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like our business, is based in part on trust and confidence. If our reputation is harmed, existing clients mayreduce amounts held in, or withdraw entirely from, funds that we advise or funds may terminate theirmanagement agreements with us, which could reduce the amount of assets under management and cause usto suffer a corresponding loss in earnings or revenue. Moreover, reputational harm may cause us to losecurrent employees and we may be unable to continue to attract new ones with similar qualifications,motivations, or skills. If we fail to address, or appear to fail to address, successfully and promptly theunderlying causes of any reputational harm, we may be unsuccessful in repairing any existing harm to ourreputation and our future business prospects would likely be affected.Our future results are dependent upon maintaining an appropriate level of expenses, which is subjectto fluctuation. The level of our expenses is subject to fluctuation and may increase for the following or otherreasons: changes in the level and scope of our advertising expenses in response to market conditions;variations in the level of total compensation expense due to, among other things, bonuses, changes in ouremployee count and mix, and competitive factors; changes in expenses and capital costs, including costsincurred to maintain and enhance our administrative and operating services infrastructure or to coveruninsured losses and an increase in insurance expenses including through the assumption of higherdeductibles and/or co-insurance liability.Our ability to successfully integrate widely varied business lines can be impeded by systems and othertechnological limitations. Our continued success in effectively managing and growing our business dependson our ability to integrate the varied accounting, financial, information, and operational systems of ourvarious businesses on a global basis. Moreover, adapting or developing our existing technology systems tomeet our internal needs, as well as client needs, industry demands and new regulatory requirements, is alsocritical for our business. The constant introduction of new technologies presents new challenges to us. Wehave an ongoing need to continually upgrade and improve our various technology systems, including ourdata processing, financial, accounting, and trading systems. Further, we also must be proactive and preparedto implement technology systems when growth opportunities present themselves, whether as a result of abusiness acquisition or rapidly increasing business activities in particular markets or regions. These needscould present operational issues or require, from time to time, significant capital spending. It also mayrequire us to reevaluate the current value and/or expected useful lives of our technology systems, whichcould negatively impact our results of operations.Our inability to successfully recover should we experience a disaster or other business continuityproblem could cause material financial loss, loss of human capital, regulatory actions, reputational harm,or legal liability. Should we experience a local or regional disaster or other business continuity problem,such as an earthquake, terrorist attack, pandemic or other natural or man-made disaster, our continuedsuccess will depend, in part, on the availability of our personnel, our office facilities, and the properfunctioning of our computer, telecommunication and other related systems and operations. While ouroperational size, the diversity of locations from which we operate, and our redundant back-up systemsprovide us with a strong advantage should we experience a local or regional disaster or other businesscontinuity event, we could still experience near-term operational challenges, in particular depending uponhow a local or regional event may affect our human capital across our operations or with regard to particularsegments of our operations, such as key executive officers or personnel in our technology group. Moreover,as we grow our operations in new geographic regions, the potential for particular types of natural orman-made disasters, political, economic or infrastructure instabilities, or other country- or region-specificbusiness continuity risks increases. Past disaster recovery efforts have demonstrated that even seeminglylocalized events may require broader disaster recovery efforts throughout our operations and, consequently,we regularly assess and take steps to improve upon our existing business continuity plans and keymanagement succession. However, a disaster on a significant scale or affecting certain of our key operatingareas within or across regions, or our inability to successfully recover should we experience a disaster or30