Latest / Best of Business / Jenee Tibshraeny: NZ Herald Wellington business editor on Nicola Willis rejecting claims of political interference on the Reserve Bank

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Jenee Tibshraeny: NZ Herald Wellington business editor on Nicola Willis rejecting claims of political interference on the Reserve Bank · Best of Business

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks be follow
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  Speaker 2: A little bit of a brew haha is developing about
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  Speaker 2: the Reserve Bank's independence. Critics have raised concerns that the
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  Speaker 2: bank's temporary governor and chair might be acting to please
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  Speaker 2: Nikola Willison, genative trainees. The Herald's Business edit room with
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  Speaker 2: us Agana.
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  Speaker 1: Hey, Heather, what does it look like to you?
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  Speaker 2: Does it look to you like political interference or is
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  Speaker 2: it simply that these guys at the Reserve Bank have
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  Speaker 2: reached the same conclusion as Nikola Willison, myself and various
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  Speaker 2: other people that they need to do something about the
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  Speaker 2: capital requirements.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I don't think I think that would be a
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  Speaker 3: stretch to say there's political interference. But I think it
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  Speaker 3: is just worth noting that a couple of the key
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  Speaker 3: people who are in charge of the Reserve Bank at
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  Speaker 3: the moment, in terms of the board chair and acting governor,
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  Speaker 3: they have, you know, potential conflicts of interest, So share
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  Speaker 3: Neil quickly. He's also the vice chancellor of Wakedo University
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  Speaker 3: and the Universe City is trying to get the government
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  Speaker 3: to fund a medical school so it's a Neil Quigley's
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  Speaker 3: interest to be on side with the government. It's also
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  Speaker 3: in Christian hawksby the acting government, it's on his best
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  Speaker 3: interest to be on side with the government because he
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  Speaker 3: might want to be the governor, he might want to
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  Speaker 3: be appointed to that role. So that, you know, I
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  Speaker 3: just think it is worth pointing out those two things.
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  Speaker 3: It would be a step too far to say that
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  Speaker 3: they are definitely acting in a way that is intentionally
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  Speaker 3: to please the government. Now, in terms of the two
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  Speaker 3: issues that are at the issues that we're talking about
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  Speaker 3: here are that after Adrian Or left, the Reserve Bank
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  Speaker 3: decided it would in fact review its bank capital rule,
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  Speaker 3: so that's the way it regulates banks that aligns with
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  Speaker 3: what the government wants. The government also announced after adrian
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  Speaker 3: Or left that the Reserve Bank wouldn't be getting as
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  Speaker 3: much funding as it requested from the government.
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  Speaker 2: Is it sustainable for these guys to be in the
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  Speaker 2: positions that they are in the long term or even
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  Speaker 2: in the medium term, given the fact that there are
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  Speaker 2: these conflicts of interest.
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  Speaker 3: Well, it is interesting because the Finance Minister, Nichol Willis
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  Speaker 3: had the opportunity to appoint another chairman to the board
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  Speaker 3: of the Reserve Bank, but she decided to reappoint Neil Quiggley,
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  Speaker 3: and she did that with the context of the medical
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  Speaker 3: school there. So I suppose the decision was made that
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  Speaker 3: that was a good appointment in Nichola Willis's eyes. That
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  Speaker 3: was also an interesting appointment because she'd been so critical
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  Speaker 3: of Adrian Or and Neil Quiggley had been a backer
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  Speaker 3: of Adrian Or. So some Reserve Bank observers thought that
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  Speaker 3: was an interesting decision by Nikola Willis in terms of
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  Speaker 3: Christian hawksby arguably, he is the right person to be
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  Speaker 3: doing the job at the moment. Previously he was the deputy,
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  Speaker 3: Now he's the acting. He's well positioned to step in.
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  Speaker 3: So I wouldn't go so fast to say that that's
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  Speaker 3: a bad decision. I wouldn't say that at all. His
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  Speaker 3: experienced and it's probably better than getting someone else in
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  Speaker 3: at this point. But I think there is value in
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  Speaker 3: just recognizing some of the you know, some of the
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  Speaker 3: other interests there.
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  Speaker 2: Interesting. Hey, Jane, thanks very much, really appreciate you talking
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  Speaker 2: us through Genative Trainey. The Herald's Wellington Business Edit.
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