There’s nothing like the annual Macquarie Australia conference to drive home the synergies available to the full-service investment bank.

You will rarely see so many chief executives of ASX-listed companies in one place, scattered across fireside chats, private meetings and briefings. Continuous disclosure obligations require them to disclose anything of substance simultaneously to the whole ASX. But on the softer stuff – the relationships, the impressions, the judgments, and all they convey – there’s just no substitute for face time.