EDGAR 10-K Filing

Company CIK: 96223
Filing Year: 2022
Filename: 96223_10-K_2022_0000096223-22-000006.json

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ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Item 1. Business.
Overview
Jefferies Financial Group Inc. ("Jefferies," "we," "our" or the "Company") is engaged in investment banking and capital markets and asset management. Our strategy focuses on continuing to build out our investment banking effort, enhancing our capital markets businesses and further developing our Leucadia Asset Management alternative asset management platform, while returning excess capital to shareholders. Jefferies Group LLC ("Jefferies Group"), our largest subsidiary, was established in 1962 and is the largest independent U.S.-headquartered global full-service integrated investment banking and securities firm.
We own a legacy portfolio of businesses and investments that we historically denominated as our "Merchant Banking" business and are reflected in our consolidated results as consolidated subsidiaries, equity investments, securities or in other ways. We are well along in the process of liquidating this portfolio, with the intention of selling to third parties, distributing to shareholders or transferring the balance of this portfolio to our Asset Management reportable segment over the next few years.
Subsequent to year end, on December 1, 2021, we made a $477 million contribution of investments, including Foursight Capital and other Asset Management and Merchant Banking investments, to Jefferies Group. The net book value of our entire Merchant Banking portfolio and our asset management investments, held outside of Jefferies Group, totaled $2.1 billion at November 30, 2021. Pro forma for the $477 million of Merchant Banking and asset management investments that were contributed, the net book value of these assets held outside of Jefferies Group was $1.6 billion.
Over our last four fiscal years, we generated significant excess liquidity from operations and sales of Merchant Banking businesses. In keeping with our strategy, $3.9 billion was returned to shareholders, including 127 million shares repurchased at an average price of $21.55 per share (equal to 38% of book value at the beginning of this four-year period). In addition, in light of our performance and prospects, as well as our limited need for incremental equity capital, in January 2022, our Board of Directors increased our quarterly dividend to $0.30 per share, a 140% increase from two years ago, and increased our share buyback authorization back to a total of $250 million. We expect to continue to return capital to shareholders via dividends and buybacks, as well as, if financial conditions and circumstances permit, in-kind distributions or special cash dividends as we complete the wind down of the legacy Merchant Banking portfolio.
Our executive offices are located at 520 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10022, as is the global headquarters of Jefferies Group. Our primary telephone number is (212) 460-1900 and our website address is www.jefferies.com. At November 30, 2021, we had 5,556 full-time employees, including 4,508 full-time employees at Jefferies Group. Jefferies Group retains a credit rating separate from Jefferies and remains a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") reporting company.
The discussion in this Annual Report on Form 10-K should be read in conjunction with the Risk Factors presented in Item 1A of Part I and the Cautionary Statement for Forward-Looking Information and Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations set forth in Item 7 of Part II.
Recent Events
In July 2021, we entered into a strategic alliance with Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc., Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. (together referred to as "SMBC Group"). Through the strategic alliance, we expect to coordinate across highly accretive growth areas in the corporate and investment banking business. These initiatives are expected to strengthen the existing businesses of both firms, and enhance each firm's ability to support its clients' needs. Jefferies and SMBC Group will, among other things, coordinate efforts in the U.S. leveraged finance business to expand and scale existing offerings; form a global strategic partnership to seek cross-border M&A opportunities involving Japanese companies; and jointly pursue investment banking, capital markets and financing opportunities by leveraging both companies' respective strengths initially in the U.S. Healthcare sector.
SMBC Group has also provided Jefferies Group with a $350 million unsecured revolving credit facility and has acquired in the open market over 4% of our shares of common stock, further solidifying our relationship. In addition, SMBC Group is providing a subsidiary of JFIN Parent LLC ("Jefferies Finance"), a 50/50 joint venture between Jefferies Group and Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, a $1.65 billion revolving credit facility and a $250 million subordinated loan to help expand Jefferies Finance's leveraged finance origination and underwriting efforts.
In the fourth quarter of 2021, we reduced our future interest expense by repurchasing Jefferies Group's $750 million 5.125% senior notes due in 2023 and $308 million of our 5.50% senior notes due in 2023 and issuing $1.0 billion of new Jefferies Group 2.625% senior notes due in 2031.
Investment Banking and Capital Markets
Investment Banking and Capital Markets focuses on Investment Banking, Equities and Fixed Income. We primarily serve institutional investors, corporations and government entities.
Investment Banking
We provide our clients around the world with a full range of financial advisory, equity underwriting and debt underwriting services. Our services are enhanced by our deep industry expertise, our global distribution capabilities and our senior level commitment to our clients.
Over 1,200 investment banking professionals operate in the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific, and are organized into industry, product and geographic coverage groups. Our industry coverage groups include Consumer; Energy; Financial Services; Healthcare; Industrials; Technology, Media and Telecommunications; Real Estate, Gaming and Lodging; Financial Sponsors and Public Finance. Our product coverage groups include advisory (which comprises both mergers and acquisitions, and restructuring and recapitalization expertise), equity underwriting and debt underwriting. Our geographic coverage groups include teams based in major cities in the United States ("U.S."), London, Frankfurt, Paris, Milan, Madrid, Warsaw, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Zurich.
Advisory Services
We provide mergers/acquisitions, restructurings/recapitalizations and private capital advisory services to companies, financial sponsors and government entities. In the mergers and acquisitions area, we advise business owners and corporations on mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, strategic ventures and corporate defense activities. 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. As part of our private capital advisory business, we advise financial sponsors on the creation and structuring of funds and fund offerings, and we also advise large institutional investors on the sale of private equity limited partnership and co-investment interests.
Equity Underwriting
We provide a broad range of equity financing capabilities to companies and financial sponsors. These capabilities include private placements of equity, initial public offerings, including initial public offerings for special purpose acquisition companies, follow-on offerings, at the market offerings, block trades and equity-linked securities transactions.
Debt Underwriting
We provide a wide range of debt and acquisition financing capabilities to 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-backed and other asset-backed securities, and liability management solutions.
Corporate Lending
Jefferies Finance, a 50/50 joint venture between Jefferies Group and 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 for both broadly syndicated and direct lending loans. Jefferies Finance conducts its operations primarily through two business lines, Leveraged Finance Arrangement and Portfolio and Asset Management. Loans are originated primarily through Jefferies Group's investment banking efforts and Jefferies Finance typically syndicates to third-party investors substantially all of its arranged volume through Jefferies Group. The Portfolio and Asset Management business lines, collectively referred to as Jefferies Credit Partners, manages a broad portfolio of assets under management comprised of portions of loans it has arranged, as well as loan positions that it has purchased in the primary and secondary markets. Jefferies Credit Partners is comprised of three registered Investment Advisors: Jefferies Finance, Apex
Credit Partners LLC and JFIN Asset Management LLC, which serve as a private credit platform managing proprietary and third-party capital across comingled funds, separately managed accounts and collateralized loan obligations.
Equities
Equities Research, Capital Markets
We provide our clients full-service equities research, sales and trading capabilities across global equities 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 advisors, 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 insights, trading ideas, market information and analyses across a range of industries and receive and execute client orders. Our equity research covers 2,800 companies around the world and a further more than 600 international companies are covered by our leading co-branded partner firms in local regions.
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, outsourced trading, 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 Capital Markets
We provide our clients with sales and trading of investment grade corporate bonds, U.S. and European government and agency securities, municipal bonds, mortgage-backed 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 GmbH 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 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.
Real Estate
Berkadia Commercial Mortgage Holding LLC ("Berkadia") is Jefferies Group's 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 the Federal National Mortgage Association ("Fannie Mae"), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation ("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.
Asset Management
Under the Leucadia Asset Management ("LAM") umbrella, we manage and provide services to a diverse group of alternative asset management platforms across a spectrum of investment strategies and asset classes. LAM offers institutional clients an innovative range of investment strategies through its affiliated managers. Our products are currently offered to pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, and other institutional investors globally. The investment products under LAM range from multi-manager products to niche equity long/short strategies to credit strategies. We offer our affiliated asset managers access to capital, operational infrastructure and global marketing and distribution. We often invest seed or additional strategic capital for our own account in the strategies offered by us and associated third-party managers in which we have an interest.
We continue to expand our asset management efforts and establish further strategic relationships to expand our offerings including sector and region specific long/short equity and quantitative strategies.
Merchant Banking
We own a legacy portfolio of businesses and investments that we historically denominated as our "Merchant Banking" business and are reflected in our consolidated results as consolidated subsidiaries, equity investments, securities or in other ways. We are well along in the process of liquidating this portfolio, with the intention of selling to third parties, distributing to shareholders or transferring the balance of this portfolio to our Asset Management reportable segment over the next few years.
Our remaining Merchant Banking portfolio primarily includes investments in Linkem S.p.A. ("Linkem"), 56% (fixed wireless broadband services in Italy); Vitesse Energy, LLC ("Vitesse Energy"), 97%, and JETX Energy, LLC ("JETX Energy"), 98%, (oil and gas); real estate, primarily HomeFed LLC ("HomeFed"), 100%; Idaho Timber, 100% (manufacturing); and FXCM Group, LLC ("FXCM"), 50% voting interest in FXCM and a majority of all distributions in respect of the equity of FXCM (provider of online foreign exchange trading services). The net book value of our entire Merchant Banking portfolio was $1.85 billion at November 30, 2021. Pro forma for the December 1, 2021 contribution of $194 million Merchant Banking investments to Jefferies Group, our net book value for our Merchant Banking portfolio was $1.66 billion.
Linkem
We own 56% (48% voting) of Linkem, the largest fixed wireless broadband service provider in Italy with approximately 650,000 subscribers. Linkem is upgrading its proprietary fixed wireless network to state-of-the-art 5G technology using its valuable nationwide 3.5GHz spectrum holdings. To improve efficiency, Linkem slowed down customer acquisition before launching 5G services and as a result its customer base declined by approximately 8% in 2021. Its 3.5GHz frequency band has been designated globally as one of the core bands for 5G services, placing Linkem in a strong position to continue its growth as fixed wireless broadband, mobile and new technologies converge on 5G connectivity. Linkem built its first 5G towers in late 2020 and commercially launched service in September 2021. It plans to rapidly increase its network coverage and service offerings over the coming years as it completes the upgrade to 5G, adds subscribers and leverages its network and spectrum assets. Expansion and customer acquisition costs are expected to result in operating losses over the next couple of years.
In December 2021, Linkem announced an agreement to merge its customer-facing retail operations into Tiscali S.p.A., a public Italian telecommunications company. If the transaction is completed, Linkem will become the majority shareholder of Tiscali. The combined company would be the fifth-largest broadband operator in Italy, and the largest provider of ultrabroadband fiber-to-the-home and fixed wireless access. Linkem's remaining infrastructure division would own the largest independent 5G network in Italy with an extensive spectrum portfolio offering fixed wireless, mobile, and private network services that support a wide variety of 5G applications to telecom carriers and other enterprise customers.
Our initial investment in Linkem was made in July 2011. Since that time, we have funded much of Linkem's growth and have become its largest shareholder. We own approximately 42% of the common shares of Linkem, as well as convertible preferred stock, which is automatically convertible to common shares in 2026, redeemable preferred stock with a redemption value of $107.6 million at November 30, 2021 and warrants. If our convertible preferred stock was converted and warrants were exercised on November 30, 2021, it would have increased our ownership to approximately 56% of Linkem's common equity. We currently have approximately 48% of the total voting securities of Linkem. The net book value of our investment in Linkem was $133.8 million at November 30, 2021.
Vitesse Energy
Vitesse Energy is our 97% owned consolidated subsidiary that acquires, invests and monetizes non-operated oil and gas working interests, royalties and minerals predominantly in the Bakken Shale oil field in the Williston Basin in North Dakota. Vitesse Energy's interests in flowing wells and Drilling Spacing Units ("DSUs") are operated by many of the U.S.'s leading operators. The undeveloped acreage within our DSUs is expected to be developed via new horizontal wells in the future by Vitesse Energy's operating partners. As Vitesse Energy's operators convert the undeveloped acreage into flowing horizontal wells, our working interests royalties, and minerals in the new wells produce cash flows via the sale of oil and gas. Vitesse Energy has acquired 47,200 net acres of leaseholds and has an interest in over 5,500 producing wells (120 net wells) with current production as of November 2021 of over 10,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (over 80% of production is oil). Vitesse Energy also has 865 gross wells (19 net wells) that are currently drilling, completing, or permitted for future drilling. Our strategic priorities for Vitesse Energy are to selectively add to our DSUs, participate in future profitable horizontal wells with our operators, increase cash flow, maintain conservative leverage, limit the volatility of cash flows by appropriately hedging a portion of Vitesse Energy's oil production and profitably sell selective assets when appropriate. The net book value of our investment in Vitesse Energy was $501.5 million at November 30, 2021.
Real Estate Assets
Our real estate assets primarily consist of our 100% ownership of HomeFed, a developer and owner of residential and mixed-use real estate properties in California, New York, Florida, Virginia and South Carolina. HomeFed's key assets include Otay Ranch, a master planned community that is under development in Chula Vista, CA, made up of approximately 4,450 acres of land entitled for 13,050 total units; and Renaissance Plaza, a mixed-use asset in Brooklyn, NY, comprised of an office building, garage and hotel. The net book value of our investment in real estate businesses was $476.9 million at November 30, 2021.
Financial Information about Reportable Segments
Our operating and reportable segments consist of Investment Banking and Capital Markets; Asset Management; Merchant Banking; and Corporate. Our financial information regarding our reportable segments is contained in Note 26 in our consolidated financial statements.
Human Capital
Our people make up the fabric of our firm, which is comprised of diverse and innovative teams. We are focused on the durability, health and long-term growth and development of our business, as well as our long-term contribution to our shareholders, our clients, our employees, the communities in which we live and work, and society in general. Instrumental to all of this is our culture, which derives from our employees.
As of November 30, 2021, we had 5,556 employees located throughout the world. Our primary business and largest subsidiary, Jefferies Group, had 4,508 employees globally with approximately 64.1%, 24.2% and 11.7% of its workforce distributed across the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific, respectively. Jefferies Group employees are predominantly in our Investment Banking and Capital Markets reportable segment or the support thereof. During fiscal 2021, Jefferies Group's overall employee count increased by 14.9%, primarily as a result of the growth of our investment banking business, as well as due to additions in technology and other corporate services staff to support our increased regulatory requirements and overall growth.
We had 967 employees in our Merchant Banking reportable segment as of November 30, 2021, which were predominantly located in the U.S. The majority of these individuals are employed by our wholly-owned subsidiary, Idaho Timber. As with most manufacturing operations, safety is a key component of the overall process and Idaho Timber has a multitude of safety programs in place designed to protect the health and well-being of its employees. These programs and other employee-focused initiatives help Idaho Timber retain experienced employees who create operating efficiencies critical to our overall success.
Talent Acquisition and Development
In order to compete effectively and continue to provide best in class service to our clients, we must attract, retain, and motivate qualified professionals. Our workforce is predominately composed of employees in roles such as investment bankers, salespeople, trading professionals, research professionals and other revenue producing or specialized personnel. During 2021, within Jefferies Group, we hired over 1,200 professionals globally and our voluntary turnover rate was approximately 12.2%, which makes our overall retention rate very high in our view. We believe our culture, our effort to maintain a meritocracy in terms of opportunity and our continued evolution and growth contribute to our success in attracting and retaining strong talent.
We also value continued training and development for all employees at the firm. We seek to equip our people at all stages in their careers with the tools necessary to become thoughtful and effective leaders. In 2021, we introduced a number of additional development programs including our inaugural Women in Leadership Series, a program focused on providing learning and development opportunities to position our female leaders for success. We also launched a leadership development program sponsored by our Jefferies Black & Latino Network (J-NOBLE) and Jefferies Ethnic Minority Society (JEMS) that is aimed at providing professional development and career advancement training to participants. Additionally, we offered customized training courses centered around Project Management, Communicating with Clarity and Impact, Managing in the New Normal, Finding and Using Your Strengths and Effective Sales Training for our employees.
Wellness
In addition to training and development programs, we have been incredibly focused on the well-being of our employees. We host frequent wellness webinars and offer confidential, 1:1 wellness counseling. To support our employee's physical well-being, we host virtual fitness classes and have partnered with a fitness app our employees can utilize.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
The foundation of our culture is our approach to employee engagement, diversity, equity and inclusion, which is summed up in our Corporate Social Responsibility Principle: Respect People. We embrace diversity and inclusion, which we believe fosters creativity, innovation and thought leadership through the infusion of new ideas and perspectives. We have implemented a number of policies and measures focused on non-discrimination, sexual harassment prevention, health and safety, and training and education. We have strong internal partnerships with eight Employee Resource Groups that are fostering a diverse, inclusive workplace. Our Diversity Council, chaired by Rich Handler, gives our Employee Resource Groups a platform to come together and discuss best practices, as well as collaborate on firmwide diversity initiatives.
In conjunction with the Employee Resource Groups, firmwide Diversity and Inclusion initiatives are focused on open firm-wide dialogues, promotion of allyship and bias mitigation, and providing resources for development and recruiting the best talent from a diverse pool. In 2021, 100% of our Jefferies Group employees participated in Unconscious Bias Training. We have focused on improving the collection and transparency of diversity metrics and the information flow to senior leadership. An inaugural firmwide inclusion-focused employee engagement survey was launched in January 2021 enabling staff to provide feedback on an anonymous basis.
We are focused on broadening the pipeline from which we recruit and hiring diverse talent through both campus and lateral hiring initiatives. For campus recruiting, we have partnered with several organizations globally to broaden our pipeline of candidates. We host insight days and symposiums that describe Jefferies and Investment Banking to candidates that come from a diverse range of backgrounds. In 2021, we hired interns from over 100 colleges, universities, and business schools across the globe. For all roles, we recommend both a diverse slate of candidates to be considered for roles and a diverse panel of interviewers. Interviewing guides and resources are provided to hiring managers in an effort to support inclusive hiring. In 2021, we launched two targeted recruiting programs aimed at diversifying the pipeline of our lateral hires, including a career relaunch program, aimed at those who have taken a break from the workforce, and a job switch program aimed at recruiting individuals who are interested in changing careers into Equity Research.
Our Board of Directors has underscored our commitment to diversity by committing to appoint diverse candidates to fill the seats of at least one-third of our independent directors. In July 2021, we appointed two new female directors to our Board of Directors, which resulted in 55.6% of our independent directors being diverse.
Our Board of Directors has established an Environmental, Social and Governance ("ESG") Oversight Committee, which, among other things, oversees the sustainability matters arising from our business. In the beginning of 2021, the Board of Directors expanded the responsibilities of the ESG Committee to also include oversight over diversity and inclusion, and rebranded the Committee as the ESG, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion ("ESG/DEI") Committee. Establishing the ESG/DEI Committee demonstrates our and the Board of Director's ongoing commitment of driving and fostering diversity in the workforce and in the communities in which we operate.
We have also made a commitment to building a culture that provides opportunities for all employees regardless of our differences. As a result, we are able to pool our collective insights and intelligence to provide fresh and innovative thinking for our clients.
We encourage you to review our ESG Report (located on our website) for more detailed information regarding our human capital programs and initiatives. Nothing on our website, including our ESG Report or sections thereof, is deemed incorporated by reference into this Report. In addition, for discussion of the risks relating to our ability to attract, develop and retain highly skilled and productive employees, see "Part 1. Item 1A. Risk Factors."
Employee Benefits
Our benefits are designed to attract and retain employees by providing employees and their spouses, partners and families with health and wellness programs (medical, dental, vision and behavioral), retirement wealth accumulation, paid time off, income replacement (paid sick and disability leaves and life insurance) and family oriented benefits (parental leaves and child care assistance). We also endeavor to provide location specific health club, transportation and employee discounts.
Giving Back to Community
The firm is committed to giving back to our communities. In 2021, we donated $13.2 million to approximately 175 organizations across two "Doing Good" trading days. Additionally, through our Employee Resource Groups, employees have created lasting partnerships by volunteering time to support several of these charitable partners.
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 boutique 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 U.S. The financial services industry in which we operate is subject to extensive regulation. In the U.S., the 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 ("SROs") that are actively involved in the regulation of financial services businesses (securities businesses in the case of FINRA and commodities/futures businesses in the case of the NFA). In addition, broker-dealers that conduct securities activities involving municipal securities are subject to regulation by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board ("MSRB"). In addition to federal regulation, we are subject to state securities regulations in each state and U.S. territory in which we conduct securities or investment advisory activities. The SEC, FINRA, CFTC, NFA and state securities regulators conduct periodic examinations of broker-dealers, investment advisors, futures commission merchants ("FCMs"), swap dealers and security-based swap dealers ("SBS dealers"). The designated examining authority under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act") for Jefferies LLC's activities as a broker-dealer is FINRA, and the designated self-regulatory organization under the U.S. Commodity Exchange Act for Jefferies LLC's non-clearing FCM activities is the NFA. Financial services businesses are also subject to regulation and examination by state securities regulators and attorneys general in those states in which they do business. In addition, broker-dealers, investment advisors, FCMs, swap dealers and SBS 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.
Broker-dealers are subject to SEC, FINRA, MSRB and state securities 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 (although state securities regulations are, in a number of cases, more limited). Registered investment advisors 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 advisors 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, and SBS dealers are subject to regulation by the SEC. Additional legislation, changes in rules promulgated by the SEC, FINRA, CFTC, NFA, other SROs of which the broker-dealer is a member, and state securities regulators, or changes in the interpretation or enforcement of existing laws or rules may directly affect the operations and profitability of broker-dealers, investment advisors, FCMs, commodity trading advisors, commodity pool operators, swap dealers and SBS dealers. The SEC, CFTC, FINRA, NFA, state securities regulators 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 advisors, 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).
SEC Regulation Best Interest ("Reg BI") requires that a broker-dealer and its associated persons act in a retail customer's best interest and not place their own financial or other interests ahead of a retail customer's interests when recommending securities transactions or investment strategies, including recommendations of types of accounts. To meet this best interest standard, a broker-dealer must satisfy four component obligations including a disclosure obligation, a care obligation, a conflict of interest obligation, and a compliance obligation and both broker-dealers and investment advisors are required to provide disclosures about their standard of conduct and conflicts of interest.
In addition, certain states, have proposed or adopted measures that would make broker-dealers, sales agents and investment advisors and their representatives subject to a fiduciary duty when providing products and services to customers. The SEC did not indicate an intent to pre-empt state regulation in this area and some of the state proposals would allow for a private right of action. Since our Wealth Management division makes recommendations to retail customers, it is required to comply with the obligations imposed under Reg BI and applicable state laws.
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, and financing customers' prime brokerage or other margin activities, in
each case, that could require the use of significant amounts of capital, limit its ability to engage in certain financing transactions, such as repurchase agreements, and may also restrict its ability (i) to make payments of dividends, withdrawals or similar distributions or payments to a stockholder/parent or other affiliate, (ii) to make a redemption or repurchase of shares of stock, or (iii) to make an unsecured loan or advance to such shareholders or affiliates. As a carrying/clearing broker-dealer, under FINRA Rule 4110, FINRA could impose higher minimum net capital requirements than required by the SEC, and could restrict a broker-dealer from expanding business or require the broker-dealer to reduce its business activities. If the broker- dealer also carries accounts for other broker dealers which are engaged in proprietary trading, it may need net capital of $7 million or tentative net capital of $25 million, depending on circumstances. As a non-clearing FCM, Jefferies LLC is also required to maintain minimum adjusted net capital of $1.0 million.
SEC registered broker-dealers that also register with the SEC as security-based swap dealers engaging in principal transactions of security-based swaps ("SBS") are subject to rules regarding capital, segregation and margin requirements. The SEC rules establish similar standards for an entity registering as a standalone SBS dealer. The CFTC and NFA have also adopted swap dealer capital rules. Under the rules there is a minimum net capital requirement for, among others, an entity that acts as a dealer in SBS or swaps, which is the greater of $20 million or 2% (that the SEC could, in the future, increase up to 4% or 8%) of a risk margin amount. The risk margin amount for the SEC means the sum of (i) the total initial margin required to be maintained by the SEC-registered SBS dealer at each clearing house with respect to SBS or swap transactions cleared for SBS or swap customers and (ii) the total initial margin amount calculated by the SEC-registered SBS dealer with respect to non-cleared SBS and swaps under the SEC rules. The risk margin amount for the CFTC means the total initial margin amount calculated by the CFTC-registered swap dealer with respect to non-cleared SBS and swaps under the CFTC rules.
Jefferies Financial Services, Inc. ("JFSI"), one of Jefferies Group's subsidiaries, is registered with the CFTC as a swap dealer and registered with the SEC as an SBS. As of late 2021, JFSI is now required to comply with the SEC and CFTC capital rules for SBS dealers and swap dealers, respectively. Further, subsequent to year end, on December 16, 2021, JFSI was approved by the SEC as an OTC derivatives dealer, and is subject to compliance with the SEC's net capital requirements.
Under the Exchange Act, state securities regulators are not permitted to impose capital, margin, custody, financial responsibility, making and keeping records, bonding, or financial or operational reporting requirements on registered broker-dealers that differ from, or are in addition to, the requirements in those areas established under the Exchange Act, including the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.
For additional information see Item 1A. Risk Factors.
Jefferies Group LLC is not subject to any regulatory capital rules.
See Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, and Note 23 to our consolidated financial statements for additional discussion of net capital calculations.
Regulation outside the U.S. We are an active participant in the international capital markets and provide investment banking services internationally, primarily in Europe and Asia Pacific. As 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 ("BaFin"), Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, the Japan Financial Services Agency, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. 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.
Information about Jefferies on the Internet
We file annual, quarterly and current reports and other information with the SEC. These SEC filings are also available to the public from commercial document retrieval services and the EDGAR website maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov.
The following documents and reports are available on or through our website (www.jefferies.com) as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such materials with, or furnish to, the SEC, as applicable:
• Code of Business Practice;
• Reportable waivers, if any, from our Code of Business Practice by our executive officers;
• Board of Directors Corporate Governance Guidelines;
• Charter of the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors;
• Charter of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of the Board of Directors;
• Charter of the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors;
• Charter of the ESG, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee of the Board of Directors;
• Charter of the Risk and Liquidity Oversight Committee of the Board of Directors;
• Annual reports on Form 10-K;
• Quarterly reports on Form 10-Q;
• Current reports on Form 8-K;
• Beneficial ownership reports on Forms 3, 4 and 5; and
• Any amendments to the above-mentioned documents and reports.
Shareholders may also obtain a printed copy of any of these documents or reports free of charge by sending a request to Jefferies Financial Group Inc., Investor Relations, 520 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10022 or by calling (212) 460-1900.

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Item 1A. Risk Factors.
Our business is subject to a number of risks. You should carefully consider the following risk factors, together with all of the other information included or incorporated by reference in this report, before you decide whether to purchase our securities. The risks set out below are not the only risks we face. In addition to the specific risks 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, pandemics, climate change or natural disasters. If any of such risks occur, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. In such case, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment.
We have also set forth certain specific risks associated with certain of our investments. The inclusion or non-inclusion of these risks for specific investments should not be interpreted to mean that a mentioned or non-mentioned investment is more or less important or material than another. Additionally, some of our investments are in securities of issuers that file reports with the SEC. You should also carefully consider the additional risks disclosed by those issuers with the SEC as those risks may also impact your investment in our securities.
Market and Liquidity Risks
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.
A credit rating agency downgrade could significantly impact our businesses. We and Jefferies Group have credit ratings issued by various credit rating agencies. Maintaining our credit ratings is important to our and Jefferies Group's business and financial condition. We and Jefferies Group 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, Jefferies Group or 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 our and Jefferies Group's outstanding debt prices and our stock price. There can be no assurance that our or Jefferies Group's credit ratings will not be downgraded.
We are exposed to market risk and our principal trading and investments expose us to risk of loss. Market risk generally represents the risk that values of assets and liabilities or revenues will be adversely affected by changes in market conditions. 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 capital requirements, which could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and liquidity.
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.
We may be adversely affected by changes in or the discontinuance of Interbank Offered Rates ("IBORs"), in particular, London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR"). Central banks and regulators in a number of major jurisdictions (for example, the U.S., United Kingdom ("U.K."), European Union ("EU"), Switzerland and Japan) have convened working groups to find, and implement the transition to, suitable replacements for IBORs. The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates LIBOR, has announced that, after specified dates, LIBOR settings will cease to be provided by any administrator or will no longer be representative of the underlying market and economic reality that such settings are intended to measure. Those dates are: (i) June 30, 2023, in the case of the principal U.S. dollar LIBOR tenors (overnight and one, three, six and 12 months); and (ii) December 31, 2021, in all other cases (i.e., one week and two month U.S. dollar LIBOR and all tenors of non-U.S. dollar LIBOR). Accordingly, many existing LIBOR obligations will transition to another benchmark after June 30, 2023 or, in some cases, after December 31, 2021. However, those transition dates may occur earlier. The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority and certain U.S. regulators have encouraged market participants to cease entering into new contracts using U.S. dollar LIBOR by December 31, 2021, despite expected publication of U.S. dollar LIBOR through June 30, 2023. Regulators have also stated that, for certain purposes, market participants should transition away from U.S. dollar LIBOR sooner. It is not possible to know what the effect of any such changes in views or alternatives may have on the financial markets for LIBOR-linked financial instruments. Similar developments have occurred with respect to other IBORs.
We continue to work towards reducing our exposure to IBOR-referencing contracts, including derivatives, securities, and other financial products, to meet the industry milestones and recommendations published by National Working Groups ("NWG"), including the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (the "ARRC") in the U.S.
On October 23, 2020, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. ("ISDA") published a new supplement to the ISDA 2006 definitions and the related 2020 IBOR Fallbacks Protocol (the "Protocol"). These publications are intended to facilitate the incorporation of robust rate fallback provisions into both legacy and new derivative contracts with effect from January 25, 2021. A significant portion of our derivative exposures have incorporated the Protocol.
Our centralized LIBOR transition program continues to make progress with a focus on:
• continuing to reduce our overall exposure to LIBOR;
• implementing rate fallback provisions in new LIBOR contracts, where appropriate;
• continuing to educate and inform clients on LIBOR transition and the necessity to prepare for the cessation of LIBOR;
• assisting clients with discontinuing their issuance or use of LIBOR-linked products within the timelines specified by NWGs;
• supporting clients in their efforts to remediate contracts linked to LIBOR, including contracts to which we are a party; and
• planning for the implementation of rate fallback mechanisms across products based on the conventions recommended by NWGs upon the cessation of various IBORs.
Uncertainty regarding IBORs and the taking of discretionary actions or negotiation of rate fallback provisions could result in pricing volatility, loss of market share in certain products, adverse tax or accounting impacts, compliance, legal and operational
costs and risks associated with client disclosures, as well as systems disruption, model disruption and other business continuity issues. In addition, uncertainty relating to IBORs could result in increased capital requirements for us given potential low transaction volumes, a lack of liquidity or limited observability for exposures linked to IBORs or any emerging successor rates and operational incidents associated with changes in and the discontinuance of IBORs.
The language in our contracts and financial instruments that define IBORs, in particular LIBOR, have developed over time and have various events that trigger when a successor rate to the designated rate would be selected. If a trigger is satisfied, contracts and financial instruments often give the calculation agent (which may be us) discretion over the successor rate or benchmark to be selected. As a result, there is considerable uncertainty as to how the financial services industry will address the discontinuance of designated rates in contracts and financial instruments or such designated rates ceasing to be acceptable reference rates. This uncertainty could ultimately result in client disputes and litigation surrounding the proper interpretation of our IBOR-based contracts and financial instruments. Although we have adhered to the Protocol, it is applicable only to derivatives when both parties adhere to the Protocol or otherwise agree for it to apply to their derivatives.
Further, the discontinuation of an IBOR, changes in an IBOR or changes in market acceptance of any IBOR as a reference rate may also adversely affect the yield on loans or securities held by us, amounts paid on securities we have issued, amounts received and paid on derivative instruments we have entered into, the value of such loans, securities or derivative instruments, the trading market for securities, the terms of new loans being made using different or modified reference rates, our ability to effectively use derivative instruments to manage risk, or the availability or cost of our floating-rate funding and our exposure to fluctuations in interest rates.
Our business, financial condition and results of operations are dependent upon those of our individual businesses, and our aggregate investments in particular industries. We have investments in businesses and assets in a number of industries, primarily in the financial services industry. Our business, financial condition and results of operations are dependent on these investments. Any material adverse change in one of our businesses or investments, or in a particular industry in which we operate or invest, may cause material adverse changes to our business, financial condition and results of operations. The more capital we devote to a particular investment or industry may increase the risk that such investment could significantly impact our financial condition and results of operations, possibly in a material adverse way.
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.
From time to time we may invest in securities that are illiquid or subject to restrictions. From time to time we may invest in securities that are subject to restrictions which prohibit us from selling the subject securities for a period of time. Such agreements may limit our ability to generate liquidity quickly through the disposition of the underlying investment while the agreement is effective.
Economic Environment Risks
The effects of the outbreak of the novel coronavirus ("COVID-19") have negatively affected the global economy, the U.S. economy and the global financial markets, and may disrupt our operations and our clients' operations, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruption in the international and U.S. economies and financial markets. The spread of COVID-19 has caused illness, quarantines, cancellation of events and travel, business and school shutdowns, reduction in business activity and financial transactions, labor shortages, supply chain interruptions and overall economic and financial market instability. The ongoing effects of COVID-19 remain challenging to predict due to multiple uncertainties, including the transmissibility, severity, duration and resurgences of the outbreak; new virus variants and the potential extent of their spread; the application and effectiveness of health and safety measures that are voluntarily adopted by the public or required by government or public health authorities, including vaccines and treatments; the speed and strength of an economic recovery; and the impact to our employees and our operations, our clients' operations, suppliers and business partners. Impacts to our business could be widespread and global, and material impacts may be possible, including the following:
• Employees contracting COVID-19;
• Reductions in our operating effectiveness as our employees work from home or disaster-recovery locations;
• Unavailability of key personnel necessary to conduct our business activities;
• Unprecedented volatility in global financial markets;
• Reductions in revenue across our operating businesses;
• Closure of our offices or the offices of our clients;
• De-globalization;
• Potential regulatory scrutiny of our ability to adequately supervise our activities in accordance with applicable regulatory requirement; and
•Risk of cyber attacks or security vulnerabilities due to remote work environments and other changes in our operations.
We are taking necessary and recommended precautions to protect the safety and well-being of our employees and clients, including by means of conducting certain business activities and operations remotely. However, no assurance can be given that the steps being taken will be deemed to be adequate or appropriate, nor can we predict the level of disruption which will occur to our employees' ability to provide client support and service. We will continue to evaluate the nature and extent of the impact to our business.
Although the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in meaningfully lower stock prices for many companies, as well as the trading prices for our own securities, the markets have not only stabilized but returned to near pre-COVID-19 levels. However, the further spread of the COVID-19 outbreak may materially negatively impact stock and other securities prices and materially disrupt banking and other financial activity generally and in the areas in which we operate. This could likely result in a decline in demand for our products and services, which would negatively impact our liquidity position and our growth strategy. Any one or more of these developments could have a material adverse effect on our and our consolidated subsidiaries' business, operations, consolidated financial condition, and consolidated results of operations.
We may incur losses as a result of unforeseen or catastrophic events, including the emergence of a pandemic, cybersecurity incidents and events, terrorist attacks, climate-related incidents, or other natural disasters. The occurrence of unforeseen or catastrophic events, including the emergence of a pandemic, such as COVID-19, or other widespread health emergency (or concerns over the possibility of such an emergency), cybersecurity incidents and events, terrorist attacks, extreme climate-related incidents or events or other natural disasters, could create economic and financial disruptions, and could lead to operational difficulties (including travel limitations) that could impair our ability to manage our businesses.
Climate change concerns and incidents could disrupt our businesses, adversely affect the profitability of certain of our investments, adversely affect client activity levels, adversely affect the creditworthiness of our counterparties, and damage our reputation. Climate change may cause extreme weather events that disrupt operations at one or more of our locations, which may negatively affect our ability to service and interact with our clients, and also may adversely affect the value of certain of our investments, including our real estate and oil and gas investments. Climate change may also have a negative impact on the financial condition of our clients, which may decrease revenues from those clients and increase the credit risk associated with loans and other credit exposures to those clients. Additionally, our reputation and client relationships may be damaged as a result of our involvement, or our clients' involvement, in certain industries or projects associated with causing or exacerbating climate change, as well as any decisions we make to continue to conduct or change our activities in response to considerations relating to climate change. New regulations or guidance relating to climate change, as well as the perspectives of shareholders, employees and other stakeholders regarding climate change, may affect whether and on what terms and conditions we engage in certain activities or offer certain products.
Abrupt changes in market and general economic conditions have in the past adversely affected, and may in the future adversely affect, our business and profitability and cause volatility in our results of operations. Economic and market conditions have had, and will continue to have, a direct and material impact on our results of operations and financial condition because performance in the financial services industry is heavily influenced by the overall strength of general economic conditions and financial market activity.
Our investment banking revenue, in the form of advisory services and underwriting, is directly related to general economic conditions and corresponding financial market activity. When the outlook for such economic conditions is uncertain or negative, financial market activity generally tends to decrease, which reduces our investment banking revenues. Reduced expectations of U.S. economic growth or a decline in the global economic outlook could cause financial market activity to decrease and negatively affect our investment banking revenues.
A sustained and continuing market downturn could lead to or exacerbate declines in the number of securities transactions executed for clients and, therefore, to a decline in the revenues we receive from commissions and spreads. Correspondingly, a reduction of prices of the securities we hold in inventory or as investments would lead to reduced revenues.
Revenues from our asset management businesses have been and may continue to be negatively impacted by declining securities prices, as well as widely fluctuating securities prices. Because our asset management businesses hold long and short positions in
equity and debt securities, changes in the prices of these securities, as well as any decrease in the liquidity of these securities, may materially and adversely affect our revenues from asset management.
Similarly, our merchant banking businesses may suffer from the above-mentioned impacts of COVID-19 including employee and customer illnesses and quarantines, cancellations of events and travel, reductions in business activity and financial transactions, labor shortages, supply chain interruptions and overall economic and financial market instability. As an example, an overall reduction in business activity has, in the past, led to a decrease in global demand for oil and natural gas thereby causing lower prices for these commodities. Such dramatic price decreases could have a material adverse effect on our investments in Vitesse Energy and JETX Energy.
In addition, global economic conditions and global financial markets remain vulnerable to the potential risks posed by certain events, which could include, among other things, political and financial uncertainty in the U.S. and the EU, ongoing concern about Asia's economies, global supply disruptions, complications involving terrorism and armed conflicts around the world, or other challenges to global trade or travel, such as those that have occurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More generally, because our business is closely correlated to the general economic outlook, a significant deterioration in that outlook or realization of certain events would likely have an immediate and significant negative impact on our business and overall results of operations.
Changing financial, economic and political conditions could result in decreased revenues, losses or other adverse consequences. These include economic conditions that may be specific to the industries in which our businesses and investments operate, as well as a general economic slowdown, prolonged recession or other market downturn or disruption. Adverse impacts may include the following:
•A market downturn could lead to a decline in the volume of transactions executed for customers and, therefore, to a decline in revenues we receive from commissions and spreads;
•Adverse changes in the market could lead to decreases in the value of our holdings, both realized and unrealized;
•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 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;
•Adverse changes in the securities markets could lead to a reduction in revenues from asset management fees 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;
•Adverse changes in the financial markets could lead to regulatory restrictions that may limit or halt certain of our business activities;
•Limitations on the availability of credit can affect the ability of our businesses and investments to borrow on a secured or unsecured basis, which may adversely affect 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;
•Certain of our current and future businesses and investments may require additional third-party funding to succeed, such as venture capital funding, joint venture funding or other third-party capital. Failure to obtain such third-party funding may cause such business, investment or prospective investment to fail or progress slower than expected which could adversely affect its and our funding, liquidity, operations and profitability. In addition, such failure could also adversely affect our reputation which could adversely affect our business and future business prospects
•New or increased taxes on compensation payments such as bonuses may adversely affect our profits;
•Should one or more of our clients or competitors of our businesses or investments fail, our business prospects and revenue could be negatively impacted due to negative market sentiment causing clients to cease doing business with us and our lenders to cease loaning us money, which could adversely affect our businesses or investments, funding and liquidity; and
•Unfavorable economic conditions could have an adverse effect on the demand for new loans and the servicing of loans originated by third-parties, which would have an adverse impact on the operations and profitability of some of our financial services businesses and investments.
The U.K.'s exit from the EU could adversely affect our businesses and investments. The U.K. left the EU on January 31, 2020, with a transition period until December 31, 2020 during which time the U.K. followed EU rules and a U.K.-EU trade agreement was negotiated governing EU and U.K. relations from January 1, 2021 resulting in a Trade and Cooperation Agreement together with a Political Declaration covering a number of areas including financial services. The Trade and Cooperation Agreement does not include substantive provisions for financial services, in particular it does not allow U.K. investment firms to provide services into the EU under the Passporting regime.
Jefferies Group historically operated substantial parts of its EU businesses from entities based in the U.K. As a result, services to clients located in the European Economic Area ("EEA") jurisdiction are now provided by a wholly-owned subsidiary ("Jefferies GmbH") established in Germany which is authorized as a MiFID investment firm by BaFin. Client relationships have been migrated so that Jefferies GmbH can service EEA institutional clients across Investment Banking, Equities and Fixed Income sectors from its office in Frankfurt and branch offices in other EEA countries. Due to considerations such as operating expenses, liquidity, leverage and capital, the modified European operating framework will be more complex, less efficient and more costly than would otherwise have been the case, which could have an adverse impact on our businesses, results of operations and our ability to service clients. In addition, the potential impacts related to, among other things, the U.K.'s exit from the EU, the terms of the new economic and security relationship between the U.K. and the EU on the movement of goods, services, people and capital between the U.K. and the EU, customer behavior, economic conditions, interest rates, currency exchange rates, availability of capital or other matters are unclear and likely to change over time. The overall impact of the U.K.'s exit from the EU on any one or more factors, or more generally, could adversely affect our businesses, our results of operations and financial condition, including our revenues from trading and investment banking activities, particularly in Europe. We are continuing to monitor the impact of the U.K.'s exit from the EU on our businesses, our results of operations and financial condition.
Operational Risks
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.
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 and certain of our subsidiaries' exposure to acceptable levels as we conduct our businesses. We and certain of our subsidiaries apply comprehensive frameworks of limits on a variety of key metrics to constrain the risk profile of our business activities. These limits reflect our risk tolerances for business activity. The frameworks may include 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. While we and certain of our subsidiaries 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.
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, in addition to qualified, successful personnel in functional, non-revenue producing roles. Competitive pressures we experience with respect to employees could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and liquidity.
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 industries 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 and certain of our subsidiaries 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, cybersecurity incident, or other information security breach of, or vulnerability in, our technology systems, or those of our clients, partners, counterparties, or other third-party service providers we rely on, could have operational impacts, subject us to significant liability and harm our reputation. Our operations rely heavily on the secure processing, storage and transmission of financial, personal and other information in our computer systems and networks. In recent years, there have been several highly publicized incidents involving financial services companies reporting the unauthorized disclosure of client or other confidential information, as well as cyber attacks involving theft, dissemination and destruction of corporate information or other assets, which in some cases occurred as a result of failure to follow procedures by employees or contractors or as a result of actions by third-parties. Cyber attacks can originate from a variety of sources, including third-parties affiliated with foreign governments, organized crime or terrorist organizations, and malicious individuals both outside and inside a targeted company. Malicious actors may also attempt to compromise or induce our 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.
Like other financial services firms, we and our third-party service providers have been the target of cyber attacks. Although we and our service providers regularly defend against, respond to and mitigate the risks of cyberattacks, cybersecurity incidents among financial services firms and industry generally are on the rise. We are not aware of any material losses we have incurred relating to cyber attacks or other information security breaches. The techniques and malware used in these cyber attacks and cybersecurity incidents are increasingly sophisticated, change frequently and are often not recognized until launched because they are novel. Although we monitor the changing cybersecurity risk environment and seek to maintain reasonable security measures, including a suite of authentication and layered information security controls, no security measures are infallible, and
we cannot guarantee that our safeguards will always work or that they will detect, mitigate or remediate these risks in a timely manner. Despite our implementation of reasonable security measures and endeavoring to modify them as circumstances warrant, our computer systems, software and networks may be vulnerable to spam attacks, unauthorized access, distributed denial of service attacks, ransomware, computer viruses and other malicious code, as well as human error, natural disaster, power loss, and other events that could damage to our reputation, impact the security and stability of our operations, and expose us to class action lawsuits and regulatory investigation, action, and penalties, and significant liability.
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 evaluate the information security programs and defenses of third-party vendors, we cannot be certain that our reviews and oversight will identify all potential information security weaknesses, or that our vendors' information security protocols are or will be sufficient to withstand or adequately respond to a cyber attack, cybersecurity incident, or other information security breach. In addition, in order to access our products and services, or trade with us, our customers and counterparties may use networks, computers and other devices that are beyond our security control systems and processes.
Notwithstanding the precautions we take, if a cyber attack, cybersecurity incident, 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 reasonable security measures, to investigate and remediate vulnerabilities or other exposures or to communicate about cyber attacks, cybersecurity incidents, or other information security breaches to our customers, partners, third-party service providers, and counterparties. Though we have insurance against some cyber risks and attacks, we may be subject to litigation and financial losses that exceed our insurance 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. Successful cyber attacks, cybersecurity incidents, or other information security breaches 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 reasonable 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, cybersecurity incident, or other information security breach could occur and persist for an extended period of time without detection. We expect that any investigation of a cyber attack, cybersecurity incident, or other information security breach would take substantial amounts of time and resources, 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 caused by the cyber attack, cybersecurity incident, or other information security breach or how best to remediate it, and certain errors or actions could be repeated or compounded before they are discovered and remediated. All of these factors could further increase the costs and consequences of such a cyber attack, or cybersecurity incident. 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. and non-U.S. federal and state laws governing privacy and cybersecurity. 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 compromise or failure, employee negligence, fraud or misappropriation, could damage our reputation and cause us to lose clients and related revenue. Depending on the circumstances giving rise to the information security breach, this liability may not be subject to a contractual limit or an exclusion of consequential or indirect damages.
Employee misconduct could harm us by impairing our ability to attract and retain clients and subject us to significant legal liability and reputational harm. There is a risk that our employees could engage in misconduct that adversely affects our business. For example, our business often requires that we deal with confidential matters of great significance to our clients. If our employees were to improperly use or disclose confidential information provided by our clients, we could be subject to regulatory sanctions and suffer serious harm to our reputation, financial position, current client relationships and ability to attract future clients. We are also subject to a number of obligations and standards arising from our asset management business and our authority over the assets managed by our asset management business. In addition, our financial advisors may act in a fiduciary capacity, providing financial planning, investment advice, and discretionary asset management. The violation of these obligations and standards by any of our employees would adversely affect our clients and us. It is not always possible to deter employee misconduct, and the precautions we take to detect and prevent this activity may not be effective against certain misconduct, including conduct which is difficult to detect. The occurrence of significant employee misconduct could have a
material adverse financial effect or cause us significant reputational harm and/or legal and regulatory liability, which in turn could seriously harm our business and our prospects.
We may not be able to insure certain risks economically. We cannot be certain that we will be able to insure all risks that we desire to insure economically or that all of our insurers or reinsurers will be financially viable if we make a claim. If an uninsured loss or a loss in excess of insured limits should occur, or if we are required to pay a deductible for an insured loss, results of operations could be adversely affected.
Future acquisitions and dispositions of our businesses and investments are possible, changing the components of our assets and liabilities, and if unsuccessful or unfavorable, could reduce the value of our securities. Any future acquisitions or dispositions may result in significant changes in the composition of our assets and liabilities, as well as our business mix and prospects. Consequently, our financial condition, results of operations and the trading price of our securities may be affected by factors different from those affecting our financial condition, results of operations and trading price at the present time.
Our investment in Jefferies Finance may not prove to be successful and may adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition. At November 30, 2021, we had an approximately $776.2 million investment in Jefferies Finance. Many factors, most of which are outside of our control, can affect Jefferies Finance's business, including adverse investment banking and capital market conditions leading to a decline of syndicate loans, inability of borrowers to repay commitments, adverse changes to a borrower's credit worthiness, and other factors that directly and indirectly effect the results of operations, and consequently may adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition.
Our investment in Berkadia may not prove to be successful and may adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition. At November 30, 2021, we had an approximately $373.4 million investment in Berkadia. Many factors, most of which are outside of our control, can affect Berkadia's business, including loan losses in excess of reserves, a change in the relationships with U.S. Government-Sponsored Enterprises or federal agencies, a significant loss of customers, and other factors that directly and indirectly effect the results of operations, including the sales and profitability of Berkadia, and consequently may adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition.
If Berkadia suffered significant losses and was unable to repay its commercial paper borrowings, we would be exposed to loss pursuant to a reimbursement obligation to Berkshire Hathaway. Berkadia obtains funds generated by commercial paper sales of an affiliate of Berkadia. All of the proceeds from the commercial paper sales are used by Berkadia to fund new mortgage loans, servicer advances, investments and other working capital requirements. Repayment of the commercial paper is supported by a $1.5 billion surety policy issued by a Berkshire Hathaway insurance subsidiary and a Berkshire Hathaway corporate guaranty, and we have agreed to reimburse Berkshire Hathaway for one-half of any losses incurred thereunder. If Berkadia suffers significant losses and is unable to repay its commercial paper borrowings, we would suffer losses to the extent of our reimbursement obligation to Berkshire Hathaway. As of November 30, 2021, the aggregate amount of commercial paper outstanding was $1.47 billion.
Legal, Legislation and Regulation Risks
Newly introduced legislation and regulation may significantly affect our businesses and investments. Significant new legislation and regulation affecting the financial services industry is regularly proposed and sometimes adopted. 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. In the U.S., such initiatives frequently arise in the aftermath of elections that change the party of the president or the majority party in the House and/or Senate.
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the "Dodd-Frank Act") and the rules and regulations adopted by the CFTC and the SEC have introduced a comprehensive regulatory regime for swaps and SBS and parties that deal in such derivatives. One of Jefferies Group's subsidiaries is registered as a swap dealer with the CFTC and is a member of the NFA, is registered as a security-based swap dealer with the SEC and has applied to the SEC to register as an OTC Derivatives Dealer. We have incurred significant compliance and operational costs as a result of the swaps and SBS rules adopted by the CFTC and SEC pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act, and we expect that the complex regulatory framework will continue to require significant monitoring and compliance expenditures. We also will become subject to the SEC's rules with respect to OTC Derivative Dealers if Jefferies Group's subsidiary's application to register as an OTC Derivatives Dealer is approved. 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.
Similar types of swap regulation have been proposed or adopted in jurisdictions outside the U.S., including in the EU, the U.K. and Japan. For example, the EU and the U.K. have established regulatory requirements relating to portfolio reconciliation and reporting, clearing certain OTC derivatives and margining for uncleared derivatives activities under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation ("EMIR").
The Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation and a revision of the Market in Financial Instruments Directive (collectively referred to as "MiFID II") imposes certain restrictions as to the trading of shares and derivatives including 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 shares and certain derivative instruments), requirements affecting the way investment managers can obtain research, powers of regulators to impose position limits and provisions on regulatory sanctions. The EU published amended rules in August 2021, which include investor protection rules and rules relating to research on small and medium sized enterprises, effective in 2022.
The EU capital and liquidity legislation for banks implemented many of the finalized Basel III capital and liquidity standards, including in relation to the leverage ratio, market risk capital, and a net stable funding ratio. Certain of these changes began to be phased in from June 2021, and further changes will be required to be implemented from 2023. In addition, new prudential regimes for investment firms are in the process of being implemented in both the EU and the U.K. for MiFID authorized investment firms. The Investment Firms Regulation (IFR) and the Investment Firms Directive (IFD), being applicable to the U.K. and Europe, whilst simplifying the capital treatment for investment firms such as the U.K. entity, Jefferies International Limited, and, its European subsidiary, Jefferies GmbH, will include a requirement that a certain amount of variable remuneration for material risk takers be paid in non-cash instruments and have a deferral element. Implementation of this requirement is effective from the financial year commencing December 1, 2022 for Jefferies International Limited and December 1, 2021 for Jefferies GmbH (although the European implementation timeline for Jefferies GmbH could be delayed by the German regulator, resulting in a commencement date of December 1, 2022, being in line with the U.K.). Consequently, we will need to adapt our remuneration structures for those employees identified as material risk takers.
Increasing regulatory focus on evolving privacy and security issues and expanding laws could impact our businesses and investments and expose us to increased liability. The EU General Data Protection Regulation (the "EU GDPR" or "GDPR") applies in all EU Member States and also applies to entities established outside of the EU where such entity processes personal data in relation to: (i) the offering of goods or services to data subjects in the EEA; or (ii) monitoring the behavior of data subjects as far as that behavior takes place in the EEA. The U.K. has implemented the GDPR as part of its national law (referred to as the "U.K. GDPR"). The GDPR imposes a number of obligations on companies, including, without limitation: accountability and transparency requirements; compliance with the data protection rights of data subjects; and the prompt reporting of certain personal data breaches to both (1) the relevant data supervisory authority without undue delay unless the personal data breach is unlikely to result in a risk to the data subject's rights and freedoms; and (2) impacted individuals where the personal data breach is likely to result in a high risk with regard to their rights and freedoms.
The EU GDPR also includes restrictions on the transfers of personal data from the EEA to jurisdictions that are not recognized as having "adequate data protection laws". Obligations under the EU GDPR and implementing Member State legislation continue to evolve through legislation and regulatory guidance, for example imposing further restrictions on use of the standard contractual clauses ("SCCs") to transfer data to third countries by requiring companies to carry out a transfer privacy impact assessment.
The EU GDPR imposes significant fines for serious non-compliance of up to the higher of 4% of an organization's annual worldwide turnover or €20 million (or approximately £17.5 million under the U.K. GDPR). The EU GDPR identifies a list of points to consider when determining the level of fines to impose (including the nature, gravity and duration of the infringement). Data subjects also have a right to compensation as a result of infringement of the EU GDPR for financial or nonfinancial losses.
Following the U.K.'s departure from the EU, known as Brexit, the EU GDPR's data protection obligations continue to apply in the U.K. in substantially unvaried form under "U.K. GDPR". The U.K. GDPR exists alongside the U.K. Data Protection Act 2018 and its requirements are largely aligned with those under the EU GDPR and as such, may lead to similar compliance and operational costs with potential fines of up to £17.5 million or 4% of global turnover.
Other privacy laws at both federal and state levels are in effect in the U.S. and other regions, many of which involve heightened compliance obligations similar to those under GDPR. The privacy and cybersecurity legislative and regulatory landscape is evolving rapidly, and numerous proposals regarding privacy and cybersecurity are pending before U.S. and non-U.S. legislative and regulatory bodies. The adopted form of such developing legislation and regulation will determine the level of any resources which we will need to invest to ensure compliance. In the event of non-compliance with privacy laws and regulations, we could
face significant administrative and monetary sanctions as well as reputational damage which may have a material adverse effect on our operations, financial condition and prospects.
Extensive regulation of our businesses 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.
Regulators supervise certain of Jefferies Group's 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 advisors 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.
Certain of our subsidiaries are subject to regulatory financial capital holding requirements that could impact various capital allocation decisions or limit the operations of our broker-dealers. In particular, compliance with the financial capital holding requirements 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 and may restrict our swap dealers' ability to execute certain derivative transactions.
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.
Legal liability may harm our business. Many aspects of our businesses 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 businesses, including increases in the number and size of investment banking transactions and our expansion into new areas impose greater risks of liability. 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.
A change in tax laws in key jurisdictions could materially increase our tax expense. We are subject to tax in the U.S. and numerous international jurisdictions. Changes to income tax laws and regulations in any of the jurisdictions in which we operate, or in the interpretation of such laws, or the introduction of new taxes, could significantly increase our effective tax rate and ultimately reduce our cash flow from operating activities and otherwise have an adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations.
If our tax filing positions were to be challenged by federal, state and local, or 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.
Merchant Banking Risks
The performance of our oil and gas production and development investments, Vitesse Energy and JETX Energy, is impacted by uncertainties specific to the oil and gas industry which we cannot control and may adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition. At November 30, 2021, we had an approximately $510.8 million investment in Vitesse Energy and JETX Energy. The oil and gas industry, by its nature, involves a high degree of risk. The value of these investments may be impacted by changes in the prices of oil, gas and natural gas liquids, which are affected by local, regional and global events or conditions that affect supply and demand and which have a history of significant price volatility. These investments are also exposed to changes in regulations affecting the industry, which could increase our cost of compliance, increase taxes or reduce or delay business opportunities. In addition, there are numerous uncertainties inherent in the estimation of future oil and gas production and future income streams associated with production. As a result, actual results could materially differ from those we currently anticipate and our ability to profitably grow these investments could be adversely affected.
Our investment in real estate may not prove to be successful and may adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition. At November 30, 2021, we had an approximately $476.9 million investment in real estate businesses, including HomeFed. Many factors, most of which are outside of our control, can affect HomeFed's business, including the state of the housing market in general and other factors that directly or indirectly affect the results of operations, including the sales and profitability of HomeFed, and consequently may adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition.
Our investment in Linkem may not prove to be successful and may adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition. At November 30, 2021, we had an approximately $133.8 million investment in Linkem. Many factors, most of which are outside of our control, can affect Linkem's business, including the state of the Italian economy and capital markets in general, competition in the Italian telecommunications markets and other factors that directly and indirectly affect the results of operations, including the sales and profitability of Linkem, and consequently may adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition.
Our investment in FXCM may not prove to be successful and may adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition. At November 30, 2021, we had an approximately $99.4 million investment in FXCM. Many factors, most of which are outside of our control, can affect FXCM's business, including the state of international market and economic conditions which impact trading volume and currency volatility, changes in regulatory requirements and other factors that directly or indirectly affect the results of operations, including the sales and profitability of FXCM, and consequently may adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition.
Our investment in Idaho Timber may not prove to be successful and may adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition. At November 30, 2021, we had an approximately $87.5 million investment in Idaho Timber. Many factors, most of which are outside of our control, can affect Idaho Timber's business, including demand for its products, prices and availability of raw materials, global supply chain issues, and other factors that directly and indirectly affect the results of operations, including the sales and profitability of Idaho Timber, and consequently may adversely affect our results of operations or financial condition.

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ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.
Not applicable.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
Item 2. Properties.
Our global executive offices and principal administrative offices are located at 520 Madison Avenue, New York, New York under an operating lease arrangement.
Jefferies Group maintains offices in over 30 cities throughout the world including its global headquarters in New York City, its European headquarters in London and its Asia Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong. In addition, Jefferies Group maintains backup data center facilities with redundant technologies for each of its three main data center hubs in Jersey City, London and Hong Kong. Jefferies Group leases all of its office space, or contract via service arrangement, which management believes is adequate for its business.
HomeFed is the developer of various real estate properties and has an aggregate book value of approximately $434.3 million at November 30, 2021.
Our businesses lease other manufacturing, warehousing, office and headquarters facilities. The facilities vary in size and have leases expiring at various times, subject, in certain instances, to renewal options. See Note 13 to our consolidated financial statements.

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ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
Item 3. Legal Proceedings.
The information required by this Item 3 is incorporated by reference from the "Contingencies" section in Note 22 in the Notes to consolidated financial statements in Item 8 of Part II of this report, which is incorporated herein by reference.

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ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURE
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.
Not applicable.
PART II

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ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY
Item 5. Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.
Our common shares are traded on the NYSE under the symbol JEF. As of January 20, 2022, there were approximately 1,434 record holders of the common shares.
We paid quarterly cash dividends of $0.20 per share for each of the first two quarters of 2021 and $0.25 per share for each of the last two quarters of 2021. We paid quarterly cash dividends of $0.15 per share for each quarter of 2020. We paid quarterly cash dividends of $0.125 per share for each quarter of 2019, as well as $1.50 in a special distribution (we distributed all of our 7,514,477 Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. ("Spectrum Brands") shares through a special pro rata dividend effective on October 11, 2019 to our stockholders of record as of the close of business on September 30, 2019). In January 2022, our Board of Directors increased our quarterly dividend by 20% to $0.30 per share. The payment of dividends in the future is subject to the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend upon general business conditions, legal and contractual restrictions on the payment of dividends and other factors that our Board of Directors may deem to be relevant.
During the year ended November 30, 2021, we purchased a total of 8.5 million of our common shares for $266.8 million, or an average price of $31.25 per share. At November 30, 2021, we had approximately $162.5 million available for future repurchases. In January 2022, the Board of Directors increased the share repurchase authorization back up to $250.0 million.
Separately, during the year ended November 30, 2021, we repurchased an aggregate of 102,805 shares in connection with our share compensation plans which allow participants to surrender shares to satisfy certain tax liabilities arising from the vesting of restricted shares and the distribution of restricted share units. The total number of shares purchased does not include unvested shares forfeited back to us pursuant to the terms of our share compensation plans.
There were no unregistered sales of equity securities during the period covered by this report.
The following table presents information on our purchases of our common shares during the three months ended November 30, 2021 (dollars in thousands, except per share amounts):
(a) Total
Number of
Shares
Purchased (b) Average
Price Paid
per Share (c) Total Number of Shares Purchased as
Part of Publicly
Announced Plans
or Programs (1) (d) Approximate Dollar Value of Shares that May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs (1)
September 1, 2021 to September 30, 2021 - $ - - $ 198,230
October 1, 2021 to October 31, 2021 400,000 $ 42.96 400,000 $ 232,816
November 1, 2021 to November 30, 2021 1,640,000 $ 42.90 1,640,000 $ 162,466
Total 2,040,000 2,040,000
(1)In September 2021, the Board of Directors increased the share repurchase authorization by $51.8 million to $250.0 million. At November 30, 2021, $162.5 million remains available for future purchases. In January 2022, the Board of Directors increased the share repurchase authorization back up to $250.0 million.
Stockholder Return Performance Graph
Set forth below is a graph comparing the cumulative total stockholder return on our common shares against the cumulative total return of the Standard & Poor's 500 Stock Index and the Standard & Poor's 500 Financials Index for the period commencing December 31, 2016 to November 30, 2021. Index data was furnished by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The graph assumes that $100 was invested on December 31, 2016 in each of our common stock, the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Financials Index and that all dividends were reinvested.

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
Item 6. Selected Financial Data.
The following selected financial data have been summarized from our consolidated financial statements. They should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and Item 7, Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations of this report.
Twelve Months Ended
November 30, 2021 Twelve Months Ended
November 30, 2020 Twelve months ended
November 30, 2019 Eleven Months Ended
November 30, 2018 Twelve Months Ended
December 31, 2017
(In thousands, except per share amounts)
Selected Statements of Operations Data (a)
Net revenues $ 8,185,329 $ 6,010,874 $ 3,892,976 $ 3,764,034 $ 4,077,445
Total expenses 5,836,805 4,868,308 3,617,363 3,524,957 3,396,042
Income (loss) related to associated companies (94,419) (75,483) 202,995 57,023 (74,901)
Income from continuing operations before income taxes 2,254,105 1,067,083 478,608 296,100 606,502
Income tax provision (benefit) 576,729 298,673 (483,955) 19,008 642,286
Income (loss) from continuing operations 1,677,376 768,410 962,563 277,092 (35,784)
Income from discontinued operations, including gain on disposal, net of taxes - - - 773,984 288,631
Net (income) loss attributable to the redeemable noncontrolling interests
826 1,558 286 (37,263) (84,576)
Net income attributable to Jefferies Financial Group common shareholders 1,667,403 769,605 959,593 1,022,318 167,351
Per share:
Basic earnings (loss) per common share attributable to Jefferies Financial Group common shareholders:
Income (loss) from continuing operations $ 6.29 $ 2.68 $ 3.07 $ 0.82 $ (0.10)
Income from discontinued operations, including gain on disposal - - - 2.11 0.55
Net income $ 6.29 $ 2.68 $ 3.07 $ 2.93 $ 0.45
Diluted earnings (loss) per common share attributable to Jefferies Financial Group common shareholders:
Income (loss) from continuing operations $ 6.13 $ 2.65 $ 3.03 $ 0.81 $ (0.10)
Income from discontinued operations, including gain on disposal - - - 2.09 0.55
Net income $ 6.13 $ 2.65 $ 3.03 $ 2.90 $ 0.45
(a)Prior to the fourth quarter of 2018, because our fiscal year end was December 31, we reflected Jefferies Group in our consolidated financial statements utilizing a one month lag. In connection with our change in fiscal year end to November 30, we eliminated the one month lag utilized to reflect Jefferies Group results beginning with the fourth quarter of 2018. Therefore, our results for the eleven months ended November 30, 2018, include twelve month results for Jefferies Group and eleven months for the remainder of our results.
At November 30, At December 31,
2021 2020 2019 2018 2017
(In thousands, except per share amounts)
Selected Statements of Financial Condition Data
Total assets $ 60,404,110 $ 53,118,352 $ 49,460,234 $ 47,131,095 $ 47,169,108
Long-term debt 9,125,745 8,352,039 8,337,061 7,617,563 7,885,783
Mezzanine equity 150,400 149,676 151,605 144,779 551,593
Shareholders' equity 10,553,755 9,403,893 9,579,705 10,060,866 10,105,957
Book value per common share $ 43.33 $ 37.65 $ 32.85 $ 32.72 $ 28.37
Cash dividends per common share $ 0.90 $ 0.60 $ 0.50 $ 0.45 $ 0.325
Total dividends per common share $ 0.90 $ 0.60 $ 2.00 $ 0.45 $ 0.325

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
The purpose of this section is to discuss and analyze our consolidated financial condition, liquidity and capital resources and results of operations for the years ended November 30, 2021 and 2020. For a discussion of our results of operations and liquidity and capital resources for the year ended November 30, 2019, see "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in Part II, Item 7 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended November 30, 2020, which was filed with the SEC on January 29, 2021.
This analysis should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related footnote disclosures contained in this report and the following "Cautionary Statement for Forward-Looking Information."
Cautionary Statement for Forward-Looking Information
Statements included in this report may contain forward-looking statements. Such statements may relate, but are not limited, to projections of revenues, income or loss, development expenditures, plans for growth and future operations, competition and regulation, as well as assumptions relating to the foregoing. Such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which cannot be predicted or quantified. When used in this report, the words "will," "would," "could," "estimates," "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "plans," "intends" and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Future events and actual results could differ materially from those set forth in, contemplated by or underlying the forward-looking statements.
Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from any results projected, forecasted, estimated or budgeted or may materially and adversely affect our actual results include, but are not limited to, those set forth in Item 1A. Risk Factors and elsewhere in this report and in our other public filings with the SEC.
Undue reliance should not be placed on these forward-looking statements, which are applicable only as of the date hereof. Except as may be required by law, we undertake no obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date of this report or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
Results of Operations
We are engaged in investment banking and capital markets and asset management, and own a legacy portfolio of businesses and investments that we have historically denominated as our "Merchant Banking" business. The following tables present a summary of our financial results.
A summary of results of operations for the year ended November 30, 2021 is as follows (in thousands):
Investment Banking and Capital Markets Asset Management Merchant Banking Corporate Parent Company Interest Consolidation Adjustments Total
Net revenues
$ 6,796,631 $ 336,690 $ 1,040,733 $ 3,042 $ - $ 8,233 $ 8,185,329
Expenses:
Cost of sales - - 470,870 - - - 470,870
Compensation and benefits 3,323,601 82,726 109,186 35,611 - - 3,551,124
Non-compensation expenses:
Floor brokerage and clearing fees 266,035 35,825 - - - - 301,860
Selling, general and other expenses 1,024,617 48,913 160,337 19,253 26,004 (677) 1,278,447
Interest expense (1) - - 23,951 - 53,133 - 77,084
Depreciation and amortization 85,178 1,901 67,577 2,764 - - 157,420
Total non-compensation expenses 1,375,830 86,639 251,865 22,017 79,137 (677) 1,814,811
Total expenses
4,699,431 169,365 831,921 57,628 79,137 (677) 5,836,805
Income (loss) before income taxes and loss related to associated companies
2,097,200 167,325 208,812 (54,586) (79,137) 8,910 2,348,524
Loss related to associated companies - - (94,419) - - - (94,419)
Income (loss) before income taxes $ 2,097,200 $ 167,325 $ 114,393 $ (54,586) $ (79,137) $ 8,910 2,254,105
Income tax provision
576,729
Net income $ 1,677,376
(1) Interest expense within Merchant Banking of $24.0 million for the year ended November 30, 2021 primarily includes $20.7 million for Foursight Capital and $3.2 million for Vitesse Energy.
A summary of results of operations for the year ended November 30, 2020 is as follows (in thousands):
Investment Banking and Capital Markets Asset Management Merchant Banking Corporate Parent Company Interest Consolidation Adjustments Total
Net revenues
$ 4,989,138 $ 235,255 $ 764,460 $ 13,258 $ - $ 8,763 $ 6,010,874
Expenses:
Cost of sales - - 338,588 - - - 338,588
Compensation and benefits 2,735,080 89,527 77,072 39,184 - - 2,940,863
Non-compensation expenses:
Floor brokerage and clearing fees 241,083 25,509 - - - - 266,592
Selling, general and other expenses 810,753 46,045 199,128 26,197 - (3,167) 1,078,956
Interest expense (1) - - 31,425 - 53,445 - 84,870
Depreciation and amortization 82,334 5,247 67,362 3,496 - - 158,439
Total non-compensation expenses 1,134,170 76,801 297,915 29,693 53,445 (3,167) 1,588,857
Total expenses
3,869,250 166,328 713,575 68,877 53,445 (3,167) 4,868,308
Income (loss) before income taxes and loss related to associated companies
1,119,888 68,927 50,885 (55,619) (53,445) 11,930 1,142,566
Loss related to associated companies - - (75,483) - - - (75,483)
Income (loss) before income taxes
$ 1,119,888 $ 68,927 $ (24,598) $ (55,619) $ (53,445) $ 11,930 1,067,083
Income tax provision
298,673
Net income $ 768,410
(1) Interest expense within Merchant Banking of $31.4 million for the year ended November 30, 2020 primarily includes $26.7 million for Foursight Capital and $4.7 million for Vitesse Energy.
A summary of results of operations for the year ended November 30, 2019 is as follows (in thousands):
Investment Banking and Capital Markets Asset Management Merchant Banking Corporate Parent Company Interest Consolidation Adjustments Total
Net revenues
$ 3,035,988 $ 84,894 $ 735,213 $ 32,833 $ - $ 4,048 $ 3,892,976
Expenses:
Cost of sales - - 319,641 - - - 319,641
Compensation and benefits 1,641,814 63,305 61,767 58,005 - - 1,824,891
Non-compensation expenses:
Floor brokerage and clearing fees 202,425 20,715 - - - - 223,140
Selling, general and other expenses 767,150 40,432 162,832 39,820 - (591) 1,009,643
Interest expense (1) - - 34,129 - 53,048 - 87,177
Depreciation and amortization 77,549 2,042 69,805 3,475 - - 152,871
Total non-compensation expenses 1,047,124 63,189 266,766 43,295 53,048 (591) 1,472,831
Total expenses
2,688,938 126,494 648,174 101,300 53,048 (591) 3,617,363
Income (loss) before income taxes and income related to associated companies 347,050 (41,600) 87,039 (68,467) (53,048) 4,639 275,613
Income related to associated companies - 474 202,453 - - 68 202,995
Income (loss) before income taxes $ 347,050 $ (41,126) $ 289,492 $ (68,467) $ (53,048) $ 4,707 478,608
Income tax benefit (483,955)
Net income $ 962,563
(1) Interest expense within Merchant Banking of $34.1 million for the year ended November 30, 2019 primarily includes $29.0 million for Foursight Capital and $4.8 million for Vitesse Energy.
The composition of our financial results has varied over time and we expect will continue to evolve. Our strategy focuses on continuing to build out our investment banking effort, enhancing our capital markets businesses and further developing our Leucadia Asset Management alternative asset management platform, while returning excess cash to shareholders. The following factors and events should be considered in evaluating our financial results as they impact comparisons:
Our 2021 financial results were impacted by:
•Record results from Investment Banking and Capital Markets:
◦Record Investment Banking net revenues of $4.42 billion, including record advisory net revenues of $1.87 billion, record equity underwriting net revenues of $1.56 billion and record debt underwriting net revenues of $935.1 million;
◦Combined Capital Markets net revenues of $2.26 billion, including record equities net revenues of $1.30 billion and fixed income net revenues of $959.1 million;
•Record Asset Management revenues (before allocated net interest) of $381.6 million; and
•Pre-tax income of $114.4 million related to our Merchant Banking businesses reflecting:
◦Record revenue and pre-tax income from Idaho Timber; and
◦Mark-to-market increases in the value of several of our investments in public and private companies.
Our 2020 financial results were impacted by:
•Then record results from Investment Banking and Capital Markets:
◦Then record Investment Banking net revenues of $2.40 billion, including advisory net revenues of $1.05 billion, equity underwriting net revenues of $902.0 million and debt underwriting net revenues of $546.0 million;
◦Record combined Capital Markets net revenues of $2.47 billion, including then record equities net revenues of $1.13 billion and record fixed income net revenues of $1.34 billion;
•Then record Asset Management revenues (before allocated net interest) of $283.7 million; and
•Pre-tax loss of $24.6 million related to our Merchant Banking businesses reflecting:
◦Then record performance from Idaho Timber and a positive contribution from Vitesse Energy;
◦A gain of $61.5 million from effective short-term hedges against mark-to-market and fair value decreases in some of our other investments within Merchant Banking;
◦A $44.2 million non-cash charge to write down the value of our investment in WeWork in the first half of 2020;
◦Non-cash charges of $73.9 million related to write-downs of real estate investments at HomeFed; and
◦Non-cash charge of $13.2 million to write down Vitesse Energy's oil and gas assets in the Denver-Julesburg Basin ("DJ Basin") and $34.6 million to write down the value of our investment in JETX Energy to reflect the decline in oil prices.
Our 2019 financial results were impacted by:
•Investment Banking net revenues of $1.52 billion, including advisory net revenues of $767.4 million, equity underwriting net revenues of $362.0 million and debt underwriting net revenues of $407.3 million;
•Combined Capital Markets net revenues of $1.46 billion, including equities net revenues of $774.0 million and fixed income net revenues of $681.4 million;
•The special dividend of our interest in Spectrum Brands of $451.1 million, removing the investment from our Merchant Banking portfolio going forward;
•A $205.0 million pre-tax gain on the sale of our remaining 31% interest in National Beef;
•A $72.1 million pre-tax gain on the revaluation of our 70% interest in HomeFed to fair value in connection with the acquisition of the remaining common stock of HomeFed;
•A reduction during 2019 to the estimated fair value of WeWork of $182.3 million; and
•A nonrecurring non-cash tax benefit of $544.6 million related to the closing of our available for sale portfolio, which triggered the realization of lodged tax benefits from earlier years;
Investment Banking and Capital Markets, and Asset Management
Our Investment Banking and Capital Markets reportable segment and Asset Management reportable segment primarily comprise our investment in Jefferies Group.
Investment Banking and Capital Markets
A summary of results of operations for our Investment Banking and Capital Markets reportable segment is as follows (in thousands):
2021 2020 2019
Net revenues $ 6,796,631 $ 4,989,138 $ 3,035,988
Expenses:
Compensation and benefits 3,323,601 2,735,080 1,641,814
Non-compensation expenses:
Floor brokerage and clearing fees 266,035 241,083 202,425
Selling, general and other expenses 1,024,617 810,753 767,150
Depreciation and amortization 85,178 82,334 77,549
Total non-compensation expenses 1,375,830 1,134,170 1,047,124
Total expenses
4,699,431 3,869,250 2,688,938
Income before income taxes $ 2,097,200 $ 1,119,888 $ 347,050
Our Investment Banking and Capital Markets reportable segment comprises many business units, with many interactions and much integration among them. Business activities include the sales, trading, origination and advisory effort for various equity, fixed income, commodities, foreign exchange and advisory services. Our results in any given period can be materially affected by conditions in global financial markets, economic conditions generally, and our own activities and positions.
Revenues by Source
Net revenues presented for our Investment Banking and Capital Markets reportable segment 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, including the net interest cost of allocated long-term debt, which is a function of the mix of each business's associated assets and liabilities and the related funding costs.
The following provides a summary of net revenues by source (in thousands):
2021 2020 2019
Advisory
$ 1,873,560 $ 1,053,500 $ 767,421
Equity underwriting
1,557,364 902,016 361,972
Debt underwriting
935,131 545,978 407,336
Total underwriting 2,492,495 1,447,994 769,308
Other investment banking
57,196 (103,330) (14,617)
Total investment banking
4,423,251 2,398,164 1,522,112
Equities
1,300,877 1,128,910 773,979
Fixed income
959,122 1,340,792 681,362
Total capital markets 2,259,999 2,469,702 1,455,341
Other
113,381 121,272 58,535
Total Investment Banking and Capital Markets (1) $ 6,796,631 $ 4,989,138 $ 3,035,988
(1)Allocated net interest is not separately disaggregated in presenting our Investment Banking and Capital Markets reportable segment within Net Revenues by Source. This presentation is aligned to our Investment Banking and Capital Markets internal performance measurement.
Investment Banking Revenues
Investment banking is comprised of revenues from:
• advisory services with respect to mergers/acquisitions, restructurings/recapitalizations and private capital advisory transactions;
• underwriting services, which include underwriting and placement services related to corporate debt, municipal bonds, mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, equity and equity-linked securities and loan syndication;
• our 50% share of net earnings from Jefferies Finance; and
• securities and loans received or acquired in connection with our investment banking activities.
The following table sets forth our investment banking activities (dollars in billions):
Deals Completed Aggregate Value
2021 2020 2019 2021 2020 2019
Advisory transactions 315 228 195 $ 380.4 $ 217.5 $ 241.6
Public and private equity and convertible offerings 426 286 166 $ 145.6 $ 103.5 $ 45.3
Public and private debt financings 812 639 779 $ 390.9 $ 255.8 $ 190.7
Investment banking revenues were a record $4.42 billion for 2021, compared with $2.40 billion for 2020, reflecting record advisory and underwriting revenues.
Our 2021 advisory revenues were a record $1.87 billion, up $820.1 million, or 77.8% from 2020, primarily due to a significant increase in the number and values of transactions, including a significant contribution from Special Purpose Acquisition Companies ("SPACs") advisory transactions in 2021.
Our underwriting revenues for 2021 were a record $2.49 billion, an increase of $1.04 billion, or 72.1%, from 2020, with record net revenues in equity underwriting of $1.56 billion and record net revenues of $935.1 million in debt underwriting, as clients
took advantage of the strong equity environment and the low interest rate environment. Our equity underwriting results also include increased revenues from SPAC offerings, as well as strong revenues from at-the-money offerings.
Other investment banking revenues were $57.2 million for 2021, compared with a loss of $103.3 million for 2020. Other investment banking revenues include our share of the net earnings (loss) of the Jefferies Finance joint venture. In 2021, Jefferies Finance achieved record underwriting volumes on the back of the strength of the leveraged loan market and an active private-equity backed mergers and acquisitions environment. The Jefferies Finance results in 2021 were partially offset by a $56.0 million one-time charge incurred by Jefferies Finance related to refinancing outstanding debt. Results of Jefferies Finance in 2020 were impacted by unrealized losses related to the write-down of commitments and loans held-for-sale, primarily due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the markets and the economy. The prior year results were also impacted by unrealized write-downs of private equity investments received or acquired in connection with our investment banking activities.
At November 30, 2021, Jefferies Group's investment banking backlog is robust and consistent with levels from a year ago. As an indicator of net revenues in a given future period, backlog is subject to limitations. The time frame for the realization of revenues from these expected transactions varies and is influenced by factors we do not control. Transactions not included in the estimate may occur, and expected transactions may also be modified or cancelled.
Equities Net Revenues
Equities are 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, including capital introductions and outsourced trading; and
•wealth management services.
Total equities net revenues were a record $1.30 billion for 2021, an increase of 15.2%, over the previous year record of $1.13 billion for 2020. Overall, our record results were driven by strong client activity and trading performance across all regions.
Our global cash equities business had record results driven by significant client activity and strong trading revenue, including trading gains from SPAC-related activity, and our electronic trading platform continues to expand and achieve record results. Our derivatives business achieved record results, driven by strong client activity and trading revenues. Our prime services franchise had record results driven by higher balances and increased client activity, as well as higher financing revenues in our securities finance business. Our results were slightly offset by lower revenues in our global convertibles businesses primarily driven by lower trading volumes and volatility.
Our execution franchise continues to be top-ranked by Greenwich Associates in electronic trading and our global convertibles business was ranked #1 in global overall quality. Each of our research franchises in the U.S., Europe, and across Asia Pacific are now ranked within the top 8 by Institutional Investor. Our global distribution platform has received several top 5 rankings by Institutional Investor in sales and sector strategy.
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, distressed, emerging markets, municipal and sovereign securities and bank loans, as well as foreign exchange execution on behalf of clients;
•interest rate derivatives and credit derivatives; and
•financing services offered to clients.
Fixed income net revenues totaled $959.1 million for 2021, a decrease of 28.5% compared with record net revenues of $1.34 billion for 2020, driven by reduced global trading volumes across several products. While 2021 revenues decreased from 2020, our fixed income franchise produced solid overall trading results across most of our businesses, reflecting continued strength in certain of our credit-focused businesses and strong client demand in structuring and financing credit products and for trading securitized products. The results in 2020 significantly benefited from strong trading volumes due to extremely active markets and high levels of volatility.
Net revenues for 2021 were higher in our securitized markets groups and distressed trading business, as compared with the prior year. In addition, 2021 results benefited from trading gains in our municipal securities business compared to 2020 when markets experienced a significant sell-off due to the impact of COVID-19. Our revenues also benefited from ongoing investments across our European credit franchise.
Our 2021 results also include lower revenues in our U.S. and International rates businesses due to a decline in trading opportunities, as a result of lower volatility, as the prior year benefited from significant client activity and wider bid-offer spreads. Lower results across our investment grade corporates and emerging markets businesses, as well as our high yield and loan trading businesses, were driven by reduced client activity and lower levels of volatility in 2021.
Other
Other is comprised of revenues from:
• Berkadia and other investments (other than Jefferies Finance, which is included in Other investment banking);
• principal investments in private equity and hedge funds managed by third-parties and are not part of our asset management platform and other strategic investment positions; and
• investments held as part of employee benefit plans, including deferred compensation plans (for which we incur an equal and offsetting amount of compensation expenses).
Our net revenues from our other business category totaled $113.4 million for 2021, a decrease of $7.9 million compared with $121.3 million for 2020.
Results for 2021 include net revenues of $130.6 million from our share of the income from Berkadia compared with $68.9 million in 2020. The higher net revenues for 2021 are due to significant increases in debt and investment sales volumes. The net revenues for 2020 were impacted by the impairment of mortgage servicing rights as a result of lower interest rates, higher loan loss provisions and a decline in loan originations due to the impact of COVID-19. Other revenues also include allocated interest expense related to our investment in Berkadia.
Results for 2020 also include gains of $61.5 million from macro hedges that were bought and sold in 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Compensation and Benefits
Compensation and benefits expense consists of salaries, benefits, commissions, annual cash compensation and share-based awards and the amortization of share-based and cash compensation awards to employees. Cash and 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 during the year of the award. Compensation and benefits expense includes amortization expense associated with these awards to the extent vesting is contingent on future service. In addition, the awards to our Chief Executive Officer and President contain market and performance conditions and the awards are amortized over their service periods.
Compensation and benefits expense increased to $3.32 billion in 2021 from $2.74 billion in 2020. The following table provides a summary of compensation and benefits expense (dollars in thousands):
2021 2020
Compensation expense without future service requirements $ 2,935,311 $ 2,242,701
Amortization of share-based and cash-based awards 201,487 312,761
Amendment of certain service provisions 186,803 179,618
Total Compensation and benefits expense $ 3,323,601 $ 2,735,080
Compensation and benefits expense as a percentage of Net revenues 48.9 % 54.8 %
Compensation and benefits expense as a percentage of Net revenues, excluding the impact of the amendment of certain service provisions 46.2 % 51.2 %
A significant portion of compensation expense is highly variable with net revenues. Compensation and benefits expense increased at a lower rate than the increase in net revenues. During the fourth quarter of 2021 and the fourth quarter of 2020, Jefferies Group amended the service requirement provisions of certain cash-based awards that had been granted during previous years. Compensation expense of $186.8 million and $179.6 million, respectively, was recorded to reflect the acceleration of amortization that resulted from these amendments. Amortization of share-based and cash-based awards decreased in 2021 as a result of the accelerated amortization recognized in 2020.
Non-Compensation Expenses
Non-compensation expenses include floor brokerage and clearing fees, underwriting costs, technology and communications expense, occupancy and equipment rental expense, business development, professional services, bad debt provision, impairment charges, depreciation and amortization expense and other costs. All of these expenses, other than floor brokerage and clearing fees, and depreciation and amortization expense, are included in Selling, general and other expenses in the Consolidated Statements of Operations.
Non-compensation expenses were $1.38 billion for 2021, an increase of $241.7 million, or 21.3%, compared with $1.13 billion for 2020. Non-compensation expenses as a percentage of Investment Banking and Capital Markets net revenues were 20.2% and 22.7% for 2021 and 2020, respectively, demonstrating the operating leverage inherent in our business.
The increase in non-compensation expenses was largely due to higher Floor brokerage and clearing fees on increased trading volumes in equities and higher underwriting costs and business development expenses as investment banking activity increased and higher costs associated with our increased recruiting efforts. The increase also included higher technology and communication expenses, primarily related to the development of various trading and management systems and increased market data costs. Professional services expenses were also higher primarily due to legal and agency fees to support growing activity across our businesses.
Results in 2021 also included higher non-compensation expenses, primarily due to an increase in bad debt expense mostly related to a specific default in our prime brokerage business and $38.2 million in costs related to the early redemption of Jefferies Group's senior notes, partially offset by a reduction in the loss provision for investment banking receivables.
Asset Management
Our asset management business is a diversified alternative asset management platform offering institutional clients an innovative range of investment strategies and asset classes directly and through our affiliated asset managers. We provide access to capital and provide certain of our affiliated asset managers with operational infrastructure and global marketing and distribution.
A summary of results of operations for our Asset Management reportable segment is as follows (in thousands):
2021 2020 2019
Net revenues $ 336,690 $ 235,255 $ 84,894
Expenses:
Compensation and benefits 82,726 89,527 63,305
Non-compensation expenses:
Floor brokerage and clearing fees 35,825 25,509 20,715
Selling, general and other expenses 48,913 46,045 40,432
Depreciation and amortization 1,901 5,247 2,042
Total non-compensation expenses 86,639 76,801 63,189
Total expenses
169,365 166,328 126,494
Income (loss) before income taxes and income related to associated companies 167,325 68,927 (41,600)
Income related to associated companies - - 474
Income (loss) before income taxes $ 167,325 $ 68,927 $ (41,126)
Revenues
Asset management net revenues include the following:
• Total asset management fees: management and performance fees from funds and accounts managed by us;
• Revenue from arrangements with strategic affiliates: revenues from affiliated asset managers in which we hold interests that entitle us to portions of their revenues and/or profits, as well as earnings on our ownership interests in our affiliated asset managers; and
• Investment return: this includes investment income from capital invested in and managed by us and our affiliated asset managers.
The key components of asset management revenues are the level of assets under management and the performance return, for the most part on an absolute basis and, in certain cases, 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. In some instances, performance fees and similar revenues are generally recognized once a year when they become fixed and determinable and are not probable of being significantly reversed, typically in December. As a result, a significant portion of our performance fees and similar revenues generated from investment returns in a calendar year are recognized in our following fiscal year.
The following summarizes the results of our Asset Management businesses revenues by asset class (in thousands):
2021 2020 2019
Asset management fees:
Equities $ 6,927 $ 6,158 $ 4,390
Multi-asset 7,909 8,544 18,798
Total asset management fees
14,836 14,702 23,188
Revenue from arrangements with strategic affiliates (1) 105,897 11,837 1,807
Total asset management fees and revenues
120,733 26,539 24,995
Investment return (2) 260,864 257,200 100,447
Allocated net interest (2) (44,907) (48,484) (40,548)
Total Asset Management revenues $ 336,690 $ 235,255 $ 84,894
(1)The amounts include our share of fees received by affiliated asset management companies with which we have revenue and profit share arrangements, as well as earnings on our ownership interest in affiliated asset managers.
(2)Allocated net interest represents an allocation to Asset Management of long-term debt interest expense, net of interest income on our Cash and cash equivalents and other sources of liquidity. Allocated net interest has been disaggregated to increase transparency and to make clearer actual Investment return. We believe that aggregating Investment return and Allocated net interest would obscure the Investment return by including an amount that is unique to our credit spreads, debt maturity profile, capital structure, liquidity risks and allocation methods.
Asset management net revenues for 2021 were a record $336.7 million, compared with $235.3 million for 2020, driven by a substantial increase in asset management fees and revenues and higher investment returns across certain platforms. Asset management fees and revenues in 2021 of $120.7 million, as compared with $26.5 million in the prior year, were driven by significant increases in management, performance and similar fees and revenues from our strategic affiliates.
Expenses
The increase in expenses in the 2021 as compared with 2020 primarily reflects an increase in Floor brokerage and clearing fees in 2021 partially offset by the wind down of one of our businesses in the second quarter of 2020.
Assets under Management
The tables below include only third-party assets under management by us, excluding those of our affiliated asset managers.
Assets under management by predominant asset class were as follows (in millions):
November 30,
2021 2020
Assets under management:
Equities $ 349 $ 481
Multi-asset 482 293
Total $ 831 $ 774
Changes in assets under management during the year were as follows (in millions):
2021 2020
Balance, beginning of period $ 774 $ 1,216
Net cash flow in (out) 21 (319)
Net market appreciation (depreciation)
36 (123)
Balance, end of period $ 831 $ 774
The change in assets under management in our wholly-owned managers during 2021 is primarily due to new subscriptions and investments from third-parties and net market appreciation, partially offset by redemptions from and liquidations of certain funds. The change in assets under management in our wholly-owned managers during 2020 is primarily due to the liquidation and redemptions from certain funds related to the wind down of our quantPORT asset management platform and market depreciation, partially offset by increased investments by third-parties in certain funds and managed accounts.
Our definition of assets under management is not based on any definition contained in any of our investment management agreements and differs from the manner in which "Regulatory Assets Under Management" is reported to the SEC on Form ADV.
Asset Management Investments
Our asset management business makes seed and additional strategic investments directly in alternative asset management separately managed accounts and co-mingled funds where we act as the asset manager or in affiliated asset managers where we have strategic relationships and participate in the revenues or profits of the affiliated manager. Our asset management investments generated an investment return of $260.9 million and $257.2 million for 2021 and 2020, respectively. The following table reflects amounts invested by asset manager (in thousands):
November 30,
2021 2020
Jefferies Financial Group Inc., as manager:
Fund investments (1)
$ 221,359 $ 258,893
Separately managed accounts (2)
251,665 352,084
Total
473,024 610,977
Third-party, as manager:
Fund investments 831,508 650,585
Separately managed accounts (2)
368,377 323,943
Investments in asset managers
222,661 162,268
Total
1,422,546 1,136,796
Total asset management investments $ 1,895,570 $ 1,747,773
(1) Due to the level or nature of an investment in a fund, we may consolidate that fund, and accordingly, the assets and liabilities of the fund are included in the representative line items in the consolidated financial statements. At November 30, 2021 and 2020, $76.5 million and $0.1 million, respectively, represents net investments in funds that have been consolidated in our financial statements.
(2) Where we have investments in a separately managed account, the assets and liabilities of such account are presented in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition within each respective line item.
Collectively, we and our affiliated asset managers have aggregate net asset values or net asset value equivalent assets under management of approximately $23.6 billion and $16.0 billion at November 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively. Net asset values or net asset value equivalent assets under management are comprised of the fair value of the net assets of a fund or the net capital invested in a separately managed account. (In the third quarter of 2021, we made changes to our disclosure of aggregate assets under management to exclude the aggregate par value of collateralized loan obligations that are managed by Jefferies Finance, in order to better align the manner in which we evaluate our asset management businesses, and have presented the amount at November 30, 2020 on a comparable basis.) These include the following:
•$20.1 billion and $12.6 billion as of November 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively - This includes the assets under management raised by affiliated asset managers with whom we have an ongoing profit or revenue sharing arrangement. In some instances, due to the timing of payments and crystallization of profits or revenue, the majority of revenue related to these relationships will be realized at their calendar year end (during our first fiscal quarter).
•$2.6 billion and $2.6 billion as of November 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively - Net asset values of investments made by us in funds or separately managed accounts. At times, we will incubate strategies using our own capital during the institutional build-out phase before opening investments to outside capital. This net asset value includes our seed capital of $1.6 billion and $1.5 billion as of November 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively, in addition to amounts financed of $1.0 billion and $1.1 billion as of November 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively, invested in funds and separately managed accounts that are managed by us and our affiliated asset managers.
•$0.8 billion and $0.8 billion as of November 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively - This includes third-party investments actively managed by wholly-owned divisions.
Merchant Banking
A summary of results for Merchant Banking is as follows (in thousands):
2021 2020 2019
Net revenues $ 1,040,733 $ 764,460 $ 735,213
Expenses:
Cost of sales 470,870 338,588 319,641
Compensation and benefits 109,186 77,072 61,767
Non-compensation expenses:
Selling, general and other expenses 160,337 199,128 162,832
Interest 23,951 31,425 34,129
Depreciation and amortization 67,577 67,362 69,805
Total non-compensation expenses 251,865 297,915 266,766
Total expenses 831,921 713,575 648,174
Income before income taxes and income (loss) related to associated companies 208,812 50,885 87,039
Income (loss) related to associated companies (94,419) (75,483) 202,453
Income (loss) before income taxes $ 114,393 $ (24,598) $ 289,492
The increase in Net revenues in 2021 as compared to 2020 is primarily due to increased revenues at Idaho Timber and in our real estate businesses, and an increase in realized and unrealized gains on financial instruments. The increase in Compensation and benefits expense in 2021 as compared to 2020 is primarily due to increases at Vitesse, Idaho Timber and HomeFed. The increase in Cost of sales in 2021 as compared to 2020 primarily correlates to the increased sales at Idaho Timber and in our real estate businesses. The decrease in Selling, general and other expenses in 2021 as compared to 2020 primarily reflects non-cash charges in 2020 to JETX Energy's and Vitesse Energy's oil and gas assets and write-downs to some of our real estate investments at HomeFed.
A summary of results for Merchant Banking by significant business and investment is as follows (in thousands):
Revenues Expenses Income (Loss) from Associated Companies Total Pre-Tax Income (Loss)
Oil and gas $ 151,807 $ 146,811 $ - $ 4,996
Idaho Timber 538,692 433,683 - 105,009
Real estate 130,051 108,022 (6,177) 15,852
Other 220,183 143,405 (88,242) (11,464)
Total $ 1,040,733 $ 831,921 $ (94,419) $ 114,393
Oil and gas $ 141,973 $ 178,679 $ - $ (36,706)
Idaho Timber 421,497 341,796 - 79,701
Real estate 47,160 66,043 (46,050) (64,933)
Other 153,830 127,057 (29,433) (2,660)
Total $ 764,460 $ 713,575 $ (75,483) $ (24,598)
Oil and gas $ 150,224 $ 170,680 $ - $ (20,456)
Idaho Timber 324,786 306,832 - 17,954
Real estate 37,405 39,940 7,549 5,014
National Beef - - 232,042 232,042
Spectrum Brands 89,497 - - 89,497
Other 133,301 130,722 (37,138) (34,559)
Total $ 735,213 $ 648,174 $ 202,453 $ 289,492
Oil and Gas
Oil and gas results for 2021 were higher than 2020 primarily due to slightly increased production revenues and impairment charges recorded during the first half of 2020, partially offset by increased unrealized losses related to oil hedge derivatives. Oil and gas net revenues totaled $151.8 million and $142.0 million during 2021 and 2020, respectively, and primarily consist of three components:
•Production revenues (include the impact of realized gains and losses related to oil hedges) were $172.1 million and $156.8 million in 2021 and 2020, respectively. The increase in production revenues related to higher oil and gas prices and slightly higher volumes due to fewer inactive wells, partially offset by greater realized losses on oil hedges due to the higher oil prices. Production revenues included realized gains (losses) on oil hedges of $(12.4) million and $52.7 million in 2021 and 2020, respectively.
•Net unrealized losses related to oil hedge derivatives were $20.3 million and $7.0 million in 2021 and 2020, respectively. As discussed further in Note 4 to the consolidated financial statements, Vitesse Energy uses swaps and call and put options to reduce exposure to future oil price fluctuations. For 2021, approximately 48% of oil production was hedged at a weighted average price of approximately $54/barrel. For 2022, approximately 45% of expected oil production is hedged at a weighted average price of approximately $59/barrel.
•Mark-to-market gains (losses) related to a financial instrument owned held at fair value were not material in 2021 and $(7.8) million during 2020.
Total expenses for Oil and gas were $146.8 million during 2021 as compared to $178.7 million in 2020. The decrease in expenses was primarily due to non-cash charges in 2020 of $34.6 million to write down JETX Energy's oil and gas assets to reflect the impact of oil price declines during the period and $13.2 million to write down Vitesse Energy's oil and gas assets in the DJ Basin.
Idaho Timber
High demand for wood for home improvement and construction, primarily in the first half of the year, led to favorable pricing and record results for Idaho Timber in 2021. Net revenues increased during 2021 as compared to 2020, primarily due to an increase in average selling price of 43%.
The increase in total expenses for Idaho Timber during 2021 as compared to 2020 primarily reflects increased cost of sales and increased compensation expense.
Real Estate
The increase in real estate revenues and expenses in 2021 as compared to 2020 reflects increased revenues from sales of properties and the related cost of sales. During 2021, we sold a self-storage facility and recognized revenues of $26.4 million and cost of sales of $12.4 million related to this sale. Income (loss) related to real estate associated companies for 2020, includes a non-cash charge of $55.6 million to fully write off the value of HomeFed's RedSky JZ Fulton Investors ("RedSky JZ Fulton Mall") joint venture investment due to the softening of the Brooklyn real estate market and a non-cash charge of $6.9 million to fully write off HomeFed's interest in the Brooklyn Renaissance Plaza hotel related to the significant impact of COVID-19.
Other
Other revenues reflect realized and unrealized gains (losses) on financial instruments owned, which are held at fair value, of $73.3 million and $54.7 million during 2021 and 2020, respectively. The gains (losses) on financial instruments owned include mark-to-market changes in the value of our investments in public companies of $69.3 million and $31.8 million for 2021 and 2020, respectively. The gains (losses) on financial instruments owned for 2020, also include a gain of $61.5 million from effective short-term hedges against mark-to-market and fair value decreases in our portfolio investments.
During 2013, we invested $9.0 million in WeWork. We sold our remaining interest in WeWork during 2021 and recognized principal transaction revenues of $25.3 million during the year. We received total cumulative proceeds related to our investment in WeWork of $67.1 million.
Corporate
A summary of results of operations for Corporate is as follows (in thousands):
2021 2020 2019
Net revenues $ 3,042 $ 13,258 $ 32,833
Expenses:
Compensation and benefits 35,611 39,184 58,005
Non-compensation expenses:
Selling, general and other expenses 19,253 26,197 39,820
Depreciation and amortization 2,764 3,496 3,475
Total non-compensation expenses 22,017 29,693 43,295
Total expenses
57,628 68,877 101,300
Loss before income taxes $ (54,586) $ (55,619) $ (68,467)
Net revenues primarily include realized and unrealized securities gains and interest income for investments held at the holding company. Total expenses include share-based compensation expense of $16.3 million and $13.7 million for 2021 and 2020, respectively. Share-based compensation expense for 2021 includes $7.0 million related to the full current fair value of certain share-based grants made during 2021, which were fully vested upon grant.
Parent Company Interest
Parent company interest totaled $53.1 million and $53.4 million for 2021 and 2020, respectively. In connection with the acquisition of HomeFed in 2019, we began capitalizing interest. Total amounts of interest expense may fluctuate due to capitalization of interest.
During the fourth quarter of 2021, we repurchased $308.3 million principal amount of our $750.0 million outstanding 5.50% Senior Notes due October 18, 2023 and incurred $26.0 million of costs relating to the early redemption of these notes. As a result of the debt repurchase, interest expense in future periods will be reduced.
Income Taxes
Our provision for income taxes was $576.7 million for 2021, representing an effective tax rate of 25.6%. For 2020, our provision for income taxes was $298.7 million, representing an effective tax rate of 28.0%. The decrease in the effective tax rate is primarily related to decreases in our unrecognized tax benefits and related interest, and favorable settlements with taxing authorities.
For further information on income taxes, see Note 19 to our consolidated financial statements.
Selected Statement of Financial Condition Data
The tables below reconcile the balance sheet for each of our reportable segments to our consolidated balance sheet (in thousands):
November 30, 2021
Investment Banking and Capital Markets Asset Management Merchant Banking Corporate Consolidation Adjustments Total
Assets
Cash and cash equivalents $ 8,810,427 $ 3,651 $ 149,576 $ 1,791,479 $ - $ 10,755,133
Cash and securities segregated and on deposit for regulatory purposes or deposited with clearing and depository organizations
1,015,107 - - - - 1,015,107
Financial instruments owned, at fair value 17,059,950 2,382,323 386,397 - - 19,828,670
Loans to and investments in associated companies
1,150,782 191,342 403,666 - - 1,745,790
Securities borrowed 6,409,420 - - - - 6,409,420
Securities purchased under agreements to resell
7,618,652 23,832 - - - 7,642,484
Securities received as collateral, at fair value 7,289 - - - - 7,289
Receivables 6,602,549 384,377 844,694 7,620 - 7,839,240
Property, equipment and leasehold improvements, net 860,448 6,319 35,146 9,317 - 911,230
Intangible assets, net and goodwill
1,707,807 143,304 46,389 - - 1,897,500
Other assets 731,887 15,521 1,386,462 619,412 (401,035) 2,352,247
Total assets 51,974,318 3,150,669 3,252,330 2,427,828 (401,035) 60,404,110
Liabilities
Long-term debt (1) (2) 6,955,658 1,084,168 398,911 687,008 - 9,125,745
Other liabilities 38,582,504 1,089,864 962,354 314,638 (401,035) 40,548,325
Total liabilities 45,538,162 2,174,032 1,361,265 1,001,646 (401,035) 49,674,070
Redeemable noncontrolling interests
- - 25,400 - - 25,400
Mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred shares
- - - 125,000 - 125,000
Noncontrolling interests 737 10,387 14,761 - - 25,885
Total Jefferies Financial Group Inc. shareholders' equity $ 6,435,419 $ 966,250 $ 1,850,904 $ 1,301,182 $ - $ 10,553,755
(1) Jefferies Group long-term debt of $8.04 billion at November 30, 2021 is allocated to Investment Banking and Capital Markets, and Asset Management reportable segments based on an internal management view only and may not be reflective of what long-term debt would be on a stand-alone segment basis.
(2) Long-term debt within Merchant Banking of $398.9 million at November 30, 2021, primarily includes $248.7 million for real estate businesses, $67.6 million for Vitesse Energy and $82.6 million for Foursight Capital. At November 30, 2021, Vitesse Energy had $68.0 million drawn out of the maximum $140.0 million borrowing base on its credit facility and Foursight Capital had $82.8 million drawn out of the maximum $175.0 million credit commitment on its credit facilities. See Note 12 in our consolidated financial statements for additional information.
November 30, 2020
Investment Banking and Capital Markets Asset Management Merchant Banking Corporate Consolidation Adjustments Total
Assets
Cash and cash equivalents $ 7,102,004 $ 10,109 $ 212,668 $ 1,730,367 $ - $ 9,055,148
Cash and securities segregated and on deposit for regulatory purposes or deposited with clearing and depository organizations
604,321 - - - - 604,321
Financial instruments owned, at fair value 15,249,686 2,534,860 340,031 - - 18,124,577
Loans to and investments in associated companies
995,730 148,005 542,828 - - 1,686,563
Securities borrowed 6,934,762 - - - - 6,934,762
Securities purchased under agreements to resell
5,096,769 - - - - 5,096,769
Securities received as collateral, at fair value 7,517 - - - - 7,517
Receivables 5,470,104 378,037 762,382 52 (1,808) 6,608,767
Property, equipment and leasehold improvements, net
847,108 8,121 30,670 11,305 - 897,204
Intangible assets, net and goodwill
1,721,277 143,310 48,880 - - 1,913,467
Other assets 805,848 8,617 1,235,605 436,975 (297,788) 2,189,257
Total assets 44,835,126 3,231,059 3,173,064 2,178,699 (299,596) 53,118,352
Liabilities
Long-term debt (1) (2) 6,218,797 676,883 463,648 992,711 - 8,352,039
Other liabilities 32,752,740 1,758,373 727,088 239,507 (299,596) 35,178,112
Total liabilities 38,971,537 2,435,256 1,190,736 1,232,218 (299,596) 43,530,151
Redeemable noncontrolling interests
- - 24,676 - - 24,676
Mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred shares
- - - 125,000 - 125,000
Noncontrolling interests 712 16,677 17,243 - - 34,632
Total Jefferies Financial Group Inc. shareholders' equity $ 5,862,877 $ 779,126 $ 1,940,409 $ 821,481 $ - $ 9,403,893
(1) Jefferies Group long-term debt of $6.90 billion at November 30, 2020 is allocated to Investment Banking and Capital Markets, and Asset Management reportable segments based on an internal management view only and may not be reflective of what long-term debt would be on a stand-alone segment basis.
(2) Long-term debt within Merchant Banking of $463.6 million at November 30, 2020, primarily includes $236.8 million for real estate businesses, $97.9 million for Vitesse Energy and $129.0 million for Foursight Capital. At November 30, 2020, Vitesse Energy had $98.5 million drawn out of the maximum $120.0 million borrowing base on its credit facility and Foursight Capital had $129.3 million drawn out of the maximum $175.0 million credit commitment on its credit facilities. See Note 12 in our consolidated financial statements for additional information.
The table below presents our capital by significant business and investment (in thousands):
November 30,
2021 2020
Jefferies Group
$ 7,127,095 $ 6,407,954
Assets held on behalf of Asset Management (excluding Jefferies Group) 274,574 234,049
Merchant Banking:
Oil and gas
510,798 526,642
Real estate 476,939 531,553
Linkem 133,778 198,991
FXCM
99,441 133,375
Idaho Timber 87,527 85,595
Investments in public companies 246,510 192,363
Other 295,911 271,890
Total Merchant Banking
1,850,904 1,940,409
Corporate liquidity and other assets, net of Corporate liabilities including long-term debt
1,301,182 821,481
Total Capital $ 10,553,755 $ 9,403,893
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Parent Company Liquidity
Our strategy focuses on continuing to build out our investment banking effort, enhancing our capital markets businesses and further developing our Leucadia Asset Management alternative asset management platform, while returning excess capital to shareholders. We own a legacy portfolio of businesses and investments that we historically denominated as our "Merchant Banking" business and are reflected in our consolidated results as consolidated subsidiaries, equity investments, securities or in other ways. We are well along in the process of liquidating this portfolio, with the intention of selling to third parties, distributing to shareholders or transferring the balance of this portfolio to our Asset Management reportable segment over the next few years.
Over our last four fiscal years, we generated significant excess liquidity from operations and sales of Merchant Banking businesses. In keeping with our strategy, $3.9 billion was returned to shareholders, including 127 million shares repurchased at an average price of $21.55 per share (equal to 38% of book value at the beginning of this four-year period). In addition, in light of our performance and prospects, as well as our limited need for incremental equity capital, in January 2022, our Board of Directors increased our quarterly dividend to $0.30 per share, a 140% increase from two years ago, and increased our share buyback authorization back to a total of $250 million. We expect to continue to return capital to shareholders via dividends and buybacks, as well as, if financial conditions and circumstances permit, in-kind distributions or special cash dividends as we complete the wind down of the legacy Merchant Banking portfolio.
Parent company liquidity, which includes cash and investments that are easily convertible into cash within a relatively short period of time total $2.00 billion at November 30, 2021, and are primarily comprised of cash, prime and government money market funds and other publicly traded securities. These are classified in the Consolidated Statement of Financial Condition as cash and cash equivalents and financial instruments owned, at fair value. At November 30, 2021, $1.56 billion of this amount is invested in U.S. government money funds that invest at least 99.5% of its total assets in cash, securities issued by the U.S. government and U.S. government-sponsored entities and repurchase agreements that are fully collateralized by cash or government securities.
During the year ended November 30, 2021, our parent company received cash distributions of $1.05 billion from our subsidiary businesses, including $769.9 million from Jefferies Group. We also received $118.2 million from divestitures and repayments of advances.
Our annual recurring cash requirements, including the payment of interest on our parent company debt, dividends and corporate cash overhead expenses, are estimated to aggregate to approximately $387.7 million in the upcoming year. Dividends paid during the year ended November 30, 2021 of $222.8 million include quarterly dividends of $0.20 per share for each of the first two quarters of 2021 and $0.25 per share for each of the last two quarters of 2021. In January 2022, our Board of Directors increased our quarterly dividend by 20% to $0.30 per share. The payment of dividends is subject to the discretion of our Board of Directors and depends upon general business conditions, legal and contractual restrictions on the payment of dividends and other factors that our Board of Directors may deem to be relevant.
For many years, we benefited from federal net operating loss carryovers ("NOLs") which substantially offset our federal cash tax requirements. As a result of full utilization of our federal NOLs and other tax attributes, we incurred and paid in cash federal taxes in 2021.
Our primary long-term parent company cash requirement is our $691.7 million principal outstanding as of November 30, 2021 under our long-term debt, of which $441.7 million is due in 2023 and $250.0 million in 2043. During the fourth quarter of 2021, we completed a tender offer for any and all of our 5.5% Senior Notes due October 18, 2023. $308.3 million in aggregate principal amount of the notes were repurchased, for an aggregate cash payment of $332.7 million.
Shares Outstanding
During the year ended November 30, 2021, we purchased a total of 8,540,000 of our common shares for $266.8 million, or an average price per share of $31.25. At November 30, 2021, we have approximately $162.5 million available for future repurchases. In January 2022, the Board of Directors increased the share repurchase authorization back up to $250.0 million.
At November 30, 2021, we had outstanding 243,541,431 common shares, 21,234,000 share-based awards that do not require the holder to pay any exercise price and 5,109,000 stock options that require the holder to pay an average exercise price of $23.70 per share. The 21,234,000 share-based awards include the target number of shares under the senior executive award plan. Additionally, we have mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred shares that are currently convertible into 4,440,863 common shares, at an effective conversion price of $28.15 per share. At November 30, 2021, the maximum potential increase to common shares outstanding resulting from these outstanding awards and the preferred shares is 30,784,000 (potentially an aggregate of 274,325,431 outstanding common shares if all awards and preferred shares become outstanding common shares).
Long-term Debt Ratings
From time to time in the past, we have accessed public and private credit markets and raised capital in underwritten bond financings. The funds raised have been used by us for general corporate purposes, including for our existing businesses and new investment opportunities. In addition, the ratings of Jefferies are a factor considered by rating agencies that rate the debt of our subsidiary companies, including Jefferies Group, whose access to external financing is important to its day to day operations. Ratings issued by bond rating agencies, subject to change at any time. Our long-term debt ratings as of November 30, 2021 are as follows:
Rating Outlook
Moody's Investors Service (1) Baa2 Stable
Standard and Poor's BBB Stable
Fitch Ratings (2) BBB Stable
(1) On November 10, 2021, Moody's Investors Service revised our rating of Baa3 to Baa2 and revised our rating outlook from positive to stable.
(2) Subsequent to year end, on January 24, 2022, Fitch Ratings affirmed our rating of BBB and revised our rating outlook from stable to positive.
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
As discussed above, we have historically relied on our available liquidity to meet short-term and long-term needs, and to make acquisitions of new businesses and investments. Except as otherwise disclosed herein, our operating businesses do not generally require significant funds to support their operating activities. The mix of our operating businesses and investments can change frequently as a result of acquisitions or divestitures, the timing of which is impossible to predict but which often have a significant impact on the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows in any one period. Further, the timing and amounts of distributions from investments in associated companies may be outside our control. As a result, reported cash flows from operating, investing and financing activities do not generally follow any particular pattern or trend, and reported results in the most recent period should not be expected to recur in any subsequent period.
The following table provides a summary of our cash flows (in thousands):
2021 2020 2019
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at beginning of period $ 9,664,972 $ 8,480,435 $ 6,012,662
Net cash provided by (used for) operating activities 1,573,018 2,075,948 (827,837)
Net cash provided by (used for) investing activities (400,593) (186,192) 1,707,095
Net cash provided by (used for) financing activities 994,294 (723,525) 1,589,578
Effect of foreign exchange rate changes on cash, cash equivalents
and restricted cash
(3,387) 18,306 (1,063)
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at end of period $ 11,828,304 $ 9,664,972 $ 8,480,435
During the year ended November 30, 2021, net cash provided by operating activities primarily reflects funds provided by Jefferies Group of $1.93 billion, funds provided by our Merchant Banking operations of $226.2 million and Corporate tax payments of $625.1 million.
During the year ended November 30, 2020, net cash provided by operating activities primarily relates to funds provided by Jefferies Group of $1.19 billion. Net losses related to property and equipment, and other assets includes non-cash charges of $61.0 million to write down the value of certain of our assets during the year ended November 30, 2020.
During the year ended November 30, 2021, net cash used for investing activities principally reflects $2.34 billion of loans to and investments in associated companies and $611.5 million for advances on notes, loans and other receivables, partially offset by $2.32 billion of capital distributions and loan repayments from associated companies and $394.4 million of collections on notes, loans and other receivables.
During the year ended November 30, 2020, net cash used for investing activities principally reflects $1.69 billion of loans to and investments in associated companies and $813.9 million for advances on notes, loans and other receivables, partially offset by $1.56 billion of capital distributions and loan repayments from associated companies and $686.1 million of collections on notes, loans and other receivables.
During the year ended November 30, 2021, net cash provided by financing activities primarily relates to funds provided by Jefferies Group of $1.71 billion, including funds provided by the issuance of debt of $3.17 billion and proceeds from other secured financings of $1.02 billion, partially offset by funds used for the repayment of debt of $2.48 billion. Additionally, funds provided by financing activities includes the issuance of debt of $321.6 million and proceeds from other secured financings of $173.6 million in our Merchant Banking reportable segment. This was partially offset by funds used to repurchase common shares for treasury of $269.4 million, funds used for the repayment of debt of $389.7 million in our Merchant Banking reportable segment and $332.7 million in our Corporate reportable segment, and funds used to pay dividends of $222.8 million.
During the year ended November 30, 2020, net cash used for financing activities primarily relates to funds used to repurchase common shares for treasury of $816.9 million and funds used to pay dividends of $160.9 million. This was partially offset by funds provided by Jefferies Group of $215.5 million, including funds provided by the issuance of debt of $2.79 billion and proceeds from other secured financings of $305.9 million, partially offset by funds used for the repayment of debt of $2.86 billion.
The following below provides information about our contractual obligations at November 30, 2021:
Expected Maturity Date (Fiscal Years)
Contractual Obligations Total 2022 2023 2024
and
2025 2026
and
2027 After 2027
(In millions)
Long-term debt $ 9,095.6 $ 57.1 $ 1,320.3 $ 1,140.9 $ 1,178.2 $ 5,399.1
Estimated interest payments on debt
3,504.6 373.0 311.2 544.0 494.7 1,781.7
Operating leases 635.5 75.4 71.4 134.0 125.9 228.8
Other 532.9 264.9 141.0 79.7 38.0 9.3
Total contractual obligations $ 13,768.6 $ 770.4 $ 1,843.9 $ 1,898.6 $ 1,836.8 $ 7,418.9
Amounts related to our U.S. pension obligations ($27.5 million) are not included in the above table as the timing of payments is uncertain; however, we do not expect to make any contributions to these plans in 2022. For further information, see Note 17 in our consolidated financial statements. In addition, the above amounts do not include liabilities for unrecognized tax benefits as the timing of payments, if any, is uncertain. Such amounts aggregated $436.9 million at November 30, 2021; for more information, see Note 19 in our consolidated financial statements.
Our U.S. pension obligations relate to frozen defined benefit pension plans, principally the defined benefit plan of WilTel Communications Group, LLC ("WilTel"), our former telecommunications subsidiary. When we sold WilTel in 2005, its defined benefit pension plan was not transferred in connection with the sale. At November 30, 2021, we had recorded a liability of $18.9 million in our Consolidated Statement of Financial Condition for WilTel's unfunded defined benefit pension plan obligation. This amount represents the difference between the present value of amounts owed to former employees of WilTel (referred to as the projected benefit obligation) and the market value of plan assets set aside in segregated trust accounts. Since the benefits in this plan have been frozen, future changes to the unfunded benefit obligation are expected to principally result from benefit payments, changes in the market value of plan assets, differences between actuarial assumptions and actual experience and interest rates.
Calculations of pension expense and projected benefit obligations are prepared by actuaries based on assumptions provided by management. These assumptions are reviewed on an annual basis, including assumptions about discount rates, interest credit rates and expected long-term rates of return on plan assets. The timing of expected future benefit payments was used in conjunction with the Citigroup Pension Discount Curve to develop a discount rate for the WilTel plan that is representative of the high quality corporate bond market. Holding all other assumptions constant, a 0.25% change in the discount rate would affect pension expense in 2022 by $0.1 million and the benefit obligation by $5.7 million, of which $4.1 million relates to the WilTel plan.
The deferred losses in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) have not yet been recognized as components of net periodic pension cost in the Consolidated Statements of Operations ($44.9 million at November 30, 2021). These deferred amounts primarily result from differences between the actual and assumed return on plan assets and changes in actuarial assumptions, including changes in discount rates and changes in interest credit rates. They are amortized to expense if they exceed 10% of the greater of the projected benefit obligation or the market value of plan assets as of the beginning of the year. The estimated net loss that will be amortized from accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) into pension expense in 2022 is $2.5 million.
The assumed long-term rates of return on plan assets are based on the investment objectives of the plans, which are more fully discussed in Note 17 in our consolidated financial statements.
Jefferies Group Liquidity
General
The Chief Financial Officer and Global Treasurer of Jefferies Group are responsible for developing and implementing liquidity, funding and capital management strategies for Jefferies Group. These policies are determined by the nature and needs of day to day business operations, business opportunities, regulatory obligations and liquidity requirements.
The 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. Jefferies Group has historically maintained a balance sheet consisting of a large portion of total assets in cash and liquid marketable securities, arising principally from traditional securities brokerage and trading activity. The liquid nature of these assets provides flexibility in financing and managing our business.
Jefferies Group maintains modest leverage to support its investment grade ratings. The growth of its balance sheet is supported by its equity and we have quantitative metrics in place to monitor leverage and double leverage. Jefferies Group capital plan is robust, in order to sustain its 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 regulatory, or other internal or external, requirements. Jefferies Group's access to funding and liquidity is stable and efficient to ensure that there is sufficient liquidity to meet its financial obligations in normal and stressed market conditions.
A business unit level balance sheet and cash capital analysis are 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 the 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 assets and liabilities. The overall securities inventory is continually monitored, including the inventory turnover rate, which confirms the liquidity of overall assets. Substantially all of Jefferies Group's financial instruments are valued on a daily basis and we monitor and employ balance sheet limits for its various businesses.
At November 30, 2021, the Consolidated Statement of Financial Condition includes Jefferies Group's Level 3 financial instruments owned, at fair value that are approximately 2% of total financial instruments owned, at fair value.
Securities financing assets and liabilities include financing for 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 following table presents 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 (in millions):
2021 2020
Securities purchased under agreements to resell:
Period end $ 7,642 $ 5,097
Month end average 9,425 8,040
Maximum month end 12,321 12,061
Securities sold under agreements to repurchase:
Period end $ 8,446 $ 8,316
Month end average 11,515 13,501
Maximum month end 19,207 18,979
Fluctuations in the balance of repurchase agreements from period to period and intraperiod are dependent on business activity in those periods. Additionally, the fluctuations in the balances of 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.
Liquidity Management
The key objectives of Jefferies Group's liquidity management framework are to support the successful execution of its business strategies while ensuring sufficient liquidity through the business cycle and during periods of financial distress. The liquidity management policies are designed to mitigate the potential risk that adequate financing may not be accessible to service financial obligations without material franchise or business impact.
The principal elements of Jefferies Group's liquidity management framework are the Contingency Funding Plan, the Cash Capital Policy and the assessment of Modeled Liquidity Outflow.
Contingency Funding Plan. Jefferies Group's 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 market or our idiosyncratic 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. A cash capital model is maintained that measures long-term funding sources against requirements. Sources of cash capital include 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.
To ensure that inventory does not need to be liquidated in the event of a funding stress, we seek to maintain surplus cash capital. Jefferies Group's total long-term capital of $14.38 billion at November 30, 2021 exceeded its cash capital requirements.
Modeled Liquidity Outflow. Jefferies Group's businesses are diverse, and 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 stress, 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 Jefferies Group's policy to ensure it has sufficient funds to cover estimates of what may be needed in a liquidity stress, Jefferies Group holds more cash and unencumbered securities and has greater long-term debt balances than the businesses would otherwise require. As part of this estimation process, we calculate a Modeled Liquidity Outflow that could be experienced in a liquidity stress. Modeled Liquidity Outflow is based on a scenario that includes both a market-wide stress and firm-specific stress.
Based on the sources and uses of liquidity calculated under the Modeled Liquidity Outflow scenarios, Jefferies Group determines, 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 Jefferies Group's inventory balances and cash holdings. At November 30, 2021, Jefferies Group had sufficient excess liquidity to meet all contingent cash outflows detailed in the Modeled Liquidity Outflow. Jefferies Group regularly refines its model to reflect changes in market or economic conditions and the firm's business mix.
Sources of Liquidity
Within Jefferies Group, 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, as reflected in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition (in thousands):
November 30, 2021 Average Balance
Fourth Quarter 2021 (1) November 30, 2020
Cash and cash equivalents:
Cash in banks $ 1,888,693 $ 3,238,339 $ 1,979,058
Money market investments (2) 6,924,871 4,149,368 5,132,871
Total cash and cash equivalents 8,813,564 7,387,707 7,111,929
Other sources of liquidity:
Debt securities owned and securities purchased under agreements to
resell (3)
1,621,118 1,516,547 1,180,410
Other (4) 311,641 484,528 312,511
Total other sources 1,932,759 2,001,075 1,492,921
Total cash and cash equivalents and other liquidity sources $ 10,746,323 $ 9,388,782 $ 8,604,850
(1)Average balances are calculated based on weekly balances.
(2)At November 30, 2021 and 2020, $6.91 billion and $5.12 billion, respectively, was invested in U.S. government money funds that invest at least 99.5% of its total assets in cash, securities issued by the U.S. government and U.S. government-sponsored entities, and repurchase agreements that are fully collateralized by cash or government securities. The remaining $14.9 million at both November 30, 2021 and 2020 are invested in AAA rated prime money funds. The average balance of U.S. government money funds for the quarter ended November 30, 2021 was $4.13 billion.
(3)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, U.K., Canada, Australia, Japan, Switzerland or the U.S.; and securities issued by a designated multilateral development bank and reverse repurchase agreements with underlying collateral comprised of these securities.
(4)Other includes unencumbered inventory representing an estimate of the amount of additional secured financing that could be reasonably expected to be obtained from 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 Jefferies Group's trading accounts are actively traded and readily marketable. At November 30, 2021, repurchase financing can be readily obtained for 63.8% of Jefferies Group's inventory at haircuts of 10% or less, which reflects the liquidity of the 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 Jefferies Group's financial instruments owned, primarily consisting of bank loans, consumer loans and investments, are predominantly funded by Jefferies Group's long-term capital. Under Jefferies Group's cash capital policy, capital allocation levels are modeled that are more stringent than the haircuts used in the market for secured funding; and surplus capital is maintained at these more stringent levels. We continually assess the liquidity of Jefferies Group's inventory based on the level at which Jefferies Group could obtain financing in the marketplace 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 Jefferies Group's financial instruments owned by asset class that are considered to be of a liquid nature and the amount of such assets that have not been pledged as collateral as reflected in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition (in thousands):
November 30, 2021 November 30, 2020
Liquid Financial
Instruments Unencumbered
Liquid Financial
Instruments (2) Liquid Financial
Instruments Unencumbered
Liquid Financial
Instruments (2)
Corporate equity securities $ 2,635,956 $ 347,157 $ 2,191,536 $ 238,129
Corporate debt securities 2,943,135 31,935 2,298,591 50,217
U.S. Government, agency and municipal securities 3,610,885 109,325 3,336,361 110,586
Other sovereign obligations 1,528,100 1,463,968 2,518,928 1,101,272
Agency mortgage-backed securities (1) 1,487,165 - 1,652,743 -
Loans and other receivables 132,989 - 564,112 -
Total $ 12,338,230 $ 1,952,385 $ 12,562,271 $ 1,500,204
(1)Consists solely of agency mortgage-backed securities issued by Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and the Government National Mortgage Association ("Ginnie Mae").
(2)Unencumbered liquid balances represent assets that can be sold or used as collateral for a loan, but have not been.
In addition to being able to be readily financed at reasonable haircut levels, it is estimated 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
Jefferies Group's 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
Readily available secured funding is used to finance Jefferies Group's inventory of financial instruments. Jefferies Group's ability to support increases in total assets is largely a function of the ability to obtain short and intermediate-term secured funding, primarily through securities financing transactions. Repurchase or reverse repurchase agreements (collectively "repos"), respectively, are used to finance a portion of long inventory and cover some of short inventory by pledging and borrowing securities. At November 30, 2021, approximately 60.9% of Jefferies Group's cash and noncash repurchase financing activities used collateral that was considered eligible collateral by central clearing corporations. During the year ended November 30, 2021, an average of approximately 70.2% of Jefferies Group's cash and noncash repurchase financing activities used collateral that was 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 Jefferies Group's total repo activity that is eligible for central clearing reflects the high quality and liquid composition of the inventory Jefferies Group carries in its trading books. For those asset classes not eligible for central clearing house financing, Jefferies Group seeks to execute its bi-lateral financings on an extended term basis and the tenor of Jefferies Group's repurchase and reverse repurchase agreements generally exceeds the expected holding period of the assets Jefferies Group is financing. The weighted average maturity of cash and noncash repurchase agreements for non-clearing corporation eligible funded inventory is approximately eight months at November 30, 2021.
Jefferies Group's ability to finance its inventory via central clearinghouses and bi-lateral arrangements is augmented by Jefferies Group's ability to draw bank loans on an uncommitted basis under its various banking arrangements. At November 30, 2021, short-term borrowings, which must be repaid within one year or less and include bank loans and overdrafts, borrowings under revolving credit facilities and floating rate puttable notes, totaled $221.9 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 for Jefferies Group were $346.8 million and $656.3 million for 2021 and 2020, respectively.
Jefferies Group's short-term borrowings include facilities that contain certain covenants that, among other things, require it to maintain a specified level of tangible net worth and impose certain restrictions on the future indebtedness of certain of its subsidiaries that are borrowers. At November 30, 2021, Jefferies Group was in compliance with all covenants under these facilities. The outstanding balance of Jefferies Group's facilities, which are with a bank and are included within short-term borrowings, were $200.0 million at November 30, 2021. Interest is based on a rate per annum at spreads over the federal funds rate as defined in the credit agreements.
Jefferies Group's short-term borrowings at November 30, 2021 also include floating rate puttable notes of $6.8 million and other bank loans of $15.1 million.
A bank has agreed to make revolving intraday credit advances ("Jefferies Group Intraday Credit Facility") for an aggregate committed amount of $150.0 million. The Jefferies Group Intraday Credit Facility is structured so that advances are generally repaid before the end of each business day. However, if an advance is not repaid by the end of any business day, the advance is converted to an overnight loan. Intraday loans accrue interest at a rate of 0.12% based on the number of minutes in a day the advance is outstanding. Overnight loans are charged interest at the base rate plus 3% on a daily basis. The base rate is the higher of the federal funds rate plus 0.50% or the prime rate in effect at that time. The Jefferies Group Intraday Credit Facility contains financial covenants, which include a minimum regulatory net capital requirement for Jefferies Group's U.S. broker-dealer, Jefferies LLC. At November 30, 2021, Jefferies Group was in compliance with all debt covenants under the Jefferies Group Intraday Credit Facility.
In addition, this bank also provides a $200.0 million revolving credit facility with a termination date of September 12, 2022, which is used for margin calls at a domestic clearing corporation. Overnight loans are charged interest at a spread over the federal funds rate.
Another bank provides committed revolving credit facilities for a total of $200.0 million, including a $150.0 million intraday component and a $50.0 million overnight component, that are used to fund our Asia Pacific business activity. The intraday component is structured so that advances are generally repaid before the end of each business day. However, if an advance is not repaid by the end of any business day, the advance is converted to an overnight loan. Intraday loans accrue interest at a rate of 1.00%. Overnight loans are charged as agreed between the bank and Jefferies Group in reference to the bank's cost of funding.
In addition to the above financing arrangements, Jefferies Group issues notes backed by eligible collateral under master repurchase agreements, which provides an additional financing source for its inventory ("repurchase agreement financing program"). The notes issued under the program are presented within Other secured financings in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition. At November 30, 2021, the outstanding notes were $3.69 billion, bear interest at a spread over London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR") and mature from December 2021 to August 2023.
Long-Term Debt
Jefferies Group's long-term debt reflected in the Consolidated Statement of Financial Condition at November 30, 2021 is $8.04 billion. During the year ended November 30, 2021, Jefferies Group's long-term debt increased by $1.14 billion, primarily due to the issuance of 2.625% senior notes with a principal amount of $1.0 billion, due October 15, 2031, and floating rate senior notes with a principal amount of $62.3 million, due 2071, partially offset by the early redemption of its 5.125% senior notes with a principal amount of $750.0 million, due January 20, 2023. The change was also due to an increase of $349.0 million from its borrowings under its unsecured revolving credit facility ("Jefferies Group Unsecured Revolving Credit Facility"), an increase of $484.3 million from secured long-term borrowings and approximately $175.6 million of structured notes issuances, net of retirements. At November 30, 2021, all of Jefferies Group's 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 Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) and changes in fair value resulting from non-credit components recognized in Principal transactions revenue. The fair value of all of Jefferies Group's structured notes at November 30, 2021 was $1.84 billion.
During April 2021, Jefferies Group entered into a Revolving Credit Facility ("Jefferies Group Revolving Credit Facility") with a group of commercial banks following the maturity of its previous revolving credit facility. At November 30, 2021, borrowings under the Jefferies Group Revolving Credit Facility amounted to $249.0 million. Interest is based on an adjusted LIBOR Rate, as defined in the credit agreement. The Jefferies Group Revolving Credit Facility contains certain covenants that,
among other things, require Jefferies Group LLC to maintain specified levels of tangible net worth and liquidity amounts, and impose certain restrictions on future indebtedness of and require specified levels of regulated capital for certain of its subsidiaries. Throughout the period and at November 30, 2021, no instances of noncompliance with the Jefferies Group Revolving Credit Facility covenants occurred and Jefferies Group expects to remain in compliance given its current liquidity and anticipated funding requirements given its business plan and profitability expectations.
During May 2021, Jefferies Group entered into a Secured Credit Facility agreement ("Jefferies Group Secured Credit Facility") with a bank under which it has borrowed $375.0 million at November 30, 2021. Interest is based on a rate per annum at spreads over an Adjusted LIBOR Rate, as defined in the credit agreement. The Jefferies Group Secured Credit Facility contains certain covenants that, among other things, require Jefferies Group LLC to maintain a specified level of tangible net worth. The covenants also require a certain subsidiary of Jefferies Group to maintain specified leverage amounts and impose certain restrictions on its future indebtedness. At November 30, 2021, Jefferies Group was in compliance with all debt covenants under the Jefferies Group Secured Credit Facility.
During August 2021, Jefferies Group entered into the Jefferies Group Unsecured Revolving Credit Facility agreement with SMBC under which Jefferies Group has borrowed $349.0 million at November 30, 2021. Interest is based on a rate per annum at spreads over an Adjusted LIBOR Rate or a Base Rate, as defined in the credit agreement. The Jefferies Group Unsecured Revolving Credit Facility contains certain covenants that, among other things, require Jefferies Group LLC to maintain a specified level of tangible net worth, net cash capital and a minimum regulatory net capital requirement for Jefferies LLC. At November 30, 2021, Jefferies Group was in compliance with all covenants under the Jefferies Group Unsecured Revolving Credit Facility.
During September 2021, one of Jefferies Group's subsidiaries amended a Loan and Security Agreement with a bank for a term loan ("Jefferies Group Secured Bank Loan") due to the maturity of its previous secured bank loan. At November 30, 2021, borrowings under the Jefferies Group Secured Bank Loan amounted to $100.0 million. The Jefferies Group Secured Bank Loan matures on September 13, 2024 and is collateralized by certain trading securities. Interest on the Jefferies Group Secured Bank Loan is 1.25% plus LIBOR. The agreement contains certain covenants that, among other things, restrict lien or encumbrance upon any of the pledged collateral. At November 30, 2021, Jefferies Group was in compliance with all covenants under the Jefferies Group Secured Bank Loan.
Jefferies Group's unsecured long-term debt, which excludes the Jefferies Group Revolving Credit Facility, the Jefferies Group Secured Credit Facility and the Jefferies Group Secured Bank Loan, has a weighted average maturity of approximately 10.9 years at November 30, 2021.
Jefferies Group's long-term debt ratings as of November 30, 2021 are as follows:
Rating Outlook
Moody's Investors Service (1) Baa2 Stable
Standard and Poor's BBB Stable
Fitch Ratings (2) BBB Stable
(1) On November 10, 2021, Moody's Investors Service revised Jefferies Group's rating of Baa3 to Baa2 and revised its rating outlook from positive to stable.
(2) Subsequent to year end, on January 24, 2022, Fitch Ratings affirmed Jefferies Group's rating of BBB and revised its rating outlook from stable to positive.
Jefferies Group's access to external financing to finance its day to day operations, as well as the cost of that financing, is dependent upon various factors, including its debt ratings. Jefferies Group's 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, capital structure, overall risk management, business diversification and market share and competitive position in the markets in which it operates. Deterioration in any of these factors could impact Jefferies Group's credit ratings. While certain aspects of a credit rating downgrade are quantifiable pursuant to contractual provisions, the impact on 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, Jefferies Group may be required to provide additional collateral to counterparties, exchanges and clearing organizations in the event of a
credit rating downgrade. At November 30, 2021, 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 Jefferies Group's long-term credit rating below investment grade was $72.2 million. For certain foreign clearing organizations, 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 a credit rating downgrade. The impact of additional collateral requirements is considered in Jefferies Group's Contingency Funding Plan and calculation of Modeled Liquidity Outflow, as described above.
Ratings issued by credit rating agencies are subject to change at any time.
Net Capital
Jefferies Group operates a broker-dealer, Jefferies LLC, registered with the SEC and a member firm of FINRA. Jefferies LLC is subject to the SEC 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 FCM, is also subject to Rule 1.17 of the 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.
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (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. On October 6, 2021, JFSI, a registered swap dealer, became subject to the CFTC's regulatory capital requirements and holds regulatory capital in excess of the minimum regulatory requirement. Additionally, JFSI registered as a security-based swap dealer with the SEC on November 1, 2021, and became subject to the SEC's security-based swap dealer regulatory rules. Further, subsequent to year end, on December 16, 2021, JFSI was approved by the SEC as an OTC derivatives dealer, and is subject to compliance with the SEC's net capital requirements. At November 30, 2021, JFSI is in compliance with these SEC and CFTC requirements. As a security-based swap dealer and swap dealer, JFSI is subject to the net capital requirements of the SEC, CFTC and the NFA, as a member of the NFA. JFSI is required to maintain minimum net capital, as defined under SEC Rule 18a-1 of not less than the greater of 2% of the risk margin amount, as defined, or $20 million.
Jefferies LLC's net capital and excess net capital at November 30, 2021 were $2.23 billion and $2.11 billion, respectively. JFSI's net capital and excess net capital at November 30, 2021 were $452.3 million and $432.3 million, respectively.
FINRA is the designated examining authority for Jefferies LLC and the NFA is the designated self-regulatory organization for Jefferies LLC as an FCM.
Certain other U.S. and non-U.S. subsidiaries of Jefferies Group 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 U.K.
The regulatory capital requirements referred to above may restrict Jefferies Group's ability to withdraw capital from its regulated subsidiaries.
Some of our other consolidated subsidiaries also have credit agreements which may restrict the payment of cash dividends, or the ability to make loans or advances to the parent company.
Other Developments
On December 31, 2020, the U.K. left the EU single market and customs union and Jefferies Group's U.K. broker dealer, Jefferies International Limited, was no longer able to provide services to European clients under the passport regime. Jefferies Group had already taken steps to ensure its ability to provide services to its European clients without interruption by establishing a wholly-owned subsidiary in Germany ("Jefferies GmbH"), which is authorized and regulated in Germany by the Federal Financial Services Authority ("BaFin"). Jefferies Group's European clients were migrated to Jefferies GmbH to conduct business across all of Jefferies Group's European investment banking, fixed income and equity platforms with no client disruptions or settlement issues.
Central banks and regulators around the world have convened working groups to find, and implement the transition to, suitable replacements for IBORs. During 2021, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority announced that the publication of the one-week and two-month U.S. Dollar LIBOR maturities and all non-U.S. Dollar LIBOR maturities will cease immediately after December 31, 2021, with the remaining U.S. Dollar LIBOR maturities ceasing immediately after June 30, 2023. Jefferies
Group is a counterparty to a number of LIBOR-based contracts, with maturity dates subsequent to 2021, composed primarily of cleared derivative contracts and floating rate notes. Jefferies Group's IBOR transition plan is overseen by a global steering committee and it has an active transition program focused on an orderly transition from IBORs to alternative reference rates in accordance with industry transition timelines. Jefferies Group continues to make progress on its transition plan, which is designed to enable operational readiness and robust risk management and are taking steps to update operational processes, models and contracts for any changes that may be required as well as reduce our overall exposure to LIBOR. Jefferies Group is actively engaged with its counterparties to ensure that our contracts adhere to the International Swaps and Derivative Association, Inc. ("ISDA")
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
At November 30, 2021, our commitments and guarantees, substantially all of which related to Jefferies Group, are as follows:
Expected Maturity Date (Fiscal Years)
Commitments and Guarantees Total 2022 2023 2024
and
2025 2026
and
2027 After 2027
(In millions)
Equity commitments $ 375.3 $ 333.2 $ 27.5 $ 3.6 $ 4.6 $ 6.4
Loan commitments 335.5 250.0 25.5 - 60.0 -
Underwriting commitments
167.0 167.0 - - - -
Forward starting reverse repos
7,682.3 7,682.3 - - - -
Forward starting repos
4,572.0 4,572.0 - - - -
Other unfunded commitments 601.7 25.0 571.3 5.4 - -
Derivative contracts (1):
Non-credit related 27,997.5 16,978.6 7,849.4 3,081.8 87.7 -
Credit related 17.8 - - 17.8 - -
Standby letters of credit 6.7 5.1 0.6 0.5 - 0.5
Total commitments and guarantees $ 41,755.8 $ 30,013.2 $ 8,474.3 $ 3,109.1 $ 152.3 $ 6.9
(1) Certain of our derivative contracts meet the definition of a guarantee and are therefore included in the above table. For additional information on commitments, see Note 22 in our consolidated financial statements.
We have agreed to reimburse Berkshire Hathaway for up to one-half of any losses incurred under a $1.5 billion surety policy securing outstanding commercial paper issued by an affiliate of Berkadia. As of November 30, 2021, the aggregate amount of commercial paper outstanding was $1.47 billion. This commitment is not included in the table above as the timing of payments, if any, is uncertain.
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 the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition. Rather, the fair values of derivative contracts are reported in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition as Financial instruments owned, at fair value or Financial instruments sold, not yet purchased, at fair value, 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 Notes 2, 4 and 5 in our consolidated financial statements.
We are routinely involved with variable interest entities ("VIEs") in the normal course of business. At November 30, 2021, we did not have any commitments to purchase assets from our VIEs. For additional information regarding VIEs, see Notes 7 and 8 in our consolidated financial statements.
Critical Accounting Estimates
The preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP requires us to make estimates and assumptions about future events that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. Actual results could significantly differ from those estimates. We believe that the following discussion addresses our most critical accounting estimates, which are those that are important to the presentation of our financial condition and results of operations and require our most difficult, subjective and complex judgments.
Fair Value of Financial Instruments - Financial instruments owned, at fair value and Financial instruments sold, not yet purchased, at fair value are recorded at fair value, either as required by accounting pronouncements or through the fair value option election. Gains and losses on Financial instruments owned, at fair value and Financial instruments sold, not yet purchased, at fair value are recognized in the Consolidated Statements of Operations in Principal transactions. Fair value 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).
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 as follows:
Level 1: Quoted prices are available in active markets for identical assets or liabilities at the reported date. Valuation adjustments and block discounts are not applied to Level 1 instruments.
Level 2: Pricing inputs other than quoted prices in active markets, which are either directly or indirectly observable at the reported date. The nature of these financial instruments include cash instruments for which quoted prices are available but traded less frequently, derivative instruments for which fair values have been derived using model inputs that are directly observable in the market, or can be derived principally from, or corroborated by, observable market data, and financial instruments that are fair valued by reference to other similar financial instruments, the parameters of which can be directly observed.
Level 3: Instruments that have little to no pricing observability at the reported date. These financial instruments are measured using management's best estimate of fair value, where the inputs into the determination of fair value require significant management judgment or estimation.
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 amount of management judgment.
Jefferies Group's Independent Price Verification Group, independent of its trading function, plays an important role in determining that 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.
For further information on the fair value definition, Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 and related valuation techniques, see Notes 2 and 4 in our consolidated financial statements.
Income Taxes - We record a valuation allowance to reduce our net deferred tax asset to the amount that is more likely than not to be realized. We are required to consider all available evidence, both positive and negative, and to weigh the evidence when determining whether a valuation allowance is required and the amount of such valuation allowance. Generally, greater weight is required to be placed on objectively verifiable evidence when making this assessment, in particular on recent historical operating results.
We also 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 could be significant to our Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition or results of operations.
Impairment of Long-Lived Assets - We evaluate our long-lived assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate, in management's judgment, that the carrying value of such assets may not be recoverable. When testing for impairment, we group our long-lived assets with other assets and liabilities at the lowest level for which identifiable cash flows are largely independent of the cash flows of other assets and liabilities (or asset group). The determination of whether an asset group is recoverable is based on management's estimate of undiscounted future cash flows directly attributable to the asset group as compared to its carrying value. If the carrying amount of the asset group is greater than the undiscounted cash flows, an impairment loss would be recognized for the amount by which the carrying amount of the asset group exceeds its estimated fair value.
Due to a decline in oil and gas prices during the second quarter of 2020, Vitesse Energy performed impairment analyses on its proven oil and gas properties in the DJ Basin of Wyoming and Colorado and the Williston Basin in North Dakota and Montana. Vitesse Energy first determined the estimated undiscounted cash flows based on the reserves and costs utilized in its reserve report and then updated those cash flows based on strip pricing as of May 31, 2020. The expected undiscounted future net cash flows were then compared to the end of quarter net carrying value of the oil and gas properties. No impairment of the Williston Basin assets was necessary as the undiscounted future net cash flows significantly exceeded the carrying value of these assets. As undiscounted future net cash flows were lower than the carrying value of the DJ Basin properties, Vitesse Energy then determined the estimated fair value of the proven properties. To measure the estimated fair value of its proven properties, Vitesse Energy used unobservable Level 3 inputs, including a 10.0% discount rate and estimated future cash flows from its reserve report. The estimated fair value of Vitesse Energy's proven oil and gas properties in the DJ Basin totaled $26.8 million, which was $13.2 million lower than the carrying value as of the end of the second quarter of 2020. As a result, an impairment charge of $13.2 million was recorded in Selling, general and other expenses during 2020.
Due to a decline in oil and gas prices during the first quarter of 2020, JETX Energy performed an impairment analysis for its oil and gas properties in the East Eagle Ford. JETX Energy first determined the estimated undiscounted cash flows based on the reserves and costs utilized in its reserve report and then updated those cash flows based on strip pricing as of February 29, 2020. The expected undiscounted future net cash flows were then compared to the end of quarter net carrying value of the proven properties. As the undiscounted future net cash flows were lower than the carrying value, JETX Energy then determined the estimated fair value of the proven properties. To measure the estimated fair value of its proven properties, JETX Energy used unobservable Level 3 inputs, including a 10.0% discount rate and estimated future cash flows from its reserve report. The estimated fair value of JETX Energy's proven oil and gas properties in the East Eagle Ford totaled $9.6 million, which was $33.0 million lower than the carrying value as of the end of first quarter of 2020. As a result, an impairment charge of $33.0 million was recorded in Selling, general and other expenses during 2020.
Impairment of Equity Method Investments - We evaluate equity method investments for impairment when operating losses or other factors may indicate a decrease in value which is other than temporary. We consider a variety of factors including economic conditions nationally and in their geographic areas of operation, adverse changes in the industry in which they operate, declines in business prospects, deterioration in earnings, increasing costs of operations and other relevant factors specific to the investee. Whenever we believe conditions or events indicate that one of these investments might be significantly impaired, we obtain from such investee updated cash flow projections. We use this information and, together with discussions with the investee's management and comparable public company analysis, evaluate if the book value of its investment exceeds its fair value, and if so and the situation is deemed other than temporary, record an impairment charge.
HomeFed has a 49% membership interest in the RedSky JZ Fulton Mall joint venture, which owns a property in Brooklyn, New York. The property consists of 14 separate tax lots, divided into two development sites which may be redeveloped with buildings consisting of up to 540,000 square feet of floor area development rights. During the first quarter of 2020, difficulties were encountered with attempts to refinance debt within the investment. We viewed this, combined with a softening of the Brooklyn, New York real estate market during the quarter, as a triggering event and evaluated HomeFed's equity method investment in RedSky JZ Fulton Mall to determine if there was an impairment. In connection with this evaluation, we obtained an appraisal which reflected a reduction in the value of the investment in comparison to an earlier appraisal obtained shortly before the beginning of the quarter. The appraisal was based off of Level 3 inputs consisting of prices of comparable properties and the appraisal indicated that the value of the property was worth less than the debt outstanding. HomeFed recorded an
impairment charge of $55.6 million within Income (loss) related to associated companies during 2020, which represented all of its carrying value in the joint venture.
Goodwill - We allocate the acquisition cost of consolidated businesses to the specific tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed based upon their fair values. Significant judgments and estimates are often made by management to determine these values, and may include the use of appraisals, consideration of market quotes for similar transactions, use of discounted cash flow techniques or consideration of other information we believe to be relevant. Any excess of the cost of a business acquisition over the fair values of the assets and liabilities acquired is recorded as goodwill, which is not amortized to expense. Substantially all of our goodwill was recognized in connection with the Jefferies Group acquisition.
At least annually, and more frequently if warranted, we will assess whether goodwill has been impaired at the reporting unit level. The fair value of the reporting unit is compared with its carrying value, including goodwill and allocated intangible assets. If the fair value is in excess of the carrying value, the goodwill for the reporting unit is considered not to be impaired. If the fair value is less than the carrying value, an impairment loss is recognized as the difference between the fair value and carrying value of the reporting unit.
The fair values are based on widely accepted valuation techniques that we believe market participants would use, although the valuation process requires significant judgment and often involves the use of significant estimates and assumptions. The methodologies we utilize in estimating fair value include market capitalization, price-to-book multiples of comparable exchange traded companies, multiples of merger and acquisitions of similar businesses and/or projected cash flows. In addition, as the fair values determined under a market approach represent a noncontrolling interest, we apply a control premium to arrive at the estimated fair value of our reporting units on a controlling basis. The estimates and assumptions used in determining fair value could have a significant effect on whether or not an impairment charge is recorded and the magnitude of such a charge. Adverse market or economic events could result in impairment charges in future periods.
An independent valuation specialist was engaged to assist with the valuation process relating to the Investment Banking and Capital Markets, and Asset Management reportable segments for our annual goodwill impairment test as of August 1, 2021. The results of our annual goodwill impairment test for both the Investment Banking and Capital Markets reportable segment and the Asset Management reportable segment did not indicate any goodwill impairment.
Intangible Assets - Intangible assets deemed to have finite lives are generally amortized on a straight-line basis over their estimated useful lives, where the useful life is the period over which the asset is expected to contribute directly, or indirectly, to our future cash flows. Intangible assets are reviewed for impairment on an interim basis when certain events or circumstances exist. If future undiscounted cash flows are estimated to be less than the carrying amounts of the asset groups used to generate those cash flows in subsequent reporting periods, particularly for those with large investments in amortizable intangible assets, impairment charges would have to be recorded.
An intangible asset with an indefinite useful life is not amortized but assessed for impairment annually, or more frequently, when certain events or circumstances exist indicating an assessment for impairment is necessary. Impairment exists when the carrying amount exceeds its fair value. Fair value is determined using valuation techniques consistent with what a market participant would use. All of our indefinite-lived intangible assets were recognized in connection with the 2013 Jefferies Group acquisition, which consists of exchange and clearing organization membership interests and registrations. Our annual impairment testing date was August 1, 2021. At August 1, 2021, we utilized quantitative assessments of membership interests and registrations that have available quoted sales prices as well as certain other membership interests and registrations that have declined in utilization and qualitative assessments were performed on the remainder of our indefinite-life intangible assets. In applying our quantitative assessments, we recognized immaterial impairment losses on certain exchange membership interests and registrations. With regard to our qualitative assessments of the remaining indefinite-life intangible assets, based on our assessments of market conditions, the utilization of the assets and the replacement costs associated with the assets, we have concluded that it is not more likely than not that the intangible assets are impaired.
Contingencies - In the normal course of business, we have been named, from time to time, as a defendant in legal and regulatory proceedings. We are also involved, from time to time, in other exams, investigations and similar reviews (both formal and informal) by governmental and self-regulatory agencies regarding our businesses, certain of which may result in judgments, settlements, fines, penalties or other injunctions.
We recognize a liability for a contingency when it is probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount of loss can be reasonably estimated. If the reasonable estimate of a probable loss is a range, we accrue the most likely amount of such loss, and if such amount is not determinable, then we accrue the minimum in the range as the loss accrual. The determination of the outcome and loss estimates requires significant judgment on the part of management, can be highly subjective and is subject to
significant change with the passage of time as more information becomes available. Estimating the ultimate impact of litigation matters is inherently uncertain, in particular because the ultimate outcome will rest on events and decisions of others that may not be within our power to control. We do not believe that any of our current litigation will have a significant adverse effect on our consolidated financial position, results of operations or liquidity; however, if amounts paid at the resolution of litigation are in excess of recorded reserve amounts, the excess could be significant in relation to results of operations for that period. For further information, see Note 22 in our consolidated financial statements.

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ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.
The following includes "forward-looking statements" that involve risk and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The discussion of risk is presented separately for Jefferies Group and the balance of our company. Exclusive of Jefferies Group, our market risk arises principally from equity price risk.
Excluding Jefferies Group, Financial instruments owned, at fair value include corporate equity securities with an aggregate fair value of $353.8 million at November 30, 2021. Assuming a decline of 10% in market prices, the value of these investments could decrease by approximately $35.4 million.
Jefferies Group
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 policies and procedures outlining frameworks 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 Jefferies Group's Risk Management, Information Technology, 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 as top priority and ensuring we are in compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations, as well as adhering to the highest ethical standards. We undertake prudent 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 particular scrutiny 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 to a number of functions with specific areas of focus.
For a discussion of liquidity and capital risk management, refer to the "Liquidity and Capital Resources" section herein.
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 appetite 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, Level 3 assets, counterparty exposure, leverage and cash capital.
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, and investing activities, including our investments in Asset Management separately managed accounts, 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 its 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.
Value-at-Risk
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 Jefferies Group's trading portfolios by applying historical market changes to the current portfolio. Jefferies Group calculates a one day VaR using a one year look-back period measured at a 95% confidence level.
As with all measures of VaR, the 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.
There was an increase in Jefferies Group's average daily VaR to $13.63 million for 2021 from $10.51 million for 2020. The increase was primarily due to higher equity VaR as a result of increased equity exposure and market volatility, as the historical volatility from 2020 remained in its rolling one year look-back period for most of 2021. Interest rate and credit spreads VaR was lower driven by a decrease in fixed income interest rate exposure over the period. This decrease was offset by a lower diversification benefit across asset classes and business divisions.
The following table illustrates each separate component of VaR for each component of market risk by interest rate and credit spreads, equity, currency and commodity products, as well as for Jefferies Group's overall trading positions using the past 365 days of historical data (in millions):
Daily VaR (1)
Value-at-Risk in Trading Portfolios
Risk Categories VaR at November 30, 2021 Daily VaR for 2021 VaR at November 30, 2020 Daily VaR for 2020
Average High Low Average High Low
Interest Rates and Credit Spreads $ 4.60 $ 5.46 $ 11.15 $ 3.21 $ 7.66 $ 7.90 $ 12.50 $ 3.93
Equity Prices 9.85 11.66 18.98 6.17 12.54 8.01 14.91 3.68
Currency Rates 0.12 0.12 0.31 0.03 0.16 0.21 2.17 0.03
Commodity Prices 0.15 0.39 0.77 0.13 0.44 0.70 1.56 0.24
Diversification Effect (2) (2.06) (4.00) N/A N/A (2.04) (6.31) N/A N/A
Firmwide $ 12.66 $ 13.63 $ 22.91 $ 6.94 $ 18.76 $ 10.51 $ 22.78 $ 5.02
(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.
(2)The diversification effect is not applicable for the maximum and minimum VaR values as Jefferies Group's 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.
Jefferies Group performs daily back-testing of its VaR model comparing realized revenue and loss with the previous day's VaR. Back-testing results are included in the quarterly risk review pack for its Board of Directors. The primary method used to test the efficacy of the VaR model is to compare actual daily net revenue for those positions included in the 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 2021, results of the evaluation at the aggregate level demonstrated eight days when the net trading loss exceeded the 95% one day VaR.
The chart below reflects our daily VaR over the last four quarters. The increases from mid-December 2020 through mid-January 2021 were driven by the high historical volatility observed throughout the initial period in 2020 driven by the impact of COVID-19. The lower trend from January 2021 to the end of February 2021 was driven by exposure reductions, while equity exposure increased at various points from March 2021 through early June 2021. VaR trended lower from June 2021 and throughout most of the remainder of 2021 due to position reductions and as the remaining volatile days from 2020 dropped out of the time series. The uptick in VaR towards the end of 2021 was driven by increased equity exposure.
Daily Net Trading Revenue
There were 60 days with trading losses out of a total of 252 trading days in 2021. The loss days in 2021 were primarily driven by certain equity funds in Jefferies Group's Asset Management business, SPAC-related activity and idiosyncratic positions in its equity trading business and certain block positions that were liquidated during the year. The histogram below presents the distribution of actual daily net trading revenue for substantially all of Jefferies Group's trading activities for 2021 (in millions).
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, Jefferies Group's 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 test and profit and loss analysis. The table below presents the potential reduction in net income associated with a 10% stress of the fair value of Jefferies Group's positions that are not included in the VaR model at November 30, 2021 (in thousands):
10% Sensitivity
Investment in funds (1) $ 101,233
Private investments 14,918
Corporate debt securities in default 9,297
Trade claims 3,190
(1) Includes investments in hedge funds, fund of funds and private equity funds. For additional information on these investments, see Note 4 in our consolidated financial statements.
VaR also excludes the impact of changes in Jefferies Group's own credit spreads on its structured notes for which the fair value option was elected. The estimated credit spread risk sensitivity for each one basis point widening in Jefferies Group's own credit spreads on financial liabilities for which the fair value option was elected was an increase in value of approximately $1.5 million at November 30, 2021, which is included in Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss).
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 its 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 our 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 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.
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 a trading counterparty to other broker-dealers and customers, as a counterparty to derivative contracts, as a direct lender and through extending loan commitments and providing securities-based lending 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 our credit risk are:
•Loans and lending arising in connection with our investment banking and 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. Loans and lending also arise in connection with our portion of Jefferies Group's Secured Revolving Credit Facility that is with Jefferies Group and Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, to be funded equally, to support loan underwritings by Jefferies Finance. See Note 9 for additional information on this facility. In addition, Jefferies Group has loans outstanding to certain of its officers and employees (none of whom are executive officers or directors). See Note 25 for additional information on these employee loans.
•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.
•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 derivative credit exposures.
•Cash and cash equivalents, which include 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 Management 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:
•Client on-boarding and approving counterparty credit limits;
•Negotiating, approving and monitoring credit terms in legal and master documentation;
•Determining the analytical standards and risk parameters for ongoing management and monitoring credit risk books;
•Actively managing daily exposure, exceptions and breaches; and
•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 Management Policy. Jefferies Group's 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.
Jefferies Group's Secured Revolving Credit Facility, which supports loan underwritings by Jefferies Finance, is governed under separate policies other than the Credit Risk Management Policy and is approved by Jefferies Group's Board of Directors. The loans outstanding to certain of Jefferies Group's officers and employees are extended pursuant to a review by its most senior management.
Current counterparty credit exposures are summarized in the tables below and provided by credit quality, region and industry. 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.
The amounts in the tables below are for amounts included in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition at November 30, 2021 and 2020 (in millions).
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, 2021 November 30, 2020 November 30, 2021 November 30, 2020 November 30, 2021 November 30, 2020 November 30, 2021 November 30, 2020 November 30, 2021 November 30, 2020 November 30, 2021 November 30, 2020
AAA Range $ - $ - $ 0.8 $ 1.1 $ - $ 0.1 $ 0.8 $ 1.2 $ 6,924.9 $ 5,132.9 $ 6,925.7 $ 5,134.1
AA Range 60.0 45.2 111.7 111.7 13.0 9.8 184.7 166.7 5.1 7.8 189.8 174.5
A Range 0.4 0.2 530.4 542.2 338.0 147.2 868.8 689.6 1,869.4 1,967.9 2,738.2 2,657.5
BBB Range 250.3 250.5 170.9 110.2 37.2 18.1 458.4 378.8 0.8 2.2 459.2 381.0
BB or Lower 40.0 50.0 11.4 8.3 71.0 201.6 122.4 259.9 0.1 0.1 122.5 260.0
Unrated 164.2 142.0 - - - 0.2 164.2 142.2 13.3 1.0 177.5 143.2
Total $ 514.9 $ 487.9 $ 825.2 $ 773.5 $ 459.2 $ 377.0 $ 1,799.3 $ 1,638.4 $ 8,813.6 $ 7,111.9 $ 10,612.9 $ 8,750.3
Counterparty Credit Exposure by Region
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, 2021 November 30, 2020 November 30, 2021 November 30, 2020 November 30, 2021 November 30, 2020 November 30, 2021 November 30, 2020 November 30, 2021 November 30, 2020 November 30, 2021 November 30, 2020
Asia/Latin America/Other $ 14.9 $ 15.0 $ 63.7 $ 72.6 $ 0.9 $ 6.9 $ 79.5 $ 94.5 $ 268.1 $ 248.4 $ 347.6 $ 342.9
Europe 0.3 0.1 300.8 313.0 66.4 42.5 367.5 355.6 57.0 96.4 424.5 452.0
North America 499.7 472.8 460.7 387.9 391.9 327.6 1,352.3 1,188.3 8,488.5 6,767.1 9,840.8 7,955.4
Total $ 514.9 $ 487.9 $ 825.2 $ 773.5 $ 459.2 $ 377.0 $ 1,799.3 $ 1,638.4 $ 8,813.6 $ 7,111.9 $ 10,612.9 $ 8,750.3
Counterparty Credit Exposure by Industry
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, 2021 November 30, 2020 November 30, 2021 November 30, 2020 November 30, 2021 November 30, 2020 November 30, 2021 November 30, 2020 November 30, 2021 November 30, 2020 November 30, 2021 November 30, 2020
Asset Managers $ - $ 0.2 $ - $ - $ - $ - $ - $ 0.2 $ 6,924.9 $ 5,132.9 $ 6,924.9 $ 5,133.1
Banks, Broker-dealers 250.7 250.7 602.9 558.6 388.9 178.8 1,242.5 988.1 1,888.7 1,979.0 3,131.2 2,967.1
Corporates 158.2 132.7 - - 68.0 183.9 226.2 316.6 - - 226.2 316.6
As Agent Banks - - 185.2 190.0 - - 185.2 190.0 - - 185.2 190.0
Other 106.0 104.3 37.1 24.9 2.3 14.3 145.4 143.5 - - 145.4 143.5
Total $ 514.9 $ 487.9 $ 825.2 $ 773.5 $ 459.2 $ 377.0 $ 1,799.3 $ 1,638.4 $ 8,813.6 $ 7,111.9 $ 10,612.9 $ 8,750.3
For additional information regarding credit exposure to over-the-counter derivative contracts, see Note 5 in the consolidated financial statements.
Country Risk Exposure
Country risk is the risk that events or developments that occur in the general environment of a country or countries due to economic, political, social, regulatory, legal or other factors, will affect the ability of obligors of the country to honor their obligations. We define the country of risk as the country of jurisdiction or domicile of the obligor, and monitors country risk resulting from both trading positions and counterparty exposure, which may not include the offsetting benefit of any financial instruments utilized to manage market risk.
The following tables reflect our top exposure to the sovereign governments, corporations and financial institutions in those non-U.S. countries in which we have a net long issuer and counterparty exposure, as reflected in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition at November 30, 2021 and 2020 (in millions):
November 30, 2021
Issuer Risk Counterparty Risk Issuer and Counterparty Risk
Fair Value of
Long Debt
Securities Fair Value of
Short Debt
Securities Net Derivative
Notional
Exposure Loans
and
Lending Securities
and Margin
Finance OTC
Derivatives Cash and
Cash Equivalents Excluding
Cash and Cash Equivalents Including
Cash and
Cash
Equivalents
Canada $ 196.4 $ (94.2) $ 1.3 $ - $ 63.1 $ 259.5 $ 1.7 $ 426.1 $ 427.8
United Kingdom 570.6 (350.1) (1.4) 0.3 68.9 24.9 26.7 313.2 339.9
Hong Kong 27.9 (18.3) (1.8) - 2.5 - 160.6 10.3 170.9
Japan 247.3 (205.4) (3.1) - 18.3 0.1 51.4 57.2 108.6
Spain 191.4 (111.8) (0.1) - 25.3 0.3 - 105.1 105.1
Australia 134.1 (78.5) 0.6 - 25.5 - 7.5 81.7 89.2
Netherlands 220.2 (142.0) 0.7 - 3.9 0.1 1.3 82.9 84.2
Switzerland 97.3 (67.6) 3.5 - 40.3 2.5 2.7 76.0 78.7
France 210.7 (201.7) (59.5) - 99.6 26.9 - 76.0 76.0
China 458.4 (356.9) (34.1) - - - - 67.4 67.4
Total $ 2,354.3 $ (1,626.5) $ (93.9) $ 0.3 $ 347.4 $ 314.3 $ 251.9 $ 1,295.9 $ 1,547.8
November 30, 2020
Issuer Risk Counterparty Risk Issuer and Counterparty Risk
Fair Value of
Long Debt
Securities Fair Value of
Short Debt
Securities Net Derivative
Notional
Exposure Loans
and
Lending Securities
and Margin
Finance OTC
Derivatives Cash and
Cash Equivalents Excluding
Cash and Cash Equivalents Including
Cash and
Cash Equivalents
Italy $ 1,929.5 $ (921.6) $ (618.9) $ - $ - $ 0.1 $ - $ 389.1 $ 389.1
United Kingdom 464.0 (235.8) (46.7) 0.1 67.4 5.2 64.8 254.2 319.0
France 357.3 (290.9) 48.3 - 140.8 24.3 - 279.8 279.8
Germany 470.7 (352.7) 40.2 - 63.1 11.3 26.7 232.6 259.3
Australia 32.7 (17.8) 173.9 - 24.9 - 12.8 213.7 226.5
Hong Kong 35.2 (11.8) 0.7 - 0.1 - 157.4 24.2 181.6
Canada 417.3 (326.8) 1.3 - 20.4 64.3 2.1 176.5 178.6
Austria 151.2 (73.6) - - - - - 77.6 77.6
India 50.9 (6.7) - - - - 24.3 44.2 68.5
Switzerland 104.0 (72.2) 2.9 - 31.6 1.3 0.4 67.6 68.0
Total $ 4,012.8 $ (2,309.9) $ (398.3) $ 0.1 $ 348.3 $ 106.5 $ 288.5 $ 1,759.5 $ 2,048.0
Operational Risk
Operational risk is the risk of financial or non-financial impact, resulting from inadequate or failed internal processes, people and systems or from external events. We interpret this definition as including not only financial loss or gain but also other negative impacts to our objectives such as reputational impact, legal/regulatory impact and impact on our clients. Third-party risk is also included as a subset of Operational Risk and is defined as the potential threat presented to us, or our employees or clients, from our supply chain and other third-parties used to perform a process, service or activity on our behalf. Our Operational Risk framework includes governance as well as operational risk processes, which is comprised of operational risk event capture and analysis, risk and control self-assessments, operational risk key indicators, action tracking, risk monitoring and reporting, deep dive risk assessments, new business approvals and vendor risk management. Each revenue producing and support department is responsible for the management and reporting of operational risks and the implementation of the Operational Risk Management Policy and processes within the department with regular operational risk training provided to our employees.
Operational Risk events are mapped to Risk Categories used for the consistent classification of risk data to support root cause and trend analysis. These include:
• Fraud and Theft;
• Clients and Business Practices;
• Market Conduct/Regulatory Compliance;
• Business Disruption;
• Technology;
• Data Protection and Privacy;
• Trading;
• Transaction and Process Management;
• People;
• Cyber; and
• Vendor Risk.
Operational Risk Management Policy, framework, infrastructure, methodology, processes, guidance and oversight of the operational risk processes are centralized and consistent firm wide and additionally subject to regional and legal entity operational risk governance as required. We also maintain a firm wide Third-Party ("Vendor") Risk Management Policy & Framework to ensure adequate control and monitoring over our critical third parties which includes processes for conducting periodic reviews covering areas of risk including financial health, information security, privacy, business continuity management, disaster recovery and operational risk.
Our leadership is continuously monitoring circumstances around COVID-19, as well as economic and capital market conditions, and providing frequent communications to both our clients and our employees. We continue to adopt enhanced cleaning practices across our offices, have established protocols for office access, travel, meetings and entertainment to ensure the safety of our people and clients, and continue to work actively with our employees to navigate the constantly changing environment. Our Business Continuity Plan is operating effectively across a hybrid remote working environment across all functions without any meaningful disruptions to our business or control processes. Additionally, we are working continuously with all of our critical vendors regarding their own pandemic responses to ensure there is minimal impact on our business operations.
Model Risk
Model risk refers to the risk of losses resulting from decisions that are based on the output of models, due to errors or weaknesses in the design and development, implementation, or improper use of models. We use quantitative models primarily to value certain financial assets and liabilities and to monitor and manage our risk. Model risk is a function of the model materiality, frequency of use, complexity and uncertainty around inputs and assumptions used in a given model. Robust model risk management is a core part of our risk management approach and is overseen through our risk governance structure and risk management controls.
Legal and Compliance Risk
Legal and compliance risk includes the risk of noncompliance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements. We are subject to extensive regulation in the different jurisdictions in which we conduct our business. We have various procedures addressing issues such as regulatory capital requirements, sales and trading practices, use of and safekeeping of customer funds, credit granting, collection activities, anti-money laundering and record keeping. These risks also reflect the potential impact that changes in local and international laws and tax statutes have on the economics and viability of current or future transactions. In an effort to mitigate these risks, we continuously review new and pending regulations and legislation and participate in various industry interest groups. We also maintain an anonymous hotline for employees or others to report suspected inappropriate actions by us or by our employees or agents.
New Business Risk
New business risk refers to the risks of entering into a new line of business or offering a new product. By entering a new line of
business or offering a new product, we may face risks that we are unaccustomed to dealing with and may increase the magnitude of the risks we currently face. The New Business Committee reviews proposals for new businesses and new products to determine if we are prepared to handle the additional or increased risks associated with entering into such activities.
Reputational Risk
We recognize that maintaining our reputation among clients, investors, regulators and the general public is an important aspect of minimizing legal and operational risks. Maintaining our reputation depends on a large number of factors, including the selection of our clients and the conduct of our business activities. We seek to maintain our reputation by screening potential clients and by conducting our business activities in accordance with high ethical standards. Our reputation and business activity can be affected by statements and actions of third-parties, even false or misleading statements by them. We actively monitor public comment concerning us and are vigilant in seeking to assure accurate information and perception prevails.
Other Risk
We are also subject to interest rate risk on our long-term fixed interest rate debt. Generally, the fair market value of debt securities with a fixed interest rate will increase as interest rates fall, and the fair market value will decrease as interest rates rise. The following table represents principal cash flows by expected maturity dates and the related weighted-average interest rate on those maturities for our consolidated long-term debt obligations. For the variable rate borrowings, the weighted-average interest rates are based on the rates in effect at the reporting date. Our market risk with respect to foreign currency exposure on our long-term debt is also shown below. For additional information, see Note 12 to our consolidated financial statements.
Expected Maturity Date (Fiscal Years)
2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Thereafter Total Fair Value
(Dollars in thousands)
Rate Sensitive Liabilities:
Fixed Interest Rate Borrowings $ - $ 1,166,748 $ 492,000 $ 70,300 $ 42,700 $ 5,383,230 $ 7,154,978 $ 7,868,834
Weighted-Average Interest Rate - % 3.44 % 1.23 % 0.42 % 0.71 % 4.07 %
Variable Interest Rate Borrowings $ 57,137 $ 153,574 $ 3,906 $ 8,508 $ 13,033 $ 395,597 $ 631,755 $ 637,721
Weighted-Average Interest Rate 2.79 % 2.29 % 1.90 % 1.81 % 0.64 % 2.67 %
Borrowings with Foreign Currency Exposure $ - $ - $ 566,150 $ - $ - $ 742,789 $ 1,308,939 $ 1,341,254
Weighted-Average Interest Rate - % - % 1.00 % - % - % 2.52 %

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ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.
Financial Statements and supplementary data required by this Item 8 are set forth at the pages indicated in Item 15(a) below.

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ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS
Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure.
None.

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ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures.
Evaluation of disclosure controls and procedures
The Company's management evaluated, with the participation of the Company's principal executive and principal financial officers, the effectiveness of the Company's disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act), as of November 30, 2021. Based on their evaluation, the Company's principal executive and principal financial officers concluded that the Company's disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of November 30, 2021.
Changes in internal control over financial reporting
There has been no change in the Company's internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) that occurred during the Company's fiscal quarter ended November 30, 2021, that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company's internal control over financial reporting.
Management's Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
Management of the Company is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) or 15d-15(f) promulgated under the Exchange Act. Internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and includes those policies and procedures that:
•Pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and disposition of the assets of the Company;
•Provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the Company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the Company; and
•Provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of the Company's assets that could have a material effect on the consolidated financial statements.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
The Company's management assessed the effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of November 30, 2021. In making this assessment, the Company's management used the criteria set forth in Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) in 2013.
Based on our assessment and those criteria, management concluded that, as of November 30, 2021, the Company's internal control over financial reporting was effective.
The effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of November 30, 2021 has been audited by Deloitte & Touche LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their attestation report, which appears herein in Item 8.

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ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
Item 9B. Other Information.
None.
PART III

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ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance.
Information with respect to this item will be contained in the Proxy Statement for the 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, which is incorporated herein by reference.
We have a Code of Business Practices, which is applicable to all directors, officers and employees, and is available on our website. We intend to post amendments to or waivers from our Code of Business Practices on our website as required by applicable law.

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ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
Item 11. Executive Compensation.
Information with respect to this item will be contained in the Proxy Statement for the 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, which is incorporated herein by reference.

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ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS
Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Shareholder Matters.
Information with respect to this item will be contained in the Proxy Statement for the 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, which is incorporated herein by reference.

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ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS
Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence.
Information with respect to this item will be contained in the Proxy Statement for the 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, which is incorporated herein by reference.

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ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services.
Information with respect to this item will be contained in the Proxy Statement for the 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, which is incorporated herein by reference.
PART IV

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ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
Item 15. Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules.
(a)(1) Financial Statements.
Reports of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
Financial Statements:
Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition at November 30, 2021 and 2020
Consolidated Statements of Operations for the years ended November 30, 2021, 2020 and 2019
Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss) for the years ended November 30, 2021, 2020 and 2019
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the years ended November 30, 2021, 2020 and 2019
Consolidated Statements of Changes in Equity for the years ended November 30, 2021, 2020 and 2019
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
(2)Financial Statement Schedules.
Schedule I - Condensed Financial Information of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (Parent Company Only) at November 30, 2021 and 2020 and for the years ended November 30, 2021, 2020 and 2019.
(3)See Exhibit Index below for a complete list of Exhibits to this report.
(b) Exhibits.
All documents referenced below were filed pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by the Company, file number 1-5721, unless otherwise indicated.
(c) Financial Statement Schedules.
National Beef Packing Company, LLC financial statements for the year ended December 28, 2019