Finance sector could face climate-risk testing, says Australian watchdog

Regulator says it may add climate change to the list of scenarios it asks institutions to run to check economic resilience

Australia's financial institutions could be required to test climate-risk scenarios as international regulators continue to warn of the economic dangers posed by climate change.

Geoff Summerhayes, executive board member of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (Apra), told a Senate committee that climate scenario testing could be added to the other common scenarios Apra requires financial institutions to face to ensure their systems are robust.