RBNZ chair admits to delay in OIA response over Orr's resignation
A breakdown in negotiations over the Reserve Bank’s next five-year funding agreement led to Adrian Orr’s sudden resignation as governor, newly released documents confirm.
Orr clashed with finance minister over funding
A series of documents released under the Official Information Act revealed an “impasse” between Adrian Orr and Finance Minister Nicola Willis, as Orr argued the government’s proposed funding for the Reserve Bank was insufficient, RNZ reported.
“In late February,” an RBNZ spokesperson said, “it became clear... that the board – chaired by Neil Quigley – was willing to agree to a ‘considerably’ smaller sum that Orr thought was needed.”
The funding shortfall reportedly caused distress to the governor and damaged key working relationships.
“This caused distress to Mr Orr and the impasse risked damaging necessary working relationships and led to Mr Orr's personal decision that he had achieved all he could as governor of the Reserve Bank and could not continue in that role with sufficiently less funding than he thought was viable for the organisation,” the spokesperson said.
Lawyers negotiated immediate departure
With three years still remaining in his term, Orr engaged lawyers to negotiate an exit agreement, resulting in immediate departure and placement on “special leave”, RNZ reported.
On March 5, the Reserve Bank announced Orr’s resignation, with Quigley (pictured above) attributing it to “personal reasons” at the time, but declining to elaborate further.
Original plan for farewell changed abruptly
Orr had initially planned to stay on long enough to address a major conference on March 6, with an announcement expected the following week. However, plans changed suddenly once news of his exit began to circulate.
“I will proudly open the conference tomorrow morning, noting I am there to discuss today’s news. I am proud to have worked with and for you all, and I know you will succeed ahead,” Orr wrote in an email shortly after midday on March 5.
Despite that intention, Orr did not attend or speak at the conference, nor did he take questions from the media.
Funding impasse not related to bank capital talks
The Reserve Bank also addressed speculation that disagreements over bank capital-holding requirements influenced the resignation, RNZ reported.
“The documents do not indicate those discussions were significant to Orr’s decision,” the bank said.
RBNZ chair admits delay in OIA response
In a separate statement, Quigley acknowledged delays in responding to OIA requests related to the 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,” he said.
Quigley explained the complexity of the situation and legal constraints, including Orr’s exit agreement and privacy law, required extended review.
“We needed to be sure that our consideration of relevant information was comprehensive,” he said.
Quigley said they were also finalising the next Five-Year Funding Agreement and needed time to assess its staffing implications.
“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,” he said.
