Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (confidentiality) determination No. 11 of 2013

Administered by Department of the Treasury

Legislation au F2013L00940 Not in force Legislative Instrument

Legislation content

Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (confidentiality) determination

No.11 of 2013

 

Information provided by life insurers and friendly societies under certain reporting standards

 

 

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Prepared by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)

Australian Prudential Regulation Authority Act 1998 (APRA Act)

 

The purpose of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (confidentiality) determination No.11 of 2013 (Determination No.11) made on 5 June 2013 is to enable APRA to disclose, by way of publication, certain information provided by life insurers and friendly societies to APRA contained in documents lodged quarterly and annually under s 13 of the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001 (Collection of Data Act). The publication of the information would otherwise give rise to an offence under s 56(2) of the APRA Act.

Publishing this information should assist regulators, policymakers, industry, researchers, analysts and other interested parties in performing their functions and duties and enable them to better to understand the life insurance industry.

Determination No.11 made on 5 June 2013 covers annual and quarterly reporting documents provided to APRA on or after 17 May 2013 and before the date of Determination No.11.

Legislative background

Subsection 56(5C) of the APRA Act provides that it is not an offence against s 56(2) of that Act to disclose information in a reporting document given to APRA under s 13 of the Collection of Data Act where APRA has determined, under s 57, that the document does not contain confidential information.

Section 57 of the APRA Act gives APRA power to determine whether a document given under s 13 of the Collection of Data Act contains confidential information.  The section provides that before doing so APRA must give relevant entities or bodies, or their representative association, a reasonable opportunity to make representations as to whether information of the kind contained in the document is confidential, and APRA must take such representations into account before making such a determination. 

Information covered by the determination 

Determination No.11 provides that the reporting documents (quarterly and annual returns) described in Appendix A to this Explanatory Statement, given to APRA prior to the date of Determination No.11 under the reporting standards listed in Appendix A (being reporting standards made under s 13 of the Collection of Data Act) are not confidential.  Determination No.11 applies to all life insurers and friendly societies.

Consultation

November 2009

 

In accordance with s 57 of the APRA Act, APRA issued a discussion paper and wrote to all life insurers and friendly societies on 6 November 2009, requesting comment on what data collected in the life insurance and friendly society quarterly and annual forms could be released publicly. APRA also sought comment on the proposed content and format of both aggregated and entity level data tables contained within two proposed new publications, the Half Yearly Life Insurance Bulletin and the Annual Friendly Society Bulletin.

 

APRA received 7 responses to the consultation. IFSA provided a response on behalf of life insurers and Abacus on behalf of friendly societies. There were 4 responses from individual life insurers and 1 from an individual friendly society.

 

A number of the responses expressly stated that product level data for individual life insurers and friendly societies should not be disclosed as it was considered to be commercially sensitive information and could lead to adverse effects on pricing for some products. There were no other objections raised by life insurers to data that APRA proposed to release.

 

The response received from Abacus expressed support for the publication of data that provides a snapshot of the friendly society sector but only if the data did not identify individual entities directly or indirectly.

 

After taking into account the views expressed in the consultations, APRA considers that Determination No.11 establishes an appropriate balance between on the one hand protecting each life insurer and friendly society’s commercially sensitive information from inappropriate disclosure and on the other hand pursuing the public interest in releasing data relating to the life insurance and friendly society industries in Australia.

 

Statement of compatibility with human rights  prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011

 

A Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights is Appendix B to this Explanatory Statement.

 

 


 

Appendix A

 

Determination No.11 covers items of data described below in Part 1.

 

Part 1 – description of the documents covered by Determination No.11

 

Data items as indicated from reporting documents given to APRA by life insurers and friendly societies under the following reporting standards (effective for reporting periods after 1 October 2009) made under the Financial Sector (Collection of Data Act) 2001:

 

Reporting Standards for Life Insurers and Friendly Societies:

 

  • LRS 100.0 Solvency (all data in form)
  • LRS 120.0 Management Capital (all data in form)
  • LRS 210.0 Derivatives, Commitments and Off-Balance Sheet Items (all data in form)
  • LRS 300.0 Statement of Financial Position (all data in forms)
  • LRS 310.0 Statement of Financial Performance (all data in forms)
  • LRS 330.0 Summary of Revenue and Expenses (all data in form except product level data)
  • LRS 340.0 Retained Profits (all data in forms)
  • LRS 400.0 Statement of Policy Liabilities (all data in form except product level data)
  • LRS 420.0 Asset Backing Policy Liabilities (all data in form except product level data)
  • LRS 430.0 Sources of Profit (all data in form except product level data)
     


Appendix B

 

Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights

 

Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011

 

Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (confidentiality) determination

No. 11 of 2013

 

This Legislative Instrument is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.

 

Overview of the Legislative Instrument

 

This Legislative Instrument will enable APRA to disclose (by way of publication) certain information provided to it by life insurers and friendly societies in accordance with certain reporting standards.  Publishing this information will assist inter alia, regulators, policymakers, industry, researchers and analysts.

Human rights implications

APRA has assessed this Legislative Instrument against the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 (HRPS Act) and determined that only Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is conceivably of relevance.

Article 17 of the ICCPR prohibits the arbitrary or unlawful interference with a person’s privacy, family, home and correspondence, and attacks on reputation. Article 17 is exclusively concerned with prohibiting interference with the privacy and/or reputation of individual persons. It does not extend to the privacy and/or reputation of corporate entities.

This Legislative Instrument will facilitate the disclosure of specific information to APRA by life insurers and friendly societies in accordance with certain reporting standards.  It does not involve the disclosure of information directly relating to individual persons. Further, APRA reviews all releases of data received under reporting standards to ensure that no information pertaining to an individual person can be deduced from the data.

Consequently this Legislative Instrument does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the HRPS Act. Accordingly, in APRA’s assessment, this legislative instrument is compatible with human rights.

 

This Legislative Instrument does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms.

 

 

Conclusion

This Legislative Instrument is compatible with human rights as it does not raise any human rights issues.

 

Overview

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (confidentiality) determination No. 11 of 2013, made under the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority Act 1998, aims to allow the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) to publish certain information provided by life insurers and friendly societies. This determination addresses the need to balance the confidentiality requirements of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority Act 1998 with the public interest in the transparency and understanding of the life insurance industry. Enacted by the Parliament of Australia, the policy objective is to enable the disclosure of specific data collected under the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001, while ensuring that commercially sensitive information is protected. The determination applies to documents lodged under specified reporting standards, effective from May 2013, and permits the publication of aggregated data that assists regulators, policymakers, and other stakeholders in performing their functions. Following consultations in 2009, APRA considered the feedback that some product-level data should remain confidential to avoid adverse commercial impacts. The determination, however, allows for the disclosure of non-commercially sensitive information to promote transparency and understanding of the industry. APRA ensures that the published data does not reveal information that could be attributed to individual persons, thereby maintaining compliance with human rights standards, particularly the protection against arbitrary interference with privacy and reputation as outlined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Scope and Application

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (confidentiality) determination No.11 of 2013 applies to all life insurers and friendly societies operating within Australia, allowing the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) to disclose certain information provided by these entities. The scope of the determination includes data from quarterly and annual reporting documents submitted to APRA under the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001, effective from 17 May 2013. The determination specifically excludes confidential information that could be commercially sensitive and potentially harmful to individual entities. APRA is required to consult with relevant entities or their representative associations before determining whether information is confidential, as mandated by section 57 of the APRA Act. The publication of the information aims to enhance transparency and understanding of the life insurance industry among regulators, policymakers, industry stakeholders, researchers, and analysts. The determination is part of the legislative framework that allows APRA to manage the confidentiality of information while also promoting the public interest in data transparency. The exclusion of commercially sensitive information ensures that individual entities' competitive positions are protected. The compatibility statement affirms that the determination does not infringe on any human rights as it does not pertain to individual privacy or reputation, but rather focuses on industry-level data. This balance between confidentiality and transparency is intended to support informed decision-making and policy development in the financial sector.

Key Provisions

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (confidentiality) determination No.11 of 2013 (Determination No.11) made on 5 June 2013 serves to enable the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) to disclose by way of publication certain information provided by life insurers and friendly societies to APRA as required under section 13 of the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001 (Collection of Data Act). This determination, detailed in sections 56(2) and 57 of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority Act 1998 (APRA Act), ensures that the disclosure of such information does not contravene the confidentiality provisions of the APRA Act. Specifically, Determination No.11 covers annual and quarterly reporting documents submitted to APRA on or after 17 May 2013 but before the date of the determination. The obligations imposed by Determination No.11 primarily revolve around the requirement for life insurers and friendly societies to submit accurate and comprehensive reporting documents to APRA. These documents, which include data on solvency, management capital, derivatives, commitments, off-balance sheet items, financial positions, performance, revenue and expenses, retained profits, policy liabilities, asset backing, and sources of profit, must adhere to the specified reporting standards. APRA, in turn, must give the relevant entities or their representative associations a reasonable opportunity to make representations regarding the confidentiality of the information before making a determination under section 57 of the APRA Act. APRA must also take these representations into account before deciding whether the documents contain confidential information. Failure to comply with the provisions of Determination No.11 may lead to legal repercussions, although the determination itself does not explicitly outline specific offences, penalties, or consequences for breach. However, the underlying APRA Act (section 56(2)) stipulates that disclosing information in a reporting document to APRA without proper authorisation is an offence. Such breaches could result in penalties under the APRA Act, which may include fines and, in severe cases, imprisonment. It is essential for life insurers and friendly societies to ensure that their reporting aligns with the standards and determinations set forth to avoid potential legal issues.

Legal classification tags

Area of Law
Financial Regulation
Instrument
Determination
Concepts
Reporting & Disclosure Obligations
Compliance Obligations
Regulatory Standards

Interactions

Authorises

All Versions

Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation at 26 August 2026. For the latest information on Australian Government law please go to https://www.legislation.gov.au.