It boosted its international headcount last year with a global acquisition spree, and this week it lured a Wall Street star to run its DCM team (not to mention that one of its bankers is now infamous on YouTube). So is Macquarie making a comeback as the aggressive, world-beating Aussie bank we’d all love to work for?

Despite the recent flurry of headlines, you should think twice before seeing Macquarie as a domestic millionaires factory again, but in general terms the firm’s recent moves are doing it no harm in the battle for talent.

In December, Macquarie announced an agreement to acquire the equity derivatives and structured products business of German private bank Sal. Oppenheim, which will add more than 90 staff into Mac’s workforce.

The new North American members of the Mac empire – Delaware Investments, Blackmont Capital, Tristone Capital Global, Fox-Pitt Kelton, and part of Constellation Energy – collectively employ about 1660 people.

But these overseas acquisitions are not expected to generate much more work for bankers in Australia, says Victoria Biggs, a co-founding partner of Platinum Pacific Partners.

Macquarie does not publicly forecast its Australian hiring intentions, but employment experts here predict it to grow its domestic headcount this year, after making cuts at the start of the GFC. “Macquarie is one of the banks I expect to be involved in recruiting early in the first quarter of 2010,” says John Coles, CEO, Executive Group International.

Any Australian expansion, however, should be fairly circumspect. “Macquarie has quite a big team and the right sized team to start 2010,” adds Biggs.

Its recruitment this year is expected to focus on the front office. I-bankers with M&A experience and research analysts will be particularly in demand. But as M&A markets recover, Mac faces plenty of competition from internationals such as UBS, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, says Coles.

Another recruiter, who preferred to remain anonymous, says the GFC put an end to the vice-like grip the firm once enjoyed in the local i-banking employment market. “It used to be difficult to extract people from Macquarie because of its high share price and the way they structured their bonuses,” he adds.

Comeback?

It’s on the job-seeker side that the bank’s American ambition might have the most impact Down Under, reminding high-flying candidates that Mac is still an international player, which can potentially offer them global careers.

For example, this week the firm poached Christopher Hogg from Bank of America Securities – where he was co-head of financial institutions and capital markets – to lead its DCM business.

As for David Kiely – the stockbroker caught on TV ogling pictures of a supermodel – Mac’s HR and PR departments might be in damage-control mode, but recruiters reckon his antics won’t dent the firm’s employer brand. After all, this is i-banking.