Latest news with #Five-YearFundingAgreement
NZ Herald
5 days ago
- Business
- NZ Herald
Adrian Orr's Reserve Bank hiring spree unwound, with proposal for 1 in 4 jobs to be cut
Its restructure was prompted by Willis declining its request for a substantial funding increase over the next five years. In April, the bank and Willis agreed to a $775 million funding envelope for 2025-2030 – an 8% increase from the previous five years. The bank initially bid for more than $1 billion. When Willis and the Treasury said this was too much, the Reserve Bank board was happy to back down – but Orr wasn't, and quit abruptly in March. Orr feared the Reserve Bank wouldn't be able to do its job properly with the level of funding the Government was willing to stump up. However, a spokesman for the bank on Tuesday said the board was confident the bank would be able to continue fulfilling its legislated objectives. 'I can confirm that no work programmes have been cut and the board remains confident that the bank will be able to deliver the work programme outlined in our Statement of Intent under the new 2025-2030 Five-Year Funding Agreement,' the spokesman said. 'Once the new structure is in place [by October 13], senior leadership will be working with our teams to ensure we work more efficiently and effectively.' The Reserve Bank spokesman said the cuts were deeper in the 'enterprise services' and 'operations' parts of the organisation than the 'money' and 'financial stability' divisions. It appears this means jobs directly related to the bank's core functions – maintaining price and financial stability and running the country's payments system – will be the least affected. The areas covered by the two groups that will suffer shallower cuts include: financial markets, economics, payment services, money and cash, prudential policy and supervision, and enforcement and resolution. The areas covered by the groups that will suffer deeper reductions include: strategy, stakeholder engagement, risk compliance and audit, governance and general counsel, people and culture, technology, information security, finance and data. The restructure has occurred under the leadership of acting Governor Christian Hawkesby, who has declined to comment on whether he has applied to secure the role for a full term. Willis, in a paper prepared for Cabinet on the Reserve Bank's 2025-2030 funding agreement, said a considerable portion of its growth in staff numbers related to 'non-legislative functions'. 'These areas saw a rise from 138 permanent staff members in the 2019/20 period to 378 fulltime equivalents by the end of January 2025,' Willis said. Altogether, staffing levels at the Reserve Bank nearly doubled from 349 people in June 2020 to 660 by January 2025. In this time, the Reserve Bank has been legally required to bolster its regulation of financial institutions and create a depositor compensation scheme, which became operative last month. Covid saw it use new tools (quantitative easing and a term lending facility) to effectively create $78b to suppress interest rates and support the bond market using new tools. This, coupled with the bank progressively bolstering its ability to intervene in the currency market in the event of a crisis, saw the value of its assets increase four-fold to $104b between 2019 and 2023. This has since fallen to $72b, as the bank's Covid-era programmes are being unwound. The Reserve Bank also dealt with a data breach in 2020 and has been exploring ways to upgrade its vaults in the vicinity beneath its offices in central Wellington. It has been criticised by some for looking into creating a digital currency, researching Māori access to capital, and focusing on the impact of climate change on the banks and insurers it regulates. Jenée Tibshraeny is the Herald's Wellington Business Editor, based in the Parliamentary press gallery. She specialises in government and Reserve Bank policymaking, economics and banking.
Scoop
12-06-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Statement from RBNZ chair Neil Quigley about OIAs on Adrian Orr's resignation
Press Release – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand We are taking into account the feedback that we have received on our management of these OIA requests and looking carefully at how we can improve our response times in the future,' Mr Quigley said. 'RBNZ was late in producing a response to some of the OIAs we received on Adrian Orr's resignation. I regret that this delay occurred,' Reserve Bank of New Zealand – Te Pūtea Matua Chair Neil Quigley says. 'The circumstances and the volume of information associated with the OIAs on Adrian Orr's resignation were complex, and we needed to be sure that our consideration of relevant information was comprehensive. 'As well as our obligations under the Official Information Act, we needed to take into careful consideration the former Governor's exit agreement and privacy law. For this reason, we extended consultation on the information and our response, including review by senior external counsel,' he said. 'On 5 March I was limited in what I could say about the former Governor's resignation both by the terms of his exit agreement and the fact that we were still working through finalisation of the detail of the next Five-Year Funding Agreement (FYFA). 'We were conscious of the need to explain to staff of the RBNZ the potential implications for staffing levels of a lower level of funding and needed time to consider the details of that. 'We are taking into account the feedback that we have received on our management of these OIA requests and looking carefully at how we can improve our response times in the future,' Mr Quigley said.
Scoop
12-06-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Statement from RBNZ chair Neil Quigley about OIAs on Adrian Orr's resignation
'RBNZ was late in producing a response to some of the OIAs we received on Adrian Orr's resignation. I regret that this delay occurred,' Reserve Bank of New Zealand – Te Pūtea Matua Chair Neil Quigley says. 'The circumstances and the volume of information associated with the OIAs on Adrian Orr's resignation were complex, and we needed to be sure that our consideration of relevant information was comprehensive. "As well as our obligations under the Official Information Act, we needed to take into careful consideration the former Governor's exit agreement and privacy law. For this reason, we extended consultation on the information and our response, including review by senior external counsel,' he said. 'On 5 March I was limited in what I could say about the former Governor's resignation both by the terms of his exit agreement and the fact that we were still working through finalisation of the detail of the next Five-Year Funding Agreement (FYFA). 'We were conscious of the need to explain to staff of the RBNZ the potential implications for staffing levels of a lower level of funding and needed time to consider the details of that. 'We are taking into account the feedback that we have received on our management of these OIA requests and looking carefully at how we can improve our response times in the future," Mr Quigley said.
