Revealed: The meeting that sealed fate of RBA governor Philip Lowe

The private get-together with the Treasurer marked the end of a whirlwind few months for the central bank governor.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers told Philip Lowe two weeks before it was made public that he wasn’t going to have his role extended. The two travelled to the G20 Finance Ministers in India in July.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers met with Philip Lowe in private two weeks before a new central bank boss was appointed to tell the Reserve Bank governor he was not going to get an extension to his seven-year term.

The meeting with the Treasurer took place on June 30 and came as Lowe was preparing for a board meeting in Sydney to decide the next move of the cash rate. Until that meeting Lowe had expressed interest in extending his term.

On July 14 Chalmers said deputy governor Michelle Bullock would be appointed as the first female governor of Australia’s central bank.

Michele Bullock was named the new RBA governor in July. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The June meeting with Chalmers marked the end of a whirlwind few months for Lowe, who had travelled to Washington, London and the Swiss city of Basel for official meetings with the G20 and the Bank of International Settlements. The visits came about as the RBA pushed through two more interest rate hikes in early May and June.

Lowe will on Tuesday preside over his second last board meeting as central bank governor before Ms Bullock takes charge on September 18.

Economists are split over whether the central bank will extend its July interest rate pause amid signs high inflation is starting to cool. Westpac’s Bill Evans for one expects the RBA to take out further “insurance” with a 25 basis point hike that will then bring an end to the bank’s extraordinary 15-month hiking cycle.

Meeting blitz

But a picture has emerged of Lowe’s last few months in the role with back-to-back meetings with bankers, business leaders, community groups and politicians.

According to the latest record of Lowe’s diary of private meetings, May was among the busiest, including a private meeting with investment bank Citi just two days after pushing through the May interest rate hike.

Lowe had made a public appearance and took questions in Perth at a dinner on the same evening of the 25 basis point rate hike.

That month he also met property developer Harry Triguboff for the second time this year, notching up seven meetings with the billionaire in two years. Lowe also met with the heads of Australia’s regional banks.

Amid criticism the RBA’s sustained interest rate hikes were causing emotional turmoil for some borrowers and businesses, Lowe held separate meetings with representatives of Lifeline and Suicide Prevention Australia.

Other briefings that month were with incoming RBA board members Elana Rubin and Iain Ross.

Outgoing Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe held a flurry of meetings during May and June. Picture: NCA NewsWire. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

In Sydney towards the end of May Lowe met with representatives from state-owned banking major Bank of China.

In April while in Washington for the G20 and IMF annual meetings, Lowe also had a string of catch ups including with the now-troubled crypto exchange Coinbase. In June the US Securities and Exchange Commission launched legal action against Coinbase for failing to register as a broker. Other meetings include Brazilian fund manager Gavea Investments as well as Mastercard and central bank counterparts at Bank of Canada.

Curiously one of the meetings in Washington during April involved hedge fund Rokos Capital Management which just weeks earlier had been caught out badly with exposure to US government bonds amid the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Representatives from investment bank Citi also sat in on that Rokos meeting.

However it was the meeting with the Treasurer on June 30 – only the second this year and fourth since the Albanese government was elected – that stands out in Lowe’s diary.

Chalmers has said he spoke with Lowe “a couple of weeks” before the announcement of the new governor was made on July 14. “The decision to appoint Michelle Bullock and not to renew Phil Lowe was a decision taken by the Cabinet the day that we announced it but obviously, a couple of weeks before that, I indicated to Governor Lowe that my recommendation to the Cabinet would be that we appoint somebody else,” Chalmers said on Brisbane radio last week.

“I just saw that as a respectful way to engage with someone who’s had a lot of dedication and commitment to our country and its economy for a long time but it wasn’t finalised and decided till the day that we announced it.”

On the day Bullock was appointed Lowe said she was a “first-rate appointment”. Since then, it is understood a steady stream of requests for private meetings and public appointments have been made to the RBA.