Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) Chairman Wayne Byres says increased funding from this year’s Federal Budget will help boost regulatory oversight in areas including cyber resilience as next year looms as another difficult period following the COVID-19 outbreak

Mr Byres says strengthening the oversight of cyber resilience is important amid heightened threats and increasing attacks on financial institutions, while the regulator will also focus on the early identification and orderly resolution of institutions that face difficulties.

The extra funds will help the regulator more generally respond to the heightened volume and complexity of issues in the current environment.

“We are very pleased to have had additional funding approved in the Federal Budget to ensure APRA remains well-equipped to deal with the challenges we are facing,” he told the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics on Friday.

Budget papers show APRA has been allocated $28.8 million of extra funding “to boost its capacity to respond to risks within the financial system, with costs to be recovered from industry”.

Mr Byres says the environment remains highly uncertain and the stability of the Australian financial system can never be taken for granted.

“The full financial impacts of the events of 2020 will flow through over time, and we expect 2021 will, in many ways, be just as difficult,” he said. “We therefore need to stay vigilant. As a result, our supervision activities are heavily focused on matters of financial and operational resilience.”