Australia's largest investment bank, Macquarie Group Ltd. will pursue further expansion in spite higher staff costs that slashed down first-half profits generated from its core equities trading and commodities businesses.

Equating growth with more presence in recognized new markets, CEO Mr. Nicholas Moore announced the company added staff by 22 percent in the 12 months ending Sept. 30 to 15, 533 as the company pushes further to the United States and Europe. He declined to comment on the WSJ report that it plans to cut down its infrastructure investment unit.

Mr. Moore said today: "Macquarie will look to achieve continued expansion of its expertise globally across new products and in new markets. Over the medium term, Macquarie's businesses are increasingly well positioned to benefit from future growth."

Mr. Moore said he expects full-year profit to be "broadly in line" as compared to last year admitting "the weak market conditions have impacted activity levels in fixed income, currencies and commodities."

The bank's fixed income, currencies and commodities division reported a 55 percent drop in first-half earnings to A$167 million.

Earnings of its affiliate Macquarie Capital, which arranges share sales and takeovers, reported a profit of A$85 million reversing its A$123 million loss a year earlier.

Analysts said Macquarie should to do more to be at the top 10 List of arrangers of takeovers in Australia. Bloomberg data showed that it is now at the 15th spot and the lead arrangers consisting of Goldman Sachs & Partners Australia Pty and Bank of America Corp. It is also not among the advisers on this week's offer by Singapore Exchange Ltd. to buy Australia's main stock exchange.

Bloomberg data showed that among the equity underwriters in the Asia-Pacific region, Macquarie is 11th this year down from 10th in 2009, while gaining the second ranking among Australia's biggest banks.