Reserve Bank chair Neil Quigley’s resignation letter released

Monday, 15 September 2025

Professor Neil Quigley’s emailed resignation letter, in which stepped down from the Reserve Bank’s board, has been released by Finance Minister Nicola Willis.

It makes clear the former chairperson was confident the search for a new governor had been completed before his departure on August 29.

Former deputy governor Christian Hawkesby has been acting governor since February 27, when Adrian Orr left on a leave break that quickly became permanent following a breakdown in his relationship with the board.

The board’s statutory responsibility is to nominate a candidate to serve as governor, but it is up to the finance minister to make a recommendation to the Governor-General on the appointment.

In the email simply titled “Resignation” and sent to “Minister Willis” at 4.55pm on August 29, Quigley said: “Please accept my resignation from the Board of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, and from the position of Chair of the Board with immediate effect.

“Having completed a number of new workstreams for the Bank, including the search for a new Governor, I feel that now is an appropriate time for me to hand over to a new Chair.

“With the Government’s decision to establish a new medical school at the University of Waikato, I would like to be able to focus my efforts in my work for the University for the remainder of this year,” he wrote, before signing off “Yours sincerely Neil Quigley”.

As late as 2.09pm on the day of Quigley’s resignation, the bank had been defending to The Post seemingly misleading comments he made on March 5 on the circumstances surrounding Orr’s departure — before Willis asked him later that afternoon to reflect on matters.

On September 9, Willis said she looked forward to welcoming a new governor of the Reserve Bank “very soon”.