Bills Digest No. 163 2000-01
Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Bill 2001
WARNING:
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as introduced
and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest does not have
any official legal status. Other sources should be consulted to determine
the subsequent official status of the Bill.
CONTENTS
Passage History
Purpose
Background
Main Provisions
Endnotes
Contact Officer & Copyright Details
Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Bill 2001
Date Introduced: 5 April
2001
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Treasury
Commencement: Formal
provisions and provisions dealing with the registration of corporations
commence on Royal Assent. Provisions dealing with the provision of information
commence on a day fixed by Proclamation, or if no such day is fixed within
12 months of the Bill receiving the Royal Assent, at the end of that period.
Provisions dealing with administrative penalties commence on 1 July 2001.
To provide the Australian Prudential
Regulation Authority (APRA) with specific power to determine the information
which must be provided by certain corporations and to place an obligation
on such corporation to provide that information.
APRA is the prudential regulator of deposit-taking institutions
(banks, credit unions and building societies), insurance companies, superannuation
funds, and friendly societies. It supervises over 11 000 institutions,
comprising 300 deposit-takers, 40 life insurers, 160 general insurers,
approximately 50 friendly societies and, directly or indirectly, about
10 000 superannuation funds.(1) APRA has three main roles,
the development of standards for institutions to follow, monitoring compliance
with the standards and relevant legislation and taking action when it
appears an institution is in difficulty. Supervision involves both visits
to institutions and 'off-site' supervision through the analysis of data.
APRA is a relatively young body, taking over the functions
of a number of existing Commonwealth bodies, particularly the Insurance
and Superannuation Commission and bank supervision from the Reserve Bank
of Australia, in 1998-99. Supervision of credit unions, building societies
and friendly societies was transferred from the States on 1 July 1999.
In all, 11 Commonwealth and State agencies were amalgamated into APRA.(2)
The amalgamation of agencies brought a number of administrative difficulties,
including in the collection of data where different forms were used, different
information collected and some overlapping in the information collected.
A review by APRA of the data held and methods of collection
was conducted in 1999 and difficulties identified included:
- 'The presence of disparate collection systems from predecessor agencies,
all in various stages of disrepair'
- complex data structures understood by only a few specialists
- supporting and maintaining the various systems was 'extremely resource
intensive'
- problems with the design and contents of forms, and
- data collection was labour intensive.
It was also found that there was considerable overlap
between the needs of APRA, the Reserve Bank and the Australian Bureau
of Statistics (ABS).(3)
The APRA Statistics Project was established in 1999 to
modernise and harmonise the reporting and collection of data. This is
to be done on an industry basis, with the first review concerning deposit
taking institutions with other groups following over two to three years.
In regard to overlapping collection of information between APRA, the Reserve
Bank and ABS, APRA has stated that:
APRA has also worked closely with the Reserve Bank
of Australia and the [ABS] to improve and, where possible, rationalise
the content of ADI (authorised deposit-taking institutions) returns.
In future, returns for all regulated industries will be harmonised
and channelled through APRA who will then forward this information
to the RBA and ABS as required.(4)
One of the aims of this process is to reduce the number
of returns which business make to regulatory bodies.
APRA normally performs its functions with little public
notice, due to market sensitivity. However, APRA recently came to attention
following the failure of HIH Insurance. The reasons for the demise of
HIH and the role of APRA are being examined by the Australian Securities
and Investment Commission (ASIC) and the Prime Minister has announced
that a Royal Commission is to be held into matters relating to the collapse
of HIH.(5) When announcing the proposed Royal Commission the
Prime Minister stated:
The Commission will.... also inquire into the adequacy
of the prudential framework governing the insurance industry in Australia
at both a Commonwealth and a State level. It will examine the role
of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority in relation to the
collapse of HIH as well as the role of State officials or bodies whose
regulatory or other activities impact upon the insurance industry.(6)
In a statement to the Senate Economic Legislation Committee
on 5 June 2001, the Chief Executive Officer of APRA noted the inquiries
and that it would be inappropriate to address the failure of HIH in any
detail before stating:
First, I have said publicly that, with the benefit
of hindsight, APRA could have been more aggressive with HIH, and dug
more into its financial condition, once we had identified concerns
with its operation in the middle of 2000.
The CEO also noted that 'APRA inherited a flawed and
out-of-date system of prudential regulation for general insurers. We recognised
this early and have worked very hard to get a better system in place -
that will happen next year and it will significantly reduce the likelihood
of another HIH-like disaster.'(7)
Further details on the collapse of HIH and the Government
responses can be found in the parliament Library E
Brief.(8)
The Bill will apply to registered and regulated entities
(financial sector entities). Registered entities will be those registered
under clause 8 and a regulated entity will be a body regulated by APRA
under the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority Act 1998 (the
APRA Act), a supervised body under the Insurance Act 1973 and a
subsidiary of an authorised deposit-taking institution or a subsidiary
of a non-operating holding company under the Banking Act 1959 (clause
5).
The Criminal Code will apply to offences under the Bill
(eg to determine criminal responsibility) (clause 6).
Clause 7 deals with the bodies which may be registered.
These are companies which fall within the Commonwealth's corporation power
under section 51(XX) of the Constitution and:
- their sole or principal business activity in Australia is to borrow
money and provide finance
- debts due to the corporation from the provision of finance exceed
50%, or such percentage as prescribed, of the value of all the assets
of the corporation, or
- the corporation provides finance in association with the retail sale
of goods and the value of debts due to the corporation from that provision
of finance exceeds $25 million or the amount prescribed.
The clause also lists a number of circumstances under
which a corporation will not be eligible for registration, including:
- the corporation is established for a public purpose under a Commonwealth,
State or Territory law
- the corporation is regulated under a number of other Acts, including
the Banking Act 1959, National Health Act 1953 and the
Insurance Act 1973, or
- the value of the assets of the corporation and all related corporations
does not exceed $5 million or such amount as prescribed.
Clause 8 provides that APRA must establish a Register
of Entities which will be available for public inspection. The Register
is to include the name and address of the entity and any other particulars
which APRA considers appropriate (clause 10).
Registrable corporations which are not registered, or
corporations which become eligible for registration, will be obliged to
provide a range of information to APRA, including:
- particulars of the main method by which it ordinarily borrows funds
and lends money
- a copy of their last audited balance-sheet or if the last balance-sheet
includes liabilities and assets held in Australia, a balance sheet dealing
with Australian assets.
It will be an offence, of strict liability (ie there
will be no need to prove intent), to fail to register if required within
the required time (generally 60 days) or to notify changes in the information
supplied (subclause 10).
Clause 13 gives APRA extensive powers to determine
standards regarding the information to be provided (the standards will
be subject to Parliamentary disallowance). When determining the standards,
APRA must consult with the entities concerned and try to minimise the
impact on the entities concerned. Differing standards may be determined
for different classes of financial sector entities. The requirement to
consult may be waived where APRA is satisfied that any delay would prejudice
the interests of depositors, policy holders or other members of the financial
sector concerned. It will be an offence for an entity to fail to provide
information required under a standard within the time allowed.
If a financial entity is required to notify APRA of certain
information and has failed to do so within the required time, clause
14 imposes an offence of strict liability on the principal executive
officer (PEO) of the corporation if the PEO fails to notify the governing
body of the entity that the failure of notification has occurred. APRA
may exempt specific entities, or entities of a specified class, from the
requirement to comply with one or more of the determined standards (clause
16).
Clause 17 gives APRA power to request further
information or an explanation of information provided and it will be an
offence for a financial sector entity to fail to comply with such a request.
Division 3 of the Bill (clauses 18 to 25)
will give APRA power to impose administrative penalties instead of prosecuting
in regard to the offences mentioned above. Such a notice may be issued
if APRA has reasonable grounds for believing that an offence has been
committed and must be issued within one year of the date the alleged offence
was committed. The notice of the administrative penalty must state that
the penalty is only payable if the person on whom it is served does not
wish the matter to be dealt with by a court. The maximum penalty that
may be imposed by an administrative penalty will be the lesser of one-fifth
of the maximum penalty which may be imposed by a court for the offence
or 50 penalty units (a penalty unit is currently $110). (The maximum penalty
which a court may impose for each breach of the provisions subject to
administrative penalties is 50 penalty units. However, a separate offence
may occur on each day of the breach, resulting in a much higher cumulative
penalty while the restrictions on the maximum administrative penalty which
may apply deals with the total penalty payable.)
APRA may withdraw an administrative penalty notice (clause
21) and if an administrative penalty is paid no further action may
be undertaken in regard to those offences (clause 22).
If a corporation is convicted of an offence under the
proposed Act, the Federal Court may direct the corporation to comply with
the requirements of the particular standard or direction (clause 27).
(As this only applies on conviction it will not apply where an administrative
penalty is paid.)
- Statement to the Senate Economic Legislation Committee, 5 June 2001,
http://www.apra.gov.au/mediareleases/
- ibid.
- APRA, Annual Report 2000, p. 29.
- http://www.apra.gov.au/policy/statcom/background.htm
- Joint Press Conference, Prime Minister and Minister for Financial
Services and Regulation, 21 May 2001.
- ibid.
- http://www.apra.gov.au/mediareleases/
- David Kehl, 'HIH Insurance collapse', Current Issues, 11 June
2001 (http://www.aph.gov.au/library/intguide/econ/hih_insurance.htm).
Chris Field
19 June 2001
Bills Digest Service
Information and Research Services
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ISSN 1328-8091
© Commonwealth of Australia 2000
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