Geoff Bascand: Financial stability - risky, safe, or just right?

Speech by Mr Geoff Bascand, Deputy Governor and Head of Financial Stability of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, to the UBS Australasia Conference 2018, Sydney, 13 November 2018.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Introduction

Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you.

For the first time in 30 years, New Zealand is fundamentally reviewing the role and powers of the Reserve Bank as they relate to financial stability.

The Government's review is not in response to a crisis. The fact that it's 10 years since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), 20 years since the Asian financial crisis, and 30 years since New Zealand's share-market crash and our own financial crisis is surely just a coincidence!

The aim of the review is to test whether our financial policy framework is fit for purpose and whether it needs modernising. It makes sense to test that the regime is well founded for the next 30 years. The financial system has grown in size, complexity and interconnectedness. It continues to change with institutional, technological and financial innovations generating new products, services, rewards - and risks.