Time for renewal at RBA

In an organisation famous for its succession planning, there must be jockeying going on for the vacancy in the post of deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia.

Guy Debelle shocked many yesterday with the announcement he will resign effective March 16. He will be taking up the position of chief financial officer of Fortescue Future Industries in June. 

Debelle is a real loss; as Banking Day’s observed before, nobody knows where the bodies are buried in Australian banking like him.

The new deputy governor will be appointed by the Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, and it’s a sensitive appointment, partly due to the proximity of the federal election and mostly because it sets up a natural successor to Philip Lowe as RBA governor.

The leading internal candidates, in alphabetical order, may well be Michele Bullock, Luci Ellis and Christopher Kent.

Michele Bullock is the assistant governor (Financial System) and deputy chair of the Payments System Board, appointed to her current position in October 2016. In this role she is responsible for the Bank's work on financial stability, including production of the twice-yearly Financial Stability Review, as well as the Bank's oversight of the payments system.

Prior to her current position, Bullock was assistant governor (business services).

Luci Ellis is the assistant governor (economic), responsible for the Bank's Economic Analysis and Economic Research departments and is the chief economic advisor to the Governor and the Board

Prior to her current role, Ellis was Head of Financial Stability Department for eight years.

Christopher Kent is the assistant governor (financial markets).

Prior to this, Christopher was the assistant governor (economic) for five years and has also worked as Head of Payments Policy Department.

It’s time for one of the women, surely.