APRA Revises Related Entities Standard for Banks

The objective of APS 222 is that authorized deposit-taking institutions identify, monitor, and control contagion risks arising from their associations and dealings with related entities and those creating step-in risk. APS 222 applies to all authorized deposit-taking institutions, on a level 1 basis, except purchased payment facility providers. APRA had received submissions from 10 stakeholders to the July 2018 consultation. Most responses supported updating the requirements while some raised concerns about the complexity of implementing certain proposed changes. APRA has made a number of adjustments to the proposals to address many of these concerns and has maintained other aspects of the original proposals where it has concluded these are warranted based on prudential considerations. The changes in APS 222 aim to update and streamline requirements to account for lessons learned from the global financial crisis on mitigating the flow of contagion risk to an authorized deposit-taking institution, particularly from related entities. The changes also aim to ensure general alignment with the revised authorized deposit-taking institution large exposures framework, which came into effect on January 01, 2019. APS 222 will be updated to include:

• Broader definition of related entities that includes board directors and substantial shareholders
• Revised limits on the extent to which authorized deposit-taking institutions can be exposed to related entities
• Minimum requirements for authorized deposit-taking institutions to assess contagion risk
• Removing the eligibility of authorized deposit-taking institutions' overseas subsidiaries to be regulated under APRA’s Extended Licensed Entity framework

The accompanying reporting standard ARS 222 sets out requirements for the provision of information to APRA related to an authorized deposit-taking institution’s exposures to related entities. It includes reporting forms ARF 222.0 (Exposures to related entities) and ARF 222.1 (Exposures to related entities – foreign ADI), along with the associated specific instructions. ARS 222.2 sets out requirements for the provision of information to APRA related to an authorized deposit-taking institution’s exposures to step-in risk entities. APRA will require authorized deposit-taking institutions to regularly assess and report on their exposure to step-in risk, which is the likelihood that they may need to “step in” to support an entity to which they are not directly related. ARS 222 and ARS 222.0 apply to reporting periods ending on or after January 01, 2021.

Related Links

• Press Release
• APS 222 (PDF)
• ARS 222.0 (PDF)
• ARS 222.2 (PDF)
• Responses to Submissions (PDF)
• Consultation on APS 222

Effective Date: January 01, 2021

Keywords: Asia Pacific, Australia, Banking, Related Parties Framework, APS 222, ARS 222, Reporting, ARF 222, Contagion Risk, APRA