The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) today announced the appointment of Mr Wayne Byres to the role of Executive General Manager - Diversified Institutions Division (DID).

His appointment is effective 20 September 2004.

Mr Byres replaces Mr Tom Karp, who was appointed Executive General Manager of the newly-formed Supervisory Support Division following changes to APRA's organisation structure.

DID is one of APRA's two front-line supervisory divisions, with responsibility for large and complex financial institutions in deposit-taking, insurance and superannuation.

Mr Byres, who currently holds the position of General Manager - Specialised Institutions Division, has been with APRA since its establishment in 1998, working in both prudential policy and front-line supervision. During this time, he was responsible for much of APRA's early work on the new Basel capital accord (Basel II) and played a significant role in the development of the general insurance reforms which came into force from July 2002. Prior to joining APRA, Mr Byres spent 13 years with the Reserve Bank of Australia, mostly in its bank supervision area and including a secondment to the Bank of England in the United Kingdom.

Mr Byres has an Honours degree in Economics and a Masters degree in Applied Finance from Macquarie University in Sydney.

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 $1.8 trillion in assets for 20 million Australian depositors, policyholders and superannuation fund members.