Investing in the Australian sharemarket has been a rewarding activity over the past year but broking all those share transactions has been even more rewarding.CommSec's 2007 financial statements, filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission earlier this month, show revenue growth of 56 per cent, profit growth of 44 per cent and customer numbers increasing by 19 per cent. The bourse has been bountiful.CommSec's customer numbers increased from 1.24 million to 1.48 million in the year to June. The number of active customers is subject to plenty of speculation; one rival puts it at between 200,000 and 300,000.Revenue increased from $353.9 million to $553.7 million and profit was up from $105 million to $151.5 million.The earnings figure would have been higher but for a big increase in the expense line for salaries and employee benefits - up 82 per cent from $142.5 million to $258.9 million.CommSec general manager Matt Comyn said that figure included some group items that were not related to the CommSec business. CommSec is looking to exploit its strong performance. On August 1 Commonwealth Bank announced a bid for the broker IWL.IWL shareholders meet on October 31 to vote on a proposed scheme of arrangement for the $370 million deal. Comyn said the votes mailed in so far are strongly in favour of the merger.CommSec has two other acquisitions. It bought TD Waterhouse in 20002 and AOT in 2005.  CommSec is also doing some development work on a plan to promote CommSec as a separate banking brand with a full suite of products.CommSec has a customer base that is quite distinct from Commonwealth's customer base and there is a view within the bank that it can operate a separate full-service financial services business.Comyn said CommSec had made progress in increasing its rate of customer acquisition. Earlier this year E*Trade reported that its rate of new customer acquisition was well ahead of CommSec's.CommSec responded by poaching E*Trade marketing manager, Richard Burns, and started offering the sorts of deals, such as introductory free brokerage, that had been hallmarks of  E*Trade's aggressive marketing. Comyn said the latest AC Nielsen survey showed that CommSec had pegged E*Trade back.