Solicitor, Prudential Enforcement

The role

As Solicitor in our legal team, you will support APRA’s Enforcement mandate to prevent and address serious prudential risks and to hold entities and individuals to account. Your work will cover the breadth of APRA’s enforcement activity, such as delivering on enforcement projects and conducting investigations into regulated entities, as well as providing high quality, practical legal and enforcement advice embodying APRA’s risk appetite. This will also include developing and enhancing APRA’s enforcement infrastructure and supporting the wider Legal team in engagement with stakeholders.

To be successful in this role, you will need to collaborate effectively with stakeholders across the organisation, including jointly formulating strategy with stakeholders in industry-aligned supervision teams across APRA on a range of complex issues that are often novel and untested, supporting the wider Legal team in engagement with stakeholders.

The team

The Enforcement team provides legal and enforcement advice across various aspects of financial services, corporate and administrative law and prudential regulation, involving banks, credit unions, building societies, general insurance and reinsurance companies, life insurance, private health insurance, friendly societies, and most of the superannuation industry. The Enforcement team also plays a key role in APRA’s co-administration of the Financial Accountability Regime.

Key stakeholders will primarily be from one or more of APRA’s frontline supervision divisions and APRA senior executives. You will also have a key role in providing support to other APRA divisions and initiatives involving peer Commonwealth agencies.

Key responsibilities

• Either individually or as part of a team, deliver high quality, practical enforcement advice embodying APRA’s risk appetite to internal stakeholders, which should be informed by a ‘one-APRA’ mindset;

• Support managers and other colleagues in project managing and supporting Enforcement colleagues in the delivery of enforcement outcomes;

• Have strong project management skills, internal (senior internal supervisors) and external stakeholder management (supervised entities and their legal advisers, external law firms and Counsel instructed by APRA); and

• Establish rapport with stakeholders quickly and understanding where APRA Enforcement can add value.

About you

You will have legal and/or regulatory investigation experience and relevant tertiary qualifications, which may include investigative, legal or accounting qualifications.  Applicants will also ideally have:

• Well-developed communication, negotiation and interpersonal skills;

• Excellent organisation, self and priority management skills;

• Openness to learning and adapting in a dynamic environment;

• A supportive and inclusive working style and the ability to work with interstate and blended team; and

• Experience in one or more of the industries regulated by APRA.

To work with us, you need to be an Australian citizen with eligibility to obtain and maintain Australian Government Security clearance.

About APRA

Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) was established in 1998 as an independent statutory authority that supervises almost 1,200 financial institutions that manage $8.6 trillion in assets for Australians across the banking, insurance and superannuation sectors. APRA serves the Australian community by helping ensure that financial institutions deliver on the financial commitments they make, with a stable, efficient and competitive financial system.

In overseeing the safety, competitiveness and stability of the financial system, we seek to recruit, develop and retain highly skilled professionals, who want to help shape financial services and protect the financial wellbeing of the Australian community. Our employee base of almost 900 come predominantly from the commercial financial services industry or other government agencies; as such, we have the feel of a small corporate organisation that can work flexibly and with agility.

Why Work for APRA

We recognise the skills, experience and commitment that our staff bring to their professional lives, and we seek to reward them accordingly. We also recognise that for our staff to be able to perform at their best, we need to ensure that they are able to bring their best selves to work. Our commitment to wellbeing is having engaged people supported by resilient leaders within a values-aligned culture. 

At APRA, we're committed to providing an inclusive workplace where everyone belongs, feels valued and respected. We aspire to attract and foster diversity of background, thought and experience, recognising that a broad range of perspectives, approaches and ideas makes us stronger and better enables us to meet our obligation to protect the financial wellbeing of the Australian community. if you need any adjustments during the recruitment process, please inform us at application stage so we can do our best to accommodate your requirements.