The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) have released the final rules and further guidance for the Financial Accountability Regime (FAR) applying to insurance and superannuation entities.

The FAR replaces the Banking Executive Accountability Regime (BEAR). It establishes a stronger framework of responsibility and accountability for individuals in leadership positions within APRA-regulated entities in the banking, insurance, and superannuation sectors.

The latest, and final, update follows a consultation process to refine the rules for insurance and superannuation sectors earlier this year.

FAR comes into effect for insurance and superannuation sectors on 15 March 2025.

The refinements relate primarily to changes in functions.

• For insurance, 1 function has been removed, while 3 others have had their descriptions tightened to make them more insurance specific. Section 3.4.2 of the FAR information paper has been updated so that some Insurance Key Functions may not be applicable to private health insurers.
• For superannuation, 3 functions have been refined to remove overlap with other Superannuation Key Functions and 2 have had descriptions tightened to make them more specific to the sector. One function has been further clarified in response to consultation feedback.

See HERE for ASIC and APRA’s original media release on the latest Financial Accountability Regime (FAR) updates, HERE for the joint letter from the regulators on their response to submissions and HERE for the rules and forms.

To get more context and a summary of what directors need to know about FAR, see HERE for a previous Guerdon Associates FAR article.

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