The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has given Macquarie Securities a AUD 35 million fine for Christmas.
Macquarie Securities Australia has admitted to misreporting 73 million short sales between December 2009 and February 2024 due to numerous system-related failures, some of which ASIC notes were undetected for over a decade.
ASIC estimates that the number of misreported short sales is actually between 298 million and 1.5 billion.
Macquarie has admitted to not having appropriate supervisory policies and procedures or adequate risk management systems, and not maintaining necessary organisational and technical resources, to comply with its short sale reporting obligations.
Beyond this, Macquarie has also admitted to incorrectly reporting regulatory data for more than 633,00 orders between November 2022 and March 2023.
ASIC and Macquarie have requested that the New South Wales Supreme Court impose aAUD 35 million fine for these failures.
“Accurate and reliable data underpins confidence in our financial markets. ASIC and the market rely on short sale and regulatory reporting data – especially during periods of volatility – to understand market activity and make informed decisions. Without accurate data, market transparency is undermined,” stated ASIC chair Joe Longo.
