The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has awarded four student scholarships under the Brian Gray Scholarship Program to:

• Daniel Antioch, University of Melbourne (Honours in Actuarial Studies);
• Tristan Boyd, University of Western Australia (Honours in Commerce);
• Joseph Clark, University of Queensland (PhD in Economics); and
• Emily Tao, University of Melbourne (Honours in Actuarial Studies).

The Program was established by APRA and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in September 2002 in memory of Brian Gray, APRA’s former Executive General Manager – Policy Research and Consulting. Mr Gray spent more than two decades shaping regulatory policy for the financial services industry in Australia and was also actively involved in promoting the work of graduate staff in his role at the RBA and APRA.

The Brian Gray Scholarship Program funds up to four scholarships annually to the value of $12,500 each. While the Program focuses on honours year students, postgraduate students can also apply. It is open to Australia and New Zealand citizens and permanent residents, who are currently studying a topic of relevance to prudential regulation.

Recipients of the scholarships displayed a blend of excellent academic results and a strong interest in issues relevant to financial institutions. Under the terms of the Program, they will be required to devote a substantial amount of time to an agreed research topic.

Topics for this year’s Program include research into derivative-related issues, an investigation of alternative approaches for estimating premium liabilities in the general insurance industry and an assessment of the effects of complex fee structures on competition in the superannuation industry. More information on the Brian Gray Scholarship is available on APRA’s web site.

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 $2.0 trillion in assets for 20 million Australian depositors, policyholders and superannuation fund members.