Australia Supreme Court Fines Macquarie Securities $24 Million (AUD 35 Million) Fine for Misreporting of Short Sales, Failure to Correctly Report Short Sales Volume by at Least 73 Million from 2009 to 2024 with Estimates Ranging from 298 Million to 1.5 Billion Short Sales, Failures May Led to Financial Services Industry Relying on Misleading & False Information for 14 Years, Short Sales Reporting is Required Since 2009
17th March 2026 | Hong Kong
The Australia Supreme Court has fined Macquarie Securities $24 million (AUD 35 million) for misreporting of short sales, failing to correctly report short sales volume by at least 73 million from 2009 to 2024, with estimates ranging from 298 million to 1.5 billion short sales. In 2025 December, Australia Macquarie Securities will be proposing to Australia Supreme Court to pay $24 million (AUD 35 million) fine for misreporting of short sales in settlement agreement with Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC). In 2025 May, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) filed a lawsuit against Macquarie Bank for failure to correctly report short sales volume by at least 73 million from 2009 to 2024, with estimates ranging from 298 million to 1.5 billion short sales. ASIC stated the failures may had led to financial services industry relying on misleading & false information for 14 years. Short sales reporting is required since 2009. Announcement (16/3/26): “The New South Wales Supreme Court has ordered Macquarie Securities (Australia) Limited (MSAL) to pay a $35 million penalty for multiple systems-related failures that caused the misreporting of tens of millions of short sales over several years. The Court also found that MSAL engaged in misleading conduct in relation to its misreporting. MSAL failed to correctly report at least 73 million short sales between 11 December 2009 and 14 February 2024. It is estimated that between 298 million and 1.5 billion short sales were misreported during that period. Short sale data plays a critical role in informing investors, regulators and governments about market sentiment and potential investment risks. Accurate reporting underpins trust and confidence in Australia’s financial markets. The inaccurate reporting was due to serious deficiencies in MSAL’s systems, processes and controls, many of which remained undetected for more than a decade, despite a number of internal reviews. ASIC Chair Joe Longo said the case was a stark reminder that when firms ignore red flags and allow risks to go unchecked, the consequences of systemic failures can escalate over time. In closing ASIC’s first short-sale reporting case, His Honour Justice Nixon declared that MSAL: 1) Engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct in relation to the misreporting 2) Failed to have in place adequate risk management systems 3) Failed to have appropriate supervisory policies and procedures 4) Failed to have and maintain necessary organisational and technical resources, and 5) Failed to provide accurate regulatory data to the market operator. In addition to the pecuniary penalty, the Court ordered MSAL to engage an independent expert to assess its short sale and regulatory reporting systems and processes, and to pay ASIC’s costs. ASIC expects market participants to ensure their systems, controls and governance arrangements are robust and fit for purpose to comply with their regulatory obligations. Background – Short selling is the practice of a seller selling a financial product (including a security) that the seller does not currently own and with the intention of benefiting from that sale in various ways. ASIC initiated civil proceedings against MSAL in this case on 14 May 2025 (25-074MR). Further information on short selling, reporting and disclosure obligations can be found in Regulatory Guide 196 Short Selling (RG 196).”
“ Australia Supreme Court Fines Macquarie Securities $24 Million (AUD 35 Million) Fine for Misreporting of Short Sales in Settlement Agreement with Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC), Lawsuit Against Macquarie Bank for Failure to Correctly Report Short Sales Volume by at Least 73 Million from 2009 to 2024 with Estimates Ranging from 298 Million to 1.5 Billion Short Sales, Failures May Led to Financial Services Industry Relying on Misleading & False Information for 14 Years, Short Sales Reporting is Required Since 2009 “
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Australia Macquarie Securities to Propose to Australia Supreme Court to Pay $24 Million (AUD 35 Million) Fine for Misreporting of Short Sales in Settlement Agreement with Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC), Lawsuit Against Macquarie Bank for Failure to Correctly Report Short Sales Volume by at Least 73 Million from 2009 to 2024 with Estimates Ranging from 298 Million to 1.5 Billion Short Sales, Failures May Led to Financial Services Industry Relying on Misleading & False Information for 14 Years, Short Sales Reporting is Required Since 2009
20th December – Australia Macquarie Securities will be proposing to Australia Supreme Court to pay $24 million (AUD 35 million) fine for misreporting of short sales in settlement agreement with Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC). In 2025 May, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) filed a lawsuit against Macquarie Bank for failure to correctly report short sales volume by at least 73 million from 2009 to 2024, with estimates ranging from 298 million to 1.5 billion short sales. ASIC stated the failures may had led to financial services industry relying on misleading & false information for 14 years. Short sales reporting is required since 2009. Australia ASIC (19/12/25): “Macquarie Securities (Australia) Limited (MSAL) has admitted to misleading conduct in relation to the misreporting millions of short sales over several years, caused by repeated failures in its systems and processes. 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: 1) have appropriate supervisory policies and procedures, 2) have and maintain the necessary organisational and technical resources, and 3) 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.”
Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) Files Lawsuit Against Macquarie Bank for Failure to Correctly Report Short Sales Volume by at Least 73 Million from 2009 to 2024 with Estimates Ranging from 298 Million to 1.5 Billion Short Sales, Failures May Led to Financial Services Industry Relying on Misleading & False Information for 14 Years, Short Sales Reporting is Required Since 2009
15th May 2025 – The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) has filed a lawsuit against Macquarie Bank for failure to correctly report short sales volume by at least 73 million from 2009 to 2024, with estimates ranging from 298 million to 1.5 billion short sales. ASIC stated the failures may had led to financial services industry relying on misleading & false information for 14 years. Short sales reporting is required since 2009. ASIC (14/5/25): “ASIC is suing Macquarie Securities (Australia) Limited (MSAL) alleging it engaged in misleading conduct by misreporting millions of short sales to the market operator for over 14 years. In proceedings filed in the NSW Supreme Court, ASIC alleges that between 11 December 2009 and 14 February 2024, MSAL failed to correctly report the volume of short sales by at least 73 million. ASIC estimates that this could be between 298 million and 1.5 billion short sales. ASIC, in its first short sale reporting case, alleges the misleading conduct was due to multiple systems-related issues, many of which remained undetected for over a decade. Accurate short sale reporting matters. Obligations to report short sales were introduced in 2009, following the Global Financial Crisis. Short sale data is used to inform investors, governments, regulators and financial market participants about market sentiment and potential risks. It also assists in detecting market misconduct and supports market integrity. Today’s announcement marks the fourth regulatory action ASIC has taken against Macquarie Group in just over 12 months. Market Participants must ensure that their systems, controls and governance arrangements are robust and fit for purpose to comply with their regulatory obligations. In 2020, MSAL undertook a review of its short sale reporting process following weaknesses identified in 2015 and 2019. It is clear this review failed to identify and resolve the issues in these proceedings. ASIC also alleges MSAL failed to correctly report Regulatory Data for 633,680 orders submitted to the Market Operator between 16 November 2022 and 21 March 2023. In addition to penalties, ASIC is seeking independent review and assurance of MSAL’s regulatory reporting (including short sale reporting) systems, controls and supervisory procedures to ensure compliance with the law.” More info below:
Background – MSAL is an Australian Financial Services Licensee and a significant market participant of both the ASX and Cboe (formerly Chi-X) markets. It is authorised under its licence to deal in securities on behalf of retail and wholesale clients. MSAL is a subsidiary of Macquarie Group Limited (ASX: MQG), which recorded a net profit of $3,715m in its FY25 annual report. ASIC alleges that MSAL contravened:
- s798H(1) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Corporations Act), by virtue of alleged contraventions of rules 2.1.3 (Supervisory Procedures), 5.5.2 (Organisational and Technical Resources) and 7.4.2 (Regulatory Data) of the ASIC Market Integrity Rules (Securities Markets) 2017
- s912A(1)(h) of the Corporations Act: Failure to have adequate risk management systems
- s1308(5) of the Corporations Act: Submission of materially false or misleading documents to the market operator, and
- s12DF of the ASIC Act 2001: Engaging in conduct liable to mislead the public in relation to financial services.
ASIC alleges that MSAL’s misreporting impacted data relating to at least 321 unique securities. ASIC also alleges that for each impacted security, MSAL inflated or deflated the published volume of short sales by an average of approximately 12 per cent, with several instances of misreporting impacting the published short sale volume by 50 per cent or more. AFS Licensees are required to report certain details about short sales to market operators. Market operators rely on licensees to provide them with accurate short sale information to publish daily aggregated short sale reports to the market, which record the volume of short sales executed per financial product each trading day. Published short sale reports may be used for various purposes by investors and the financial services industry, including company analysis, informing investment decisions, identifying risks and explaining share price movements. The short sale reports published by ASX and Cboe are accessible through the following links:
The short sale reporting requirements were introduced with the objective of enhancing public transparency for short selling activity in Australia. These provisions followed unprecedented volatility in financial markets during the Global Financial Crisis. The duration of MSAL’s reporting issues means that it may have failed to comply with these requirements for most if not all of the time that these requirements have been in force.
Further information on short selling, reporting and disclosure obligations can be found in Regulatory Guide 196 Short Selling (RG 196).
Today’s announcement follows other actions against Macquarie Group entities:
- On 7 May 2025, ASIC imposed additional AFS licence conditions on Macquarie Bank Limited following more than 10 years of compliance failures (25-068MR).
- In September 2024, ASIC’s Markets Disciplinary Panel (MDP) fined Macquarie Bank Limited a record $4.995 million for failing to prevent suspicious orders being placed on the electricity futures market (24-211MR).
- In April 2024, the Federal Court ordered Macquarie Bank Limited to pay a penalty of $10 million for failing to have effective controls to prevent and detect unauthorised fee transactions conducted by third parties, such as financial advisers, on customer cash management accounts using Macquarie’s bulk transacting facility (24-080 MR).
- In June 2019, ASIC’s MDP fined MSAL $300,000 for failing to correctly report Regulatory Data for approximately 42 million orders or trade reports to the relevant market operators (19-125MR).
ASIC’s MDP has issued a total of seven infringement notices to Macquarie Group entities for breaches of the Market Integrity Rules, amounting to $6.331 million in fines. View ASIC’s Court enforceable undertakings register.
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