New ‘one-stop-shop’ for dual-regulated institutions

The Australian Prudential Regulating Authority (APRA) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) have introduced a new online reporting system for dual-regulated financial institutions.

Previously, institutions that were regulated by both APRA and ASIC had been forced to report breaches to both regulatory bodies.

ASIC deputy chairman Jeremy Cooper said: “This initiative has been about responding to industry to achieve better outcomes for regulated entities.”

The online reporting system will streamline the reporting obligations of institutions as well as help to improve supervisory effectiveness, he said.

Under the new system, breaches that must be lodged with both institutions will now be recorded through a single electronic breach report to APRA. APRA will then forward the report to ASIC.

APRA member John Trowbridge said this would make the reporting system more efficient and less costly.

“Now all APRA-regulated institutions will be able to report online, not just superannuation entities,” he said.

Previously, both APRA and ASIC-regulated institutions could report online, but dual-regulated institutions could not.

Late last year, financial sector legislation was amended to introduce a consistent definition of reportable breaches across all institutions in APRA-regulated industries and all ASIC-regulated Australian Financial Services licensees.

At that time, Money Management reported that there was considerable interest within the industry for the creation of a ‘one-stop-shop’ online breach recording system.