Nicola Willis reveals former acting Reserve Bank Governor Grant Spencer as new board member

Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced the board change on Tuesday. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced that former acting Reserve Bank Governor Grant Spencer has been appointed to the central bank’s board.

Spencer retired from the Reserve Bank (RBNZ) in 2018, after he was deputy Governor and head of financial stability from 2007 to 2017. He was acting Governor over the six months to March 2018.

He previously told the Herald’s On the Tiles podcast that the central bank could have acted earlier when house prices began rising at the end of 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Instability in housing and moving to huge, unsustainable levels of house prices is not an appropriate strategy for monetary policy,” Spencer said in 2022.

“They should have been taking the foot off the accelerator when they saw the boom coming through in housing in late 2020 and right through 2021.”

Adrian Orr was the Reserve Bank Governor at the time. He has since resigned.

Grant Spencer, a former acting Reserve Bank governor, said the central bank had been too slow to raise interest rates and was now playing catch-up. Photo / Mark Mitchell

In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, Willis said Spencer “brings expertise in central banking, financial stability, and monetary policy”.

She also announced board member Bryon Pepper had been reappointed. Pepper and Spencer have five-year terms, starting from today.

“Mr Pepper has recently been made chairman of the RBNZ’s Financial Stability Oversight Committee,” Willis said.

“He is an experienced investment banking advisor and director with more than 25 years of experience, including 22 years at Goldman Sachs, bringing expertise in corporate strategy, financial services and insurance.”

Pepper is a former director of Ando Insurance Group. He was asked to give up that role after the Herald drew attention to the fact Ando was part-owned by an insurance company regulated by the Reserve Bank.

Spencer’s appointment follows the retirement of board member Rawinia Higgins. There is still one vacancy on the board, which Willis’ office said will be filled in due course.

The Reserve Bank welcomed the appointments, with board chair Neil Quigley saying Spencer would “enhance the Board’s expertise in prudential regulation, macro-prudential policy, and financial market operations”.

Quigley said Spencer would offer “complementary strengths to existing board members, particularly in the context of New Zealand’s central banking landscape”.

The bank said Pepper continued to bring “strong governance and financial expertise”.

“We’re pleased to reappoint Mr Pepper to the Board,” Quigley said.

“His financial and governance experience continues to add valuable insight to the RBNZ’s decision-making.”

Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald press gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. In 2025, he was a finalist for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.