It’s not the how of Reserve Bank cover up – it’s the why!

Texts reveal Nicola Willis was warned she might be asked to sack Adrian Orr as Reserve Bank Governor

The process was so advanced, Secretary to the Treasury Iain Rennie warned Finance Minister Nicola Willis she might receive a recommendation from the Reserve Bank board to advise the Governor-General to remove Orr.

Intervention from the Ombudsman last month forced the Reserve Bank to reveal the fact Orr stepped down as Governor a week before he resigned on March 5, as the board presented him with a letter of concerns.

This suggested there was an element of Orr being pushed to resign, rather than him simply choosing to leave – as was the narrative initially presented by Reserve Bank board chairman Neil Quigley, and not disputed by Willis.

However, what’s come to light now is that the push element was so strong, Willis had already been told to get ready to consider pulling the trigger.

To date the focus has all been on the how Orr left, not the why.

The how he left has tripped up Quigley as the focus drifts further and further away from the why.

Why did Orr resign?

Orr believed NZ’s economic sovereignty demanded the foreign banks pony up a larger capital requirement to ensure if the global economy hit a bad stretch, New Zealanders would be covered.

Orr believed that if things got bad enough, the foreign banks would fuck us over.

Here’s how I read it.

Orr had his budget amputated, apparently went off at Nicola, she used that as an opportunity to pressure him out, he did so and planned to resign at the Government’s Overseas Investment Summit for maximum damage, he was paid out an enormous amount with a huge non-disclosure agreement, Quigley trips up by describing the situation as personal rather than a full blown attack on Government policy and resigns, once gone Nicola has opened up a review to lower the capital requirements for Banks which is what they wanted in the first place.

We find out while this is happening that the PM has been contacting Quigley directly trying to pressure him into lowering the OCR before he was forced to fall on his own sword.

It’s not how the Reserve Bank leadership melted down, it’s the why!

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