JEF 10K 11.30.18 Combined Document
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
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ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the fiscal year ended November 30, 2018
Commission file number 1-14947
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
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Delaware | 95-4719745 |
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) | (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) |
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520 Madison Avenue, New York, New York | 10022 |
(Address of principal executive offices) | (Zip Code) |
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (212) 284-2550
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
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Title of each class: | | Name of each exchange on which registered: |
5.125% Senior Notes Due 2023 | | New York Stock Exchange |
4.850% Senior Notes Due 2027 | | New York Stock Exchange |
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: Limited Liability Company Interests
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ý No ¨
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ¨ No ý
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ý No ¨
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ý No ¨
Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§ 232.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. ý
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
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Large accelerated filer ☐ | Accelerated filer ☐ |
Non-accelerated filer ☒ | Smaller reporting company ☐ |
| Emerging growth company ☐ |
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ¨ No ý
State the aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates computed by reference to the price at which the common equity was last sold, or the average bid and asked price of such common equity, as of the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter. $0 as of May 31, 2018.
The Registrant is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. and meets the conditions set forth in General Instructions I(1)(a) and (b) of Form 10-K and is therefore filing this Form 10-K with a reduced disclosure format as permitted by Instruction I(2).
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC
INDEX TO ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K
November 30, 2018
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
PART I
Item 1. Business
Introduction
Jefferies Group LLC is the largest independent U.S.-headquartered global full service, integrated investment banking and securities firm. Our largest subsidiary, Jefferies LLC, was founded in the U.S. in 1962 and our first international operating subsidiary, Jefferies International Limited, was established in the U.K. in 1986. On March 1, 2013, we combined with and became an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of publicly traded Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (“Jefferies”), formerly known as Leucadia National Corporation. Richard Handler, our Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, is Chief Executive Officer of Jefferies and Brian P. Friedman, our Chairman of the Executive Committee, is President of Jefferies. Messrs. Handler and Friedman are also Directors of Jefferies.
At November 30, 2018, we had 3,596 employees in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Our global headquarters and executive offices are located at 520 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10022. We also have regional headquarters in London and Hong Kong. Our primary telephone number is 212-284-2550 and our Internet address is jefferies.com.
The following documents and reports are available on our public website:
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• | Earnings Releases and Other Public Announcements; |
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• | Annual and interim reports on Form 10-K; |
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• | Quarterly reports on Form 10-Q; |
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• | Current reports on Form 8-K; |
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• | Reportable waivers, if any, from our Code of Ethics by our executive officers; |
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• | Board of Directors Corporate Governance Guidelines; |
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• | Charter of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee of the Board of Directors; |
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• | Charter of the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors; |
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• | Charter of the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors; and |
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• | Any amendments to the above-mentioned documents and reports. |
We expect to use our website as a main form of communication of significant news. We encourage you to visit our website for additional information. In addition, you may also obtain a printed copy of any of the above documents or reports by sending a request to Investor Relations, Jefferies Group LLC, 520 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10022, by calling 221-284-2550 or by sending an email to info@jefferies.com.
Business Segments
We report our activities in two business segments: Capital Markets and Asset Management.
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• | Capital Markets includes our investment banking, sales and trading and other related services. Investment banking provides capital markets and financial advisory services to our clients across most industry sectors in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Our sales and trading businesses operate across the spectrum of equities, fixed income and foreign exchange products. Related services include, among other things, prime brokerage and equity finance, research and strategy, corporate lending and real estate finance, as well as other principal and corporate investing activities. |
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• | Asset Management provides investment management services to investors in the U.S. and overseas and makes capital investments in managed funds and accounts. |
Financial information regarding our reportable business segments for the years ended November 30, 2018, 2017 and 2016 is set forth in Note 19, Segment Reporting in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K in Part II, Item 8.
Our Businesses
Capital Markets
Our Capital Markets segment focuses on Investment Banking, Equities and Fixed Income. We primarily serve institutional investors, corporations and government entities.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
Investment Banking
We provide our clients around the world with a full range of equity capital markets, debt capital markets and financial advisory services. Our services are enhanced by our deep industry expertise, our global distribution capabilities and our senior level commitment to our clients.
Approximately 900 investment banking professionals operate in the Americas, Europe and Asia, and are organized into industry, product and geographic coverage groups. Our industry coverage groups include: Consumer & Retail; Energy; Financial Institutions; Healthcare; Industrials; Media, Communications & Information Services; Real Estate, Gaming & Lodging; Technology; Financial Sponsors and Public Finance. Our product coverage groups include equity capital markets, debt capital markets, and advisory, which includes both mergers and acquisitions and restructuring and recapitalization expertise. Our geographic coverage groups include teams based in major cities in the United States, Toronto, London, Frankfurt, Paris, Milan, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Zurich.
Equity Capital Markets
We provide a broad range of equity financing capabilities to companies and financial sponsors. These capabilities include private equity placements, initial public offerings, follow-on offerings, block trades and equity-linked convertible securities transactions.
Debt Capital Markets
We provide a wide range of debt and acquisition financing capabilities for companies, financial sponsors and government entities. We focus on structuring, underwriting and distributing public and private debt, including investment grade debt, high yield bonds, leveraged loans, municipal debt, mortgage and other asset-backed securities, and liability management solutions.
Advisory Services
We provide mergers and acquisition and restructuring and recapitalization services to companies, financial sponsors and government entities. In the mergers and acquisition area, we advise sellers and buyers on corporate sales and divestitures, acquisitions, mergers, tender offers, spinoffs, joint ventures, strategic alliances and takeover and proxy fight defense. In the restructuring and recapitalization area, we provide companies, bondholders and lenders a full range of restructuring advisory capabilities as well as expertise in the structuring, valuation and placement of securities issued in recapitalizations.
Corporate Lending
Jefferies Finance LLC (“Jefferies Finance”), our 50/50 joint venture with Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, is a commercial finance company that structures, underwrites and syndicates primarily senior secured loans to corporate borrowers and manages proprietary and third-party investments in middle market and broadly syndicated loans. Since its inception in 2004, Jefferies Finance has served as lead arranger of over 950 transactions representing over $195 billion in arranged volume. Jefferies Finance conducts its operations primarily through two business lines, Leveraged Finance Arrangement and Portfolio and Asset Management. Its Leveraged Finance Arrangement business line participates in transactions typically ranging from $250 million to $1.5 billion for borrowers generating between $50 million and $300 million of annual Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Jefferies Finance typically syndicates to third party investors substantially all of its arranged volume. Its Portfolio and Asset Management business line manages a broad portfolio comprised of portions of loans it has arranged as well as loan positions that it has purchased in the primary and secondary markets. The Portfolio and Asset Management business is comprised of three registered Investment Advisers: Jefferies Finance, Apex Credit Partners LLC and JFIN Asset Management LLC. Jefferies Finance manages its investments in cash flow and traditional asset-based revolving credit. Apex Credit Partners LLC manages collateralized loan obligations which invest in predominately broadly syndicated loans. JFIN Asset Management LLC manages proprietary and third-party investments in middle market loans held in private funds and separately managed accounts.
Equities
Equities Research, Sales and Trading
We provide our clients full-service equities research, sales and trading capabilities across global securities markets. We earn commissions or spread revenue by executing, settling and clearing transactions for clients across these markets in equity and equity-related products, including common stock, American depository receipts, global depository receipts, exchange-traded funds, exchange-traded and over-the-counter (“OTC”) equity derivatives, convertible and other equity-linked products and closed-end funds. Our equity research, sales and trading efforts are organized across three geographical regions: the Americas; Europe and the Middle East and Africa; and Asia Pacific. Our clients are primarily institutional market participants such as mutual funds, hedge funds, investment advisers, pension and profit sharing plans, and insurance companies. Through our global research team and sales force, we maintain relationships with our clients, distribute investment research and strategy, trading ideas, market information and analyses across a range of industries and receive and execute client orders. Our equity research covers over 2,000 companies around the world and a further more than 800 companies are covered by nine leading local firms in Asia Pacific with which we maintain alliances.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
Equity Finance
Our Equity Finance business provides financing, securities lending and other prime brokerage services. We offer prime brokerage services in the U.S. that provide hedge funds, money managers and registered investment advisors with execution, financing, clearing, reporting and administrative services. We finance our clients’ securities positions through margin loans that are collateralized by securities, cash or other acceptable liquid collateral. We earn an interest spread equal to the difference between the amount we pay for funds and the amount we receive from our clients. We also operate a matched book in equity and corporate bond securities, whereby we borrow and lend securities versus cash or liquid collateral and earn a net interest spread. We offer selected prime brokerage clients the option of custodying their assets at an unaffiliated U.S. broker-dealer that is a subsidiary of a bank holding company. Under this arrangement, we directly provide our clients with all customary prime brokerage services.
Wealth Management
We provide tailored wealth management services designed to meet the needs of high net worth individuals, their families and their businesses, private equity and venture funds and small institutions. Our advisors provide access to all of our institutional execution capabilities and deliver other financial services. Our open architecture platform affords clients access to products and services from both our firm and from a variety of other major financial services institutions.
Fixed Income
Fixed Income Sales and Trading
We provide our clients with sales and trading of investment grade corporate bonds, U.S. and European government and agency securities, municipal bonds, mortgage- and asset-backed securities, leveraged loans, consumer loans, high yield and distressed securities, emerging markets debt, interest rate and credit derivative products, as well as foreign exchange trade execution and securitization capabilities. Jefferies LLC is designated as a Primary Dealer by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Jefferies International Limited is designated in similar capacities for several countries in Europe. Additionally, through the use of repurchase agreements, we act as an intermediary between borrowers and lenders of short-term funds and obtain funding for various of our inventory positions. We trade and make markets globally in cleared and uncleared swaps and forwards referencing, among other things, interest rates, investment grade and non-investment grade corporate credits, credit indexes and asset-backed security indexes.
Our strategists and economists provide ongoing commentary and analysis of the global fixed income markets. In addition, our fixed income desk strategists provide ideas and analysis to clients across a variety of fixed income products.
Other
We also make principal investments in private equity and hedge funds managed by third parties as well as, from time to time, take on strategic investment positions. Additionally, on October 1, 2018 Jefferies transferred to us its investment in Berkadia Commercial Mortgage Holding LLC (“Berkadia”). Berkadia is our 50/50 joint venture with Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. that provides capital solutions, investment sales advisory and mortgage servicing for multifamily and commercial real estate. Berkadia originates commercial real estate loans, primarily in respect of multifamily housing units, for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Authority using their underwriting guidelines and will typically sell the loans to such entities shortly after the loans are funded with Berkadia retaining the mortgage servicing rights. For loans sold to Fannie Mae, Berkadia assumes a shared loss position throughout the term of each loan, with a maximum loss percentage of approximately one-third of the original principal balance. Berkadia also originates and brokers commercial/multifamily mortgage loans, which are not part of the government agency programs.
In addition, Berkadia originates loans for its own balance sheet. These loans provide interim financing to borrowers who intend to refinance the loan with longer-term loans from an eligible government agency or other third party. Berkadia also provides services related to the acquisition and disposition of multifamily real estate projects, including brokerage services, asset review, market research, financial analysis and due diligence support and is a servicer of U.S. commercial real estate loans, performing primary, master and special servicing functions for U.S. government agency programs, commercial mortgage-backed securities transactions, banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions. Berkadia is required under its servicing agreements to maintain certain minimum servicer ratings or qualifications from the rating agencies. These ratings currently exceed the minimum ratings required by the related servicing agreements.
Asset Management
We manage, invest in and provide services to a diverse group of alternative asset management platforms across a spectrum of investment strategies and asset classes, many of these under the Leucadia Asset Management (“LAM”) umbrella. We are supporting and developing focused strategies managed by distinct management teams. Our products are currently offered by Jefferies investment advisers to pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, and other institutional investors through various platforms.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
We continue to expand our asset management efforts, including the formation of strategic relationships with Weiss Multi-Strategy Advisers LLC and Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC. We invested $250 million in Weiss' strategy and own a profit share in the firm for the first year and a revenue share thereafter. In addition, we entered into an agreement with Schonfeld to merge the business of Folger Hill Asset Management with Schonfeld's fundamental equities business, under the Schonfeld brand. In connection with the transaction, LAM agreed to make a $250 million investment in the combined strategy, and will receive a revenue share in the combined ongoing fundamental equity business. This transaction closed on January 1, 2019.
On October 1, 2018, Jefferies transferred to us capital investments in certain separately managed accounts and funds.
Competition
All aspects of our business are intensely competitive. We compete primarily with large global bank holding companies that engage in capital markets activities, but also with other broker-dealers, asset managers and investment banking firms. The large global bank holding companies have substantially greater capital and resources than we do. We believe that the principal factors affecting our competitive standing include the quality, experience and skills of our professionals, the depth of our relationships, the breadth of our service offerings, our ability to deliver consistently our integrated capabilities, and our culture, tenacity and commitment to serve our clients.
Regulation
Regulation in the United States. The financial services industry in which we operate is subject to extensive regulation. In the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) is the federal agency responsible for the administration of federal securities laws, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) is the federal agency responsible for the administration of laws relating to commodity interests (including futures, commodity options and swaps). In addition, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) and the National Futures Association (“NFA”) are self-regulatory organizations that are actively involved in the regulation of financial services businesses. The SEC, CFTC, FINRA and the NFA conduct periodic examinations of broker-dealers, investment advisers, futures commission merchants (“FCMs”) and swap dealers. The designated examining authority for Jefferies LLC’s activities as a broker-dealer is FINRA, and the designated self-regulatory organization for Jefferies LLC’s non-clearing FCM activities is the NFA. Financial services businesses are also subject to regulation and examination by state securities commissions and attorneys general in those states in which they do business.
Broker-dealers are subject to SEC and FINRA regulations that cover all aspects of the securities business, including sales and trading methods, trade practices among broker-dealers, use and safekeeping of customers’ funds and securities, capital structure and requirements, anti-money laundering efforts, recordkeeping and the conduct of broker-dealer personnel including officers and employees. Registered investment advisers are subject to, among other requirements, SEC regulations concerning marketing, transactions with affiliates, custody of client assets, disclosures to clients, conflict of interest, insider trading and recordkeeping; and investment advisers that are also registered as commodity trading advisors or commodity pool operators are also subject to regulation by the CFTC and the NFA. FCMs, introducing brokers and swap dealers that engage in commodity options, futures or swap transactions are subject to regulation by the CFTC and the NFA. Additional legislation, changes in rules promulgated by the SEC, CFTC, FINRA or NFA, or changes in the interpretation or enforcement of existing laws or rules may directly affect the operations and profitability of broker-dealers, investment advisers, FCMs, commodity trading advisors, commodity pool operators and swap dealers. The SEC, CFTC, FINRA, NFA, state securities commissions and state attorneys general may conduct administrative proceedings or initiate civil litigation that can result in adverse consequences for Jefferies LLC, its affiliates, including affiliated investment advisers, as well as its and their officers and employees (including, without limitation, injunctions, censures, fines, suspensions, directives that impact business operations (including proposed expansions), membership expulsions, or revocations of licenses and registrations). In addition, broker-dealers, investment advisers, FCMs and swap dealers must also comply with the rules and regulation of clearing houses, exchanges, swap execution facilities and trading platforms of which they are a member.
Regulatory Capital Requirements. Several of our entities are subject to financial capital requirements that are set by regulation. Jefferies LLC is a dually registered broker-dealer and FCM and is required to maintain net capital in excess of the greater of the SEC or CFTC minimum financial requirements. As a broker-dealer, Jefferies LLC is subject to the SEC’s Uniform Net Capital Rule (the “Net Capital Rule”). Jefferies LLC has elected to compute its minimum net capital requirement in accordance with the “Alternative Net Capital Requirement” as permitted by the Net Capital Rule, which provides that a broker-dealer shall not permit its net capital, as defined, to be less than the greater of 2% of its aggregate debit balances (primarily customer-related receivables) or $250,000 ($1.5 million for prime brokers). Compliance with the Net Capital Rule could limit Jefferies LLC’s operations, such as underwriting and trading activities, that could require the use of significant amounts of capital, and may also restrict its ability to make loans, advances, dividends and other payments.
As a non-clearing FCM, Jefferies LLC is required to maintain minimum adjusted net capital of $1.0 million.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
Our subsidiaries that are provisionally registered swap dealers will become subject to capital requirements under Title VII of The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) once the relevant rules become final. For additional information see Item 1A. Risk Factors - “Recent legislation and new and pending regulation may significantly affect our business.”
Jefferies Group LLC is not subject to any regulatory capital rules.
See Net Capital within Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis and Note 18, Net Capital Requirements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional discussion of net capital calculations.
Regulation outside the United States. We are an active participant in the international capital markets and provide investment banking services internationally, primarily in Europe and Asia. As is true in the U.S., our international subsidiaries are subject to extensive regulations proposed, promulgated and enforced by, among other regulatory bodies, the European Commission and European Supervisory Authorities (including the European Banking Authority and European Securities and Market Authority), U.K. Financial Conduct Authority, German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, the Japan Financial Services Agency and the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Every country in which we do business imposes upon us laws, rules and regulations similar to those in the U.S., including with respect to some form of capital adequacy rules, customer protection rules, data protection regulations, anti-money laundering and anti-bribery rules, compliance with other applicable trading and investment banking regulations and similar regulatory reform. For additional information see Item 1A. Risk Factors - “Extensive international regulation of our business limits our activities, and, if we violate these regulations, we may be subject to significant penalties.”
Item 1A. Risk Factors
Factors Affecting Our Business
The following factors describe some of the assumptions, risks, uncertainties and other factors that could adversely affect our business or that could otherwise result in changes that differ materially from our expectations. In addition to the specific factors mentioned in this report, we may also be affected by other factors that affect businesses generally such as global or regional changes in economic, business or political conditions, acts of war, terrorism and natural disasters.
Legislation and new and pending regulation may significantly affect our business.
There is significant legislation and regulation affecting the financial services industry. These legislative and regulatory initiatives affect not only us, but also our competitors and certain of our clients. These changes could have an effect on our revenue and profitability, limit our ability to pursue certain business opportunities, impact the value of assets that we hold, require us to change certain business practices, impose additional costs on us and otherwise adversely affect our business. Accordingly, we cannot provide assurance that legislation and regulation will not eventually have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.
The Dodd-Frank Act and the rules and regulations already adopted by the CFTC and still to be adopted by the SEC and CFTC introduce a comprehensive regulatory regime for swaps and security-based swaps and parties that deal in such derivatives. Two of our subsidiaries are provisionally registered as swap dealers with the CFTC and are members of the NFA. We may also be required in the future to register one or more additional subsidiaries as security-based swap dealers with the SEC. In this regard, a number of key rules applicable to security-based swap dealers, such as those relating to capital, margin, and segregation, have not yet been adopted by the SEC and, depending on the final rules relating thereto, may require substantial costs and impose significant burdens. Title VII and related impending regulations subject certain swaps and security-based swaps to mandatory clearing and exchange trading requirements and subject swap dealers and security-based swap dealers to significant entity and transaction requirements. Pursuant to regulations adopted by the CFTC and bank regulations, swap dealers are required to post and collect variation margin (comprised of specified liquid instruments and subject to a haircut) in connection with the trading of un-cleared swaps. We have already incurred significant compliance and operational costs as a result of the Dodd-Frank Act swap business conduct rules and mandatory variation margin, and when all the final rules contemplated by Title VII have been implemented, our swap dealer entities will also be subject to mandatory capital requirements that will likely have an effect on our business. The CFTC has adopted many regulations relating to swap dealers and swaps transactions, but a number of them have only recently become effective and certain requirements remain to be finalized. While there continues to be uncertainty about the full impact of these changes, we will continue to be subject to a more complex regulatory framework, and will incur costs to comply with new requirements as well as to monitor for compliance in the future.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
The European Market Infrastructure Regulation (“EMIR”) relating to derivatives entered into force during August 2012 and introduced certain requirements in respect of derivative contracts including: (i) the mandatory clearing of OTC derivative contracts declared subject to the clearing obligation; (ii) risk mitigation techniques in respect of uncleared OTC derivative contracts, including the mandatory margining of uncleared OTC derivative contracts; and (iii) reporting and record keeping requirements in respect of all derivative contracts. EMIR’s requirements primarily apply to “financial counterparties” such as European Union (“EU”) authorized investment firms, credit institutions, insurance companies, UCITs and alternative investment funds managed by EU authorized alternative investment fund managers, and “non-financial counterparties” (being an EU entity which is not a financial counterparty). EMIR also applies to non-EU regulated entities which transact derivatives with in-scope EU counterparties, if such non-EU regulated entities would be classified as financial counterparties or non-financial counterparties if they were established in the EU. As a result, members of our group who are EU-regulated entities or subsidiaries and, when transacting with in-scope EU counterparties, members of our group who are non-EU regulated entities or subsidiaries may be subject to additional obligations and/or costs that may not otherwise have applied.
During January 2018, the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation and a revision of the Market in Financial Instruments Directive came into force (collectively referred to as “MiFID II”). MiFID II imposes certain restrictions as to the trading of shares and derivatives including new market structure-related, reporting, investor protection-related and organizational requirements, requirements on pre- and post-trade transparency, requirements to use certain venues when trading financial instruments (which includes certain derivative instruments), requirements affecting the way investment managers can obtain research, powers of regulators to impose position limits and provisions on regulatory sanctions. Subject to certain conditions and exceptions we may be unable to trade shares or derivatives with in-scope counterparties other than as provided by MiFID II. The EU is also currently considering or executing upon significant revisions to laws covering: resolution of banks, investment firms and market infrastructure; administration of financial benchmarks; credit rating activities; anti-money-laundering controls; data security and privacy; remuneration principles and proportionality; new amendments to capital and liquidity standards; disclosures under the Basel regime aiming to increase market transparency and consistency and corporate governance in financial firms.
In May 2018, the EU’s new General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) came into force replacing the EU Data Protection Directive. The changes imposed by the GDPR have a significant impact on how businesses can collect and process the personal data of EU individuals, including the requirement for business to self-report personal data breaches to the relevant supervisory authority and, under certain circumstances, to the affected data subjects, and provide additional rights to individuals whose data is processed, including the “right to erasure” (also commonly known as the right to be forgotten) by having their records erased and the right to data portability. Penalties for non-compliance are also significantly higher, with the maximum fine being the higher of €20 million or 4% of global turnover for the preceding year. In addition, numerous proposals regarding privacy and data protection are pending before U.S. and non-U.S. legislative and regulatory bodies.
Negative effects could result from an expansive extraterritorial application of the Dodd-Frank Act and/or insufficient international coordination with respect to adoption of rules for derivatives and other financial reforms in other jurisdictions.
In addition, the scope, timing and final implementation of regulatory reform is uncertain and could negatively impact our business.
Extensive regulation of our business limits our activities, and, if we violate these regulations, we may be subject to significant penalties.
We are subject to extensive laws, rules and regulations in the countries in which we operate. Firms that engage in providing financial services must comply with the laws, rules and regulations imposed by national and state governments and regulatory and self-regulatory bodies with jurisdiction over such activities. Such laws, rules and regulations cover many aspects of providing financial services.
Our regulators supervise our business activities to monitor compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations. In addition, if there are instances in which our regulators question our compliance with laws, rules, or regulations, they may investigate the facts and circumstances to determine whether we have complied. At any moment in time, we may be subject to one or more such investigations or similar reviews. At this time, all such investigations and similar reviews are insignificant in scope and immaterial to us. However, there can be no assurance that, in the future, the operations of our businesses will not violate such laws, rules, or regulations, or that such investigations and similar reviews will not result in significant or material adverse regulatory requirements, regulatory enforcement actions, fines or other adverse impact to the operation of our business.
Additionally, violations of laws, rules and regulations could subject us to one or more of the following events: civil and criminal liability; sanctions, which could include the revocation of our subsidiaries’ registrations as investment advisers or broker-dealers; the revocation of the licenses of our financial advisors; censures; fines; or a temporary suspension or permanent bar from conducting business. The occurrence of any of these events could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and prospects.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
Certain of our subsidiaries are subject to regulatory financial capital holding requirements, such as the Net Capital Rule, that could impact various capital allocation decisions or limit the operations of our broker-dealers. In particular, compliance with the Net Capital Rule may restrict our broker-dealers’ ability to engage in capital-intensive activities such as underwriting and trading, and may also limit their ability to make loans, advances, dividends and other payments.
Additional legislation, changes in rules, changes in the interpretation or enforcement of existing laws and rules, conflicts and inconsistencies among rules and regulations, or the entering into businesses that subject us to new rules and regulations may directly affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. We continue to monitor the impact of new U.S. and international regulation on our businesses.
Changing financial, economic and political conditions could result in decreased revenues, losses or other adverse consequences.
As a global securities and investment banking firm, global or regional changes in the financial markets or economic and political conditions could adversely affect our business in many ways, including the following:
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• | A market downturn could lead to a decline in the volume of transactions executed for customers and, therefore, to a decline in the revenues we receive from commissions and spreads. |
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• | Unfavorable conditions or changes in general political, economic or market conditions could reduce the number and size of transactions in which we provide underwriting, financial advisory and other services. Our investment banking revenues, in the form of financial advisory and sales and trading or placement fees, are directly related to the number and size of the transactions in which we participate and could therefore be adversely affected by unfavorable financial, economic or political conditions. In particular, the increasing trend toward sovereign protectionism and deglobalization resulting from the current populist political movement has resulted or could result in decreases in free trade, erosion of traditional international coalitions, the imposition of sanctions and tariffs, governmental closures and no-confidence votes, domestic and international strife, and general market upheaval in response to such results, all of which could negatively impact our business. |
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• | Adverse changes in the market could also lead to a reduction in revenues from asset management fees and investment income from managed funds and losses on our own capital invested in managed funds. Even in the absence of a market downturn, below-market investment performance by our funds and portfolio managers could reduce asset management revenues and assets under management and result in reputational damage that might make it more difficult to attract new investors. |
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• | Adverse changes in the market could lead to regulatory restrictions that may limit or halt certain of our business activities. |
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• | Limitations on the availability of credit can affect our ability to borrow on a secured or unsecured basis, which may adversely affect our liquidity and results of operations. Global market and economic conditions have been particularly disrupted and volatile in the last several years and may be in the future. Our cost and availability of funding could be affected by illiquid credit markets and wider credit spreads. |
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• | New or increased taxes on compensation payments such as bonuses or on balance sheet items may adversely affect our profits. |
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• | Should one of our customers or competitors fail, our business prospects and revenue could be negatively impacted due to negative market sentiment causing customers to cease doing business with us and our lenders to cease loaning us money, which could adversely affect our business, funding and liquidity. |
The United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union could adversely affect our business.
The referendum held in the U.K. on June 23, 2016 resulted in a determination that the U.K. should exit the EU. In March 2017, the U.K. government initiated the exit process under Article 50 of the Treaty of the EU, commencing a period of up to two years for the United Kingdom and the other EU member states to negotiate the terms of the withdrawal. The uncertainty surrounding the timing, terms and consequences of the U.K.’s exit could adversely impact customer and investor confidence, result in additional market volatility and adversely affect our businesses, including our revenues from trading and investment banking activities, particularly in Europe, and our results of operations and financial condition.
We operate substantial parts of our EU businesses from entities based in the U.K. Upon the U.K. leaving the EU, the regulatory and legal environment that would then exist, and to which our U.K. operations would then be subject, will depend on, in certain respects, the nature of the arrangements the U.K. agreed with the EU and other trading partners. It is highly likely that changes to our legal entity structure and operations in Europe will be required as a result of these arrangements, which might result in a less efficient operating model across our European legal entities. We are in the process of implementing plans to ensure our continued ability to operate in the U.K. and the EU beyond the expected exit date.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
Recent U.S. tax legislation may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of us or our parent.
On December 22, 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“Tax Act”) was enacted. This legislation has made significant changes to the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, including the taxation of U.S. corporations, by, among other things, limiting interest deductions, reducing the U.S. corporate income tax rate, disallowing certain deductions that had previously been allowed, altering the expensing of capital expenditures, adopting elements of a territorial tax system, assessing a repatriation tax or “toll-charge” on undistributed earnings and profits of U.S.-owned foreign corporations, and introducing certain anti-base erosion provisions. The legislation is highly complex and remains unclear in certain respects and will require final interpretations and regulations by the Internal Revenue Service and state tax authorities. Additionally, the legislation could be subject to potential amendments and technical corrections, any of which could lessen or increase certain adverse impacts of the legislation. Thus, the impact of certain aspects of the legislation on us remains unclear and could have an adverse impact on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
If our tax filing positions were to be challenged by federal, state and local foreign tax jurisdictions, we may not be wholly successful in defending our tax filing positions.
We record reserves for unrecognized tax benefits based on our assessment of the probability of successfully sustaining tax filing positions. Management exercises significant judgment when assessing the probability of successfully sustaining tax filing positions, and in determining whether a contingent tax liability should be recorded and, if so, estimating the amount. If our tax filing positions are successfully challenged, payments could be required that are in excess of reserved amounts or we may be required to reduce the carrying amount of our net deferred tax asset, either of which result could be significant to our financial condition or results of operations.
Damage to our reputation could damage our business.
Maintaining our reputation is critical to our attracting and maintaining customers, investors and employees. If we fail to deal with, or appear to fail to deal with, various issues that may give rise to reputational risk, we could significantly harm our business prospects. These issues include, but are not limited to, any of the risks discussed in this Item 1A, appropriately dealing with potential conflicts of interest, legal and regulatory requirements, ethical issues, money-laundering, cybersecurity and privacy, record keeping, sales and trading practices, failure to sell securities we have underwritten at the anticipated price levels, and the proper identification of the legal, reputational, credit, liquidity and market risks inherent in our products. A failure to deliver appropriate standards of service and quality, or a failure or perceived failure to treat customers and clients fairly, can result in customer dissatisfaction, litigation and heightened regulatory scrutiny, all of which can lead to lost revenue, higher operating costs and harm to our reputation. Further, negative publicity regarding us, whether or not true, may also result in harm to our prospects. Our operations in the past have been impacted as some clients either ceased doing business or temporarily slowed down the level of business they do, thereby decreasing our revenue. There is no assurance that we will be able to successfully reverse the negative impact of allegations and rumors in the future and our potential failure to do so could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and liquidity.
A credit-rating agency downgrade could significantly impact our business.
Maintaining an investment grade credit rating is important to our business and financial condition. If our credit ratings were downgraded, or if rating agencies indicate that a downgrade may occur, our business, financial position and results of operations could be adversely affected and perceptions of our financial strength could be damaged, which could adversely affect our client relationships. Additionally, we intend to access the capital markets and issue debt securities from time to time, and a decrease in our credit ratings or outlook could adversely affect our liquidity and competitive position, increase our borrowing costs, decrease demand for our debt securities and increase the expense and difficulty of financing our operations. In addition, in connection with certain over-the-counter derivative contract arrangements and certain other trading arrangements, we may be required to provide additional collateral to counterparties, exchanges and clearing organizations in the event of a credit rating downgrade. Such a downgrade could also negatively impact the prices of our debt securities. There can be no assurance that our credit ratings will not be downgraded.
Our principal trading and investments expose us to risk of loss.
A considerable portion of our revenues is derived from trading in which we act as principal. We may incur trading losses relating to the purchase, sale or short sale of fixed income, high yield, international, convertible, and equity securities, loans, derivative contracts and commodities for our own account. In any period, we may experience losses on our inventory positions as a result of the level and volatility of equity, fixed income and commodity prices (including oil prices), lack of trading volume and illiquidity. From time to time, we may engage in a large block trade in a single security or maintain large position concentrations in a single security, securities of a single issuer, securities of issuers engaged in a specific industry, or securities from issuers located in a particular country or region. In general, because our inventory is marked to market on a daily basis, any adverse price movement in these securities could result in a reduction of our revenues and profits. In addition, we may engage in hedging transactions that if not successful, could result in losses.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
We are exposed to market risk.
We are, directly and indirectly, affected by changes in market conditions. Market risk generally represents the risk that values of assets and liabilities or revenues will be adversely affected by changes in market conditions. For example, changes in interest rates could adversely affect our net interest spread, the difference between the yield we earn on our assets and the interest rate we pay for sources of funding, which, in turn, impacts our net interest revenue and earnings. Changes in interest rates could affect the interest earned on assets differently than interest paid on liabilities. In our brokerage operations, a rising interest rate environment generally results in our earning a larger net interest spread. Conversely, in those operations, a falling interest rate environment generally results in our earning a smaller net interest spread. If we are unable to effectively manage our interest rate risk, changes in interest rates could have a material adverse effect on our profitability.
Market risk is inherent in the financial instruments associated with our operations and activities, including trading account assets and liabilities, loans, securities, short-term borrowings, corporate debt, and derivatives. Market conditions that change from time to time, thereby exposing us to market risk, include fluctuations in interest rates, equity prices, relative exchange rates, and price deterioration or changes in value due to changes in market perception or actual credit quality of an issuer.
In addition, disruptions in the liquidity or transparency of the financial markets may result in our inability to sell, syndicate, or realize the value of security positions, thereby leading to increased concentrations. The inability to reduce our positions in specific securities may not only increase the market and credit risks associated with such positions, but also increase the level of risk-weighted assets on our balance sheet, thereby increasing capital requirements, which could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and liquidity.
See Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations-Risk Management within Part II, Item 7. of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional discussion.
We may incur losses if our risk management is not effective.
We seek to monitor and control our risk exposure. Our risk management processes and procedures are designed to limit our exposure to acceptable levels as we conduct our business. We apply a comprehensive framework of limits on a variety of key metrics to constrain the risk profile of our business activities. The size of the limit reflects our risk tolerance for a certain activity. Our framework includes inventory position and exposure limits on a gross and net basis, scenario analysis and stress tests, Value-at-Risk, sensitivities, exposure concentrations, aged inventory, amount of Level 3 assets, counterparty exposure, leverage, cash capital and performance analysis. See Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Risk Management within Part II. Item 7. of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional discussion. While we employ various risk monitoring and risk mitigation techniques, those techniques and the judgments that accompany their application, including risk tolerance determinations, cannot anticipate every economic and financial outcome or the specifics and timing of such outcomes. As a result, we may incur losses notwithstanding our risk management processes and procedures.
As a holding company, we are dependent for liquidity from payments from our subsidiaries, many of which are subject to restrictions.
As a holding company, we depend on dividends, distributions and other payments from our subsidiaries to fund payments on our obligations, including debt obligations. Many of our subsidiaries, including our broker-dealer subsidiaries, are subject to regulation that restrict dividend payments or reduce the availability of the flow of funds from those subsidiaries to us. In addition, our broker-dealer subsidiaries are subject to restrictions on their ability to lend or transact with affiliates and to minimum regulatory capital requirements.
Increased competition may adversely affect our revenues and profitability.
All aspects of our business are intensely competitive. We compete directly with a number of bank holding companies and commercial banks, other broker-dealers, investment banking firms and other financial institutions. In addition to competition from firms currently in the securities business, there has been increasing competition from others offering financial services, including automated trading and other services based on technological innovations. We believe that the principal factors affecting competition involve market focus, reputation, the abilities of professional personnel, transaction execution abilities, relative prices of the products and services being offered, bundling of products and services and the quality of products and service. Increased competition or an adverse change in our competitive position could lead to a reduction of business and therefore a reduction of revenues and profits.
The ability to attract, develop and retain highly skilled and productive employees is critical to the success of our business.
Our ability to develop and retain our clients depends on the reputation, judgment, business generation capabilities and skills of our professionals. To compete effectively, we must attract, retain and motivate qualified professionals, including successful financial advisors, investment bankers, trading professionals, portfolio managers and other revenue producing or specialized personnel. Competitive pressures we experience with respect to employees could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and liquidity.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
Turnover in the financial services industry is high. The cost of retaining skilled professionals in the financial services industry has escalated considerably. Financial industry employers are increasingly offering guaranteed contracts, upfront payments, and increased compensation. These can be important factors in a current employee’s decision to leave us as well as in a prospective employee’s decision to join us. As competition for skilled professionals in the industry remains intense, we may have to devote significant resources to attracting and retaining qualified personnel.
If we were to lose the services of certain of our professionals, we may not be able to retain valuable relationships and some of our clients could choose to use the services of a competitor instead of our services. If we are unable to retain our professionals or recruit additional professionals, our reputation, business, results of operations and financial condition will be adversely affected. Further, new business initiatives and efforts to expand existing businesses frequently require that we incur compensation and benefits expense before generating additional revenues.
Moreover, companies in our industry whose employees accept positions with competitors often claim that those competitors have engaged in unfair hiring practices. We may be subject to such claims in the future as we seek to hire qualified personnel who have worked for our competitors. Some of these claims may result in material litigation. We could incur substantial costs in defending against these claims, regardless of their merits. Such claims could also discourage potential employees who work for our competitors from joining us.
Operational risks may disrupt our business, result in regulatory action against us or limit our growth.
Our businesses are highly dependent on our ability to process, on a daily basis, a large number of transactions across numerous and diverse markets in many currencies, and the transactions we process have become increasingly complex. If any of our financial, accounting or other data processing systems do not operate properly or are disabled or if there are other shortcomings or failures in our internal processes, people or systems, we could suffer an impairment to our liquidity, financial loss, a disruption of our businesses, liability to clients, regulatory intervention or reputational damage. These systems may fail to operate properly or become disabled as a result of events that are wholly or partially beyond our control, including a disruption of electrical or communications services or our inability to occupy one or more of our buildings. The inability of our systems to accommodate an increasing volume and complexity of transactions could also constrain our ability to expand our businesses.
Certain of our financial and other data processing systems rely on access to and the functionality of operating systems maintained by third parties. If the accounting, trading or other data processing systems on which we are dependent are unable to meet increasingly demanding standards for processing and security or, if they fail or have other significant shortcomings, we could be adversely affected. Such consequences may include our inability to effect transactions and manage our exposure to risk.
In addition, despite the contingency plans we have in place, our ability to conduct business may be adversely impacted by a disruption in the infrastructure that supports our businesses and the communities in which they are located. This may include a disruption involving electrical, communications, transportation or other services used by us or third parties with which we conduct business.
Any cyber attack or other security breach of our technology systems, or those of our clients or other third-party vendors we rely on, could subject us to significant liability and harm our reputation.
Our operations rely heavily on the secure processing, storage and transmission of sensitive and confidential financial, personal and other information in our computer systems and networks. There have been several highly publicized cases involving financial services companies reporting the unauthorized disclosure of client or other confidential information in recent years, as well as cyber attacks involving theft, dissemination and destruction of corporate information or other assets, in some cases as a result of failure to follow procedures by employees or contractors or as a result of actions by third parties. Like other financial services firms, we have been the target of attempted cyber attacks. Cyber attacks can originate from a variety of sources, including third parties affiliated with foreign governments, organized crime or terrorist organizations. Third parties may also attempt to place individuals within our firm or induce employees, clients or other users of our systems to disclose sensitive information or provide access to our data, and these types of risks may be difficult to detect or prevent. Although cybersecurity incidents among financial services firms are on the rise, we are not aware of any material losses relating to cyber attacks or other information security breaches. However, the techniques used in these attacks are increasingly sophisticated, change frequently and are often not recognized until launched. Although we seek to maintain a robust suite of authentication and layered information security controls, these controls could fail to detect, mitigate or remediate these risks in a timely manner. Despite our implementation of protective measures and endeavoring to modify them as circumstances warrant, our computer systems, software and networks may be vulnerable to human error, natural disasters, power loss, spam attacks, unauthorized access, distributed denial of service attacks, computer viruses and other malicious code, and other events that could result in significant liability and damage to our reputation, and have an ongoing impact on the security and stability of our operations.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
We also rely on numerous third-party service providers to conduct other aspects of our business operations, and we face similar risks relating to them. While we regularly conduct security assessments on these third-party vendors, we cannot be certain that their information security protocols are sufficient to withstand a cyber attack or other security breach. In addition, in order to access our products and services, our customers may use computers and other devices that are beyond our security control systems and processes.
Notwithstanding the precautions we take, if a cyber attack or other information security breach were to occur, this could jeopardize the information we confidentially maintain, or otherwise cause interruptions in our operations or those of our clients and counterparties, exposing us to liability. As attempted attacks continue to evolve in scope and sophistication, we may be required to expend substantial additional resources to modify or enhance our protective measures, to investigate and remediate vulnerabilities or other exposures or to communicate about cyber attacks to our customers. Though we have insurance against some cyber risks and attacks, we may be subject to litigation and financial losses that exceed our policy limits or are not covered under any of our current insurance policies. A technological breakdown could also interfere with our ability to comply with financial reporting and other regulatory requirements, exposing us to potential disciplinary action by regulators. Additionally, the SEC issued guidance in February 2018 stating that, as a public company, we are expected to have controls and procedures that relate to cybersecurity disclosure, and are required to disclose information relating to certain cyber attacks or other information security breaches in disclosures required to be made under the federal securities laws. Further, successful cyber attacks at other large financial institutions or other market participants, whether or not we are affected, could lead to a general loss of customer confidence in financial institutions that could negatively affect us, including harming the market perception of the effectiveness of our security measures or the financial system in general, which could result in a loss of business.
Further, in light of the high volume of transactions we process, the large number of our clients, partners and counterparties, and the increasing sophistication of malicious actors, a cyber attack could occur and persist for an extended period of time without detection. We expect that any investigation of a cyber attack would take substantial amounts of time, and that there may be extensive delays before we obtain full and reliable information. During such time we would not necessarily know the extent of the harm or how best to remediate it, and certain errors or actions could be repeated or compounded before they are discovered. All of which would further increase the costs and consequences of such an attack.
We may also be subject to liability under various data protection laws. In providing services to clients, we manage, utilize and store sensitive or confidential client or employee data, including personal data. As a result, we are subject to numerous laws and regulations designed to protect this information, such as U.S. federal, state and international laws governing the protection of personally identifiable information. These laws and regulations are increasing in complexity and number. If any person, including any of our associates, negligently disregards or intentionally breaches our established controls with respect to client or employee data, or otherwise mismanages or misappropriates such data, we could be subject to significant monetary damages, regulatory enforcement actions, fines and/or criminal prosecution. In addition, unauthorized disclosure of sensitive or confidential client or employee data, whether through system failure, employee negligence, fraud or misappropriation, could damage our reputation and cause us to lose clients and related revenue. Potential liability in the event of a security breach of client data could be significant. Depending on the circumstances giving rise to the breach, this liability may not be subject to a contractual limit or an exclusion of consequential or indirect damages.
Our business is subject to significant credit risk.
In the normal course of our businesses, we are involved in the execution, settlement and financing of various customer and principal securities and derivative transactions. These activities are transacted on a cash, margin or delivery-versus-payment basis and are subject to the risk of counterparty or customer nonperformance. Even when transactions are collateralized by the underlying security or other securities, we still face the risks associated with changes in the market value of the collateral through settlement date or during the time when margin is extended and collateral has not been secured or the counterparty defaults before collateral or margin can be adjusted. We may also incur credit risk in our derivative transactions to the extent such transactions result in uncollateralized credit exposure to our counterparties.
We seek to control the risk associated with these transactions by establishing and monitoring credit limits and by monitoring collateral and transaction levels daily. We may require counterparties to deposit additional collateral or return collateral pledged. In certain circumstances, we may, under industry regulations, purchase the underlying securities in the market and seek reimbursement for any losses from the counterparty. However, there can be no assurances that our risk controls will be successful.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
We face numerous risks and uncertainties as we expand our business.
We expect the growth of our business to come primarily from internal expansion and through acquisitions and strategic partnering. As we expand our business, there can be no assurance that our financial controls, the level and knowledge of our personnel, our operational abilities, our legal and compliance controls and our other corporate support systems will be adequate to manage our business and our growth. The ineffectiveness of any of these controls or systems could adversely affect our business and prospects. In addition, as we acquire new businesses and introduce new products, we face numerous risks and uncertainties integrating their controls and systems into ours, including financial controls, accounting and data processing systems, management controls and other operations. A failure to integrate these systems and controls, and even an inefficient integration of these systems and controls, could adversely affect our business and prospects.
Certain business initiatives, including expansions of existing businesses, may bring us into contact directly or indirectly, with individuals and entities that are not within our traditional client and counterparty base and may expose us to new asset classes and new markets. These business activities expose us to new and enhanced risks, greater regulatory scrutiny of these activities, increased credit-related, sovereign and operational risks and reputational concerns regarding the manner in which we conduct our business activities and the manner in which these assets are being operated or held.
Legal liability may harm our business.
Many aspects of our business involve substantial risks of liability, and in the normal course of business, we have been named as a defendant or codefendant in lawsuits involving primarily claims for damages. The risks associated with potential legal liabilities often may be difficult to assess or quantify and their existence and magnitude often remain unknown for substantial periods of time. The expansion of our business, including increases in the number and size of investment banking transactions and our expansion into new areas impose greater risks of liability. In addition, unauthorized or illegal acts of our employees could result in substantial liability to us. Substantial legal liability could have a material adverse financial effect or cause us significant reputational harm, which in turn could seriously harm our business and our prospects.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
None.
Item 2. Properties
We maintain offices in over 30 cities throughout the world. Our principal offices include our global headquarters in New York City, our European headquarters in London and our Asia headquarters in Hong Kong. In addition, we maintain backup data center facilities with redundant technologies for each of our three main data center hubs in Jersey City, London and Hong Kong. We lease all of our office space, or contract via service arrangement, which management believes is adequate for our business.
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
Many aspects of our business involve substantial risks of legal and regulatory liability. In the normal course of business, we have been named as defendants or co-defendants in lawsuits involving primarily claims for damages. We are also involved in a number of regulatory matters, including exams, investigations and similar reviews, arising out of the conduct of our business. Based on currently available information, we do not believe that any pending matter will have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial statements.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.
PART II
Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
None.
Item 6. Selected Financial Data
Omitted pursuant to general instruction I(2)(a) to Form 10-K.
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
This report contains or incorporates by reference “forward looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward looking statements include statements about our future and statements that are not historical facts. These forward looking statements are usually preceded by the words “believe,” “intend,” “may,” “will,” or similar expressions. Forward looking statements may contain expectations regarding revenues, earnings, operations and other results, and may include statements of future performance, plans and objectives. Forward looking statements also include statements pertaining to our strategies for future development of our business and products. Forward looking statements represent only our belief regarding future events, many of which by their nature are inherently uncertain. It is possible that the actual results may differ, possibly materially, from the anticipated results indicated in these forward-looking statements. Information regarding important factors that could cause actual results to differ, perhaps materially, from those in our forward looking statements is contained in this report and other documents we file. You should read and interpret any forward looking statement together with these documents, including the following:
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• | the description of our business contained in this report under the caption “Business”; |
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• | the risk factors contained in this report under the caption “Risk Factors”; |
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• | the discussion of our analysis of financial condition and results of operations contained in this report under the caption “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” herein; |
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• | the discussion of our risk management policies, procedures and methodologies contained in this report under the caption “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Risk Management” herein; |
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• | the notes to the consolidated financial statements contained in this report; and |
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• | cautionary statements we make in our public documents, reports and announcements. |
Any forward looking statement speaks only as of the date on which that statement is made. We will not update any forward looking statement to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date on which the statement is made, except as required by applicable law.
The Company’s results of operations for the 12 months ended November 30, 2018 (“2018”), November 30, 2017 (“2017”) and November 30, 2016 (“2016”) are discussed below.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
Consolidated Results of Operations
Provisional Tax Charge
On December 22, 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”) was enacted. We incurred a provisional tax charge of $163.7 million in the three months ended February 28, 2018, as a result of the enactment of the Tax Act. This provisional estimate was slightly adjusted in the subsequent quarters of 2018, which resulted in a total provisional tax charge of $165.1 million during the year ended November 30, 2018. Of this amount, $112.7 million relates to the write down of our deferred tax asset, reflecting the impact of a lower federal tax rate of 21% on our deferred tax items. The remaining part of the provisional charge relates to a toll charge on the deemed repatriation of unremitted foreign earnings. Additionally, income tax expense for the year ended November 30, 2018 has been impacted due to certain tax planning actions taken with respect to our non-U.S. subsidiaries as a result of the Tax Act. We continue to obtain and analyze additional information and guidance as it becomes available to complete our accounting for the tax impact related to the Tax Act. The provisional accounting charge may change until the accounting analysis is finalized, which will occur in the first quarter of fiscal 2019, as permitted by Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118 (“SAB 118”), which was issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) staff on December 22, 2017. Refer to Note 16, Income Taxes, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for further details on the Tax Act and SAB 118.
Overview
The following table provides an overview of our consolidated results of operations (dollars in thousands):
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| | | % Change from Prior Year |
| 2018 | | 2017 | | 2016 | | 2018 | | 2017 |
Net revenues | $ | 3,183,376 |
| | $ | 3,198,109 |
| | $ | 2,414,614 |
| | (0.5 | )% | | 32.4 | % |
Non-interest expenses | 2,773,709 |
| | 2,693,185 |
| | 2,384,642 |
| | 3.0 | % | | 12.9 | % |
Earnings before income taxes | 409,667 |
| | 504,924 |
| | 29,972 |
| | (18.9 | )% | | 1,584.7 | % |
Income tax expense | 250,650 |
| | 147,340 |
| | 14,566 |
| | 70.1 | % | | 911.5 | % |
Net earnings | 159,017 |
| | 357,584 |
| | 15,406 |
| | (55.5 | )% | | 2,221.1 | % |
Net earnings (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests | 256 |
| | 86 |
| | (28 | ) | | 197.7 | % | | N/M |
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Net earnings attributable to Jefferies Group LLC | 158,761 |
| | 357,498 |
| | 15,434 |
| | (55.6 | )% | | 2,216.3 | % |
Effective tax rate | 61.2 | % | | 29.2 | % | | 48.6 | % | | 109.6 | % | | (39.9 | )% |
N/M — Not Meaningful
Impact of Adopting Revenue Recognition Guidance
On December 1, 2017, we adopted Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-9, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (the “new revenue standard”), which provides accounting guidance on the recognition of revenues from contracts with customers and impacts the presentation of certain revenues and expenses in our Consolidated Statements of Earnings. The new revenue standard has been applied prospectively from December 1, 2017 and reported financial information for historical comparable periods have not been revised. The adoption of the new revenue standard resulted in a reduction of beginning Member’s paid in capital of $6.1 million after-tax as a cumulative effect of adoption of an accounting change. The impact of adoption is primarily related to investment banking expenses that were deferred at November 30, 2017 under the previously existing accounting guidance, which would have been expensed in prior periods under the new revenue standard, and investment banking revenues that were previously recognized in prior periods, which would have been deferred at November 30, 2017 under the new revenue standard.
The new revenue guidance does not apply to revenue associated with financial instruments, including loans and securities, and as a result, did not have an impact on the elements of our Consolidated Statements of Earnings most closely associated with financial instruments, including Principal transactions revenues, Interest income and Interest expense.
There is no significant impact as a result of applying the new revenue standard to our results of operations for the year ended November 30, 2018, except as it relates to the presentation of certain investment banking expenses. Investment banking revenues had historically been recorded net of related out-of-pocket deal expenses directly related to investment banking engagements. Under the new revenue standard, all investment banking expenses are recognized within their respective expense category in our Consolidated Statement of Earnings and any expense reimbursements are recognized as Investment banking revenues (i.e., revenues are no longer presented net of the related out-of-pocket deal expenses). Expenses directly associated with underwriting activities are recorded to a new non-compensation expense line item: "Underwriting costs". The impact of this change in presentation is an identical increase in both Investment banking revenues and Total non-compensation expenses for the year ended November 30, 2018 of $131.8 million. This change in presentation has no impact on Net earnings.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
Refer to Note 2, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, and Note 3, Accounting Developments, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for further information.
Executive Summary
2018 Compared with 2017
Consolidated Results
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• | Net revenues for 2018 were $3,183.4 million, compared with $3,198.1 million for 2017, a decrease of $14.7 million, or 0.5%. A decline in our fixed income sales and trading and other net revenues was offset by an increase of $129.8 million in investment banking revenues, although our investment banking net revenues in 2018 included $131.8 million in net revenues as a result of the new revenue standard. (Refer to “Impact of Adopting Revenue Recognition Guidance” herein and Note 2, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, and Note 3, Accounting Developments, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for further details on the new revenue standard.) |
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• | Our results for 2018 reflect record equity capital markets and advisory net revenues. |
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• | Our 2017 results included a net gain of $93.4 million from our investment in KCG Holdings, Inc. (“KCG”), which was sold in July 2017. |
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• | We continued to maintain strong leverage ratios and liquidity and a strong capital base throughout 2018. See the “Liquidity, Financial Condition and Capital Resources” section herein for further information. |
Business Results
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• | Our equities net revenues had a slight decline of 1.3% for 2018 compared to 2017, as record results posted in 2018 for our overall global core sales and trading business and within the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacific regions were offset by losses in certain block positions in 2018 compared with gains in 2017. |
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• | Our fixed income net revenues for 2018 were below those for 2017, primarily due to difficult market conditions in our global investment grade credit businesses predominately in the fourth quarter of 2018. Further, performance in the first quarter of 2017 was bolstered by robust trading activity following the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, which was not repeated in the current year. |
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• | Our investment banking revenues for 2018 reflect continued strong performance in both our equity capital markets and advisory businesses, as we increased our fee market share in both businesses, as well as an increase of $131.8 million in investment banking net revenues during the year ended November 30, 2018, as a result of the new revenue standard. Refer to “Impact of Adopting Revenue Recognition Guidance” herein and Note 2, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, and Note 3, Accounting Developments, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for further details on the new revenue standard. |
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• | Net revenues from our other business category for 2018 were $45.3 million, compared with $93.0 million for 2017. Results in 2017 included a net gain of $93.4 million from our investment in KCG, which was sold in July 2017. |
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• | Net revenues for 2018 also included losses from asset management of $1.1 million, compared with asset management revenues of $28.2 million for 2017. |
Expenses
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• | Non-interest expenses for 2018 increased $80.5 million, or 3.0%, to $2,773.7 million, compared with $2,693.2 million for 2017, reflecting an increase in Non-compensation expenses, partially offset by a decrease in Compensation and benefits expense. |
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• | Compensation and benefits expense for 2018 was $1,736.3 million, a decrease of $92.8 million, or 5.1%, from 2017. Compensation and benefits expense as a percentage of Net revenues was 54.5% for 2018, compared with 57.2% in 2017. |
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• | Non-compensation expenses for 2018 increased $173.4 million, or 20.1%, to $1,037.4 million, compared with $864.1 million for 2017, primarily due to an increase of $131.8 million mostly across Business development expenses and Underwriting costs, as a result of applying the new revenue standard to our results of operations for 2018. Refer to “Impact of Adopting Revenue Recognition Guidance” herein and Note 2, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, and Note 3, Accounting Developments, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for further details on the new revenue standard. |
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
Headcount
| |
• | At November 30, 2018, we had 3,596 employees globally, an increase of 146 employees from our headcount of 3,450 at November 30, 2017. Our headcount increased primarily as a result of continued hiring in investment banking, as well as additions in our asset management and equities businesses. |
2017 Compared with 2016
Consolidated Results
| |
• | Net revenues for 2017 were an annual record of $3,198.1 million, compared with $2,414.6 million for 2016, an increase of $783.5 million, or 32.4%. |
| |
• | The results for 2017 were due to then record investment banking revenues and higher equities net revenues, partially offset by lower fixed income net revenues. |
Business Results
| |
• | Then record investment banking revenues for 2017 reflect record debt capital markets revenues, previous record advisory revenues and significantly higher equity capital markets revenues, as a result of higher transaction volumes and values throughout 2017, driven in part by our effort to continue to expand our investment banking team through promotions and new hires. Our investment banking revenues also included income of $90.8 million from our joint venture investment in Jefferies Finance LLC (“Jefferies Finance”) in 2017, compared with a loss of $9.3 million in 2016. |
| |
• | Our equities net revenues improved 12.9% for 2017 compared to 2016 primarily due to gains in certain block positions in 2017 compared with losses in 2016. |
| |
• | The decrease in fixed income net revenues is primarily due to lower volumes and volatility, which negatively impacted our client flow oriented fixed income businesses in the last nine months of 2017. |
| |
• | Net revenues from our other business category for 2017 were $93.0 million, compared with $1.0 million for 2016. The increase in net revenues from our other business category was primarily attributable to a net gain of $93.4 million recognized during 2017 from our investment in KCG, compared with a net gain of $19.6 million in 2016. KCG was sold in full on July 20, 2017. |
| |
• | Net revenues for 2017 also included asset management revenues of $28.2 million, compared with $76.3 million in 2016. |
Expenses
| |
• | Non-interest expenses for 2017 increased $308.5 million, or 12.9%, to $2,693.2 million, compared with $2,384.6 million for 2016, reflecting primarily an increase in Compensation and benefits expense, and a smaller increase in Non-compensation expenses. |
| |
• | Compensation and benefits expense for 2017 was $1,829.1 million, an increase of $260.1 million, or 16.6%, from 2016, as a result of significantly higher net revenues. Compensation and benefits expenses as a percentage of Net revenues was 57.2% for 2017, compared with 65.0% in 2016. The unusually high compensation ratio in 2016 was due to the significantly lower net revenue results in 2016 and the relationship of non-discretionary compensation to the net revenue decline. The lower ratio in 2017 demonstrates the operating leverage inherent in our business model. |
| |
• | Non-compensation expenses for 2017 were $864.1 million, an increase of $48.4 million, or 5.9%, from 2016. The increase was consistent with the increased activity associated with higher net revenues, as well as increased spending on technology. At the same time, non-compensation expenses as a percentage of Net revenues declined from 33.8% to 27.0%, again demonstrating strategically the operating leverage inherent in our business. |
Headcount
| |
• | At November 30, 2017, we had 3,450 employees globally, an increase of 121 employees from our headcount of 3,329 at November 30, 2016. Our headcount increased primarily as a result of a 60 person increase in our investment banking headcount consistent with our strategic plan to drive growth in this effort, as well as increases in other core businesses and corporate services due to business growth. |
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
Revenues by Source
For presentation purposes, the remainder of “Results of Operations” is presented on a detailed product and expense basis, rather than on a business segment basis. Net revenues presented for our businesses include allocations of interest income and interest expense as we assess the profitability of these businesses inclusive of the net interest revenue or expense associated with the respective activities, which is a function of the mix of each business’s associated assets and liabilities and the related funding costs.
In connection with the adoption of the new revenue standard in the first quarter of 2018, we have made changes to the presentation of our “Revenues by Source” to better align the manner in which we describe and present the results of our performance with the manner in which we manage our business activities and serve our clients. We believe that the reorganization of our revenue reporting will enable us to describe our business mix more clearly and provide greater transparency in the communication of our results.
The “Results of our Operations” has historically been presented on a product basis. Prior to the first quarter of 2018, we presented “Revenues by Source” as follows: equities, fixed income, investment banking and asset management. As of the first quarter of 2018, we are reporting our “Revenues by Source” along the following business lines: equities, fixed income, investment banking, asset management and other. Additionally, the results of the investment banking business now includes a new subcategory “Other investment banking”, which contains our share of net earnings from our corporate lending joint venture, Jefferies Finance, as well as any gains and losses from any securities or loans received or acquired in connection with our investment banking efforts. Previously reported results are presented on a comparable basis in the tables below.
The following is a description of the changes that have been made:
| |
• | Equities revenues now represent the activities of our core equities sales and trading, securities finance, prime brokerage and wealth management businesses. Revenues from other activities previously presented within the Equities business have been disaggregated as follows: |
| |
◦ | Our share of net earnings from our Jefferies Finance joint venture, as well as any revenues from securities and loans received or acquired in connection with our investment banking efforts, are now presented as part of our investment banking business. |
| |
◦ | Our share of net earnings from our historic Jefferies LoanCore LLC (“Jefferies LoanCore”) joint venture is presented as part of our fixed income business through its sale in October 2017. |
| |
◦ | Revenues related to our principal investments in certain private equity funds and hedge funds managed by third parties or related parties, investments in strategic ventures (including KCG through its sale in July 2017), certain other securities owned, and investments held as part of obligations under employee benefit plans, including deferred compensation arrangements, are now presented as part of our other business. |
| |
◦ | Revenue related to our capital invested in asset management funds that are managed by us is now presented within our asset management business. |
| |
• | Revenues from our legacy futures business and revenues associated with structured notes issued by us are now presented as part of our other business. Additionally, revenues derived from securities or loans received or acquired in connection with our investment banking efforts are now presented as part of our investment banking revenues. |
| |
• | Revenues from principal investments in certain private equity and asset management funds managed by related parties, which were previously presented within our asset management revenue, are now presented as part of our other business. |
The changes to the manner in which we describe and disclose the performance of our business activities has no effect on our historical consolidated results of operation. This reorganization does not impact our reportable segments and we will continue to report our activities in two business segments: Capital Markets and Asset Management.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
The composition of our net revenues has varied over time as financial markets and the scope of our operations have changed. The composition of net revenues can also vary from period to period due to fluctuations in economic and market conditions, and our own performance. The following provides a summary of “Net Revenues by Source” (dollars in thousands):
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | % Change from Prior Year |
| 2018 | | 2017 | | 2016 | |
| Amount | | % of Net Revenues | | Amount | | % of Net Revenues | | Amount | | % of Net Revenues | | 2018 | | 2017 |
Equities | $ | 665,557 |
| | 20.9 | % | | $ | 674,424 |
| | 21.1 | % | | $ | 597,445 |
| | 24.8 | % | | (1.3 | )% | | 12.9 | % |
Fixed income | 559,712 |
| | 17.6 |
| | 618,388 |
| | 19.3 |
| | 654,337 |
| | 27.1 |
| | (9.5 | )% | | (5.5 | )% |
Total sales and trading | 1,225,269 |
| | 38.5 |
| | 1,292,812 |
| | 40.4 |
| | 1,251,782 |
| | 51.9 |
| | (5.2 | )% | | 3.3 | % |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Equity (1) | 454,555 |
| | 14.3 |
| | 344,973 |
| | 10.8 |
| | 235,207 |
| | 9.7 |
| | 31.8 | % | | 46.7 | % |
Debt (1) | 635,606 |
| | 19.9 |
| | 649,220 |
| | 20.3 |
| | 304,576 |
| | 12.6 |
| | (2.1 | )% | | 113.2 | % |
Capital markets | 1,090,161 |
| | 34.2 |
| | 994,193 |
| | 31.1 |
| | 539,783 |
| | 22.3 |
| | 9.7 | % | | 84.2 | % |
Advisory (1) | 820,042 |
| | 25.8 |
| | 770,092 |
| | 24.1 |
| | 654,190 |
| | 27.1 |
| | 6.5 | % | | 17.7 | % |
Other investment banking | 3,638 |
| | 0.1 |
| | 19,776 |
| | 0.6 |
| | (108,487 | ) | | (4.5 | ) | | (81.6 | )% | | N/M |
|
Total investment banking | 1,913,841 |
| | 60.1 |
| | 1,784,061 |
| | 55.8 |
| | 1,085,486 |
| | 44.9 |
| | 7.3 | % | | 64.4 | % |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Other | 45,316 |
| | 1.4 |
| | 92,987 |
| | 2.9 |
| | 999 |
| | — |
| | (51.3 | )% | | 9,208.0 | % |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Total Capital Markets | 3,184,426 |
| | 100.0 |
| | 3,169,860 |
| | 99.1 |
| | 2,338,267 |
| | 96.8 |
| | 0.5 | % | | 35.6 | % |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Asset management fees | 21,214 |
| | 0.7 |
| | 19,224 |
| | 0.6 |
| | 23,711 |
| | 1.0 |
| | 10.4 | % | | (18.9 | )% |
Investment return | (22,264 | ) | | (0.7 | ) | | 9,025 |
| | 0.3 |
| | 52,636 |
| | 2.2 |
| | N/M |
| | (82.9 | )% |
Total Asset Management | (1,050 | ) | | — |
| | 28,249 |
| | 0.9 |
| | 76,347 |
| | 3.2 |
| | N/M |
| | (63.0 | )% |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Net revenues | $ | 3,183,376 |
| | 100.0 | % | | $ | 3,198,109 |
| | 100.0 | % | | $ | 2,414,614 |
| | 100.0 | % | | (0.5 | )% | | 32.4 | % |
N/M — Not Meaningful
| |
(1) | As a result of the new revenue standard, investment banking net revenues for the year ended November 30, 2018 reflect changes to the presentation of investment banking expenses and reimbursements thereof. Prior to the first quarter of 2018, certain investment banking expenses have been presented net against investment banking revenues. This change in presentation resulted in an increase of $131.8 million in investment banking net revenues during the year ended November 30, 2018, as compared to the years ended November 30, 2017 and 2016. Refer to “Impact of Adopting Revenue Recognition Guidance” herein and Note 2, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, and Note 3, Accounting Developments, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for further details on the new revenue standard. |
Equities Net Revenue
Equities is comprised of net revenues from:
| |
• | services provided to our clients from which we earn commissions or spread revenue by executing, settling and clearing transactions for clients; |
| |
• | advisory services offered to clients; |
| |
• | financing, securities lending and other prime brokerage services offered to clients; and |
| |
• | wealth management services, which includes providing clients access to all of our institutional execution capabilities. |
2018 Compared with 2017
| |
• | In April 2018, our core U.S. sales and trading business received top ranks from Greenwich Associates for our 2017 performance. This includes ranking #1 in electronic trading service and product quality, #1 in small and mid-cap equities trading, #3 in healthcare research and #4 in sales capability. In September 2018, we ranked #2 in U.S. Convertibles from Greenwich Associates. |
| |
• | Total equities net revenues were $665.6 million for 2018, a decrease of $8.8 million, compared with $674.4 million for 2017. |
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
| |
• | Equities posted record results in 2018 for our overall global core sales and trading business and within the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacific regions. Our results include records for our electronic trading, equity derivatives and prime brokerage businesses. The increase in equities net revenues from our core equities sales and trading businesses was offset by losses in certain block positions in 2018 compared with gains in 2017. |
| |
• | The results in equities net revenues during 2018 reflect improved performance in various core global equities businesses, primarily driven by higher revenues in our equity derivatives, electronic trading and prime brokerage businesses, primarily due to higher equity volatility, overall improved market trading volumes and an increase in our commissions. This was partially offset by a decrease in our U.S. and European cash equities, convertibles and securities finance businesses, primarily due to lower customer activity. European revenues were also lower as a result of the delay in advisory payments and the impact of unbundling due to the Market in Financial Instruments Directive (“MiFID II”) regulation. |
2017 Compared with 2016
| |
• | Total equities net revenues were $674.4 million for 2017, an increase of $77.0 million compared with $597.4 million for 2016. |
| |
• | Equities net revenues increased with higher revenues in our electronic trading, prime brokerage services, and Asia Pacific cash equities businesses, primarily due to increased customer activity and increased trading volumes. The increase was partially offset by lower revenues in our equity derivatives and Europe cash equities businesses, primarily due to reduced market making activities and lower equity volatility. In addition, results in 2017 included certain strategic investment gains compared with losses in 2016. |
| |
• | Equities commission revenues declined in our equity derivative and U.S. cash equities businesses due to reduced trading volumes and lower levels of volatility, partially offset by higher revenues in our electronic trading and Asia Pacific cash equities businesses due to increased trading volumes. |
Fixed Income Net Revenues
Fixed income is comprised of net revenues from:
| |
• | executing transactions for clients and making markets in securitized products, investment grade, high-yield, emerging markets, municipal and sovereign securities and bank loans; |
| |
• | foreign exchange execution on behalf of clients; and |
| |
• | interest rate derivatives and credit derivatives (used primarily for hedging activities). |
Fixed income net revenues in 2017 and 2016 also included our share of the net earnings from our joint venture investment in Jefferies LoanCore, which was accounted for under the equity method. On October 31, 2017, we sold all of our membership interests in Jefferies LoanCore for approximately $173.1 million, the estimated book value at October 31, 2017. In addition, we may be entitled to additional cash consideration over the next four years in the event Jefferies LoanCore’s yearly return on equity exceeds certain thresholds.
2018 Compared with 2017
| |
• | Fixed income net revenues totaled $559.7 million for 2018, a decrease of $58.7 million compared with net revenues of $618.4 million in 2017, primarily due to difficult market conditions in our global investment grade credit businesses predominately in the fourth quarter of 2018. Further, performance in the first quarter of 2017 was bolstered by robust trading activity following the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, which was not repeated in the current year. The following highlights the main components of the results: |
| |
◦ | Revenues in our U.S. securitized markets group were significantly improved, primarily as our business continues to focus on the securitization of non-commoditized products. |
| |
◦ | Revenues in our leveraged credit business were strong as we enhanced our trading and coverage team across loans, bonds and distressed products, as well as increased results from secondary trading of floating rate loans, while balancing market risk. |
| |
◦ | Revenues declined in our global investment grade credit business as lack of volatility and higher interest rates reduced trading volumes resulting in increased competition chasing limited opportunities. During the fourth quarter, credit spreads widened and new issue activity slowed, further reducing client trading activity. |
| |
◦ | Revenues in our international securitized markets group were down due to limited market opportunities as the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing program comes to an end. |
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
| |
◦ | Global rates revenues in 2018 declined due to uncertainty over Brexit and international economic concerns. In addition, the opportunities in the prior year, primarily in the first quarter of 2017, from volatility from the U.S. Presidential Election and European election cycles were not replicated in the current year. |
| |
◦ | Revenues in our municipal trading business were lower on reduced market activity driven by changes in federal tax legislation and the backdrop of increased interest rates dampened investor interest. The business outperformed in the prior year, as macro events drove a more favorable trading environment. |
| |
◦ | The prior year also included revenues from our share of Jefferies LoanCore, which was sold in October 2017, as well as revenues from non-core fixed income products that have now been deemphasized. |
2017 Compared with 2016
| |
• | Fixed income net revenues were $618.4 million for 2017, a decrease of $35.9 million, compared with net revenues of $654.3 million in 2016. |
| |
• | We recorded modestly lower revenues in 2017 as compared with 2016, primarily due to a more challenging trading environment across most products, including most credit and rates businesses. In 2017, volatility was dampened as quantitative easing continued across most markets we transact in. This was partially offset by better risk management, addition of staff in certain businesses, and refreshed strategies in some businesses. The following highlights the main components of the results: |
| |
◦ | Net revenues in our leveraged credit business in 2017 were higher due to increased trading activities in high yield and distressed products as a result of additions to staff and repositioned risk. This was compared to relatively significant mark-to-market losses recognized in the early part of 2016. |
| |
◦ | Higher revenues in our European credit and international securitized markets group businesses were due to repositioned strategies taking advantage of trading opportunities in certain industry sectors. This is compared to volatile oil prices and uncertainty as to bank liquidity in 2016, which negatively impacted revenues in this business in the prior year. |
| |
◦ | Our municipal securities business performed well for the greater part of the year, driven by increased client activity as new team members were added and market share expanded. Performance for the municipal securities business was partially dampened at the end of the 2017 fiscal year as the municipal bond market dislocated over concerns around the potential impacts of pending U.S. tax reform on both municipal bond issuers and investors. |
| |
◦ | Revenues in our corporates and emerging markets business declined in a maturing credit cycle as volatility and transaction spreads decreased from prior year levels, while demand for new issuances and higher yielding investments and higher levels of volatility were prevalent in 2016. |
| |
◦ | Lower revenues in our global rates and U.S. securitized markets group business were due to lower levels of volatility resulting in lower transaction based revenues. In the U.S. securitized markets businesses this was partially offset by increased activity in origination businesses including collateralized loan obligations. |
| |
◦ | Net revenues from our share of Jefferies LoanCore, which was sold in October 2017, increased slightly during 2017 as compared to 2016 due to an increase in loan closings and syndications. |
Investment Banking Revenues
Investment banking is comprised of revenues from:
| |
• | capital markets services, which include underwriting and placement services related to corporate debt, municipal bonds, mortgage-and asset-backed securities and equity and equity-linked securities and loan syndication; |
| |
• | advisory services with respect to mergers and acquisitions and restructurings and recapitalizations; |
| |
• | our share of net earnings from our corporate lending joint venture Jefferies Finance; and |
| |
• | securities and loans received or acquired in connection with our investment banking activities. |
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
The following table sets forth our investment banking revenues (dollars in thousands):
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | % Change from Prior Year |
| 2018 | | 2017 | | 2016 | | 2018 | | 2017 |
Equity (1) | $ | 454,555 |
| | $ | 344,973 |
| | $ | 235,207 |
| | 31.8 | % | | 46.7 | % |
Debt (1) | 635,606 |
| | 649,220 |
| | 304,576 |
| | (2.1 | )% | | 113.2 | % |
Capital markets | 1,090,161 |
| | 994,193 |
| | 539,783 |
| | 9.7 | % | | 84.2 | % |
Advisory (1) | 820,042 |
| | 770,092 |
| | 654,190 |
| | 6.5 | % | | 17.7 | % |
Other investment banking | 3,638 |
| | 19,776 |
| | (108,487 | ) | | (81.6 | )% | | N/M |
|
Total investment banking | $ | 1,913,841 |
| | $ | 1,784,061 |
| | $ | 1,085,486 |
| | 7.3 | % | | 64.4 | % |
N/M — Not Meaningful
| |
(1) | As a result of the new revenue standard, investment banking revenues for the year ended November 30, 2018 reflect changes to the presentation of investment banking expenses and reimbursements thereof. Prior to the first quarter of 2018, certain investment banking expenses have been presented net against investment banking revenues. This change in presentation resulted in an increase of $131.8 million in investment banking net revenues during the year ended November 30, 2018, as compared to the years ended November 30, 2017 and 2016. Refer to “Impact of Adopting Revenue Recognition Guidance” herein and Note 2, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, and Note 3, Accounting Developments, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for further details on the new revenue standard. |
The following table sets forth our investment banking activities (dollars in billions):
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Deals Completed | | Aggregate Value |
| 2018 | | 2017 | | 2016 | | 2018 | | 2017 | | 2016 |
Public and private debt financings | 969 |
| | 1,121 |
| | 892 |
| | $ | 270.1 |
| | $ | 292.1 |
| | $ | 188.6 |
|
Public and private equity and convertible offerings (1) | 193 |
| | 173 |
| | 129 |
| | 43.3 |
| | 59.7 |
| | 24.4 |
|
Advisory transactions (2) | 195 |
| | 181 |
| | 179 |
| | 193.9 |
| | 180.6 |
| | 135.2 |
|
| |
(1) | We acted as sole or joint bookrunner on 179, 164 and 125 offerings during 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively. |
| |
(2) | The number of advisory deals completed includes 15, 10 and 18 restructuring and recapitalization transactions during 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively. |
2018 Compared with 2017
| |
• | Total investment banking revenues were $1,913.8 million for 2018, including an increase of $131.8 million in investment banking net revenues as a result of the new revenue standard. Refer to “Impact of Adopting Revenue Recognition Guidance” herein and Note 2, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, and Note 3, Accounting Developments, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for further details on the new revenue standard. Our results reflect continued strong performance in both our equity capital markets and advisory businesses, as we increased our fee market share in both businesses. |
| |
• | From equity and debt capital raising activities, we generated $454.6 million and $635.6 million in revenues, respectively, for 2018, compared with $345.0 million and $649.2 million in revenues, respectively, in 2017. |
| |
• | Other investment banking revenues were $3.6 million for 2018, compared with $19.8 million in 2017. The results reflect net revenues of $98.6 million and $90.8 million in 2018 and 2017, respectively, from our share of the profits of the Jefferies Finance joint venture, which were offset by the amortization of costs and allocated interest expense related to our investment in the Jefferies Finance business. |
2017 Compared with 2016
| |
• | Total investment banking revenues were a then record $1,784.1 million for 2017, 64.4% higher than 2016. This increase was due to strong performance across our debt capital markets, equity capital markets and advisory businesses, supported by a strong overall capital raising and merger and acquisition environment. In 2016, new issue equity and leveraged finance capital markets were virtually closed throughout January and February and remained slow throughout 2016. |
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
| |
• | Capital markets revenues in 2017 increased 84.2% from 2016. Advisory revenues for 2017 increased 17.7% compared to 2016. |
| |
• | From equity and debt capital raising activities, we generated $345.0 million and $649.2 million in revenues, respectively, in 2017, compared with $235.2 million and $304.6 million in revenues, respectively, in 2016. |
| |
• | Other investment banking revenues were $19.8 million for 2017, compared with a loss of $108.5 million in 2016. The results reflect net revenues of $90.8 million and a net loss of $9.3 million in 2017 and 2016, respectively, from our share of the profits of the Jefferies Finance joint venture, which were offset by the amortization of costs and allocated interest expense related to our investment in the Jefferies Finance business. |
Other
Other is comprised of revenues from:
| |
• | strategic investments other than Jefferies Finance (such as KCG through its sale in July 2017); |
| |
• | principal investments in private equity and hedge funds managed by third parties or related parties; |
| |
• | investments held as part of employee benefit plans, including deferred compensation plans (for which we incur corresponding compensation expenses); and |
| |
• | our legacy Futures business. |
Other also includes our share of the income from Berkadia Commercial Mortgage Holding LLC (“Berkadia”) for the months of October and November 2018. On October 1, 2018, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (“Jefferies”) transferred to us its 50% interest in Berkadia. See Note 1, Organization and Basis of Presentation and Note 9, Investments for further details on this transfer.
2018 Compared with 2017
| |
• | Net revenues from our other business category totaled $45.3 million for 2018, a decrease of $47.7 million compared with $93.0 million in 2017. Results for 2017 included a net gain of $93.4 million from our investment in KCG, which was sold in July 2017, partially offset by foreign currency gains. The results in 2018 include net revenues of $20.0 million due to our share of income from Berkadia. |
2017 Compared with 2016
| |
• | Net revenues from our other business category totaled $93.0 million for 2017, an increase of $92.0 million compared with $1.0 million in 2016. Results for 2017 included a net gain of $93.4 million from our investment in KCG, compared with a net gain of $19.6 million for 2016. |
Asset Management
Asset management revenue includes the following:
| |
• | management and performance fees from funds and accounts managed by us; and |
| |
• | investment income from capital invested in and managed by our asset management business and other asset managers. |
In the fourth quarter of 2018, Jefferies transferred to us capital investments in certain separately managed accounts and funds. Due to this transfer, we have made changes to the presentation of our “Revenues by Source” in the fourth quarter of 2018 and are including investment income from capital invested in these separately managed accounts and funds within asset management revenues. Previously reported results are presented on a comparable basis. See Note 1, Organization and Basis of Presentation, and Note 20, Related Party Transactions, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for further details on this transfer.
The key components of asset management revenues are the level of assets under management and the performance return, whether on an absolute basis or relative to a benchmark or hurdle. These components can be affected by financial markets, profits and losses in the applicable investment portfolios and client capital activity. Further, asset management fees vary with the nature of investment management services. The terms under which clients may terminate our investment management authority, and the requisite notice period for such termination, varies depending on the nature of the investment vehicle and the liquidity of the portfolio assets.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
The following summarizes the results of our Asset Management businesses by asset class (dollars in thousands):
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | % Change from Prior Year |
| 2018 | | 2017 | | 2016 | | 2018 | | 2017 |
Asset management fees: | | | | | | | | | |
Equities | $ | 1,900 |
| | $ | 2,718 |
| | $ | 1,757 |
| | (30.1 | )% | | 54.7 | % |
Multi-asset | 19,314 |
| | 16,506 |
| | 21,954 |
| | 17.0 | % | | (24.8 | )% |
Total asset management fees | 21,214 |
| | 19,224 |
| | 23,711 |
| | 10.4 | % | | (18.9 | )% |
Investment return | (22,264 | ) | | 9,025 |
| | 52,636 |
| | N/M |
| | (82.9 | )% |
Total Asset Management | $ | (1,050 | ) | | $ | 28,249 |
| | $ | 76,347 |
| | N/M |
| | (63.0 | )% |
N/M — Not Meaningful
Assets under Management
Period end assets under management by predominant asset class were as follows (in millions):
|
| | | | | | | |
| November 30, |
| 2018 | | 2017 |
Assets under management (1): | | | |
Equities | $ | 130 |
| | $ | 218 |
|
Multi-asset | 1,180 |
| | 1,271 |
|
Total | $ | 1,310 |
| | $ | 1,489 |
|
| |
(1) | Assets under management include assets actively managed by us, including hedge funds and certain managed accounts. Assets under management do not include the assets of funds that are consolidated due to the level or nature of our investment in such funds. |
Non-interest Expenses
Non-interest expenses were as follows (dollars in thousands):
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | % Change from Prior Year |
| 2018 | | 2017 | | 2016 | | 2018 | | 2017 |
Compensation and benefits | $ | 1,736,264 |
| | $ | 1,829,096 |
| | $ | 1,568,948 |
| | (5.1 | )% | | 16.6 | % |
Non-compensation expenses: | | | | | | | | | |
Floor brokerage and clearing fees | 189,068 |
| | 179,478 |
| | 167,205 |
| | 5.3 | % | | 7.3 | % |
Underwriting costs | 64,317 |
| | — |
| | — |
| | N/M |
| | N/M |
|
Technology and communications | 305,655 |
| | 279,242 |
| | 262,396 |
| | 9.5 | % | | 6.4 | % |
Occupancy and equipment rental | 100,952 |
| | 102,904 |
| | 101,133 |
| | (1.9 | )% | | 1.8 | % |
Business development | 163,756 |
| | 99,884 |
| | 93,105 |
| | 63.9 | % | | 7.3 | % |
Professional services | 139,885 |
| | 114,711 |
| | 112,562 |
| | 21.9 | % | | 1.9 | % |
Other | 73,812 |
| | 87,870 |
| | 79,293 |
| | (16.0 | )% | | 10.8 | % |
Total non-compensation expenses | 1,037,445 |
| | 864,089 |
| | 815,694 |
| | 20.1 | % | | 5.9 | % |
Total non-interest expenses | $ | 2,773,709 |
| | $ | 2,693,185 |
| | $ | 2,384,642 |
| | 3.0 | % | | 12.9 | % |
N/M — Not Meaningful
Compensation and Benefits
| |
• | Compensation and benefits expense consists of salaries, benefits, commissions, annual cash compensation awards and the amortization of certain share-based and cash compensation awards to employees. |
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
| |
• | Cash and historical share-based awards and a portion of cash awards granted to employees as part of year end compensation generally contain provisions such that employees who terminate their employment or are terminated without cause may continue to vest in their awards, so long as those awards are not forfeited as a result of other forfeiture provisions (primarily non-compete clauses) of those awards. Accordingly, the compensation expense for a portion of awards granted at year end as part of annual compensation is recorded in the year of the award. |
| |
• | Included in Compensation and benefits expense are share-based amortization and cash-based expense for senior executive awards, non-annual share-based and cash-based awards to other employees and certain year end awards that contain future service requirements for vesting, all of which are being amortized over their respective future service periods. In addition, the senior executive awards contain market and performance conditions. |
| |
• | Refer to Note 15, Compensation Plans, included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for further details on compensation and benefits. |
2018 Compared with 2017
| |
• | Compensation and benefits expense was $1,736.3 million for 2018 compared with $1,829.1 million for 2017. |
| |
• | Compensation and benefits expense as a percentage of Net revenues was 54.5% for 2018 and 57.2% for 2017. |
| |
• | Compensation expense related to the amortization of share- and cash-based awards amounted to $302.0 million for 2018 compared with $278.2 million for 2017. |
| |
• | Employee headcount was 3,596 globally at November 30, 2018, an increase of 146 employees from our headcount of 3,450 at November 30, 2017. Our headcount increased, primarily as a result of continued hiring in investment banking, as well as additions in our asset management and equities businesses. |
2017 Compared with 2016
| |
• | Compensation and benefits expense was $1,829.1 million for 2017 compared with $1,568.9 million for 2016. |
| |
• | Compensation and benefits expense as a percentage of Net revenues was 57.2% for 2017 and 65.0% for 2016. The unusually high compensation ratio in 2016 was due to the significantly lower revenue results in 2016 and the relationship of non-discretionary compensation to the net revenue decline. |
| |
• | Compensation expense related to the amortization of share- and cash-based awards amounted to $278.2 million for 2017 compared with $287.2 million for 2016. |
| |
• | Employee headcount was 3,450 globally at November 30, 2017, an increase of 121 employees from our headcount of 3,329 at November 30, 2016. Our headcount has increased, primarily as a result of a 60 person increase in our investment banking headcount consistent with our strategic plan to drive growth in this effort, as well as increases in other core businesses and corporate services due to business growth. |
Non-Compensation Expenses
2018 Compared with 2017
| |
• | Non-compensation expenses were $1,037.4 million for 2018, an increase of $173.4 million, or 20.1%, compared with $864.1 million for 2017. |
| |
• | The increase in non-compensation expenses was primarily due to a $131.8 million increase mostly across Business development expenses and Underwriting costs, as a result of applying the new revenue standard to our results of operations for 2018. Refer to “Impact of Adopting Revenue Recognition Guidance” herein and Note 2, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, and Note 3, Accounting Developments, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for further details on the new revenue standard. The increase was also due to an increase in Technology and communication expenses due to higher costs associated with the development of the various trading systems and our efforts to provide our professionals with modern digital tools to help them better serve our clients. The increase also includes higher Professional service expenses due to an increase in legal and consulting fees. |
| |
• | Non-compensation expenses as a percentage of Net revenues was 32.6% and 27.0% for 2018 and 2017, respectively. |
2017 Compared with 2016
| |
• | Non-compensation expenses were $864.1 million for 2017, an increase of $48.4 million, or 5.9%, compared with $815.7 million for 2016. |
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
| |
• | The increase in non-compensation expenses was consistent with the increased activity associated with higher net revenues, as well as increased spending on technology. At the same time, non-compensation expenses as a percentage of Net revenues declined from 33.8% to 27.0% again demonstrating strategically the operating leverage inherent in our business. |
| |
• | The increase in non-compensation expenses was primarily due to an increase in Floor brokerage and clearing expenses due to the mix of costs across certain equities and fixed income businesses, Technology and communications expenses due to costs associated with the development of the various trading systems and projects associated with corporate support and core business infrastructures, and an increase in certain Other expenses. |
Income Taxes
On December 22, 2017, the Tax Act was enacted. The Tax Act is one of the most comprehensive changes in the U.S. corporate income tax since 1986 and certain provisions are complex in their application. In addition, on December 22, 2017, the SEC staff issued SAB 118, which provides guidance on accounting for the tax effects of the Tax Act. Refer to Note 16, Income Taxes, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for further details on the Tax Act and SAB 118.
2018 Compared with 2017
| |
• | For 2018, the provision for income taxes was $250.7 million, an effective tax rate of 61.2%, compared with a provision for income taxes of $147.3 million, an effective tax rate of 29.2%, for 2017. |
| |
• | The increase in the effective tax rate during 2018 as compared with 2017 is primarily due to the $165.1 million provisional tax charge related to the enactment of the Tax Act recorded in 2018. This increase in our 2018 effective tax rate was partially offset by net tax benefits arising from the expiration of certain federal and state statutes of limitations. Additionally, the effective tax rate for 2017 included net tax benefits arising from the repatriation of earnings from certain foreign subsidiaries during the year, along with their associated foreign tax credits. Excluding the provisional tax charge related to the enactment of the Tax Act, our adjusted annual effective tax rate would have been approximately 20.9%. |
2017 Compared with 2016
| |
• | For 2017, the provision for income taxes was $147.3 million, an effective tax rate of 29.2%, compared with a provision for income taxes of $14.6 million, an effective tax rate of 48.6%, for 2016. |
| |
• | The change in the effective tax rate for 2017 as compared with 2016 is primarily a result of expenses included in our Consolidated Statements of Earnings in excess of tax deductions related to share-based compensation, which substantially increased our effective tax rate for 2016 given our modest 2016 earnings. The reduced effective tax rate in 2017 is primarily due to the repatriation of earnings from certain foreign subsidiaries during the year, along with their associated foreign tax credits, which reduced the 2017 effective income tax rate, but had no effect on the 2016 rate. |
Accounting Developments
For a discussion of recently issued accounting developments and their impact on our consolidated financial statements, see Note 3, Accounting Developments, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Critical Accounting Policies
Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in conformity with U.S. GAAP, which requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in our consolidated financial statements and related notes. Actual results can and may differ from estimates. These differences could be material to our consolidated financial statements.
We believe our application of U.S. GAAP and the associated estimates are reasonable. Our accounting estimates are reevaluated, and adjustments are made when facts and circumstances dictate a change. Historically, we have found our application of accounting policies to be appropriate, and actual results have not differed materially from those determined using necessary estimates.
We believe our critical accounting policies (policies that are both material to the financial condition and results of operations and require our most subjective or complex judgments) are our valuation of certain financial instruments and assessment of goodwill.
For further discussions of the following significant accounting policies and other significant accounting policies, see Note 2, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
Valuation of Financial Instruments
Financial instruments owned and Financial instruments sold, not yet purchased are recorded at fair value. The fair value of a financial instrument is the amount that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date (the exit price). Unrealized gains or losses are generally recognized in Principal transactions revenues in our Consolidated Statements of Earnings.
For information on the composition of our financial instruments owned and financial instruments sold, not yet purchased recorded at fair value, see Note 4, Fair Value Disclosures, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Fair Value Hierarchy – In determining fair value, we maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs by requiring that observable inputs be used when available. Observable inputs are inputs that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability based on market data obtained from independent sources. Unobservable inputs reflect our assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability developed based on the best information available in the circumstances. We apply a hierarchy to categorize our fair value measurements broken down into three levels based on the transparency of inputs, where Level 1 uses observable prices in active markets and Level 3 uses valuation techniques that incorporate significant unobservable inputs. Greater use of management judgment is required in determining fair value when inputs are less observable or unobservable in the marketplace, such as when the volume or level of trading activity for a financial instrument has decreased and when certain factors suggest that observed transactions may not be reflective of orderly market transactions. Judgment must be applied in determining the appropriateness of available prices, particularly in assessing whether available data reflects current prices and/or reflects the results of recent market transactions. Prices or quotes are weighed when estimating fair value with greater reliability placed on information from transactions that are considered to be representative of orderly market transactions.
Fair value is a market based measure; therefore, when market observable inputs are not available, our judgment is applied to reflect those judgments that a market participant would use in valuing the same asset or liability. The availability of observable inputs can vary for different products. We use prices and inputs that are current as of the measurement date even in periods of market disruption or illiquidity. The valuation of financial instruments classified in Level 3 of the fair value hierarchy involves the greatest extent of management judgment. (See Note 2, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, and Note 4, Fair Value Disclosures, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further information on the definitions of fair value, Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 and related valuation techniques.)
Level 3 Assets and Liabilities – For information on the composition and activity of our Level 3 assets and Level 3 liabilities, see Note 4, Fair Value Disclosures, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Controls Over the Valuation Process for Financial Instruments – Our Independent Price Verification Group, independent of the trading function, plays an important role in determining that our financial instruments are appropriately valued and that fair value measurements are reliable. This is particularly important where prices or valuations that require inputs are less observable. In the event that observable inputs are not available, the control processes are designed to assure that the valuation approach utilized is appropriate and consistently applied and that the assumptions are reasonable. Where a pricing model is used to determine fair value, these control processes include reviews of the pricing model’s theoretical soundness and appropriateness by risk management personnel with relevant expertise who are independent from the trading desks. In addition, recently executed comparable transactions and other observable market data are considered for purposes of validating assumptions underlying the model.
Goodwill
At November 30, 2018, goodwill recorded in our Consolidated Statement of Financial Condition is $1,642.2 million (4.0% of total assets). The nature and accounting for goodwill is discussed in Note 2, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Note 10, Goodwill and Intangible Assets, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Goodwill must be allocated to reporting units and tested for impairment at least annually, or when circumstances or events make it more likely than not that an impairment occurred. Goodwill is tested by comparing the estimated fair value of each reporting unit with its carrying value. Our annual goodwill impairment testing date is August 1, which did not indicate any goodwill impairment in any of our reporting units at August 1, 2018.
We use allocated tangible equity plus allocated goodwill and intangible assets for the carrying amount of each reporting unit. The amount of tangible equity allocated to a reporting unit is based on our cash capital model deployed in managing our businesses, which seeks to approximate the capital a business would require if it were operating independently. For further information on our Cash Capital Policy, refer to the Liquidity, Financial Condition and Capital Resources section herein. Intangible assets are allocated to a reporting unit based on either specifically identifying a particular intangible asset as pertaining to a reporting unit or, if shared among reporting units, based on an assessment of the reporting unit’s benefit from the intangible asset in order to generate results.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
Estimating the fair value of a reporting unit requires management judgment and often involves the use of estimates and assumptions that could have a significant effect on whether or not an impairment charge is recorded and the magnitude of such a charge. Estimated fair values for our reporting units utilize market valuation methods that incorporate price-to-earnings and price-to-book multiples of comparable public companies. Under the market approach, the key assumptions are the selected multiples and our internally developed forecasts of future profitability, growth and return on equity for each reporting unit. The weight assigned to the multiples requires judgment in qualitatively and quantitatively evaluating the size, profitability and the nature of the business activities of the reporting units as compared to the comparable publicly-traded companies. In addition, as the fair values determined under the market approach represent a noncontrolling interest, we apply a control premium to arrive at the estimate fair value of each reporting unit on a controlling basis.
The carrying values of goodwill by reporting unit at November 30, 2018 are as follows: $563.6 million in Investment Banking, $160.0 million in Equities and Wealth Management, $915.2 million in Fixed Income and $3.4 million in Asset Management.
The results of our assessment on August 1, 2018 indicated that all our reporting units had a fair value in excess of their carrying amounts based on current projections. The valuation methodology for our reporting units are sensitive to management’s forecasts of future profitability, which comes with a level of uncertainty regarding trading volumes and capital market transaction levels. Reductions in trading volumes and/or declines from our expected level of performance in certain product areas assumed in our forecasts could cause a decline in the estimated fair value of our Equities and Fixed Income reporting units and a resulting impairment of a portion of our goodwill.
Refer to Note 10, Goodwill and Intangible Assets in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for further details on goodwill.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
Liquidity, Financial Condition and Capital Resources
Our Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”) and Global Treasurer are responsible for developing and implementing our liquidity, funding and capital management strategies. These policies are determined by the nature and needs of our day to day business operations, business opportunities, regulatory obligations, and liquidity requirements.
Our actual levels of capital, total assets and financial leverage are a function of a number of factors, including asset composition, business initiatives and opportunities, regulatory requirements and cost and availability of both long term and short term funding. We have historically maintained a balance sheet consisting of a large portion of our total assets in cash and liquid marketable securities, arising principally from traditional securities brokerage and trading activity. The liquid nature of these assets provides us with flexibility in financing and managing our business.
We maintain modest leverage to support our investment grade ratings. The growth of our balance sheet is supported by our equity and we have quantitative metrics in place to monitor leverage and double leverage. Our capital plan is robust, in order to sustain our operating model through stressed conditions. We maintain adequate financial resources to support business activities in both normal and stressed market conditions, including a buffer in excess of our regulatory, or other internal or external, requirements. Our access to funding and liquidity is stable and efficient to ensure that there is sufficient liquidity to meet our financial obligations in normal and stressed market conditions.
Our Balance Sheet
A business unit level balance sheet and cash capital analysis is prepared and reviewed with senior management on a weekly basis. As a part of this balance sheet review process, capital is allocated to all assets and gross balance sheet limits are adjusted, as necessary. This process ensures that the allocation of capital and costs of capital are incorporated into business decisions. The goals of this process are to protect the firm’s platform, enable our businesses to remain competitive, maintain the ability to manage capital proactively and hold businesses accountable for both balance sheet and capital usage.
We actively monitor and evaluate our financial condition and the composition of our assets and liabilities. We continually monitor our overall securities inventory, including the inventory turnover rate, which confirms the liquidity of our overall assets. Substantially all of our financial instruments are valued on a daily basis and we monitor and employ balance sheet limits for our various businesses.
The following table provides detail on key balance sheet asset and liability items (dollars in millions):
|
| | | | | | | | | | |
| November 30, | | |
| 2018 | | 2017 | | % Change |
Total assets | $ | 41,168.8 |
| | $ | 39,705.7 |
| | 3.7 | % |
Cash and cash equivalents | 5,145.9 |
| | 5,164.5 |
| | (0.4 | )% |
Cash and securities segregated and on deposit for regulatory purposes or deposited with clearing and depository organizations | 708.0 |
| | 578.0 |
| | 22.5 | % |
Financial instruments owned | 16,399.5 |
| | 14,193.4 |
| | 15.5 | % |
Financial instruments sold, not yet purchased | 9,478.9 |
| | 8,171.9 |
| | 16.0 | % |
Total Level 3 assets | 336.7 |
| | 327.7 |
| | 2.7 | % |
| | | | | |
Securities borrowed | $ | 6,538.2 |
| | $ | 7,721.8 |
| | (15.3 | )% |
Securities purchased under agreements to resell | 2,785.8 |
| | 3,689.6 |
| | (24.5 | )% |
Total securities borrowed and securities purchased under agreements to resell | $ | 9,324.0 |
| | $ | 11,411.4 |
| | (18.3 | )% |
| | | | | |
Securities loaned | $ | 1,838.7 |
| | $ | 2,843.9 |
| | (35.3 | )% |
Securities sold under agreements to repurchase | 8,643.1 |
| | 8,660.5 |
| | (0.2 | )% |
Total securities loaned and securities sold under agreements to repurchase | $ | 10,481.8 |
| | $ | 11,504.4 |
| | (8.9 | )% |
Total assets at November 30, 2018 and 2017 were $41.2 billion and $39.7 billion, respectively, an increase of 3.7%. During 2018, average total assets were approximately 19.0% higher than total assets at November 30, 2018.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
Our total Financial instruments owned inventory at November 30, 2018 was $16.4 billion, an increase of 15.5% from inventory of $14.2 billion at November 30, 2017. Financial instruments sold, not yet purchased inventory was $9.5 billion at November 30, 2018, an increase of 16.0% from $8.2 billion at November 30, 2017. The increase in our total Financial instruments owned inventory and Financial instruments sold, not yet purchased inventory was primarily due to increases in corporate debt and equities securities due to the transfer to us, from Jefferies, of capital investments in certain separately managed accounts. See Note 1, Organization and Basis of Presentation and Note 20, Related Party Transactions for further details on this transaction. Excluding this transfer, the increase in Financial instruments owned inventory was due to higher mortgage- and asset-backed securities, government, federal agency and sovereign obligations and loans, partially offset by a decrease in corporate debt and equities securities within our sales and trading businesses. Excluding the increase due to the transfer, the remaining increase in Financial instruments sold, not yet purchased inventory was driven by higher derivative contracts inventory, sovereign obligations and loans, partially offset by lower corporate debt and equities securities. Our overall net inventory position was $6.9 billion and $6.0 billion at November 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively. Our Level 3 financial instruments owned as a percentage of total financial instruments owned declined to 2.1% at November 30, 2018 from 2.3% at November 30, 2017.
Securities financing assets and liabilities include financing for our financial instruments trading activity, matched book transactions and mortgage finance transactions. Matched book transactions accommodate customers, as well as obtain securities for the settlement and financing of inventory positions. The aggregate outstanding balance of our securities borrowed and securities purchased under agreements to resell decreased by 18.3% from November 30, 2017 to November 30, 2018, primarily due to a decrease in our matched book activity, partially offset by a decrease in the netting benefit for our collateralized financing transactions. The outstanding balance of our securities loaned and securities sold under agreements to repurchase decreased by 8.9% from November 30, 2017 to November 30, 2018, primarily due to a decrease in our match book activity, partially offset by a decrease in the netting benefit for our collateralized financing transactions. Our average month end balance of total reverse repos and stock borrows during 2018 were 57.5% higher than the November 30, 2018 balance. Our average month end balance of total repos and stock loans during 2018 were 46.6% higher than the November 30, 2018 balance.
The following table presents our period end balance, average balance and maximum balance at any month end within the periods presented for Securities purchased under agreements to resell and Securities sold under agreements to repurchase (dollars in millions):
|
| | | | | | | |
| Year Ended |
| 2018 | | 2017 |
Securities Purchased Under Agreements to Resell: | | | |
Year end | $ | 2,786 |
| | $ | 3,690 |
|
Month end average | 5,232 |
| | 6,195 |
|
Maximum month end | 7,593 |
| | 7,814 |
|
Securities Sold Under Agreements to Repurchase: | | | |
Year end | $ | 8,643 |
| | $ | 8,661 |
|
Month end average | 12,704 |
| | 11,273 |
|
Maximum month end | 15,579 |
| | 13,679 |
|
Fluctuations in the balance of our repurchase agreements from period to period and intraperiod are dependent on business activity in those periods. Additionally, the fluctuations in the balances of our securities purchased under agreements to resell are influenced in any given period by our clients’ balances and our clients’ desires to execute collateralized financing arrangements via the repurchase market or via other financing products. Average balances and period end balances will fluctuate based on market and liquidity conditions and we consider the fluctuations intraperiod to be typical for the repurchase market.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
Leverage Ratios
The following table presents total assets, total equity, total Jefferies Group LLC member’s equity and tangible Jefferies Group LLC member’s equity with the resulting leverage ratios (dollars in thousands):
|
| | | | | | | | |
| | November 30, |
| | 2018 | | 2017 |
Total assets | $ | 41,168,773 |
| | $ | 39,705,691 |
|
| | | |
Total equity | $ | 6,182,404 |
| | $ | 5,759,559 |
|
| | | |
Total Jefferies Group LLC member’s equity | $ | 6,180,493 |
| | $ | 5,758,822 |
|
Deduct: | Goodwill and intangible assets | (1,824,638 | ) | | (1,842,882 | ) |
Tangible Jefferies Group LLC member’s equity | $ | 4,355,855 |
| | $ | 3,915,940 |
|
| | | |
Leverage ratio (1) | 6.7 |
| | 6.9 |
|
Tangible gross leverage ratio (2) | 9.0 |
| | 9.7 |
|
| |
(1) | Leverage ratio equals total assets divided by total equity. |
| |
(2) | Tangible gross leverage ratio (a non-GAAP financial measure) equals total assets less goodwill and identifiable intangible assets divided by tangible Jefferies Group LLC member’s equity. The tangible gross leverage ratio is used by rating agencies in assessing our leverage ratio. |
Liquidity Management
The key objectives of the liquidity management framework are to support the successful execution of our business strategies while ensuring sufficient liquidity through the business cycle and during periods of financial distress. Our liquidity management policies are designed to mitigate the potential risk that we may be unable to access adequate financing to service our financial obligations without material franchise or business impact.
The principal elements of our liquidity management framework are our Contingency Funding Plan, our Cash Capital Policy and our assessment of Maximum Liquidity Outflow.
Contingency Funding Plan. Our Contingency Funding Plan is based on a model of a potential liquidity contraction over a one year time period. This incorporates potential cash outflows during a liquidity stress event, including, but not limited to, the following:
| |
• | Repayment of all unsecured debt maturing within one year and no incremental unsecured debt issuance; |
| |
• | Maturity rolloff of outstanding letters of credit with no further issuance and replacement with cash collateral; |
| |
• | Higher margin requirements than currently exist on assets on securities financing activity, including repurchase agreements; |
| |
• | Liquidity outflows related to possible credit downgrade; |
| |
• | Lower availability of secured funding; |
| |
• | Client cash withdrawals; |
| |
• | The anticipated funding of outstanding investment and loan commitments; and |
| |
• | Certain accrued expenses and other liabilities and fixed costs. |
Cash Capital Policy. We maintain a cash capital model that measures long-term funding sources against requirements. Sources of cash capital include our equity and the noncurrent portion of long-term borrowings. Uses of cash capital include the following:
| |
• | Illiquid assets such as equipment, goodwill, net intangible assets, exchange memberships, deferred tax assets and certain investments; |
| |
• | A portion of securities inventory that is not expected to be financed on a secured basis in a credit stressed environment (i.e., margin requirements); and |
| |
• | Drawdowns of unfunded commitments. |
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
To ensure that we do not need to liquidate inventory in the event of a funding crisis, we seek to maintain surplus cash capital, which is reflected in the leverage ratios we maintain. Our total long-term capital of $11.8 billion at November 30, 2018 exceeded our cash capital requirements.
Maximum Liquidity Outflow. Our businesses are diverse, and our liquidity needs are determined by many factors, including market movements, collateral requirements and client commitments, all of which can change dramatically in a difficult funding environment. During a liquidity crisis, credit-sensitive funding, including unsecured debt and some types of secured financing agreements, may be unavailable, and the terms (e.g., interest rates, collateral provisions and tenor) or availability of other types of secured financing may change. As a result of our policy to ensure we have sufficient funds to cover what we estimate may be needed in a liquidity crisis, we hold more cash and unencumbered securities and have greater long-term debt balances than our businesses would otherwise require. As part of this estimation process, we calculate a Maximum Liquidity Outflow that could be experienced in a liquidity crisis. Maximum Liquidity Outflow is based on a scenario that includes both a market-wide stress and firm-specific stress, characterized by some or all of the following elements:
| |
• | Global recession, default by a medium-sized sovereign, low consumer and corporate confidence, and general financial instability. |
| |
• | Severely challenged market environment with material declines in equity markets and widening of credit spreads. |
| |
• | Damaging follow-on impacts to financial institutions leading to the failure of a large bank. |
| |
• | A firm-specific crisis potentially triggered by material losses, reputational damage, litigation, executive departure, and/or a ratings downgrade. |
The following are the critical modeling parameters of the Maximum Liquidity Outflow:
| |
• | Liquidity needs over a 30-day scenario. |
| |
• | A two-notch downgrade of our long-term senior unsecured credit ratings. |
| |
• | No support from government funding facilities. |
| |
• | A combination of contractual outflows, such as upcoming maturities of unsecured debt, and contingent outflows (e.g., actions though not contractually required, we may deem necessary in a crisis). We assume that most contingent outflows will occur within the initial days and weeks of a crisis. |
| |
• | No diversification benefit across liquidity risks. We assume that liquidity risks are additive. |
The calculation of our Maximum Liquidity Outflow under the above stresses and modeling parameters considers the following potential contractual and contingent cash and collateral outflows:
| |
• | All upcoming maturities of unsecured long-term debt, commercial paper, promissory notes and other unsecured funding products assuming we will be unable to issue new unsecured debt or rollover any maturing debt. |
| |
• | Repurchases of our outstanding long-term debt in the ordinary course of business as a market maker. |
| |
• | A portion of upcoming contractual maturities of secured funding trades due to either the inability to refinance or the ability to refinance only at wider haircuts (i.e., on terms which require us to post additional collateral). Our assumptions reflect, among other factors, the quality of the underlying collateral and counterparty concentration. |
| |
• | Collateral postings to counterparties due to adverse changes in the value of our over-the-counter (“OTC”) derivatives and other outflows due to trade terminations, collateral substitutions, collateral disputes, collateral calls or termination payments required by a two-notch downgrade in our credit ratings. |
| |
• | Variation margin postings required due to adverse changes in the value of our outstanding exchange-traded derivatives and any increase in initial margin and guarantee fund requirements by derivative clearing houses. |
| |
• | Liquidity outflows associated with our prime services business, including withdrawals of customer credit balances, and a reduction in customer short positions. |
| |
• | Liquidity outflows to clearing banks to ensure timely settlements of cash and securities transactions. |
| |
• | Draws on our unfunded commitments considering, among other things, the type of commitment and counterparty. |
| |
• | Other upcoming large cash outflows, such as tax payments. |
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
Based on the sources and uses of liquidity calculated under the Maximum Liquidity Outflow scenarios, we determine, based on a calculated surplus or deficit, additional long-term funding that may be needed versus funding through the repurchase financing market and consider any adjustments that may be necessary to our inventory balances and cash holdings. At November 30, 2018, we had sufficient excess liquidity to meet all contingent cash outflows detailed in the Maximum Liquidity Outflow. We regularly refine our model to reflect changes in market or economic conditions and our business mix.
Sources of Liquidity
The following are financial instruments that are cash and cash equivalents or are deemed by management to be generally readily convertible into cash, marginable or accessible for liquidity purposes within a relatively short period of time (dollars in thousands):
|
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| November 30, 2018 | | Average Balance Quarter ended November 30, 2018 (1) | | November 30, 2017 |
Cash and cash equivalents: | | | | | |
Cash in banks | $ | 2,333,476 |
| | $ | 2,367,239 |
| | $ | 2,244,207 |
|
Money market investments | 2,812,410 |
| | 2,023,884 |
| | 2,920,285 |
|
Total cash and cash equivalents | 5,145,886 |
| | 4,391,123 |
| | 5,164,492 |
|
Other sources of liquidity: | | | | | |
Debt securities owned and securities purchased under agreements to resell (2) | 958,539 |
| | 966,541 |
| | 1,031,252 |
|
Other (3) | 499,576 |
| | 531,030 |
| | 513,293 |
|
Total other sources | 1,458,115 |
| | 1,497,571 |
| | 1,544,545 |
|
Total cash and cash equivalents and other liquidity sources | $ | 6,604,001 |
| | $ | 5,888,694 |
| | $ | 6,709,037 |
|
Total cash and cash equivalents and other liquidity sources as % of Total assets | 16.0 | % | | | | 16.9 | % |
Total cash and cash equivalents and other liquidity sources as % of Total assets less goodwill and intangible assets | 16.8 | % | | | | 17.7 | % |
| |
(1) | Average balances are calculated based on weekly balances. |
| |
(2) | Consists of high quality sovereign government securities and reverse repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. government securities and other high quality sovereign government securities; deposits with a central bank within the European Economic Area, Canada, Australia, Japan, Switzerland or the USA; and securities issued by a designated multilateral development bank and reverse repurchase agreements with underlying collateral comprised of these securities. |
| |
(3) | Other includes unencumbered inventory representing an estimate of the amount of additional secured financing that could be reasonably expected to be obtained from our financial instruments owned that are currently not pledged after considering reasonable financing haircuts. |
In addition to the cash balances and liquidity pool presented above, the majority of financial instruments (both long and short) in our trading accounts are actively traded and readily marketable. At November 30, 2018, we had the ability to readily obtain repurchase financing for 74.4% of our inventory at haircuts of 10% or less, which reflects the liquidity of our inventory. In addition, as a matter of our policy, all of these assets have internal capital assessed, which is in addition to the funding haircuts provided in the securities finance markets. Additionally, certain of our Financial instruments owned primarily consisting of bank loans, consumer loans and investments are predominantly funded by long term capital. Under our cash capital policy, we model capital allocation levels that are more stringent than the haircuts used in the market for secured funding; and we maintain surplus capital at these more stringent levels. We continually assess the liquidity of our inventory based on the level at which we could obtain financing in the market place for a given asset. Assets are considered to be liquid if financing can be obtained in the repurchase market or the securities lending market at collateral haircut levels of 10% or less. The following summarizes our financial instruments by asset class that we consider to be of a liquid nature and the amount of such assets that have not been pledged as collateral at November 30, 2018 and 2017 (in thousands):
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| November 30, |
| 2018 | | 2017 |
| Liquid Financial Instruments | | Unencumbered Liquid Financial Instruments (2) | | Liquid Financial Instruments | | Unencumbered Liquid Financial Instruments (2) |
Corporate equity securities | $ | 1,907,064 |
| | $ | 317,189 |
| | $ | 1,718,617 |
| | $ | 272,380 |
|
Corporate debt securities | 1,775,721 |
| | 104,685 |
| | 2,475,291 |
| | 57,290 |
|
U.S. government, agency and municipal securities | 2,648,843 |
| | 294,030 |
| | 1,954,697 |
| | 185,481 |
|
Other sovereign obligations | 2,626,212 |
| | 840,578 |
| | 2,050,942 |
| | 996,421 |
|
Agency mortgage-backed securities (1) | 2,972,638 |
| | — |
| | 1,742,977 |
| | — |
|
Loans and other receivables | 272,201 |
| | — |
| | 243,664 |
| | — |
|
Total | $ | 12,202,679 |
| | $ | 1,556,482 |
| | $ | 10,186,188 |
| | $ | 1,511,572 |
|
| |
(1) | Consists solely of agency mortgage-backed securities issued by Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and Ginnie Mae. These securities include pass-through securities, securities backed by adjustable rate mortgages, collateralized mortgage obligations, commercial mortgage-backed securities and interest- and principal-only securities. |
| |
(2) | Unencumbered liquid balances represent assets that can be sold or used as collateral for a loan, but have not been. |
Average liquid financial instruments were $13.0 billion and $11.9 billion for 2018 and 2017, respectively. Average unencumbered liquid financial instruments were $1.6 billion for both 2018 and 2017.
In addition to being able to be readily financed at modest haircut levels, we estimate that each of the individual securities within each asset class above could be sold into the market and converted into cash within three business days under normal market conditions, assuming that the entire portfolio of a given asset class was not simultaneously liquidated. There are no restrictions on the unencumbered liquid securities, nor have they been pledged as collateral.
Sources of Funding and Capital Resources
Our assets are funded by equity capital, senior debt, securities loaned, securities sold under agreements to repurchase, customer free credit balances, bank loans and other payables.
Secured Financing
We rely principally on readily available secured funding to finance our inventory of financial instruments. Our ability to support increases in total assets is largely a function of our ability to obtain short and intermediate-term secured funding, primarily through securities financing transactions. We finance a portion of our long inventory and cover some of our short inventory by pledging and borrowing securities in the form of repurchase or reverse repurchase agreements (collectively “repos”), respectively. Approximately 69.5% of our cash and noncash repurchase financing activities use collateral that is considered eligible collateral by central clearing corporations. Central clearing corporations are situated between participating members who borrow cash and lend securities (or vice versa); accordingly, repo participants contract with the central clearing corporation and not one another individually. Therefore, counterparty credit risk is borne by the central clearing corporation which mitigates the risk through initial margin demands and variation margin calls from repo participants. The comparatively large proportion of our total repo activity that is eligible for central clearing reflects the high quality and liquid composition of the inventory we carry in our trading books. For those asset classes not eligible for central clearing house financing, we seek to execute our bi-lateral financings on an extended term basis and the tenor of our repurchase and reverse repurchase agreements generally exceeds the expected holding period of the assets we are financing. The weighted average maturity of cash and noncash repurchase agreements for non-clearing corporation eligible funded inventory is approximately three months at November 30, 2018.
Our ability to finance our inventory via central clearinghouses and bi-lateral arrangements is augmented by our ability to draw bank loans on an uncommitted basis under our various banking arrangements. At November 30, 2018, short-term borrowings, which must be repaid within one year or less and include bank loans and overdrafts, borrowings under revolving credit facilities, and structured notes totaled $387.5 million. Interest under the bank lines is generally at a spread over the federal funds rate. Letters of credit are used in the normal course of business mostly to satisfy various collateral requirements in favor of exchanges in lieu of depositing cash or securities. Average daily short-term borrowings outstanding were $472.6 million and $482.4 million for 2018 and 2017, respectively.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
Our short-term borrowings include the following facility:
| |
• | Intraday Credit Facility. The Bank of New York Mellon has agreed to make revolving intraday credit advances (“Intraday Credit Facility”) for an aggregate committed amount of $150.0 million. The Intraday Credit Facility contains financial covenants, which includes a minimum regulatory net capital requirement for our U.S. broker-dealer, Jefferies LLC. Interest is based on the higher of the Federal funds effective rate plus 0.5% or the prime rate. At November 30, 2018, we were in compliance with all debt covenants under the Intraday Credit Facility. |
For additional details on our short-term borrowings, refer to Note 11, Short-Term Borrowings, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
In addition to the above financing arrangements, we issue notes backed by eligible collateral under a master repurchase agreement, which provides an additional financing source for our inventory (our “repurchase agreement financing program”). The notes issued under the program are presented within Other secured financings in our Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition. At November 30, 2018, the outstanding notes were $881.5 million, bear interest at a spread over London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) and mature from April 2019 to September 2019.
For additional details on our repurchase agreement financing program, refer to Note 8, Variable Interest Entities, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Total Long-Term Capital
At November 30, 2018 and 2017, we had total long-term capital of $11.8 billion and $11.2 billion resulting in a long-term debt to equity capital ratio of 0.92:1 and 0.94:1, respectively. See “Equity Capital” herein for further information on our change in total equity. Our total long-term capital base at November 30, 2018 and 2017 was as follows (in thousands):
|
| | | | | | | |
| November 30, |
| 2018 | | 2017 |
Long-Term Debt (1) | $ | 5,657,420 |
| | $ | 5,402,590 |
|
Total Equity | 6,182,404 |
| | 5,759,559 |
|
Total Long-Term Capital | $ | 11,839,824 |
| | $ | 11,162,149 |
|
| |
(1) | Long-term debt at November 30, 2018 excludes $5.7 million of our structured notes, as these notes mature on February 26, 2019, $699.7 million of our 8.500% senior notes, as these notes mature on July 15, 2019, and $183.5 million of our outstanding borrowings under our senior secured revolving credit facility (“Revolving Credit Facility”). Long-term debt at November 30, 2017 excludes $7.1 million of our structured notes, as these notes matured on May 4, 2018, $324.8 million of our 3.875% convertible debentures due 2029 (principal amount of $345.0 million) (the “debentures”), as these debentures were redeemable beginning on November 1, 2017, and $682.3 million of our 5.125% senior notes, as these notes matured on April 13, 2018. The $324.8 million of our convertible debentures were redeemed on January 5, 2018. Refer to Note 12, Long-Term Debt, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further details on these notes. |
Long-Term Debt
During 2018, long-term debt increased $129.4 million. This amount includes the issuance of 4.150% senior notes on January 23, 2018 with a total principal amount of $1.0 billion, due 2030. Additionally, structured notes with a total principal amount of approximately $173.2 million, net of retirements, were issued during the year. At November 30, 2018, all of our structured notes contain various interest rate payment terms and are accounted for at fair value, with changes in fair value resulting from a change in the instrument-specific credit risk presented in other comprehensive income and changes in fair value resulting from non-credit components recognized in Principal transactions revenues. The fair value of all of our structured notes at November 30, 2018 was $686.2 million. For further information, see Note 12, Long-Term Debt, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
During 2017, our debentures were called for redemption at a redemption price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the debentures redeemed, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the redemption date. Debentures of $20.2 million and $324.8 million were redeemed on November 1, 2017 and January 5, 2018, respectively. In addition, our 5.125% senior notes with a principal of $668.3 million were redeemed in April 2018. For further information, see Note 12, Long-Term Debt, and Note 20, Related Party Transactions, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
During 2018, we entered into a Revolving Credit Facility with a group of commercial banks for an aggregate principal amount of at $185.0 million. At November 30, 2018, borrowings under the Revolving Credit Facility amounted to $183.5 million. Interest is based on an annual alternative base rate or an adjusted LIBOR, as defined in the Revolving Credit Facility agreement. The Revolving Credit Facility contains certain covenants that, among other things, requires Jefferies Group LLC to maintain specified level of tangible net worth and liquidity amounts, and imposes certain restrictions on future indebtedness of and requires specified levels of regulated capital for certain of our subsidiaries. Throughout the year and at November 30, 2018, no instances of noncompliance with the Revolving Credit Facility covenants occurred and we expect to remain in compliance given our current liquidity, and anticipated funding requirements given our business plan and profitability expectations. For further information, see Note 12, Long-Term Debt, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
At November 30, 2018, our long-term debt has a weighted average maturity of approximately 8.6 years.
Our long-term debt ratings at November 30, 2018 are as follows:
|
| | | |
| Rating | | Outlook |
Moody’s Investors Service (1) | Baa3 | | Stable |
Standard and Poor’s (2) | BBB- | | Stable |
Fitch Ratings (3) | BBB | | Stable |
| |
(1) | On March 20, 2018, Moody’s Investors Services (“Moody’s”) reaffirmed our long-term debt rating of Baa3 and our rating outlook of stable. |
| |
(2) | On April 10, 2018, Standard and Poor’s (“S&P”) reaffirmed our long-term debt rating of BBB- and our rating outlook of stable. |
| |
(3) | On February 13, 2018, Fitch Ratings upgraded our long-term debt rating from BBB- to BBB and reaffirmed our rating outlook of stable. |
At November 30, 2018, the long-term ratings on our principal operating broker-dealers, Jefferies LLC and Jefferies International Limited (a U.K. broker-dealer) are as follows:
|
| | | | | | | |
| Jefferies LLC | | Jefferies International Limited |
| Rating | | Outlook | | Rating | | Outlook |
Moody’s (1) | Baa2 | | Stable | | Baa2 | | Stable |
S&P (2) | BBB | | Stable | | BBB | | Stable |
| |
(1) | On January 10, 2018, Moody’s reaffirmed our long-term debt rating of Baa2 and our rating outlook of stable. |
| |
(2) | On April 10, 2018, S&P reaffirmed our long-term debt rating of BBB and our rating outlook of stable. |
Access to external financing to finance our day to day operations, as well as the cost of that financing, is dependent upon various factors, including our debt ratings. Our current debt ratings are dependent upon many factors, including industry dynamics, operating and economic environment, operating results, operating margins, earnings trend and volatility, balance sheet composition, liquidity and liquidity management, our capital structure, our overall risk management, business diversification and our market share and competitive position in the markets in which we operate. Deteriorations in any of these factors could impact our credit ratings. While certain aspects of a credit rating downgrade are quantifiable pursuant to contractual provisions, the impact on our business and trading results in future periods is inherently uncertain and depends on a number of factors, including the magnitude of the downgrade, the behavior of individual clients and future mitigating action taken by us.
In connection with certain over-the-counter derivative contract arrangements and certain other trading arrangements, we may be required to provide additional collateral to counterparties, exchanges and clearing organizations in the event of a credit rating downgrade. At November 30, 2018, the amount of additional collateral that could be called by counterparties, exchanges and clearing organizations under the terms of such agreements in the event of a downgrade of our long-term credit rating below investment grade was $55.8 million. For certain foreign clearing organization’s credit rating is only one of several factors employed in determining collateral that could be called. The above represents management’s best estimate for additional collateral to be called in the event of credit rating downgrade. The impact of additional collateral requirements is considered in our Contingency Funding Plan and calculation of Maximum Liquidity Outflow, as described above.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
Equity Capital
As compared to November 30, 2017, the increase to total Jefferies Group LLC member’s equity at November 30, 2018 is primarily attributed to net earnings during 2018 and a capital contribution from Jefferies due to Jefferies’ transfer of its 50% interest in Berkadia and capital investments in certain separately managed accounts and funds to us on October 1, 2018. See Note 1, Organization and Basis of Presentation, Note 9, Investments and Note 20, Related Party Transactions for further details on this transaction. The increase to total Jefferies Group LLC member’s equity at November 30, 2018 is partially offset by dividend distributions to Jefferies from us.
On January 11, 2018, our Board of Directors approved a distribution to our sole limited liability company member, Jefferies, in the amount of $200.0 million, which was paid on January 31, 2018, and reduced our total equity. In addition, our Board of Directors approved a quarterly distribution policy authorizing us to pay a quarterly distribution to our limited liability company members following the end of each of our fiscal quarters. Beginning at the end of our fiscal quarter ending February 28, 2018 and on a quarterly basis thereafter, we will pay our limited liability company members a quarterly dividend equal to 50% of our positive Net earnings attributable to Jefferies Group LLC (as adjusted for preceding loss quarters, if any). In addition, during the year ended November 30, 2018, we paid additional dividends of $48.7 million to Jefferies, based on our results for the nine months ended August 31, 2018. For the three months ended November 30, 2018, we have accrued include a dividend payable in the amount of $30.7 million, based on our results for the quarter ended November 30, 2018.
Net Capital
As a broker-dealer registered with the SEC and member firms of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”), Jefferies LLC is subject to the Securities and Exchange Commission Uniform Net Capital Rule (“Rule 15c3-1”), which requires the maintenance of minimum net capital, and has elected to calculate minimum capital requirements using the alternative method permitted by Rule 15c3-1 in calculating net capital. Jefferies LLC, as a dually-registered U.S. broker-dealer and futures commission merchant (“FCM”), is also subject to Rule 1.17 of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”), which sets forth minimum financial requirements. The minimum net capital requirement in determining excess net capital for a dually-registered U.S. broker-dealer and FCM is equal to the greater of the requirement under Rule 15c3-1 or CFTC Rule 1.17.
At November 30, 2018, Jefferies LLC’s net capital and excess net capital were as follows (in thousands):
|
| | | | | | | |
| Net Capital | | Excess Net Capital |
Jefferies LLC | $ | 1,739,435 |
| | $ | 1,635,960 |
|
FINRA is the designated examining authority for our U.S. broker-dealer and the National Futures Association is the designated self-regulatory organization for Jefferies LLC as an FCM.
Certain other U.S. and non-U.S. subsidiaries are subject to capital adequacy requirements as prescribed by the regulatory authorities in their respective jurisdictions, including Jefferies International Limited which is subject to the regulatory supervision and requirements of the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) was signed into law on July 21, 2010. The Dodd-Frank Act contains provisions that require the registration of all swap dealers, major swap participants, security-based swap dealers, and/or major security-based swap participants. While entities that register under these provisions will be subject to regulatory capital requirements, these regulatory capital requirements have not yet been finalized. We expect that these provisions will result in modifications to the regulatory capital requirements of some of our entities, and will result in some of our other entities becoming subject to regulatory capital requirements for the first time, including Jefferies Financial Services, Inc., which registered as a swap dealer with the CFTC during January 2013 and Jefferies Financial Products LLC, which registered during August 2014.
The regulatory capital requirements referred to above may restrict our ability to withdraw capital from our regulated subsidiaries.
On March 29, 2017, the United Kingdom notified the European Council and triggered a two-year period to negotiate its withdrawal from the European Union on March 29, 2019 (“Brexit”), absent any extensions or changes to this time schedule. While, there is ongoing uncertainty as to the terms and any potential transition periods related to Brexit, we have taken steps to ensure our ability to provide services to our European clients without interruption. As such, we have established a wholly-owned subsidiary of our UK broker-dealer in Germany, which has been approved as an authorized MiFID investment firm by the German regulator and which will enable us to conduct business across all of our European investment banking, fixed income and equity platforms. Our plans contemplate providing sufficient capital pursuant to the regulatory requirements for the planned operations as well pursuant to requirements of relevant clearing organizations.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements and Contractual Obligations
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
We have contractual commitments arising in the ordinary course of business for securities loaned or purchased under agreements to resell, repurchase agreements, future purchases and sales of foreign currencies, securities transactions on a when-issued basis and underwriting. Each of these financial instruments and activities contains varying degrees of off-balance sheet risk whereby the fair values of the securities underlying the financial instruments may be in excess of, or less than, the contract amount. The settlement of these transactions is not expected to have a material effect upon our consolidated financial statements.
In the normal course of business we engage in other off balance-sheet arrangements, including derivative contracts. Neither derivatives’ notional amounts nor underlying instrument values are reflected as assets or liabilities in our Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition. Rather, the fair values of derivative contracts are reported in our Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition as Financial instruments owned or Financial instruments sold, not yet purchased as applicable. Derivative contracts are reflected net of cash paid or received pursuant to credit support agreements and are reported on a net by counterparty basis when a legal right of offset exists under an enforceable master netting agreement. For additional information about our accounting policies and our derivative activities see Note 2, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, Note 4, Fair Value Disclosures, and Note 5, Derivative Financial Instruments, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
We are routinely involved with variable interest entities (“VIEs”) in the normal course of business. At November 30, 2018, we did not have any commitments to purchase assets from these VIEs. For additional information regarding our involvement with VIEs, see Note 7, Securitization Activities, and Note 8, Variable Interest Entities, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Due to the uncertainty regarding the timing and amounts that will ultimately be paid, our liability for unrecognized tax benefits has been excluded from the below contractual obligations table. See Note 16, Income Taxes, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further information.
For information on our commitments and guarantees, see Note 17, Commitments, Contingencies and Guarantees, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Contractual Obligations
The table below provides information about our contractual obligations at November 30, 2018. The table presents principal cash flows with expected maturity dates (in millions):
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Expected Maturity Date | | |
| 2019 | | 2020 | | 2021 and 2022 | | 2023 and 2024 | | 2025 and Later | | Total |
Contractual obligations: | | | | | | | | | | | |
Unsecured long-term debt (contractual principal payments net of unamortized discounts and premiums) (1) | $ | 705.4 |
| | $ | 564.7 |
| | $ | 823.4 |
| | $ | 663.4 |
| | $ | 3,605.9 |
| | $ | 6,362.8 |
|
Revolving credit facility | — |
| | — |
| | 183.5 |
| | — |
| | — |
| | 183.5 |
|
Interest payment obligations on long term debt (2) | 324.1 |
| | 288.0 |
| | 470.4 |
| | 382.9 |
| | 1,469.7 |
| | 2,935.1 |
|
Operating leases (net of subleases) - premises and equipment (3) | 60.5 |
| | 52.5 |
| | 112.2 |
| | 112.6 |
| | 371.3 |
| | 709.1 |
|
Master sale and leaseback agreement (3) | 0.2 |
| | — |
| | — |
| | — |
| | — |
| | 0.2 |
|
Purchase obligations (4) | 147.8 |
| | 101.1 |
| | 134.3 |
| | 75.8 |
| | 110.9 |
| | 569.9 |
|
Total contractual obligations | $ | 1,238.0 |
| | $ | 1,006.3 |
| | $ | 1,723.8 |
| | $ | 1,234.7 |
| | $ | 5,557.8 |
| | $ | 10,760.6 |
|
| |
(1) | For additional information on long-term debt, see Note 12, Long-Term Debt, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. |
| |
(2) | Amounts based on applicable interest rates at November 30, 2018. |
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(3) | For additional information on operating leases related to certain premises and equipment and a master sale and leaseback agreement, see Note 17, Commitments, Contingencies and Guarantees, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. |
| |
(4) | Purchase obligations for goods and services primarily include payments for outsourcing and computer and telecommunications maintenance agreements. Purchase obligations at November 30, 2018 reflect the minimum contractual obligations under legally enforceable contracts. |
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
Subsequent to November 30, 2018 and on or before January 31, 2019, we expect to make cash payments of $873.1 million related to compensation awards for fiscal 2018. See Note 15, Compensation Plans, in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further information.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
Risk Management
Overview
Risk is an inherent part of our business and activities. The extent to which we properly and effectively identify, assess, monitor and manage each of the various types of risk involved in our activities is critical to our financial soundness, viability and profitability. Accordingly, we have a comprehensive risk management approach, with a formal governance structure and processes to identify, assess, monitor and manage risk. Principal risks involved in our business activities include market, credit, liquidity and capital, operational, legal and compliance, new business, and reputational risk.
Risk management is a multifaceted process that requires communication, judgment and knowledge of financial products and markets. Our risk management process encompasses the active involvement of executive and senior management, and also many departments independent of the revenue-producing business units, including the Risk Management, Operations, Compliance, Legal and Finance Departments. Our risk management policies, procedures and methodologies are flexible in nature and are subject to ongoing review and modification.
In achieving our strategic business objectives, our risk appetite incorporates keeping our clients’ interests at the top of our priority list and ensuring we are in compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations, as well as adhering to the highest ethical standards. We undertake prudent and conservative risk-taking that protects the capital base and franchise, utilizing risk limits and tolerances that avoid outsized risk-taking. We maintain a diversified business mix and avoid significant concentrations to any sector, product, geography, or activity and set quantitative concentration limits to manage this risk. We consider contagion, second order effects and correlation in our risk assessment process and actively seek out value opportunities of all sizes. We manage the risk of opportunities larger than our approved risk levels through risk sharing and risk distribution, sell-down and hedging as appropriate. We have a limited appetite for illiquid assets and complex derivative financial instruments. We maintain the asset quality of our balance sheet through conducting trading activity in liquid markets and generally ensure high turnover of our inventory. We subject less liquid positions and derivative financial instruments to oversight and use a wide variety of specific metrics, limits, and constraints to manage these risks. We protect our reputation and franchise, as well as our standing within the market. We operate a federated approach to risk management with risk oversight responsibilities assigned to those areas of the business that have the appropriate knowledge.
For discussion of liquidity and capital risk management, refer to the “Liquidity, Financial Condition and Capital Resources” section herein.
Governance and Risk Management Structure
Our Board of Directors (“Board”). Our Board plays an important role in reviewing our risk management process and risk tolerance. Our Global Chief Risk Officer (“CRO”) and Global Treasurer meet with our Board on no less than a quarterly basis to present our risk profile and liquidity profile and to respond to questions. Additionally, our risk management team continuously monitors our various businesses, the level of risk the businesses are taking and the efficacy of potential risk mitigation strategies and presents this information to our senior management and Board.
Our Board also fulfills its risk oversight role through the operations of its various committees, including its Audit Committee. The Audit Committee has responsibility for risk oversight in connection with its review of our financial statements, internal audit function and internal control over financial reporting, as well as assisting our Board and senior management with our legal and regulatory compliance and overseeing our Code of Business Practice. The Audit Committee is also updated on risk controls at each of its regularly scheduled meetings.
Internal Audit, which reports to the Audit Committee of the Board and includes professionals with a broad range of audit and industry experience, including risk management expertise, is responsible for independently assessing and validating key controls within our risk management framework.
We make extensive use of internal committees to govern risk taking and ensure that business activities are properly identified, assessed, monitored and managed. The Risk Management Committee (“RMC”) and membership is comprised of our Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Chairman of the Executive Committee, CFO, CRO and Global Treasurer. Our other risk related committees govern risk taking and ensure that business activities are properly managed for their area of oversight.
Risk Committees.
| |
• | RMC - the principal committee that governs our risk-taking activities. The RMC meets weekly to discuss our risk profile and discuss business or market trends and their potential impact on the business. The Committee approves our limits as a whole, and across risk categories and business lines, reviews limit breaches, and approves risk policies and stress testing methodologies. |
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
| |
• | Executive Committee - provides insight, perspective and guidance for the day-to-day operations and strategic direction of their respective businesses and us as a whole. |
| |
• | Operating Committee - brings together the managers of all control areas and the business line chief operating officers, whereby each department presents issues regarding current and proposed business. This committee provides the key forum for coordination and communication between the control managers entirely focused on our activities as a whole. |
| |
• | Asset / Liability Committee - seeks to ensure effective management and control of the balance sheet in terms of risk profile, adequacy of capital and liquidity resources, and funding profile and strategy. The committee is responsible for developing, implementing and enforcing our liquidity, funding and capital policies. This includes recommendations for capital and balance sheet size, as well as the allocation of capital to our businesses. |
| |
• | Independent Price Verification Committee - establishes our valuation policies and procedures and is responsible for independently validating the fair value of our financial instruments. The committee, which is comprised of stakeholders represented by the CFO, Internal Audit, Risk Management and Controllers, meets monthly to assess and approve the results of our inventory price testing. |
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• | New Business Committee - reviews new business, products and activities and extensions of existing businesses, products and activities that may introduce materially different or greater risks than those of a business’ existing activities. The new business approval process is a key control over new business activity. The objectives are to notify all relevant functions of the intention to introduce a new product, business or activity, to share information between functions and to ensure there is a thorough understanding of the proposal. |
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• | Vendor Risk Committee - oversees our vendor assurance program, reviews the list of critical vendors annually, ensures that our vendor risk management policy is being applied consistently and operated effectively and that the overall level of vendor risk is in line with our approved risk levels. |
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• | Model Governance Committee - approves the model risk policy and sets common standards for managing model risk, and reviews and approves all model validation reports. The committee also reviews model validation findings and monitors the completion of any remedial action. |
Risk Policy Framework
We maintain risk management policies which detail our risk management approach and controls. The Risk Management Department is responsible for ensuring policies are reviewed and approved annually, or in response to any material change in business activity or risk profile. All policies are reviewed and approved by the RMC.
Our policies set forth the governance structures, business controls, and risk mitigation strategies in place to manage risk. The policies also set out the measures or limits to manage our risks in accordance with our risk tolerance, as well as outline the risk exposure reporting requirements. All policies articulate the governance process for the development of the policies and the risk measurement techniques that are used and the business controls that are in place to manage any principal risks. The policies also set forth the processes and systems that are used to monitor the risk and the processes and escalation channels used to report the risk.
Our risk management policies include the following:
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• | Market Risk Management Policy; |
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• | Operational Risk Management Policy; |
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• | Credit Risk Management Policy; |
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• | Independent Price Verification Policy; |
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• | Model Risk Management Policy; |
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• | Vendor Risk Management Policy; and |
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• | New Business Approval Policy. |
Risk Considerations
We apply a comprehensive framework of limits on a variety of key metrics to constrain the risk profile of our business activities. The size of the limits reflects our risk tolerance for a certain activity under normal business conditions. Key metrics included in our risk management framework include inventory position and exposure limits on a gross and net basis, scenario analysis and stress tests, Value-at-Risk (“VaR”), sensitivities, exposure concentrations, aged inventory, amount of Level 3 assets, counterparty exposure, leverage and cash capital.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
Market Risk
Market risk is defined as the risk of loss due to fluctuations in the market value of financial assets and liabilities attributable to changes in market variables.
Our market risk principally arises from interest rate risk, from exposure to changes in the yield curve, the volatility of interest rates, and credit spreads, and from equity price risks from exposure to changes in prices and volatilities of individual equities, equity baskets and equity indices. In addition, commodity price risk results from exposure to the changes in prices and volatilities of individual commodities, commodity baskets and commodity indices, and foreign exchange risk results from changes in foreign currency rates.
Market risk is present in our market making, proprietary trading, underwriting, specialist and investing activities and is principally managed by diversifying exposures, controlling position sizes, and establishing economic hedges in related securities or derivatives. Due to imperfections in correlations, gains and losses can occur even for positions that are economically hedged. Position limits in trading and inventory accounts are established and monitored on an ongoing basis. Each day, consolidated position and exposure reports are prepared and distributed to various levels of management, which enable management to monitor inventory levels and the results of our trading businesses.
Trader Mandates
Trading is principally managed through front office trader mandates, where each trader is provided a specific mandate in line with our product registry. Mandates set out the activities, currencies, countries and products that the desk is permitted to trade in and set the limits applicable to the desk. Traders are responsible for knowing their trading limits and trading in a manner consistent with their mandate. Trader mandates are reviewed annually and as part of the new business proposal process.
VaR
VaR is a statistical estimate of the potential loss from adverse market movements over a specified time horizon within a specified probability (confidence level). It provides a common risk measure across financial instruments, markets and asset classes. We estimate VaR using a model that simulates revenue and loss distributions on our trading portfolios by applying historical market changes to the current portfolio. We calculate a one-day VaR using a one year look-back period measured at a 95% confidence level.
As with all measures of VaR, our estimate has inherent limitations due to the assumption that historical changes in market conditions are representative of the future. Furthermore, the VaR model measures the risk of a current static position over a one-day horizon and might not capture the market risk over a longer time horizon where moves may be more extreme. Previous changes in market risk factors may not generate accurate predictions of future market movements. While we believe the assumptions and inputs in our risk model are reasonable, we could incur losses greater than the reported VaR. Consequently, this VaR estimate is only one of a number of tools we use in our daily risk management activities.
Our average daily VaR decreased to $7.56 million for 2018 from $7.79 million for 2017. This change was due to slightly lower interest rate, currency rate, and commodity price risk, partially offset by an increase in equity price risk. Equity price risk was higher at November 30, 2018 compared with at November 30, 2017 due to the transfer to us by Jefferies, in the fourth quarter of 2018, of capital investments in certain separately managed accounts and funds. See Note 1, Organization and Basis of Presentation, and Note 20, Related Party Transactions, for further details on this transfer.
The following table illustrates each separate component of VaR for each component of market risk by interest rate, equity, currency and commodity products, as well as for our overall trading positions using the past 365 days of historical data (in millions):
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| | | Daily VaR (1) Value-at-Risk In Trading Portfolios | | | | | | | | |
| VaR at November 30, 2018 | | | VaR at November 30, 2017 | | |
| | Daily VaR for 2018 | | | Daily VaR for 2017 |
Risk Categories: | | Average | | High | | Low | | | Average | | High | | Low |
Interest Rates | $ | 5.33 |
| | $ | 4.88 |
| | $ | 6.82 |
| | $ | 2.18 |
| | $ | 3.38 |
| | $ | 5.11 |
| | $ | 9.59 |
| | $ | 2.63 |
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Equity Prices | 8.47 |
| | 5.51 |
| | 13.56 |
| | 3.08 |
| | 2.90 |
| | 5.17 |
| | 17.20 |
| | 2.52 |
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Currency Rates | 0.09 |
| | 0.12 |
| | 0.24 |
| | 0.02 |
| | 0.18 |
| | 0.22 |
| | 0.65 |
| | 0.06 |
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Commodity Prices | 0.48 |
| | 0.53 |
| | 1.51 |
| | 0.24 |
| | 0.35 |
| | 0.73 |
| | 2.20 |
| | 0.27 |
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Diversification Effect (2) | (3.12 | ) | | (3.48 | ) | | N/A |
| | N/A |
| | (1.86 | ) | | (3.44 | ) | | N/A |
| | N/A |
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Firmwide | $ | 11.25 |
| | $ | 7.56 |
| | $ | 14.73 |
| | $ | 4.76 |
| | $ | 4.95 |
| | $ | 7.79 |
| | $ | 17.55 |
| | $ | 4.52 |
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(1) | For the VaR numbers reported above, a one-day time horizon, with a one year look-back period, and a 95% confidence level were used. |
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
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(2) | The diversification effect is not applicable for the maximum and minimum VaR values as the firmwide VaR and the VaR values for the four risk categories might have occurred on different days during the year. |
The aggregated VaR presented here is less than the sum of the individual components (i.e., interest rate risk, foreign exchange rate risk, equity risk and commodity price risk) due to the benefit of diversification among the four risk categories. Diversification benefit equals the difference between aggregated VaR and the sum of VaRs for the four risk categories and arises because the market risk categories are not perfectly correlated.
We perform daily back-testing of our VaR model comparing realized revenue and loss with the previous day’s VaR. Back-testing results are included in the quarterly business review pack for our Board. The primary method used to test the efficacy of the VaR model is to compare our actual daily net revenue for those positions included in our VaR calculation with the daily VaR estimate. This evaluation is performed at various levels of the trading portfolio, from the overall level down to specific business lines. For the VaR model, trading related revenue is defined as principal transactions revenues, trading related commissions, revenue from securitization activities and net interest income.
For a 95% confidence one day VaR model (i.e., no intra-day trading), assuming current changes in market value are consistent with the historical changes used in the calculation, net trading losses would not be expected to exceed the VaR estimates more than twelve times on an annual basis (i.e., once in every 20 days). During 2018, results of the evaluation at the aggregate level demonstrated two days when the net trading loss exceeded the 95% one day VaR.
The chart below reflects our daily VaR over the last four quarters with the significant increase in the daily VaR in late August 2018 due to the acquisition and short-term holding of an equity block position that was substantially liquidated within a few days subsequent to quarter end. Our daily VaR increased in the latter part of 2018 due to the transfer to us by Jefferies, in the fourth quarter of 2018, of capital investments in certain separately managed accounts and funds. See Note 1, Organization and Basis of Presentation, and Note 20, Related Party Transactions, for further details on this transfer.
Daily Net Trading Revenue
There were 45 days with trading losses out of a total of 252 trading days in 2018. The histogram below presents the distribution of our actual daily net trading revenue for substantially all of our trading activities for 2018 (in millions).
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
Other Risk Measures
Certain positions within financial instruments are not included in the VaR model because VaR is not the most appropriate measure of risk. Accordingly, Risk Management has additional procedures in place to assure that the level of potential loss that would arise from market movements are within acceptable levels. Such procedures include performing stress tests, monitoring concentration risk and tracking price target/stop loss levels. The table below presents the potential reduction in net income associated with a 10% stress of the fair value of the positions that are not included in the VaR model at November 30, 2018 (in thousands):
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| 10% Sensitivity |
Private investments | $ | 20,088 |
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Corporate debt securities in default | 9,915 |
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Trade claims | 4,747 |
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The impact of changes in our own credit spreads on our structured notes for which the fair value option was elected is not included in VaR. The estimated credit spread risk sensitivity for each one basis point widening in our own credit spreads on financial liabilities for which the fair value option was elected was an increase in value of approximately $930,000 at November 30, 2018, which is included in other comprehensive income.
Stress Tests and Scenario Analysis
Stress tests are used to analyze the potential impact of specific events or extreme market moves on the current portfolio both firm-wide and within business segments. Stress testing is an important part of our risk management approach because it allows us to quantify our exposure to tail risks, highlight potential loss concentrations, undertake risk/reward analysis, set risk controls and overall assess and mitigate our risk.
We employ a range of stress scenarios, which comprise both historical market price and rate changes and hypothetical market environments, and generally involve simultaneous changes of many risk factors. Indicative market changes in the scenarios include, but are not limited to, a large widening of credit spreads, a substantial decline in equities markets, significant moves in selected emerging markets, large moves in interest rates and changes in the shape of the yield curve.
Unlike our VaR, which measures potential losses within a given confidence interval, stress scenarios do not have an associated implied probability. Rather, stress testing is used to estimate the potential loss from market moves that tend to be larger than those embedded in the VaR calculation. Stress testing complements VaR to cover for potential limitations of VaR such as the breakdown in correlations, non-linear risks, tail risk and extreme events and capturing market moves beyond the confidence levels assumed in the VaR calculations.
Stress testing is performed and reported at least weekly as part of our risk management process and on an ad hoc basis in response to market events or concerns. Current stress tests provide estimated revenue and loss of the current portfolio through a range of both historical and hypothetical events. The stress scenarios are reviewed and assessed at least annually so that they remain relevant and up to date with market developments. Additional hypothetical scenarios are also conducted on a sub-portfolio basis to assess the impact of any relevant idiosyncratic stress events as needed.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
Counterparty Credit Risk
Credit risk is the risk of loss due to adverse changes in a counterparty’s credit worthiness or its ability or willingness to meet its financial obligations in accordance with the terms and conditions of a financial contract.
We are exposed to credit risk as trading counterparty to other broker-dealers and customers, as a direct lender and through extending loan commitments, as a holder of securities and as a member of exchanges and clearing organizations. Credit exposure exists across a wide-range of products, including cash and cash equivalents, loans, securities finance transactions and over-the-counter derivative contracts. The main sources of credit risk are:
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• | Loans and lending arising in connection with our capital markets activities, which reflects our exposure at risk on a default event with no recovery of loans. Current exposure represents loans that have been drawn by the borrower and lending commitments that are outstanding. In addition, credit exposures on forward settling traded loans are included within our loans and lending exposures for consistency with the balance sheet categorization of these items. |
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• | Securities and margin financing transactions, which reflect our credit exposure arising from reverse repurchase agreements, repurchase agreements and securities lending agreements to the extent the fair value of the underlying collateral differs from the contractual agreement amount and from margin provided to customers. |
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• | OTC derivatives, which are reported net by counterparty when a legal right of setoff exists under an enforceable master netting agreement. OTC derivative exposure is based on a contract at fair value, net of cash collateral received or posted under credit support agreements. In addition, credit exposures on forward settling trades are included within our derivative credit exposures. |
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• | Cash and cash equivalents, which includes both interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing deposits at banks. |
Credit is extended to counterparties in a controlled manner and in order to generate acceptable returns, whether such credit is granted directly or is incidental to a transaction. All extensions of credit are monitored and managed as a whole to limit exposure to loss related to credit risk. Credit risk is managed according to the Credit Risk Policy, which sets out the process for identifying counterparty credit risk, establishing counterparty limits, and managing and monitoring credit limits. The policy includes our approach for:
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• | Client on-boarding and approving counterparty credit limits; |
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• | Negotiating, approving and monitoring credit terms in legal and master documentation; |
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• | Determining the analytical standards and risk parameters for ongoing management and monitoring credit risk books; |
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• | Actively managing daily exposure, exceptions and breaches; and |
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• | Monitoring daily margin call activity and counterparty performance. |
Counterparty credit exposure limits are granted within our credit ratings framework, as detailed in the Credit Risk Policy. The Credit Risk Department assesses counterparty credit risk and sets credit limits at the counterparty master agreement level. Limits must be approved by appropriate credit officers and initiated in our credit and trading systems before trading commences. All credit exposures are reviewed against approved limits on a daily basis.
Current counterparty credit exposures at November 30, 2018 and 2017 are summarized in the tables below and provided by credit quality, region and industry (in millions). Credit exposures presented take netting and collateral into consideration by counterparty and master agreement. Collateral taken into consideration includes both collateral received as cash as well as collateral received in the form of securities or other arrangements. Current exposure is the loss that would be incurred on a particular set of positions in the event of default by the counterparty, assuming no recovery. Current exposure equals the fair value of the positions less collateral. Issuer risk is the credit risk arising from inventory positions (for example, corporate debt securities and secondary bank loans). Issuer risk is included in our country risk exposure tables below. Of our counterparty credit exposure at November 30, 2018, excluding cash and cash equivalents, the percentage of exposure from investment grade counterparties decreased to 91% from 92% at November 30, 2017, and with a majority concentrated in North America.
When comparing our credit exposure at November 30, 2018 with credit exposure at November 30, 2017, excluding cash and cash equivalents, current exposure decreased 19% to approximately $1,093 million from $1,353 million. Counterparty credit exposure from OTC derivatives decreased by 57%, primarily driven by investment grade North American banks and broker-dealers. Exposure from securities and margin finance decreased by 8%, while exposure from loans and lending decreased by 5%.
JEFFERIES GROUP LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES
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Counterparty Credit Exposure by Credit Rating |
| Loans and Lending | | Securities and Margin Finance | | OTC Derivatives | | Total | | Cash and Cash Equivalents | | Total with Cash and Cash Equivalents |
| At | | At | | At | | At | | At | | At |
| November 30, 2018 | | November 30, 2017 | | November 30, 2018 | | November 30, 2017 | | November 30, 2018 | | November 30, 2017 | | November 30, 2018 | | November 30, 2017 | | November 30, 2018 | | November 30, 2017 | | November 30, 2018 | | November 30, 2017 |
AAA Range | $ | — |
| | $ | — |
| | $ | 3.2 |
| | $ | 6.4 |
| | $ | — |
| | $ | — |
| | $ | 3.2 |
| | $ | 6.4 |
| | $ | 2,981.2 |
| | $ | 2,924.2 |
| | $ | 2,984.4 |
| | $ | 2,930.6 |
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AA Range | 45.1 |
| | 47.7 |
| | 45.3 |
| | 61.3 |
| | 4.2 |
| | 3.8 |
| | 94.6 |
| | 112.8 |
| | 111.6 |
| | 158.6 |
| | 206.2 |
| | 271.4 |
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A Range | 0.3 |
| | 1.2 |
| | 573.3 |
| | 603.0 |
| | 97.9 |
| | 260.6 |
| | 671.5 |
| | 864.8 |
| | 1,865.8 |
| | 1,751.9 |
| | 2,537.3 |
| | 2,616.7 |
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