The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) today released new reporting standards and guidance for life insurers and friendly societies.
APRA has made its data collection more efficient by updating and streamlining the data specifications and improving the technology used to transfer the data to APRA.
APRA Member Mr John Trowbridge said that “the life insurance and friendly society industries have changed substantially over the past ten years, but the data collected has essentially remained static. The new collection will be a significant step forward”.
“Life companies and friendly societies can now use the ‘Direct to APRA’ software to submit returns in a secure online environment”, Mr Trowbridge said. This software is used by all other APRA-regulated industries and has been proven to be efficient and effective for both industry and APRA.
Life companies and friendly societies were involved in the development of this new framework, and support the move to a modern system that is more consistent with other APRA-regulated industries.
The new framework includes 13 new forms that replace 53 forms for life companies and 31 different forms for friendly societies. The new reporting standards are more consistent with those used for general insurers, superannuation funds and authorised deposit-taking institutions.
APRA uses the data collected to assist in the prudential supervision of life companies. It also publishes information based on these data to help industry and observers understand life insurance trends and identify emerging issues.
The revised data collection will occur under the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001 rather than the Life Insurance Act 1995.
The package released today comprises reporting standards, forms and instructions. These are available on APRA’s website at www.apra.gov.au/Statistics/Life-Company-Prudential-Reporting-Framework.cfm. The new standards will take effect on 1 January 2008.
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) is the prudential regulator of the financial services industry. It oversees banks, credit unions, building societies, general insurance and reinsurance companies, life insurance, friendly societies, and most members of the superannuation industry. APRA is funded largely by the industries that it supervises. It was established on 1 July 1998. APRA currently supervises institutions holding approximately $3 trillion in assets for 21 million Australian depositors, policyholders and superannuation fund members.
Media and industry inquiries only:
Andrew McCutcheon, Public Affairs Manager
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority
Telephone: 02 9210 3143
Mobile: 0417 528 660
All other inquiries:
APRA Contact Centre 1300 131 060.
