Much
is rightly made of the power and influence of the Millionaires’ Factory
at Macquarie Bank, a money machine that the lads at Babcock & Brown
are quickly trying to emulate with a flurry of fee-rich deals.

But
in all this chat about power and wealth, what about the efforts of the
graduates of Bankers Trust Australia, the pioneers of financial market
wealth and influence?

And no we don’t mean that
pale pastiche of BT snaffled up a few years ago by Dr David Morgan’s
Westpac and Macquarie Bank. We mean the BT Australia as run by the
likes of Chris Corrigan, now at Patrick and Virgin Blue. Where Reserve
Bank director, Jillian Broadbent, cut her teeth and the likes of Olav
Rahn and Ian Martin held sway.

Broadbent broke ranks last week on interest rates
to brief the Dow Jones newsagency on Tuesday’s RBA board meeting.
Corrigan, of course, is very well-known. But what about the others?

The
likes of Rob Ferguson, the metrosexual investment banker before the
phrase became trendy, who’s now partners with John Singleton and Gerry
Harvey in the Magic Millions horse-breeding business.

James
Wolfhenson, the out-going World Bank chairman, was a graduate of the
old BT in its formative stage, Ord-BT when it was a joint venture
between blue blood Sydney broker, Ord Minnett and Bankers Trust of the
US.

Then there’s Peter Hunt, the Caliburn banker who is leading
the Telstra scoping study team and was a major player at BT in the
1980s and early 1990s.

All these
names make for a good Crikey list so if you can thing of any other
famous or influential alumni of BT, send them through to dyerg@tpg.com.au.