APRA - Disqualification powers

Question

Senator SHARMA: Is that the only avenue through which accountability will be imposed upon them? Ms Cole: There are potential other areas of liability. If you're really asking about individuals, there's the Financial Accountability Regime Act, which only came into effect for super in March 2025. Senator SHARMA: Isn't it within APRA's powers to order the removal of directors? Ms Cole: Yes, we would have disqualification powers-evidence being sufficient to justify it. That is not within our direct powers, though. We don't have an administrative power to remove directors. We would have to go to court proceedings to disqualify directors. It might also be helpful if I ask Mr Calveley to speak for a moment on the hurdle-the burden-that we would have to get over if we were to seek to remove a superannuation trustee's licence, for example, and what impact that would be likely to have on the members of that fund. Could I ask Mr Calveley to expand, or would you like that on notice? Senator SHARMA: I might put that on notice. I'll finish with this last question. It's my understanding-and I'll just run through this; you can correct me if I'm wrong-that three other major uses of part 23 of the SIS Act in the past have been in conjunction with accountability measures against the trustees responsible, not in place of it. There was Commercial Nominees of Australia in 2002. The government gave them $25 million in financial assistance. I believe APRA disqualified seven former CNOA directors from acting as responsible officers. There was the Trio Capital Astarra Strategic Fund, where $71 million in total was sought and granted by the government, but all 13 former directors entered enforceable undertakings with APRA and were barred from industry roles for a period of up to 13 years.

Answer

See attached response.

Documents

• Question with answer (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
• SQ26-000498 APRA - Disqualification powers.pdf (opens in a new tab)