What is the core reason for the changes to the Financial Accountability Regime?

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) altered the Financial Accountability Regime (FAR) to reduce the administrative burden on financial institutions.

What are the specific operational changes to the accountability maps?

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) will remove the requirement to include direct reports of accountable persons on Financial Accountability Regime (FAR) maps.

How many workers are affected by the new regulatory updates?

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) stated that the streamlined Financial Accountability Regime (FAR) guidelines will reduce reporting workloads for 4,500 accountable individuals.

What is the implementation timeline for these financial regulation changes?

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) intend to finalise consultations and fully implement the streamlined Financial Accountability Regime (FAR) framework by the end of 2026.

What does this announcement mean for the broader federal budget strategy?

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) designed these Financial Accountability Regime (FAR) changes to support the federal government’s Better Regulation reforms introduced in the 2026–27 budget.

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Regulators alter financial accountability rules to cut red tape

Written by Liezl GambePublished Jun 16, 2026, 3:14 AM

· The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission will streamline the financial accountability regime to reduce administrative workloads.

· The changes will eliminate key functions' requirements, lift materiality notification thresholds, and remove direct report tracking from accountability maps.

· The adjustment aims to deliver regulatory simplification aligned with the federal government's broader Better Regulation reforms.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission announced regulatory adjustments to the Financial Accountability Regime to reduce reporting workloads for 4,500 accountable individuals.

The updates will cut the frequency of mandatory accountability map revisions by at least 50% across all accountable financial entities.

"The changes announced today get the balance right, ensuring the benefits of clarified accountabilities are retained in a proportionate way while allowing entities to get on with running their businesses," said APRA Member Therese McCarthy Hockey.

The reforms will also drop all reporting requirements under APRA's fit and proper regime, while ASIC will ease competence evidence rules for roughly 2,000 Australian financial services licensees from October.

The regulators intend to finalise consultations and implement the new streamlined reporting framework by the end of 2026.

The initiative forms part of a broader contribution to the federal government's Better Regulation reforms that were introduced in the 2026–27 budget.

The regulatory changes also align with wider data sharing and burden reduction objectives managed by the Council of Financial Regulators.