Macquarie Faces $35m Penalty later than Long-Running Short Sale Reporting Failures
Macquarie Securities (Australia) Limited (MSAL) has admitted to misleading conduct arising from the misreporting of millions of short sales over a period spanning more than 14 years, following civil proceedings brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). ASIC and MSAL will jointly ask the NSW Supreme Court to impose a $35 million penalty and make additional orders, subject to the Court’s approval.
In a statement of agreed facts filed with the Court, MSAL admitted it failed to correctly report at least 73 million short sales between 11 December 2009 and 14 February 2024. ASIC estimates the scale of the difficulty may be significantly larger, with between 298 million and 1.5 billion short sales misreported during the period due to repeated failures in systems and processes.
The inaccurate reporting was attributed to multiple systems-related failures, many of which remained undetected for more than a decade. ASIC said the length of time over which the issues persisted highlighted fundamental fragilenesses in Macquarie Securities’ internal controls, oversight, and approach to regulatory compliance.
Failures Extended Beyond Short Sales to Core Market Reporting Controls
Beyond the misleading short sale reporting, MSAL has admitted to broader compliance failures that went to the heart of its obligations as a market participant. These included failing to maintain appropriate supervisory policies and procedures, lacking necessary organisational and technical resources, and operating with inadequate to ensure compliance with short sale reporting requirements.
MSAL 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 said these failures further demonstrated systemic fragilenesses in data governance and controls, rather than isolated errors.
The contraventions admitted by MSAL include breaches of the ASIC Market Integrity Rules (Securities Markets) 2017 and multiple provisions of the . These include failures to provide correct regulatory data, failures to maintain adequate , and engaging in conduct that was misleading or deceptive in relation to financial products.
ASIC Signals Broader Enforcement Focus on Market Transparency
ASIC Chair Joe Longo said the case highlights the critical importance of accurate and reliable market data, particularly during periods of heightened volatility. “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,” he said.
Mr Longo added that without accurate data, market transparency is undermined, stressing that market participants must have robust systems and processes in place to meet their regulatory obligations. “It’s essential for public transparency, in our system,” he said, framing the action as part of ASIC’s broader supervisory and enforcement agenda.
ASIC commenced civil proceedings against MSAL on 14 May 2025, marking its first enforcement action specifically focused on short sale reporting failures. The case sits within a wider pattern of ASIC enforcement targeting systemic misconduct and governance failures at large Australian financial institutions, as the regulator continues to emphasise that accurate reporting and effective risk management are foundational to the integrity of Australia’s financial markets.
