SYDNEY (Reuters) - Macquarie Group is shutting down its Canadian institutional equities business due to a prolonged slump in resource-related deals, The Globe and Mail newspaper reported on Monday, citing anonymous sources.
A spokeswoman for the Sydney-headquartered investment bank declined to comment on Tuesday on the closure of the equities business when contacted by Reuters. But, she said in a statement Macquarie would continue to operate a commodities hedging and trading business in Canada.
"Macquarie remains committed to Canada, with more than 100 staff working across commodities trading and hedging, corporate finance and advisory ... in a range of sectors," the spokeswoman said.
The Canadian newspaper reported the bank would shut its institutional equity sales, trading and research units in that country, adding that between 50 to 80 staff were likely to be affected.
The job cuts would mainly occur in Toronto and some in Calgary, but total job losses depended on how many back-office roles could be eliminated by the move, the newspaper said.
Macquarie's spokeswoman said the bank would "continue to provide domestic cash equities execution services and access to our global execution platform."
According to its February operational briefing, Macquarie operates in Toronto, Calgary, Montreal, and Vancouver.
It has ranked well below the top 20 banks in equity capital markets league tables Canada in recent years, Refinitiv data shows, well below local rivals Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, RBC Capital Markets, Bank of Montreal and Toronto-Dominion Bank.
(Reporting by Paulina Duran; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
