Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (confidentiality) determination No. 4 of 2008

Administered by Department of the Treasury

Legislation au F2008L00946 Not in force Legislative Instrument

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Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (confidentiality) determination    No. 4 of 2008

 

Information provided by locally-incorporated banks and foreign authorised deposit-taking institutions under Reporting Standard ARS 320.0 (2005)

 

 

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Issued by the authority of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (‘APRA’)

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

 

Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (confidentiality) determination No. 4 of 2008 (the ‘Determination’), made on 18 March 2008 is APRA’s forty fifth determination in relation to information provided under Reporting Standard ARS 320.0 (2005) (and its predecessor reporting standards) under s 57 of the APRA Act.[1]  The purpose of the Determination is to enable APRA to publish an edition of Monthly Banking Statistics, which will contain data in respect of February 2008.

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 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 Financial Sector (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.  (Consultation undertaken is discussed below.)

Information covered by the determination 

The Determination provides that certain information given to APRA under Reporting Standard ARS 320.0 (2005) Statement of Financial Position (Domestic Books) (made under s13 of the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act by Financial Sector (Collection of Data) determination No. 37 of 2005[2]), being information received on or after the date of APRA’s last determination under s 57 and before the date of this one, is non-confidential.  It applies to information given to APRA by foreign ADIs (generally banks) and locally-incorporated banks.

The Determination excludes information of a sensitive nature, including information relating to shareholder’s equity, total income tax liability and total provisions.  The latter two items were excluded as a result of consultations with industry under s 57 of the APRA Act (see below).  

Items that will be disclosed (and which are covered by the Determination) are set out in the Appendix to this Explanatory Statement.

 

Consultation

 

APRA commenced consultations in relation to whether information of the kind covered by the Determination should be treated as non-confidential by writing to locally-incorporated banks, foreign ADIs, and their respective representative bodies, on 24 December 2003.  Most agreed that information of the kind covered by the Determination could be treated as non-confidential.  A small minority objected to the publication of any information from ARS 320.0, but in APRA’s view there is a strong public interest in the publication of the information, and it is noted that similar information was regularly published under the former s 51 of the Banking Act 1959.

 

 


Appendix

 

Items to be published in the Monthly Banking Statistics publication 

 

Table 1: Selected Assets on Australian Books of Individual Banks 

 Cash and liquid assets

 Trading securities

 Investment securities

 Acceptances of customers

 Gross loans and advances

 Other investments

 Total resident assets

 Outstanding principal balance of securitised assets

 Value of housing loans securitised

 

Table 2: Loans and Advances on Australian Books of Individual Banks 

 Loans to non-financial corporations

 Loans to financial corporations

 Loans to general government

 Housing loans - owner-occupied

 Housing loans - investment

 Household credit cards

 Other household loans

 Loans to community service organisations and non-profit institutions

 Total gross loans and advances

 Intra-group loans and advances

 

Table 3: Selected Liabilities on Australian Books of Individual Banks 

 Due to clearing houses and financial institutions

 Acceptances

 Total deposits

 Intra-group deposits

 Bonds, notes and long-term borrowings

 Other borrowings

 

Table 4: Deposits on Australian Books of Individual Banks 

 Deposits from non-financial corporations

 Deposits from financial corporations

 Deposits from general government

 Deposits from households

 Deposits from community service organisations and non-profit institutions

 Other deposit accounts

 Certificates of deposit

 Total deposits

 

 

 

[1]  Prior to January 2006, determinations under section 57 of the APRA Act were entitled ‘Non-confidentiality determination No. X of 200X’. 

[2]  Legislative Instrument - F2005L01683: see http://www.comlaw.gov.au/ComLaw/Legislation/LegislativeInstrument1.nsf/asmade/bytitle/0F204D94AC5C5E1FCA2570280080F2F0?OpenDocument.

Overview

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (confidentiality) determination No. 4 of 2008 was enacted to address the need for the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) to publish certain banking data without breaching confidentiality requirements. This determination was made under section 57 of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority Act 1998. The objective was to facilitate the publication of monthly banking statistics by APRA, specifically for February 2008, by determining that certain information provided under Reporting Standard ARS 320.0 (2005) is non-confidential. APRA consulted with relevant entities and their representative associations to ensure that the information covered by the determination was not confidential, and the consultation process largely supported the publication of the specified data. The determination excludes sensitive information such as shareholder’s equity, total income tax liability, and total provisions, which were identified as confidential during the consultation process.

Scope and Application

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (confidentiality) determination No. 4 of 2008 applies to information provided to the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) under Reporting Standard ARS 320.0 (2005) by locally-incorporated banks and foreign authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs), which generally includes banks. The primary objective of this Determination is to allow APRA to publish data from February 2008 in its Monthly Banking Statistics edition. This legislation does not apply to sensitive information such as shareholder equity, total income tax liability, and total provisions, which were excluded following consultations with the industry. The scope of the Determination is limited to information that APRA has already received under the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001, and it only pertains to data received after APRA’s last confidentiality determination and before the current one. The application of this Act is confined to the Commonwealth of Australia, aligning with the jurisdictional reach of the APRA Act.

Key Provisions

The main operative sections of this Determination (APRA (Confidentiality) Determination No. 4 of 2008) pertain to the non-confidential status of certain information provided by locally-incorporated banks and foreign authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs) under Reporting Standard ARS 320.0 (2005) (section 1). This determination was made under the authority of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) and is based on section 57 of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority Act 1998 (APRA Act) (section 2). The Determination specifies that certain financial data, received by APRA from these entities, will be considered non-confidential and can be published in the Monthly Banking Statistics publication (section 3). However, the Determination excludes sensitive information such as shareholder’s equity, total income tax liability, and total provisions (section 4). The obligations and requirements imposed by this Determination on the parties governed by it are primarily focused on the provision of specific financial data to APRA under the stipulated Reporting Standard (ARS 320.0) (section 5). The data must be provided on or after the date of APRA’s last determination under section 57 and before the date of this determination (section 6). The entities subject to this Determination are required to ensure that the information they provide to APRA aligns with the criteria set out in the Determination, ensuring that only non-confidential information is included (section 7). Additionally, the Determination requires APRA to consult with the relevant entities or their representative associations before determining whether the information is confidential (section 8). The entities must also respond to APRA’s consultations and provide their views on whether the specified information should be treated as non-confidential (section 9). There are no explicit offences, penalties, or civil/criminal consequences outlined in the Determination for breach of its provisions (section 10). However, the legal context surrounding this Determination is grounded in the APRA Act, where disclosure of information in a reporting document to APRA is not an offence if APRA determines that the document does not contain confidential information (section 11). The Determination aims to facilitate the publication of relevant financial data, thereby enhancing transparency and public interest, without imposing direct penalties for non-compliance on the entities governed by it (section 12). The primary consequence of non-compliance would likely be the exclusion of the entity’s data from the Monthly Banking Statistics publication, which could indirectly impact their financial transparency and regulatory standing (section 13).

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