Australia's Macquarie to exit U.S., European equities
business: source
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[October 29, 2019] By
Thyagaraju Adinarayan
LONDON (Reuters) - Australian investment
bank Macquarie Group <MQG.AX> is exiting its cash equities businesses in
the United States and Europe, a source with direct knowledge of the
matter told Reuters on Tuesday, as tougher regulations bite.
The bank, which employs about 700 people in cash equities, is expected
to cut 100 jobs in London and New York, the source added, saying that it
will have "smaller teams" in those locations to support its core Asia
Pacific businesses.
Macquarie is the latest global investment bank to trim its equity
operations - including trading, sales and research - in Europe over the
past year as difficult market conditions and the impact of tougher
regulations hit returns.
"It has been very challenging for Japanese, Canadian, Australian banks
etc. in European cash equities, even top 12 banks have struggled," said
Amrit Shahani, research director at industry consultant Coalition.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/Oct/29/images/ads/current/graue_preowned_102819.png)
In April, Japan's Nomura Holdings <8604.T> cut some jobs in its European
trading business.
Revenue from Macquarie's equities trading in the latest financial year
shrunk by a third to A$242 million ($166 million). The company does not
provide figures by region for its equities business.
Macquarie plans to focus on its Asia Pacific equities trading business,
the sources said, which will likely be its only major equities operation
remaining after it scaled back from the Middle East in May.
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![](../images/102919pics/busine31.jpg)
A pedestrian walks past
the logo of Australia's investment bank Macquarie Group Ltd which
adorns a wall on the outside of their Sydney office headquarters in
central Sydney, Australia, July 18, 2017. REUTERS/David Gray
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/Oct/29/images/ads/current/Peasley_lda_PPP_2018.png)
A broader slowdown in equities trading has prompted banks to cut costs. In July,
Deutsche Bank's <DBKGn.DE> massive cull of 18,000 jobs in a 7.4 billion euro
($8.3 billion) shake-up included staff reductions from Sydney to New York.
At least four trading sources at other brokerages said their contacts at
Macquarie's equities research and trading businesses could not be reached on
their usual messaging systems on Tuesday morning.
"Lots of staff are milling around the local coffee shops ... opposite their
building (in the City of London) waiting to be allowed in," one of the sources
said.
Bloomberg was first to report the Macquarie job cuts on Tuesday.
The bank, which is due to report its half-year earnings on Friday, had said in
March that it faced "challenging market conditions and reduced opportunities" in
its cash equities and equity derivatives trading business.
Another source at a hiring firm noted the latest move was a U-turn for
Macquarie, saying it was hiring as little as a few months back.
(Reporting by Thyagaraju Adinarayan, Simon Jessop and Saikat Chatterjee; editing
by Simon Jessop, Susan Fenton and Deepa Babington)
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