page_title: Reserve Bank of Australia
section_title: Roles and responsibilities
hierarchical_section_title: Reserve Bank of Australia / Roles and responsibilities
caption_attribution_description: English: Reserve Bank of Australia located on London Circuit in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.
context_page_description: The Reserve Bank of Australia is Australia's central bank and banknote issuing authority. It has had this role since 14 January 1960, when the Reserve Bank Act 1959 removed the central banking functions from the Commonwealth Bank.
  The bank has the responsibility of providing services to the Government of Australia in addition to also providing services to other central banks and official institutions. It currently consists of the Payments System Board, which governs the payments system policy of the bank, and the Reserve Bank Board, which governs all other monetary and banking policies of the bank.
  Both boards consist of members of both the bank, the Treasury, other Australian government agencies, and leaders of other institutions that are part of the economy. The structure of the Reserve Bank Board has remained consistent ever since 1951, with the exception of the change in the number of members of the board. The governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia is appointed by the Treasurer and chairs both the Payment Systems and Reserve Bank Boards and when there are disagreements between both boards, the governor resolves them.
context_section_description: It is currently governed by the Reserve Bank Act 1959, which was approved by Parliament. The Reserve Bank Board's duty stated in the Act, within its outlined boundaries, is to ensure that the bank's monetary and banking policy is used to help the Australian population. This should be accomplished through consultation with the government and so in the Reserve Bank Board's opinion that its powers are used to help with:
  the stability of the currency of Australia;
  the maintenance of full employment in Australia; and
  the economic prosperity and welfare of the people of Australia.
  In practice the Reserve Bank concentrates on the first objective, that is to control inflation through monetary policy. The current objective is a policy of inflation targeting aimed at maintaining the annual inflation rate at between "2–3 per cent, on average, over the cycle". This target was first set in 1993 by the then Reserve Bank Governor Bernie Fraser and was then formalised in 1996 by the then Treasurer Peter Costello and incoming Reserve Bank Governor Ian Mcfarlane.
  The Reserve Bank gives banking and registry services to agencies of the government, to other central banks, and other official institutions. The assets of the bank include the gold and foreign exchange reserves of Australia, which is estimated to have a net worth of A$101 billion.
  Nearly 94% of the RBA's employees work at its headquarters in Sydney and at the Business Resumption Site. The remainder of the total 926 staff work in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth, London and New York City. A wholly owned subsidiary of the bank is Note Printing Australia, which employs 257 other workers, and which manufactures the Australian dollar and other securities, for markets both in and outside of Australia.
  The Payments System Board fills the role of deciding on the bank's payments system policy and the Reserve Bank Board is responsible for all other monetary and banking policies of the bank. Conflicts between the two Boards do not occur often and when they do, they are resolved by the governor.
caption: Reserve Bank of Australia in Canberra
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