Outflow from Macquarie CMT

The cash management trust of Macquarie Bank provides one indicator of deposit flight over the course of recent weeks.

Macquarie's CMT had $16.84 billion in funds under management in the first week of September according to the weekly data published in the Financial Review.

That declined to a 15.96 billion at the end of last week, a decline of five per cent.

Major banks have enjoyed steady deposit growth over this period as investors sold equities and shifted funds from regional banks.

The two other moderately significant cash management trusts that publish weekly data in the Financial Review (managed by Goldman Sachs JB Were and UBS) have maintained their level of funds under management over recent weeks. Detailed data is not available on most cash management trusts that in aggregate hold in excess of $46 billion in funds.

Cash management trusts received inflows of in excess of $40 billion in each of the June, September and December quarters last year, though growth rates in inflows moderated in the March 2008 quarter (according to Reserve Bank data) and almost stalled in the June 2008 quarter (according to Plan for Life data).

The Financial Review reported today that Macquarie would change the investment policy of the CMT to ensure all investments were in government guaranteed deposits. At present 90 per cent of the trust's investments are in deposits.