After eight years, Wayne Byres will stand down as head of the Australian Prudential regulation authority at the end of October.
“Under Mr Byres’ leadership, APRA’s public profile has been strengthened through his commitment to transparency and communication,” a badly-briefed treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said.
In a statement, Byres said: “I feel that now is a good time to hand over the chair’s role to someone new, who will lead the organisation on the next stage of its journey.”
“Just as we expect the financial institutions we regulate to carefully consider how they renew their leadership, the same applies to APRA. It has been a difficult decision to make, as there is much about APRA I will miss, but after eight years as chair I believe the time is right".
APRA is yet to show that it has changed, or learned, much from the report of the Capability Review produced by a panel led by former ACCC chair Graeme Samuel in mid-2019.
The panel blasted the productivity, focus and effectiveness of APRA.
APRA "should change its existing internal norms that create a low appetite for transparent supervisory challenge and enforcement by departing from its behind closed doors approach with regulated entities," the panel demanded.
The panel also called for APRA to "adopt a stronger approach towards recalcitrant institutions, building organisational confidence, and increasing its risk appetite".
Samuel's review panel found the internal culture of the regulator wanting.
There is "a tendency towards conformity in APRA," the panel found.
"In parts of the organisation there appears to be a culture that is challenged by robust debate and internal contestability" while there is "a patronage model of advancement".
One of the most material acts of APRA during Byres tenure was to demand self-assessments for more than 30 financiers, including a range of larger banks, and intended to be modelled on the devastating report of APRA’s own prudential inquiry into Commonwealth Bank.
Only a handful of these reached the public domain, including those from Westpac, NAB and Australian Super.