Macquarie Group is taking a long-term view of the earnings prospects for its capital markets' businesses, based mainly on the calibre of the managers charged with securing the turnaround of divisions that are either making losses or doing no better than break-even.The group reported a profit of A$730 million for the year to March 2012 on Friday. This profit is equal to a return on equity of 6.8 per cent and a return on assets of less than 0.5 per cent.The profit, in dollar terms, is half that reported in 2007. In ROE terms, the profit is less than one quarter of Macquarie's pre-crisis profit. On an ROA basis, the profit is less than one-sixth Macquarie's previous profitability.Lacklustre conditions in global equities markets bear most of the blame for the low returns, with the bank's management persisting with the course set a year ago for the repositioning of troubled businesses, cost cutting and plans for the return of capital.Two of Macquarie's seven divisions incurred losses over the full year, with these losses escalating in the second half.Macquarie Securities reported a full year loss of $194 million of which all but $19 million was incurred in the second half.Some of these losses reflect the decision to closes derivatives trading operations in some markets in Europe. The group also scaled back its equity derivatives' offering in Asia, previously a cornerstone of the division's profits.Real estate banking reported a full year loss of $36 million of which all but $3 million was incurred in the second half.Macquarie provided an updated slide in its investor presentation on the "approximate" returns on equity for its divisions.This shows that the three "annuity" businesses - Macquarie Funds, Corporate and Asset Finance, and Banking and Financial Services - earned a combined ROE over the year of 22 per cent, down from a projected full-year ROE for the trio at the half-year of 23 per cent.The Fixed Interest, Currencies and Commodities' business turned in a decent second-half, earning a net profit of $539 million and a full-year ROE of 10 per cent.The other capital markets businesses - Macquarie Securities and Macquarie Capital - produced an ROE (on a "Basel III") basis of nil according to this slide, even though Macquarie Capital made small net profit.The average return over six years of these two businesses is 30 per cent and 20 per cent respectively, returns that the group's management is optimistic that it can earn again.Nicholas Moore, managing director of Macquarie, told the investor briefing on Friday: "The strength of the Macquarie model, we've said this over the years, and we really do believe ... [it], is we've got great managers of these businesses, and they are responding to the market conditions that they see.  "The management team are actually addressing it every day of the week.  "They're actually changing their business on a constant basis, [it's] not just a question of shrinking it, but actually moving into other areas, spending money on a whole range of different systems and