Wong, Sen Penny

Senator Wong: The Treasurer has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question: (1) (a) (b)(c) Travel by the Chairman of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), other APRA members and APRA staff is undertaken pursuant to APRA's policy on Official Travel, set out in the Chairman's Finance Instructions. Under the policy, all proposals for overseas travel require the approval of either an APRA Member or an Executive General Manager. Travel by the Chairman or APRA Members is approved by another APRA Member in line with the relevant Determination of the Remuneration Tribunal. In the case of overseas conferences, proposals for staff participation as an attendee also require the initial approval of the People and Engagement Steering Group, chaired by the Deputy Chairman; proposals for staff participation as a presenter require the initial approval of the Management Group. (2) All expenditure must be adequately explained and substantiated in accordance with the Chairman's Finance Instructions and APRA Financial Procedures. APRA retains records that evidence all aspects of the travel process including but not limited to the approval and payment processes and travel diaries. Substantiation of expenditure typically takes the form of tax invoices i.e. vouchers, dockets, point of sale receipts etc and credit card statements. (3) APRA's policy and procedures require staff to complete a travel diary for business trips that exceed five consecutive nights including travel time. Travel diaries are retained by APRA's Finance section. Staff report on the outcomes of overseas travel and attendances through a variety of internal mechanisms, including briefings to APRA's industry groups, for accountability and information sharing purposes. (4) 2009/10 – 203 2010/11 – 206 2011/12 (to date) - 145 (5) The table below records details of travel for the APRA Members and Executive General Managers by name and purpose. Other staff overseas travel has been aggregated. Extracting the name of the approving delegate and the specific costs of each trip for each of the approvals would require a substantial diversion of APRA's resources. Travel information for FY 2009/10 APRA Members Name Purpose LAKER Chairman Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (3) Basel Committee on Banking Supervision/IMF Annual Meeting*/Financial Stability Institute Policy Forum* Lujiazui Forum 2010* Peer regulator JONES Deputy Chair Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)/International Organisation of Pension Supervisors (IOPS) (3) IOPS/Global Forum on Private Pensions Bank of Indonesia Convention* International Network on Financial Education (INFE) Conference* International Federation of Pension Fund Administrators (FIAP) OECD/IOPS/INFE Symposium TROWBRIDGE Member International Association of Insurance Supervisors (4) * Speaker APRA Executive General Managers Name Purpose BYRES Basel Committee on Banking Supervision – Top-Down Calibration Group (3) Basel Committee on Banking Supervision - Working Group on Liquidity Asian meeting with industry representatives Basel Committee on Banking Supervision – Top Down Calibration Workstream on Liquidity/Working Group on Liquidity CHAPMAN International Association of Insurance Supervisors (3) International Association of Insurance Supervisors – Subcommittees (2) Seminar hosted by Financial Supervisory Service, Korea KHOO Basel Committee on Banking Supervision - Accounting Task Force (3) World Council of Credit Unions/International Credit Union Regulators Network * LITTRELL 12th Integrated Financial Supervisors Conference/Meeting with European Commission/Basel Committee on Banking Supervision - Policy Development Group Basel Committee on Banking Supervision - Policy Development Group Financial Stability Forum * Speaker Other APRA staff Number of trips Purpose of attendance 51 Policy Committee / Meeting 42 Prudential review 38 Attending conference/seminar as attendee 15 Attending conference/seminar as presenter 14 Training 7 Technical assistance Travel information for FY 2010/11 APRA Members Name Purpose LAKER Chairman Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (6) Basel Committee on Banking Supervision/International Conference of Banking Supervisors*/Institute of International Finance Asia CEO Summit* Institute of International Finance High-Level Symposium * Trans-Tasman Banking Council JONES Deputy Chair OECD/IOPS (5) Asia-Pacific Investments Summit* International Federation of Pension Fund Administrators (FIAP)* International Network on Financial Education OECD Russian Federation Technical Seminar LAUGHLIN Member International Association of Insurance Supervisors (4) TROWBRIDGE Member International Association of Insurance Supervisors * * Speaker APRA Executive General Managers Name Purpose BYRES International Conference of Supervisors 2010 * Peer regulator (2) Financial Stability Institute/Executives' Meeting of East Asia -Pacific Central Banks High-Level Meeting* FSA International Regulatory Risk Roundtable 2011* 13th Integrated Financial Supervisors Conference* CHAPMAN International Association of Insurance Supervisors (3) International Association of Insurance Supervisors – Subcommittees (2) KHOO World Council of Credit Unions and International Credit Union Regulators Network*/Deposit Insurance Corporation of Ontario/Basel Committee on Banking Supervision - Accounting Task Force Basel Committee on Banking Supervision - Accounting Task Force (2) International Credit Union Regulators Network/Basel Committee on Banking Supervision - Accounting Task Force Overseas recruitment program LITTRELL Financial Stability Institute High-Level Meeting Basel Committee on Banking Supervision - Policy Development Group (2) Trans-Tasman Banking Council Other APRA staff Number of trips Purpose of attendance 33 Policy Committee / Meeting 43 Prudential review 43 Attending conference/seminar as attendee 15 Attending conference/seminar as presenter 11 Training 11 Technical assistance 4 Secondment 3 Recruitment Travel information for FY 2011/12 (to date) APRA Members Name Purpose LAKER Chairman Monetary Authority of Singapore 40th Anniversary Roundtable * Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (2) JONES Deputy Chair Korean Financial Investment Association Conference*/IOPS Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia Forum* OECD/IOPS (4) Minister Shorten's Mission to Israel/Regulatory Meetings LAUGHLIN Member International Association of Insurance Supervisors (3) * Speaker APRA Executive General Managers Name Purpose BYRES Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (2) IMF High-Level Regional Symposium*/Basel Committee on Banking Supervision CHAPMAN FSA Regulatory Round Table International Association of Insurance Supervisors – Financial Stability Committee (2) KHOO Basel Committee on Banking Supervision - Accounting Task Force/Overseas recruitment program Basel Committee on Banking Supervision - Accounting Task Force LITTRELL Atlanta Federal Reserve Financial Markets Conference/Basel Committee on Banking Supervision – Level 2 assessment Basel Committee on Banking Supervision - Policy Development Group (3) Executives' Meeting of East Asia-Pacific Central Banks ROWELL Joint Forum Working Group on Financial Developments * Speaker Other APRA staff Number of trips Purpose of attendance 28 Policy Committee / Meeting 39 Prudential review 20 Attending conference/seminar as attendee 9 Attending conference/seminar as presenter 13 Training 7 Technical assistance 1 Recruitment