Governance and Accountability

As a body focused on coordination and cooperation, the Council of Financial Regulators (CFR) and its activities are not established by statute and the CFR has no formal regulatory or policy decision-making powers. Regulatory actions can be taken by individual agencies, in accordance with their legislated powers and obligations. The judgements formed by CFR agencies may nonetheless be informed by deliberations of the CFR. Governance and accountability arrangements reflect this structure.

Individually, CFR member agencies are accountable for their regulatory and policy actions. For example, all are subject to, and adhere to, the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013, which covers governance, performance, accountability and the management of public resources by Commonwealth departments and agencies. Each member agency is required to prepare an annual report on its activities for tabling in Parliament each year. They each also appear before parliamentary committees or hearings. Agencies are responsible for providing transparency of the rationale for their respective regulatory decisions.

The CFR itself is not subject to formal accountability requirements, reflecting the fact that it has no regulatory decision-making powers. Nonetheless, the CFR considers transparency of its activities to be in the public interest. In addition, the RBA’s Financial Stability Review includes an expanded discussion of recent CFR activities.

See below for links to CFR member agency websites outlining their respective accountability arrangements:

• Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)
• Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
• Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA)
• The Treasury