SYDNEY, April 29 (Reuters) - Australia's Macquarie Group is interested in acquiring trading and investment banking businesses that may be hived off by big banks in Europe as it looks to boost business in its smallest global market, its Chief Financial Officer said.
"There is a little bit of work to do in the UK and Europe. It (the business) has not grown as much in the last few years," CFO Greg Ward said in a telephone interview.
"If there were opportunities to buy smaller platforms or businesses coming loose from bigger institutions, we will look at it," he said.
A UK banking review has asked top banks to shield their retail operations from riskier investment banking activities and hold more capital to protect taxpayers from any future crises, leading to speculation that some of these banks may need to shed some assets. [ID:nLDE7371ND].
Besides stronger global capital rules may force some banks to sell assets to shore up capital in the coming years.
For Macquarie, Europe is the smallest market contributing 14
percent to income, almost the same as last year. But the group
in March said it hired David Fass as Chief Executive for Europe
from Deutsche Bank
Macquarie bought a string of boutique businesses in the United States over the last 3 years to turn it into its second biggest market, contributing nearly a third of revenue, after Australia.
Ward said the group's European strategy would be different from in the United States given its spread in the region already, employing about 1,600 in the region.
Macquarie will focus on acquiring strength in its key sectors, which it has said earlier include energy, infrastructure, utilities and resources.
"In Europe it will be a sector focussed strategy. We already have big team. It is a case of filling it out there," Ward said. (Reporting by Narayanan Somasundaram; Editing by Ed Davies)