Former bank chair disqualified for six years

Mike Taylor

Managing Editor and Publisher

20 May 2026

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has again exercised its ultimate sanction under the Financial Accountability Regiment (FAR) disqualifying the former chair of Xinja Bank, Lindley Edwards, from being an accountable person of any authorised deposit-taking institution.

Edwards has been disqualified by APRA for six years and is the third person disqualified under the FAR regime in relation to the activities of Xinja Bank Limited.

The disqualifications have implications for other financial services entities with superannuation funds having recently become subject to the FAR.

Whilst stating that its decision with respect to Edwards did “not involve allegations of findings of dishonesty or lack of integrity”, APRA said it had found she failed to:

• act with due skill, care and diligence when Xinja raised capital that she should have known could not qualify as CET1 capital because of the side agreements and did not take steps to ensure that Xinja properly classified and reported the capital, or disclosed the side agreements, to APRA;
• deal with APRA in an open, constructive and cooperative way by not informing, or being satisfied that Xinja had informed, APRA of the existence of the side agreements or of concerns raised at the time within Xinja about the capital; and
• take reasonable steps to prevent matters arising that would adversely affect Xinja’s prudential standing where she did not take steps to put in place adequate procedures within Xinja to ensure Xinja properly classified and reported the capital it raised.

APRA member, Therese McCarthy Hockey said Edwards’ disqualification “is further demonstration that APRA will hold senior individuals to account when they fail to meet their accountability obligations”.

“In order to protect depositors and the financial system, it is essential APRA has a complete understanding of the capital position of the banks it supervises and their ongoing capacity to withstand unexpected shocks. It is incumbent on senior individuals to be open and cooperative with APRA so that APRA can effectively assess the risks that a bank and its depositors are exposed to. Board members are in a position of ultimate responsibility for all aspects of governance, oversight and compliance with all relevant laws and Ms Edwards’ conduct fell short of her duties.

“Ms Edwards inappropriately relied on others and failed to ensure that Xinja was sufficiently capitalised in the months leading to its failure, or that its true capital position was reported to APRA. Her disqualification reflects the seriousness of her conduct,” McCarthy Hockey said.

APRA states that between May and August 2020, Xinja entered agreements with three investors by which it purported to raise CET1 capital.  Xinja reported to APRA that the capital it raised from the investors was CET1 capital. However, the capital raisings involved “side agreements” between Xinja and the investors, which APRA was not informed of and which fundamentally altered the nature of the capital, altering its ability to absorb losses and resulted in the capital not qualifying as CET1 capital.