Corporate lending up and down at Macquarie

The quarterly disclosure document for Macquarie Bank, released yesterday, serves as a reminder of the world of difference, so far as gaining insight into a banking business is concerned, provided by this report and other records such as financial statements or banking statistics from APRA.

The quarterly "pillar 3" disclosures for Macquarie for the June 2010 quarter show aggregate credit exposures for the bank of $83 billion. Corporate lending accounts for $38 billion of this.

Monthly banking statistics published by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority provide an alternative snapshot. On APRA data Macquarie has gross loans of $12 billion and corporate loans of $4 billion.

Trends in credit diverge in each source. According to the pillar 3 report, gross credit exposures increased $8 billion to $83 billion over the June quarter, with most of the rise in corporate lending.

APRA data shows that Macquarie's lending to non-financial institutions declined by 15 per cent over the same period.

The pillar 3 report aims to rope in all other credit risk where a corporate is the counterparty and includes off balance sheet exposures.

One of Macquarie's media advisers pointed out in an email that "whilst it would be fair to say that our corporate lending has gone up marginally", most of the corporate increase in the pillar 3 document relates to new portfolios in the bank's corporate and asset finance group.

This includes the acquisition of the GMAC vehicle-leasing portfolio as well as ILFC aircraft forward agreements.