Macquarie Securities has admitted misleading conduct and systemic reporting failures as ASIC seeks a $35 million penalty in the NSW Supreme Court.
Macquarie Securities (Australia) Limited (MSAL) admitted to misleading conduct after misreporting millions of short sales over several years due to repeated system and process failures.
ASIC and the firm said they would ask the NSW Supreme Court to impose a $35 million penalty, with the final decision to be made by the Court.
A statement of agreed facts filed with the Court confirmed MSAL failed to correctly report at least 73 million short sales between 11 December 2009 and 14 February 2024.
ASIC estimated the actual number of misreported short sales to be between 298 million and 1.5 billion. Many of the systems-related failures responsible for the inaccuracies went undetected for more than a decade.
Alongside the misleading conduct, MSAL admitted it lacked appropriate supervisory policies and procedures, did not have or maintain the necessary organisational and technical resources, and did not have adequate risk management systems to ensure compliance with its reporting obligations.
It also admitted to incorrectly reporting regulatory data for more than 633,000 orders submitted to the market operator between 16 November 2022 and 21 March 2023.
ASIC chair Joe Longo said: “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.
“Market participants must have the proper systems and processes in place to comply with their regulatory obligations. It’s essential for public transparency, market integrity and trust in our system,” Longo added.
According to ASIC, the action formed part of its broader work examining misconduct and regulatory failures by large Australian financial institutions.
ASIC launched civil proceedings against MSAL on 14 May 2025, marking its first short-sale reporting case.
MSAL admitted to contraventions of section 798H(1) of the Corporations Act through breaches of the ASIC Market Integrity Rules, including failing to have appropriate supervisory policies, failing to maintain necessary organisational and technical resources, and failing to provide correct regulatory data.
It also admitted to breaching Corporations Act provisions covering adequate risk management systems and misleading or deceptive conduct in relation to a financial product.
In a statement released by MSAL, it confirmed the “contraventions relate to risk management systems, supervision, resourcing and regulatory data, and one count of unintentional misleading conduct due to inaccurate reporting”.
“Macquarie seeks to uphold the highest standards in meeting the expectations of markets and regulators and recognises the role of transaction reporting in market confidence.
“If something goes wrong, Macquarie’s approach is to report the issue, engage constructively with regulators, fix the problem and apply learnings from any mistakes across the Group.
“Macquarie continues to invest in a broad range of programs to further improve systems and controls,” the firm stated.
