Jenee Tibshraeny: NZ Herald Wellington business editor on Nicola Willis rejecting claims of political interference on the Reserve Bank

The Finance Minister has adamantly denied any suggestions of the Government trying to interfere in the Reserve Bank.

Critics have raised concerns that the Reserve Bank's temporary Governor and Chair are acting to appeal to Nicola Willis' interests.

NZ Herald Wellington business editor Jenee Tibshraeny explains further.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
A little bit of a brew haha is developing about
the Reserve Bank's independence. Critics have raised concerns that the
bank's temporary governor and chair might be acting to please
Nikola Willis Genative trainees. The Herald's Business edits room with
us agen a.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Hey, Heather, what does it look like to you?

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Does it look to you like political interference or is
it simply that these guys at the Reserve Bank have
reached the same conclusion as Nikola Willison, myself and various
other people that they need to do something about the
capital requirements.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Well, I don't think I think that would be a
stretch to say there's political interference, But I think it
is just worth noting that a couple of the key
people who are in charge of the Reserve Bank at
the moment, in terms of the board chair and acting governor,
they have, you know, potential conflicts of interest. So share
Neil Quigley. He's also the vice chancellor of Waketo University

(00:50):
and the university is trying to get the government to
fund a medical school. So it's a Neil Quigley's interest
to be on side with the government. It's also and
Christian hawksby the acting government. It's on his best interest
to be on side with the government because he might
want to be the governor, he might want to be
appointed to that role. So that, you know, I just

(01:11):
think it is worth pointing out those two things. It
would be a step too far to say that they
are definitely acting in a way that is intentionally to
please the government. Now in terms of the two issues
that are at the issues that we're talking about here
are that after Adrian Or left, the Reserve Bank decided
it would in fact review its bank capital rule, so

(01:32):
that's the way it regulates banks that aligns with what
the government wants. The government also announced after Adrian Or
left that the Reserve Bank wouldn't be getting as much
funding as it requested from the government.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
Is it sustainable for these guys to be in the
positions that they are in the long term or even
in the medium term, given the fact that there are
these conflicts of interest.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Well, it is interesting because the Finance Minister, Nichola Willis,
had the opportunity to appoint another chairman to the board
of the Reserve Bank, but she decided to reappoint Neil Quigley,
and she did that with the context of the medical
school there. So I suppose the decision was made that

(02:17):
that was a good appointment in Nichola Willis's eyes. That
was also an interesting appointment because she'd been so critical
of Adrian Or and Neil Quiggley had been a backer
of Adrian Or. So some Reserve Bank observers thought that
was an interesting decision by Nikola Willis in terms of
Christian hawksby arguably he is the right person to be

(02:39):
doing the job at the moment. Previously he was the deputy,
Now he's the acting. He's well positioned to step in.
So I wouldn't go so fast to say that that's
a bad decision. I wouldn't say that as all his
experience and it's probably better than getting someone else in
at this point. But I think there is value in
just recognizing some of the you know, some of the

(03:02):
other interests there.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
Interesting. Hey, Jane, thanks very much, really appreciate you talking
us through Genetive Trainey The Heralds Wellington Business Edit.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
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