Insurance - PricewaterhouseCoopers

2.4
Supervision and
compliance
APRA’s supervisory objectives are met in two main ways:
•
•
Maintaining a regulatory framework within which insurance companies must
operate
Requiring the submission of financial and other returns, insurer declarations
and independent reports, so that APRA can monitor the financial position of the
insurer and its ability to meet policyholder claims as they fall due.
In addition to companies’ reporting and other obligations, the Life Act grants powers
to APRA to monitor and investigate life insurance companies, including the power
to appoint a judicial manager. A judicial manager acts in a similar manner to the
administrator of a financially troubled company and, in accordance with Section
175 of the Life Act, is appointed by a judge to whom he or she must report the
recommended course of action for the insurer.
The financial and other returns are described later in this chapter. The main features
of the prudential standards which set out the mandatory elements of the regulatory
framework are outlined below.
104 | Insurance facts and figures 2009