The Reserve Bank (RBNZ) has confirmed it is losing more than a third of its most senior staff.
As at June 30, 26 people filled Tier 2 and 3 roles at the RBNZ. Within a few months, 10 of these people will be gone.
The two departing Tier 2 staff are Deputy Governor and General Manager Financial Stability Geoff Bascand and Chief Economist Yuong Ha.
Three Tier 3 staff have left the Bank in the past six months, and five Tier 3 staff have signalled their departures in coming months.
Three of the five include those previously reported: Head of Supervision Andy Wood, Head of Financial System Policy and Analysis Toby Fiennes, and Chief Financial Officer Mike Wolyncewicz.
Wood and Fiennes chose not to pursue new roles created in a restructure at the Bank.
The RBNZ said, “Reasons for departures include a mixture of retirements, moving for family reasons, expiration of a fixed term contract, and departures as a result of Phase 2 of the reorganisation of the RBNZ leadership team.”
The RBNZ said three new executive leadership appointments will be announced on Thursday.
National Finance spokesperson Simon Bridges and ACT leader David Seymour pressed RBNZ Governor Adrian Orr on staff turnover, when a team from the Bank appeared before the Finance and Expenditure Committee for their annual review on Wednesday morning.
Orr denied assertions from both Bridges and Seymour that 10 Tier 2 and 3 staff had left since June.
Interest.co.nz accordingly asked the RBNZ to provide clarity on the matter.
Later in the day the RBNZ issued a statement confirming 10 hadn’t left since June. Rather 10 had either left or made a commitment to leave, since June.
Seymour responded: “This is the kind of spin we expect from Jacinda Ardern - not the head of the Reserve Bank.
“There are big questions here about what’s going at the Reserve Bank and we deserve better answers than Mr Orr gave in Select Committee this morning.”
Bridges in the committee suggested the way senior staff were being structured out of the organisation looked “reckless”.
Orr responded, “We are going through significant growth and operational change. We’re doing this in a very planned and strategic manner, and we’ve been doing it incredibly transparently."
The RBNZ’s work programme has expanded substantially, as it’s taken a more heavy-handed approach towards regulating financial institutions in line with recommendations from the likes of the International Monetary Fund.
It’s also implementing a deposit protection regime, considering a similar regime to protect insurance policyholders in the event of their insurer collapsing, embedding Māori values in its work, and responding to challenges raised by the proliferation of cryptocurrencies and climate change.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson on Wednesday again expressed confidence in Orr and the RBNZ board.
“People have all sorts of reasons for leaving jobs. I don’t think it’s fair on the governor for people to speculate about that,” he said.
“I don’t believe the credibility of the central bank should be eroded. The Reserve Bank has done an excellent job in supporting New Zealand through an incredibly difficult time.
“All organisations have change and turnover from time to time.”
Coming back to the committee meeting, Bridges shared a different view.
“I’ve been in the Finance role for a week and a half,” he told Orr.
“I’ve had so many people from the financial sector and your system, who make quite clear to me they don’t like what you’re doing and the way you’re shuffling people out.”
Orr responded, “Is that a question?”
Bridges said, “If you don’t want to comment on it, that’s for you. But that’s the sentiment.”
37 Comments
More likely the reverse. With your logic they never signed up to the policies of this Labour party. But if they had property investments they would be over the moon in the performance so it fails at this line. Or they had the ideals of the Labour party and dislike the real outcomes of this government and contradictory self serving nature of political actions. However given the role wages, work responsibilities and the high likelihood in performance of property they are more likely to see no harm in what the RBNZ are doing because they personally benefit from the tragedy and unbridled mismanagement across the broader financial investment sector. It would be better to class this as the grass is greener and those at the top always fail and fall upwards. Literally none will struggle to find future income and none will lose a home payment over this so there is no damage done, even if they had been sexually assaulting other staff they would feel no punishment or response. Which there is the nub of inequality whereas those in the lower arm of society tend to get made homeless and incomeless even if they are the ones assaulted at work, or if they lose their pitiful jobs, one paycheck away from losing rent, due to restructuring for profit they tend not to find new jobs. Don't cry for these people going from the RBNZ or claim that a party from a perpetual two party system had anything of moral difference to do with it. George Orwell had the right idea and described it best.
Too shallow. The RBNZ's role is to provide advice to the Government and carryout supervisory activity on financial institutions, and manage the overall supply of funds, amongst other things. Government policy is largely irrelevant, although it will shape the advice given and actions if any taken.
I think this is more likely to be about the internal culture of the bank itself. Possibilities could be that many were uncomfortable with the advice/actions the bank has taken, and saw their advice/opinions ignored, but were ultimately proven correct. Likely a similar sort of thing pointed out in a link about the COVID vaccines provided in yesterday's stream which indicates that the political narrative is driving the commentary/advice rather than the empirical data. Another side of this is that the track record of advice given by the bank and actions taken has become increasingly obviously wrong that it is possible many of those who have chosen to leave have done so as they don't want to be tainted by being associated with it. If that is the case, they are a little late.
a nearly 40% turnover before June - and still 6 months where that number could be added to --- in any other business in the world it would be considered a disastrous loss of talent key personel and organisational knowledge -- and this can only be a result of a toxic working environment -
Where is the independant investigation - Surely 40% turnover the boss must go!
Geez right now they could hire someone who claims to read the wind or astrology and be just as accurate with their "predictions" and modelling. Even using birds it is easy to train them in simple concepts many at Orr's office are still not aware of. Perhaps it is time we actually hire chickens rather than those who are chicken sht. I would take bets on the calibre of most new hires. Sadly when the rot has already set into the core structure expecting a different outcome without fixing the system and structure is pointless. Biased, poor ethics & standards are the core hiring personnel so biased, poor ethics & standards are the new hires. Also want to bet we will see some more money splashed on rebranding campaigns in the near future? After all they have only identified a problem with image and marketing in the past.
If 39% emoyees leave the job in one go, something is wrong
Are they trying to run awayfrom accountability or may be they know what is to come and........
OR
May be it is a strategy by rbnz to blame those who have left or giving option to employees toleave to protect themfrom scrutiny and vomiting dark hidden secrets out of closet.
Time will tell but0nearly 40% leaving just after the party raises eyebrow.
When their is such mass exodous anndthat too on management level, will they give true read on or standard excuse / reason:
Health
Family
Better Opportunity
Hopefully one of them in due course will come out in open and spill the actual reason.... May be than will be time for Mr Orr to resign.
I thought we had it bad, with about 20% turn over during the great resignation. 40% is investigation territory, what is their HR department doing about it??
Oh wait, that's right. They are all staring down the barrel of terrible decisions that they have supported or created. They can see the s$%t's about to hit the fan so leave "for better oppourtunities" (i.e. ones where they can keep responsibility at arms length).
Orr is well known at senior levels in all the banks, here and Australia, as an idiot. Orr has had the RBNZ move to issues outside of its core tasks. RBNZ shouldn't have anything at all to do with for instance, climate change. Losing senior people hand over fist is just a symptom.
Get rid of all of them..They are here to predict future economic activity and adjust policy accordingly so that we don't blow up asset bubbles on behalf of the capital class and hamstring the average kiwi with massive price inflation. They have done exactly the opposite of their job description... sack em all.
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