Why the wait for the RBNZ’s first female governor?

Monday, 25 August 2025

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Reserve Bank assistant governor Karen Silk doesn’t believe there are obstacles to the bank getting its first female governor down the track, even if she has ruled herself out of the running for now.

“New Zealand hasn't had a female governor, that’s right, and we are seeing more female governors overseas,” she told The Post.

“It's a reflection that in the financial services sector, more broadly, it is probably taking time for more women to come through to the levels that might make them a natural successor. That's the first thing. And then the second thing is, you've got to want to do that.”

Governor Christian Hawkesby confirmed on Wednesday that he had “dusted off his CV” in the hope of securing a full five-year term.

Hawkesby was appointed governor in April in a temporary capacity for up to six months, after initially stepping into the role following the abrupt departure of former governor Adrian Orr in March.

It appears he won’t face any internal rivals, with chief economist Paul Conway also sitting it out.

The Government has a long history, which dates back the early 1980s and the days of Muldoon, of making external appointments to the top job at the central bank, instead of promoting governors from within.

That said, a very dovish monetary policy statement issued by the bank on Wednesday that delivered a rate cut and an assumption of two more to come would not appear to have done anything to rule Hawkesby out of the running.

Silk, who likened her role at the bank to that of a general manager, said governors needed to have a thick skin.

“It's definitely a role that's in the public eye.”

But despite women appearing to come in for more than their fair share of more extreme abuse in the modern era of social media dysfunction, Silk did not believe that should hold back female candidates.

“It is a role where with all the work we do as an organisation, people will always have views, and you just need to be prepared to accept that and stick to what we're supposed to do.”

Even if the central bank surprised markets on Wednesday by both voting on the possibility of a deeper cut in interest rates and signalling it assumed the official cash rate would fall to 2.5% in November, its messaging under Hawkesby doesn’t appear to have left room for confusion.

“I think the market has understood where we're coming from reasonably well,” Silk said.

Hawkesby acknowledged to a select committee on Thursday that previous rate cuts were taking longer than usual to take effect, putting that down in part to uncertainties caused by US tariffs policies.

But Silk said one of her key messages would be that “we do think monetary policy works”.

“It does work. It was starting to work. We've had a shock. Our view is that it will pick up from here, and that's going to be a reflection of the stimulation that will still come from the work we've already done, and some of the things that we've done in this latest decision.”

With a blip in inflation arriving and much of the “delayed” impact of past monetary easing yet to take effect, could the bank be overdoing it?

“I understand where you're coming from,” Silk said, while reiterating the bank’s judgment that a bit more help was needed “to get back to the recovery we were already starting to see”.

Whether or not he’s continuing to captain the ship in a couple of months, Hawkesby and his fellow monetary policy committee members have been decisive in setting a direct course that aims sail the economy straight through the inflation chop and out of the economic lows.

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