The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has announced the appointment of Ms Richards and Professor Stephen Gai as external members of its newly established financial policy committee (FPC), a new committee of the RBNZ Board responsible for major financial stability decisions.
The FPC will be tasked with setting prudential requirements for financial institutions regulated by the RBNZ and making macro-prudential policy decisions, including debt-to-income and loan-to-value ratio settings for lending. The committee has been created to strengthen governance and focus around financial stability policymaking.
Ms Richards is a former senior prudential regulator and has held regulatory, risk and compliance leadership roles across private industry, government and not-for-profit sectors in the US, Australia and international policy-making organisations. The RBNZ said she brings a deep understanding of prudential regulation and international regulatory frameworks. She has been appointed for a four-year term running from 1st January 2026 to 31st December 2029.
Professor Gai is professor of macroeconomics and head of the departments of economics, accounting & finance, and property at the University of Auckland. He is recognised for his work in financial stability and monetary policy and has published extensively on macro-prudential policy and systemic risk. Professor Gai previously served on the board of the Financial Markets Authority from 2018 until his resignation on 31st December 2025. He has been appointed for a three-year term from 1st January 2026 to 31st December 2028 and will continue to serve on the Monetary Policy Committee.
RBNZ Board chair Rodger Finlay said: “I am pleased with the appointments to the FPC that we are announcing today, and welcome Ms Richards and Professor Gai to the FPC.” He added: “The FPC’s work will be crucial to promoting New Zealand’s financial stability and the wealth of experience of all the FPC members will enhance and bring focus to RBNZ’s financial policymaking.”
The other members of the FPC will be governor Anna Breman and RBNZ non-executive board members Byron Pepper, who will chair the FPC, Grant Spencer and Philip Vermeulen, with Finlay also serving by virtue of his role as board chair. The RBNZ Board has agreed a charter setting out the operational framework and terms of reference for the committee, with the first FPC meeting scheduled for late February 2026.