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RBA barred Westpac in third case of briefing leak

Mark Di Stefano, John Kehoe and Cecile Lefort

Oct 2, 2024 – 5.00am

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Westpac was blacklisted by the Reserve Bank of Australia for suspected leaking of an off the record discussion with then-deputy governor Michele Bullock, as traders and economists called for a review of the central bank’s private briefings.

Westpac is at least the third financial institution to have been punished by the RBA for leaks from private meetings in the past 18 months, following incidents involving RBC Capital Markets and Barrenjoey.

Mark Di Stefano is Rear Window columnist, based in the Sydney newsroom. He previously worked at BuzzFeed, the Financial Times and The Information before joining the Financial Review as a media and tech correspondent.

John Kehoe is economics editor at Parliament House, Canberra. He writes on economics, politics and business. John was Washington correspondent covering Donald Trump’s first election. He joined the Financial Review in 2008 from Treasury.

Cecile Lefort is a markets reporter based in the Sydney newsroom.