Financial Sector (Shareholdings) Rules 2019
The Financial Sector (Shareholdings Act) 1998 was amended by Parliament in 2018 to introduce a new streamlined ‘fit and proper’ test for shareholders of new or recently established authorised deposit-taking institutions and life insurers with assets below the relevant threshold.
Following the changes to the FSSA, APRA released for consultation the Financial Sector (Shareholdings) Rules 2019 (FSSA Rules). The FSSA Rules will provide clarity to owners of new entrant financial sector companies on whether they are likely to be approved under the FSSA 'fit and proper' test.
Final Round - August 2019
On 21 August 2019, after an eight-week consultation period on the Financial Sector (Shareholdings) Rules 2019 (FSSA Rules), APRA published a response letter, the final version of the FSSA Rules and the following explanatory statement:
Financial Sector (Shareholdings) determination No. 1 of 2019
Financial Sector (Shareholdings) determination No. 1 of 2019 Explanatory Statement
Proposed Financial Sector (Shareholdings) Rules 2019
Round 1 April 2019
On 2 April 2019, APRA released for consultation the Financial Sector (Shareholdings) Rules 2019 (FSSA Rules). The rules prescribe the following matters in regards to the recent changes to the FSSA:
- matters that must be considered in determining whether a person is fit and proper for the purposes of the FSSA (subsection 14A(2) of the FSSA);
- the meaning of ‘total resident assets’ used to determine whether a financial sector company’s assets are less than the relevant assets threshold (subsection 14A(5) of the FSSA); and
- the information to be provided to APRA annually, as a condition of approval (paragraph 16A(5)(b) of the FSSA).
Written submissions on the proposed FSSA Rules were received until 27 May 2019. The consultation letter and draft FSSA Rules can be found below:
Note on submissions
It is APRA's policy to publish all submissions on the APRA website unless the respondent specifically tells APRA in writing that all or part of the submission is to remain confidential. An automatically generated confidentiality statement in an email does not satisfy this purpose. If you would like only part of your submission to be confidential, you should provide this information marked as 'confidential' in a separate attachment.
Submissions may be the subject of a request for access made under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOIA). APRA will determine such requests, if any, in accordance with the provisions of the FOIA. Information in the submission about any APRA-regulated entity that is not in the public domain and that is identified as confidential will be protected by section 56 of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority Act 1998 and will therefore be exempt from production under the FOIA.