The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has released new governance standards for life and general insurance companies.

The prudential regulator says the standards have been developed after extensive industry consultation. They come into effect on October 1, and transition arrangements are available for certain matters.

It already has a number of governance requirements in place but they do not apply evenly across the industries it supervises.

The new standards harmonise APRA governance standards across these industries (except for superannuation) and bring them into line with what has become accepted in Australia as good practice in corporate governance.

APRA Chairman John Laker says the new standards are an integral part of reforms to Australia’s supervisory framework aimed at enhancing the decision-making processes of those charged with running regulated institutions.

“The community expects regulated institutions to have a sound governance framework and to conduct their affairs with a high degree of integrity,” he said. “Accountability rightly stops with the board.”

The new standards build on existing requirements and seek to promote greater independence on the part of a board, its chair and the board audit committee. They also require a formal policy on board renewal and procedures for assessing directors’ performance.