APRA consolidates divisions, outlines strategic priorities
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The news: The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) will consolidate some of its divisions as part of an organisational restructure, as it laid out strategic priorities over the next four years.
The numbers: Under the restructure plan, APRA’s five industry supervision groups will be managed in two supervision divisions from 2 September, instead of the current three divisions related to banking, superannuation and insurance.
It will merge the banking and general insurance functions, resulting in two divisions — general insurance and banking and a life insurance, private health insurance and superannuation division.
APRA’s other three divisions — policy and advice; technology and data, and chief of staff and enterprise services – remain broadly unchanged.
The context: The regulator said the changes would streamline and simplify decision-making processes at a time of heightened financial risk globally and growing complexity. The changes will also enable oversight of the superannuation sector alongside life and private health insurers.
Separately, the regulator also outlined its strategic priorities under its new corporate plan.
APRA said it would focus on three key objectives in FY25, including oversight of financial and operational resilience, responding to risks, and addressing industry challenges.
The regulator plans to adjust capital and liquidity standards in response to the US banking crises in 2023, develop a stress test for the financial system, and maintain a focus on cyber risk management.
What they said: “The changes we are announcing today respond to this evolution by consolidating related areas of expertise — particularly for our risk teams – which enables greater knowledge transfer and capability development,” APRA chair John Lonsdale said.
