Email abuse: Reserve Bank governor accused of having ADD

Friday, 6 March 2020

Personal abuse flung at Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr includes some correspondents calling him a 'w…..' and suggesting he has attention deficit disorder and Tourette syndrome.

Orr complained in 2019 about written and verbal abuse from within the banking industry, claiming he wanted to raise the alleged abuse in the spirit of the #metoo movement.

Under the Official Information Act, the Reserve Bank has now released what it calls an 'indicative sample' of abuse.

Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr said in 2019 he wanted to raise bullying concerns in light of the #metoo movement.

A correspondent going by the name Max Edge emailed the bank to tell Orr: 'You have to be a bigger w….. than your predecessor.'

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Edge then discussed the official cash rate, oil imports, inflation and other economic issues.

'You guys in your cushy jobs don't really give a stuff about the economy and you certainly don't have any idea about future managing,' he wrote.

Orr clashed in 2019 with some banking heavyweights who opposed or questioned RBNZ plans to have retail banks increase capital in order to be more resilient.

On a monetary policy blog, a commenter wrote: 'One could easily be forgiven for thinking that, tragically, we have a narcissistic adolescent with attention deficit syndrome and a hint of [Tourette] tendencies running the RBNZ.'

The commenter criticised 'obsessive Māori focus' at the Reserve Bank as nonsense.

Orr equated the Reserve Bank to Tāne Mahuta, in Northland's Waipoua forest.

The commenter this week was overseas and not able to immediately talk at length about Orr with Stuff.

Orr previously described the Reserve Bank as the Tāne Mahuta (largest known kauri tree) of New Zealand's financial system.

'The Governor was also made aware of other examples of written abuse that he did not personally read,' an RBNZ adviser wrote on Tuesday.

The adviser said these examples were targeted attacks on Orr's character, rather than criticisms of job performance.

In a separate OIA response the Reserve Bank published earlier this year, Orr said mocking the use of Māori mythology was a common topic of online abuse from 'purported banking/economic experts'.

Orr also wrote that 'in the spirit of the '#metoo' discussion he wanted to disclose he'd received 'personal written and verbal abuse from within the industry'.

Orr has himself been accused of belittling and berating people in the sector he doesn't like.

Economist Cameron Bagrie said a 'Battle Royale' erupted in 2019 before the RBNZ in December ordered retail banks to to put an extra $20 billion of capital into their businesses.

'There is a myth out there that the NZ banks sailed through the Global Financial Crisis,' Bagrie said.

He said local banks needed huge support to get through the crisis.

Bagrie said a possible economic downturn in the next year or two, and now the impact of coronavirus, made bank resilience important.

He said opponents of Orr's initiative argued there would be an unacceptable costs to banks, but Bagrie believed these costs had been overstated.

Bagrie urged Orr's adversaries to 'move on' and added: 'It's game set and match to the Reserve Bank.'

At a Parliamentary committee in February, National MP Paul Goldsmith said he wanted to discuss the Governor's 'attitude to criticism and debate'.

Orr told Goldsmith: 'We've had unprecedented engagement [with] a wide and broad audience.'

The Governor said he welcomed discussion with anyone but opposed groups or people who made misleading or untrue statements.

The Reserve Bank this week declined to comment further.