APRA publishes 2025-26 Corporate Plan

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has published its latest Corporate Plan aimed at preserving the safety and stability of banks, insurers, superannuation trustees and the broader financial system. 

The plan outlines APRA’s strategic priorities over the next four years as well as its policy, supervision and data priorities for the coming 12 to 18 months.

The 2025-26 Corporate Plan has been built on four key strategic objectives: maintaining financial and operational resilience; responding to significant and emerging risks; getting the regulatory balance right; and improving APRA’s organisational effectiveness. 

Among APRA’s top strategic priorities in the plan are:

• strengthening cyber resilience across APRA’s regulated industries given the recent escalation of attacks; this includes monitoring for emerging risks specifically associated with the adoption of artificial intelligence and in the context of geopolitical tensions;
• assessing the degree to which regulated entities are complying with APRA’s new prudential standard on operational risk management, CPS 230;
• updating APRA’s prudential standards for governance;
• publishing the results of APRA’s inaugural System Stress Test, designed to evaluate risks arising from interconnectedness between the banking and superannuation sectors;
• intensifying scrutiny of superannuation fund expenditure and reviewing the investment governance and member outcomes of major platform providers; and
• releasing the results of APRA’s Climate Vulnerability Assessment for the general insurance sector.

This latest plan also contains a heightened focus on ensuring APRA strikes the right balance between financial safety and considerations such as competition, efficiency and productivity. Initiatives include consulting on the formalisation of a third tier of proportionality in the prudential framework for banking, promoting access to more affordable reinsurance for general insurers, and removing duplicative or unnecessary regulatory requirements.

APRA Chair John Lonsdale said: “A strong and stable financial system is an essential prerequisite for economic growth. At a time of heightened global volatility, APRA will continue to focus on ensuring banks, insurers and superannuation trustees have the financial and operational resilience to withstand a sudden shock and continue delivering vital financial services to their customers.

“We recognise the importance of efficient, proportionate and right-sized regulation to support the competition, innovation and investment that underpin productivity and a strong economy. While APRA’s prudential framework has always been proportionate, over the coming few years we will step up our focus on identifying opportunities to better support competition and productivity without compromising on our safety and stability objectives.

“We will also continue investing in our own effectiveness as an organisation. In addition to our long-term focus on supervision excellence, we will intensify efforts to strengthen the analytical capability and resilience of APRA’s technology and data infrastructure, while also investing in future leadership capabilities and empowering a safe, inclusive workplace culture,” Mr Lonsdale said. 

The 2025-26 Corporate Plan is available on the APRA website at: APRA Corporate Plan 2025-26.