What it covers
The Financial Accountability Regime (FAR) sets out a strengthened responsibility and accountability framework for entities in the banking, insurance, and superannuation industries, and for their directors and senior executives. It is built on the Financial Accountability Regime Act 2023 (No. 67, 2023), which received Royal Assent on 14 September 2023. The regime is jointly administered by APRA and ASIC under a Joint Administration Agreement.
FAR replaced the Banking Executive Accountability Regime (BEAR), which commenced in 2018. It broadens that earlier model from banking alone to the insurance and superannuation sectors, and it gives both a prudential regulator (APRA) and a conduct regulator (ASIC) a role in administration and enforcement.
Who it applies to
FAR applies to accountable entities and to their named accountable persons.
An accountable entity is a regulated entity in scope, for example an authorised deposit-taking institution, a general or life insurer, a private health insurer, or a registrable superannuation entity licensee, together with certain holding companies. An accountable person is an individual who holds a position of senior executive responsibility within that entity.
Commencement was staged. For the banking sector, FAR commenced on 15 March 2024. For the insurance and superannuation sectors, it commenced on 15 March 2025. ASIC and APRA have published joint guidance to help entities map their obligations, including Regulatory Guide 279, an information paper for accountable entities issued in July 2024.
The core obligations sit in four groups: accountability obligations (acting with honesty, integrity, care, skill, and diligence, and dealing openly with regulators), key personnel obligations, deferred remuneration obligations, and notification obligations. Entities must also prepare accountability statements and an accountability map that show, for each responsibility, exactly which accountable person carries it.
Note that the regime is being refined. In June 2026, ASIC and APRA announced FAR changes to reduce administrative burden, including removing key functions requirements from the regulator rules and raising the materiality threshold for some notifications. Practitioners should confirm the current rule set before relying on older mappings.
Where AI fits
FAR does not mention artificial intelligence, and there is no separate AI obligation in the Act. The connection is structural. Because an accountable person carries personal accountability for the parts of the business they run, that accountability follows the activity regardless of whether a human or an AI system performs it.
If an automated credit decision, an algorithmic pricing model, a claims triage tool, or an AI assisted advice process sits within an accountable person's area of responsibility, then the governance, risk controls, and outcomes of that system fall within their accountability. A poorly governed model that produces customer harm is, in regime terms, a failure to act with care, skill, and diligence in that area. This is why model risk governance, human oversight, and clear ownership of AI systems are increasingly framed as FAR questions inside regulated entities.
What practitioners should do
Map AI systems to accountable persons. For each material model or automated process, confirm which accountable person owns it and that the ownership is reflected in the accountability statement and map.
Treat AI governance as in scope for the accountability obligations. Document the controls, the human oversight points, the testing, and the escalation paths, so that diligence can be evidenced if a regulator asks.
Coordinate across functions. FAR touches risk, compliance, technology, legal, and the relevant business line at once, so AI accountability should not sit with a single team in isolation.
TheAICommand. Intelligence, At Your Command.*
TheAICommand. Intelligence, At Your Command.