Reserve Bank seeks tech security advice

The Reserve Bank halted its briefings for media and analysts after a breach of the embargo by a MediaWorks reporter. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler says the Bank is investigating the possibility of continuing with media lock-ups in advance of monetary policy announcements.

The Bank had employed tech consultants to look at logistics of securing lock-ups against leaks on digital devices, Wheeler said.

The Reserve Bank halted its pre-monetary policy statement briefings for media and analysts after a breach of the embargo by a MediaWorks reporter.

The reporter emailed an embargoed story, on the change to the official cash rate in March, through to their main newsroom an hour before the lock-up ended and somehow the information ended up with an independent financial blogger.

MediaWorks has also been banned from Reserve Bank press conferences.

It was clear that the lock-up system couldn't continue on trust alone, Wheeler said.

Lock-ups were not common place for central banks around the world, he said.

There were three central banks that did have them for media - the US Federal Reserve, Bank of England and Bank of Chile. In all those cases the digital environment was completely controlled by the bank.

"So, we're getting outside consultants to advise us on what the cost would be for us to be confident that we can control the technology risk."