Reserve Bank governor's job could attract strong candidates

By ELLEN READ

It may be up to seven months before Finance Minister Michael Cullen names Don Brash's successor, but bets are already being taken on who will take his place.

Some financial market commentators want fresh blood - perhaps bringing a suitable candidate home from overseas - but bank insiders are likely to be strong candidates.

There have even been suggestions an appointment could be made from the Reserve Bank of Australia, a move which could be politically popular as the two countries move to align regulations and procedures.

Brash yesterday quit the $500,000-a-year job he has held since 1988 to stand for the National Party in this year's election.

The names of Telecom chairman Roderick Deane, a former Deputy Governor, and Ralph Norris, recently appointed Air New Zealand chief executive, usually come up in such discussions but their strong Business Roundtable connections may make them unacceptable to the Labour-led Government.

There are also several private sector economists, Adrian Orr and Ulf Schoefisch among them, who could fill the role.

The appointment is recommended by the Reserve Bank board and the Finance Minister decides whether to approve the candidate.

Front-running candidates are seen as:

* Former Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Murray Sherwin - who now heads the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

* Former Reserve Bank chief economist Arthur Grimes, an advocate of currency union with Australia, now a visiting lecturer at Victoria University and recently appointed to the bank's board.

* Present Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Rod Carr, who has been appointed interim Governor.

* Peter Nicholl, a former Reserve Bank Deputy Governor and now Governor of the Central Bank in Bosnia.

* Graeme Wheeler, a former deputy secretary of the New Zealand Treasury, now the Treasurer of the World Bank.

* ANZ Bank's New Zealand chief executive and former Treasury secretary, Murray Horn.

* Present Reserve Bank Assistant Governor and chief economist David Archer.

Carr joined the Reserve Bank in July 1998 as Deputy Governor. He is responsible for the bank's operations, payments systems operation, financial system oversight, and is a member of its monetary policy committee and board of directors. He is also a member of the Overseas Investment Commission.

Before joining the Reserve Bank, Carr held senior management positions with both the BNZ and more recently National Australia Bank in Melbourne.

From 1994 to 1997, while undertaking doctoral studies, he was research fellow and project director at the Wharton Financial Institutions Centre in Philadelphia.

Sherwin joined the Reserve Bank of New Zealand in 1976, as an economic analyst.

During his career with the bank, Sherwin had several secondments, including to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris (1979); the Prime Minister's Advisory Group (1982-1983); and to the World Bank, Washington DC (1987-1989) where he was a member of the board of executive directors.

Sherwin left the bank last year to take MAF's top job.

Grimes is an independent economic consultant and a visiting lecturer at Victoria University. He is also a senior research associate for Motu Economic and Public Policy Research Trust. Until recently he was director of Victoria University's Institute of Policy Studies.

He has previously worked as chief economist for both the National Bank and the Reserve Bank.

Nicholl joined the Reserve Bank in 1972 and stayed for 22 years. He was chief economist for five years and Deputy Governor and deputy chief executive from 1990 to 1995.

From 1995 to 1997 he spent two years as an executive director on the board of the World Bank in Washington, representing New Zealand, Australia, Korea, Cambodia, Mongolia and seven Pacific Island nations. In October 1997 he was appointed Governor of the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Before joining the World Bank in 1997, Wheeler headed the Treasury's debt management office for four years.

Horn is managing director of ANZ Banking Group (New Zealand). He joined ANZ in 1997 and became managing director for New Zealand in March 1998.

From 1993-97 Horn worked for the Government as Secretary to the Treasury and before that, Deputy Treasury Secretary, being responsible for most areas of public expenditure.

Archer joined the Reserve Bank in late 1978, as an economist, working mainly in the monetary policy area. He was seconded to the International Monetary Fund, in Washington DC, in 1987, returning to the bank in 1991 as a senior adviser in the economics department. In July 1998 Archer was appointed Assistant Governor and in June 2000 became chief manager of the bank's economics department.