New York, September 10, 2012 -- Moody's Investors Service placed the ratings of Jefferies Group,
Inc., including its Baa2 senior debt rating, under
review for possible downgrade.
RATINGS RATIONALE
Moody's said that Jefferies management has executed a disciplined
growth strategy and increased its market share over many years and through
various market cycles, while at the same time avoiding the large
losses suffered by many of its competitors. The firm has kept leverage
down and avoided illiquid, concentrated positions, which,
in combination, have resulted in a more liquid, less complex
balance sheet than many of its competitors. Furthermore,
Moody's anticipates solid financial results from Jefferies for the
balance of the year. Therefore, Moody's expects that
if any rating action results from this review of Jefferies, it is
unlikely to result in a downgrade of more than one notch.
Nonetheless, Moody's believes that Jefferies is exposed to
many of the same risks as its peers and a review is therefore appropriate.
The review will consider Jefferies' ratings relative to other capital
markets firms. Notwithstanding its less complex balance sheet,
as a firm active in capital markets and funded from institutional sources,
Jefferies is subject to confidence sensitivity of both customers and counterparties.
This was one of the factors that caused Moody's to lower the ratings
of larger global investment banks earlier this year.
The review will also focus on risk management and long-term succession
plans at Jefferies, given its rapid business expansion and personnel
growth over the last decade, and particularly in the last few years.
Moody's believes there are inherent challenges to establishing and
maintaining effective independent controls, especially over rapidly
growing capital markets activities. Jefferies' senior managers
have provided strong leadership and risk discipline, but the firm's
growth -- roughly thirty percent of employees have joined in the
last three years -- means that these traits need to be fully ingrained
both in a risk culture and in a governance structure that can transcend
these senior leaders.
The principal methodology used in this rating was Global Securities Industry
Methodology published in December 2006. Please see the Credit Policy
page on www.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
The Global Scale Credit Ratings on this press release that are issued
by one of Moody's affiliates outside the EU are endorsed by Moody's
Investors Service Ltd., One Canada Square, Canary Wharf,
London E 14 5FA, UK, in accordance with Art.4 paragraph
3 of the Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 on Credit Rating Agencies.
Further information on the EU endorsement status and on the Moody's
office that has issued a particular Credit Rating is available on www.moodys.com.
For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt,
this announcement provides relevant regulatory disclosures in relation
to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the same series
or category/class of debt or pursuant to a program for which the ratings
are derived exclusively from existing ratings in accordance with Moody's
rating practices. For ratings issued on a support provider,
this announcement provides relevant regulatory disclosures in relation
to the rating action on the support provider and in relation to each particular
rating action for securities that derive their credit ratings from the
support provider's credit rating. For provisional ratings,
this announcement provides relevant regulatory disclosures in relation
to the provisional rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive
rating that may be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt,
in each case where the transaction structure and terms have not changed
prior to the assignment of the definitive rating in a manner that would
have affected the rating. For further information please see the
ratings tab on the issuer/entity page for the respective issuer on www.moodys.com.
Moody's considers the quality of information available on the rated
entity, obligation or credit satisfactory for the purposes of issuing
a rating.
Moody's adopts all necessary measures so that the information it
uses in assigning a rating is of sufficient quality and from sources Moody's
considers to be reliable including, when appropriate, independent
third-party sources. However, Moody's is not
an auditor and cannot in every instance independently verify or validate
information received in the rating process.
Please see Moody's Rating Symbols and Definitions on the Rating
Process page on www.moodys.com for further information on
the meaning of each rating category and the definition of default and
recovery.
Please see ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for the last rating action and the rating history. The date on
which some ratings were first released goes back to a time before Moody's
ratings were fully digitized and accurate data may not be available.
Consequently, Moody's provides a date that it believes is
the most reliable and accurate based on the information that is available
to it. Please see the ratings disclosure page on our website www.moodys.com
for further information.
Please see www.moodys.com for any updates on changes to
the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has
issued the rating.
Peter E. Nerby
Senior Vice President
Financial Institutions Group
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Robert Franklyn Young
MD - Financial Institutions
Financial Institutions Group
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Moody's reviews Jefferies (senior at Baa2) for downgrade.