ON December 15, 1980, Macquarie Bank, then known as Hill Samuel Australia, introduced the cash management trust to Australia.
This is now easily Australia’s largest CMT with $7 billion under management and 220,000 investors.
Why has this happened?
The Macquarie CMT for the first time allowed investors the opportunity to bypass traditional retail bank channels and access wholesale money markets.
The fact it was incredibly successful immediately highlighted the need for such a vehicle.
During the past two decades, Macquarie expanded its services through the CMT. In 1983, personal chequebooks were offered to the customers.
Telephone banking facilities was introduced in 1987 and in 1991 electronic funds transfers.
Between 1997 and 2000, 24-hour telephone banking, 24-hour Internet banking, links to American Express’s gold card and Bpay were introduced and it charges no fees on transactions.
