Webinar Description
Key Takeaways
- Practical guidance on achieving compliance with APRA CPS 230, the Australian prudential standard governing operational risk management
- Strategies for replacing fragmented, manual risk processes with integrated, automated approaches
- Techniques for improving oversight of critical operations, controls, incidents and third-party service providers
- Designed for risk managers, compliance officers and operational resilience professionals in APRA-regulated financial institutions
- Hosted by ProcessUnity as a virtual webinar session
Introduction
Australian financial institutions face mounting pressure to demonstrate robust operational resilience under the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s CPS 230 standard. This webinar, titled “APRA CPS 230: What Readiness Really Looks Like,” addresses the practical realities of achieving and maintaining compliance with these requirements. The session targets risk, compliance and operational resilience professionals working within APRA-regulated entities who must translate regulatory expectations into functioning programs.
CPS 230 represents a significant evolution in how Australian prudential regulators approach operational risk. The standard requires regulated entities to maintain critical operations through severe disruptions, manage operational risks effectively and ensure appropriate oversight of third-party arrangements. For many organisations, meeting these requirements demands fundamental changes to how they identify, assess and manage operational risks across the enterprise.
About This Event
ProcessUnity hosts this virtual webinar to provide practical guidance on building sustainable operational resilience programs that satisfy CPS 230 requirements. The session moves beyond theoretical compliance frameworks to examine what genuine readiness looks like in practice. Expert speakers address common implementation challenges and demonstrate approaches for centralising risk management activities that often remain scattered across disconnected systems and processes.
The webinar format allows attendees to engage with the material remotely while gaining exposure to practical demonstrations of integrated risk management approaches. ProcessUnity positions the session as educational content aimed at helping organisations understand both the regulatory expectations and the operational changes needed to meet them.
Understanding APRA CPS 230 Requirements
CPS 230 establishes requirements across three interconnected domains: operational risk management, business continuity and the management of service provider arrangements. Regulated entities must identify their critical operations, set tolerance levels for disruption and ensure they can continue delivering essential services even under severe stress scenarios. The standard also mandates comprehensive oversight of material service providers, recognising that modern financial institutions depend heavily on third-party technology and service arrangements.
The regulatory framework reflects broader international trends toward operational resilience, drawing on similar initiatives from regulators in the United Kingdom, European Union and other jurisdictions. However, CPS 230 carries specific requirements tailored to the Australian prudential context, meaning organisations cannot simply transplant compliance approaches developed for other regulatory regimes.
For many institutions, the challenge lies not in understanding what CPS 230 requires but in operationalising those requirements across complex organisational structures. Risk management activities often remain siloed within business units, with limited visibility at the enterprise level. Incident reporting may rely on manual processes that delay identification of systemic issues. Third-party oversight frequently depends on periodic assessments rather than continuous monitoring.
Moving Beyond Fragmented Risk Processes
A central theme of the webinar concerns the limitations of fragmented approaches to operational risk management. Many organisations still rely on spreadsheets, disconnected registers and manual workflows to track risks, controls and incidents. While these tools may have sufficed under earlier regulatory expectations, CPS 230 demands a level of integration and real-time visibility that manual processes struggle to deliver.
The session examines how organisations can transition from these fragmented approaches toward centralised platforms that connect operational risk data across the enterprise. This integration matters because operational risks rarely respect organisational boundaries. A technology failure affecting one business unit may cascade into service disruptions across multiple critical operations. Third-party incidents can simultaneously impact several internal processes. Without integrated visibility, organisations may fail to recognise these connections until disruptions have already occurred.
Automation plays a significant role in this transition. Manual processes consume substantial staff time, introduce delays in risk identification and create opportunities for inconsistent application of risk frameworks. Automated workflows can accelerate incident reporting, ensure consistent control assessments and provide real-time dashboards that support both operational decision-making and regulatory reporting.
Third-Party Risk and Service Provider Oversight
CPS 230 places particular emphasis on the management of service provider arrangements, reflecting the reality that financial institutions increasingly depend on external providers for critical functions. Cloud computing, payment processing, data analytics and numerous other capabilities often involve third-party relationships that directly affect an institution’s ability to maintain critical operations.
The webinar addresses how organisations can establish appropriate oversight mechanisms for these arrangements. Effective third-party risk management under CPS 230 requires more than initial due diligence and periodic reviews. Institutions must maintain ongoing visibility into provider performance, understand concentration risks where multiple critical operations depend on common providers and ensure contractual arrangements support their resilience objectives.
This oversight challenge compounds as organisations work with growing numbers of service providers across increasingly complex supply chains. A single critical operation may depend on primary service providers who themselves rely on fourth parties, creating extended chains of dependency that require careful mapping and monitoring.
Building Sustainable Compliance Programs
The webinar distinguishes between achieving initial compliance and building programs that remain sustainable over time. Regulatory compliance is not a one-time achievement but an ongoing obligation that must adapt as organisations change, new risks emerge and regulatory expectations evolve. Programs built around manual processes and point-in-time assessments often struggle to maintain compliance as circumstances shift.
Sustainable programs require clear accountability structures, embedded processes that capture risk information as part of normal operations and reporting mechanisms that provide timely visibility to senior management and boards. The session explores how organisations can design programs with these characteristics rather than treating compliance as a periodic exercise disconnected from day-to-day operations.
Who Should Attend
The webinar is designed for professionals with direct responsibility for operational risk, compliance or resilience within APRA-regulated institutions. Risk managers seeking practical implementation guidance will find relevant content, as will compliance officers responsible for demonstrating adherence to CPS 230 requirements. Operational resilience leads tasked with building or enhancing resilience programs represent a core audience segment.
IT and cybersecurity professionals involved in technology risk management may also benefit, given the significant technology dimensions of operational resilience. Executives from banks, insurers, superannuation funds and other APRA-regulated entities who need to understand the operational implications of CPS 230 compliance will find the session relevant to their oversight responsibilities.
While the content focuses specifically on APRA requirements, professionals from government agencies and large enterprises facing similar operational resilience challenges may find transferable insights applicable to their own risk management programs.