Macquarie Group CEO Nicholas Moore has revealed the company estimates a $50 million post tax hit to profit at a public hearing into the major bank levy on Friday morning.
The appearance and comments from Mr Moore were significant and marked the first time he has broken cover since the Federal Government announced the initiative more than five weeks ago.
Macquarie's CFO Patrick Upfold said based on last year's full-year result the company estimated the impact of the tax would be between $65 million to $70 million before tax and as low as $50 million after tax. Previous estimates provided by analysts put Macquarie's contribution to somewhere between $80 million and $100 million.
"We would like to express our surprise at our inclusion in the banks levy given our size," Mr Moore said. "We are concerned that the impact of the major bank levy on Macquarie is not fully understood."
In addition to Macquarie Group's CFO Patrick Upfold, Mr Moore was accompanied by Macquarie Bank CEO Mary Reemst. Unlike the other big four banks, Mr Moore has not been a regular participant at the myriad number of banking inquiries underway in Canberra.
Until its submission on the bank levy was published on Thursday, in which it claimed the international banking giant was not a major domestic bank, Macquarie's public comments were extremely limited.
While the bank was pushing the same line in meetings with private investors in the days after the budget, its official responses were limited to a three line response published on the ASX and comments that it had not ruled out moving its headquarters to Singapore in order to escape the tax.
Mr Moore reiterated at the hearings on Friday that although Macquarie did not have any immediate plans to move overseas but the bank's businesses and locations they operate from were constantly under review and that tax rates were a key consideration.
More to come
