APRA costing more, but more efficient

Australia’s prudential regulator, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), may be costing the taxpayer more, but it has claimed it is becoming more efficient.

In its annual report tabled in Parliament, APRA said its total operating expenditure last financial year was $103.3 million and noted that this expenditure had risen over the past two years as a consequence of the build-up in supervisory numbers and capacity during the global financial crisis.

However, it said relative to the value of assets supervised, costs had fallen steadily to below 3 cents for every $1,000 of assets.

The APRA annual report also revealed that the regulator had fallen short of the amount it had sought to raise in levies from the financial services industry to help fund its own activities and those of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

It said the total levies collected by APRA for all three agencies last financial year were $106.9 million, compared with an aim of $108 million.

The annual report said APRA had an operating surplus from ordinary activities of $1.6 million last financial year and, as a consequence, total reserves, including accumulated surpluses, increased to $21.4 million.