2019 CEO Survey: Shemara Wikramanayake, Macquarie Group

Getting the right data and making good use of it is central to Macquarie’s tech strategy.

Macquarie CEO Shemara Wikramanayake. Picture: Britta Campion

Every year The Australian’s John Durie asks some of the biggest names in Australian business five key questions about what’s coming in the year ahead.

READ MORE: John Durie’s 2019 CEO Survey.

How is your company affected by low-interest rates and what is needed to boost the economy?

We have a broad range of businesses with varying requirements for capital and for returns. Many of our businesses are operating in areas in which we’re not just providing capital, we are working on responses to structural economic changes driven by factors like technological disruption, energy transition or urbanisation and therefore the returns we are seeing are not so linked to the risk-free rate. Stimulating economies is a focus in all of the 30 markets around the world in which we are active. For many governments, infrastructure spending is a means of both creating jobs and promoting growth. In Australia, we support the government’s work with the Productivity Commission on microeconomic reform.

What is the impact of government regulations on your company including those applying to the financial sector?

Macquarie is overseen by over 200 regulators globally. As well as guiding how we do business, regulation is essentially the framework which determines what we can do. In Australia, there are a number of regulatory reviews underway regarding capital, funding and governance, which are projects requiring specific resourcing. But in parallel with regulation,we see the ownership of risk by our staff, and our culture of accountability and integrity as absolutely key not only to comply with regulatory requirements but to maintaining a sustainable business which produces the best outcomes for our clients and communities.

What percentage of company revenues are spent on research and development and how is your company using technology to improve performance?

Our research and development spend is not something we carve out as a specific number, but technology is continually transforming all of our businesses and our tech spend is around 10 per cent of total income. Central to that is how we capture, store and analyse data. Our ability to develop technology platforms and to utilise the incredible array of technological tools at our disposal will be crucial on how well we do at providing solutions to our clients’ challenges. In our retail business, for example, we’re investing heavily in cloud technology to increase the resilience and capabilities of our technology platform to take advantage of advances in data analytics and digital service delivery.

What are the three major policy issues facing the country and what should be done about them?

As a small, open economy, engaging with global partners is key and we are very conscious of operating in a globally interdependent world. The way Australia deals with pressing structural shifts, particularly urbanisation, digitisation and climate change will be important to our future prosperity.

What are the major impediments to long term growth facing your company and what can or is being done about them?

The one factor that has the greatest potential to impede our growth is our ability to attract very capable and diverse people and empower them to own stakeholder outcomes through our culture of opportunity, accountability and integrity. We have many processes in place to ensure our people culture endures, as it has for the past 50 years.