Treasury & financeStatutory authorityExists today
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority
APRA
1 July 1998 – present
Statutory authority that prudentially regulates banks and other authorised deposit-taking institutions, general, life and private health insurers, and most of the superannuation industry.
How it came into existence
Established on 1 July 1998 under the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority Act 1998, following the Wallis Inquiry into the financial system; it took over prudential supervision of insurance and superannuation from the Insurance and Superannuation Commission and bank supervision from the Reserve Bank of Australia.
- Prudential supervision of life and general insurers
- Prudential supervision of superannuation funds
- Prudential supervision of banks
Legislation: Australian Prudential Regulation Authority Act 1998
Changes during its life
- 1 July 1999Took over supervision of building societies, credit unions and friendly societies from the state-based Australian Financial Institutions Commission and state supervisory authorities.
- Prudential regulation of private health insurers
- Regulation of self-managed superannuation funds
Main functions
- Prudential supervision of banks, building societies and credit unions
- Prudential supervision of general and life insurers
- Prudential supervision of private health insurers
- Prudential supervision of superannuation funds
- Collection and publication of financial sector statistics
Where it sits
In the portfolio of Department of the Treasury.
- Type of body
- Non-corporate Commonwealth entity
- Portfolio
- Treasury
- Accountable authority
- Chair – Australian Prudential Regulation Authority Act 1998 section 7(2)(b)
- ABN
- 79 635 582 658
Lineage
Loading lineage…
Sources
Primary sources
- List of Commonwealth entities and companies under the PGPA Act, 1 July 2026 (Department of Finance) (as Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA))
- Australian Government Organisations Register (Department of Finance, data.gov.au) (listed from 11 December 2014 to the latest release (30 June 2026))