Australia’s first foray into the financial markets commenced in the early 1820’s with the trading of wool to Europe, since then Australia has considerably changed and developed to be one of the leading capital markets in the Asia Pacific region.

Currently ranked seventh in the world, Australia has the largest stock market by free-float market capitalisation in Asia (excluding Japan). In September 2009, Australian market capitalisation stood at US$952 billion, compared with US$362 billion in Hong Kong and US$179 billion in Singapore.

Whilst Australia escaped relatively unscathed from the GFC of 2007/2008 due to a strong banking sector and prudent financial regulation, amongst the stockbroking and investment banking community Australia experienced a period of consolidation with many smaller, boutique brokers swallowed by larger brokers as a direct consequence of increased liquidity rules imposed by the ASX. With the advent of alternative trading platforms, the increasing prevalence of cross border transactions and Australia’s ambition of becoming the financial services hub of Asia – Australia is poised for greater growth.