APRA announces 2016 Brian Gray Scholarship recipients

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) today announced the four recipients of the 2016 Brian Gray Scholarship to study topics in the financial sector.

The Brian Gray Scholarship program was established by APRA and the Reserve Bank of Australia in September 2002 in memory of Brian Gray, APRA's former Executive General Manager, Policy Research and Consulting, who spent more than two decades shaping regulatory policy in the financial area in his roles at the RBA and APRA. The scholarships are valued at $15,000 each.

The recipients of the 2016 scholarship are:

• Ognjen Lalovic — Honours candidate, Bachelor of Commerce, University of Western Australia;
• Nicole Parrotte — Honours candidate, Bachelor of Science (Actuarial), Curtin University of Technology;
• Christopher Perks — PhD candidate, Doctor of Philosophy (Economics), Australian National University; and
• Nitya Wanzare — Honours candidate, Bachelor of Mathematics and Finance (Honours in Finance), University of Technology Sydney.

Under this Scholarship program, the recipients will devote a substantial amount of time to an agreed research topic and present their findings to APRA upon completion of their research. The scholarship recipients will be researching the following topics:

• Are Hedge Funds Still Hidden in the Shadows? An Analysis of Shadow Banking Regulation — Ognjen Lalovic;
• Alternative Funding Mechanisms for Primary Health Care in Australia — Nicole Parrotte;
• Housing and Macro prudential Policy in Australia — Christopher Perks; and
• Impact of Hard and Soft Information on Mortgage Default — Nitya Wanzare.

The Scholarship program is open to Australian and New Zealand citizens and permanent residents who are currently studying a topic of relevance to prudential regulation. While the program focuses on honours year students, postgraduate students can also apply.

More information on the Brian Gray Scholarship is available on APRA's website.