Variation of List of Names and Categories of Registered Entities - HVB Australia Pty Limited

Overview

The Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001 was enacted by the Australian Parliament to establish a framework for the collection of data related to financial sector entities and to facilitate the regulation of the financial sector. This Act was introduced to address the need for efficient and effective data collection and management, ensuring that relevant authorities could monitor and regulate financial entities in a way that promotes stability and consumer protection within the sector. The policy objective of the Act is to provide the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) with the authority to collect and manage data about financial sector entities, thereby enabling informed regulatory decisions. As part of this framework, APRA maintains a register of entities and a list of names of registered entities. The 2014 gazetted instrument under this Act details the removal of a specific entity, HVB Australia Pty Limited, from the register and the associated list due to the cessation of its status as a registrable corporation.

Scope and Application

The Variation of List of Names and Categories of Registered Entities Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001 applies to entities subject to registration under the Act, with the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) maintaining both a Register of Entities and a list of names of these entities. This Act operates on a national level within Australia, overseeing the registration and deregistration of entities involved in the financial sector, ensuring that only entities meeting specific criteria are subject to regulatory oversight. In this instance, HVB Australia Pty Limited has been removed from the register and the list due to its cessation as a registrable corporation. This decision aligns with the authority granted under subsection 11(2) of the Act, where John Hotham, a delegate of APRA, has authorised the removal of the corporation's name from the list, reflecting its no longer meeting the criteria for registration. The Act does not specify any exclusions, exemptions, or thresholds beyond the criteria defining registrable corporations, and its scope is extended through subordinate instruments as necessary.

Key Provisions

The main operative sections of the Gazette C2014G00942 involve the variation of the list of names of registered entities as maintained by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) under the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001. Specifically, section 11 of the Act mandates that APRA keeps a list of registered entities' names, and subsection 11(2) allows a delegate of APRA to vary this list. The Gazette details that HVB Australia Pty Limited, a corporation previously included in this list, has ceased to be a registrable entity as defined in section 7 of the Act. As a result, APRA has removed the corporation's name from both the register and the list under section 10(c) of the Act. This removal signifies that the corporation is no longer considered a registered entity under subsection 5(3) of the Act. The obligations and requirements imposed by the Act on APRA and other relevant entities include maintaining an accurate and up-to-date register of entities as per section 8 and a list of registered entities' names as per section 11. APRA is also tasked with ensuring that the register and the list are correctly updated when an entity ceases to be a registrable entity. The Act further requires that any changes to the list, such as the removal of an entity's name, must be formally notified and documented. This process is exemplified in the Gazette, where John Hotham, a delegate of APRA, formally varies the list by removing the name of the corporation in accordance with the authority granted under subsection 11(2) of the Act. In terms of offences, penalties, or consequences for breaches, the Act does not explicitly state penalties for failing to update the register or list. However, the failure to comply with these obligations could potentially lead to regulatory scrutiny or enforcement actions by APRA. While the Gazette itself does not detail specific penalties, the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001 may impose sanctions on entities that do not comply with data collection and reporting requirements. Non-compliance could result in civil or administrative penalties, or even criminal charges if the breach is severe enough, though the exact nature and extent of these penalties would be determined in the context of broader regulatory actions and judicial processes.