Macquarie Bank suffers 9 per cent profit fall

Macquarie Group has posted a mixed result, with a full-year profit down 9 per cent on last year, but a significantly better second half.

The group has announced a drop in net profit to $956 million for the full year to 31 March, 2011, alongside a second-half net profit of $553 million – a 37 per cent improvement on first-half results.

Group managing director Nicholas Moore (pictured) said foreign exchange translation accounted for 5 per cent of the group’s fall in financial year profit, while increased headcount and tax rates accounted for further falls.

On a deeper level, Banking and Financial Services posted an increased net profit contribution of 5 per cent on the prior year, up to $275 million.

In this sector, Macquarie Life Inforce risk premiums have experienced substantial growth of 59 per cent on the prior year, while the number of overall Australian and New Zealand wealth and direct clients rose 2 per cent to 359,000.

Total funds under management, advice or administration were up 1 per cent to $121.7 billion, and wrap funds under administration also rose 1 per cent to $22.2 billion.

In other parts of the business, improved general market conditions led to higher activity levels for Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities and Macquarie Capital, while Macquarie Securities Group was impacted by subdued equity market conditions.

Macquarie stated it expected that next year’s profit for Banking and Financial Services would be in line with the announcement, while overall an improved result was expected – although the group stated it was difficult to predict due to changing market conditions.