APRA publishes results of 2025 Stakeholder Survey

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has published the results of its latest stakeholder survey showing 97 per cent of banks, insurers and superannuation trustees surveyed believe APRA’s supervision benefits their industries. 

The biennial survey delivers important insights to help APRA to better understand the effectiveness and impact of its regulation, as well as the financial sector’s perceptions of APRA’s processes and communications. 

For the 2025 survey, APRA received responses from 262 financial services entities regulated by APRA, with a response rate of 70 per cent – up from 67 per cent in the 2023 survey.

Other key findings include:

• 93 per cent of respondents said APRA’s supervision enhanced the financial and operational strength of their organisation;
• 96 per cent said APRA’s supervision had a positive impact on their risk management practices;
• 82 per cent said APRA’s prudential requirements had a positive impact on their financial management; and
• 74 per cent believed APRA provided sufficient opportunity for consultation with industry on proposed changes to prudential standards or guidance. 

Consistent with previous surveys, the views of participants were more mixed in relation to how APRA considered the cost and compliance burden of its regulatory requirements. 68 per cent believed APRA effectively pursued financial safety, balanced with considerations of efficiency, competition, contestability and competitive neutrality, and promotes financial stability. However, only 24 per cent said changes to APRA’s prudential framework sufficiently considered the costs of regulation imposed on industry. 

APRA Chair John Lonsdale said the Stakeholder Survey played a valuable role in shaping APRA’s approach to supervision and policy development. 

“At a time of great international volatility and economic uncertainty, it’s important the Australians can rely on the financial and operational resilience of our banking, insurance and superannuation sectors. It’s clear the entities we supervise also see the value in what we do to protect financial stability and to improve risk management in their organisations.  We welcome their continued endorsement. 

“We are also aware of the need for us to strike the right balance between financial safety and not unnecessarily burdening industry in a way that lessens competition and productivity – a message that once again our regulated entities want to remind us about. These reflections, alongside feedback we receive from our stakeholders across industry, government and regulatory sector, are contributing to our thinking as we develop our priorities for next financial year in an environment of heightened risk,” 
Mr Lonsdale said. 

The results of the Stakeholder Survey are available on the APRA website at: Stakeholder Survey.