Margaret Cole is to join the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority as the regulatory body's top overseer for the country's A$3 trillion ($2.3 trillion) superannuation industry.
Ms. Cole will start a five-year term as a "member" of APRA — effectively one of a trio of managing directors — effective July 1, an announcement said Friday.
She replaces Geoff Summerhayes, whose five-year term as a member expired on Dec. 31.
Ms. Cole's appointment has provided an opportunity "to make some changes to the allocation of responsibilities amongst the APRA members," the announcement on APRA's website said.
As a result, Ms. Cole will take on responsibilities from Helen Rowell, APRA's deputy chair, who has overseen "a period of extensive change in the regulation and supervision of superannuation over the last 7 ½ years," the announcement said.
Ms. Rowell, in turn, will take on primary responsibility for APRA's activities overseeing Australia's insurance sector — which Mr. Summerhayes had looked after.
Ms. Cole was PricewaterhouseCoopers' global regulatory policy and engagement leader, based in the Melbourne office. Earlier in her career, she was a managing director at the U.K. Financial Services Authority — now the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.
A PwC spokesman said Ms. Cole will leave at the end of June. He said there are no details to share at present on plans to fill her role.
