Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (confidentiality) determination No. 22 of 2010

Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (confidentiality) determination

No.22 of 2010

Information provided by general insurers under reporting standards GRS 110.0 (2008), GRS 120.0 (2008), GRS 300.0 (2008), GRS 301.0 (2008), GRS 310.0 (2008), GRS 310.3 (2008), GRS 320.0 (2008) and GRS 400.0 (2008)

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Prepared by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)

Australian Prudential Regulation Authority Act 1998 (APRA Act), s 57

Purpose

The purpose of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (confidentiality) determination No.22 of 2010 (this Determination) made on 6 December 2010 is to enable APRA to disclose, including by way of publication, including in industry bulletins, certain information provided by general insurers to APRA, being information which is 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.

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 take such representations into account.  The consultation undertaken is discussed below.

Information covered by the determination 

This Determination provides that information in reporting documents given to APRA under the reporting standards listed in the Appendix (made under s13 of the Collection of Data Act) prior to the date of this Determination in respect of a financial year ending between 1 July 2009 and 30 June 2010, is non-confidential.  This Determination applies to all general insurers, including foreign general insurers operating in Australia through branch operations.

Consultation

This Determination is the latest in a series of determinations through which APRA publishes regular statistical information relating to general insurers.

APRA commenced consultations in relation to whether information of the kind covered by this Determination should be treated as non-confidential by writing to all authorised general insurers on 30 September 2005.  APRA received 17 submissions from general insurers and insurance groups and 14 submissions from other interested organisations. Feedback was generally positive, with many respondents pleased that APRA would be releasing more detailed statistics on the general insurance industry. However, some general insurers, in particular those which operate in small, specialised markets, were concerned that the proposed determination would result in the release of commercially sensitive information. In order to address these concerns, APRA revised the proposed determination to exclude reporting standards and related forms which cover data relating to classes of business, namely GRS 210.0, GRS 210.1, GRS 310.1, GRS 310.2, GRS 420.0 and GRS 430.0 and related forms.

Further consultation was held in relation to the revised proposed determination with two general insurance bodies and their members. The removal of information provided under reporting standards GRS 210.0, GRS 210.1, GRS 310.1, GRS 310.2, GRS 420.0 and GRS 430.0 alleviated the consulted parties’ major concerns.

On 1 July 2008, new general insurance prudential standards took effect to refine the existing framework, which modified categories of insurer and certain requirements relating to capital. It followed that the correlating reporting requirements were also to be amended. Relevant to this Determination, the following reporting standards were subsequently introduced: GRS 110.0 (2008), GRS 120.0 (2008), GRS 300.0 (2008), GRS 301.0 (2008), GRS 310.0 (2008), GRS 310.3 (2008), GRS 320.0 (2008), and GRS 400.0 (2008). Since the type of information collected under these new standards did not substantively alter from the 2007 versions that they superseded, APRA took the view it was not necessary to consult with industry about public disclosure since the requisite consultation had already been undertaken (as described above).

Conclusion

APRA considers that this Determination strikes the appropriate balance between protecting general insurers’ commercially sensitive information and the public interest in releasing data that will enable the public to gain a greater understanding of the financial strength of individual insurers and offer further insight into the Australian insurance market.

Appendix