The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) used a parliamentary committee appearance to set out its current roadmap, highlighting a sharpened focus on “getting the balance right” by making prudential regulation more proportionate and efficient while maintaining a strong emphasis on financial and operational resilience. The update also signalled increased supervisory intensity in parts of superannuation, alongside ongoing work on governance reform, macroprudential readiness, cyber resilience and operational risk management. APRA pointed to nine initiatives aimed at reducing regulatory burden and improving proportionality, including streamlining bank licensing and formalising a three-tiered approach in banking, promoting access to cost-effective reinsurance in general insurance, reducing life insurers’ capital requirements for annuities, and removing duplicative or unnecessary requirements, particularly in data reporting. In superannuation, scrutiny of fund expenditure is being intensified and the investment governance of major platform providers is under review; following an APRA review that identified weak practices in onboarding and monitoring of platform products, trustees were required in October 2025 to accelerate and escalate safeguards for member investments held in platform products, with bilateral assessment letters to each in-scope platform trustee and heightened supervision where needed. The authority also reiterated that macroprudential settings, including the mortgage serviceability buffer, were kept on hold in July 2025, while engagement continues with banks on possible tools to manage lending risks, including limits on new high debt-to-income lending and limits on new investor or interest-only loans. Next steps include an interim update “shortly” on the cross-industry governance framework consultation and publication in coming months of results from APRA’s inaugural System Stress Test on interconnectedness between banking and superannuation. APRA also flagged further work to strengthen cyber resilience, and noted that its operational risk management standard CPS 230 took effect in July 2025.
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority 2025-10-09
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority prioritises proportionate regulation and tightens oversight of superannuation platform products
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority aims to enhance prudential regulation efficiency and financial resilience, focusing on superannuation supervision and governance reform. Initiatives include streamlining bank licensing, promoting cost-effective reinsurance, reducing life insurers' capital requirements, scrutinizing superannuation fund expenditure, maintaining macroprudential settings, and advancing cyber resilience.