Macquarie says it takes 'full responsibility' for gatekeeper failure
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More news: In a statement following its fine for market gatekeeper failure, a spokeswoman for Macquarie said the bank "acknowledges" the infringement notice and has paid the $4.995 million penalty.
What they said: "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," she said.
"There are learnings from this matter and Macquarie takes ASIC’s [Australian Securities and Investments Commission'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."
Macquarie Bank fined $5 million over market gatekeeper failure
The news: Macquarie Bank has been fined $4.995 million by the corporate regulator for failing to prevent suspicious orders being placed on the electricity futures market.
The context: The fine followed an Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) investigation which found that Macquarie had breached market integrity rules on 50 occasions from January to September 2022, by permitting three of its clients to place suspicious orders.
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 fine, imposed by the markets disciplinary panel (MDP), which makes decisions on behalf of the corporate watchdog, is a record fine from the peer review panel.
The panel concluded Macquarie should have suspected each order was submitted with the intention of creating a false or misleading appearance in the market.
What they 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," ASIC chair Joe Longo said in a statement on Wednesday.
"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.
"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."
The source: ASIC media release
