Registered financial corporations

APRA collects data from registered financial corporations (RFCs) under the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001 (the Act). The Act defines which categories of entity are registrable as RFCs and facilitates the collection of statistical data. Reporting requirements for registered financial corporations are given legal effect through Reporting Standards under the Act.

List of Registered Financial Corporations

List of Registered Financial Corporations

This is not a list for the purposes of subsections 11(4) and (5) of the Act. A list for the purpose of subsection 11(4) is prepared and published by APRA in the Gazette on an annual basis.

Australian Government Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Guarantee Scheme

Under paragraph 7(1A)(b) of the Act, APRA has the power to determine in writing a class of corporations as registrable corporations for the purpose of paragraph 7(1)(b) of the Act.  

APRA has determined that all participants in the Australian Government (SME) Guarantee Scheme not already captured in the Act are registrable corporations.

Registration

Section 7 of the Act outlines the characteristics of corporations subject to the Act.

In general, the Act applies to any corporation which engages in the provision of finance in the course of carrying on business in Australia. 

Corporations which are not registrable corporations for the purposes of the Act include corporations:

• whose assets in Australia, consisting of debts due to the corporation resulting from transactions entered into in the course of the provision of finance by the corporation, do not exceed $50,000,000 in aggregate value; and
• to whom the principal amounts outstanding on loans or other financing, as entered into in a financial year, do not exceed $50,000,000 in aggregate value.

The meaning of ‘provision of finance’

Section 32 of the Act explains the meaning of the expression ‘provision of finance’ by setting out a number of examples. Provision of finance includes:

• the lending of money, with or without security;
• the carrying out of activities, whether directly or indirectly, that result in the funding or originating of loans or other financing;
• the supplying of goods by way of hire-purchase;
• the sale (other than a lay-by sale), in the course of the carrying on of a business of selling goods by retail, of goods on terms under which payment in full for the goods is not required to be made before the expiration of 3 months from the day on which the goods are sold or agreed to be sold;
• the letting on hire of goods;
• the acquisition of debts due to another person;
• the purchase of bills of exchange or promissory notes;
• the purchase of securities issued by the Commonwealth, a State or a Territory or an authority of the Commonwealth, of a State or of a Territory;
• the purchase of debentures or other securities (other than shares) issued by a corporation.

The provision of finance does not include:

• the provision of financial advice;
• intra-group financing activity between corporations that are related to one another. 

Corporations can be guided by the description of ‘provision of finance’ in section 32 of the Act and the asset threshold of $50 million to assess whether they are required to be registered as an RFC.

Send this information to ‘Data Analytics - RFC Registration, Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, GPO Box 9836, Sydney, NSW, 2001’ or via email to DataAnalytics@apra.gov.au.

Once registered and categorised, corporations may be required to submit the appropriate forms on either an anuual, monthly or quarterly basis. These requirements will be communicated to the corporation upon registration.

Deregistration 

Reasons for deregistration include (but are not limited to) assets falling below $50 million or the corporation being deregistered by ASIC. In order to deregister, a corporation must provide the following documents to APRA: 

• Provide a copy of the corporation’s last audited statement of financial position – showing that the assets have fallen below $50 million
• If corporation has been deregistered by ASIC, then the copy of the deregistration  
• Send this information to ‘Data Analytics - RFC Registration, Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, GPO Box 9836, Sydney, NSW, 2001’ or via email to DataAnalytics@apra.gov.au

Penalties

Registration does not give RFCs any special status or guarantee their financial stability. The Act prohibits RFCs from advertising that they are ‘registered under the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001’ or ‘registered with the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’.

If a RFC fails to provide APRA with the relevant documents within 60 days of becoming a registrable corporation, it is subject to a potential fine of 50 penalty units a day for every day that it continues to be non-compliant.

An RFC that fails to inform APRA within 60 days of any change of name or registered address, or change in principal methods of borrowing or lending, is subject to a potential fine of 10 penalty units a day.

Exclusions

Corporations specifically excluded from being registrable under the Act include banks, building societies, credit unions, public authorities, friendly or benefit societies, insurance companies and companies authorised by a law of a State or of a Territory to act as an executor, administrator and trustee.

Banking Exemption No. 2 of 2018

Banking exemption No. 2 of 2018 exempts registered entities from section 8 of the Banking Act 1959 (the Banking Act), provided they comply with the conditions in the exemption order, and clarifies the requirements for issuing a prudential supervision warning under the Banking Act:

• These registered entities do not take deposits otherwise than by issuing or selling securities within the meaning of Part 6D.2 of the Corporations Act 2001, or by issuing or selling a financial product within the meaning of Part 7.9 of the Corporations Act 2001; and
• When offering such securities or financial products to an investor, the investor is given the warning (the prudential supervision warning) that the registered entity is not supervised by APRA under the Banking Act, that the investor will not have the right to priority of repayment that is conferred on depositors by section 13A of the Banking Act, and that the securities or financial products will not be covered by the financial claims scheme established under Division 2AA, Part II of the Banking Act in the manner specified in the exemption order.