The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) today announced the establishment of a Quality Assurance and Consistency Unit that will develop and promote "best practice" supervisory and enforcement procedures across the regulatory agency.

Reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer, the new Unit will regularly assess APRAs methods and practices against agreed standards of quality and consistency.

It will develop uniform internal regulatory standards, set external benchmarks for supervision and enforcement, and ensure that APRAs approach is sufficiently flexible and sophisticated to encompass all supervised entities. The Unit will also consult with industry and other stakeholders on the standard of APRAs regulatory and supervisory performance.

APRAs Chief Executive Officer, Mr Graeme Thompson, said "In the few years it has been around, APRA has earned respect as a world class regulator. The recent general insurance reforms are an example of changes that have made that reputation."

"However, we have a responsibility to the 20 million Australians who are our beneficiaries and whose $1.4 trillion in assets we regulate to continually improve our performance. The new Quality Assurance and Consistency Unit supports that drive."

APRA will soon announce the appointment of a General Manager to head the new Unit, which is expected to be operational in September.