Macquarie Investment Management admits inadequate due diligence

Macquarie Investment Management (MIML) has agreed a statement with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), noting that it did not exercise sufficient diligence when assessing the risks created by Van Eyk Research. Macquarie admitted that it did not make adequate enquiries relating to van Eyk's monitoring of its investments after the Van Eyk Blueprint International Shares (VBI) fund made an illiquid $30m investment in Artefact, leading to its collapse in 2014. While the entire $30m has now been returned to investors, the court is set to determine the final penalty MIML shall pay as the litigation continues. 

Macquarie Investment Management concedes it did not do enough as responsible entity to assess the risks in a fund run by van Eyk, which collapsed in 2014 after investing $30 million in a Cayman Islands fund.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission on Thursday lodged an agreed statement of facts with Macquarie over the 2012 investments made by the Van Eyk Blueprint International Shares Fund (VBI) fund.

Macquarie Bank is causing alarm in Britain over its proposed takeover of the UK's Green Investment Bank. Credit: Grant Turner

Van Eyk Research, a firm that was established in 1989 and collapsed in 2014, was the investment manager for the VBI fund in question, and Macquarie was the responsible entity.

Under the law, a responsible entity is ultimately responsible for operating a fund in the best interests of investors.