Adrian Orr: Aiming for great and best for Te Pūtea Matua

Speech by Mr Adrian Orr, Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, to Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce, Christchurch, 21 February 2020.

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

Central bank speech  | 
21 February 2020

Introduction

Salutations

Tēnā koutou katoa, welcome everyone.

Thank you for inviting me here again. It's always good to be in Christchurch. Our board held a meeting here last year, and I was hosted by the Chamber for a speaking event last year too. Every time I return I admire the resilience and long-term strategic vision being shown, and truly sense your well-founded community spirit.

It's now two years since I was given the opportunity to lead the team at the Reserve Bank - Te Pūtea Matua. You may also sense my pride in the role and the Bank.

For many people, their understanding of the role of the Reserve Bank is limited to setting the level of the Official Cash Rate and/or providing notes and coins for New Zealand. However, our remit and goals are much broader than just those important functions. I will outline some of these tasks and challenges today.

Shortly after I joined the Bank we outlined our ambitious vision to be a 'Great Team and the Best Central Bank'. They say the first step to running a marathon is to tell everyone of your intention. This is our marathon.

It was apparent that the Bank needed to evolve - as do all businesses - to be able to meet new challenges, risks, and opportunities. These challenges ranged across, for example, record low international interest rates, changing societal expectations of business conduct and culture, a broader regulatory remit, new and emerging technologies and, of course, climate change.