Reserve Bank cuts almost 200 positions, folds Te Ao Māori and climate teams into wider groups, but retains most economic policy roles

The Reserve Bank (RBNZ) has cut 180 staff positions in a restructure that will save $11 million each year, mostly by reducing its support and administrative teams.

Only 134 people have left the central bank so far, as some of the positions cut were unfilled. Sixty-six staff resigned or did not have contracts renewed, while another 68 were made redundant. A total of 281 positions were “impacted” in some way. 

The bulk of these job cuts were from the Operations and Enterprise Services divisions, which together cover human resources, finance, technology systems, and corporate governance roles.

Policy teams were largely untouched. The Money Group lost 15 roles, most of which were unfilled, and Financial Stability lost 16 after its Te Ao Māori and Climate units were merged into other areas.

A question and answer document released by the RBNZ said the bank was still performing the same functions, just doing so more efficiently. 

“Over the past few years, the RBNZ has grown its capability as it has adapted to several new legislated workstreams, such as the implementation of the Deposit Takers Act.”

“We are now able to embed, refine, innovate and scale back to a steadier state while still delivering our strategic outcomes and legislated workstreams that have increased since 2018.”

This follows the bank this year negotiating a $750 million five-year funding agreement with the government. The deal lifted funding by 4.3% from the previous term but capped annual spending well below the $200 million budgeted for the year ending June 2025.

Former Governor Adrian Orr initially sought more than $1 billion for the five-year period and refused to accept less than $900 million. The lower figure would have roughly matched the 2020 five-year deal once adjusted for inflation to mid-2025.

The RBNZ has had to cut back spending from fiscal year 2025 levels. That has prompted this restructure and also cuts to projects, travel, training, and consulting budgets.

The restructure aimed to put focused teams of four to eight staff in charge of specific areas and to have less than five layers of hierarchy in the organisation.

The Te Ao Māori and Climate/ESG (environmental, social, and governance) programmes will continue but have been folded into broader structures, losing their standalone teams and dedicated management lines.

‘All hands on deck’

Paul Conway, the RBNZ’s chief economist, said in an internal message to staff that he had pushed back on suggestions his department should cut more jobs — like the others.

“As you will see in the pack, my response is that we have had limited growth in the Directorate over recent years and are working in a challenging economic environment for the conduct of monetary policy. All hands on deck,” he said.  

“Further head count reductions would compromise our ability to achieve our legislated mandate. We also had resignations come through as the required savings in salaries and wages were finalised, meaning we could achieve our savings target largely without disestablishing filled roles.”

The modelling, research, and forecasting teams each lost one senior analyst role but no actual team members were made redundant.

The RBNZ is undergoing a wider reset following the departure of Orr earlier this year and ahead of his replacement, Anna Breman, starting at the bank in December.