Responses to Official Information Act requests
We are committed to increasing our public transparency and making our information readily available to the people of New Zealand. Progressively increasing the availability of official information.
What we publish
We publish our responses to requests made under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) to improve transparency and provide an additional resource for anyone seeking information.
Publication usually follows soon after our release of the response to the requester. We reserve the right to decide what responses we publish and the timing of publication.
Withheld information
Where we withhold information, we note in the relevant documents the specific section of the OIA that permits us to do so.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act, the Insurance (Prudential Supervision) Act and the Non-bank Deposit Takers Act require us to keep some information confidential. We withhold information from release when these laws require us to due to confidentiality.
Typically, this type of confidentiality is for information we receive from banks, insurers, finance companies, credit unions, building societies and similar organisations in our role as regulator and supervisor.
Insurance (Prudential Supervision) Act
Published responses
See our published responses to Official Information Act requests
Charging for providing official information
The OIA lets us charge, in some cases, for preparing information that we send in response to requests. When charging to prepare responses to OIA requests, we work within the guidelines published by the Ministry of Justice.
Read the Official Information Act: Charging for services
We are resourced to meet disclosure obligations for a reasonable level of Official Information requests and generally we will not impose charges for small, simple or infrequent requests.
If requests are made for large amounts of information that require substantial collation and research, our first step is to work with the requester to refine the request to a smaller scale or scope that is less likely to involve charges. Where a request is still chargeable and likely to be expensive, we will give the requester further opportunity to refine the request's scope and reduce or eliminate charges.
Our charges
Our charges are:
- $38 per half hour of staff time after the first hour
- 20 cents per page for printed or copied material provided in response to a request, after the first 20 pages.
Our rationale for charging
The cost of providing free responses to OIA requests is generally borne by taxpayers. We believe requesters should bear some of the costs when:
- requests are made for very large amounts of information
- a response to a request is particularly complex
- individuals or organisations make very frequent requests.
Our guidelines for charging
If we decide the information requested can be made available, but that charges are appropriate, we will formally advise the requester of:
- our decision to release the information
- the estimated amount of proposed charges
- the basis for proposed charges
- the requester’s right to seek an Ombudsman’s review of the proposed charges.
Remission of charges
The need to pay charges may be modified or waived at our discretion if:
- charges might cause financial hardship for the requester
- releasing the information is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of us and our work, and release of the information is not mainly for the benefit or interest of the requester
- if the information is already in the public domain in a form that the requester could acquire without substantial cost.
Information releases
From time to time we proactively release information. There is no schedule for these releases.
Make an OIA request
You can make an OIA request to us by:
- emailing: [email protected]
- writing to:
Reserve Bank of New Zealand
2 The Terrace
PO Box 2498
Wellington 6140
New Zealand - phoning: +64 4 472 2029