Investment bank Macquarie Group may be relocating abroad after the government’s introduction of its $6.2bn bank levy.
Senior sources have told the
Australian Financial Review that executives at the bank are canvassing options for moving overseas following the Budget announcement.
However when asked to respond, a Macquarie spokesperson neither confirmed nor denied the claims.
“As we have said over the years, Macquarie consistently looks at the most appropriate locations for its businesses and head office,” she said.
“Whilst approximately two-thirds of our business is outside Australia, it remains a key market and is where over 6000 of our approximately 13,600 staff are employed.”
Macquarie currently has operations in 28 other nations. The bank qualified for the bank levy as its Australian operations had greater than $100bn liabilities despite the bank being much smaller in size than the big four.
Domestically, Macquarie is the eighth largest lender with its mortgages accounting for just 2% of the national market share.
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