Sending electronic documents to APRA

The Electronic Transactions Act 1999 provides that where a person is permitted or required under Commonwealth legislation to give a document to a Commonwealth agency, that person may provide the document electronically, subject to certain exceptions.

APRA has established a public key infrastructure (PKI) facility to enable financial institutions regulated by APRA to send APRA encrypted and digitally signed documents. Phased introduction of this facility for different classes of financial institutions started at the beginning of October 2001.

Documents that APRA will accept through electronic communication

APRA will accept certain electronic communications in accordance with the following information technology requirements:

1. Returns under the Banking Act 1959, the Life Insurance Act 1995 and sections 44 and 49J of the Insurance Act 1973:
   • These may be provided in accordance with IT and encryption requirements already advised to relevant regulated entities.
2. Other documents where there is a requirement for a signature, including other documents required to be provided in an "approved form" under the SIS Act: 
   • By a secure document storage application (e.g. SecureDoc)
   • By email. The person sending the information will receive an automatic message back from APRA advising them that APRA has received the message. APRA will only accept e-mail attachments in formats compatible with Office 97 (or subsequent editions of Microsoft Office), Rich Text Format (RTF) or Portable Document Format ("PDF") to the responsible APRA supervisor; or
   • By signed facsimile on the letterhead of the financial institution. It is recommended that you telephone the responsible APRA officer first and obtain the relevant local facsimile number.
3. Other documents not requiring a signature (but not documents listed below which APRA is not required to accept as an electronic transmission):
   • By email. The person sending the information will receive an automatic message back from APRA advising them that APRA has received the message. APRA will only accept e-mail attachments in formats compatible with Office 97 (or subsequent editions of Microsoft Office), Rich Text Format (RTF) or Portable Document Format ("PDF"). If you do wish to send information under one of the above Acts to APRA by e-mail, please send your email to the appropriate address set out below:
4. FOI matters: foi@apra.gov.au
5. All other matters: info@apra.gov.au

Disclaimer

At present APRA cannot guarantee the confidentiality of information sent to APRA by email, and APRA recommends that sensitive or confidential information be provided by ordinary post or courier. APRA will accept no responsibility for email messages that may be intercepted, copied or disclosed outside APRA’s information system.

Documents that APRA is not required to accept through electronic communication

APRA does not, at this stage, accept the following documents by electronic transmission:

• returns under section 44 of the Retirement Savings Accounts Act 1997
• documents sought under formal information-gathering powers in connection with an inquiry or investigation by APRA into a financial institution.

Other matters

APRA does not, at present, have facilities to receive electronic cash, or payment over the internet.

APRA itself is not required by the Electronic Transactions Act to provide information electronically but has a discretion to do so where certain conditions in section 9 of the Act are satisfied. If you would like APRA to reply by email, please advise APRA in your email transmission.