Have you been trying to pay for a crypto investment using your Macquarie SMSF bank account and found the BSB “does not exist” when you enter the numbers?
We have had several reports from frustrated clients about this happening to them, including when trying to settle their orders with Coinspot and Ainslie Crypto.
After weeks of investigation, a senior Macquarie bank representative advised us that the bank has decided to restrict online payments to certain BSBs used to make crypto investments “in order to help protect our customers”.
In the immediate term, the solution options are
- Contact the crypto merchant directly to arrange an alternative payment method, and/or
- Set up another SMSF bank account with a ‘crypto friendly’ bank. You can operate more than one SMSF bank account, or close the Macquarie account and transfer your SMSF completely to another bank if you prefer. To find a bank search for ‘crypto friendly bank Australia’ online and do your due diligence from there.
Importantly, DO NOT transfer SMSF funds to a personal bank account and pay for the SMSF investment from that. Doing this may result in an audit contravention and possibly even an ATO fine.
Fraud and scams are on the rise, with Australian’s losing over $2.74bn to scams in 2023 alone. Macquarie considers certain crypto trading platform accounts to be high-risk, following identification of high rates of fraud losses associated with accounts under those BSBs.
This does not necessarily mean that the merchant you are intending to pay is involved in any illegal activity. Macquarie’s decision was taken at a BSB level, and unfortunately impacts all accounts bearing those BSBs. To protect their clients from the growing and evolving fraud and scam landscape, Macquarie has made the decision to restrict online payments to certain crypto trading platform BSBs.
At this stage, Macquarie has advised that online transactions to those crypto-related BSBs will remain restricted, however it’s fraud team continuously reviews transaction information and how it may best combat frauds and scams.
Macquarie says it recognises that restricting its clients from making online transactions to certain BSBs may cause inconvenience and that they have not made this decision lightly.
This decision has caused significant business disruptions not only to us but to major crypto merchants such as Coinspot, Ainslie Crypto and others.
Since learning of Macquarie’s decision, we have made several senior representations to the bank to register our serious concern that this indiscriminate broad brush approach is interference in the legitimate SMSF investment choices of our Australians. We expect that many individuals and businesses will be doing similar.
We will watch this closely and let you know if anything changes.
