Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (confidentiality) determination
No. 17 of 2012
Information provided by registered financial corporations under certain reporting standards
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Prepared by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority Act 1998 (APRA Act), s 57
The purpose of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (confidentiality) determination No. 17 of 2012 (Determination No. 17) made on 24 September 2012 is to enable APRA to disclose certain information provided by registered financial corporations (RFCs) to APRA under the reporting standards listed in the Appendix. Releasing this information will be of use to regulators, policymakers, industry, researchers, analysts and other interested parties.
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 Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001 (Collection of Data Act) where APRA has determined, under s 57, that the document does not contain confidential information.
S 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 take such representations into account (the consultation undertaken is discussed below).
Information covered by the determination
Determination No. 17 provides that information given to APRA under the reporting standards listed in the Appendix (made under s 13 of the Collection of Data Act) prior to the date of Determination No. 17 is non-confidential. Determination No. 17 applies to all RFCs that have submitted data under the reporting standards listed in the Appendix.
Consultation
In accordance with s 57, APRA issued a consultation letter to selected RFCs on 4 July 2012, as well as providing a link to this consultation letter on its website. The consultation letter provided all affected entities an opportunity to make representations on the proposed determination of confidentiality. This consultation period ended on 31 July 2012.
There were eight responses received from entities during the consultation. Of these, four supported or had no objections to the proposed determination and four raised concerns with the proposed determination.
The support for the proposed determination noted the benefits of increased transparency of information. Also highlighted were the general benefits of more relevant and useful data collections.
The main opposition noted in the consultation submissions concerned the potential ability of a data user to assess a bank’s performance outside Australia and transactions between a bank and its clients.
APRA considers, after taking affected entities’ representations into account, that Determination No. 17 not only helps APRA fulfil its obligations to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) but may also benefit regulated entities, other regulators, policymakers, the wider industry, researchers, analysts and other interested parties.
Statement of compatibility prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
The legislative instrument the subject of this explanatory statement does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011. Accordingly, in APRA’s assessment, this legislative instrument is compatible with human rights.
Appendix
Determination No. 17 covers the following reporting standards:
- RRS 231.1a International Exposures: Locational (Assets) Part 1
- RRS 231.1b International Exposures: Locational (Liabilities) Part 1
- RRS 231.2 International Exposures: Locational Part 2
- RRS 231.3a International Exposures: Consolidated (Domestic Entity)
- RRS 231.3b International Exposures: Consolidated (Foreign Entity)