Reserve Bank of New Zealand
About us
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is New Zealand’s central bank. We promote a sound and dynamic monetary and financial system. We work towards our purpose, vision and values by
- Operating monetary policy to achieve and maintain price stability and support maximum sustainable employment
- Assisting the functioning of a sound and efficient financial system
- Meeting the currency needs of the public
- Overseeing and operating effective payments systems
- Providing effective support services to the Bank
An overview of the Bank
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is New Zealand's central bank. It was established in 1934, and although not a government department, has been wholly owned by the government of New Zealand since 1936. Like most central banks, the Reserve Bank is primarily a policy organisation, and has three main purposes.
The Reserve Bank is required to ensure that, throughout the economy, money works as well as possible as a mechanism for making transactions, storing value, and keeping account.
The Journey of Te Pūtea Matua: Our Tāne Mahuta is written to help broaden the understanding of the Reserve Bank’s heritage, role, and interdependencies during constant change.
The Reserve Bank’s Te Ao Māori strategy, which is being developed and implemented through 2019-22, brings together many threads that already exist within the Bank’s approach and extends them in new directions. It is intended as an evolving and responsive way to engage with the increasingly important and diverse Māori economy. The term Te Ao Māori means ‘Maori world’.
Under the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989 (‘the Act'), the Reserve Bank is responsible for formulating and implementing monetary policy, promoting a sound and efficient financial system, and carrying out other functions and exercising other powers as set out in the Act.
The Reserve Bank's purpose is to promote a sound, efficient and dynamic monetary and financial system. It seeks to achieve its vision - A Great Team, Best Central Bank - with values of Integrity, Innovation and Inclusion
A guide to how the Reserve Bank of New Zealand releases information including Monetary Policy Statements, Financial Stability Reports and associated media conferences, Official Cash Rate announcements, news releases, speeches, Official Information Act request responses, articles and research and statistics.
Governance
The Reserve Bank is led by a group of seven people, who together, form the senior leadership team.
Senior management of the Reserve Bank drive the teams responsible for delivering on the Bank’s core work, and support our people to achieve the Bank’s vision of ‘Great Team, Best Central Bank'.
The primary function of the Board is to review the performance of the Governor and the Bank. The Board holds regular meetings at which it receives extensive briefings on the Bank’s activities, decisions and policies. At these meetings the Board also provides advice to the Governor.
The Monetary Policy Committee is responsible for formulating monetary policy in New Zealand.
Prior to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (Monetary Policy) Amendment Act 2018, external advisers were appointed to assist and advise the Governor in fulfilling the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy obligation to maintain price stability. From April 2019, these roles have been supplanted by formal appointment of external Monetary Policy Committee members, as per the 2018 Amendment.
The Bank's role
The Reserve Bank is required under the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989 (ss 163-165) to provide an Annual Report, an annual accountability document, to the Minister of Finance no later than 3 months after the end of the financial year. The Annual Report contains a signed statement from the Governor, as well as the Board’s assessment of the performance of the Bank’s functions and the exercise of its powers. It also contains a summary of key activities, and presentation of the Bank’s financial statements.
Amendments to New Zealand’s monetary policy framework came into effect on 1st April 2019. The remit, charter and code of conduct are key components of the new framework. The remit provides the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) with its operational objectives, consistent with the economic objectives in Section 8 of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act (1989). The MPC will also be bound by the MPC charter and code of conduct. The charter provides directions on decision making procedures, transparency and accountability. The code of conduct sets out minimum standards of ethical and professional conduct that must be adhered to by members of the MPC.
The Reserve Bank is required under the Reserve Bank Act (section 162A) to provide a Statement of Intent (SOI) to the Minister of Finance before the start of each financial year. The SOI sets out the objectives for the next three years and the budget for the first year of that period. The SOI also details the Bank’s strategic priorities for the next financial year.
The Reserve Bank's Funding Agreement is a five yearly agreement between the Governor and the Minister of Finance that specifies how much of the Bank's revenues can be retained by the Bank to meet its operating costs, with the remainder going to the Government.
These papers have been prepared to brief the incoming Minister of Finance on the role and functions of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. The papers are also intended to be a useful briefing for other interested parties.
Letter from the Minister of Finance to the Governor of the Reserve Bank outlining broad expectations of the Bank's relationship with the Minister and areas of particular interest for the year.
The Reserve Bank is at times a party to Memoranda of Understanding with other organisations, which establish the principles governing how it will work together with those parties.
As part of the Bank’s strategic priority to broaden its engagement with its stakeholders, the Reserve Bank is establishing a glossary of Te Reo Māori financial terms. These terms will be incorporated into future documentation and used to expand engagement with its iwi and Māori business stakeholders on key economic and financial issues.
History
In 2009 the Reserve Bank marked its 75th year of operations three-quarters of a century spanning some of New Zealand’s most tumultuous decades.
This chronology lists key economic and financial events for the period January 1982 to December 2014. Annual chronologies for earlier periods can be found in successive Reserve Bank Bulletins (generally published the month or quarter following the end of the year in question).
The role of the Governor (or chief executive) of the Reserve Bank has changed and grown since the Bank’s establishment in 1934. Today, the Governor is accountable for the Bank’s performance in maintaining price stability, promoting a sound and efficient financial system, and meeting the currency needs of the public but retains statutory independence as to how these key outcomes are achieved.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has a formal coat of arms which features on the cover of many of the Bank's publications. The coat of arms is also the central element in the Reserve Bank's logo and a large-scale casting of it can be seen in the foyer of the Reserve Bank's Wellington office.
The Reserve Bank Museum is the only specialist economic and central banking museum in New Zealand, designed to educate and inform, highlighting and celebrating New Zealand’s wider economic and banking history, as well as the origins and role of the Reserve Bank.
A fact sheet detailing the background and meaning of the carving over the main entrance of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
In July 1930 Otto Niemeyer of the Bank of England was asked by the Prime Minister of New Zealand to report on ‘Banking and Currency in New Zealand’. His report, tabled before Parliament in 1931, recommended that New Zealand should establish a central bank.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand Alumni Register ensures we keep track of as many former employees as possible. Whether you have moved overseas or simply changed organisations within New Zealand, we would like to know.
Contact us
Reserve Bank of New Zealand
2 The Terrace
PO Box 2498
Wellington 6140
New Zealand
+64 4 472 2029
rbnz-info@rbnz.govt.nz
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