Two-thirds of Australians believe Philip Lowe should delay any moves into the private sector now his term at the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is over.
Lowe stepped down from the central bank in mid-September after a seven-year term as governor and over 40 years at the organisation, to be replaced by Michele Bullock. Bullock will be the first female governor of the RBA in its history.
However, when it comes to his future moves in the financial services, there is negative sentiment towards him moving into the private sector too soon.
A survey by think tank the Australia Institute of over 1,500 Australians found 67 per cent believe Lowe should wait for a period of time before beginning work at a private bank.
One in eight Australians said they thought Lowe should be able to work in the private sector straightaway, but 19 per cent said they believe he should be indefinitely prohibited from working at a private bank.
The news comes as Josh Frydenberg, the former federal treasurer, was appointed as chairman of Goldman Sachs Australia this month. Frydenberg, who had been tipped to take over leadership of the Liberal Party, joined the investment bank in July 2022 after his shock defeat to independent candidate Monique Ryan in the 2022 federal election.
Greg Jericho, chief economist at the Australia Institute, said: “Australians demand the highest integrity from the Reserve Bank. The governorship of the RBA should not be seen as a step towards a high-paying role in the financial sector.
“Given the immense power held by the governor of the Reserve Bank, it would be inappropriate for Philip Lowe to go from overseeing Australia’s financial system to straightaway profiting within that system.”
Former RBA governor Glenn Stevens, who held the role from 2006 to 2016, is now a non-executive director at Macquarie Group and the NSW Treasury Corporation. His predecessor, Ian MacFarlane, went on to work at ANZ Bank and on the international advisory board of Goldman Sachs after an RBA governor tenure from 1996 to 2006.
Bernie Fraser, RBA governor from 1989 to 1996, followed his central bank role with appointments at AustralianSuper and Cbus and as chairman of ME Bank. In 2015, he was commissioned to produce a report into not-for-profit superannuation fund governance that found their processes and member-first ethos were central to their outperformance and avoidance of scandals.
