Off-Balance Sheet Business – Credit Substitutes Provided and Risk Charge

Objective of this reporting standard

This reporting standard is made under section 13 of the Financial Sector (Collection of Data) Act 2001 (the Collection of Data Act). It requires general insurers (insurers), including foreign general insurers (foreign insurers) operating in Australia through branch operations, to report to APRA, generally on a quarterly and annual basis, off balance sheet exposures in the form of direct credit substitutes.

This reporting standard outlines the overall requirements for the provision of this information to APRA. It should be read in conjunction with:

• Form GRF 130.0 Off Balance Sheet Business – Credit Substitutes Provided and Risk Charge (Form GRF 130.0) and the associated instructions (which are attached and all form part of this reporting standard); and
• any prudential standards referenced in the attached instructions.

Purpose

1. Data collected in Form GRF 130.0 is used by APRA for the purpose of prudential supervision including assessing an insurer’s compliance with the capital standards.

Application and commencement

2. This reporting standard applies to all insurers for reporting periods commencing on or after 1 July 2008.

Information required

3. An insurer must provide APRA with the information required by Form GRF 130.0 for each reporting period.

Forms and method of submission

4. The information required by this reporting standard must be given to APRA either:

(a) in electronic form using the ‘Direct to APRA’ application, applying one of the electronic submission mechanisms under that application; or

(b) by manually completing Form GRF 130.0 on paper and mailing the completed form to APRA’s head office at Level 26, 400 George Street, Sydney, New South Wales.

Where the information is submitted by means of an agent to whom the insurer has outsourced the function of providing the information on the insurer’s behalf, the agent may only provide the information in accordance with subparagraph 4(b) if the agent has contacted APRA and advised that the agent cannot submit the information in electronic form under subparagraph 4(a).

Note: the Direct to APRA application software and paper forms may be obtained from APRA.

Reporting periods and due dates

5. Subject to paragraph 6, an insurer must provide the information required by this reporting standard:

(a) in respect of each quarter based on the financial year (within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001) of the insurer; and

(b) in respect of each financial year (within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001) of the insurer.

Note: The annual information required from an insurer by paragraph 3 read with subparagraph 5(b), together with certain annual information required by other reporting standards, will form part of the insurer’s yearly statutory accounts within the meaning of section 3 of the Insurance Act 1973 (the Insurance Act). This means that the information must be audited in accordance with paragraph 49J(1)(a) of the Insurance Act. Under subsection 49J(3), the auditor must give the insurer a certificate relating to the yearly statutory accounts, and that certificate must specify the matters provided for in the prudential standards.

6. APRA may, by notice in writing, change the reporting periods, or specified reporting periods, for a particular insurer to require it to provide the information:

(a) more frequently (if, having regard to the particular circumstances of the insurer, APRA considers it necessary or desirable to obtain information more frequently for the purposes of the prudential supervision of the insurer); or

(b) less frequently (if, having regard to the particular circumstances of the insurer and the extent to which it requires prudential supervision, APRA considers it unnecessary to require the insurer to provide the information as frequently as provided by subparagraph 5(a) or (b)).

7. The information required by paragraph 3 of this reporting standard from an insurer must be provided to APRA by the following times:

(a) in the case of the quarterly information required by subparagraph 5(a) – 20 business days after the end of the reporting period to which the information relates; and

(b) in the case of the annual information required by subparagraph 5(b) – 4 months after the end of the reporting period to which the information relates.

Note: Paragraph 49L(1)(a) of the Insurance Act provides that the auditor’s certificate required under subsection 49J(3) of that Act must be lodged with APRA in accordance with the prudential standards. The prudential standards provide that the certificate must be submitted to APRA together with the yearly statutory accounts. Accordingly, the auditor’s certificate in relation to the annual information required by paragraph 3 read with subparagraph 5(b) must be provided to APRA by the time specified in subparagraph 7(b) of this reporting standard (unless an extension is granted under paragraph 8).

8. APRA may grant an insurer an extension of a due date in writing, in which case the new due date for the provision of the information will be the date on the notice of extension.

Quality control

9. The information provided by an insurer under this reporting standard must be the product of processes and controls that have been reviewed and tested by the appointed auditor of the insurer. This will require the auditor to review and test the systems, processes and controls supporting the reporting of the information to ensure that they produce accurate data and are otherwise reliable. This review and testing must be done on an annual basis or more frequently if necessary to enable the appointed auditor to form an opinion on the accuracy and reliability of the data.

10. The information provided by an insurer under this reporting standard must be subject to processes and controls developed by the insurer for the internal review and authorisation of that information. It is the responsibility of the board and senior management of the insurer to ensure that an appropriate set of policies and procedures for the authorisation of data submitted to APRA is in place.

Authorisation

11. If the officer of an insurer provides the information required by this reporting standard:

(a) under subparagraph 4(a), the officer must digitally sign, authorise and encrypt the information (for which purpose APRA’s certificate authority will issue digital certificates, for use with the ‘Direct to APRA’ application, to officers of the insurer who have authority from the insurer to transmit data to APRA); or

(b) under subparagraph 4(b), the completed form must be signed in accordance with paragraph 13.

12. If an insurer provides the information required by this reporting standard through an agent under either subparagraph 4(a) or (b), the agent will not be required to sign or authorise the information. However, the insurer must:

(a) obtain from the agent a paper copy of the completed form as provided to APRA (whether it was provided under subparagraph 4(a) or (b)); and

(b) cause the paper copy to be signed in accordance with paragraph 13; and

(c) lodge the signed paper copy with APRA by mailing the completed form to APRA’s head office at Level 26, 400 George Street, Sydney, New South Wales, by the relevant due date (unless APRA, in writing, waives the requirement to lodge the signed paper copy with APRA by varying this reporting standard in relation to the insurer).

Note: APRA may, for example, determine to waive the requirement under subparagraph 12(c) where an insurer has undertaken to retain the signed copy of the completed form for an agreed period of time.

13. If information under this reporting standard is provided in paper form, it must be signed on the front page of the relevant completed form by either:

(c) the Principal Executive Officer of the insurer; or

(d) the Chief Financial Officer of the insurer (whatever his or her official title may be).

Minor alterations to forms and instructions

14. APRA may make minor variations to the instructions to a form, to clarify their application to the form without changing any substantive requirement in the form or instructions.

15. If APRA makes such a variation it must notify insurers in writing.

Transition

16. An insurer must report in relation to a reporting period ending prior to 1 July 2008 in accordance with the reporting standard that this reporting standard replaced.

Interpretation

17. In this reporting standard:

appointed auditor means an auditor appointed under paragraph 39(1)(a) of the Insurance Act;

business days means ordinary business days, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays;

capital standards means the prudential standards which relate to capital adequacy as defined in Prudential Standard GPS 001 Definitions;

foreign insurer means a foreign general insurer within the meaning of the Insurance Act;

Note: A reference to a ‘branch’ or ‘branch operation’ is a reference to the Australian operations of a foreign insurer.

Insurance Act means the Insurance Act 1973;

insurer means a general insurer within the meaning of the Insurance Act;

Note: In the forms and instructions, a reference to an ‘authorised insurer’, ‘authorised insurance entity’ or ‘licensed insurer’ is a reference to an insurer, and a reference to an ‘authorised reinsurance entity’ is a reference to an insurer whose business consists only of undertaking liability by way of reinsurance.

Principal Executive Officer means the principal executive officer of the insurer for the time being, by whatever name called, and whether or not he or she is a member of the governing board of the insurer;

reporting period means a period mentioned in subparagraph 5(a) or (b) or, if appropriate, paragraph 6.

18. A reference to a prudential standard means the prudential standard, made under section 32 of the Insurance Act, mentioned in the reference, as amended from time to time. If the prudential standard has been revoked and replaced, the reference shall be taken to be to the prudential standard that has replaced it.