Inside Money: Bankers trust - something to swear by

My word is my bond - the Banking and Finance Oath. Photo / Thinkstock

By this time today Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) governor, Graeme Wheeler, would've done nothing again.

Or that's my non-hindsighted, consensus-informed opinion.

Since the inception of the official cash rate (OCR) in March 1999, the RBNZ has done nothing in about 70 per cent of its monetary policy meetings - held octannually - including an unbroken run of 23 'no changes' over April 2011 to January 2014.

But when the RBNZ does nothing, its non-action is heavily scrutinised by investors: every word of its monetary policy statement (MPS) is freighted with meaning; comma placement can move markets.

Outside of MPS moments, central bank governors are somewhat freer to yak. And the Australian version of Wheeler, Glenn Stevens, did just that earlier this week.
In a speech to an investment conference, Stevens covers a lot of territory, including raising some timely concerns about the state of retirement in a low interest rate world.

"Just about everywhere in the world the price of buying a given annual flow of future income has gone up a lot," he says in the speech. "Those seeking to make that purchase now - that is, those on the brink of leaving the workforce - are in a much worse position than those who made it a decade ago. They have to accept a lot more risk to generate the expected flow of future income they want."

The appetite for yield might explain why NZ retail investors are lapping up fangled bank debt instruments, and why the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) is issuing 'guidance' on the matter.

But Stevens has a go at explaining the run of scandals plaguing the financial industry, which he says are down to "distorted incentives coupled with an erosion of a culture that placed great store on acting in a trustworthy way".

"Finance depends on trust," the RBA governor says. "In fact, in the end, it can depend on little else. Where trust has been damaged, repair has to be made."

And Stevens name-checks the little-known 'Banking and Finance Oath' (BFO) as one of the potential trust-repair tools.

The BFO, penned in Australia in 2011, reads like a self-help poem for financial services:

"Trust is the foundation of my profession.

I will serve all interests in good faith.

I will compete with honour.

I will pursue my ends with ethical restraint.

I will create a sustainable future.

I will help create a more just society.

I will speak out against wrongdoing and support others who do the same.

I will accept responsibility for my actions.

In these and all other matters;

My word is my bond."

Over 200 financial industry players, including bigwigs like Stevens, have signed the BFO, which does, however, carry a rider: "The Oath neither binds nor represents the views of those who employ Signatories..."