Macquarie Securities hit with $35m penalty

Mike Taylor

Managing Editor and Publisher

19 December 2025

Macquarie Securities Limited (MSAL) has been hit with a $35 million penalty after admitting to misleading conduct in relation to misreporting millions of short sales over several years.

Announcing the penalty, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said the misreporting had been caused by repeated failures in the company’s systems and processes.

It said ASIC and MSAL will ask the NSW Supreme Court to impose a penalty of $35 million and to make other orders against MSAL. The penalty and orders are subject to consideration and approval by the Court.

In a statement of agreed facts filed with the Court, MSAL has admitted it failed to correctly report at least 73 million short sales between 11 December 2009 and 14 February 2024. It is estimated that MSAL misreported between 298 million and 1.5 billion short sales.

The inaccurate reporting was due to multiple systems-related failures, many of which remained undetected for more than a decade.

In addition to the misleading conduct, MSAL has also admitted it failed to:

• have appropriate supervisory policies and procedures,
• have and maintain the necessary organisational and technical resources, and
• have adequate risk management systems

to ensure compliance with its short sale reporting obligations.

MSAL has 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.”

ASIC’s said its action against MSAL is part of our broader body of work addressing misconduct and failures to comply with regulatory obligations by large Australian financial institutions.