APRA farewells Deputy Chair Helen Rowell

Helen Rowell ends her term as Deputy Chair after 10 years in the role and more than 21 years at APRA. Ms Rowell joined APRA in 2002 as a General Manager and held a number of executive roles before becoming an APRA Member in 2013 and Deputy Chair in 2015. She was appointed to a second five-year term as Deputy Chair in 2018 and has been one of APRA’s longest serving members.

APRA Chair John Lonsdale said Ms Rowell has made a significant contribution to the work of APRA and financial services over many years, especially in insurance, where she led major reforms to the capital framework, and in superannuation where she oversaw the creation and implementation of APRA’s prudential framework for that industry. Under her watch, APRA stepped-up pressure on underperforming trustees to merge or exit as we heightened focus on boosting member outcomes. Ms Rowell has also championed APRA’s cross-industry work on governance and risk management, and in the last few years oversaw significant initiatives in areas such as climate risk.

“Helen is widely respected across the industries she has supervised particularly for her deep understanding of regulatory issues. She is also respected internationally for her contribution to important international financial industry and regulatory forums.

Within APRA, Helen was a role model for other female leaders as the first woman appointed as an APRA Executive Director, Member and Deputy Chair. She will be missed by all who worked with her here, and we wish Helen all the best in the next stage of her career,” Mr Lonsdale said.

With Helen’s retirement, current APRA Member Suzanne Smith will have responsibility for oversight of general, life and private health insurers.

Ms Rowell said it had been a privilege to work at APRA.

“APRA is a great purpose-driven organisation where everyone works hard to protect the Australian community. I’m proud of my contribution over the past two decades in a number of areas such as leading specialist teams in supervision and policy, general insurance reform implementation, the Stronger Super reforms and data initiatives such as the Superannuation Data Transformation project and heatmaps.

It’s important that we practice what we preach about good Board governance, so after 10 years as Member and Deputy Chair, it’s definitely the right time for me to pass the baton on to others to lead the organisation into the future,” Ms Rowell said.

You can read a detailed interview with Ms Rowell reflecting on her time as APRA Deputy Chair at APRA’s website.