Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (confidentiality) determination
No.6 of 2013
Information provided by locally-incorporated banks and foreign authorised deposit-taking institutions under Reporting Standard ARS 320.0
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Prepared by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority Act 1998 (APRA Act), section 57
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (confidentiality) determination No.6 of 2013 (the Determination), made on 21 March 2013 is APRA’s one hundred and ninth determination under section 57 of the APRA Act in relation to information provided under Reporting Standard ARS 320.0 Statement of Financial Position (Domestic Books) (ARS 320.0), taking into account both current and preceding versions of this reporting standard. 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 2013.
Legislative background
Subsection 56(5C) of the APRA Act provides that it is not an offence against section 56(2) of that Act to disclose information in a reporting document given to APRA under section 13 of the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001 (FSCOD Act) where APRA has determined, under section 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 section 13 of the FSCOD 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 ARS 320.0 (made by Financial Sector (Collection of Data) (reporting standard) determination No. 30 of 2008), or another reporting standard in substantially the same form replacing it, being information received on or after the date of APRA’s last determination under section 57 in respect of information provided under ARS 320.0 and before the date of the Determination, is non-confidential. It applies to information given to APRA by foreign Authorised Deposit-taking Institutions (ADIs) 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 section 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 section 51 of the Banking Act 1959.
Statement of compatibility prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
APRA has assessed the Determination 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.
Determination No. 6 will facilitate the disclosure of specific information to APRA by locally-incorporated banks and foreign ADIs 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 the Determination 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.
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