Where is the talent in the race for the RBA governor’s job? Nowhere in sight.
A handful of candidates from outside the Reserve Bank, including Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy, are in the running to replace governor Philip Lowe as the institution braces for an overhaul of its culture and the way it sets interest rates.
Kennedy, Finance Department secretary Jenny Wilkinson, Australian Bureau of Statistics head David Gruen and current bank deputy Michele Bullock are among those being considered, along with monetary policy experts from overseas, according to multiple sources who are not authorised to speak publicly.
I have worked with Steven Kennedy and he is a very solid operator. But bringing him across from Treasury is a bad look for an RBA supposedly being reformed. Ditto Jenny Wilkinson.
David Gruen has been around forever and held most high-ranking macro roles. But that is not a recommendation for a reforming governor, either. On the contrary.
Any incumbent, such as Michelle Bullock, is part of the problem and even worse.
The RBA needs an outsider with unimpeachable integrity. A figure who can carry reform through the joint with his or her integrity or experience at other successful central banks.
Another crony is the problem, not the solution.
