Macquarie called it a “bonus” rate for new savers. It has now admitted it was not, and agreed to a $14 million penalty

Macquarie Bank has admitted breaking the law in the way it sold a savings “Welcome Rate” to new customers, and has agreed to a $14 million penalty in proceedings brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

ASIC and the bank have jointly proposed the penalty to the NSW Supreme Court, which must still approve it. The case was announced on Wednesday morning, eastern Australian time.

Macquarie will admit it failed in its obligation to provide financial services “efficiently, honestly and fairly” under the Corporations Act. It has already paid $8.8 million in compensation to nearly 40,000 customers.

What was wrong with the rate?

The problem was the word “bonus”.

Macquarie described the offer to new savings customers as a “welcome variable rate” and a “bonus”. ASIC says that language could suggest the welcome rate was paid on top of the bank’s standard variable rate.

In practice, the regulator says, the Welcome Rate generally operated as a fixed rate that applied instead of the standard rate for a four-month promotional period. The bank says the descriptions were on its website between December 2021 and September 2022.

Why does a fixed rate matter if the number looked good?

Because rates were about to move. The Reserve Bank began lifting the cash rate in May 2022, in the middle of that period, and variable savings rates began to climb with it.

A true bonus margin rises with the standard rate underneath it. A fixed rate that replaces the standard rate does not. Macquarie’s compensation was calculated to put customers where they would have been if the Welcome Rate had been a fixed bonus on top of the standard rate.

Spread across nearly 40,000 customers, the $8.8 million works out at a little over $220 each on average, though individual amounts would depend on balances and timing.

What did ASIC say?

ASIC commissioner Alan Kirkland said Australians hold almost $1.8 trillion in household deposits, and that savers deserve to understand exactly what interest they are being paid.

“This wasn’t just unclear wording,” he said, adding that the bank’s systems and controls were not rigorous enough.

Macquarie also admits that its advertising framework was not rigorous enough, that it lacked clear internal guidance on how the rate should be described, and that customer complaints did not lead to a timely correction.

What does Macquarie say?

Ben Perham, Macquarie’s head of banking and financial services, apologised. He said the bank should have explained more clearly on its website how the Welcome Rate would be applied.

The bank says it chose to pay the compensation after customer complaints, and has since reviewed every product description on its website.

How big is $14 million?

Small next to the record. ANZ agreed in 2025 to pay $240 million in penalties over a string of failures, the largest ASIC has secured against a bank.

But the Macquarie case goes to something every saver relies on: that the headline rate on an account means what it appears to mean. Introductory and bonus rates are among the most common ways banks compete for deposits, and the case is a signal that regulators are reading the fine print on them.

What should savers check?

Whether a promotional rate is added to the standard rate or replaces it, whether it is fixed or moves with the market, and exactly when it ends. Those three answers decide what the account actually pays.

Go deeper with VNN Premium: One missed month costs a $50,000 saver $219: the bonus-rate fine print after Macquarie’s $14 million penalty — what a missed bonus month costs at $20,000, $50,000 and $100,000, the 8.59pm Perth deadline, and a simple test for choosing an account.