Adrian Orr: An anatomy of a resignation

Saturday, 14 June 2025

When Adrian Orr suddenly resigned in March, the “personal reason” that was never disclosed sent speculation into overdrive. Finally, this week, the Reserve Bank clarified Orr’s exit, releasing details of the communications, briefings and meetings that led up to it. Kelly Dennett and Luke Malpass report.

The email dropped into inboxes at 1.37pm on Wednesday, March 5. The subject line: RBNZ Governor Adrian Orr resigns.

The Reserve Bank’s press release stated that Orr, seven years in the job and due to speak at a high profile international central bankers bash in Wellington the next day, had resigned and would depart in less than a month, on March 31.

Orr’s accompanying statement hinted at what had led to his decision. After listing off achievements about the bank’s progress and his pride in its work, he signed off: “There is much work left to do on the major multi-year strategies RBNZ is following. Ongoing focus and funding will be critical to these projects’ success.”

Although journalists and the public wouldn’t learn this for another three months, the statements weren’t originally intended to be sent that day. In fact, for close to a week, Orr’s expected and eventual resignation had been the subject of careful strategising, for a planned release on the following Monday, March 10.

The timing was good for the Beehive’s Press Gallery. Journalists were already milling on the black and white tiles, just outside the bridge between the Beehive and Parliament for the 2pm Question Time.

And so, within minutes, a clearly nervous Finance Minister Nicola Willis, later described in reporting as “stony faced”, was on a livestream, taking questions.

The situation was novel. Reserve Bank pronouncements move markets, and a governor had never resigned out of the blue before.

Willis was careful to say little about Orr, effectively referring all queries to the bank’s board, reiterating its independence. She made it clear she expected the board to front.

By 4.30pm the RBNZ issued an advisory that at 5pm, board chair Neil Quigley would appear for what appeared to be a hastily convened press conference. An RBNZ media wall had been erected in the Reserve Bank’s museum on the ground floor.

The press conference was short - 11 minutes. Quigley stated that Orr had made a “personal” decision” to resign, talking about the “unrelenting critique” that came with being governor of the Reserve Bank.

He agreed the bank was working through funding, but demurred over whether that was behind Orr’s exit.

At one point, he said of the handling of the resignation that “It’s not a question of whether it’s satisfactory to me”, and in response to questions, also told journalists that Orr’s decision not to front himself was “a matter for Adrian - he’s doing what he feels is appropriate”.

Quigley would say on Thursday that he “was limited in what I could say about the former Governor’s resignation” due to his exit agreement because the terms of the bank’s new five-year funding deal with the Government were still incomplete.

The information vacuum led journalists to only a handful of possible conclusions - the reason for Orr’s exit was so deeply personal that nobody felt it their place to explain, or, Orr had committed the kind of infraction that warranted the vague overtures Quigley was making, possibly because of legal reasons.

Some journalists speculated a third option: there had been a significant breakdown in Orr’s relationship with either the board or the finance minister. But given Quigley’s reluctance to say anything substantive about the departure no one really knew.

The truth of it wouldn’t arrive until June.

On Wednesday, the bank released a tranche of documents it said answered those questions.

They build a picture of the events leading up to Orr’s resignation.

In early February, Orr was heavily involved in negotiations by the board of the bank’s Five Year Funding Agreement (FYFA). Essentially, that’s the bank’s budget, set by the minister of finance.

Orr had already given feedback on a draft response to the funding proposal, a document that would eventually be submitted to the board.

In an email from Orr to the executive leadership team on February 5, while the bank had initially estimated it needed $1.08 billion, Orr noted it was now asking for $900 million. That was a 9% “haircut” and would need to absorb future inflation and cost increases, which he estimated could easily be 4-5% over the period.

“This is a tough financial ask for us and will come with additional risks,” he wrote. The email laid out how the bank would manage, and how it would make its arguments to the board, and then the minister.

“The document will be blunt. It is not an SOI, SPE [statement of intent, statement of performance expectations] etc,” Orr wrote. “I am writing this to ensure I can tell the story and as a plea that we can be accurate on relevant big numbers and relevant comparisons. Our accuracy will determine our credibility in the coming weeks.”

At 7.39am on Valentine’s Day, a Friday, Orr sent a lengthy email to the board ahead of a planned meeting on the FYFA. He had written the “brief context note”, for his own “clarity and sanity … rather than appearing to teach the board how to suck eggs :-)”.

“We have not heard from Treasury as to a preferred number - but we have responded significantly and continuously to their - and the Board’s - signalling regarding cost effectiveness.”

The email acknowledged the “challenge” in providing a proposal that the Crown “may want to hear” and one the board believed would meet its strategic goals.

At the end of the day, board chair Quigley emailed Orr, thanking him for “the way you handled the meeting”, suggesting another. Emails early the next week were about timings. Orr was juggling meetings with Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche, Treasury Secretary Iain Rennie, the prime minister and the finance minister.

On Monday, February 24, according to the RBNZ, Orr and Quigley met with Nicola Willis and Treasury officials. Initially the bank said in its release that it was at that meeting that it became apparent that funding would be reduced. However, in a clarification on Wednesday after the initial documents release, the bank said it was during a February 27 board meeting that “it was clear that the board and minister of finance were willing to agree to a considerably lesser amount” in funding than Orr thought was the minimum necessary.

Documents show that on Tuesday, preparations were under way to address what was quickly recognised as a deteriorating situation.

The bank’s director of legal services and general counsel, Nick McBride, emailed deputy governor Christian Hawkesby suggesting a meeting with John McDermott (assistant governor operations) and Naomi Mitchell (director of communications) to “form an ad hoc committee to help manage the situation as it develops … if not just yet, maybe if events escalate”.

Hawkesby replied within minutes. “Perhaps we find some time initially in the margins of the strategy day tomorrow to connect.”

Mitchell suggested a call at 10am.

The next day Mitchell ran a statement being provided to a journalist, on the FYFA, by Orr.

There are few indications within the documents that reveal what discussions were happening between Orr and the board. But in a summary provided by the bank on Wednesday, it said subsequent to that meeting with Willis and Treasury, Orr and Quigley “entered discussions” which led to Orr’s decision to resign. “The matter was distressing for Mr Orr.”

By the end of the week, Friday, February 28, a detailed media plan titled “Project Baroda” was conceived. In response to a query about the name, the bank said it was chosen at random and had “no special significance other than serving as a code name”.

It was discussed at a Teams meeting late in the day, attended by Hawkesby, executive assistant Helen Kincaid, and McBride, McDermott and Mitchell.

On Monday, March 3, according to meeting minutes, McBride planned to pull together a to-do list, ready for “if” a resignation was received.

And then, a meeting was reconvened at 4.45pm. McBride said “a settlement has been reached with resignation confirmed for March 31. Announcement to be on or before Friday, 7 March.”

Lawyers had negotiated an exit agreement, which included immediate departure with special leave, although Orr had agreed to provide handover support.

There was discussion at that late Monday meeting about whether the announcement could be pushed back, from that Friday until the following Monday, March 10, before the markets opened that day. By 8pm a media release was drafted.

The group convened “early” the next day, Tuesday March 4 - the minutes don’t say what time - because Orr had texted, warning of a potential leak about his impending departure.

The group agreed any inquiries would be responded to with “no comment”. McDermott had search alerts enabled, to immediately alert them to anything that might require hastening the announcement.

Worry about a leak apparently persisted. And at some point it was decided that a media release would go out the following day.

On Wednesday, March 5, less than an hour before the announcement, Orr emailed the board, Mitchell and Hawkesby, at 12.39 pm to thank them for their “expedient work”.

“I will proudly open the [central bankers] conference tomorrow morning, noting I am there to discuss today’s news. I am proud to have worked with and for you all, and I know you will succeed ahead.”

But Orr would not open that conference. And in fact , Orr would not do any public interviews or press conferences on the topic.

An hour after Orr’s email, the press release landed in inboxes.

And later that day, Quigley fronted that press conference - alone. He said the decision not to front the conference was Orr’s, saying that “he decided actually that it was better not to be in front of the conference, having made that decision himself”.

The following day executive leaders were sent key communication points, and by Friday, March 7, newly appointed acting governor Christian Hawkesby had written a blog post on the bank’s intranet and circulated it, including to the board.

The subject line of his email was: “Staff Blog - starting a new job”

“It’s been a big week,” he wrote. “Thanks for your support, trust and confidence.”

Just over a month later, on April 16, the Reserve Bank published its Five Year Funding Agreement - set at $750m.