The
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) and the Australian
Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) have released a new
online breach reporting system for dual-regulated institutions.

The
online system simplifies the process for regulated institutions to
report breaches, and prospective breaches, of a legal provision of an
APRA-administered or ASIC-administered Act, standard or rule, as well
as other matters that are required to be reported. It also reduces
duplication faced by institutions regulated by both APRA and ASIC. The
superannuation industry is already using an online system to report
breaches to APRA.

The new system:

•   enables
  all APRA-regulated institutions — authorised deposit-taking
  institutions, general insurers, life insurance companies, friendly
  societies and superannuation licensees — to report breaches to APRA
  online; and
• enables
  those institutions regulated by both APRA and ASIC to report breach
  notifications required to be lodged with both regulators through a
  single electronic breach report to APRA, thereby eliminating the
  requirement for dual‑regulated institutions to provide separate breach
  reports for the same incident to both regulators. 

This
initiative follows the passage through Parliament, in late 2007, of the
Financial Sector Legislation Amendment (Simplifying Regulation and
Review) Act 2007. The Act introduces a consistent definition of
reportable breaches across all institutions in APRA-regulated
industries and all ASIC-regulated Australian Financial Services
licensees.