Macquarie Bank hit with record $4.995 MDP fine

Macquarie Bank has been fined a record $4.995 million by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) Markets Disciplinary Panel.

The fine follows an ASIC investigation and relates to failing to prevent suspicious orders being placed on the electricity futures market.

The fine is the largest ever imposed by the Market Disciplinary Panel.

ASIC said that on 50 occasions, from January to September 2022, Macquarie breached market integrity rules by permitting three of its clients to place suspicious orders.

Each order displayed characteristics of an intention to ‘mark the close’, meaning each order was placed within the last minute of market close, impacting the daily settlement price, in a direction favourable to the client’s existing interest in that contract.

The MDP found Macquarie should have suspected each of the 50 orders were submitted with the intention of creating a false or misleading appearance in the market.

Comnenting on the fine, ASIC Chair Joe Longo said,”The record penalty imposed by the MDP reflects the serious, prolonged and potential systemic failures by Macquarie to detect and prevent suspected manipulation in the ASX 24 market for energy derivatives. Macquarie is the largest market participant in energy derivatives and given its role as a gatekeeper, it must ensure suspicious orders are not permitted to be placed on our markets.

“We put Macquarie on notice about suspicious orders placed by its clients on numerous occasions and it repeatedly failed to take timely action to address the conduct of its clients and the gap in its surveillance capability. As a consequence, it permitted further suspicious orders to be placed on the market.

“The consequences of manipulating energy markets can have a detrimental flow on impact to supplier funding costs, and in turn energy prices. This can lead to higher energy bills for consumers who are already struggling with the cost of living.”

ASIC said Macquarie’s conduct occurred during a period of unprecedented volatility in energy markets globally stemming from supply issues and the Russia and Ukraine war. ASIC contacted Macquarie on six separate occasions to alert it to ASIC’s concerns about volatility in energy markets or suspicious trading by Macquarie’s clients.

The MDP found that Macquarie’s failure to respond to ASIC’s concerns in the context of the heightened need to monitor the electricity futures market was an aggravating factor in determining the size of the penalty.

Further, the MDP found Macquarie had failed to appreciate the seriousness of its obligations as a Market Participant to act promptly and appropriately upon what were obvious risks of deficiencies in its surveillance system and had not at the time, taken full ownership or responsibility for its conduct.

The MDP also noted that Macquarie is responsible and accountable for the conduct of its staff and if matters were not escalated when they should be, it may suggest more systemic issues regarding the culture and reporting within Macquarie.

In a statement issued after the ASIC announcement, Macquarie said it acknowledges the Infringement Notice issued by ASIC’s Markets Disciplinary Panel (MDP) in relation to its electricity futures business in Australia and has paid a $4,995,000 penalty.

“The matter relates to trades made in 2022 by three commercial clients placing electricity futures orders electronically through our futures business.  Macquarie takes full responsibility for all aspects, particularly given its important role as gatekeeper and the largest market participant facilitating clients’ activity in electricity futures in Australia and New Zealand,” it said. “There are learnings from this matter and Macquarie takes ASIC’s action very seriously. Macquarie has implemented remediation actions to ensure that issues with monitoring for suspicious orders are escalated and actioned appropriately and is continuing to work on areas for further improvement.”