New information to help insurers and super trustees prepare for the start of the Financial Accountability Regime next March has been released following a consultation.

An amendment has been made to regulator rules that prescribe key functions information for inclusion in the FAR register of accountable persons for insurance and superannuation industries.

Insurers’ concerns over draft key function descriptions have been taken into consideration and addressed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority – the joint regulators of FAR.

The Insurance Council of Australia said in a submission to the consultation that words such as “default” and “debt collection” may not be relevant in an insurance context.

APRA and ASIC say they have removed references that are not specific to insurance from the key function descriptions of “product origination” and “training and monitoring of relevant representatives and staff”.

They have also refined the key function description for “insurance risk management” to remove any overlap with other insurance key functions, and tightened the key function description for “scam management” to be more specific to insurance entities’ operations.

FAR applies to all APRA-regulated entities and introduces conduct-focused prescribed responsibilities on directors and most senior executives.

Click here for the new information.