After a long and unexplained delay, the government has finalised a set of ministerial rules required for the operation the Financial Accountability Regime, including an extensive list of responsibilities that will be subject to the rules.
Because of the delay, the start date for banks to operate under the FAR regime has been pushed back.
FAR replaces the Bank Executives Accountability Regime, introduced in 2018, and extends its obligations to the superannuation and insurance industries.
The Financial Accountability Regime Bill was passed last September and compliance for ADIs was to have started at the end of March, with its obligations extended to the superannuation and insurance industries next year.
But last month the joint FAR regulators, APRA and ASIC, wrote to ADIs saying that because the ministerial rules were still being finalised ADIs may need more time to do their compliance.
The regulators said current guidance should be enough to allow regulated entities to submit their registration applications by no later than June 30.
Now the ministerial rules have seen the light of day. They prescribe the positions and responsibilities of accountable entities that make someone an “accountable person” subject to FAR.
It is a long list of roles, including executives responsible for information management, risk management, client remediation programs, breach reporting, internal audit, compliance, human resources, dispute resolution and anti-money laundering.
There are some additional roles for insurers, including responsibility for actuarial functions and claims handling. For responsible entities in the superannuation industry, roles include responsibility for member administration operations, investment functions, financial advice services and insurance offerings.
The rules also prescribe the roles in “significant related entities” that are covered by FAR.
And they set the threshold, based on asset size, above which an entity is required to provide the regulators with additional accountability statements and maps. That threshold has been set at A$20 billion.
Following the release of the ministerial rules on Friday, APRA and ASIC released their regulator rules, which prescribe information for inclusion in the FAR register of accountable persons; and the transitional rules, which prescribe information to be provided by ADIs in relation to their existing accountable persons under BEAR at the transition point to FAR.