History of Macquarie

Macquarie takes its origins from the merchant bank Hill Samuel Australia (HSA), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hill Samuel & Co. Limited, London.  Established in Australia in 1969, it began operations in Sydney in January 1970 with only three staff.

In 1981, in response to changes evolving from the deregulation of financial markets, HSA commenced work on a proposal to become a trading bank. Authority for HSA to become Macquarie Bank Limited (MBL) was received from the Federal Treasurer on 28 February 1985, making it only the second private trading bank to be established in Australia this century.

Macquarie Bank adopted its name from Governor Lachlan Macquarie, a leading pioneer and the man responsible for transforming the early settlement in Australia from a penal colony into a dynamic economy. Macquarie’s logo is a stylised version of the ‘Holey Dollar’, which Lachlan Macquarie introduced in 1813 as the first domestic coinage of the colony.

Macquarie Bank took over all the existing activities of HSA and opened its doors for business on 1 March 1985 with a retail branch in Sydney. A trading bank branch was opened in Melbourne a few months later and in Brisbane in November 1986.

On 29 July 1996, Macquarie Bank Limited listed its fully paid ordinary shares on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) and on 30 October 1996 entered the ASX's All Ordinaries Index, with a market capitalisation of approximately $1.3 billion.

In October 2007, MBL securityholders and optionholders and the Federal Court of Australia approved the restructure of the Macquarie group into a non-operating holding company (“NOHC”) structure. The NOHC and ultimate parent of the Macquarie group, Macquarie Group Limited, is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX: MQG).

Today, the Macquarie group offers a diverse range of banking, financial, advisory and investment services.
 
Macquarie has been consistently associated with a stream of major financial innovations, which have underpinned its reputation as a market leader. To find out more about the awards received, click here.