The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.
(Questions from industry analysts are provided in full, but answers are omitted - download the transcript to see the full question-and-answer session)
Question: Alex Blostein - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: It's slightly different audience than what we're used in financial services world. So a figure we could get started with maybe a little
bit of an introduction and level setting who Nasdaq is in the context of a technology firm.
So most investors in the room are probably familiar with Nasdaq's brand, primarily as an exchange. So at a high level, we can maybe
get started with you telling us a little bit about why Nasdaq makes an interesting investment as potentially a technology company.
Question: Alex Blostein - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: Great. Well, let's zone in a little bit more on this. I was hoping we could start with the market opportunity you see for the firm and
really looking it through the lens of customers and thinking about what are the typical companies? What are the typical kind of
customers that Nasdaq services today? What are the challenges you sort of helping them tackle. And ultimately, what does that
mean in terms of market opportunity, both with the SAM and the TAM as you think about the business?
Question: Alex Blostein - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: Yeah. So when we think about the growth prospects of the business, there are three kind of components that really always stood
out to us. The first one being the index business. And it's a business that Nasdaq has had for quite a bit of time. So maybe we can
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SEPTEMBER 09, 2024 / 6:00PM, NDAQ.OQ - Nasdaq Inc at Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Technology
Conference
start there. It's been a phenomenal grower. So talk a little bit about the opportunities you see for the index franchise at Nasdaq, and
we can then hit on some of the others.
Question: Alex Blostein - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: I got you. Makes sense. Makes sense. Let's talk a little bit about the independent crime business. And Verafin has been a big success
for the firm. And just for background, Nasdaq acquired Verafin back in 2021, I think we're about $3 billion. It's been a solid grower
north of 20% type of growth in that business. Can you talk a little bit about the drivers and the opportunity there you see ahead of
Nasdaq?
Question: Alex Blostein - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: Yeah. So maybe double click into that. I think one of the more significant relationship you announced, I think it was around the
Investor Day with Citi, which is, of course, a very, very large bank. So maybe talk a little bit about sort of proof of concept that you're
getting through that relationship, how important do you think that is going to be for you sort of lending other Tier 1 banks. And Citi
has a huge international footprint also, so therefore, kind of helping you guys expand outside the US.
Question: Alex Blostein - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: Yeah. Great. Makes sense. All right. Let's touch on the third kind of pillar of some of the growth areas, which is within financial
technology, which is, of course, Adenza. It was a sizable acquisition that Nasdaq did a couple of quarters ago for $10.5 billion purchase
price. You guys are in the middle of integrating this today.
So just to kind of level set everybody in the room, maybe spend a minute on sort of rationale for why this deal made sense for Nasdaq
to do, expected benefits of Adenza in the context of Nasdaq and maybe a bit of a mark-to-market and where you are in the journey
of kind of capturing some of the benefits that you were hoping to achieve for this deal.
Question: Alex Blostein - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: Got it. Got it. That makes sense. Just maybe double-clicking on Axiom for a sec. You said 97% of GSIBs already use it, right? So at a
high level, you could say, well, you sound pretty penetrated that much.
So outside of the big bank, can you talk a little bit about what's the next leg of growth is for exam in particular, when it comes to
regulatory software? And to what extent the regulatory or the scrutiny of regular regime really matters, right? Because obviously,
we have an election coming out, depending on the outcome of the election, the regulatory landscape of banks could go one way
or another. How much does that matter?
Question: Alex Blostein - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: Got it. All right. I got one more and then more thematic set of things, but let's talk about AI for a second. Obviously, a super important
topic for both investors and companies. So maybe spend a couple of minutes on how Nasdaq is incorporating this technology from
both an expense and efficiency perspective? And is there a revenue opportunity perspective as well?
Question: Alex Blostein - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: Yeah. I got you. All right. Let's shift gears a little bit. I once -- I was hoping to hit on a couple of financial metrics as well on KPI. So as
you were talking to investors and as you're measuring yourself internally, what are the kind of most important KPIs that you would
like investors to track when it comes to Nasdaq's performance?
Question: Alex Blostein - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: I got you. Helpful. So -- and again, importantly now, that solutions revenue, the 8% to 11% growth. Is that majority of the revenues,
right?
Question: Alex Blostein - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: At the end of the day, that's still --
Question: Alex Blostein - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: Yeah. So when you think about the 8% to 11% growth in solutions, and I appreciate that it will be hard to kind of summarize that in
a couple of minutes that we have left here. But as you think about the growth algorithm to kind of help you kind of get to that 8%
to 11%.
Can you help maybe frame what's coming from new customers, what's coming from cross-sell and what's coming from pricing,
understanding that different businesses are probably going to have a slightly different way of getting to that growth. But as a whole,
how would you frame that?
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SEPTEMBER 09, 2024 / 6:00PM, NDAQ.OQ - Nasdaq Inc at Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Technology
Conference
Question: Alex Blostein - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: Yeah. Great. Let's hit on capital allocation for a second as well. You mentioned the deleveraging plants, which you guys have been
executing against very nicely, and that's progressing. But also Nasdaq has been obviously quite acquisitive in the past.
And that's one of the more sort of common questions that I get is like, well, should we still expect Nasdaq to get back and do larger
deals once they hit their leverage target. How do you think about the capital allocation framework from the firm from here?
Question: Alex Blostein - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
: Great. We have about a minute left. So if there's a quick question from the room, we can probably take one now. Okay. Otherwise,
we can leave it there. Great. Thank you so much.
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