APRA announces appointment of senior executives

17.14

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) today announced the appointment of four new senior executives to its leadership team, as part of a broader organisational restructure designed to equip APRA to continue to respond to changes in the financial sector.

Ms Melisande Waterford has been appointed to the newly created role of General Manager, Licensing. APRA recently announced it was reviewing its licensing and authorisation processes, and Ms Waterford will lead a new centralised unit tasked with ensuring APRA’s licensing activities are suited to the increasingly diverse range of applicants that wish to engage with APRA. Ms Waterford has been with APRA since its establishment in 1998 and, amongst other roles, served on the Secretariat of the Financial System Inquiry in 2014.

Ms Sharyn Reichstein has been appointed to the newly created role of General Manager, Advice and Approvals. This new unit will be tasked with enhancing APRA’s ability to provide sound policy interpretation and advice to APRA’s frontline supervisors, as well as efficient and effective regulatory approvals to regulated institutions. Ms Reichstein comes to the role with a strong blend of supervisory and policy experience acquired over almost two decades with APRA.

Mr Gideon Holland has been appointed as a General Manager in APRA’s Diversified Institutions Division. In this role, Mr Holland will lead a number of APRA’s supervision teams responsible for the prudential oversight of Australia’s largest and most complex financial groups. Mr Holland joined APRA in 2011, having previously been a senior policy advisor at HM Treasury in the UK.

Ms Jane O’Doherty has been appointed to lead a newly combined team comprising APRA’s Governance, Operational and Insurance risk specialists. Amongst other things, this unit leads APRA’s important work on culture and remuneration practices in the financial system, as well as examining issues such IT and cyber security. Ms O’Doherty is currently the Deputy Head of the Financial Regulation Division of the European Central Bank, having previously worked at APRA between 2008 and 2015.

In addition to these changes, APRA announced that Dr Katrina Ellis will assume responsibility for APRA’s new Data Analytics unit. This unit will combine APRA’s current Statistics and Industry Analysis functions into a single team responsible for improving APRA’s analytical capabilities, and the provision of data to APRA’s supervisors and external stakeholders. Dr Ellis will also play a central role in steering APRA’s current Data Modernisation programme, which will substantially overhaul the technology through which APRA collects data from regulated entities, and makes it available to the public.

APRA Chairman Wayne Byres said: ‘The appointment of Melisande, Sharyn, Gideon and Jane bring valuable expertise, insights and experience to APRA’s senior leadership team. These appointments, alongside the creation of the new analytics team under Katrina, are an important step in APRA’s continued evolution, strengthening not only our ability to deliver on our mission to protect the financial well-being of the Australian community, but to do so in a manner that effectively adapts and responds to the changing environment in which the financial system operates.’

These appointments take effect from 1 July 2017.