Glenn Stevens takes Macquarie Group directorship

The financial services firm Macquarie Group has announced the appointment of former Reserve Bank of Australia governor Glenn Stevens onto its board. 

This was announced during the group’s half yearly financial results on Friday.

The market embraced the result with shares leaping almost 4 percent to $97.90, eclipsing the previous high of $95.50 achieved in May 2007 before the GFC.

“We were very pleased that Glenn Stevens has decided to join the board, effective 1 November 2017,” said Macquarie managing director and CEO Nicholas Moore at the results briefing. 

He was the governor of the Reserve Bank between 2006 and 2016.

He also chaired the Council of Financial Regulators made up of the heads of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, the Australian Securities Commission and Treasury.

Stevens led the RBA through the GFC framing the policy that took official interests rates down to the current record level of 1.5 percent.

The bank’s Australian mortgage portfolio now sits at $29.9bn, an increase of 4% from March 2017, representing approximately 2% market share.

Macquarie’s business banking loan portfolio also increased by 9 percent from March 2017, putting it at $7.1bn. Total business banking for SME clients was up 3 percent during this time period.