Macquarie remains acquisitive

Macquarie Bank's Banking and Financial Services Group has signalled it remains in the market for acquisition and partnership opportunities after reporting a half-year net profit of $137 million.

The group said its half-year result was in line with the prior corresponding period, and the prior half had remained stable, despite continuing volatility in the advised and intermediary businesses and challenging conditions for non-cash products.

The company acknowledged that during the half, Macquarie Adviser Services had entered into an agreement with Perpetual Limited for Macquarie Wrap to provide back office service and administration for Perpetual's $8.7 billion of high net worth wrap accounts, covering both Perpetual's private client and fiduciary businesses.

It said the integration process was expected to be completed within 18 months, and would include enhancements to areas such as statements and reporting, model portfolios and investment menus.

The announcement said the process would form part of Macquarie's ongoing platform development.

The banking and financial services group said it expected its full-year result to be broadly in line with the prior year, adding that it would continue to explore appropriate acquisition and partnership opportunities which offer differentiated wealth management solutions.