APRA announces SME scheme reporting standards

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has introduced a new weekly reporting standard for all lenders participating in the federal government’s Coronavirus SME Guarantee Scheme.

The scheme will see the government guarantee 50 per cent of all unsecured loans provided to eligible small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) via the officially participating lenders for the six months to 30 September 2020.

SMEs are eligible for a scheme-backed loan of up to $250,000 for three years, so long as they are a small business or sole trader with less than $50 million annual turnover.

The new reporting standard will support the scheme by providing the government with specific information from each participating lender, including the number of loans approved, number of loans impaired and number of guarantee claims made and paid.

The reporting requirements will also ensure lenders provide the government with figures on the amount of allocated credit still outstanding and available, as well as any impaired loans under the scheme.

The data reporting standard will be applicable to reporting periods from 17 April, with the first data collection to be due on 1 May 2020.

Data must be reported to APRA by the lender within 10 business days from the end of the reporting period.

Due to the timely nature of the scheme implementation and reporting requirements, APRA has had to forgo its usual consultation process for the new reporting standards.

The government has made 34 offers to lenders wishing to participate in the scheme, including several non-bank lenders.

At the time of writing, the following lenders had finalised their participation in the scheme:

• Australian Mutual Bank Limited
• Bank Australia
• Bank of Queensland
• Bank of us
• GetCapital
• Heritage Bank Limited
• Judo Bank Pty Ltd
• Liberty Financial
• Moula Money
• MyState Bank Limited
• Prospa
• Queensland Country Bank Limited
• Regional Australia Bank Ltd
• The Capricornian Ltd
• Unity Bank
• Westpac

[Related: ASBFEO welcomes non-banks to government SME scheme]