MyComplianceOffice Blog

The long-awaited Financial Accountability Regime (FAR Bill) will come into effect for the Australian banking industry on 15 March 2024 and for the Australian superannuation and insurance industries on 15 March 2025.

Legislation has passed both Houses of the Australian Parliament to introduce the Financial Accountability Regime (FAR).

The 2023 Bill establishes a financial accountability regime to impose obligations on directors and senior executives of financial entities in the banking, insurance and superannuation industries. These obligations will cover accountability, key personnel, deferred remuneration and notification to Regulators (meaning APRA and ASIC collectively, or only APRA where it is the sole Regulator).

The 1MDB scandal saw Malaysia’s former Prime Minister jailed for 12 years with a fine of 210m Malaysian Ringgit (USD $46.8m) - and the end of the 61-year political dominance of the country’s Barisan Nasional coalition political party.

According to Compliance Expert Elin Cherry from Elinphant, “anyone who’s actually worn the hat of the Chief Compliance Officer is very aware of the concerns of CCO liability.”  When it comes to regulatory liability, the line takes a stop at the CCO. So it’s critical that the CCO is both proactive and consistent with making senior management aware of what’s going on with Compliance within the organization. According to Cherry, rigorous issue reporting combined with regular meetings sets the tone for how your management hears you and opens the door better conversations.