Macquarie already manages an empire that has US$165 billion of managed assets and participates in deals from buying toll roads in North America and Europe to launching funds to invest in Chinese IPOs.

Chief executive Allan Moss last week announced plans to expand in Britain when he unveiled a massive 60 percent rise in annual net profit to a record A$1.46 billion (US$1.21 billion).

For the first time Macquarie earned more than half its A$7.2 billion revenue overseas.

Moss said Macquarie is planning to submit an application to the UK Financial Services Authority in July to establish a UK-incorporated banking entity to support rapid growth in its British businesses.

“This will also provide (us) a European ‘passport’ for banking businesses,” he said.

Macquarie is also planning further expansion in Asia which it views as the driver of global economic growth.

In the latest year, Macquarie’s institutional broking businesses in Asia achieved 45 percent growth in trading income.

Moss revealed at a briefing following the results announcement that the bank had toyed with the idea of shifting its headquarters to London but ultimately decided to remain Sydney-based, simply because it puts the company in the Asian time zone.

“The reasoning is that on one hand most of our business is outside Australia but Australia is still a very big market. It is also in an excellent time zone for Asia and we see Asia as the main driver of (global) economic growth,” he said.

Moss dismissed the bank’s recent failure to complete two transactions in Australia totaling A$19 billion as being not much more than a hiccup.

The two deals were an 11 billion dollar attempt to take control of Qantas Airways Ltd. and an 8.0 billion dollar approach to gain control of energy infrastructure group Alinta Ltd.

Moss acknowledged the deals were important but said they needed to be considered in the context of 240 transactions valued at 160 billion dollars that Macquarie took part in during the year to March.

And he was quick to roll out figures to illustrate how much Macquarie has grown, largely through rapid international expansion. Macquarie now has more than 10,000 staff. Last year offshore staff levels rose 39 percent to 3,501 people working from offices around the world.

London is Macquarie’s biggest international office, with a staff of about 700 people while Hong Kong, Seoul, and New York have staffs of 300-400 each.

The bank’s trading assets and other securities, used to power deals, soared to 29.64 billion dollars from 17.24 billion over the 12-month period.

Macquarie, known locally as “the millionaires factory”, is frequently criticized for being excessively fees-driven.

Moss, who has been with the bank since it was formed in 1983, earned 33.49 million dollars last year, largely in bonuses. That’s 747 times more than the average Australian worker.

But the market has dismissed the criticism, pushing Macquarie’s share price to record levels after the results, raising an additional 750 million dollars in capital this week.

On Friday Macquarie Bank shares added 0.60 to a record close of 97.10 as the overall market went backwards.

Analysts covering stock generally dismissed the criticism directed at Macquarie saying the company’s earnings growth momentum is continuing.

“Following a bumper FY07 result and a flying start to FY08, Macquarie earnings remain firmly in upgrade mode,” Citigroup analysts said in a note to clients.

“Our new FY08 earnings estimates suggest 16 percent EPS (earnings per share) growth and we continue to view the risk as on the upside.”

Macquarie has a traditional banking business but it also makes money by buying assets and placing them in funds which it manages, collecting fees along the way. It also earns fees from merger and acquisition deals and through trading and stockbroking activities.

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