Corporations registered under the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001
Background
On 1 July 2002 the registration and categorisation of financial corporations became the responsibility of APRA. Effective 31 March 2003, the reporting requirements for RFCs changed as detailed below.
This transfer of responsibilities is due to the commencement of the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001 (the Act), which repealed the Financial Corporations Act 1974 on 1 July 2002. The Act serves mainly to facilitate the collection of statistical data. It does not empower APRA to supervise the activities of Registered Financial Corporations. From 1 July 2002 the corporations that were previously registered under the Financial Corporations Act are known collectively as Registered Financial Corporations ("RFCs").
Role of the Act
The Act as it relates to RFCs requires a wide range of non-bank financial intermediaries to register with, and provide statistics to APRA. It applies to financial corporations with assets over $5 million whose principal business in Australia is the borrowing of money and provision of finance, and which are not already covered by the Banking Act 1959.
The majority of institutions covered are money market corporations, pastoral finance companies, finance companies and general financiers. Life offices, insurance companies and various funds managers such as superannuation funds, trustee companies, unit trusts and friendly societies are excluded from the definition of an RFC.
The Act as it relates to RFCs serves mainly to facilitate the collection of statistical data for use in compiling monetary and credit aggregates. It does not empower APRA to supervise the activities of non-bank financial intermediaries, nor does it confer any particular status on the almost 500 corporations registered under it.
Click here to view a list of RFCs.
Registration
Section 7 of the Act outlines the characteristics of corporations subject to the Act.
In general the Act applies to:
- any corporation whose total assets exceed $5 million; and
- whose sole or principal business in Australia is borrowing money and provision of finance; or
- whose assets arising from the provision of finance exceed 50 per cent of its total assets in Australia.
‘Provision of finance’ is defined to include the lending of money generally, the provision of finance by way of hire-purchase, leasing and factoring, and the purchase of bills of exchange, promissory notes, government and public authority securities, and corporate securities (other than shares).
Responsibility to register lies with the corporation.
To register, a corporation needs to provide APRA with certain information in the registration form.
This form should be provided to APRA with a copy of the corporation’s last audited statement of financial position, and the Initial Return completed by the corporation.
This information should be provided to ‘ADI and RFC Statistics, Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, GPO Box 9836, Sydney, NSW, 2001’.
Based on the information provided by the corporation, APRA may determine a corporation to be entered in the Register of Entities in a Category as required by section 11 of the Act.
Once registered and categorised, corporations are required to submit the appropriate forms on either a monthly or quarterly basis. These forms will be provided to the corporation upon registration.
Exclusion
Corporations specifically excluded from registering under the Act include banks, building societies, credit unions, public authorities, friendly or benefit societies, insurance companies and trustee companies.
Exemption
A corporation may be exempted from the application of the Act. These corporations are required to be registered however APRA may determine that the corporations may be exempted from the provisions of the Act.
Penalties
Registration does not give RFCs any special status or guarantee their financial stability. The Act prohibits RFCs from advertising that they are ‘registered under the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001’ or ‘registered with the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’.
If an RFC fails to register within 60 days of becoming eligible for registration, it is subject to a potential fine of $5000 a day for every day that it continues to be non-registered.
An RFC that fails to inform APRA within 60 days of any change of name or registered address, or change in principal methods of borrowing or lending, is subject to a potential $1000 fine.
An RFC that fails to submit the appropriate form within 10 working days at the end of the month or 20 working days at the end of the quarter, or fails to provide any other additional information as requested by APRA, is subject to a potential fine.
Banking Act Exemption Order No. 96
Banking (Exemption) Order No 96 exempts registered entities from section 8 of the Banking Act, but clarifies the requirements for issuing a prudential supervision warning under the Banking Act:
- these registered entities do not take deposits otherwise than by issuing or selling securities within the meaning of Part 6D.2 of the Corporations Act 2001, or by issuing or selling a financial product within the meaning of Part 7.9 of the Corporations Act 2001; and
- when offering such securities or financial products to an investor, the investor is given the warning (the prudential supervision warning) that the registered entity is not supervised by APRA under the Banking Act and that the investor will not have the right to priority of repayment that is conferred on depositors by section 13A of that Act, in the manner specified in the exemption order.
Reporting Requirements:
Reporting requirements for RFCs are given legal effect through Reporting Standards under the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001.
To go to the list of Reporting Standards click here.
Click onto the relevant spreadsheet in order to view the returns that are relevant
The links below allow the forms and instructions to be downloaded individually:
Download a zip file that contains the forms with attribute codes
Please click here to see a list of forms replaced in 2003 by the new APRA reporting requirements and the forms that will continue to be collected by the RBA & the ABS (i.e. they will not be affected by the new APRA reporting requirements).
For further information, please email statistics@apra.gov.au
Direct to APRA (D2A)
APRA requires institutions to use this electronic submission software to submit returns. The system allows the user to enter data by either typing the information directly into the forms, “cutting and pasting” to the forms or importing data from your own systems. The data is then validated, digitally signed, encrypted and passed to APRA via the Internet. More information is available here.
Please contact the D2A helpdesk by email: d2ahelp@apra.gov.au or phone (02) 9210 3400 if you require further assistance on D2A.
