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HONG KONG (Reuters Breakingviews) – TIERING UP. Regulators have finally come knocking on Macquarie’s door. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority on Thursday dinged the A$55 billion ($42 billion) bank for its inability to properly report liquidity and intra-company funding.

The punishment isn’t exactly harsh for what the watchdog described as “disappointing and unacceptable” failings. As it has done with others, ARPA is forcing the financial conglomerate run by Shemara Wikramanayake to increase capital and risk-weighted assets by some 4% and 7%, respectively. There are no caps on day-to-day business, however, which has held up well in recent months.

It’s more of a public shaming than anything else, even with ARPA vowing to take tougher steps if Macquarie doesn’t clean up its act. The lack of movement in the shares suggests investors may be giving the bank too much benefit of the doubt. Macquarie avoided the many missteps of domestic rivals and says it’s beefing up its practices, but it also just flunked risk management 101. (By Antony Currie)