David Farrar: The many Reserve Bank managers

Following the news that two reserve Bank managers had resigned, I checked out their management structure.

They have six Assistant Governors and a massive 27 directors or third level managers. Just looking at the job titles shows that there is obvious reductions that can be made. This is no reflection on the individuals doing those roles (who could be very good) – it is just based on what the Reserve Bank Act says the Reserve Bank should be doing. In short it is:

1. Monetary policy
2. Prudential regulation and supervision
3. Manage deposited compensation scheme
4. Financial system monitoring
5. Bank notes and coins

Now let’s look at the 27 directors. You have:

• Prudential Policy
• Financial Markets
• Enforcement and Resolution
• Financial Stability Assessment and Strategy
• Specialist Supervision
• Prudential Supervision

You could clearly combine those six roles (which are all around prudential regulation/supervision and financial markets) to two or three directors.

• Talent and People Operations
• Organisational Capability and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
• Physical and Personnel Security

These three are all HR related. You could make a case for the security role to be seperate so reduce to one or two directors.

• Programme and Strategy Delivery
• Strategy and Business Performance
• Strategic Adviser

You don’t need three strategy directors.

• Digital Solutions / Chief Technology Officer
• Data, Statistics and Analytics
• Knowledge and Information Management
• Information Security (CISO)

These are all in the IT area. Now this doesn’t mean they should all be merged as CTO, CIO, CISO etc can all be need valuable roles. But it depends on the size and complexity of an organisation.

• Risk and Compliance
• Money and Cash
• Legal Services/General Counsel
• Economics/Chief Economist
• Audit Services
• Payments and Settlements
• Communications and Stakeholder Engagement
• Commercial Operations

These eight all seem uncontroversial for a Reserve Bank.

• Sustainability and Financial Inclusion

Bye bye.

David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders.