The industry regulators were big winners in last week’s Federal Budget. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) all received financial boosts from the Government.

ASIC was the big winner, with $52.5 million over four years and a one-off equity injection of $11.3 million in 2004/05.

Treasurer Peter Costello said in a statement that the “increasing complexity of business and new financial products, changes to the regulatory regimes and increasing consumer complaints have all put pressure on ASIC’s resources and the quality of its enforcement activities”.

The Government will also provide ASIC with an extra $7.6 million over four years to allow better surveillance of compliance with auditing standards.

The FRC will receive an extra $3.4 million over the next 12 months and the ACCC will get $46.7 million over four years and a $22 million equity injection in 2004/05.

APRA will gain another $52.4 million over the next four years to build up staff levels and strengthen its supervision capabilities.

Mr Costello said the extra money for APRA was to train more staff to keep an eye on “specialist risk areas” including the insurance industry.

“These additional staff will enable APRA to establish dedicated teams of front-line supervisors to deal with large groups, strengthening its capacity to supervise large, complex and systemically important financial institutions,” he said.

The extra funding is a follow-up to HIH Royal Commissioner Justice Neville Owen’s recommendation that building the skills of the regulator’s front-line staff should be a priority.

“The Government consulted with the new APRA members over the last year and believes this Budget’s additional funding will ensure APRA is sufficiently resourced to… undertake all its regulatory responsibilities,” Mr Costello said in a statement.