The 4 Year Plan - 2024/25 -- 2027/28 🎯
APRA recently released its Corporate Plan for 2024/25–2027/28, signaling its priorities across policy, supervision, and – for the first time – data collection and publication. For industry participants involved in APRA reporting, the release of the Corporate Plan has been highly anticipated, as it provides APRA's first view into the updated data collection roadmap, after APRA announced an annual review of its data directions roadmap in July 2023.
The Corporate Plan highlights APRA’s expanded focus on data collection and publication priorities. While the plan covers broader strategic objectives, our focus in this article is on the reporting implications and how they impact businesses in regulated industries.
Whilst APRA did not provide industry-specific roadmap updates in its Corporate Plan, there are several key announcements that provide a insights into APRA's priorities for the next 4 years, with some significant priority shifts, compared to the previous 5-year data collection roadmap.
One of the standout changes is APRA’s plan to fully transition its data collections to the APRA Connect platform by December 2027, marking the end of the legacy D2A (Direct to APRA) system.
Funding and Investment in Technology: What It Means for Reporting
APRA was allocated an additional $73.2 million in funding over four years in the 2024-25 Federal Budget. This funding will be directed towards significant upgrades in technology, data infrastructure, and cybersecurity systems. The ultimate goal is to support data-driven supervision and make it easier for businesses to submit data securely to APRA.
In the APRA Corporate Plan 2024/25, APRA highlights the following key activities:
implementing a secure cloud-based platform providing enhanced data analytics capabilities;
transitioning all data collections to APRA Connect and decommissioning legacy systems; improving organisation-wide data governance and data management disciplines;
responding to increased security threats by strengthening cyber security controls and practices aligned with Government frameworks; and
supporting supervision activities by implementing an enhanced supervision management system.
APRA Connect and the End of D2A: Transitioning to a New Era of Data Collection
APRA's initial plan was to redesign collections in the APRA Connect platform and subsequently retire the replaced D2A Collections. This has taken longer than expected, so APRA has announced an important change in direction.
APRA's data priority is now to transition all remaining Direct to APRA (D2A) data collections to APRA Connect to enable decommissioning of legacy systems. APRA notes:
D2A was created in 2001 and is nearing end-of-life. If not addressed, the cost of continued use for industry and for APRA of out-dated technology will continue to increase. This leads to the need for specialised legacy environments that are expensive to maintain. To reduce costs and risk, both internally and to industry, APRA is working towards decommissioning industry facing components of D2A by December 2027 with all collections either ceased or transitioned to APRA Connect, which is APRA's replacement data collection tool.
For collections related to policy initiatives that are due to be completed prior to December 2027, APRA will continue to engage in co-design of data collections in line with the projected policy timelines. The key dates for these changes are available in reference to policy timelines.
All other D2A data collections will be transitioned to APRA Connect. APRA does not intend to make substantive changes to these collections as part of the transition, apart from those required to ensure compatibility with APRA Connect. APRA is aware of the short implementation timelines and has adopted this approach to minimise the impact of this transition on the industry.
APRA is currently working through the practicalities of this migration for each industry and will be providing more information on the approach towards the end of the year.
To create capacity to achieve the objective of decommissioning D2A by December 2027, APRA will limit the development of new collections outside of those required for policy initiatives.
APRA continues to enhance the reporting experience of entities in APRA Connect by introducing additional validations for already migrated collections and reducing the time taken to lodge returns
APRA will engage in the second quarter of FY2024-25 on the migration approach, and will seek industry input to establish a phased approach across the impacted industries.
The Superannuation Data Transformation: What’s Next for Super Funds?
The Corporate Plan also discusses APRA’s Superannuation Data Transformation project. APRA has been working on Phase 2 of this initiative, which was expected to cover multiple releases. However, with the shift in data collection priorities, APRA appears to be delaying Release 2, 3 and 4 of SDT Phase 2. That said, the remaining standards consulted on during Phase 2, Release 1, are expected to be finalised this year.
APRA will also finalise phase 2 of the Superannuation Data Transformation program of work by completing the current consultation on RSE Licensee, RSE Operations and Investments data with a response to submission to be released in first half of FY2024-25.
APRA has also committed to assessing the costs, benefits and capacity of trustees of enhanced data collections for retirement. Given the focus on the Retirement Covenant, it is no surprise APRA may adjust their priorities originally outlined in the Phase 2 of Superannuation Data Transformation project, to bring forward reporting of retirement data.
Insurance and Banking Industry Specific Data Priorities 🏢
For insurance, APRA has committed to exploring changes to insurance data collections and the prudential framework on the widening protection gap in household insurance resulting from affordability and availability challenges.
For banking, APRA expects to consult on further changes to ARS 110.0 Capital Adequacy in the second half of FY2024-25 for ADI’s. APRA will support entities in preparing for parallel run in support of the ARS 117 Interest Rate in the Banking Book implementation.
For all reporting entities, APRA will undertake in the second half of FY2024-25 the next round of technology resilience data collection involving surveying entities on several information technology (IT) and cyber topics including IT resourcing, system health, information security capabilities and disaster recovery statistics.
Conclusion: Preparing for the Future of APRA Reporting
APRA’s Corporate Plan for 2024/25–2027/28 provides more clarity on the near-term horizon of APRA regulatory reporting in Australia. With the renewed focus to transition to APRA Connect and the eventual decommissioning of D2A, all reporting entities will need to prepare for the necessary technology upgrades to ensure a smooth transition.
In the coming months, APRA will provide more clarity on the timelines for each industry. As businesses gear up for these changes, now is the time to assess reporting systems, engage with APRA’s consultation processes, and ensure readiness for the shift to a more data-driven regulatory environment.
If you need support navigating these changes, feel free to reach out to our team for expert guidance on all aspects of APRA reporting.
For a seamless transition to APRA’s new reporting framework, Reg360 is designed to future-proof your compliance needs. Explore how Reg360 can simplify your APRA reporting processes and keep you ahead of regulatory changes.
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