Macquarie Group said yesterday that 1047 of its employees had been dismissed since September, as the group aligned its costs to the exceptionally challenging business environment.
The cuts comprised 7.5 per cent of Macquarie’s employees, bringing the investment bank’s headcount to around 12,851 from a peak of 13,898.
The revelation came at the Sydney-based firm’s operational briefing yesterday, where chief executive Nicholas Moore said Macquarie’s profit for the year to 31 March 2009 was anticipated to be down 50 per cent to about $900 million.
This is due to total expected writedowns of $2 billion for the year, comprising $1.1 billion of writedowns and impairment charges in the first half and $900 million in the second half.
Global market conditions remained exceptionally challenging but Macquarie’s business groups are busy and continue to pursue new opportunities, Moore said.
Macquarie’s cash and liquid assets currently stand at $32.1 billion.
The group said within its banking and financial services (BFS) division, which includes Macquarie Private Wealth (MPW), financial adviser numbers continued to grow.
Adviser and client numbers have reached approximately 430 and 265,000, respectively.
MPW recently lost six advisers to rival UBS Wealth Management.
MPW is continuing development of international ventures in India, Singapore and Hong Kong, Macquarie said.
The BFS intermediary unit was also continuing to pursue growth initiatives including Wrap UK, insurance products for high net worth individuals and payment/card solutions using new technology of self managed super solutions.
Macquarie Wrap administered $18.1 billion of funds as of the end of 2008.
