Two women have been appointed on the board of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), as Australia’s independent central bank is set to begin a dual board governance structure in March 2025.
Renee Fry-McKibbin, professor at the Australian National University (ANU), and Marnie Baker, former CEO and managing director of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, will join the RBA’s new interest rate-setting board.
As reported by the Australian Financial Review, Treasurer Jim Chalmers made these appointments in preparation for a new governance system for the RBA. The board will be split into two: a governance committee, and an interest rate-setting committee.
The structure was adopted after an independent review into the RBA recommended Australia’s central bank take on the dual board approach to align with global best practice.
One of the lead authors of this review was Renée Fry-McKibbin. She has worked at ANU’s Crawford School of Public Policy for more than 20 years and has a PhD in economics from the University of Melbourne. Fry-McKibbin has also been a visiting scholar at the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Bank of England, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and the Atlanta Fed.
Baker stepped down from her six-year stint as CEO and managing director of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank earlier this year. She was at the bank for more than 35 years. Up, the popular digital bank, was launched by Bendigo Bank under her leadership.
With Fry-McKibbin’s and Baker’s appointments, the nine-person RBA board split between the two committees will consist of RBA governor Michelle Bullock, deputy-governor Andrew Hauser, Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy and four other part-time external members: Ian Harper, Carolyn Hewson, Iain Ross and Alison Watkins.