‘Impasse’, lack of trust; RBNZ nudged to provide further facts on Orr’s departure
Thursday, 28 August 2025
There was a breakdown in the relationship between former Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr and the board ahead of Orr’s sudden departure in March, a newly released timeline of events appears to show.
Former Reserve Bank chairperson Neil Quigley said at the time of the abrupt departure Orr had made a “personal decision” to leave and denied any “policy, conduct or performance issues” had been behind the resignation.
“It’s a personal decision that he's made, and he feels it’s the right time for him to make that decision,” Quigley said at the time.
However, a timeline of events leading up to Orr’s resignation released by the bank on Thursday reveals Orr considered he was unable to perform his duties given the uncertainty over planned cuts to the bank’s funding and what he perceived as “a lack of trust”.
The timeline was released by the bank on the recommendation of the Chief Ombudsman after a complaint from The Post, and it is believed other parties, with regard to the bank’s handling of requests for information.
The timeline was as follows:
February 20, 2025: Meeting between Quigley, Orr and Treasury officials regarding the five year funding agreement for the RBNZ. There was disagreement between Orr and Treasury officials about the appropriate level of funding for the RBNZ.
February 24: Meeting between Quigley, Orr, Minister of Finance Nicola Willis and Treasury officials relating to:
Capital requirements for banks
Competition in banking
The five year funding agreement for RBNZ
February 24: Orr emailed the RBNZ board to relay his view of the discussions at the meeting with Willis and to express his concerns about what level of funding was needed for RBNZ. Orr stated that he considered that he was unable to perform his duties given the uncertainty over funding and described what he perceived as a lack of trust between the parties.
February 26: Orr emailed the RBNZ board ahead of a meeting with the board, stating he and the board were at an impasse due to the disagreements over funding and that it was for the board to take the next step.
February 26: Orr met with the RBNZ board. Following this meeting Quigley emailed Orr advising that the board intended to write to him with its concerns.
February 27: Orr advised the board chairperson that he will remain out of the office until resolution of the matter and that Christian Hawkesby would be acting governor. This was agreed to by the board.
February 27: Quigley, on behalf of the non-executive members of the board, writes to Orr to set out various concerns relating to:
The tenor of dialogue at meetings with Treasury officials on 20 February and the Minister of Finance on 24 February 2025
His apparent lack of trust in the RBNZ board, Finance Minister and Treasury
Whether he would be able to undertake his role with lesser funding
The letter sought Orr’s response to the concerns raised.
March 3: Orr rejected the assertions in the letter, but accepted that he considered there was a lack of trust between the parties.
March 5: An exit agreement was reached between Orr and RBNZ, which included Orr agreeing to resign and for the board to withdraw the February 27 letter.
March 6: A paper was circulated to the RBNZ board to:
Approve the acceptance of the resignation of Adrian Orr
Approve the exit agreement entered into
Note the next steps are for the board to recommend a temporary governor
Chief Ombudsman John Allen advised The Post he had decided there were privacy grounds for the Reserve Bank to refuse to release the documents referred to in the timeline of events themselves, despite an appeal to do so.
Quigley said the bank had concluded that “apart from being late with our OIA responses, the approach we took in responding to OIA requests was a reasonable one to the requests and met the overall public interest by balancing transparency with privacy and other legitimate concerns”.