Treasury is reshaping how Australia’s key financial regulators think about their jobs, asking them to lean harder into economic growth and productivity. Updated statements of expectations handed to the Australian Securities & Investments Commission and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority direct both bodies to factor investment, innovation and regulatory burden more explicitly into their decisions.
Government messaging stresses a balance between encouraging business activity and keeping the financial system safe. Regulators are expected to protect consumers and markets with a clearer mandate to support the broader growth agenda.
The new guidance sits inside the Albanese government’s attempt to lift productivity after a sluggish post‑pandemic period. Canberra has flagged a regulatory overhaul targeting a $10.2bn annual cut in compliance costs following work from the Economic Reform Roundtable.
APRA and ASIC are told they can help tackle Australia’s longstanding productivity challenge by designing rules that are more co‑ordinated and efficient. The Council of Financial Regulators is central to that effort, through a road map focused on streamlining oversight of the financial sector.
Details in the expectations documents highlight a more growth‑sensitive approach rather than a wholesale change to the regulators’ core missions. APRA is being pushed to consider how prudential standards affect credit supply and investment decisions, not only institutional safety.
ASIC is encouraged to weigh competition, capital formation and innovation when enforcing market and conduct rules alongside consumer protection. Both agencies are pushed to reduce unnecessary duplication and delays in approvals so businesses can raise funds and launch products more quickly without sacrificing safeguards.
Policy analysts say the shift forms part of a global rethinking of post‑crisis financial regulation, where governments now worry as much about dynamism as about risk. Australia’s regulators are expected to guard against financial instability while also helping unlock growth in sectors that rely heavily on capital and confidence.
The tension is how far they can ease regulatory friction without weakening protections that proved critical during past shocks. That balancing act now sits at the centre of the government’s productivity strategy for the financial system.
