The firm decided to encourage staff to donate and diverted the money earned from a day's trading towards relief efforts in Australia following the devastating forest fires that have hit the country in recent weeks.

Jeffries, the international investment banking house whose services include wealth management, has steered A$4.0 million ($2.75 million) in donations from staff, including money made from commissions earned on 22 January, towards victims of the Australian wildfires.

Voluntary donations from Jefferies’ 3,813 employees totalled A$400,000 and Jefferies as a firm matched these client and employee donations with an additional A$2.0 million. 

“We are honoured to assist in the recovery, and our hearts go out to those affected by these wildfires. We also thank all the dedicated disaster relief professionals who are working tirelessly to help those in need - they are the true heroes. Jefferies stands with all the people of Australia,” Rich Handler, chief executive of Jefferies, and Brian Friedman, president, said. 

Jeffries is not the only such financial institution to steer commissions from a day’s trading to philanthropy and disaster relief efforts. For example, inter-dealer firm ICAP, part of TP ICAP group, held a global charity day on 10 December 2019, donating all revenues to various causes. Since the first such ICAP event in 1993 it has raised a total of more than $190 million. 

In Jeffries’s case, it said its payments will go to a number of organisations including the Australian Red Cross, Australian Wildlife Conservancy, NSW Rural Fire Service; Victoria Country Fire Authority; Habitat for Humanity Australia, All Hands and Hearts, St Vincent de Paul Society Bushfire Appeal (NSW); Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC; Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience; NSW Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service; Port Macquarie Koala Hospital.