Any insights on Macquarie S&T?

I worked at Macquarie as a Sales Intern for the first two years of my career (in Commodities, based in London, started mid 2000s), and pondered over the same questions as you - without anyone to answer them, I went for it anyway. The best way I can describe my experience was as a 'great school'. It is true, they didn't have the best traders, the best managers, the best customers, the best risk appetite or the best reputation in the market. That said, I can say the following with confidence:

• The small intake is pretty common across the bank and means you very rapidly get more exposure than your peers at other banks, as well as teaching time from superiors
• They invest a lot of money in your training (two weeks all expenses in Sydney, at least when I was there) from day one, including solid professional qualifications, and a fairly open remit to sign up to external courses as you see fit - at their expense
• The culture was excellent. In my ~10 years of working, it was without a doubt the most 'fun' I had at work. Some poisonous characters (these are everywhere...) but mostly realistic, approachable humans who cared about work life balance, health and happiness (honestly)
• I left after two years to join a BB trading team, have worked for a major commodities trading house in trading for five years now, and have them to thank for the initial education I got, that probably allowed me to see the world we worked in with more open eyes than my colleagues at larger more prestigious firms (who worked worse hours, with more politics, but got more carried away by the banking dream)

In the interests of fairness, I would note the following cons: - Expect to have to say 'Macquarie, you know, the Australian Bank' when people ask where you work, unless you're actually in Australia - Pay is a little underwhelming compared to your peers - but honestly, anyone who thinks the disparity will be that big in the first couple of years is wrong, IMO - Their risk appetite, lending appetite etc means you will probably gain less exposure to some of the whale trades that still go through commodity markets every now and again (ignore if you're not in Commods)

Good luck