The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has released a consultation on its proposed changes to the Economic and Financial Statistics (EFS) reporting standards and guidance.

In a letter, APRA said the proposal was drafted in collaboration with the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). Among the updates included the amendment on the inconsistencies found in Reporting Practice Guide RPG 701.0 ABS/RBA Reporting Concepts for the EFS Collection and Reporting Standard ARS 701.0 - ABS/RBA Definitions for the EFS Collection to align with the updated capital framework released in 2021. Also included are the proposed changes to the EFS Priority Listing for Data Items.

In 2021, APRA made amendments to the capital framework to align Australian standards with the internationally agreed Basel III requirements. One of the amendments is the change in the eligibility threshold for loans to be classified as “SME retail.”

Part of the proposed changes is to clarify the requirement of reporting holdings of both resident-issued and non-resident–issued covered bonds. Other minor changes are for ensuring the maintenance of high data quality for critical data items.

APRA has instructed that all submissions be sent to the agency by Nov. 6.

To view the marked-up and clean drafts as well as the letter released, click here.

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