New Year Honours: Alan Bollard, CNZM

Alan Bollard was Reserve Bank Governor for 10 years. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the state.

As former Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard helped steer New Zealand through a period of boom and bust and now he has been recognised for his work.

Bollard, who starts a new job as executive director of the Apec Secretariat in Singapore tomorrow, has been made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the state.

Bollard was Reserve Bank Governor for 10 years until September.

During that time he faced off the global financial crisis which coincided with an election and change in Government - a time when big decisions are typically avoided.

The central bank had to provide support to the finance sector while international money markets froze. Since the crisis Bollard has overseen a strengthening in regulation of the sector.

At his leaving function, Bollard described his role at the Reserve Bank as a "cool job" and said: "Not many people can say that they have billions of dollars in the basement."

Before his role at the Reserve Bank, Bollard spent four years as Secretary to the Treasury and before that was chairman of consumer watchdog the Commerce Commission for four years.

He headed the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research from 1987 to 1994 and has been involved in several books about economic reform in New Zealand.

Bollard gained a PhD in economics from the University of Auckland in 1977 and was made an honorary Doctor of Laws by the same university in 2007.