Australia

On 7 July 2026, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) finalised its amendments to the general insurance (GI) reinsurance framework.

Background

The final changes are set out in APRA’s response paper following two rounds of consultation that took place in November 2024 and October 2025. The purpose of the reforms are

On 7 July 2026, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) issued a new legislative instrument for operators of investor directed portfolio services (IDPS) and IDPS-like schemes.

Background

The new legislative instrument follows an earlier consultation that ASIC conducted on the proposed simplification of the platform instruments in Report 813 Regulatory

On 30 June 2026, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) published the findings of its inaugural System Risk Stress Test (SRST), which focused on links between the banking and superannuation system. The SRST took place last year and covered four major banks and six large superannuation funds and examined how a

On 29 June 2026, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) issued a consultation paper, Getting the balance right on financial resilience – Workstream 1: Credit risk capital.

The consultation paper follows APRA’s previous commitment to consult on reforms to bank capital and liquidity settings. It is the first of three work steams

On 29 June 2026, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) issued Report 833 – Safeguarding super: How well are platform trustees monitoring risks to retirement savings?

ASIC and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority have been concerned about gaps in trustees’ oversight of advisers, advice licensees and investments that are made available to

On 25 June 2026, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) announced that it was extending its sector-wide no-action position on digital asset businesses to 30 September 2026.

Background

In Consultation Paper 381 Updates to INFO 225: Digital assets: Financial products and services (CP 381), ASIC proposed a class no-action position

On 17 June 2026, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) announced that it is collecting and publishing website addresses of Australian Financial Services (AFS) licensees on its Professional Registers Search (PRS), with more than 6,500 AFS licensees invited to provide their website details since launching in early

3 May – 3 June 2026

Introduction

ESG is changing the landscape for financial institutions as stakeholders, including investors, increasingly expect them to make their operations more sustainable.

Financial services regulators also view ESG as a priority, embedding the principles of climate-related financial risks into their supervisory frameworks and dealing with greenwashing issues.

There is

On 16 June 2026, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) issued a consultation paper setting out updated requirements designed to strengthen governance across banking, superannuation and insurance.

APRA’s governance review commenced with the release of a discussion paper in March 2025. In October 2025, APRA provided an update on key policy positions. This

On 16 June 2026, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) announced that they will be streamlining certain aspects of the Financial Accountability Regime (FAR). In particular ASIC will remove key functions and requirements from the FAR; raise the materiality threshold for notifying