Trading & Options · Profile from Trading and Options Research Companion
Macquarie Group
The Sydney-based, ASX-listed financial group whose Commodities and Global Markets (CGM) division became one of the world's largest bank-owned commodity traders, and in North American natural gas one of the largest physical marketers of any kind. Macquarie began as Hill Samuel Australia (opened 10 Dec 1969 with three staff), became Macquarie Bank under a banking authority signed in Feb 1985, listed on the ASX in Jul 1996, and put a non-operating holding company, Macquarie Group Limited, on top in Nov 2007 (Macquarie history page). Its trading edge is not speed or prediction. It is physical logistics plus client hedging: pipeline capacity, storage and supply contracts that pay most when weather or war breaks a regional market, and a book of producer and consumer hedges priced off the same desks. That edge produced a run of record years. CGM's net profit contribution went from A$1,738m (FY20) to A$2,601m (FY21), A$3,911m (FY22) and a record A$6,007m (FY23), then A$3,213m (FY24), A$2,829m (FY25) and A$4,221m (FY26) (Macquarie result releases; fiscal years end 31 March; all figures AUD). The same years brought a London metals trader's hidden losses (FCA fine £13,031,400, Nov 2024) and an Australian enforcement run on reporting and market-surveillance failures. Macquarie is this knowledge base's case of bank-owned trading at scale: a real structural edge, shared with shareholders and staff, and the controls burden that comes with it.
At a glance
- Founded
- 10 Dec 1969 as Hill Samuel Australia, a subsidiary of the UK's Hill Samuel & Co (Macquarie history page); banking authority signed Feb 1985, Macquarie Bank Limited opened the next morning with net worth of A$50m (same)
- Headquarters
- Sydney, Australia; large trading centres in Houston (North American gas and power), London and Singapore (company pages — verify current list)
- Ownership / structure
- Macquarie Group Limited (ASX: MQG), a non-operating holding company since Nov 2007; Macquarie Bank Limited (MBL), the authorised deposit-taking institution regulated by APRA, holds most of CGM. Four operating groups: Macquarie Asset Management (MAM), Banking and Financial Services (BFS), CGM and Macquarie Capital
- Type
- Bank trading desk at group scale: physical and financial commodities, FX, rates, credit, futures clearing, equity derivatives and structured products (warrants)
- Scale (dated)
- Group net profit after tax attributable to ordinary shareholders: A$3,015m (FY21), A$4,706m (FY22), A$5,182m (FY23), A$3,522m (FY24), A$3,715m (FY25), A$4,847m (FY26). Group net operating income A$19,122m and 20,509 staff at 31 Mar 2023; AUM A$870.8bn (31 Mar 2023) (result releases)
- CGM share
- CGM was 57% of the group's FY23 net profit contribution (results call transcript, May 2023 — reported); Reuters described it as "close to 40%" of group earnings in Feb 2021 (reported)
- Regulators
- APRA (prudential, MBL); ASIC and its Markets Disciplinary Panel (Australian market conduct); the UK FCA (MBL London Branch); in the US the CFTC (Macquarie Futures USA, a futures commission merchant) and FERC for physical gas and power (verify registrations)
- Leadership
- Allan Moss (CEO to May 2008), Nicholas Moore (2008–Nov 2018), Shemara Wikramanayake (2018–Nov 2026), Greg Ward (from Nov 2026) (Macquarie history page). CGM head Nicholas O'Kane until 27 Feb 2024 (Bloomberg, reported)
- Moves in this profile
- Seven (an institution with many more decisions; these are the ones that shaped the trading business)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- The banking licence and the markets franchise (1985); structured warrants (1991–); buying North American gas books (2005–17); Winter Storm Uri (Feb 2021); the record FY23 and the pay that followed; the London metals desk's fictitious trades (2020–24); the Australian enforcement run (2021–26)
7 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1985
Banking Licence and the Markets Franchise
Founding / new strategy, product or market
1991
Structured Warrants and Retail Derivatives
New strategy, product or market
2009
Constellation Gas Book and North American Energy
Acquisition (three steps: 2005, 2009, 2017)
2021
Winter Storm Uri Windfall
Large trade or position (physical delivery into a market shock)
2023
Record CGM Year and the Millionaires Factory Pay
Results and compensation decision (profit-share pay on a record trading year); key-person departure
2024
Australian Enforcement Run ASIC and APRA
Regulatory, enforcement and legal action (a series)
2024
London Metals Desk Fictitious Trades
Rogue trade or control failure; regulatory and enforcement action