Treasurer Jim Chalmers has today announced the appointment of new Board members within the monetary and governance Boards of the Reserve Bank of Australia – with Swati Dave, Chair of the Centre of Australia India Relations, as member. Swati Dave RBA
She is expected to take up her position in March 2025 when the RBA’s board is formally split in two, with a monetary board that will control interest rates, and a governance board to manage the central bank’s affairs.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the appointments had been made on the advice of a panel comprised of Treasury Secretary Steven Kennedy, Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock and former treasury secretary Martin Parkinson. Swati Dave RBA
Swati Dave is serving as the inaugural Chair of the Advisory Board to the Centre for Australia-India Relations, a role that commenced in February 2023.
She has years of high-ranking corporate experience, much of it in the banking and investments sector – most recently as Managing Director and CEO of Export Finance Australia, and previously in senior positions at NAB, Deutsche Bank, AMP Henderson Global Investors, Bankers Trust, and Westpac.
In her new role, Swati Dave becomes the first person of Indian-Australian origin to be serving on the Reserve Bank of Australia board.
The RBA governor Michelle Bullock welcomed the announcement of the new Board members saying that “The new member of the Governance Board Swati Dave, Danny Gilbert AM, David Thodey AO and Jennifer Westacott AO will greatly assist the RBA in supporting and overseeing management as we continue to transform the organisation.”
Carol Schwartz and Elana Rubin are the other members of the governance Board.
The decision to overhaul of the RBA was recommended in 2023 as part of a review with an aim to update and improve Australia’s central bank in its efforts to use monetary policy.
Though initially there was bipartisan support for changes at the RBA, the govt’s decision to replace two Board members on the monetary policy board has drawn the anger of the Coalition who believe this is an attempt by the govt to influence the RBA’s decision on interest rates. Swati Dave RBA
READ ALSO: Swati Dave, CAIR Chair: Making contemporary India more accessible
