Macquarie Bank has posted an after tax profit of $A730 million for the half year ending September 30, 2006, representing an increase of 51 per cent when compared to the result for the same period last year.
The financial services division of the bank performed well for six months, recording a 40 per cent increase in its profitability on the back of increased fund flows into Macquarie Wrap Solutions and the Cash Management Trust.
The result means the retail service and distribution arm of the bank has total assets under its control that exceed $60 billion.
“Our aim during the first six months of this financial year was to consolidate the new businesses we established last year and start to look for new opportunities that meet the investment needs of all of our clients,” said Macquarie Financial Services Group head Peter Maher.
According to Maher, one of the major sources for generating fund flows into the bank has been the Professional Series. Since its launch in March 2005 it has accumulated a balance of more than $1.2 billion in funds under management.
The Macquarie Funds Management Group also experienced a successful half-year, boosting its profit by 32 per cent.
During the period the group’s Australian equities products performed well, resulting in higher funds management volumes and fee revenues for the bank.
Head of the Funds Management Group at Macquarie Ben Bruck said: “Our Australian equity funds have performed strongly and in keeping with their investment objectives.
“Our wholesale Australian Small Companies Fund has performed especially well, returning 35.4 per cent over the 12 months to September 30, which is more than 18 per cent over the benchmark,” he added.
Bruck foreshadowed that his business arm of the bank would be looking to develop a greater number of regional and global asset offerings throughout the remainder of the company’s financial year and would also be looking to take advantage of international distribution opportunities in Korea, Taiwan and the UK.
