Latest news with #SimoneConstant
Sky News AU
07-05-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
Macquarie Bank repeated compliance 'failings' after facing record fine, ASIC's commissioner Simone Constant declares
The corporate watchdog is cracking down on a major bank for an array of 'repeated failings' regarding compliance issues, with some occurring after the bank was hit with a $5m fine in September. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission on Wednesday took aim at Macquarie Group for major compliance failures. ASIC has intervened with Macquarie over its futures dealing business and its over-the-counter derivatives trading – which are trades done outside of an exchange. The watchdog said Macquarie had failed to stop at least 11 suspicious orders being placed in the futures market, one dating back to over a decade ago. ASIC also identified nine "market conduct matters of concern" in just the past 18 months. The watchdog's commissioner Simone Constant told Sky News' Business Now there were common causes for an array of failings across the major bank. 'There's been some repeated failings and when we think about the failings that we're addressing in these license conditions, another concern is there are common root causes,' Ms Constant said. 'While some are in the ASX 24 futures market and some are in terms of OTC products, root causes seem to be common.' She noted Macquarie had committed repeated failings after it was fined $5m for failing to prevent suspicious orders being placed on the electricity futures market. This was the highest penalty ever imposed by ASIC's Markets Disciplinary Panel (MDP). 'Something that concerned us was even when their attention was drawn to this area of concern and there was… an MDP outcome last year, there actually was repeated failing,' Ms Constant said. 'So it failed again. "Responsibilities of gatekeepers, responsibilities of such significant and of successful organisations in markets like Macquarie and responsibilities for reporting, so that we can understand what's going on in markets in terms of integrity and where the risk is, these are really important responsibilities.' Macquarie will now be forced to identify the root cause of its failures in a remediation plan. It will also have to appoint an independent expert to review Macquarie Bank's plan and address its failures and prevent them happening in the future. Macquarie Bank said it took its role as a licensed entity 'extremely seriously' and would cooperate with the investigation. 'In addition to working constructively with ASIC on these remediation activities, MBL continues to invest in a broader range of existing programs to strengthen its systems, controls and supervisory arrangements,' the bank said in a statement.
Finextra
07-05-2025
- Business
- Finextra
Asic acts against Macquarie Bank for repetaed compliance failures
ASIC has imposed additional conditions on Macquarie Bank Limited's (Macquarie) Australian financial services licence after multiple and significant compliance failures – some going undetected for many years and one for a decade. 0 The compliance failures relate to Macquarie's futures dealing business and its over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives trade reporting. The additional licence conditions will require Macquarie to: prepare a remediation plan to address the failures in their futures dealing business and OTC derivatives trade reporting functions and their root causes appoint an independent expert to review and report on the adequacy of Macquarie's remediation plan to address the failures and their root causes, and have the independent expert assess the operational effectiveness of Macquarie's remediation activities to prevent, detect and respond to similar issues occurring in its futures dealing and OTC derivatives businesses in the future. ASIC Commissioner Simone Constant said, 'Our intervention underscores our concern with the recurrent nature of Macquarie's failures, which were caused by ineffective supervision and weak compliance and control management.' The control weaknesses ranged from poor change management practices, unclear roles and responsibilities, and an incomplete understanding of its own processes and controls, including around data governance. 'The additional licence conditions are a significant administrative action to ensure Macquarie comprehensively addresses ASIC's concerns. It cannot be a piece-meal or band-aid fix. 'Macquarie must take responsibility and put in place appropriate action to remediate the repeated failures and underlying governance and supervisory failures. 'We were particularly disappointed that Macquarie failed to prevent 11 suspicious orders being placed on the electricity futures market via Macquarie terminals shortly after ASIC had referred similar failures to the Markets Disciplinary Panel which fined the bank just under $5 million.' ASIC's administrative action follows the identification or reporting of nine market conduct matters of concern in the last 18 months - seven matters relating to misreporting of more than 375,000 OTC derivative transactions, and two futures dealing matters concerning the prevention and detection of suspicious trading activity and the withholding of orders on the ASX24 market. Many of the OTC derivatives trade reporting breaches continued for a number of years without detection. 'Misreporting of OTC derivative transactions can undermine market transparency and hinders ASIC's ability to monitor potential risks in Australia's financial system,' Ms Constant said. 'These licence conditions are necessary to give ASIC confidence the remediation will be effective and drive sustainable change.' Ms Constant acknowledged that Macquarie has cooperated with ASIC throughout this process and has consented to the imposition of the additional licence conditions. Background In September 2024, ASIC's Markets Disciplinary Panel fined Macquarie a record $4.995 million for failing to prevent suspicious orders being placed on the electricity futures market
New Straits Times
07-05-2025
- Business
- New Straits Times
Australian regulator launches further crackdown on Macquarie Bank after compliance failures
KUALA LUMPUR: The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) on Wednesday imposed additional conditions on the Australian financial services licence of Macquarie Bank, owned by Macquarie Group, citing numerous serious compliance failures. The bank's compliance shortcomings, some of which remained unnoticed for a decade, pertained to its futures dealing business and its over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives trade reporting, according to the ASIC. The regulator's new conditions require Macquarie to prepare a remediation plan to address these failures and their root causes, enlist an independent expert to review and report on the remediation plan's sufficiency, and have the independent expert assess the effectiveness of Macquarie's remediation activities. Shares of Macquarie Group were down 0.5 per cent by 0041 GMT, compared to a 0.1 per cent uptick in the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index. "Our intervention underscores our concern with the recurrent nature of Macquarie's failures, which were caused by ineffective supervision and weak compliance and control management," the ASIC Commissioner Simone Constant said. Constant added that the ASIC was "particularly disappointed" as the company failed to prevent 11 suspicious orders being placed on the electricity futures market via their terminals shortly after the regulator referred similar failures to the Markets Disciplinary Panel, which fined the bank just under US$5 million back in September 2024. The new licence conditions were set after the ASIC identified nine market conduct matters of concern in the last 18 months, it said. The ASIC said these included seven matters relating to misreporting of over 375,000 OTC derivative transactions, and two futures dealing matters concerning the prevention and detection of suspicious trading activity and the withholding of orders on the ASX24 market. Macquarie acknowledged the ASIC's announcement and said it has cooperated with the regulator and consented to the licence conditions.
ABC News
06-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
ASIC takes action against Macquarie Bank for 'significant' compliance failures
Macquarie Bank has been hit with additional licence conditions after being slammed by the corporate regulator for "multiple and significant compliance failures". The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has taken action against the investment bank by imposing additional conditions on its financial services licence. ASIC said the failures related to Macquarie's futures dealing and derivatives trading divisions, noting some went undetected for many years — in one case, for a decade. "Our intervention underscores our concern with the recurrent nature of Macquarie's failures, which were caused by ineffective supervision and weak compliance and control management," ASIC commissioner Simone Constant said. The incidents include the failure to prevent 11 suspicious orders on the electricity futures market placed via its terminals shortly after ASIC had referred the bank to the Markets Disciplinary Panel for similar failures. Loading
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Superannuation funds lashed as Aussie waits over 500 days for $100,000 death benefit payout: ‘Distressing'
Australia's corporate watchdog has blasted superannuation funds for widespread failings in handling death benefit claims. In one 'distressing' case, a super fund took more than a year to pay a death benefit of $100,000 to a First Nations woman grieving the loss of her husband. The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has called on superannuation funds to overhaul the way they deal with death benefit claims. Its landmark report identified a range of problems, including excessive delays, poor customer service and ineffective claims handling. The watchdog investigated 10 super funds, who are responsible for 38 per cent of all member benefits including Australian Retirement Trust, HESTA, Hostplus, Rest and UniSuper, over a two-year period. It comes after it launched legal action against AustralianSuper and Cbus over their handling of death and disability claims, who were excluded from the review. RELATED Superannuation warning as new $73,000 retirement reality exposed Major $30,000 EV tax change from this week despite pleas for reversal: 'Worst possible time' Major banks reveal interest rate cut predictions ahead of RBA's April call: 'Done deal' ASIC chairman Joe Longo said some funds performed better than others but 'tellingly none of the reviewed trustees monitored or reported on their end-to-end claims handling times or performance'. 'At the heart of this issue is leadership that doesn't have a grip on the fund's data, systems and processes – and ultimately it is the customers who suffer for it,' he said. 'This kind of disconnect is unacceptable in any area of corporate Australia, but in the superannuation sector it is particularly serious, because super affects everyone from the boardroom to the living room.' ASIC has handed down 34 recommendations to super trustees, including ones to improve customer service and response times, monitoring and reporting on claims handling timeframes, streamlined processes and procedures, and better guidance and training for found some super trustees showed good handling practices, while others had systemic failures which meant grieving Aussies faced added and unnecessary distress after the death of their loved ones. The review found a huge variation in claims handling times across super funds, with the fastest closing 48 per cent of death benefit claims in 90 days and the slowest just 8 per cent in the same time period. Of the claims reviewed by ASIC, 78 per cent had delays caused by processing issues within the trustee's control. There were also instances of poor customer service in 27 per cent of files, with phone calls not returned, queries dismissed and claimants asked for unreasonable information. ASIC commissioner Simone Constant said many of the complaints read by the watchdog were 'distressing'. 'We saw deep grief, vulnerability, frustration and genuine suffering,' she said. In one case, a trustee took more than 500 days to pay a death benefit of around $100,000 to a First Nations woman grieving the loss of her husband. The trustee failed to respond to her concerns about financial hardship and did not support her when she struggled to navigate the claims process and understand how to complete claim forms. 'The money from a death benefit can make a huge difference and each day a trustee delays that payment causes real harm to families,' Constant said. 'Trustees need to do better.' First Nations advocates are calling on the government to commit to legislating mandatory customer service standards in superannuation, something which Finance Services Minister Stephen Jones flagged earlier this year. Mark Holden, Mob Strong Debt Help Senior Solicitor and Policy Advocate, said this was a 'critical' moment for the superannuation industry. 'Super funds do a great job collecting our money, but let us down when it matters most - when we've lost someone, when we're grieving, and when we need access,' he said. Super Consumer Australia is also calling on the government to urgently introduce mandatory service standards. CEO Xavier O'Halloran said the report confirmed what he had been hearing from families in crisis. 'Super funds are blind to their own failures, with no targets, no monitoring, and no accountability,' he in to access your portfolio
