Macquarie dodges court by offering to compensate First Shield’s ripped-off superannuation investors $321m

Macquarie Group will pay $321 million to thousands of investors who lost their retirement savings in the collapsed Shield Master Fund after the investment bank admitted it broke the law by failing to place the fund on a watch list for increased monitoring.

The fund collapsed in 2024 owing 5,800 investors $480 million. The operators of the scheme and financial advisers who recommended it are accused of providing misleading and conflicted advice.

On Thursday, Macquarie admitted it did not fulfil its legal obligation to fairly provide financial services after allowing around 3,000 superannuation investors to put their savings into the fund through its online investment platform in 2022 and 2023.

In exchange for Macquarie agreeing to reimburse investors’ lost funds and admitting its fault, the regulator ASIC said it would not haul the bank to court to seek further financial or civil penalties.

“This is an important outcome that stems the significant losses that threatened thousands of members’ retirement savings after they used Macquarie’s platform to invest their super in Shield,” ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court said Thursday. “Many members thought their funds were safe when they used Macquarie’s super platform to invest in Shield.”

Macquarie’s evolution

A spokesperson for the homegrown financial giant said the decision to reimburse investors will save them from likely waiting several years for compensation via a recovery of any funds under complex bankruptcy proceedings. Macquarie added that payments to eligible investors will be made by September 30.

“Macquarie’s decision to devote resources to achieve this outcome recognises Shield’s unique circumstances, notably the scale of the issue, its material impact on many investors and their limited access to recourse from the many different entities which played a role,” the bank said in a statement. “The approach of providing immediate certainty and an improved outcome for investors benefits all parties.”

Macquarie shares traded down 1.1 per cent to $216.09 on Thursday morning. Under chief executive, Shemera Wikramanayake, the sprawling financial services group is already subject to a string of licence conditions imposed by ASIC on its bank’s financial services license relating to trade reporting and derivative transactions.

Advisers under fire

ASIC has started legal proceedings against financial adviser Ferras Mehri for advising retirees to invest $230 million into the collapsed First Shield fund between 2020 and 2024.

The corporate regulator alleges Mr Ferras provided clients with statements of advice which contained false or misleading statements about the nature of the Shield Master Fund by implying it was operated by Macquarie.

It also alleges Mr Ferras engaged in unconscionable conduct, failed to act in the best interests of clients, gave conflicted advice, and provided defective statements of advice whilst receiving millions of dollars.

Once known almost exclusively as an investment bank and asset manager, Macquarie has successfully pushed into Australia’s lucrative home loan market in recent years by offering borrowers with larger deposits competitive rates and attractive services.

Over the 12 months to July 2025, Macquarie said it won around 19 per cent of the home loan market to present a challenge to the dominance of the big-four banks. Around 75 per cent of all home loans are arranged by 22,000 mortgage brokers and Macquarie linked its success to its strong relationships with the broker channels.

ASIC alleges the implosion of the Shield Master Fund is partly related to the separate collapse of the First Guardian Master Fund as both involve some of the same persons and companies under investigation. The First Guardian collapse affected 6,000 with the combined scandal estimated to have cost investors $1.2 billion.