned than at any 
time in the firm’s history. Our technological 
strength, the breadth of our client network and 
our financial position has never been better. 
It came as no surprise that the events of 2020 
brought on unprecedented volatility in the global 
markets, creating risk and opportunity for a 
myriad of investors, from small retail participants 
to the largest global institutions. Against this 
environment, we delivered top results across our 
business lines. Our net income was $1.1B on net 
revenue of $2.3B, both records. We are particularly 
proud of the $1.3B in price improvement we 
delivered back to individual investors.  

This impressive figure is indicative of the health and 
transparency of the US equity markets. We applaud 
and support the innovation and competition that 
has made our markets more accessible to more 
individual investors and the technology and tools 
that have increased transparency and efficiency.  

Our strategy remains rooted in building scale and 
strengthening our global presence as a market 
maker and facilitator of liquidity across asset classes. 
In 2020, we grew our revenues, net income and cash 
flows all while integrating the large acquisitions 
we consummated in recent years. Importantly, we 
continued to invest in our technology, products 
and people, leveraging our core capabilities to 
generate substantial growth from new businesses 
and asset classes—in which Virtu had no presence 
just a few years ago. We accomplished these results 
all while repaying nearly $300M of our acquisition-
related debt and returning substantial amounts of 
cash to our shareholders. In 2020, we maintained 
our yearly $0.96 dividend, which has been paid 
consistently since our IPO in 2015. Throughout all 
market environments, Virtu has returned cash to 
its shareholders, we have also recently completed 
approximately $130M share repurchases as of this 
writing.  

It is important for me to note how appreciative and 
proud I am of our nearly 1,000 employees. Through 
this period of global turmoil, our people have gone 
above and beyond the call of duty. The level of 
empathy and individual willingness to support and 
give back has been nothing short of remarkable. 
Virtu in partnership with employee-led relief efforts 
has donated their talent, time, money and PPE to 
over 175 COVID-19 charities and community-based 
support groups. Employees and clients worked 
together to support a myriad of organizations across

Douglas A. Cifu 
Co-founder & CEO

the globe including local food insecurity and 
adopt-a-family initiatives.

In addition, we made enormous strides in 2020 by 
unleashing the power of social responsibility via 
diversity and inclusion efforts consistent with our 
People-First culture. Our professionals are among the 
best and brightest in the industry and we strive to 
continue to retain and attract talented people from 
diverse backgrounds.

I am humbled at what we have accomplished and, 
with our unyielding team spirit, excited for how we 
will continue to support one another and strengthen 
our communities in the years ahead. 

Be safe, 

Virtu Financial  2020 Annual ReportVirtu Financial  2020 Annual Report8 // 26

PEOPLE-FIRS T 
CULTURE

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Employees and their families 
The Board of Directors and Senior Management’s 
absolute priority is the health and safety of our 
people. Due to our early and active monitoring of 
COVID -19, Virtu took quick and decisive action. 

585+

Employee-led internal, social and team-
building events, to promote togetherness. 

Clients 
Virtu teams demonstrated our values of reliability, 
virtue and commitment by continuing to support our 
clients and providing with tools and resources to help 
them adapt to physically distant work ergonomics.  

With  95% of our employees working from 
home, extensive assistance resources were 
made available to address physical, mental 
and emotional wellbeing, to ease financial 
burdens, provide at home child-care and 
tutoring and so much more.

Created and hosted employee-led 
weekly internal, global and regional social 
events to foster togetherness: new skill 
workshops, fitness classes, trivia nights, 
happy hour hangouts and other topics and 
entertainment activities.

Identified and delivered additional and 
customized trading analytics to help clients 
adapt and confirm their execution strategies 
in 2020’s volatile markets.

Virtu Market Making delivered US$1.3B in price 
improvements back to retail investors.Helping 
people keep more of their hard-earned 
money builds trust and contributes to the 
sustainability of the recent rally.  

48 virtual client events with over

1,750

client attendees in 2020.

175+

COVID-19 related organizations
were supported across the globe.

Community 
Virtu in partnership with employee-led relief 
efforts has donated their talent, time, money 
and PPE to over 175 COVID-19 charities and 
community-based support groups. Employees 
and clients worked together to support a myriad 
of organizations across the globe including local 
food insecurity and adopt-a-family initiatives.

Virtu Financial  2020 Annual ReportVirtu Financial  2020 Annual ReportPowered by change,
focused on the future. 

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OUR SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILIT Y

Maintaining our competitive edge requires 
uncommon effort to identify, attract and retain 
best-in-class people who fit our values, culture 
and share our vision, globally. 

Our workforce must reflect the communities 
and cultures in which we operate. Accordingly, 
we believe strongly in diversity and reject any 
form of discrimination. 

In 2020, we formalized our commitment in 
the creation of a Diversity and Inclusion 
Committee. 

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Our model 
Active governance model maintains culture of 
integrity, prudent approach to risk management and 
responsible business practices.

External mentorship   
35+ student participants in our first employee-led, 
community-based mentorship programs with the 
Urban Assembly Gateway School for Technology and 
the Cristo Rey High School, both in New York City. 

Internal mentorship 
Launched in 2020, with over 100 employee 
mentor / mentee pairings.

Recruitment 
Early talent identification initiatives establish a 
pipeline of diverse ability for our company.  In 
2020, we added diversity targeted programs and 
universities to our roster.

Second annual women’s Winternship 
A one-week program aimed at introducing students to a 
career path in financial services through group projects 
that challenge and inspire while showcasing various roles 
at Virtu. A great opportunity to identify aspiring talent 
and continue building a strong and diverse pipeline of 
candidates in our growing workforce.

Awareness 
Employee-led communications around specific 
cultural events and holidays to drive awareness.

Administration 
Manages the firm-led internal D & I communications, 
events and calendar, for thoughtful scheduling.

Dismantling racial injustices  
To contribute to dismantling racial injustices faced 
by communities of color, we have supported such 
efforts as the Equal Rights Initiative and Asian Pacific 
Fund COVID Recovery Fund.

Virtu Financial  2020 Annual ReportVirtu Financial  2020 Annual Report12 // 26

OUR NUMBERS

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$3.2B

revenues

$2.3B

adjusted net trading income

>30% 

market share in retail order flow

$1.3B 

price improvement to retail investors

Virtu Financial  2020 Annual ReportVirtu Financial  2020 Annual ReportSource: Virtu Financial, Fiscal 2020.   Retail order flow market share based on Dec 2020 Rule 605 reports14 // 26

ABOUT VIRTU

One  
for all.

Virtu is an independent, global financial 
technology company that creates 
innovative, transparent trading solutions 
to help reduce the end-to-end cost of 
implementing investments for investors 
around the world and delivers liquidity to 
the global markets.

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OUR DNA

Transparency and 
efficiency, powered 
by technology.

Virtu was founded on the belief 
that transparency enables market participants 
to make better, more informed decisions and 
that all investors benefit from markets that are 
more efficient. 

We use technology to solve problems and 
reduce risk. Virtu’s application of technology 
to create solutions, automate processes and 
enhance risk controls have enabled us to 
provide customized, reliable liquidity and 
raise the bar of transparency into client order 
handling and trade analysis.

Virtu Financial  2020 Annual ReportVirtu Financial  2020 Annual Report16 // 26

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OUR MANAGEMENT

OUR BOARD

Virtu Financial  2020 Annual ReportVirtu Financial  2020 Annual Report18 // 26

GLOBAL RE ACH

Knowing who we are

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25,000+

securities

60+

accessible global markets

235+

venues

50+

countries

North America  Austin • Boston • Chicago • 
New York • Short Hills • Toronto

EMEA  Dublin • London • Madrid • Paris

APAC  Hong Kong • Singapore • Sydney

Virtu Financial  2020 Annual ReportVirtu Financial  2020 Annual ReportSource: Virtu Financial, 2019 
 
Virtu Financial  2020 Annual Report

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Virtu Financial  2020 Annual Report

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GLOBAL 
FINANCIAL 
SERVICES

Powerful end-to-end trading 
technology and personal client service.

Virtu provides market making, execution services and analytics to a 
diverse client base of retail and institutional capital market participants

MARKE T MAKING

Virtu combines our deep understanding of 
market structure, technology, automation 
and risk management tools to provide a 
fundamental service to the global markets 
by providing two-sided prices to investors in 
over 25,000 financial instruments on more 
than 235 venues in 36 countries.

Client Market Making
Our global footprint combined with our 
deep market making expertise uniquely 
positions us to provide institutional and 
retail clients with competitive pricing, 
liquidity and service in the industry.

Customized Liquidity
We combine specialized market structure 
expertise with real-time data to provide you 
with unique product and trading solutions 
in equities (vEQ link), fixed income (vFI),
foreign exchange (vFX) and Metals (vMX).

Technology service provider to 
the global financial markets.

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TECHNOLOGY

Virtu client solutions 
Execution Services 
Workflow Tech 
Venues (Liquidity Sourcing) 
Trade Analytics, Reporting and Data

Scalable platform 
235+ venues 
50+ countries 
60+ accessible markets

Unique sources of liquidity (opt-in)
Retail/RIA 
Institutional blocks 
Principal market making flow

Global multi-asset  
We transact in 25,000+ financial 
instruments every major asset class

We leverage our investment in Market 
Making technology to deliver unique and 
cutting edge solutions to VES clients. 

CLIENT SOLUTIONS

Our complete suite of solutions 
covers the entire trade-lifecycle. 

We leverage our exceptional technology, market structure 
expertise and scale to drive value and lower execution costs for 
our clients throughout the entire multi-asset trade cycle.

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Client Solutions

Highly Scalable Technology Platform

Unique Liquidity

Global Multi-Asset

Benefits to all market 
participants.

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Transparent global liquidity

Efficiently priced markets

Improved execution for institutional investors

Multi-asset execution and analytics tools and services 

Portfolio Management 
• Portfolio Optimization 
• Cost Curves 
• Fair Value 
• Risk Models 
• Execution Consulting

Pre-Trade 
• Pre-trade TCA 
• Agency Cost Estimator 
• Commission Management 
• Risk Analysis 
• Liquidity Studies 
• Index Analysis

Trade 
• Algos  
• DMA/SOR 
• High-touch/Blocks 
• Real-time TCA 
• Trade Surveillance 
• Crossing 
• 3rd party liquidity access  
• Order delivery to desk

Post-Trade 
• Prism Frontier 
• Open Tech (data APIs) 
• Clearance/Settlement 
• Peer Group data 
• Venue analysis/Outlier monitoring 
• Post-trade TCA 
• MIS/Reporting 
• Book and records

Virtu Financial  2020 Annual ReportVirtu Financial  2020 Annual Report 
 
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Corporate Information

Annual Meeting 
The Annual Meeting of Shareholders of 
Virtu Financial, Inc. will be held virtually on 
June 3, 2021 at 9:00 AM ET.

Transfer Agent and Registrar 
American Stock Transfer Trust Company, LLC (AST)

Stock 
Since the Company’s initial public offering on April 
16, 2015, shares of Virtu have been quoted on the 
NASDAQ, and trade under the symbol “VIRT”.

Independent Registered 
Accounting Firm 
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Contact  
One Liberty Plaza 
165 Broadway 
New York, NY 10006  
+1.646.682.6000

—

investor_relations@virtu.com | media@virtu.com

2020annualreport.virtu.com  |  virtu.com

© 2021 VIRTU Financial Inc.

Virtu Financial  2018 Annual ReportVirtu Financial  2018 Annual Report 
2020annualreport.virtu.com