Swede Anna Breman first woman to head Reserve Bank

Wednesday, 24 September 2025

Swedish economist Anna Breman has been appointed the next governor of the Reserve Bank and is showing signs of hoping to bring more Scandinavian-style openness to the central bank.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced Breman would become the first female to hold the role of governor after the position was created in 1934. She is currently the first deputy governor of Sweden’s central bank and starts the new job on December 1.

The fact the Reserve Bank’s next governor would be a woman from overseas leaked on Tuesday, but it had been assumed the successful candidate was more likely to be from the UK, Australia or Canada, whose central bank cultures are often viewed as similar to New Zealand’s.

Breman, 49, travelled to Wellington for the announcement of her appointment.

She said she was aware that she was “coming from the ‘outside’ and I'm new to this country”, but said she hoped people would judge her on her credentials.

Her primary focus was the best interest of New Zealand and its economy, she said.

“I'm familiar with the economy. I've read a lot and I'm looking forward to learning even more.”

She had worked in Sweden’s central bank during “a tough time with Covid, high inflation and the war in Ukraine, and we've handled all those challenges”.

“I'm married. I have two teenage daughters, and we're all looking forward to moving here together later this year,” she said.

The Reserve Bank listed high in international rankings of transparency, “but I do believe that there is more work that needs to be done”, she said, indicating her goals would include improving the bank’s communications and accountability.

Unlike the Reserve Bank, Sweden’s central bank, Riksbank, publishes attributed minutes from monetary policy meetings which Breman appeared to applaud in a speech in June.

“My assessment is that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, mainly because everyone can see how all the members have reasoned, what considerations they have made and what motives they emphasise,” she said then.

The appointment is for a five-year term and continues the common practice of new governors being selected from outside the bank itself.

Reserve Bank deputy governor Christian Hawkesby, who has been acting governor since former governor Adrian Orr walked out of the bank on February 27 after budget cuts triggered a breakdown in his relationship with the bank’s board, said in August he had dusted off his CV for the role.

Hawkesby will leave the bank when Breman takes up the role and had done “an admirable job” of filling in as governor, Willis said.

Assistant governor Karen Silk told The Post in August that she didn’t believe there was an obstacle to a woman heading the bank and said any governor would need to have a thick skin.

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

Willis said Breman would bring an impressive blend of technical expertise and organisational leadership experience to the role. She had consulted with Opposition parties on the appointment and no concerns were raised, she said.

Young women and girls could see that there is no office that cannot be occupied by a woman, she said. “I am glad that my daughters will be raised in a time where they can see that the governor of the Reserve Bank can be a man or a woman.”

The timing of Breman’s arrival means the Reserve Bank will review the OCR twice before she joins the bank, next month and in November.

The next monetary policy statement after that is not scheduled until February.

Breman said she did not want to comment on current monetary policy ahead of taking up the role but would be available to the bank for questions.

ANZ chief economist Sharon Zollner said yesterday that she wouldn’t expect the choice of governor to have a direct bearing on market expectations for the official cash rate (OCR), noting also that the governor was only one voice on the bank’s seven-person monetary policy committee.

The only consideration was that if the new governor was not in place by the time the bank next reviews the OCR on October 8, that might make its committee more cautious.

The bank is expected to cut the OCR by either 25 or 50 basis points as a result of that review.

“But you could also argue it the other way, and say it might make the committee in a hurry to get the OCR to where it should be, to give the new governor a clean slate,” Zollner said.

“Past transitions from one governor to the next have been relatively seamless from a monetary policy implementation perspective and we would expect this one to be no different,” Zollner said following the announcement of Breman’s appointment.

The Reserve Bank’s board nominates a candidate for governor which then needs to be approved by the Finance Minister.

Willis said an extensive international search was mounted for the right candidate that initially identified more than 300 potential candidates.

Breman was the board’s first recommendation for the position, and that was received on August 14, she said.

The announcement of her appointment had been delayed by a week, as Breman was unable to travel to New Zealand last week due to illness, she said.

How decisions on the OCR are made

The Reserve Bank’s monetary policy committee meets about every seven weeks to issue a monetary policy statement or review the official cash rate.

The committee only came into being in 2019 and its current members are Reserve Bank acting governor Christian Hawkesby, assistant governor Karen Silk, chief economist Paul Conway and the committee’s independent members Professor Bob Buckle, Carl Hansen and Prasanna Gai.

Buckle is retiring from the committee next week, when he will be replaced by former agribusiness executive Hayley Gourley.

Before 2019, responsibility for interest-rate decisions lay solely with the Reserve Bank’s governor, although each did consult first with a committee comprised of senior staff from the bank.

What’s the process?

The members of the monetary policy committee are obliged under the Reserve Bank’s charter to seek a consensus when making decisions, including on the OCR.

If they can’t reach a consensus, then decisions can be made by a simple majority vote.

This has happened three times, the first in May 2023 when the committee voted 5-2 to raise the OCR by 25 basis points to 5.5%. The dissenting members wanted to keep the rate unchanged at 5.25%.

It has been split twice this year, voting 5-1 to cut the OCR by 25 basis points to 3.25% in May and 4-2 in August to cut it again to 3%, with the dissenting duo wanting a deeper cut.

The bank doesn’t reveal who among the committee votes which way.

What else does the bank do?

Setting the OCR and determining monetary policy aren’t the bank’s only jobs, although they are the ones that attract the most attention.

It’s other responsibilities include regulating banks and insurers, which includes controlling aspects of mortgage lending, and runs the payment and settlement systems that banks use to transact with one another.

It designs and issues notes and coins and it can intervene in currency markets, using its reserves to influence the value of the New Zealand dollar.

In an emergency, it can prop up failing financial institutions with loans, and it manages the Deposit Takers Act scheme that is designed to protect people bank deposits.