Australia’s corporate watchdog has launched legal action against Macquarie Securities (Australia) Ltd (MSAL), accusing the company of reporting misleading short sale data for over 14 years.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) filed the case in the New South Wales Supreme Court. It alleges MSAL, a unit of Macquarie Group, inaccurately reported at least 73 million short sale trades from December 11, 2009, to February 14, 2024. These figures could represent a total of between 298 million and 1.5 billion short sales.
ASIC said the errors stemmed from “systems-related issues.”
In response, Macquarie said MSAL had identified the reporting problems and voluntarily disclosed them to ASIC. The company added that it is reviewing the regulator’s legal claim.
This lawsuit is the fourth regulatory action taken against Macquarie Group by ASIC in just over a year.
“Our actions reflect the ongoing and deep concerns we have with Macquarie Group and its weak remediation of long-standing issues,” said ASIC Chair Joe Longo.
In April 2024, ASIC first acted against the group when Macquarie Bank was fined A$10 million ($6.47 million) by the Federal Court for failing to prevent unauthorized fee transactions by third parties.
Then in September, Australia’s Markets Disciplinary Panel fined Macquarie Bank another A$5 million. This was for failing to block suspicious trading in the electricity futures market.
Earlier this month, ASIC also imposed stricter conditions on Macquarie Bank, citing repeated compliance failures.
Besides financial penalties, ASIC is now seeking an independent review of MSAL’s regulatory reporting systems to ensure accuracy and reliability going forward.
Shares in Macquarie Group dropped as much as 0.8% by 0030 GMT, underperforming the broader index, which fell 0.1%.
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