After a much long and at times unbearable wait, Federal Parliament has yesterday passed the Treasury Laws Amendment (Banking Executive Accountability and Related Measures) Bill 2018 (BEAR Legislation). The BEAR Legislation amends the Banking Act 1959 to impose accountability, remuneration and notification obligations on authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs) and those in directorship and senior management
The Treasurer, the Hon Scott Morrison MP, has given his Second Reading Speech in the Parliament with respect to the Treasury Laws Amendment (Banking Executive Accountability and Related Measures) Bill 2017 (BEAR Legislation) that introduces the Banking Executive Accountability Regime (BEAR).
In his speech, the Treasurer made no surprises except that his Government still intends
The much anticipated Royal Commission was no surprise to the Australian banking industry. What was surprising was the extension of its terms of reference to local and foreign deposit-taking institutions, life and general insurers, superannuation funds, as well as asset managers, financial planning businesses and all other holders of Australian financial services licences. Let there
APRA’s discussion paper and proposed new APS 120 provide some welcome clarification and concessions for Australian market participants. Released on Thursday 26 November 2015, the proposals will be open for comment until 1 March 2016. The proposed effective date for these rules in 1 January 2018.
Amongst the more important proposals are:
De-facto master trust
Government releases its Response to FSI Final Report.
The Australian Government has released its Response to last December’s Final Report of the Financial System Inquiry or ‘Murray Inquiry’.
The Government appears to have accepted almost all of the Inquiry’s recommendations and has also proposed additional measures that are consistent with the Murray Inquiry’s underlying philosophy.
On 8 July the Basel Committee (BIS) issued a paper setting out 13 corporate governance principles for banks. These principles supersede the 2010 BIS principles and are to be applied and adapted by national bank regulators as they see fit. This work has been some time in the making with a peer review
On 22 June 2015, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) released a letter to all Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of general insurers, Level 2 insurance groups and life companies (collectively, the insurers) encouraging them to adopt better public disclosure practices for prudential matters.
The current capital adequacy framework for insurers
On 10 June 2015, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) released the final version of its Superannuation Prudential Practice Guide SPG 223 – Fraud Risk Management (SPG 223) following consultation with industry conducted in October 2014.
As with other prudential practice guides released by APRA, SPG 223 is a non-binding document
With the flood of recent natural disasters, APRA has clarified the type of aggregate reinsurance arrangements that require its approval. Accordingly, it is timely for insurers to review their reinsurance arrangements to determine whether such approval is required.
In recent years, Australia and New Zealand have amply demonstrated their propensity for catastrophic losses flowing from