Liability could also result from disputes over the terms of a trade, claims that a system failure or delay cost a customer money, claims we entered into an unauthorized transaction or claims that we provided materially false or misleading statements in connection with a securities transaction. As we intend to defend any such litigation actively, significant legal expenses could be incurred. Although we carry insurance that may resultlimit our risk of damages in some cases, we still may sustain uncovered losses or losses in excess of available insurance that would affect our business, financial loss or reputational damage.condition and results of operations.

We have instituted extensive controlsself-regulatory obligations and also operate for-profit businesses, and these two roles may create conflicts of interest.

We have obligations to reduce the risk of error inherent in our operations; however, such risk cannot completely be eliminated.

Third parties may assert intellectual property rights claims against us, which may be costly to defend, could require the payment of damages and could limit our ability to use certain technologies, trademarks or other intellectual property. Any intellectual property claims, with or without merit, could be expensive to litigate or settle and could divert management resources and attention. Successful challenges against us could require us to modify or discontinue our use of technology or business processes where such use is found to infringe or violate the recorded valuesrights of those assets may become impaired in the future. Asothers, or require us to purchase licenses from third parties, any of December 31, 2017, goodwill totaled approximately $6.6 billion and intangible assets, net of accumulated amortization, totaled approximately $2.5 billion. The determination of the value of such goodwill and intangible assets requires management to make estimates and assumptions thatwhich could adversely affect our consolidatedbusiness, financial statements.condition and operating results.

Additionally, since borrowings under our credit facilities bear interest at variable rates and commercial paper is issued at prevailing interest rates, any increase in interest rates on debt that we have not fixed using interest rate hedges will increase our interest expense, reduce our cash flow or increase the cost of future borrowings or refinancings. Other than variable rate debt, we believe our business has relatively large fixed costs and low variable costs, which magnifies the impact of revenue fluctuations on our operating results. As a result, a decline in our revenue may lead to a relatively larger impact on operating results. A substantial portion of our operating expenses is related to personnel costs, regulation and corporate overhead, none of which can be adjusted quickly and some of which cannot be adjusted at all. Our operating expense levels are based on our expectations for future revenue. If actual revenue is below management’s expectations, or if our expenses increase before revenues do, both revenues less transaction-based expenses and operating results would be materially and adversely affected. Because of these factors, it is possible that our operating results or other operating metrics may fail to meet the expectations of stock market analysts and investors. If this happens, the market price of our common stock may be adversely affected.

Our organizational documents contain provisions that may be deemed to have an anti-takeover effect and may delay, deter or prevent a change of control of us, such as a tender offer or takeover proposal that might result in a premium over the market price for our common stock. Additionally, certain of these provisions make it more difficult to bring about a change in the composition of our board of directors, which could result in entrenchment of current management.

Our certificate of incorporation and by-laws: