Reserve Bank of New Zealand

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) (Māori: Te Pūtea Matua) is the central bank of New Zealand. It sets monetary policy, regulates banks, insurers and other deposit takers, and issues the country's banknotes and coins. It is based in Wellington, and Anna Breman has been governor since December 2025. [3]

The bank was set up in 1934 under the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1933 and has been wholly owned by the government since 1936. It is independent in how it runs monetary policy, is accountable to Parliament, and pays an annual dividend to the government. It is now governed by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 2021. [3]

Since 1990, the bank's main monetary policy aim has been low, stable inflation. New Zealand was the first country to adopt inflation targeting. Since 2019, a Monetary Policy Committee, rather than the governor alone, has set the Official Cash Rate. In 2018 the bank's objectives were widened to include "maximum sustainable employment". This was removed in 2023, leaving price stability as the main goal. [3]

The bank is also responsible for prudential regulation. It supervises banks, insurers and non-bank deposit takers. Banks must hold minimum levels of capital and liquid assets and report regularly to the Reserve Bank. The bank also uses macroprudential policy to limit risky lending across the system, and works with other financial regulators through the Council of Financial Regulators. It cannot guarantee that a bank will not fail, but it has a tool called Open Bank Resolution, which would put the cost of a failure on shareholders and creditors rather than taxpayers. The Deposit Takers Act 2023 introduced a single set of rules for all deposit takers, together with a deposit insurance scheme. [3]

Selected introductory text by Wikipedia contributors — Reserve Bank of New Zealand, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Official facts are cited separately.

1. 1934-08-01

   Establishment date in the institutional background record. [2]

Links retain their source-specific meaning. Award-time affiliations and links to related reading are not claims about current appointments or economic causation.

1. Reference source ↗
2. Wikidata background facts (CC0) ↗
3. Wikipedia contributors — Reserve Bank of New Zealand (CC BY-SA 4.0) ↗

Reviewed 23 October 2026. Historical dates and award-time affiliations retain their original context. A review date is not an event date. Background sources are identified separately from official records.