Pitt insists the process will go ahead.
“I’ve made a referral … and the committee is yet to decide whether or not to proceed,” he said. “As a minister of the crown, I expect the committee to do its job.”
All four major banks have signalled they will align their portfolios to a target of net zero emissions by 2050, with most aiming to cease lending to thermal coal companies by 2030.
The decisions by the banks – which take heed of regular warnings from regulators and the central bank about climate risk – have prompted a furious backlash from Nationals MPs who want a new coal-fired power station in north Queensland, with some even calling for a boycott of banks including ANZ.
The Australian government’s
2020 cyber security strategy is overwhelmingly focused on increasing the cybersecurity efforts of the defence organisation and law enforcement agencies. The mounting crisis in the United States from the hacking of software company SolarWinds indicates that this is not enough.
On 12 December, cybersecurity firm FireEye announced it had detected an alleged Russian cyberattack that had compromised the monitoring and management software on SolarWinds’ commonly used Orion network to get access to victim organisations potentially 18,000 of them. The US National Institutes of Health and the departments of Treasury, Commerce, Homeland Security and State are reported to be among the victims.
Update On APRA-ASIC Engagement
22/12/2020
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) have today released a joint statement on their annual engagement activities.
Climate of change puts business and Coalition at odds
Climate of change puts business and Coalition at odds
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The energy analyst Tim Buckley keeps a working folder on his computer in which he tracks announcements made by major financial institutions that are no longer insuring, lending to, or investing in, companies that are heavily engaged in coal.
In 2018 Buckley, who works for the pro-renewables Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, noted 31 major outfits abandoned coal. In 2019 the list was a third larger again, with 46 major outfits dumping coal. This year Buckley noted 68 exclusions and calculated that the number of announcements per week had more than doubled from 0.6 to 1.4.
By Justin Hendry on Dec 21, 2020 3:28PM
Go-live pushed back to September 2021.
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has resumed the once-in-a-generation overhaul of its core data collection platform after a nine-month pause.
APRA temporarily suspended the project to replace its antiquated core financial data system, Direct to APRA (D2A), in light of the pandemic in late March.
The pause – initially slated for at least six months – was instigated to allow financial institutions to concentrate on their businesses and assist their customers.
D2A, which was first introduced in 2001, is currently used to determine the financial health and capital resilience of banks and other financial institutions.