BOQ Welcomes the Deferred Commencement Date for BEAR for Small and Medium ADIs

Wednesday, 07/02/2018

Bank of Queensland (BOQ) welcomes the amendment and bipartisan approach taken to defer the commencement of the Banking Executive Accountability Regime (BEAR) to 1 July 2019 for small and medium Authorised Deposit-taking Institutions (ADIs).

The amendment, introduced by the Federal Opposition in the House of Representatives, and supported by the Government recognises the disproportionate burden to implement and comply with new regulations for small and medium sized ADIs.

Mr Jon Sutton, CEO and Managing Director of Bank of Queensland, noted that regulatory change in the banking system is proceeding at an unprecedented pace.

“These changes often fall most heavily on smaller and medium ADIs, given that the costs of compliance are typically fixed and independent of an ADI's size,” Mr Sutton said.

“BOQ raised these concerns in its submissions to Treasury and to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee's Inquiry into the BEAR legislation.

“We have regularly raised the broader theme of the regulatory burden on small and medium ADIs on various occasions, including the regional banks' submission to the Productivity Commission.

“We thank the Government and Opposition for working together to provide these entities more time to adapt to the new regime as part of supporting a more transparent and accountable banking sector.”