MNI BRIEF: RBNZ Establishes Financial Policy Committee

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand Board has appointed Heidi Richards and Prasanna Gai as external members of its newly established Financial Policy Committee (FPC), the bank noted in a statement Tuesday.

The RBNZ board's FPC will be responsible for key financial stability decisions, including setting prudential requirements for regulated financial institutions and determining macroprudential policies such as debt-to-income and loan-to-value restrictions.

Richards is a former senior prudential regulator and internationally recognised leader in regulation, risk and compliance, with experience across the private sector, government and not-for-profit organisations in the U.S., Australia and international policy institutions, the statement said. 

Gai is Professor of Macroeconomics and Head of the Departments of Economics, Accounting & Finance, and Property at the University of Auckland. He is a leading expert in financial stability and monetary policy and has published extensively on macroprudential policy and systemic risk, the RBNZ added.