Macquarie Bank to foray into commodities

Macquarie Bank has plans to enter the commodities and asset management businesses in the country through joint ventures.

The bank has already started investment banking and corporate finance businesses on its own.

"We are looking at entering the treasury and commodities business in India which will be in relation to futures and commodity advisory services. Another area of interest is fund management. We are in talks with potential partners for setting up joint ventures," said Peter Maher, executive director of Macquarie Bank and Macquarie Financial Services Group Head.

The bank has a market capitalisation of $22.8 billion and organises its activities into seven operating groups specialising in defined product and market sectors.

The seven groups are financial services, investment banking, equity markets, banking and securitisation, real estate, funds management and treasury income and commodities group.

Macquarie provides a full range of investment, financial market and advisory products and services in Australia. It has a staff of more than 11,000 in 24 countires.