Macquarie Funds Management appoints new Head of Distribution

04 March 2004

Macquarie Funds Management today announced the appointment of Bruce Murphy as its new Head of Distribution, taking Macquarie Bank's Fund Management Group into a new era of product manufacturing and distribution.

Macquarie Funds Management (MFM) Group Head, Ben Bruck said appointing such a highly regarded product distribution specialist was a coup for MFM.

Mr Murphy will join Macquarie from Deutsche, where he has been Retail Distribution Director, responsible for its retail funds management business in Australia. Mr Murphy has been with Deutsche since 1995, initially in a product development role before establishing its national sales team and overseeing the placement of Deutsche's products on the major platforms in Australia.

At Macquarie Funds Management, he will be responsible for the distribution of managed fund products to both the institutional and retail markets. He will oversee a number of MFM retail initiatives including the appointment of a new retail sales team that will specialise in providing investment and product expertise to the platform and master-trust market.

Mr Bruck said Macquarie Funds Management already had a strong institutional business with strong fund inflows.

"Our Australian institutional business has grown by $3.7 billion during the past twelve months," Mr Bruck said.

He said the appointment of someone with such a strong track record to facilitate this strategic move gave the business a big advantage.

"The appointment of Mr Murphy will bring the experience needed to achieve MFM's goal of making product and investment expertise available to advisers and their clients that has previously only been available to institutional investors," Mr Bruck said.

"Advisers are much better informed in today's market, particularly in the large and medium-sized dealer groups where their product choices are mirroring the wholesale market and they are leaning towards model portfolios. They know they want products that deliver strong information ratios, plus access to advice and expert backup that is appropriate for an increasingly sophisticated market."

Mr Bruck said MFM considered itself a specialist manufacturer of managed funds as opposed to many other major players who offer integrated services combining asset management with fund, superannuation or platform administration.

He said Macquarie Funds Management and Macquarie Adviser Services decided earlier this year to more clearly differentiate their offerings.

Under this arrangement, Macquarie Funds Management is establishing its own sales and distribution team while Macquarie Adviser Services will continue to build and distribute its own products, provide award-winning service, and distribute Macquarie's flagship Cash Management Trust, ADF, Macquarie Wrap Solutions and superannuation offers.

Mr Bruck said Mr Murphy replaces former Macquarie Funds Management Head of Distribution, Fiona Dunn, who left the organisation in December.

Irene O'Brien
Public Relations
Macquarie Financial Services Group
Macquarie Funds Management Group
Tel: (612) 8232 3241
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