ASIC estimates the number of misreported short sales could range from 298 million to as many as 1.5 billion trades.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has launched civil proceedings against the broking arm of Macquarie Bank in the New South Wales (NSW) Supreme Court.
The corporate watchdog alleges Macquarie Securities misreported millions of short sale transactions over a 14-year period, misleading the market.
It is ASIC’s first court case focused on short sale reporting and marks the fourth enforcement action against Macquarie in just over a year.
Short selling involves selling borrowed shares with the intention of buying them back at a lower price. If the stock price rises instead of falling, the short seller can incur heavy losses.
Because the strategy can signal a lack of confidence in a stock, short positions are closely watched by investors.
The regulator claims Macquarie’s internal systems repeatedly failed to detect the inaccuracies between December 2009 and February 2024.
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