Macquarie to sell investment lending arm

Macquarie Group on Friday said it will sell its investment lending business in Australia amid continued tightness in funding. This include's the bank's margin lending.

Macquarie said the sale of the business will not be financially material, contributing less than one per cent to the Macquarie Group profit.

Likely buyers of the $5 billion lending book must be the major banks such as Commonwealth Bank and Westpac. Those two already account for close to 60 per cent of margin lending (and wrapping the St George market share in with Westpac).

Once this business is sold Macquarie won't have many consumer lending activities left.

The bank has curtailed home lending (as it has for external wholesalers that relied on Macquarie Securitisation). The bank's retail point of sale funding (through the business formerly known as Fundcorp) appears to be on a short lease.

The bank did invest in, and launch, a credit card business last year.