Neil Quigley, Chairman of Reserve Bank's board of directors, says Governor Adrian Orr’s sudden resignation was simply due to him feeling finished with the job.
Interest.co.nz spoke to Quigley outside the Reserve Bank Wednesday afternoon. After initially refusing to answer questions, the Chairman said he was not surprised by the resignation.
“Well, being Governor of the Reserve Bank is a difficult job, and he feels he's achieved the things he wanted to achieve,” he said.
“He'd let me know a few days ago that he was on this path, and today he’s resigned”.
Quigley said he did not know whether Orr would still host the central bank’s monetary policy conference, which begins Thursday and features former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, as the Governor had taken annual leave.
When asked about the shock nature of the resignation, Quiqley said it wasn’t a surprise to him as “I see him more often than you do”.
Quigley wouldn’t take any more questions and neither would Reserve Bank spokespeople.
Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Nicola Willis said the Reserve Bank Governor had “chosen to resign” and that she wouldn’t make any further comments on the situation.
“That is his decision, and individuals in any public office are able to make their own decisions about the time and resignations,” she said.
“What I would say is that it is important that there is stability in our financial institutions, and I have complete confidence that there is stability and continuity”.
Infometrics chief executive Brad Olsen said he was stunned by the sudden resignation announcement one day before the central bank was due to host a two day policy conference.
“Let's be very blunt. The Board of the Reserve Bank needs to front, they need to front urgently, and they need to be open and transparent. Anything less is just not acceptable,” he said.
Interest.co.nz spoke with other market participants who also found the shock resignation, on the eve of a Reserve Bank event, to be bizarre and surprising.
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