JPMorgan is paying its US graduate trainees a stipend to do voluntary work if they defer the start date at the firm.

Other banks, such as Credit Suisse First Boston, have offered trainees who want to delay their arrival a small salary over the period they would have been working. But JPMorgan has gone a step further by offering to supplement that salary if its trainees choose to work for one of a few selected not-for-profit organisations the firm supports. The bank is thought to have approached students at two universities about the scheme and received an enthusiastic response.