Macquarie to refund over 2,000 clients

ASIC announced yesterday that around 2,300 users of the Macquarie Wrap investment platform will be eligible for a refund after sustaining losses due to “system errors” occurring between 2001 and 2014.

The system errors included failing to apply sufficient tax credits to the GST portion of client fees, and charging administration fees that exceeded the maximum disclosed in the product offering documents.

Macquarie appointed Deloitte after "discussion with ASIC" in order to ensure that "all affected clients are identified and appropriately compensated and Macquarie's controls and processes are adequate to prevent a similar error occurring in future", ASIC said.

Speaking to Mortgage Business, a Macquarie spokesperson emphasised the investigation commenced after the bank self-reported to errors to the authorities.

“Macquarie identified an error affecting approximately one per cent of Open Wrap accounts and a similar number of closed accounts which it self-reported to ASIC,” the spokesperson said.

“The matter has been reviewed thoroughly and Macquarie is now working with accounting firm Deloitte which has assessed our process for reimbursing funds, including interest, to affected clients and has been engaged to review our amended controls.

“We are working with these clients to reimburse funds.”