Wayne Byres appointed Secretary General of Basel Committee

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the global standard-setting body for banking regulation, has today announced that Mr Wayne Byres, APRA’s Executive General Manager, Diversified Institutions Division, has been appointed to the position of Secretary General.

The Secretary General heads up the Secretariat of the Basel Committee. It is a high-profile role responsible for supporting the Chairman (currently Stefan Ingves, Governor of Sweden’s Riksbank) in developing and setting the Committee’s strategy, and for assisting the Committee’s various subgroups and task forces. The Secretary General is also a major point of contact between the Committee and other global bodies, central banks and supervisory authorities.

Mr Byres is the first person from a country in the Committee’s enlarged membership base to be chosen for this position. In June 2009, membership of the Committee was widened to include representatives from the G-20 countries not already on the Committee.

APRA Chairman John Laker said: ‘Mr Byres’ appointment is a tribute to his personal qualities and the skills and experience he has gained over more than 20 years in prudential supervision, most recently in his leadership role in ensuring that Australia’s large and complex financial institutions handled the global financial crisis and other shocks successfully.

‘It is also a recognition of APRA’s strong standing internationally as a consequence of its performance before and during the crisis.’

The announcement by the Basel Committee on Mr Byres’ appointment can be viewed on the Committee’s website: www.bis.org/list/press_releases/said_7/index.htm

Background

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision provides a forum for regular cooperation on banking supervisory matters. Its objective is to enhance understanding of key supervisory issues and improve the quality of banking supervision worldwide. It seeks to do so by exchanging information on national supervisory issues, approaches and techniques, with a view to promoting common understanding.

The Committee's members come from Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The Committee's Secretariat is based at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland.